Amsterdam sex assault victim was attacker's 2nd attempt

A man wanted for sexually assaulting a young woman on Weesperzijde on November 6th, may have tried to attack another woman earlier that evening, according to surveillance camera footage shown on Opsporing Verzocht on Tuesday.

The footage show the man sprinting after another cyclist a short time before he attacked his victim. The cyclist was going very fast and managed to escape. The police believe the cyclist was a woman, but can't say whether she was going that fast because she knew someone was after her. The police would like to talk to this cyclist.

On November 6th the victim was on her way to her home in Diemen after a night out in Amsterdam. At the height of the viaduct below the exit S112 and A10 a man pushed her off her bike. He dragged her to a nearby patch of grass, kicked, punched and sexually assaulted her. He then took off on her bike.

Several other cyclists drove past as the sexual assault was happening, though it was dark enough that they may not have noticed anything.

The surveillance camera footage lead the police to believe that the attacker did not follow the victim from the city. According to the police, he hung around at the overpass and may have approached several cyclists.