Dutch boy skips school for bike tour

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A Dutch 11-year-old boy, angry after a row at home, has copied his Tour de France heroes with his own mini tour of the Netherlands, cycling 175 kms instead of going to school, a newspaper reports.


In a rage after an argument, Pieter Schothuis, a keen follower of the Tour de France, left his home in the eastern village of Herkenbosch on his new blue bike early on Thursday morning, the Algemeen Dagblad daily reported on Saturday.


But instead of cycling to school, the 11-year-old decided to work off his anger and kept riding for the whole day. He reached the town of Nijmegen, more than 100 kms (62.5 miles) to the north, before deciding to turn back.


Alerted by his anxious parents, police only stopped the boy in the town of Venlo in the early hours of Friday morning when he was 50 km from home after clocking up some 175 kms, more than the 164 kms cycled by the Tour de France professionals that day.


"His anger had abated by then," the newspaper wrote.