This race vehicle passed the leading breakaway as it was zig-zagging across the road in the final kilometre in France.
Whatever the outcome of the inquiry into the death of Antoine Demoitié (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), his fatal crash at Gent Wevelgem has brought rider safety into intense focus.
And most of the scrutiny and comment on social media by the riders has focussed on the sheer numbers of motos and cars following races.
Demoitié crashed and was then hit by a race moto as he was on the ground, though his team and eyewitnesses do not believe the driver was at fault.
However, despite all of the publicity and comment around the tragic case in recent days, an official car could be seen closely passing Alexander Kristoff on the opening stage of De Panne on Tuesday.
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The Katusha rider was with two Astana men at the time and went on to take victory.
But just after they went under the red kit signifying only 1km remained, they were passed by the car.
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Kristoff appeared to notice its advance in his peripheral vision and in the end there was no harm done.
But the riders were zig-zagging across the road at the time in a game of cat and mouse. And there was also street furniture just ahead, meaning things could have gotten very messy.
It was unclear why a vehicle was overtaking riders on narrow streets in the closing kilometre of a race.
Pro rider Jérémy Roy shared the video on YouTube saying: “WTF!! 900m to go and the car is overtaking riders.”
Close pass video
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