Men accused of pushing cyclists into ditches for fun go on trial in France

Two men accused of driving up to cyclists in rural south-west France and pushing them into ditches for fun have gone on trial in Toulouse for organised violence and could face up to five years in prison.

The two men, aged 20 and 22, were arrested last year after a spate of cyclists being pushed off their bikes on quiet country roads. One victim told the newspaper La Dépêche: “It was April … I’d gone out on my bike for the afternoon. When I got to a little country road … I felt a car was following me silently. It was driving very slowly behind me when it could easily have overtaken me. Then after a few minutes it drove up beside me. The car’s passenger suddenly pushed me down.”

Another man described being on a weekend cycle ride with two friends when a car pulled up beside him and the passenger allegedly reached out a hand and pushed him into a ditch.

At least 12 cyclists were hit over a period of several months, some sustaining injuries including a wrist fracture and a collar-bone fracture.

One man, 51, described cycling on a country lane when a vehicle approached. “I moved to the side to let it pass, it slowed alongside me. I felt a violent blow to my left ear,” he said, adding that he had been slapped or punched by the person in the car.

Another cyclist said their feet and bike were touched by someone reaching from the car. “Seeing that I didn’t fall, the passenger reached out his arm and violently pushed me to the ground,” they said.

Another allegedly had tomatoes thrown at him from a car.

Brice Zanin, a lawyer for several of the cyclists, told France Inter radio: “The only motive was idiocy, because once the victims had been pushed off their bikes, the men drove off laughing in their car. It was idiocy and a desire to have fun to the detriment of others.”

Arrested in December 2023, the two men denied any involvement and said they had no bad feelings towards cyclists.