Altea
January 27, 2016
I know we have to be patient with the hundreds of cyclists currently doing their training on the mountains of the Costa Blanca. But I should like to shame the team car with a Belgian plate that overtook a line of vehicles patiently following a cyclist on the steep hairpin bends that wind up to Tárbena.
Accelerating on the left side of the road he overtook everyone taking the approaching left bend at speed but still on the left. As we rounded the bend he was still on the left taking a right-hand bend. Shortly afterwards a van came down the mountain.
One kilometre later, the team car stopped (no signals), presumably to take measurements of his compatriot now coming up the hill. And what did all the cars have to do? Slow down and carefully sidle past this dangerous selfish driver one by one, each ensuring the road ahead was safe.
The mountain roads may be fantastic for cycling training but it doesn’t excuse dangerous driving. If that van had been a few hundred metres further down the hill going around a right-hand bend, it doesn’t bear thinking about what would have happened if he had met that speeding team car on his side of the road.
Could teams show the same patient consideration towards other road users as we do to them?
Tim Kenny
Altea
