Australian rider says she was nearly hit by car at Tour of Britain Women

Maeve Plouffe, pictured at the Track World Cup in Perth in March, said ‘cars from the general public coming at me from all directions’. Photograph: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com/Shutterstock

The Australian rider Maeve Plouffe has said she was nearly hit by a non-race car during the opening stage of the Tour of Britain Women.

With cycling still coming to terms with the death at the Volta a Portugal of the 19-year-old British rider Finlay Tarling, killed last week in a collision with a vehicle that had entered the course, Plouffe said the incident occurred as she was chasing the peloton after a puncture on Wednesday.