Eleuterio Anguita Hinojosas has been fined 1,000 CHF and excluded from the Montréal World Championships after the team car he was driving, carrying spare wheels and bikes on its roof, flew into the air during the junior men's road race on Thursday.
The team car, which was folllowing the race with spare wheels and bikes mounted on its roof, hit a bump at speed during the junior men's road race on September 24. It visibly rose above the road before landing heavily, drawing a mixture of alarm and excitement from spectators.
The sanctions entry names the driver as Eleuterio Anguita Hinojosas, the Spanish junior men's road team director.
A sanctions-entry image shared on social media cites the penalty as: “Person in charge of the vehicle: Fine of 1,000 CHF and exclusion from the entire World Championships in Montreal, Canada.” At the time of writing, the Tissot Timing reports page listed documents for the junior men's road race but not a decisions notice for that race.
Earlier crashes involving race vehicles
The Montréal incident follows other cases in which vehicles travelling on closed race roads have endangered spectators, although the circumstances and outcomes differ.
At the 2025 Tour de France, Oliver Cookson, then a sports director at Ineos Grenadiers, was driving a team car that struck a spectator on the Col du Peyresourde during stage 14. Race commissaires fined him 5,000 CHF and issued a yellow card.
In February 2026, two spectators were killed and six injured when a vehicle in the Tour du Rwanda caravan left the road during the opening stage in the Gabiro area. Organisers confirmed the casualties following the crash, which involved a non-competitor vehicle travelling with the race.
Against the backdrop of those crashes, the 1,000 CHF fine and exclusion in Montréal underline the importance of penalising dangerous driving in a sport where road rules are often considered secondary to keeping pace with the peloton.
