Jussi Veikkanen, a very solid professional during his career. Good to see him still heavily involved with the team he rode professionally with for so long
And of course, thank you Ray and Team FDJ for letting us have this opportunity to peek into this rare team car moments. Somehow I found this really entertaining!
As an America who never have seen cycling live except for a handful Tour de France stages and find this sport extremely interesting with all the little advantages they are searching for, even still if it’s just a small gain. If it’s available, they’re gonna take it. I have much respect for how the pros are the best at exploiting flaws in the rule book. With all the cars and motorcycles wizzing around it what at 1st seems random and dysfunctional but is probably more of a controlled chaos and it’s just a crazy element to have involved in a pro sport.
Can’t believe there aren’t more incidents with team cars and the cyclist. It's full on at times.... Appreciate the effort, as great VLOG. Hope you enjoyed your white knuckle ride at times.
I enjoyed that. I also got to ride in a team car (but had to pay to do it). In the 2009 TdF stage 18, an ITT, I had a front seat in the Agritubel car following Christophe Moreau (who ended up finishing eighth on the stage). Much shorter than a road stage, but still pretty exciting.
Anton Peterson it's very common, they all exchange favours and do deals on the road. When they don't you suffer the wrath of others. It's part of an unwritten code of ethics or honor.
Looks like they use the bottle exchange to get a pretty strong pull from the car. Rider grabs the bottle underhanded, then you clearly see him flexing his muscles and he gets a nice pull to propel forward....
Most teams do to some level. What's interesting is the race official was watching all the bottle exchanges very closely. You see him on the moto in yellow in a few cases when I pan to the front. But even some non-stopping mechanical ones we had an official next to us.
In that heat I would imagine they would allow the water to flow, pun intended, as you wouldn’t want any issues with riders collapsing from lack of water.
The bike Antoine changed to was a lightweight, and the one he started on was the aero one, i may think thats why they wanted him back one the first one?
Daniel Fava it is most likely not a bike suitable for him but for his team captain or another important rider of his team with the same general body measurements.
Bradley Temperley I know :) but they actually sell these cars after the Australian races so Subaru recovers some money back and because after 3 major races in January and February, there is no need for these team cars. So they are just standard with stickers and the roof racks too are returned to the sponsoring supplier :)
LOL. You don't really understand pro cycling do you? Its like saying 'immmm....why does this ferrari F1 car always have mechanical problems, its supposed to be the best of the best' Fucling idiot.
I agree, the best gear in the world, best mechanics in the world and they need cars following them everywhere to fix every problem, even in F1 which is actually pure prototype vehicles they must get back to the pits, any assistance and they are disqualified. I realise this is allowed in pro cycling and these are the rules they work too, but hey, I do believe a cycling race is about the rider AND the bike. Therefore the bike must also stay together to carry the rider over the line. I personally would like to see the end of these cars, instead have stop areas every ‘so many kays’ and only allow tyres/wheels delivered to riders who flat (not the mechanics or riders fault) all other problem need to be fixed at the pit areas.
Valküre agreed, but my point is, it should be made to offer some level of reliability, at least to complete the said course. In F1 they test the engine to be driven around each course, simulated on a bench. So they are somewhat confident the equipment is designed for the task. I believe mechanicals are part of racing, if you break down, the equipment or mechanic hasn’t done its job, allowing a better prepared bike to win. It then becomes a team win, not just a rider win. I realise this is not the rules, but i would prefer to see it more about the bike than it is currently
Are you blind? The problem is the radio, not the bike. The only regular problems they have with bikes are flat tyres. Your analogy with a pit lane in F1 is just fucking nonsensical. If there is a issue with the actual bike itself, it tends to be after a crash. God, you morons really don't understand cycling do you?
A lot of misconceptions in the comments about what the rider holding onto the car is accomplishing. No, it's not TECHNICALLY legal to hold on to a team car, but if you have a mechanical etc., and are simply holding on to maintain pace while talking to the mechanic, then the officials don't flag you. If, on the other hand, you were holding on the car to gain a distinct advantage, you'd be called out. The reason the officials allow it is to keep riders in the actual race despite small mechanical issues.
