Pepper spray on Tour de France: Dan Martin was one of the riders caught up in the incident.

Dan Martin hit by pepper spray at Tour de France stage 16

Dan Martin has confirmed he was one of the riders hit with pepper spray during a farmers’ protest on the Tour de France.

With just under 30km raced, and before the field split, farmers tried to block the roads with bales of hay.

The roadway was cleared by the police then confronted the protestors. And large canisters of pepper spray were liberally used.

The result was the spray impacting some of the riders, who need to wash the spray from their faces.

After the race was neutralised for a period it was then stopped. The riders, including Dan Martin, reached by the spray were attended to and then the action resumed.

“I’m always open to new experiences, but pepper spray in a race is a bit too far,” Dan Martin said after finishing in the favourites group into Bagnères-de-Luchon.

“They dealt with it pretty well and the medical team got to the guys that needed attention but it was bizarre.”

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Certainly an unexpected life experience today; getting hit by a quick blast of pepper spray. Not recommended. And I only got the tiniest of amounts

— Dan Martin (@DanMartin86) July 24, 2018

Martin said he was also aware of the crash suffered by Philippe Gilbert (QuickStep) and was thankful for his local knowledge on twisty roads.

“I asked (Gilbert), if he was ok. I don’t live to far away and I managed to come and see it in May,” he said of today’s stage 16 route.

“There’s some tricky downhills around here. Lucky it stayed dry today,” he added, before turning his attention to tomorrow’s second stage in the Pyrenees.