- One of the few trucks which we have yet to do a tour of
at the world tour level is that of AG2R La Mondiale,
the French world tour squad, which homes Romain Bardet,
third this year and second last year at the Tour de France.
So let's take a look inside.
Right, starting from the back there,
this is where all of the bikes are racked.
You'll notice that a lot of the bikes are stacked outside,
the first team bikes,
they will be just placed here
when the truck is closed up at night.
And these, the spare ones, as I said,
racked all the way along here,
with the Di2 chargers there to
charge all of the Shimano electronics.
On the other side,
we've got here the start of the rack of wheels.
Going in depth order, quite like that,
from the deepest Cosmics here at the top,
around about 60 millimetres,
down to the medium versions then,
the climbing Ksyrium wheels down here at the bottom,
which don't look like they're used too much these days,
because there's no cassettes on any of
them along the bottom as far as I can see.
Right in the back, there are a
whole load of spare Continental tubular tyres.
I think they're ready to go on the wheels.
These are, presumably,
the punctured ones that the team has had so far.
And then we start looking through the drawers.
Now then this one consists mainly of
different plugs and chargers, etc, but also,
importantly, spare mounts for the roof rack
on top of the team cars where the bikes are clamped on.
Further on down, spare TT and seat posts.
Spares saddle and seatpost, for the TT bike.
Dura-Ace rear mechs, in fact this an Ultegra one,
but complete with ceramic speed hangers.
Spare pads, an armrest for the TT bike,
we've also got bottle cages
in here for the time trial bikes.
Yeah, materials contre la montre,
which is time trial-specific stuff,
so that is that drawer.
OK.
Guidon and selle, so spare saddles and bar tape in here.
I have to say, I'm a sucker for the colours
that they've chosen for the Factor bikes and
also for these nice Fi'zi:k saddles.
Really nice, the turquoise and white there.
They've got the time trial-specific Fi'zi:k saddles here,
with the cut-off nose that you can
get in a good position quite comfortably.
And a whole load of Fi'zi:k bar tape.
White and black further on down here.
And one spare seat post,
a Fi'zi:k Arione saddle for a road bike.
And some Mavic stickers for the disc wheels.
And this one looks like a lot of spare chain rings.
Yep.
A whole load of different Shimano Dura-Ace chain rings.
And this is a compact one,
interestingly, 52 by 36.
Even the pros occasionally do require compact chain rings
in order to get up the climb comfortably.
At a decent cadence.
Let's see if there's anything more underneath here.
I've got some spare handlebars, there's so many chain rings,
I've never seen so many in one place.
And then, what's this?
This is stuff that they put on the bikes to stop
the cables from rubbing the paint away on the frame.
This next drawer, again, full of Shimano spares.
We've got a whole load of cassettes here.
Interestingly,
quite a few Ultegra cassettes in this particular drawer.
Batteries for Di2.
A whole load of different cables, etc,
in this box, as well.
And then what have we got over here?
CeramicSpeed stuff.
So, all of the CeramicSpeed bottom brackets
in that particular box.
And in the last one here, we've got chains.
Again, mix of Shimano Dura-Ace and Ultegra.
This is something that every mechanics truck will have.
So they're scales, these ones from Park Tools,
very important to make sure that their bikes meet
the UCI's minimum weight requirements of 6.8kg,
'cause I know that the Factors do come in under that if
they're not careful, so they do have to add some weight.
Next drawer down.
Loads of nuts and bolts.
And this is the cable housing, isn't it?
So you can put two sets of cables rather neatly together.
We've seen that on a few of the
pro bikes over the last few years.
Spare inner cables, there.
A few bottle cages from their sponsor, Elite.
CeramicSpeed stickers.
Another hanger.
And then there is the all-important tubular glue,
which they will paint to the rims
before they put the tubular tyres on.
I do like the hidden trap doors in the floor.
This one houses a whole load of different Elite
bottle cages, including the all-important polka-dot ones,
just in case anyone at the Tour de France
was wearing a polka-dot jersey.
Nice little touches
Spare pedals in the next trap door.
Further on down, we have got the Mavic disc wheels,
of course for the time trial bikes,
and some more Cosmic wheels, medium dish,
or medium depth, should I say just there.
