Video: Team Sky bus driver makes extremely close pass on cyclist

I dont agree the bus is starting from anywhere near giving enough room to the cyclist to pass at the speed it was going, compare it to the team car following who obviously saw what happened clearly enough and reacted to it by completely crossing the white line and giving a full lane width to make their pass.

that kind of move by the coach is just a standard Ill pass you close enough hope not to hit you move, and yes the tanker driver had to stop to avoid a collision as well,so how much more of a totally unsuitable way to overtake someone on a bike do you want, at speed, too close, causes other traffic to take avoiding action. The draft of the bus would have been enough to have unsettled the rider, even before it tried to make a close encounter contact.

so sorry Team Sky  just because Joe Public coaches gets away with that kind of thing, we do and should expect a higher driving standard for a pro cycling team and more than a slightly embarrassed sounding apology.

According to Eurosport, Team Sky are "standing by the driver Claudio Lucchini, who is reported to be deeply upset about his error of judgement."  So the driver recognises he made an error and in future he promises he will give a fuck.  Well that's OK then.

This is in no way by means of excusing this ridiculous pass, but how much pressure are these drivers under. I was a VIP guest (by means of winning  a competition) last year at the TOB and the speed at which they all try and do PR, clear kit, and get on the road for transition to next stage is ridiculous...

Team car should definitely have stopped, apologised and taken details. Not as a way of keeping this from the mainstream but to show that as a team they "love cycling" and had recognised the stupid actions of their coach driver...

Only tangentially related, but driving down from the Lake District after stage 2 I ended up sharing the M6 with two Sky cars. Once the traffic cleared I tried to stay with them. Got to 85mph before giving up as they were still pulling away...

Sky bus drivers worrying tweets ;

'Had the best fun ever driving the bus flat out on the closed roads ahead of the race today #awesome'

uhhmm?

400km in to a 1200km transfer in the @TeamSky bus. That'll be the rest day gone then #VivaLaVuelta ;

(driving 1200km in one go,um sensible?)

14 hour drive back to the Service Course now. Thanks Poland

Well i guess il be fully alert for that one then?

nothing wrong with that - guy needs to cycle more!

Tattooine wasn't going to blow itself up...

Yes because there aren't enough people who ended up killing people with a history of dangerous driving. 

Screw up so dangerously in many workplaces and it's a sacking. With driving it's a case of 'don't be so serious'. Says it all about driving culture and British attitudes. Pathetic. 

It is terrible driving, But more of a misjudgment than anything.  Initially, the bus is giving enough room, but then veers left far too early.  What it looks like to me is that they started a safe overtake, then realised the tanker was coming and rather than brake and drop in behind, they chanced it.  Which is wholely unforgivable & dangerous.

All the calls for the driver to be sacked are a bit OTT - it was a very dangerous misjudgement but hopefully the driver will learn.

Sky's response was far & away better than most bus company's response of 'go forth & multiply'.  The wording is much stronger than the platitudes from other companies, and read like they are genuine.

a post from bauchlebastart earlier criticised BMC for a close pass. I'd just like to share my positive experience from Monday on BMC.  I was filtering past stationary traffic approaching lights through Kendal.  About 30m before the lights is a traffic island.  (about here https://goo.gl/maps/6xxg72iei3J2) The bus was a couple of car lengths away from the island.  As I was alongside the middle of the bus, the lights changed and the traffic started moving - I was a little stuck in no-mans land. The BMC driver held back and let me move across.  That's how every driver should be.

I know it's a fool's errand to seek sense among the comments after any cycling story in the mainstream press, but this gem from the Evening Standard poleaxed me, stupid layered on stupid. I want this guy arrested.

"To be honest this is pretty innocuous stuff. (1) A pro cyclist wouldn't have any issue with this (bearing in mind its a pro team bus.) (2) Especially on rural roads you're expected to slow down and if necessary stop to allow a faster moving vehicle past. Education required, not vitriol."

Marginal lanes.

