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Video: Rest day? What rest day? Team Sky ride 50km from airport to hotelTeam Sky Giro 2016 rest day 1 ride (source Twitter).JPG

Video: Rest day? What rest day? Team Sky ride 50km from airport to hotel

Maybe they didn’t check the box to include transfers when booking flights?
by Simon_MacMichael
Mon, May 09, 2016 13:23
4

In cycling’s Grand Tours, the term “rest day” is a bit of a misnomer. There’s plenty for mechanics to do, often after a long drive the previous evening, there are press conferences to be held, and the riders will get out on their bikes for a while to keep the legs spinning.

As in 2014, when the Big Start took place in Northern Ireland, this year’s Giro d’Italia unusually features three rest days, the first taking place today to accommodate the long journey to Calabria from the Netherlands.

Team Sky’s solution to how to make sure the riders’ legs didn’t seize up following this morning’s 1,700-odd kilometre flight from the Netherlands to Lamezia Terme was to have staff waiting at the airport with bikes and kit so they could hop straight on and ride the remaining 50 kilometres to the hotel.

The riders didn’t seem too unhappy at the prospect of it, as this video posted to Twitter shows.

Giro d'Italia 2016
Team Sky
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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4 comments

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shay cycles | 8 years ago
1 like

50km is a little short for a rest day ride but it isn't about "training" but more about keeping supple and maintaining blood flows. 

Maybe it isn't "news" but shouldn't and doesn't the site publish things that are interesting to as wide a range of people as possible. On that basis I'd say this article is certainly relevant for the site. 

Avatar
fukawitribe | 8 years ago
3 likes

Every single team goes for a ride on the rest days, I think this more about getting straight off the plane and riding to the hotel, which _is_ quite unusual. Also got the impression the article was done in a light-hearted manner, not to be dissected like summer cyclingnews race report but perhaps that's just me.

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CXR94Di2 | 8 years ago
0 likes

50k is nothing of a distance to a pro especially if they are taking it easy. Cool down session

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Colin Peyresourde replied to CXR94Di2 | 8 years ago
0 likes
CXR94Di2 wrote:

50k is nothing of a distance to a pro especially if they are taking it easy. Cool down session

yeah, this isn't news. Virtually all the pros go for a ride on the 'rest day'. In fact it's thought that you lose your form if you don't go for ride.

nothing to see here. Move along. 

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