- BORA Hansgrohe are a new world tour team for 2017.
They've signed Peter Sagan for this year,
and they've got some very very snazzy-looking team trucks
and team buses.
Let's take a look inside the mechanic's truck.
(chill-out music)
So we're about two days out from the start
of the 2017 Giro in Sardinia which means
the mechanics are hard at work building new bikes,
making sure the existing bikes are good to go.
So high rate of activity.
Okay, so we've just stepped into
the BORA Hansgrohe team truck.
And slight change from the last team truck.
We've got loads of wheels up top on this side.
Then we've got the bikes racked up on the bottom
on both sides.
So BORA Hansgrohe are a Specialized team
which means they've got the S-Works Venge.
So I guess that's the bike preferred by the sprinters
or the guys who are gonna specialise in the flatter date.
Specialise, Specialized, get it?
And then, along this side, very organised,
we've got the Tarmacs, so the lighter bikes,
the ones that are going to be used
more by the climbing guys and probably the bike
that all of the riders will use on the hillier stages
here at the Giro Italia.
And could use as there are plenty of hilly stages.
So this is very cool.
Each of the bikes has got a USB power pack here
which then links out to that.
And then charges all of the Di2.
How many bikes are there?
21 on this side, say 15 on this side, 35 bikes-ish.
So I don't think they'll be carrying any
time trial bikes in this truck.
This is probably their road bike truck.
You can see there are rafts of Roval wheels up top here.
So we got the CLX 50s, mid-range wheels.
Probably use those 90% of days.
There are slightly more arrow ones back here,
the CLX 64s, 64mm in depth.
And then here, there are the lighter ones.
These are the CLX 32 Rapides.
So those are the days, those are the ones for
the smaller lighter guys who maybe are gonna get
blown around in crosswinds or the ones for everyone
when the going get really tough on the hills.
Right, I do need to correct myself.
A couple of minutes ago, I said there were
no time trial bikes on this truck.
There is one that I can see.
Two, sorry, two.
One here, one here, both of these are for the Giro.
They may need a bit of work doing.
One of them needs a new chain, that sort of thing.
But all standard stuff.
They have got a couple of different versions
of Specialized S-Works, turbo tyres.
So we've got the ones with the black sidewalls here
and the ones with the skinwall here.
So we've got, there's about 30 on this side
which probably means, I guess,
upwards of 50 on the other side.
So 40 or so pairs of (mumbles).
So moving back through, one thing that team tractors
really highlight is just the range of equipment
that different riders on the team are gonna use.
So here there are five bikes and there are
various different handlebars, various different
handlebar shapes, various different Specialized saddles,
different crank lengths I'm sure.
It just highlights the variety of riders
who can be very good cyclists.
It's a sport that can just accommodate
a huge range of talents.
So looking here, this is always one of my favourite
sections of tractors.
This is where all the gearing hangs out.
And we've got the whole range of cassettes.
We've got some massive ones here.
32s, 11-32, I should really get one of those
for my next hill climb because that would help
out quite a lot.
Probably down to like 11-25s here.
But I imagine 11-25 is about as small as they'll go now
with 11 speed.
We've got a range of chain rings up here too.
We've got the outer-rings, 55s.
I'm not familiar with that ever in personal use.
54s, 53s and then just the inner rings here.
So I'm guessing we've got anything with 34 right here.
That looks tiny, through to a 38, 39.
And then maybe slightly bigger ones here.
So 42s or 44s for the time trial bikes.
The mechanics have got the full laptop setup here.
So they'll use that just to tune any of the
Shimano DURA-ACE via Shimano's E-Tube app.
Got the speakers, we've got the vice,
probably used for cutting stereo tube
or clamping the stereo tube holder
and then cutting stereo tubes.
Up here, we've got the air line,
so pumping tyres and cleaning parts afterwards.
Very useful for that.
And tape, so we've got the grip tape.
So you will see on loads of time trial bikes
that the riders or even on certain kind of road bike
brake levers and stuff like that.
The riders will not use bar tape because it's
kind of chunky, and you don't really use the wings
of the handlebars that much in time trials.
They'll use this which is best grip with bare hands.
And cyclists have got pretty tough hands
just from all the hours in the saddle
holding onto the handlebars.
So it's not gonna gouge them too much.
Got a very neat use of a bottle cage
and a half-cut bottle cage.
That's the traditional Matt Stephens hack
that he talked about often.
We've also got the Velon data transmitters there.
So I think more data,
being able to see more data in a bike race is a cool thing.
Moving down, we've got the little drawers
where they'll keep all of the small parts
because the truck's so tiny.
So officially packed, there's not much room
for anywhere else.
So here, the works.
It's like a mini-bike shop.
Well, probably better stocked than many bike shops.
Down here, we've got bearings.
We've got brake pads.
Very cool.
I love stuff like this.
And in this one, we've got the DURA-ACE
kind of batteries, wires, that sort of thing.
In this one, fourth drawer out of five,
we've got the DURA-ACE levers.
Finally, last drawer.
Given that this is, I would say the untidy drawer,
on the BORA team mechanic's truck and it's still
tidier than most other team mechanic's floors.
This is incredible.
So you've got like each shrink-wrapped,
so this is where they kind of, it's all essential
but it's probably used less often
than all of the smaller parts up here.
Very cool.
Right, so, there we go.
A tour of the BORA Hansgrohe mechanic's truck.
I really enjoyed that.
I hope you did too.
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