The race marshal who had the narrowest of narrowest escapes after nearly being hit by an Astana team car at the Tour de Yorkshire has revealed that he got up and continued to do his job following the incident.
Philip Sullivan was standing on a traffic island in the middle of the road on the final stage of the race on Sunday, waving his flag to direct riders and vehicles around the road furniture when the crash occurred.
Sullivan showed quick reaction to jump out of the way as an Astana team car smashed through the bollards on the traffic island, and has now revealed that he got back up and continued in his duties after the crash.
“I knew the riders were coming and I had a job to do,” Sullivan told BBC Sport. “I am still thinking how close it was, but luckily I do not have a scratch.”
Team Astana car crash #TDY2018 #TourDeYorkshire2018 pic.twitter.com/l3ZUr4Ipfz
— Nathan Currie (@nathlukecurrie) May 6, 2018
Sullivan also said that he had been in contact with Astana and the driver of the car, sports director Lars Michaelsen, with the two agreeing to “go for a beer” at next year’s Tour de Yorkshire, where Sullivan said that he would also be volunteering.
Welcome to Yorkshire says that it is currently investigating the incident, and that it was working to “determine the facts of exactly what happened”.
Sunday’s final stage of the Tour de Yorkshire took place over 189km from Halifax to Leeds, with Astana’s Magnus Cort Nielsen beginning the stage as overall leader ahead of Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing).
Stephane Rossetto (Cofidis) won the stage after an impressive solo breakaway of over 100km, while Cort Nielsen, who won the hill top finish on stage two, was unable to prevent Van Avermaet and his BMC team getting away and stealing the overall win from his grasp.