That particular rider is actually Canadian, though from Quebec so certainly capable of French. They spoke French more often than English. Perhaps because the mechanic out of the window was Australian (local actually), they did English to make it easier for him. I believe he understood French, but I actually didn’t ask. Note that the majority of radio announcements you hear in background start in English, but then are given in French and Italian too. These are all race vehicle wide, and not team specific.
Guessing holding onto the vehicle is not classed as cheating, also the driver not focusing on actually driving is pretty dangerous, probably why there's always accidents on tours
DigiKunt i would guess usually if the guy on the passanger seat is a team member who knows what to do he would maybe do more of what the driver did in the video
wow, shouldn't the spare bike have the exact same geometry as the race bike. looks quite amateurish if you ask me. anyways awesome that they gave you the oportunity to sit in the teamcar, great vlog!
Thanks DC for the coverage, but this hanging out of cars stuff, I don’t agree with. They talk about safety in cycling, disc brakes, hot weather, etc, but allow people to hang on to cars, hang out windows, no seatbelts, etc, whilst the rest of us doing anything approaching this type of behaviour, would have people outraged and the police throwing the book at us. I love cycling but don’t like these double standards pro cycling set for the audience.
This doesn't happen under normal circumstances. The roads are blocked and only riders and team cars are allowed to be there. Also, They drive around 40 km/h while hanging out of the window, which isn't as fast as one usually would go.
X. Chen I understand they are going slower, and the roads aren’t actually blocked, it is just from the front rider to the last, so a rolling closed road. This may be true, BUT once you drive on a public road in Australia you need to wear a seatbelt, if you get caught, even at 30-40km/ph then the fine is $400 for the person without the seatbelt and $400 for the driver. Also you loose points, if it is a long weekend it is double money double points + they could fine you for having a part of your body outside the confines of the vehicle. And if you do fall out of the car, even at 30-40km/ph, you would land on your head or collarbone, with no helmet on. But we make riders wear helmets in the peloton at these speeds. You can water it down all you like, but under Australian law this is not okay if it was outside of this cycling format. A cop would throw the book at you. Plus it is dangerous. If you fell directly on you head it would cause considerable damage to you, and your legs could still be hooked up on the car, so you wouldn’t roll to a stop. This is a hell lot more dangerous than disc brakes, for sure. I personally don’t believe it should be allowed and cars supporting the peloton should still abide to the law of the land.
Wayne ... FFS ... it's not a public road ... the stage is technically run on a closed road and so it able to run with certain dispensations ... if you were to hang out of a window while driving down your local highway then, yeah, the police will throw the book at you .... the TDU as well as other events held on public roads eg. Targa Tasmania, wont be subject to these rules while the stage is CLOSED ... you'll note that cars were driving on the 'wrong' side of the road which would be kinda tricky if the stage were opened to public traffic .... I don't know if your post is taking the piss or whether you're serious ... if the latter, I suggest you change your medication. ... as for obeying the law of the land.... man... you're one seriously sad MF.
Daz Mate, how about I hold your legs while you hang out of car, ask the driver to do 40-50km/ph. Then I let go of you. That’s pretty safe. That is potentially what could happen. But not wearing a helmet or using disc brakes is dangerous. It is the comparison of risk I am pointing out. Weather it is a closed road makes no difference to all the things I have referenced and how safe/or how risky it is. Do you see my point? One day a mechanic is going to get seriously hurt, then everyone will throw their arms in the air! Oh we shouldn’t allow this it is dangerous. P.S. Lets just say a mechanic did fall out of a car and was seriously hurt. The law measures safety and risk by what is reasonable. If it is reasonable to ask people to wear their seatbelt and remain in the confines of the car. Then the court will find the organiser failed to provide a safe environment for the competitors, support personal and the public. So they prosecute the organisation organising the event, and will most probably win. I don’t know how it is in your part of the world, but in Australia that is how it works.
