It was the morning after a late night for the mechanics. After their crashes the day before, the bikes of Cavendish and Eisel both needed to be re-built – a rigorous process which kept the mechanics busy until the small hours. ‘The riders are all very easy-going and we have a great relationship with them, but we are aware we have a huge responsibility,’ said mechanic Rajen Murugayan. ‘When a rider comes back for his bike, it must be 100 per cent ready to go and 100 per cent how he wants it set up.’
The mechanics can have the longest days of anyone in the Team Sky travelling circus. An average day starts at 6am, although it can be a lot earlier if the team have a particularly long transfer from their overnight hotel to the start line. (One stage in the third week involved a 450km journey!) Their first task of the day is to prepare the bikes and put them on the car. Each rider has one race bike and two spares, plus two time-trial bikes. With the full complement of nine riders, that makes 45 bikes. Turbos also have to travel for the riders to warm up or warm down on after the race.
‘On a Grand Tour there are four mechanics: two who go to the race – one travels in each race car with the sports directors in case of any incident – and two who go straight on to the next hotel to set up ready for when the riders come back,’ explains Murugayan. ‘The team has 14 vehicles so we help drive and find a good parking area at the hotels. We take more than 40 suitcases from the truck into the hotel and distribute the bags to the right rooms. Then we fix up water and electricity, which we need to wash the bikes and cars. Our mechanics truck is like a Formula One team’s mobile workshop, everything in order, ready for us to work quickly. We follow the race on the TV in the truck so we can estimate the time the transfer will take back from the finish to the hotel – an average of 60 to 90 minutes.’
After a tough stage which started in Rouen – once the capital of a Gaulish tribe known as the ‘Velocasse’ – the mechanics were hoping the riders would not return with any vélos cassés, or broken bikes. In fact Team Sky had moved up inside the final 30 kilometres to take control of the bunch for the first time in the race and were well placed to avoid the late crash which dashed the hopes of many of the sprint contenders. The bikes came back dusty and grimy, but still in one piece. Ditto the riders. Another day down, another day closer to the mountains.
Team Sky mechanics
David Fernandez
Rajen Murugayan
Diego Costa
Gary Glem