Former Tour de France riders arrested for 'spraying each other with water bottles like two gay cyclists'

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Two former professional cyclists were arrested for 'indecent behaviour' after a bizarre incident following a training ride.

Thomas Dekker and Laurens ten Dam, who both competed in the Tour de France during their careers, were in Oklahoma ahead of the Unbound Gravel race.

After a three-hour training ride, the pair stopped to have lunch at a Mexican restaurant in the town of Marietta, Kansas.

However, the Dutch cyclists - who had only arrived in the US 24 hours before - wanted to freshen up in the car park of the restaurant and did so using some spare bottles of water, before they were plunged into turmoil.

Explaining the strange incident, Ten Dam told the Live Slow Ride Hard podcast: 'After Thomas had rinsed me off, I quickly changed my pants between the car doors.

Two former professional cyclists were arrested for 'indecent behaviour' after a bizarre incident

Thomas Dekker (right) and Laurens ten Dam (left) had stopped after a training ride to have lunch, but tried to freshen up using bottles of water, before they were subsequently arrested

'Suddenly I hear a man screaming very loudly. But we just wanted to freshen up for the Mexican. 

'Suddenly there were five police cars. The man who had shouted at us was also there and said: "You should go to jail for this"... they first focused entirely on Thomas. 

'He was searched and then put in handcuffs. So I thought: s***. Then I had to turn around and I was also handcuffed.'

To make the incident even stranger, the pair had five guns pointed at them, before they were arrested and taken to jail.

'The indictment stated that we sprayed each other with water bottles like two gay cyclists,' Ten Dam claimed.

Ten Dam explained how a man took umbrage with them cleaning themselves, before five police cars turned up on the scene in a matter of minutes and they were then taken to jail

The indictment stated that the pair 'sprayed each other with water bottles like two gay cyclists'

Dekker added: 'We were given something to eat, under a blanket, because we were already cold. 

'It all took a very long time and fingerprints were taken. We also had to put on an orange suit, we were really inmate Laurens and inmate Thomas.'

The pair spent 10 hours in a cell and were forced to pay a bail charge of $185 (£144.86), although it was later decided that they would no longer have to appear in court, much to the relief of the Dutchmen.