- I'm at the Giro d'Italia and I've been lucky enough
to get access to the Bahrain Merida bus,
a team headed by Vincenzo Nibali,
two-time winner of the Giro, and of course,
he did win the tour in 2014.
I reckon it's about time we show you all
a behind the scenes look.
(GCN theme music)
And, before we get on though, sponsor Conti sported them out
with bus tires, as well as bike tires.
Woo, so as we walk on board, we're met by two seats.
This is number 1 seat and that's normally reserved
for the director sportif, so he knows where he's going,
he can chat to the bus driver and also the riders
if they need him. But, if a rider does well on a stage,
then he normally sits up here.
And, if you see in the tour or the Giro,
you've got the teddy bears or the flowers
decorating the front dashboard.
Then, you get on to the next seat, the most important seat
in the bus, and that is, of course, the bus drivers seat.
And on the front here, he's got the Garabaldi.
This is the Bible of the race,
and it's really got absolutely everything in,
from hotels, like there, to the stages,
basically anything you need to know, this will have it.
And, he's actually got two here,
so I'm guessing this is for the director sportif,
and that one over there is for the bus driver.
So, straight away, we're met by nine seats.
These are like first class seats in planes,
not that I've ever used one.
All right, I reckon I'll take a seat in Vincenzo Nibali's.
This is a place he will relax, chill out before the race,
and it's a safe haven for the riders to be able
to just, you know, prepare themselves
mentally and physically, ready for the race ahead.
Wow, it is incredibly comfortable,
It can lean back, swivel.
I'm trying to work out how to swivel it.
All right, you can cut that bit. (laughs)
And, you're basically able to just chill out
and prepare yourself mentally and physically for the race.
And, it's worth mentioning as well that over here
is kind of your tech box. You've got your iPad in there,
your charging, your radio mics,
and also Vincenzo's got his spare jersey there.
I don't know if it's cause he's looking forward
to getting on the podium, keeping it nice and clean.
So, we'll have to wait and see by the end of tomorrow.
They've got their wet bags up here.
And, if I pull out, let's say Pozzovivo's,
if it comes out. There we have it.
So, they're all labeled.
See, you've got jacket, vest, jersey, shorts.
Really important to have shoes and shoe covers,
just in case they kind of break a shoe mid-race
or, yeah, so they can swap them out nice and easily.
Shoes are actually a really personal thing,
so it's nice to keep as many spares as possible.
So, I just grabbed Pozzovivo's Scicon wet bag.
This lives in the back of the team car,
and it's labeled really nicely
which makes easily for the mechanic
to grab arm warmer, leg warmers,
or even a cape at short notice.
All right, put that back up there.
Let's move on, back to the middle of the bus.
Over here, we've got the sink.
Pretty self explanatory, but the riders have
to keep clean and hygiene is really important.
You don't want to spread viruses,
especially during a three week grand tour.
Cleaning product, everything is sparkling.
Moving on from the sink, we're on to the fridges.
Cool on the outside, and also cool on the inside.
Coke Zero and Lemon Soda and also water,
super key for hydration, especially in this
heat of Italy. Put those back.
On top, you've got an array of different cereal toppings,
nuts. What's this? More nuts, more nuts, rice cakes.
Over here, we've got TVs, two in fact of the bus.
And this is where the director can show the race palmares,
or even the directors can watch the race
as it's happening on there.
Moving back, my personal favorite,
we've got an espresso machine, a Rocket espresso machine.
Can I make coffee? I'm not very good
at barista skills, though. So, you've got Rocket Espresso.
Italians love their coffeee,
and I think all cyclist do, in fact.
So having a proper coffee machine
is imperative on a team bus.
Down here, microwave. Let's look inside these.
Look at that, what have we got here?
So, these are all the espresso pods,
not that you need to use them
because you've got your Rocket espresso there,
but I guess it's for just quick access.
Under here, you've got sugars, sweetners,
little plastic take-away espresso cups because
well, us Italians only have espresso.
So, think of it like a motorhome.
You've got the lounge area,
and then you've got the kitchen, the espresso machine,
and your fridges, and now we're on to the bathroom.
So, you've got two showers here.
You've got one there and one here.
They're not the biggest, space wise,
I mean, this is a bus. Pretty sizable.
And then, over here, we've got the loo, or toilet.
Interestingly, you've got urinal, ease, and then number two.
Sink, pretty stylish one at that.
I mean, that one looks better than
the one I've got in my house.
So, we've come to the back of the bus
where we've got loads of different areas of storage.
Let's have a look in here. Right, this is
where all the nutrition products are stored.
So, you've got the gels, you've got gel shots,
you got whey protein for recovery.
And, in here, you've got an array of different bars.
That is pretty well organized.
And, this is where the riders can come
to the back of the bus before the stage
and grab a handful of products like that
to put in their back pockets.
Moving right to the back. Oh, they've left me a hat.
I'll be a Bahrain supporter for the day.
Super nice, comfortable area where you can
just relax in the back of the bus.
It's actually a really nice area to be in.
You've got another TV, so you've got three TVs in total.
And, in here, I'm pretty sure, these are radios.
Yes, I'm right.
Radios also really important part of the races
so the DS's can talk to the riders during the race.
And also, the radios for the buses
and all the team vehicles.
If we look behind the seats, we've got umbrellas,
which will maybe needed for tomorrow.
But, over here, I've just spotted,
Vincenzo Nibali's own book, All About the Shark.
Do you reckon he reads this, or is he giving it to someone?
As the riders start to get on the bus,
I better get off the bus.
Thank you so much Bahrain Merida
for letting us come aboard your bus.
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