Police give Team Sky riders a refresher in Aussie road laws ahead of Tour Down Under

Several Team Sky riders were given talking-to and warning by police while training in Adelaide’s Central Business District (CBD) ahead of the Tour Down Under (TDU), which starts next weekend.

A photo posted on social media on Monday morning showed riders from the UCI WorldTour outfit standing by the roadside as they were “verbally educated” and issued a warning by officers from SA Police over their conduct on the road.

A spokesman for the force told Bicycling Australia that members of the UK-registered team had “allegedly failed to give way at a pedestrian crossing and went through a red light … that sort of thing.”

He added: “As part of Operation Safe Cycling 2018 police officers spoke to a number of cyclists on Pulteney Street in the Adelaide CBD this morning after identifying a number of traffic offences committed by the group,”

“Police stop cyclist all the time but obviously there will be a further emphasis during the Tour Down Under period. It was just a verbal warning today,” he added.

Team Sky named its line-up for the race, the first of the 2018 UCI WorldTour season, this morning.

In what it describes as a “young and exciting” squad, three riders will make their Team Sky debuts –

Egan Bernal, who will be riding for the general classification, sprinter Kristoffer Halvorsen, and Chris Lawless.

The line-up will be completed by Jon Dibben, Owain Doull, Salvatore Puccio and Lukasz Wisniowski.

Team Sky Sport Director Brett Lancaster said: “It’s a really young and exciting team and we’re keen to see how these guys develop.

“We’ll be gunning to try and take a stage win. We’ve got Kristoffer as our lead sprinter. His form is a bit unknown coming straight from Norway and stepping off the plane into temperatures of close to 40 degrees.

“Puccio is our road captain and the most experienced rider in the team. He’s been pro since 2012 but he’s only 28 years old, which tells you how young the team is.

“Egan has already raced in a lot of big races,” he continued. “He’s no longer a neo-pro but he’s very young still. It’s going to be a really good chance to see where he is at, especially against the Australian riders who are in a home race and adapted already.

“We’ll see what happens come Willunga Hill and we’ll look to put him in a good position.”

Lancaster added: “It’s Willunga again where the race should be decided. Stage four has a good climb too but it’s similar to what we’ve seen in recent years. That Willunga day will be interesting for sure.”