Inside this cupboard,
nothing too much, but note, a pair of wellies.
Always important when you're spraying your bikes,
that you don't get your feet all wet.
Couple of aprons there, as well.
I do like the compressors that they
have in the pro teams' workshops.
This one is, of course,
for the tyres and blown up a bit easier than a normal pump.
But this one, this here, is for drying the chain off,
and other parts of the bike, after they've cleaned them.
(air blows)
And the final drawer here, it feels very heavy,
packed full of cleaning products.
Morgan Blue, I believe, is the sponsor of the team,
so they've got plenty of lubricant there, as well.
Up here is where they've got all the spare cassettes
from 11-32 for the big mountains,
all the way down to 11-25, the closest ratio,
which actually we saw on Romain Bardet's
time trial bike a little bit earlier on today.
Down to the drawers.
Oh, they're locked.
Oh, no.
Not locked, I just can't figure out how to get them open.
Right, up here in the top, a whole load
of crimping pieces for cable ends there.
Not sure what that is.
I'm sure somebody would be able to tell us.
Oh, a digital multimeter.
(drawer shuts)
Spare Mavic brake shoes and brake pads in this drawer.
Loads of quick-release spares.
Further on down, we have in here,
ah, chain keepers.
See Si!
Important tools for all pro mechanics,
these are the Park Tool chain keepers.
Tempted to nick one, actually, I must admit.
And tape.
You really cant' get too much tape as a pro team mechanic.
Comes in handy for all sorts of problems.
If you're wondering why there are
a whole load of toe straps just here,
they're not fitting to go into an
old-fashioned pedal system, but instead,
those are what secure the wheels onto
the roof racks of the team car.
And here is their all-important
accreditation so they can get around.
And what they call pretty much the
bible when you're at a bike race.
This is for the Vuelta of course.
All the maps, all the stages, all the stage routes.
Everything you need to know.
And then finally, before we head out
into the front of the truck,
this is Romain Bardet's spare Factor O2 road bike frame.
Written on the top, "Take the risk or lose the chance."
I do like that motto.
And onto kitchen area,
which is used by the soigneurs,
and to our left, immediately,
what looks like a load of old washing machines,
this is actually where they store all the bidons, or bottles
I'm not sure where they've got the tops for them,
but I'm sure they've got them stored somewhere.
Maybe...
Nope, it's just a load of
main parts of the bidon.
The all-important washing machine and dryer,
which does all of the riders'
kits after each and every race,
that'll be delivered back to them the next morning,
or even sometimes, the evening of the stage.
A printer in there.
Logistics stuff, by the looks of it.
In this one, a lot of condiments, pasta, rice,
a lot of things that the riders will eat immediately
after stages once they've had their recovery drinks.
A map of the race.
La Vuelta España.
Pan au Lait.
Used to love having them when I was an amateur in France.
Kind of sweet, soft bread, and sometimes
they'll have them actually in the race,
filled with jam or honey or even Nutella sometimes,
that's a real treat.
In the sink here, all of the
time trial bottles ready to be cleaned.
They would have been training out on their
TT bikes as we're filming this just a
couple of days before the start of the World Tour,
which kicks off with a team time trial.
In here, cling film, aluminium foil, some kitchen utensils.
Further down, the all-important olive oil.
Oh, no it's not!
Syrup de foix, again,
something that I had quite a lot of as an amateur.
A lot of the amateur teams back in France actually
use that instead of energy drinks for the races.
I'll finish with the fridge/freezer.
Up here, in the fridge, lots of fresh tomato, mozzarella.
Some jambon, as well.
And some cheeky little cans of Cokes there at the bottom.
They've got a lot of bottles of water in the freezer,
that's simply to put into the cool boxes,
filled with bidons that are put into the
back of the team cars during the races.
Right, well thank you very much to the
AG2R team for letting us have a look around their truck.
If you haven't subscribed to Global Cycling Network,
you can do so now by clicking on the globe,
which will be on the screen.
If you've enjoyed this video,
please give it a thumbs-up down below.
There's a couple more videos,
which you might want to watch right now.
A couple of years ago, at this very race,
Matt took a look around the AG2R team bus,
you can find that in the bottom corner just down here.
Or, if you'd like to take a closer look at
Romain Bardet's Factor bike, that video is just down here.