Here’s a trivia question for you on today’s stage. I’ll put up a Shut Up Legs t-shirt for the winner (I’ll pick randomly from the correct answers):

When was the last time a current World Champion won a stage of the Tour de France? What year was it?

Custom Equipment

Yesterday a commenter, Allasandro, had a very good question about how riders who win the yellow, green or polka dot jersey get their bikes and kit customised by the next day.

It’s common to see a rider leading in a competition in specially painted groupsets, frames, helmets, shoes, gloves, clothing and sunglasses. Team and sponsors love to kit out these riders. It’s now expected now and it would look pretty second-rate if Voeckler were in yellow and the sponsors didn’t take the opportunity to honor him by blinging him up. Not to mention the fact that the various riders in the leaders jerseys are in the spotlight and it’s great opportunity to promote their product.

It may be a bit presumptuous, but the teams and sponsors have already made some educated guesses with their chances of acquiring a jersey and have most of the product on hand. It would usually be too short notice for sponsors to get special equipment made, painted and shipped over. Of course it’s in the sponsor’s best interest to have a few choices on hand in case someone out of left field rises to the top for a day. Many sponsors are involved with multiple teams, so chances are that they’ll be able to use some of their product on hand.

This might not always be the case however. It surprised me to read the following on cyclingnews about Voeckler’s yellow Colnago:

The company’s marketing manager Alessandro Colnago (grandson of boss Ernesto) explained to Cyclingnews what it took to get the bike to Voeckler, given that Colnago is based in northern Italy and Voeckler and the Europcar team are currently in the middle of France.

“This morning (Monday, July 10) at five am we prepared the frame [in Cambiago, near Milan]. At six am our driver took it to our painting factory in Cascina [about 320km away]. At eleven am the frame was ready and came back. We then finished the frame with the headset and bottom bracket, and now the driver is leaving for Aurillac [800km from Cambiago] where the team hotel is.”

In the case of a bike, many teams often considered it to be bad luck to build a special leader’s bike before the jersey has been won. Of course it would also put an enormous amount of pressure on the rider!

If you’re wondering how they get the team sponsors logos on the front of the winners jerseys on the podium so quickly, here is how it’s done.

Another massive day tomorrow that will further shake up the GC. No excuses not to stay up late and watch this one!

Oz Cycling

courtesy of OzCycling.com


Photos

courtesy of Mike Hone, Sirotti, and myself (Veeral’s camera body broke so he had to go to Pau to buy a new one)

Stage 13 Profile

Stage 13 Results

1 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Team Garmin-Cervelo 3:47:36
2 David Moncoutie (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne 0:00:10
3 Jérémy Roy (Fra) FDJ 0:00:26
4 Lars Ytting Bak (Den) HTC-Highroad 0:05:00
5 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Quickstep Cycling Team 0:05:02
6 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Procycling 0:05:03
7 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Katusha Team 0:05:08
8 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre - ISD 0:05:16
9 Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
10 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 0:06:48
…
25 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:07:37
41 Stuart O’Grady (Aus) Leopard Trek
72 Richie Porte (Aus) Saxo Bank Sungard 0:07:52
122 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Sky Procycling
132 Matthew Harley Goss (Aus) HTC-Highroad
144 Mark Renshaw (Aus) HTC-Highroad

General Classification after Stage 13

1 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Team Europcar 55:49:57
2 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 0:01:49
3 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:02:06
4 Andy Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 0:02:17
5 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:03:16
6 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre - ISD 0:03:22
7 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Saxo Bank Sungard 0:04:00
8 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:04:11
9 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 0:04:35
10 Thomas Danielson (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo
…
67 Richie Porte (Aus) Saxo Bank Sungard 0:47:44
83 Stuart O’Grady (Aus) Leopard Trek 0:59:34
95 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Sky Procycling 1:09:09
138 Matthew Harley Goss (Aus) HTC-Highroad 1:34:33
166 Mark Renshaw (Aus) HTC-Highroad 1:53:23

Stage 14 Preview