The crashes happened on the Buttertubs Pass

A mountain rescue team stationed high on a Yorkshire Dales pass in preparation for the Tour de France had to deal with two cycling accidents.

Swaledale Mountain Rescue Team is providing cover on the Butter Tubs Pass, between Swaledale and Wensleydale.

The 526m (1,726ft) pass is on the route that will be taken by riders on the first day of the tour’s Grand Départ on Saturday, but it is already attracting large numbers of cyclists heading to the area.

The team’s volunteers dealt with riders from two bikes who crashed on the Butter Tubs road yesterday afternoon.

They were treated by Swaledale MRT members and ambulance crews. One rider was stretchered to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and flown to hospital.

A few hours later another cyclists rode into a crash barrier on the pass at high speed, stopping just short of a 90m (300ft) drop.

Team members treated the cyclist before handing over the injured biker to an ambulance crew.

The pass takes its name from the limestone Butter Tubs, fluted open shafts close to the road, east of Great Shunner Fell, that may have been used by farmers to store their dairy products on the way to market.