- It's been almost three years
since we took a look at Lotto-Soudal's team bus,
and since they've got a new bus for 2017,
it's time for a new GCN bus tour.
Let's go on inside.
Now, the overall dimensions of the bus on the exterior
are exactly the same as its predecessor.
It's even got the same engine size and power,
though apparantly it is more environmentally friendly.
Interior, though, is slightly different to the previous bus.
First of all, they are much more on brand
with the seat colours, which were green before, strangely,
but are now a kinda Lotto-Soudal red.
More on those chairs later.
But apparently the thing that the riders like most
that is different from the previous bus to this one
is this brand new widescreen, flat screen Samsung TV.
What I do really like, though, is that Mario,
their bus driver, he's a very cool guy indeed.
He still has a proper old-school map
that you can hold in your hand, in the days of sat navs,
which everyone relies on to get around.
He still likes to have a map just in case
he needs to get those last few directions.
Right, let's talk a bit more about these seats then
because as well as them being different colours,
they now have the ability to swivel,
although to be honest, it's the first time I've sat in them.
There we go.
So, for team meetings you can be sat facing each other,
and then when you're travelling, you can sit forward,
and they also recline as well,
so you can have a nice rest when you're on the bus.
But this is a very nice feature for me,
personalised parts here with names of the rider on,
so Lars Bak, Tiesj Benoot, Andre Grelpel sits just here.
He's, of course, their big sprinter.
And they weren't cheap according to the bus driver.
I won't quote the numbers in terms
of price for these things, but he thinks
they're worth it, and so do I.
As you can see, the riders do leave quite a lot
of their stuff on the bus between stages,
mainly their helmets and shoes.
Lazer have provided them with a brand new aero helmet
called the Bullet here for the 2017 Tour de France.
This is the seat, as you can see, of Jurgen Roelandts,
and what I particularly like are
his custom Belgian flag insoles.
These are by BORGinsole.
He is a former national champion of Belgium,
so he does have the right to put these inside his shoes.
And, as you can see, a selection of Lazer glasses
and shades as well for different
weather conditions throughout the race.
Right, if we head a bit further back,
one thing that is very important for riders in 2017
is the ability to charge all of their devices.
So, there are loads of charging ports throughout the bus,
including USB-specific ones, which always come in handy.
But coming up is one of my favourite bits
because I do like a nutrition cupboard.
And if we lift this up,
you'll see everything they pretty much need
to get through stages of the Tour de France.
They are sponsored by SANAS,
which is a Belgian nutritional company.
But what I do quite like is these
old-school pates de fruits,
something that you can quite often buy in France,
which riders used to use in the olden days,
but obviously some of them still like to use that now.
This, I seem to remember, was the
door I couldn't shut last time on the Lotto-Soudal bus.
Full of soft drinks, as you can see.
Riders do like to consume them immediately
after the stages just for a bit of refreshment.
They have recovery drinks as well, of course.
I've got it shut this time.
Down here, more, got Aquarius, some water,
cheeky little cans of Coke in there as well.
Next up, I think last time
I cheekily took a Lotto-Soudal cap
and lots of you didn't like it.
How's that look?
Keep it on? Yeah.
So, I should wear one for the
remainder of the tour of this bus.
But I shall put it back afterwards, don't fear.
Also got musette bags in there.
Now, over here, is lots of information about nutrition,
so on this part, you've got all the information
about what is contained in their energy bars
and gels and drinks, et cetera.
Here are all the riders' names from the Tour de France
plus what they want to have as their
recovery immediately after the stage.
I quite like this bit, different nutritional strategies
for different types of races.
So, Short Stage Time Trial, One Day classic,
Stage Race , Easy Training, etc,
and it gives some information for the riders
as to what they should be consuming
before, during, and after.
One thing I did forget to mention and show you is this.
These are the race radios, which give the riders
communication with their team car behind.
Very neatly stored up here on the brand new bus.
Adam Hansen did forget to bring his specially modified
lightweight version of the radio
to the Tour de France this year.
He left it on his kitchen table so nine of the same.
These hanging on the back of the seat meanwhile,
these are the earpieces, so you plug
this into the race radio itself.
That sits in your ear as you're riding along,
and this is the microphone.
