French rail company demands reckless cyclists be punished for crossing tracks

French train company SNCF has demanded that the cyclists who rode through a level crossing during yesterday's Paris-Roubaix face the appropriate penalties

The famous one-day race, which was won by German sprinter John Degenkolb, was overshadowed by the incident, which saw the peloton, which was ahead of schedule due to some big tailwinds, split when the barriers fell. With a TGV approaching, several riders opted to scoot across the tracks to rejoin the field, while the others waited fro the train to pass, and SNCF want those 'foolhardy' transgressors punished for breaching 'all safety rules'. 'Several riders deliberately crossed a level crossing, which is against all safety regulations,' a statement read. Millions of TV viewers were able to watch this unauthorised crossing which was extremely serious and irresponsible, that could have ended in tragedy. A few seconds later, a TGV ran on this line and could have hit the peloton. 'SNCF has decided to lodge a legal complaint and will leave it up to the investigation to determine who was responsible and we regret that such foolhardiness took place.' The move meant nothing in terms of the race, with the field waiting for those delayed to rejoin the group, and race rules state that any riders who cross a level crossing illegally could be subject to legal penalties and disqualified from the race. But Guy Dobbelaere, president of the jury of race commissioners, stood up for those involved, saying: 'It wasn't possible for the leading riders to stop sufficiently safely. The peloton was 10 metres away when the barrier started to close.' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA-84SIFnSo