{"id":236760,"date":"2025-10-31T23:00:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T23:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/236760\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T23:00:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T23:00:12","slug":"miracle-77-year-old-cyclist-falls-down-ravine-in-france-and-survives-for-three-days-drinking-wine-from-shopping-bag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/236760\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cMiracle\u201d 77-year-old cyclist falls down ravine in France \u2013 and survives for three days drinking wine from shopping bag"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 77-year-old French cyclist has been hailed as a \u201cmiracle\u201d after he plunged 130 feet down a ravine while cycling home from the supermarket \u2013 and managed to survive for three days before being rescued by eating food and drinking wine from his shopping bag.<\/p>\n

The pensioner\u2019s dramatic fall came last weekend as he was riding home\u00a0from a shopping trip to Saint-Julien-des-Points, a small commune in the Loz\u00e8re department of southern France, in the C\u00e9vennes mountain range on the south-east edge of the Massif Central, French outlet Entrevue<\/a> reports.<\/p>\n

While cycling along the RN106 from La Grand-Combe, the 77-year-old missed a bend in the road, plummeting down a steep, rocky slope before landing with his bike in the Gardon riverbed 40 metres below.<\/p>\n

Unable to climb out of the ravine, the cyclist tried to attract the attention of passing motorists by shouting every time he heard a sound emanating from the road above.<\/p>\n

However, with his cries falling on deaf ears, and faced with the prospect of a prolonged stay in the cold and damp of the ravine, the stricken rider was forced to sustain himself on the contents of his shopping bag, including some food and a few bottles of red wine, which somehow managed to survive the fall.<\/p>\n

>\u00a0Rider at race in California clings onto bridge parapet to avoid drop into ravine after crash<\/a><\/p>\n

Finally, on Tuesday afternoon, after three long days in the ravine, a group of local roadworkers heard the cyclist\u2019s by-now desperate calls. Spotting the crumpled frame of his bike, and then the silhouette of the pensioner, described by rescuers as \u201cvisibly exhausted but conscious\u201d, the workers immediately contacted emergency services.<\/p>\n

Firefighters attended the scene, and the cyclist was transported by helicopter to a hospital in nearby Al\u00e8s for treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a miracle,\u201d Dr Laurent Savath, the chief medical officer of the H\u00e9rault fire department, said after the successful rescue mission.<\/p>\n

Savath added that, despite suffering several falls into a stream while trying to scramble up the steep slope, the cyclist escaped with only minor injuries and mild hypothermia.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is really tough,\u201d the doctor said. \u201cIn the cold and damp, with almost no food or water, he\u2019s incredibly resilient.\u201d<\/p>\n

Resilient is an understatement. If you ever need\u00a0proof of the benefits of a lifetime of cycling and a penchant for red wine, look no further than the\u00a0bike riding, shopping bag-toting\u00a0miracle of Saint-Julien-des-Points.<\/p>\n

>\u00a0Chris Froome and Philippe Gilbert rescue Tour de France fan who crashed into ravine while riding down from\u00a0finish<\/a><\/p>\n

Of course, our 77-year-old accidental cycling survivalist isn\u2019t the first cyclist in recent years to experience a lucky escape after plunging down a ravine in France.<\/p>\n

At the 2021 Tour de France, four-time Tour winner Chris Froome and former world champion Philippe Gilbert combined to haul a cyclo-tourist back onto the road after the fan overshot a bend and fell 20 metres while descending the Col de Portet, following the conclusion of stage 17 of that year\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

\"PhilippePhilippe Gilbert after crashing on Stage 16 of 2016 Tour de France (credit: A.S.O.\/Pauline Ballet)<\/p>\n

\u201cI can tell you that lots of things happen on a climb! On the descent, coming back down from the finish, I was following a cyclo-tourist who overshot a bend and ended up 20 metres further down,\u201d Gilbert said, describing his dramatic post-stage intervention.<\/p>\n

\u201cI stopped to help him with Chris Froome and Christopher Juul-Jensen. There are things that aren\u2019t known by the media, but yesterday I took almost 20 minutes to help this man!<\/p>\n

\u201cWe called for help because he was still badly messed up. These are experiences that we also live through.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 77-year-old French cyclist has been hailed as a \u201cmiracle\u201d after he plunged 130 feet down a ravine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236761,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-236760","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}