Road Cycling Group (illustration). Credits: PxHere, CC0 / Public domain.
On Sunday, September 20, shortly after 10 a.m., the first participants in L’Occitane VTT reportedly disturbed a nest on a wooded descent in Peyrilhac, according to the organizer. Two victims were treated as absolute emergencies before leaving the hospital that evening, according to the club. The hornet attack came four days after the adoption of a national plan against the yellow-legged hornet, the text of which makes it possible to gauge the real risk.
At Kilometer 29, A Descent With No Escape
The attack took place at kilometer 29 of a 46-kilometer route, near the Moulin de la Roche, about 20 kilometers from Limoges. The cyclists attacked by hornets were taking part in L’Occitane VTT et Marche, a family ride organized by the Nieul cycling club, for which this was the 34th edition.
For Stéphane Clavaud, the club president, the first mountain bikers probably woke the nest as they passed, and the next ones arrived right into the swarm. “The difficulty here is that it was on a descent, so there was no way to stop quickly,” he told France 3.
Some participants were stung up to six times, according to the organizer, often on the head, with the insects getting in through the ventilation openings in the helmets. The route had been checked, though. “We had gone over it several times in advance, and we saw nothing,” the club president told Le Populaire.
Thirty-Seven Victims, Four Transfers To Limoges University Hospital
About twenty firefighters from Haute-Vienne, SAMU, and the gendarmerie responded on the course and at the Nieul stadium, where those who had continued on despite the stings arrived. Thirty-seven people, ages 14 to 65 according to AFP, were treated. Four were transferred to Limoges University Hospital. Two were classified as absolute emergencies at the time of treatment, meaning they needed immediate care, and two as relative emergencies, whose care can wait. The other 33 returned home after being examined.
Speaking to France 3, Captain Nicolas Pellegrin, the rescue operations commander, described the outcome as “reassuring,” while warning: “It remains non-serious, at least for now, because the effects of an allergic reaction could occur later.”
On Sunday evening, the most affected people, “who we believe had an allergic reaction, were able to leave the hospital with treatment,” Stéphane Clavaud told Le Populaire. Peyrilhac mayor Claude Compain reported the same discharge, according to Ouest-France. Limoges University Hospital did not confirm the information.
A Species That Has Not Been Identified
Neither emergency responders nor the town specified the species involved, or whether the nest had been located. Several articles published since Sunday mention an attack by Asian hornets, without citing identification by firefighters or a professional. Nothing at this stage allows that to be confirmed.
In Europe, the only hornet present in the wild is the European hornet, the national plan notes. The yellow-legged Asian hornet, accidentally introduced in Lot-et-Garonne in 2004, has since spread to every department in mainland France. The plan also monitors other exotic species, some of which, like the giant Asian hornet, are not present on the continent.
Do Hornets Attack Humans?
The Asian hornet is “no more aggressive” than other social hymenoptera, such as wasps or bees, says the national plan text. It becomes aggressive within less than five meters of its nest. The French National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (Anses) recommends staying at least five meters away from a nest, not trying to destroy it yourself, and reporting it to the town hall.
The risk of a hornet attack human comes first from being close to the nest, especially in the fall, when colonies reach their maximum size. On the Peyrilhac descent, each mountain biker entered that zone in turn. Unlike a bee, a hornet does not lose its stinger: it can sting multiple times, Anses notes.
Group attacks have followed one another this month. On September 6, around ten hikers were stung in Secondigny (Deux-Sèvres), three of them taken to the hospital. On September 20, fifteen mountain bikers were stung in Kérien (Côtes-d’Armor) by hornets “apparently not Asian hornets,” according to Ouest-France. In Haute-Vienne, about fifteen runners in a trail race in Saint-Just-le-Martel had been stung in November 2025.
This succession is not enough to show an increase. With Santé publique France, Anses studied envenomations, that is, poisonings from venom, reported to poison control centers from 2014 to 2023. It found neither an increase nor a decrease over ten years, a finding shared by the national plan.
How Many Hornet Stings Can Kill You?
The national plan estimates that 10 to 20 people die each year in France from hymenoptera stings, all species combined. The most common cause is anaphylactic shock, a severe allergic reaction; massive envenomation is rarer. Often cited since Sunday, the death of a 77-year-old hiker stung by hornets in Pleudihen-sur-Rance (Côtes-d’Armor) dates to September 23, 2024, not last year.
A yellow-legged hornet sting is “no more dangerous” than that of a wasp or a European hornet, the plan states. Available data nevertheless suggest a fatal risk in adults “from around fifty stings,” higher when mucous membranes are affected. About 3% of the population is said to be allergic to its venom.
According to Anses, severe cases remain rare, at 1.5% of envenomations reported to poison control centers, and are mostly allergic in origin: a single sting was enough in nearly half of cases. Hornets, all species combined, are overrepresented, with 25% of stings but 38% of severe cases.
In Peyrilhac, no known victim came close to the threshold of around fifty stings. The danger was mainly the allergic risk, hence the hospital monitoring.
In the event of multiple hornet stings, a sting in the mouth or throat, or signs such as hives, tongue swelling, or breathing difficulty, Anses recommends calling 15 or 112 immediately, or 114 for deaf or hard-of-hearing people.
What The National Plan Published On September 16 Provides
Signed by Annie Genevard, Minister of Agriculture, and Mathieu Lefèvre, Deputy Minister for Ecological Transition, the order of September 9, 2026 was published in the Journal officiel on September 16. It adopts the national plan to combat the yellow-legged Asian hornet provided for by the law of March 14, 2025, passed unanimously.
Departments will be classified according to four pressure levels, based on the number of nests listed on the French National Inventory of Natural Heritage (INPN) platform. Within six months, that is by March 2027, each prefect will have to adopt a departmental plan organizing “reporting, assessment of the danger level, and destruction of nests,” according to the statement from the two ministries. Reporting may go through the mayor of the municipality. An exceptional envelope of 3 million euros is being mobilized for 2026.
The text was adopted without fully lifting all reservations. Only about 10% of the 298 opinions submitted during the April public consultation were favorable, according to the summary from the Ministry for Ecological Transition, which notes “marked disappointment.” The National Council for Nature Protection, while supporting the project, recommended abandoning spring trapping, which was deemed ineffective and likely to harm biodiversity, in favor of destroying nests.
For trails and outdoor events, the plan remains general. It lists “sports or tourism activities” among risk situations, and its technical sheets recommend destroying nests that are dangerous to the public as a priority. However, it provides no specific measures for trails or sporting events. Above all, it targets only one species: a European hornet nest remains outside its scope, even though the risk to participants comes from all hornets.