91Èȱ¬

Team Sky principal Dave Brailsford has refused to rule out legal action after a member of his team, Juan Antonio Flecha, was sideswiped by a television car during the Tour de France.

The Spaniard was part of a breakaway group in Sunday's ninth stage .

He was brought to the ground while fellow rider Johnny Hoogerland was sent into a barbed wire fence.

The car was excluded by Tour organisers for the remainder of the race.

French police announced on Monday that they have launched an investigation into the crash.

Jean-Pascal Violet, the public prosecutor for the town of Aurillac, said that police have started interviewing witnesses and the driver of the car.

Violet said investigators are moving quickly to interview anyone involved in the crash, including the riders if possible, before the race moves on and witnesses leave the area.

But Brailsford is also leading an investigation into the incident.

"It was plain for everyone to see - that crash shouldn't have happened," he said.

"Everybody saw it, everyone saw the severity of it so I don't think we need to fan the flames of that anymore.

"Once you've got the facts then you can decide and evaluate whether there's an opportunity for the police to do something.

"There are different options available, but [we'll wait] until we've got the facts and got the lawyers to say 'you could do this', 'Team Sky could do that', 'Juan as an individual might want to do that'.

"We need to have a clear picture of what those options are before we then decide which one we may or may not wish to pursue.

"We're jumping ahead of ourselves if we start talking about options - we've got to determine what they are first."

Asked specifically about the possibility of legal proceedings, Brailsford added: "All the options includes anything you can think of. All the options is all the options."

Flecha, who suffered injuries to his knee and elbow, said on Monday that he remains confident of being at the start line for Tuesday's 10th stage, which covers 158km from Aurillac to Carmaux.

He said that after the crash, his first reaction was "to look for my bike and get going again.

"I saw the fork was broken, I was bleeding everywhere, I saw Johnny laying there, and I said 'Wow'."