Jussi Veikkanen, a very solid professional during his career. Good to see him still heavily involved with the team he rode professionally with for so long
Very generous of Team FDJ..how did you manage to persuade them to let you ride-along??
Funny enough, the team manager is a DCR reader. :)
That means the team manager is legit!
And of course, thank you Ray and Team FDJ for letting us have this opportunity to peek into this rare team car moments. Somehow I found this really entertaining!
Robert Muckle ii
As an America who never have seen cycling live except for a handful Tour de France stages and find this sport extremely interesting with all the little advantages they are searching for, even still if it’s just a small gain. If it’s available, they’re gonna take it. I have much respect for how the pros are the best at exploiting flaws in the rule book. With all the cars and motorcycles wizzing around it what at 1st seems random and dysfunctional but is probably more of a controlled chaos and it’s just a crazy element to have involved in a pro sport.
Great video - we rarely get this insight into the inner workings of most teams. thanks Ray keep it up!!!!!
That was so awesome!
Interesting to see Team Sky with their own cars there, cannot imagine their vehicle sponsors would be too impressed with them driving another brand.
Can’t believe there aren’t more incidents with team cars and the cyclist. It's full on at times.... Appreciate the effort, as great VLOG. Hope you enjoyed your white knuckle ride at times.
Pretty cool. I think that's the first time I have seen the perspective from a team car. Nice job!
Great video Ray, found it very interesting. Thanks!
Fascinating. Thanks Ray and FDJ.
I enjoyed that. I also got to ride in a team car (but had to pay to do it). In the 2009 TdF stage 18, an ITT, I had a front seat in the Agritubel car following Christophe Moreau (who ended up finishing eighth on the stage). Much shorter than a road stage, but still pretty exciting.
Great insight! Thanks, Ray & FDJ
Great stuff Ray, but huge shout out to FDJ for doing this, super cool!
This was a great watch.
Do team sky run the same wheels so can support their riders?
that was awesome!! thx Ray! like those behind the scenes videos!
Super interesting point of view you recorded! Very nice great video 👍
Do team cars help other teams regularly?
Anton Peterson it's very common, they all exchange favours and do deals on the road. When they don't you suffer the wrath of others. It's part of an unwritten code of ethics or honor.
Great insight in what happens in the team car 😀
Very interesting! Thanks for the video!
So... holding on to the team car is legal?
Really interesting from the team car perspective.
why dont they just use the spare bikes to race on instead of switching back?
A fascinating and exciting insight - thank you very much!
Wow organized chaos! Great insight cheers for the content
Jeez,really enjoyed the vid Ray thanks. Plenty drama too!
That was awesome Ray!
I love team car footage
Looks like they use the bottle exchange to get a pretty strong pull from the car. Rider grabs the bottle underhanded, then you clearly see him flexing his muscles and he gets a nice pull to propel forward....
Most teams do to some level. What's interesting is the race official was watching all the bottle exchanges very closely. You see him on the moto in yellow in a few cases when I pan to the front. But even some non-stopping mechanical ones we had an official next to us.
In that heat I would imagine they would allow the water to flow, pun intended, as you wouldn’t want any issues with riders collapsing from lack of water.
some problems to solve, interesting from that point view. merci beaucoup.
Fascinating video
Great video! Never knew other team cars could/would help another team. Interesting
Always Hedged Yep there help each other with flats as they may not be near their rider. Good to see they look after each other like that.
With water too, it's common practice
the teams are only using a car with reservation bikes ?
I'm curious as to what radios the riders are using.
The bike Antoine changed to was a lightweight, and the one he started on was the aero one, i may think thats why they wanted him back one the first one?
Daniel Fava it is most likely not a bike suitable for him but for his team captain or another important rider of his team with the same general body measurements.