As a former HGV driver it's obvious that  the tanker driver could  see the cyclist  being overtaken dangerously and stopped to avoid a collision with the death star. What a tit! He just didn't want to waste a few seconds to make a safe pass. The mentality  of these  drivers is beyond belief,  but please don't tar us all with the same brush as  these pricks .

Are the team busses and cars left hand drive?

I've had close passes with people in left hand drive cars before. They feel that the are passing safely because they can see just how close they are to you but, ironically, they are closer than those in right hand drive cars who 'usualy' give more room as they can't tell how close they actually are.

I'm not excusing the behaviour of the driver, he's an idiot overtaking where there is on coming traffic I'm just trying to 'guess' why he thought it was a reasonable manoeuvre.

Marginal maiming

I'm guessing he's no longer a Sky fan?

This is the same Team Sky who employed Geert Leinders to look after the health of their riders.

I really don't think they pay much attention to who they employ.

Team Sky's somewhat-not-cutting-the-mustard 'we're sorry and have/will speak to the driver' is pretty much what I've had in response to complaints I've made to local bus/HGV companies for dangerously close passes.  You'd expect more from a large professional cycling team.

Well, given the proliferation of Team Sky kit seen being pedalled along the road these days, who's to say it actually was a Team Sky bus and not a liveried up wannabe?

Although I do like the idea that the driver should make his log book / performance indicators available for scrutiny to ensure there are no discrepancies in performance...

Love how he half attempted to chase the bus... no mate, don't.

Piss weak response. Basically, riders inside are precious, rest of you can buy the merchandise and get stuffed for all we care. 

Would have wanted a really convincing response from a largely UK based cycling team given that they know dangerous driving is a barrier to uptake in the UK. They could have used this as an opportunity to highlight the issue and show that they take it seriously. If that was my missus, she'd have panicked being so new to road cycling. Totally would have shaken her, maybe even swerved or reacted badly, no joke.

The bus driver's actions didn't put me off the team - they can't control the guy day in, day out, and actually started to warm to them after this Tour as I was saying in previous topics, but their response to this has definitely irked me. Screw them, not up for that at all.  

Oh just Fuck Right Off Team Sky management with your weasel words.

What you should have said was this:

"We are deeply concerned that any road user should drive in this manner. It is utterly unacceptable, and especially so given the sport that is the reason for our existence and the number of its participants maimed and killed each year on UK roads through the fault of drivers.

We will of course co-operate fully with the police, and have already made the driver's logbooks and tachygraph information available to the constabulary concerned.

Furthermore the driver concerned has been suspended from duties pending an independent investigation by a traffic safety engineer into the event, and a full understanding of their reason for behaving in this manner. After that the Sky team board will decide the driver's employment futre with Team Sky according to employment regulations and the driver's contract.

All other Sky team staff will be briefed on their obligations, and further measures will be put in place to ensure all Sky drivers are aware that safety of other road users, our staff andf vehicles must never be trumped by any sense of urgency on the public highway".

There Dave, fixed that for you. Away you go.

Well - they've' 'apologised':

Sky said the driving was "unacceptable" and that drivers will be "reminded of their responsibilities".

Hmm. Hopefully that reminder comes with a baseball bat to the face. Repeatedly.

It always amazes me that drivers who are so obviously identifiable by their sign written vehicle and are reliant on their driving for making a living are so lax with their driving standards.
If I were in such a position I'd be driving like a nun.

That's pretty shabby. Sat in an ASB at a red light on Palatine Road last year, who should come up alongside me but a Team Sky car... not nearly as dangerous as that pass though. The "reminding them of their responsibilities" line is particularly  poor, and more something I'd expect of Stagecoach than the transport operators for a professional cycling team.

One hopes that a Pro cycling team would go out of their way to make sure that their drivers always show full respect and awareness of vulnerable road users like cyclists, as required by the highway code.  I hope that this incident doesn't reflect a lack of proactive training of their drivers in this regard.