Tour of Britain crash cyclist gets scarecrow effigy Published duration 13 September 2017

image copyright Rebecca Mowbray image caption Rebecca Mowbray said some people thought the effigy was "inappropriate"

A professional cyclist who crashed during a stage of the Tour of Britain said a scarecrow effigy of him hitting the back of a car was "hilarious".

US rider Brent Bookwalter crashed as the race passed through Retford, Nottinghamshire, on 6 September, causing a car window to be smashed

Rebecca Mowbray, from Retford, made the effigy of him for the Ordsall Scarecrow Festival and sent him a picture of it.

Mr Bookwalter's wife replied describing it as both "disturbing and funny".

Mrs Mowbray told Lincolnshire Live she decided to get in touch with the BMC rider, who suffered concussion in the crash, as she had been getting negative comments about her creation.

image copyright Neil Farrar image caption Brent Bookwalter crashed into a parked car and was treated nearby during the stage in Retford

She contacted Mr Bookwalter on Facebook and his wife Jamie replied on Tuesday night.

She said: "[Brent] is still having problems reading computer screens due to the concussion, so he can't reply right now, but we would love to see the picture and think it's hilarious, send it over.

"Brent has never had a scarecrow effigy, this would be a first."

After seeing the picture she said: "Love the scarecrow Rebecca! Disturbing and funny at the same time."

image copyright Getty Images image caption Brent Bookwalter in action for BMC during the Tour of California

Mrs Mowbray told the BBC she thought making the effigy would be "topical" and a "great idea" and was mocking the town rather than the cyclist over the crash.

"I wanted to say 'good old Retford, we can't even get that right'," she said.

However, a small number of people told her her scarecrow was "inappropriate" and "awful", after which she contacted Mr Bookwalter for his thoughts.

She said she felt vindicated by Jamie Bookwalter's replies.

image copyright Facebook image caption Jamie Bookwalter replied to Rebecca Mowbray's message about the scarecrow