A commentator laughed on air as Belgian cyclist Stan Dewulf had an unlucky crash and was catapulted into a "mountain of manure" during a race in northern France.
The Grand Prix de Denain, which took place on Thursday, saw some of the world's best cyclists compete on the narrow roads in northern France over 121 miles (196 kilometres). The distance wasn't the only thing that challenged competitors as they took on 12 sections of cobbled road making up over 13 miles of the race (22km).
The unkept sections are used by farmers to access their land but welcome challenging bike races in the Spring including the iconic Paris-Roubaix race.
The notorious cobbled sectors took victims in the Grand Prix de Denain with Dewulf having a smelly landing from his crash. With over 17 miles (28.4km) remaining Dewulf misjudged a treacherous corner hitting a cobble stone which catapulted him into an adjacent farmer's field and a pile of manure.
Eurosport commentator Jose Been burst into laughter when television cameras showed a replay of Dewulf's unfortunate crash. She said: "Ooh that is going to be smelly. That is going to be one smelly crash there from the AG2R rider - going straight into that mountain of manure!"
Commentator Been later tweeted: "Were you allowed on the bus @Stan_Dewulf1?" To which fans likened the brown shorts of his team to the colour his white jersey would have turned. @Ian2Wheels added: "Brown jersey to match the shorts!"
Co-commentator and former professional cyclist Brian Smith added: "Maybe a soft landing, that could have been a bad one there. He just got a lot wrong there. It looked to be Stan Dewulf."
Despite landing in manure Dewulf, riding for French team AG2R, finished the race 53rd - three minutes and 37 seconds behind eventual winner Juan Sebastián Molano (UAE Team Emirates).
Dewulf later assured fans he was okay on Instagram posting a video of his crash with the comment: "You could say that I had a s***** race today. Literally.”
The race was littered with crashes and with seven miles (12km) remaining more riders came down on another cobbled section along with a safety motorbike which was supporting the race.
At the front the winning breakaway had already formed and five riders came into the finish at Denain together with Molano the quickest ahead of Tim van Dijke (Jumbo-Visma) in second and Timo Kielich (Alpecin-Deceuninck Development Team) taking third.
Britain's Samuel Watson, riding from French team Groupama - FDJ, launched a late attack to bridge across to the leaders and finished just nine seconds behind in sixth.
