A father-of-six died from massive injuries after ploughing into the back of a broken down vehicle during a cycle race, an inquest heard.

Peter Tindley, 76, from Weymouth was probably travelling at more than 20mph when the tragedy happened during a time trial on the A350 Upton bypass on Sunday, August 1 last year, district coroner Sheriff Payne was told.

The Bournemouth inquest heard that Mr Tindley, described as ‘extremely fit’, had his head down and was pedalling at speed at the time of the crash.

Mr Payne said: “The car was there to be seen – it was stationary and had hazard lights on yet Mr Tindley collided with it when he could quite easily have cycled around it. It seems quite clear that Mr Tindley did not become aware of the vehicle in front of him.”

The coroner heard that Mr Tindley was 41 miles into a 50-mile time trial at 8.45am when the accident happened.

He collided with a Renault Clio, which was stationary because its driver had stopped when the exhaust fell off. He died of a ‘massive haemorrhage due to transection of the aorta and a fractured spine’.

Mr Tindley’s computer revealed he had travelled at an average speed of 21.8mph and a maximum of 33mph during the trial.

The inquest heard that Mr Tindley had been a member of the Weymouth and West Dorset section of the Cyclists’ Touring Club since 1996 and had returned from a cycling tour of Vietnam just before the accident.

Mr Tindley was competing for Cycle Club Weymouth, where he had reigned as veteran champion for a number of years, when the accident happened.

He was nearly three hours into the Bournemouth Jubilee 50-mile time trial at the time of the crash.

The Echo reported at the time that the road was closed for more than two hours following the collision and a police appeal has been launched to find witnesses to the crash.

The super-fit pensioner set himself the target of riding 100,000 miles in 10 years when he started out in the sport.

After reaching this milestone he cycled 1,100 miles across America in 20 days in 2006 and regularly cycled 100 miles a week. Paul Gould, chairman of Cycle Club Weymouth, said his clubmate’s death came as a ‘huge shock to the club and to the cycling community’.

He added: “Peter was a committed and enthusiastic cyclist and an inspiration to all his clubmates. He was the club veteran champion for a number of years and is a great loss to cyclists in Dorset.”

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Mr Payne said: “It appears to be a very tragic and unfortunate accident.”