- You hear an awful lot about team buses.
They ferry the riders around to stage starts
and from stage finishes, in absolute luxury.
And there's an air of mystique about them.
But, I think even cooler than a team bus is a team truck.
It's the home of the mechanics;
it's the home of the soigneurs,
and this is why they're so good.
(upbeat techno swing)
Reason number one: inside each truck
you can find about 50 bikes.
So each team will have about 18 time trial bikes,
so one for each rider, plus one spare for each rider.
And then, they'll have three normal road bikes as well.
Mechanics' trucks aren't just great because
they are the best bike shops you've ever been in, times 10.
They've also got a laundrette attached.
Come and have a look.
So in here, it's got a little kitchen area for food prep,
but then, washer-dryers.
And what is even better than having washer-dryers
is that when you're a pro cyclist,
someone does your washing for you.
Doesn't get better than that, does it?
Now as well as not having to do your own washing,
you also don't have to worry about feeding yourself
as a pro cyclist.
In fact, every single water bottle will be made for you,
naturally.
And so here we are in the AG2R La Mondiale team truck.
And you can see we've got a stash of water bottles;
that's just a fraction of the amount of water bottles
that will be given to the riders, and then, conversely,
handed out to spectators on the roadside.
Literally hundreds and hundreds.
Now the Bora-Hansgrohe truck is yet another example
of why team trucks are amazing.
If you were to break anything on your bike,
including the frame, they can fix it.
In fact, they can fix it many times over.
Because in here we have 15 complete Dura-Ace groupsets,
at least, even more chains, 50 gear cables and brake cables,
and then, if you come down,
these tubular tyres down in there, that's just a snapshot.
They've got 100 spare tyres kicking around.
That is an awful lot of stuff.
And then, not even on my list already,
but I couldn't help but notice, look at these.
I've never seen those before.
Now, most of us have one pair of wheels at our disposal.
But imagine having 70 pairs of wheels at your disposal.
You could have a super light pair of wheels
for climbing stages, such as Zipp 202s.
Or, maybe if it's a little bit windy,
you could ride a Zipp 303.
Or then when you want to go faster, you can use a 454.
And then when you're going super fast, you can use an 808.
Literally something for every single condition
out on the road.
Now as well as having every spare part under the sun
inside the team trucks, and multiple versions of them,
any budding mechanic is going to get excited
at the tools inside the team trucks.
Of course, you can't fix bikes
unless you've got the appropriate tools.
So in this case, at BMC Racing, the team use Park tools,
and each mechanic has their own special tool box,
personalised in fact.
Look, you can see there.
And in there they've got just about every tool
that they could need in order to fix their bikes.
Everything from internal cable-routing sets,
to random spare parts, cable cutters,
and look, even Matt will be happy with that.
There's a hammer in there as well.
- Matt can tap it. (hammer tapping)
- Seem to be going in, to be honest with you.
- Have I convinced you that team trucks
are cooler than team buses?
Let us know in the comments section down below this video.
And give it a thumbs up if you, like me,
think team trucks are great.
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Some absolutely mega team trucks there and there.