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Number of 'distractions' inside Trek-Segafredo team car at Giro d'Italia branded 'insane'Trek-Segafredo team car

Number of 'distractions' inside Trek-Segafredo team car at Giro d'Italia branded 'insane'

"As good a driver as [directeur sportif's] are, this is not safe."...
by Will Bolton
Sat, May 22, 2021 13:36
11

An image of the inside of Trek-Segafredo's team car has sparked calls for 'dedicated drivers' at races. 

The team posted an image of the 'office' showing an iPad set up by the gear stick, a map posted to the steering wheel, a phone behind the steering wheel, as well as the car's inbuilt sat-nav screen. 

The issue of drivers getting distracted during races was brought into sharp focus at this year's Giro d'Italia when Pieter Serry, (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) was knocked off his bike from behind by Team BikeExchange's director. 

Gene Bates was ultimately excluded from the race after he rammed into the Belgian rider with the team car during the rainy stage 6.

Serry finished the race and Bates apologised but the incident shone a light on how many distractions some directors have in front of them whilst driving. 

Sports commentator and former pro rider, Brian Smith, commented on the image of the Trek Segafredo car, and said: "This is exactly why you should have a dedicated driver and the main sports director has all this info on the passengers side.

"As good a driver as they are, this is not safe."

Another person said: "So 3 screens, the route profile, race radio, team radio, and that’s before you even take into account hundreds of riders and other vehicles moving around in highly unpredictable ways.

"This is insanity."

Another person suggested that the car should not be referred to as 'an office' either. 

They said:  "The driver should be in the front concentrating on driving. This is how cyclists get hit with motor vehicles by distracted drivers! It's not an office, it's a vehicle!"

Someone else pointed out: "How can cycling push for change when it’s the worst culprit of distracted driving?"

Earlier this week Mercedes-Benz USA were blasted on social media after posting an image advertising the in-car tech in its S-Class range with people commenting 'I look forward to being murdered by one of these'.

Trek-Segafredo

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11 comments

Avatar
Gkam84 | 3 years ago
1 like

As a team car driver in the convoy, Daves comment does make some sense to me, until you've driven in a convoy then you've no idea what you are talking about...It is nothing like driving a normal car under normal circumstances. 

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Dave Dave | 3 years ago
1 like

I can see how this doesn't look great, but really, it's not as big a deal as people are making out. On open roads, that would be a lethal setup. At cycling speeds, on closed roads, travelling in convoy, most of the attention paid to things like oncoming traffic can be directed elsewhere. 

I'm all in favour of having separate drivers, but that's more because I want that job than because it's really necessary. Team cars very rarely hit riders, and where they do it's because of a different kind of distraction.

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eburtthebike replied to Dave Dave | 3 years ago
10 likes

I've only seen maybe four or five of your posts, and not one of them has made any sense at all so far.  I've no wish to check, so perhaps you could save me the trouble; are the rest equally lacking in that particular attribute?

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TheBillder replied to Dave Dave | 3 years ago
3 likes
Dave Dave wrote:

Team cars very rarely hit riders, and where they do it's because of a different kind of distraction.

Well that's fine then. 100% avoidable risk, but let's not bother doing anything because not that many people get hurt.

Just as a matter of interest*, Dave Dave, what is it about car culture that makes you an apologist for all of it?

*Actually that might be overstating things a little. Or a lot.

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Captain Badger replied to Dave Dave | 3 years ago
1 like
Dave Dave wrote:

I can see how this doesn't look great,

Can you ? How's that then?

Dave Dave wrote:

but really, it's not as big a deal as people are making out. On open roads, that would be a lethal setup.

Apart from the fact it has been demonstrated to be high risk by dint of a number of riders being shunted/hit by cars and motorbikes over the past few seasons....

Dave Dave wrote:

At cycling speeds, on closed roads, travelling in convoy, most of the attention paid to things like oncoming traffic can be directed elsewhere. 

These are open roads, that are full of cyclists. Cycling speed is exactly the speed that every driver goes whilst waiting to overtake cyclists. So what actually is the difference in terms of risk?sad

Dave Dave wrote:

I'm all in favour of having separate drivers,

Except you're not, exactly, are you?....

Dave Dave wrote:

but that's more because I want that job than because it's really necessary.

Please don't take that job Dave, if it's ever offered....

Dave Dave wrote:

Team cars very rarely hit riders,

Well that's alright then, as long as no one's been killed so far  no one on bike minds getting hurt from being hit by a ton or 2 of steel driven by a distracted driver (you don't work for the Police do you, or a LA traffic dept, by any chance?)

Dave Dave wrote:

and where they do it's because of a different kind of distraction.

So the driver is clearly already distracted by other factors, so the team puts put in more distractions - but that's okay cos Dave Dave can tell which distractions are distractions, and which distractions aren't distractions....

 

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tendecimalplaces replied to Dave Dave | 3 years ago
1 like

I can only presume Dave Dave has never driven in convoy. There are times you are driving way faster than you would if the roads were open. You may well have riders drafting inches off your bumper and riders passing you both overtaking and being overtaken on both sides. You can be suddenly slowing because something has happened in the bunch ahead. Just driving in convoy takes more concentration than on the open roads.
Dedicated drivers makes loads of sense.

Avatar
Gkam84 | 3 years ago
1 like

Trek put this out the other day https://racing.trekbikes.com/stories/trek-segafredo-men/the-team-car-ins...?

So their head unit in the car is actually a TV during the race. 

UCI did put something in place a few years ago where the DS had to be the passenger rather than the driver if they wanted to use phones and radios during the race, also that the TV had to be placed where the driver could not view it, but I don't know what happened to that in terms of rules. I can't find it anymore. Likely another safety protocol thrown out because you know what the UCI are like.

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kil0ran | 3 years ago
3 likes

Meanwhile: sock height

I've been moaning about this since IWG won stage 3 with Taco - the in-car footage of that is ridiculous. Given what happened to Antoine Demoitie they should know better than most.

To my knowledge no rider has ever been killed by a team car although I remember Shimano Neutral Service ending a rider's career at one of the classics a few years back. But is it only a matter of time?

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riggbeck | 3 years ago
4 likes

Last year I was riding in the dolomites when I heard a car behind sounding its horn as it overtook other cars at a crazy speed, it was also the Trek-Segafredo's team car. Seemed they were racing up the pass then just turning around and cruising back down.

I was left thinking what a ******* massive **** they were.

There was no race going on, it was a public road full of tourists.

Not a good look for the sponsors.

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eburtthebike | 3 years ago
1 like

Is this where Mercedes got the idea?

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Boopop | 3 years ago
0 likes

To quote Funnybot from South Park: "AWKWARD!"

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