Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Video: Belkin team helpers share previously-secret Tour de France preparation techniques

Getting driving and essential hand-ups perfect for July

For the drivers and helpers of a professional cycling team it’s vitally important to have their skills nailed for the Tour de France. In this video from the Belkin team, we see how they prepare for the year’s most important three weeks.

Passing up water bottles from the roadside and from team cars, handing up musettes full of vital supplies and driving through streets crowded with fans are crucial skills for sport directors and helpers in the Tour.

A flubbed bottle pass or a car not able to get through to look after riders could be the difference between a stage or even overall win and an also-ran.

Team Belkin’s support crew have been working hard to be ready for the Tour and in this video they share their previously-secret preparation techniques.

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

Add new comment

11 comments

Avatar
notfastenough | 9 years ago
0 likes

Can you imagine stopping to fix a puncture and getting that wheel-change?!

Avatar
JohnnyRemo | 9 years ago
0 likes

UK Advertising Standards Authority would never allow this with all those helmet-less riders in the middle of the road...

Avatar
Beaufort | 9 years ago
0 likes

Can I hire them to follow me around ?

Avatar
Gkam84 | 9 years ago
0 likes

This is brilliant, can you imagine if Sky tried this in London, the amount of abuse they would get for beeping cyclists and stepping into the road....

Avatar
Nigel Jennings | 9 years ago
0 likes

Tres amusant  1

Avatar
Charles_Hunter | 9 years ago
0 likes

Trying to maximize exposure before they pull out leaving the team without a title sponsor?
Or am I being a little harsh? Probably, the video was good, especially liked the wheel change.

Avatar
giles | 9 years ago
0 likes

Great Video

Avatar
bikemadjo | 9 years ago
0 likes

that is awesome!

Avatar
mt | 9 years ago
0 likes

he he

Avatar
giff77 | 9 years ago
0 likes

Pure Class.

Avatar
pmr | 9 years ago
0 likes

 41

Latest Comments