AUCKLAND, New Zealand (Reuters) – New Zealand cyclist Julian Dean did not know he had been shot during Friday’s stage on the Tour de France, thinking instead he had been hit by flying stone chips.

Dean was struck on the index finger and Spain’s Oscar Freire was hit in the right thigh by small shots during the 13th stage from Vittel to Colmar. Officials later said they had been shot by a slug gun and police are looking for two teenagers.

“The incident wasn’t as bad as it sounds,” Dean said in his column in New Zealand’s Sunday Star Times newspaper. “At the time, I didn’t realise what had happened; I thought a stone had flicked up off the road and hit my finger.

“It was only when I was talking to Oscar Freire a little further down the road, and he told me he had been shot in the leg, that I realised what had happened.

“Neither of us was seriously hurt and we rode on. Oscar got a piece of metal taken out of his leg after the stage.”

Dean said it was a concern that spectators had managed to get a slug gun so close to the peloton, but not surprising given the closeness of crowds lining the roads of the Tour.

“It’s a real worry that someone was able to get a gun anywhere near us but given the way the Tour de France is raced, with spectators turning up freely on the sides of the roads in their millions, it’s pretty hard to put security in place.

“It might sound strange but for me it’s not really a big drama as I’ve certainly suffered worse fates when crashing at high speeds, but there’s an investigation into the incident, which hopefully is the last of its kind.

“It’s just fortunate no one was hit in the face or the eye.”

French police have opened an investigation into a possible crime of voluntary violence with a firearm, which carries a three-year prison sentence and 45 000 euros fine.