For my money, Astana have got the coolest bus in the pro peloton. Now it might be turquoise,
it might not be called 'the death star' like Sky Procycling's team bus, but it does have
the only spoiler of any team bus in the pro peloton. Now that clearly is an important performance
advantage when the team hits the mountains! Let's go see inside.
Up here obviously is the bus driver's zone. There's also a little seat down there where
often you'll find a member of staff sat there but also, I've heard that there are a few
pros who actually really like sitting down there and it's their special treat if they've
done well in a race to sit up there. Now I forget which pro it was, I think Paolo Bettini
perhaps. It was his present for winning the World Championships, where he not only got
to sit there, but he actually got to drive the bus home.
Clearly the obligatory sat-nav there is often set so that the buses don't have to go through
the finish line, which is obviously a bit of a bonus (!)
We've got seats for nine riders. Grand Tours need nine man teams, so everyone has a seat.
Moving further back, this is like the prep zone for races. So what the guys will do is
they'll sit here when they're getting radioed up, when they're getting embrocation put on
their legs - particularly important in the early season spring classics.
Now you can see obviously the radios are charging up after a day's use, that happens every single
day, religiously. In here the soigneurs can put all their stuff out in the morning.
Here you've got a selection of energy products for the riders, we've got Science In Sport
gels, energy bars. That's all nicely put away. Underneath is a particularly important drawer.
These are all the bandages and wound cleaning things so for something like the Tour de France,
especially the first week, unfortunately that is going to get a lot of use.
Further back we've got the kitchen area. Again, this is for the soigneurs really, but this
is incredibly important. This is the coffee machine, which gets absolutely hammered every
day. Let's see what they've got: Cafe Italy, nice.
Over here they've got the fridge, obviously. This, I've been told by the team, is particularly
good. San Pellegrino Chino, which is nice. They also have a Kazakhstan apple juice sponsor,
so that's in there as well, apparently that's cracking stuff.
Now, further back we've got the changing area. Slightly weirdly, it's a three-man shower.
Apparently only one at a time, but there you go, three showers. Toilet in there, no word
on how many toilets are in there, hopefully just one!
Then, further back, this is the chillout zone. This is where often the team leader can come
and escape things. So in the Giro d'Italia for example, when Vincenzo Nibali was in the
pink jersey, this was kind of his space where he was cordoned off from the press just so he
could come and relax. We can obviously see the paraphernalia from the team time trial
here. Everyone's aero helmets are still out here. There's another TV in here. Apparently
at the moment during the Tour de France, Janez Brajkovic comes in here, listens to some chillout
music. So this is very much like the sanctuary of the bus.
Now, under here - this is where the team stores a lot of their stuff for the stage starts.
For example to keep the fans away, particularly important for somewhere like the Giro d'Italia
for example, where the buses are open to the public, these obviously will create a temporary
fence. Then there's also plastic screens in here that they can pull out for time trial
stages in particular, they've got all their chairs. And this little beauty is the bus
driver's own personal bike, lucky chap, he gets to bring that with him. They can store
team bikes under here, you can see there's a rack there but at the moment for a grand
tour they don't need to do that. But for smaller races they definitely will.
On this side of the bus, there's all the utilities, so we've obviously got the drier and the washer.
Some teams put this in their team truck but Astana have got it in their bus. Further back,
we've got the water heater for the showers, and then obviously the waste water and the
fresh water. Under there, there's more plumbing than in my entire house I think actually!