Tour De France- Dog Nearly Causes Crash (VIDEO)

By Daniel Distant, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, July 02, 2013

At the Tour De France, a dog nearly derailed the famous bicycle race Sunday afternoon. The small white canine could have caused quite a spectacular crash near the end of the second stage of the famously grueling race, but fortunately, the puppy managed to steal out of the way just in time.

During the Tour De France, a dog was being held by its owner on the sidelines, as the cyclists were racing through Corsica in Stage 2. The 96.9-mile part of the race was nearly done, with only 2-and-a-half miles to go. The leading pack whizzed by, and the small white dog must have been excited, because it jumped down from its owner's arms and ran onto the two-lane course.

At first, the puppy ran to the other side of the road, and the owner seemed relieved. But then the dog ran back into the road, oblivious of the second, much larger wave of cyclists. The owner attempted to grab the dog, but ran out of time and narrowly avoided being mowed down. Similarly, the dog ran in the opposite direction, just missing the army of cyclists followed by cars and other bystanders.

The incident was videotaped, leading organizers to encourage future spectators to leave their pets at home from now on to avoid potentially ruining the race.

Runaway pets have cause accidents during the Tour De France before.

Philippe Gilbert, a Belgian cyclist, crashed because of a dog in the Tour's 18th stage previously and Marcus Burghart of Germany hit a dog in Stage 9 in 2007, according to E! Online. A horse also ran on the road in 2000, but managed to avoid any cyclists.

The second stage of the race ran from Bastia and ended at the Corsican capital of Ajaccio. The winner of the second stage was Jan Bakelants of Belgium, who managed to snag the yellow jersey with a dynamic victory. The Tour De France is 21 stages in total.