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news
Team Sky's Tour in Numbers 1Infographics highlight Team Sky's Tour de France in numbers
Assuming Bradley Wiggins survives today's final mountain stage of the Tour de France without mishap, we'll almost certainly be celebrating Britain's first ever winner of the race come Sunday. It would be a huge achievement, and one that even the wildest optimist wouldn't have predicted just 18 months ago. If he wins, it won't just be due to the efforts of the eight team mates who began the race alongside him in Liege. A full supporting staff will also have played their role, and will have dealt with some mind-boggling numbers - can you picture what 3,000 bidons look like? Here, thanks to Team Sky sponsor IG Makets, are two infographics detailing the team's 2012 race in numbers.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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by tracking stolen bikes the police can uncover whole rings of illegal activity...
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Why π^π^π^π could be an integer (for all we know!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdHFLfv-ThQ
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Pretty cool to be fair. Insane money but pretty cool.
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Yeah, big man intimidating a woman and young child. Hopefully he does that to a full grown man who tells him to fuck off. Then again, I doubt he...
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I add 'in the style of Jilly cooper ' to prompts, as in 'write 10 cycle lane haiku in the style of Jilly cooper'. Never fails.
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Well, first the British came, now there aren't any Thylacines or indeed original Tasmanians in one sense...
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Clearly someone didn't respect his authoritaaa!
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Get a XOSS HR from Aliexpress, mine has been perfect. Practically identical to the Wahoo, but less than half the price and no proprietary cable!
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Close passes and PSPO restrictions, for extra reality.
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12 comments
Don't gel wrappers make a sticky mess. I always pocket mine when I use them unless there is a handy bin but they make a bloomin mess. Refillable mini bottles or tubes would be much better. Possibly. I try to carry a placky bag in a pocket to bin em in but lack the dexterity of pro riders. Or 8 year old kids for that matter. But then there really is no reason for me not to stop for 2 minutes to take care of business, I'm not trying t win a race. I think that having followed racing for so long it's just sort of programed in that I try to do everything on the move. Except toilet breaks and putting on/taking off gillet/jacket. I have studied the technique but it looks like a recipe for a macadam sarnie to me.
I've got a Lezyne snack pouch which sits on the top tube attached to the stem. I'm thinking that rather than store food there, I might keep the gels/bars in a jersey pocket and stash the used wrappers in the pouch. This way, I don't need pro-levels of no-handlebar riding skill to put the wrappers away without covering my phone/keys/rain jacket/other food with sticky goo!
Kesikerov was shown pocketing his gel wrappers on the last descent
Sky, like most (all?) teams at this level use biodegradable bottles.
In the roadbook, it's pointed out to riders that there are bins at the start and end of the feedzone for them to throw rubbish such as bidons and wrappers.
Outside that zone, they're supposed to stash rubbish in their pockets. Rrrrrrrrright.
Many riders will make a point of saving an empty bidon until they're passing a bunch of schoolkids.
If you're heading into the end of a sprint stage and passing through open countryside, it's pretty much throw it and never mind where it lands though.
BTW if you want to see a real sweeping operation in action, stick around the route of the London Marathon after most runners have passed. I used to live in Greenwich with one of the water stations nearby and it was amazing how quickly they cleaning crew came through and dealt with everything - thousands of empty bottles, other litter, even temporary road markings. Gone in the twinkling of an eye.
I think I heard one of the commentators say the bottles are biodegradeable too.
The Jaguar Team Car runs on Gatorade?
Must cost even more to run than the usual diesel version...
We definitely need a like button
There is a clean up team i think the day after, made up of volunteers, most bottles are picked up by spectators though - you often see riders throwing bottles to them anyway.
Mentioned on Eurosport yesterday that there is a broom wagon to pick up rubbish left by riders.
5 bikes each sounds a lot. Flat, mountain & TT I suppose. Rest day / rollers pre TT maybe. Is the other a pub bike?
More like 3 x Road bike (1 being ridden, 1 on each of the 2 cars each team has), then 2 x TT bike, 1 for the ride, 1 as spare on the car.
So that's over 300 bottles per rider then, or about 14 bottles per rider per day? Crikey.
I've always wondered is someone coming along behind the race picking up all the rubbish? Obviously fans collect some empty bottles but what about the rest?
45 bikes, 176 wheels and 3000 bottles? How do they fit it all into the trucks?