So you just press this button and you're in communication
with your teammates and also with the team car behind.
I'm dropped, I'm dropped.
Toilet, always important to riders who do
quite often get nervous before races.
This thing probably sees plenty
of action throughout the season.
Oh it's a sliding door, trying to push it.
We won't spend too long in there,
fan automatically comes on, does its best
to get rid of the scent of the riders.
What I do quite like is that if you don't
want to experience the scent of the riders
before the race, and you only need a wee,
they've got a urinal.
Not much room in there.
We don't want to put too much weight on.
Nowhere to wash your hands.
Let's have a look at these drawers
under the recovery shakes.
Top one is full of race radio spares.
I'm not entirely sure what those
little bits there are.
Further down we have loads more energy bars.
Loads of pins here, very important, actually,
for riders to have pins, because often
the race organisers don't provide you
with pins to put your numbers on,
so it's always handy to have spares.
They also got loads of wipes to keep
the lenses clean on their sunglasses.
And this is something I've never seen before.
Hand warmers, presumably for emergencies
in very cold, at spring classic races.
I'd like to try them myself actually,
on a cold day out on the bike.
So in here we have pistachios, muesli,
porridge or oatmeal for those of you in the US,
and plastic cutlery, knives, forks, plates, et cetera.
But here, have a look at this one.
All sorts going on here, we've got rice cakes,
the riders do like a little treat every now and again
so they've got nougat here cut up into small pieces.
We've got kind of cola bottles, harry bow,
nuts and seeds in that one.
Here's something I've not seen in quite
this kind of format before, quite large pieces
of dried vegetables, carrot, green beans, et cetera.
And more nuts in the back there.
I wonder who's got a harry bow fetish.
My bet is Marcel Sieberg.
Okay, moving a bit further down,
the all important coffee machine.
Every single pro tour bus will have
a coffee machine on it, the riders like
to have at least a couple in general
before they start the stages.
Where do they go up to?
I've done that one.
Here, loads of towels for the riders to use
after they've had the shower, which we will show you
in a few moments time, there we go, got some custom ones.
Right, up here above the coffee machine,
oh these are all the coffee capsules,
so we've got espresso there, americano on the other side.
Sugar, stirrers, et cetera.
And the last of the cupboards up at the top,
tea, more coffee pods it looks like there,
and some cups, et cetera.
Alright, on the other side here then
we have got the showers.
I've been told by Mario that they are slightly smaller,
I can't do this, it's only a curtain.
Definitely that way.
I can't wait for the comments under this.
Yeah, slightly smaller showers than the previous one,
so still enough room, it is fairly cosy in here.
Pull that across, okay I think we've finished
except for this part at the back
where as you can see there are two beds
for the riders to lie on, of course.
I understand they don't use this part
particularly much unless there's some very long
transfers when sometimes the younger riders
like to get a bit more sleep before
they even get to the next hotel.
The all important scales down here on the floor,
they're for weighing the riders of course,
tell you something very obvious.
Over here, we got lots of first aid
materials here for when riders have crashed and their wounds
need dressing, et cetera, and down here
we've got some warm up cream, not sure what that is.
ORS orange, power, power, power, power,
that sounds exactly what I need.
Sun cream down there at the bottom.
Further along we have the fridge.
Don't think there's too much in there at the moment.
Plenty of milk and chocolate milk.
Can't see any actual chocolate though,
that's a bit of a disappointment.
The reason though that the showers are slightly smaller
than on the previous bus is apparently because
of this brand new microwave which they have installed here.
Above it they have got all of this electronic
paraphernalia to control various parts of the sound system
and the TV and the rest of the bus.
So that is the brand new 2017 bus that Lotto-Soudal
will be using for all of the major races.
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you can do so by clicking on the globe.
Next up, a couple of videos you might
be interested in though.
One is with this man, Adam Hansen, who's gonna spend
an enormous amount of time on this bus.
He is Mr. Grand Tours, they might as well
have etched it in to the actual seat
rather than giving him this extra leather piece.
He did a suitcase tour with us at the Tour de France
in 2016, you can find that by clicking just down here.
Meanwhile, if you would like to see how much
difference motos make at bike races
in terms of slick streaming and drafting,
we did some investigations which you
can find just down here.
Putting it back.