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news
Team Sky bus, Giro 2011 (copyright Simon MacMichael)Video: On board the Death Star… The Sky Pro Cycling Team Bus
Remember when Team Sky first launched amid all the talk of ants and chimps there was also much made of the the British super-team's secret weapon… their team bus. What with its special seats, cinema, showers and sound system all aimed at cocooning the riders in the best pre and post race environment to make sure even the most marginal of potential gains were aggregated. It's big and it's black and on the circuit they call it the Death Star… even Team Sky seem to call it that (which suggests they haven't been watching Star Wars on in onboard cinema.
People don't talk about the bus much any more which is odd because it seems to have been doing it's job and if you see it at a race it's a very impressive piece of kit indeed - even parked up next to all the other team buses at the Tour.
Fancy a look inside? Come on then let's hop aboard and marvel at just how many energy bars you can fit in cupboard (and that's just the pre-race nutrition apparently), the showers the cinema… and just how flippin' loud those seats are, and most impressive of alll the way they can make the glass in the meeting room go frosted at the touch of a button. Our guide (and it's big enough to need a guide) is ex-Team Sky rider, Dario Cioni - now the on of Sky Pro-Cycling's business manager in Italy.
Take it away Dario…
road.cc's founder and first editor, nowadays to be found riding a spreadsheet. Tony's journey in cycling media started in 1997 as production editor and then deputy editor of Total Bike, acting editor of Total Mountain Bike and then seven years as editor of Cycling Plus. He launched his first cycling website - the Cycling Plus Forum at the turn of the century. In 2006 he left C+ to head up the launch team for Bike Radar which he edited until 2008, when he co-launched the multi-award winning road.cc - finally handing on the reins in 2021 to Jack Sexty. His favourite ride is his ‘commute’ - which he does most days inc weekends and he’s been cycle-commuting since 1994. His favourite bikes are titanium and have disc brakes, though he'd like to own a carbon bike one day.
Latest Comments
- rogerwb 5 sec ago
Jump off the bike and run across. I cycle in trainers though.
- momove 1 hour 3 min ago
Cheers for the lesson! Wasn't expecting one so was pleasantly surprised, especially getting to find the origin of "laconic"!
- ktache 1 hour 49 min ago
Isn't it a rights issue?
- Mikezerodown 2 hours 33 min ago
They were before change all systems, then went downhill due to bad adminstration aka CEO who agree to proceed with the worst system I have seen...
- AidanR 2 hours 40 min ago
Same here - it took me by surprise. 10:30am doesn't feel like a dangerous time to cycle; apparently I'm wrong on that.
- Daddy Feebs 2 hours 53 min ago
If anything, it looks a bit like an SL6
- wtjs 3 hours 29 min ago
Other commenters have different views True!
- Daclu Trelub 3 hours 44 min ago
Incredibly bone-headed.
- Sriracha 5 hours 46 min ago
Lidl have a window poster emblazoned, "Black Friday. Starts Sunday".
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11 comments
love the rice cooker - I think we bought the same one from Robert Dyas for a tenner. No expense spared...
At the TOB last year it was funny seeing 200 people crowded around the bus. It reminded me of The Life of Brian. I expected Brailsford to appear in the doorway and say "He's not coming out. And he's not the Messiah - he's a very naughty boy.' Meanwhile 20 yards away future stars in the BC youth squad were sitting in chairs by their minibus trying to change with towels over their laps whilst their manager Chris Newton - yep that Chris Newton - picked their kit out of puddles for them.
Whilst tit might seem a bit harsh, you can bet that all the Sky Stormtroopers have been through that stage earlier in their careers- almost a "rite of passage" before you reach the world of luxury team coaches.
"Here's the hydration centre." aka the fridge.
Presumably they have more than Death Star? if not, was it at Tirreno-Adriatico, or Paris-Nice? If they only have one, how do they decide which race to send it to and what do they give the other team?
I'm pretty sure there are 2 Death Stars, so there would have been buses at Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico.
I can assure you; they are fully operational.
Even better in the flesh. Can't believe I got so excited about sitting on a *bus*
Assuming it's the same bus they had in 2010, it nearly knocked my off my bike whilst I was riding back from the Tour of Britain stage ending in Teignmouth.
It would have been quite ironic I suppose. I still wonder if I'd have they'd have given me some free goodies if they'd have hospitalised me
I'd rather have the team bus than a Pinarello bike!!
And we all know what happened to the Death Star, a couple of rebel fighters got through yesterday...
I could quite happily live in that bus. When did Dario become Nordic?