Tour de Yorkshire volunteer narrowly avoids being run over by Astana car

Astana have issued a statement to say they are ‘deeply sorry’ for the incident after race marshal Philip Sullivan managed to avoid a serious accident

Cycling team Astana have said that they are “deeply sorry” after disaster was narrowly averted during Sunday’s Tour de Yorkshire when a volunteer had to take evasive action to avoid being run over by one of the team’s support cars.

Footage of the scary incident was captured by Twitter user @nathlukecurrie, with race marshal Philip Sullivan seen running away from the traffic island that he was stationed on a split-second before the car ploughed through it.

Mr Sullivan said on Sunday that he was “shaken but unhurt”, with the incident taking place on the final stage in Leeds.

Race steward Philip Sullivan was stationed on a traffic island during the final stage of the Tour de Yorkshire (SWNS/Nathan Currie)

The race leaders arrived ahead of the support cars (SWNS/Nathan Currie)

The Astana support car driver fails to notice Mr Sullivan and the traffic island (SWNS/Nathan Currie) (Getty)

The car plowed through the traffic island (SWNS/Nathan Currie)

Astana issued a full apology to Mr Sullivan for the incident (SWNS/Nathan Currie)

Addressing the near-miss, Astana issued a statement on Monday to say that they were attempting to contact Mr Sullivan in order to personally apologise.

“We’re deeply sorry about the incident with our team car,” Astana said in a statement. “The sport director that was driving the car contacted the race organiser directly after the race to send our apologies.

“We’re trying to get in touch with the marshal as well. We’re sorry and want this to never happen again.”

Despite wearing a hi-vis jacket and waving a flag to signal the traffic island, the support car did not see Mr Sullivan until it was too late to avoid driving directly at him, given that his location was on the exit of a bend. Cyclists competing in the race, motorcycles and other support cars were able to drive around the island, and Mr Sullivan was able to run to the side of the road before other vehicles came around the corner.