Laughing
yobs leave
race cyclist
badly hurt

Laughing yobs left veteran racing cyclist Dave Scargill seriously injured when they pushed him over and sent him crashing onto the road.

Mr Scargill was in a group of racers pedalling at 30mph when the gang pulled alongside in a car, pushed him and then sped off laughing.

Other racers had to swerve to try and avoid Mr Scargill, 58, as he tried to stay upright. But he slammed into the road and had to be rushed to hospital with a punctured lung, broken ribs, collar bone, cuts and bruises.

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Now police are hunting the yobs who were in a black Vauxhall Corsa when they struck on a winding country road in the tiny village of Hooton Pagnell, near Doncaster.

A passenger in the car had stretched out of the side window and, using both arms, pushed Mr Scargill from his bike.

He is being given heavy painkillers in Barnsley Hospital, and needs an operation.

He is also facing the prospect of being unable to work as a self-employed gas fitter and his £3,000 bike – a replica of the one used by Tour de France and Olympic champion Bradley Wiggins – is a write-off.

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His wife, Christine, said at the family home in Wombwell, Barnsley: “I can’t believe somebody would deliberately lean out of a window and push someone over.

“It just beggars belief. They knew what they were doing. Every time I think about it I just get more angry.”

Mr Scargill is a member of cycling club Birdwell Wheelers and competes in races across the country. His friend James Allen, 34, who was there when the incident happened, said they were in a group of around 20 cyclists riding two-abreast on Bilham Lane when the car pulled up.

He said: “Dave was in about sixth place when the car came up with these lads inside. I thought they were just skidding and revving their engines but then I heard a crash, looked behind me, and saw chaos.”

“Dave was down on the ground. He had cuts all over him and had ripped his kit. He was in a bad way, he could barely speak. I felt terrible.”