Brian Antnssn you don't think he had his own spare on top of the car? Hmm maybe
His spare bike is technically 'his', but he wasn't liking the saddle on it, and the fit seemingly wasn't quite right.
strange as they are suppposed to be identical twins
I dont know what will happen today, because the day hasn't happen yet - DC Rainmaker your the man haha xD
can you edit the sound so the volume doesn't blow up or so low that we can't hear....
great video man!!!
Great bts!!
7:45 Brett lancaster doesnt get a mention?
and at 12:25 he's back on the spare not his race
interesting he had no mount for transferring his garmin on his spare bike. Might have been another reason he wanted to stay on the race bike
Thanks, that was cool. Cannot help but fee they should have ditched the radio earlier and rely on racing intuition and following the team instead.
Great video!
FFS seems universal!
That was interesting, thanks.
Good job.
Bob Parsons I
it's so cool to see Antoine with FDJ..!! very nice of the team to let you tag in
Good stuff!
#126 Davide Cimolai suffered a lot in the heat this TDU. Sorry to say the radio, bike and water demands were excuses to some extent...
Do the supplied Subarus have “Tour horns”?
Bradley Temperley no they are stock standard in this case
nes suno I was hoping for the “palaLIYA, palaLIYA” sounds!
Bradley Temperley I know :) but they actually sell these cars after the Australian races so Subaru recovers some money back and because after 3 major races in January and February, there is no need for these team cars. So they are just standard with stickers and the roof racks too are returned to the sponsoring supplier :)
Very cool!
Did Team Sky import their own car?
I think they probably just decaled up a ford from a local dealership.
why are all these top rack bikes getting issues so often? arent they the best of the best?
It's all the electrical components, little motors, batteries, and they change the bike when the battery is low ofcourse.
LOL. You don't really understand pro cycling do you? Its like saying 'immmm....why does this ferrari F1 car always have mechanical problems, its supposed to be the best of the best' Fucling idiot.
I agree, the best gear in the world, best mechanics in the world and they need cars following them everywhere to fix every problem, even in F1 which is actually pure prototype vehicles they must get back to the pits, any assistance and they are disqualified. I realise this is allowed in pro cycling and these are the rules they work too, but hey, I do believe a cycling race is about the rider AND the bike. Therefore the bike must also stay together to carry the rider over the line.
I personally would like to see the end of these cars, instead have stop areas every ‘so many kays’ and only allow tyres/wheels delivered to riders who flat (not the mechanics or riders fault) all other problem need to be fixed at the pit areas.
Valküre agreed, but my point is, it should be made to offer some level of reliability, at least to complete the said course. In F1 they test the engine to be driven around each course, simulated on a bench. So they are somewhat confident the equipment is designed for the task. I believe mechanicals are part of racing, if you break down, the equipment or mechanic hasn’t done its job, allowing a better prepared bike to win. It then becomes a team win, not just a rider win. I realise this is not the rules, but i would prefer to see it more about the bike than it is currently
Are you blind? The problem is the radio, not the bike. The only regular problems they have with bikes are flat tyres. Your analogy with a pit lane in F1 is just fucking nonsensical. If there is a issue with the actual bike itself, it tends to be after a crash. God, you morons really don't understand cycling do you?
That’s A LOT of free riding he is doing there... Holding on the car at high speed
A lot of misconceptions in the comments about what the rider holding onto the car is accomplishing. No, it's not TECHNICALLY legal to hold on to a team car, but if you have a mechanical etc., and are simply holding on to maintain pace while talking to the mechanic, then the officials don't flag you. If, on the other hand, you were holding on the car to gain a distinct advantage, you'd be called out. The reason the officials allow it is to keep riders in the actual race despite small mechanical issues.
gold gold gold
brilliant. #drama
How come they are speaking English with rider?. Its almost a 100% French speaking team.
That particular rider is actually Canadian, though from Quebec so certainly capable of French. They spoke French more often than English. Perhaps because the mechanic out of the window was Australian (local actually), they did English to make it easier for him. I believe he understood French, but I actually didn’t ask.
