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Cyclist stopped on French motorway … as she tried to pay toll on way from Russia to Spain

Gendarmes escorted Russian woman off the A49 – and fined her 22 euro

 

Cyclists ending up on motorways whether in the UK or abroad is a regular occurrence, as plenty of stories we’ve done here on road.cc show, but here’s a new angle – a woman riding on an autoroute in France was fined by police as she attempted to pay a toll to use the road.

The incident happened on Thursday on the A49 between Grenoble and Valence, with the woman, from Russia and aged in her fifties, spotted on CCTV as she rode along the hard shoulder.

A Gendarmerie patrol was dispatched to intercept her, and found her attempting to pay a toll at the péage in Chatuzange-le-Goubet, reports the Dauphiné Libéré.

The woman, who had ridden for 10 kilometres on the autoroute, was fined 22 euro for her troubles - almost three times the toll that would have been paid by a motorist for the same stretch of road.

Gendarmes put her and her bike into their vehicle and dropped her off at a cycle route in Romans-sur-Isère.

Last month, we reported how Gendarmes had similarly escorted Italian pro cyclist Andrea Guardini off an autoroute in northern France as he tried to find the quickest way to the finish to rejoin his UAE Team Emirates colleagues after abandoning Paris-Roubaix.

> Lost in France – rider ends up on motorway after abandoning Paris-Roubaix (+ video)

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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3 comments

Avatar
tarquin_foxglove | 6 years ago
1 like

Having seen Russian dash-cam videos I reckon I'd feel safer cycling on a European motorway than pootling to the shops in my home land.

Avatar
rix | 6 years ago
0 likes

Sometimes stupidity costs money...  4

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BehindTheBikesheds | 6 years ago
2 likes

define 'regular occurence', i mean is this one in a million cycle journeys, one in 10 million when this happens, just wondering how you came to your conclusion?

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