A Tour de France rider could find himself in hot water with race officials are whacking a cheeky spectator during stage nine in France.

The incident occurred during raucous celebrations on France’s national holiday, Bastille Day, with some fans clearly enjoying festivities a little too much.

As the peloton of riders raced around a corner at 48kn/h, a group of fans decided they’d having a bit of fun by mooning the athletes.

While most of the riders sped past the fans with little more than a smirk, one from the Bahrain-Merida team decided to dish out some punishment.

As he flew past the mooning spectators he decided to give one a good whack, leaving a fairly hefty hand print as pictures that emerged online later showed.