Note that the majority of radio announcements you hear in background start in English, but then are given in French and Italian too. These are all race vehicle wide, and not team specific.
Guessing holding onto the vehicle is not classed as cheating, also the driver not focusing on actually driving is pretty dangerous, probably why there's always accidents on tours
DigiKunt i would guess usually if the guy on the passanger seat is a team member who knows what to do he would maybe do more of what the driver did in the video
wow, shouldn't the spare bike have the exact same geometry as the race bike. looks quite amateurish if you ask me. anyways awesome that they gave you the oportunity to sit in the teamcar, great vlog!
good point. I think number 122 will be checking his spare bike for the upcoming races ;)
lucky
A bit horrific the driver with no hands on the wheel not looking at the road....
your sounds level are bad af. when you talk theres no way to hear it and when the sound of the footage comes on its freaking loud
Thanks DC for the coverage, but this hanging out of cars stuff, I don’t agree with. They talk about safety in cycling, disc brakes, hot weather, etc, but allow people to hang on to cars, hang out windows, no seatbelts, etc, whilst the rest of us doing anything approaching this type of behaviour, would have people outraged and the police throwing the book at us. I love cycling but don’t like these double standards pro cycling set for the audience.
unbelievable! also having such low fly choppers
This doesn't happen under normal circumstances. The roads are blocked and only riders and team cars are allowed to be there. Also, They drive around 40 km/h while hanging out of the window, which isn't as fast as one usually would go.
X. Chen I understand they are going slower, and the roads aren’t actually blocked, it is just from the front rider to the last, so a rolling closed road. This may be true, BUT once you drive on a public road in Australia you need to wear a seatbelt, if you get caught, even at 30-40km/ph then the fine is $400 for the person without the seatbelt and $400 for the driver. Also you loose points, if it is a long weekend it is double money double points + they could fine you for having a part of your body outside the confines of the vehicle. And if you do fall out of the car, even at 30-40km/ph, you would land on your head or collarbone, with no helmet on. But we make riders wear helmets in the peloton at these speeds. You can water it down all you like, but under Australian law this is not okay if it was outside of this cycling format. A cop would throw the book at you. Plus it is dangerous. If you fell directly on you head it would cause considerable damage to you, and your legs could still be hooked up on the car, so you wouldn’t roll to a stop. This is a hell lot more dangerous than disc brakes, for sure. I personally don’t believe it should be allowed and cars supporting the peloton should still abide to the law of the land.
Wayne ... FFS ... it's not a public road ... the stage is technically run on a closed road and so it able to run with certain dispensations ... if you were to hang out of a window while driving down your local highway then, yeah, the police will throw the book at you .... the TDU as well as other events held on public roads eg. Targa Tasmania, wont be subject to these rules while the stage is CLOSED ... you'll note that cars were driving on the 'wrong' side of the road which would be kinda tricky if the stage were opened to public traffic .... I don't know if your post is taking the piss or whether you're serious ... if the latter, I suggest you change your medication. ... as for obeying the law of the land.... man... you're one seriously sad MF.
Daz Mate, how about I hold your legs while you hang out of car, ask the driver to do 40-50km/ph. Then I let go of you. That’s pretty safe. That is potentially what could happen. But not wearing a helmet or using disc brakes is dangerous. It is the comparison of risk I am pointing out. Weather it is a closed road makes no difference to all the things I have referenced and how safe/or how risky it is. Do you see my point? One day a mechanic is going to get seriously hurt, then everyone will throw their arms in the air! Oh we shouldn’t allow this it is dangerous.
P.S. Lets just say a mechanic did fall out of a car and was seriously hurt. The law measures safety and risk by what is reasonable. If it is reasonable to ask people to wear their seatbelt and remain in the confines of the car. Then the court will find the organiser failed to provide a safe environment for the competitors, support personal and the public. So they prosecute the organisation organising the event, and will most probably win. I don’t know how it is in your part of the world, but in Australia that is how it works.