2023-12-12 12:48:00
While the two athletes were training in the company of a cycle tourist, on the national road linking Spa to Theux, they had been overtaken in a dangerous manner, they considered, by the driver of the car. A first altercation followed: Loïc Vliegen went up to the vehicle, before being thrown sharply to the left because of the motorist’s steering wheel. For these facts, the court considered that the latter had been guilty of malicious obstruction of traffic.
Loïc Vliegen went to the trial on November 14, but Philippe Gilbert was absent.
Shortly following, in the center of Theux, the athletes once more came across the car immobilized by traffic. Witnesses reported a scene of beatings initiated by the two cyclists during which Philippe Gilbert used pepper spray and suffered a fracture to his left hand.
For this episode, the court found that the cyclists and the motorist were guilty of assault and battery. The second occupant of the vehicle was acquitted. The offense concerning the possession of pepper spray by Philippe Gilbert is also established, the court ruled.
The three protagonists found guilty benefit from a simple declaration of guilt.
While he demanded an amount of 450,000 euros from the motorist, Philippe Gilbert will have to be compensated to the tune of 500 euros. For Loïc Vliegen, the amount is increased to 1,000 euros.
The two cyclists must compensate the occupants of the vehicle to the tune of a provisional euro.
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