A tour of the Orica-GreenEDGE service course

by Wade Wallace

In northern Italy there is a small pocket of Australia that dozens of Aussies call home. The quiet region of Varese houses the AIS European Training Center, the U23 and women's team base, and the Orica-GreenEDGE service course. En route to the Tour de France we spent a couple days in Varese and in this post, we take you on a tour of the the Orica-GreenEDGE service course.

Australia’s first and only WorldTour cycling team has 28 riders, 3 concurrent race programs, a dozen Subaru team cars, two vans, three trucks, two buses and more than 30 staff, including mechanics, warehouse managers, soigneurs, finance officers, logistics officers, directors, and so on. This requires a lot of equipment, office facilities, and a warehouse to keep it all running smoothly.

The logistics of coordinating everyone on the team (which includes the non-riders too) is extremely challenging. Riders come and go from different places around the world, equipment needs to be maintained, schedules need to be kept.

The manager of the service course, Jacopo Scampin, told us that Varese isn’t the nicest place in Italy (but we thought it was pretty beautiful), but from a logisitcs point of view it works very well with the Milan Airport (Malpensa) being only 20 mintues away and the Swiss and French borders being close by.

There’s nothing flashy about any service course I’ve ever been to and GreenEDGE’s is no exception. It’s a nondescript warehouse with parking for a fleet of vehicles, stores of food and drink, administration offices, kitchen and laundry facilities, a mechanics area, and a huge storage area full of bikes, wheels and components.

It was both a good time and a bad time for us to be visiting the service course and showing it to you. There is very little racing on at the moment and everything is gathered here getting prepared for the Tour de France. Vehicles are getting serviced, new bikes are being built (sorry, we can’t show them to you yet), new kit is arriving, gear is getting sorted out. We’re told that it’s a disaster area compared to normal, but it didn’t seem terribly messy to us. Have a look at the photos we took as we toured the facility.

: The outside of the service course is nothing but a nondescript two-level warehouse. On the bottom level GreenEDGE keeps all their equipment, and the upper level is where the U23 and women’s squads keep all their equipment.

: GreenEDGE has two buses. The riders refer to one as the “good bus” and the other one is apparently not as desirable. The first bus is new (as of last year) and the second bus came from Rabobank.

: Inside the “good bus”. The only difference between a “team bus” and a regular bus is that a team bus isn’t open to the public. It’s simply a bus with a coffee machine, a fridge, a couple showers at the back, and a lounge/changing area.

: The driver’s seat

: The mechanics’ trucks house every imaginable spare part for the bikes including dozens of cassettes, stems, saddles, seatposts, etc.

: The truck is nearly empty at the moment.

: Spare helmets, race radios, TT helmets, and a good stock of regular food that goes on tour with the buses.

: One of the most fascinating things to me while touring the service course was the logistics spreadsheets hanging on the walls. It shows how much planning and preparation goes on behind the scenes to run a WorldTour team. The top left spreadsheet shows the team’s vehicle race schedule, service schedule, specifications, etc. The top right photo shows a pile of Tour de France equipment that grew to a mountain throughout the day. The bottom spreadsheet shows the riders’ race schedule throughout the season.

: Even the nutritional programs are mapped out for every rider and every race. Each rider has a case of supplements which are divvied out per day according to the riders’ needs.

: Four separate work benches with tools in the mechanic’s area.

: We can’t show you the new Scott Addicts, but they’ll be released next week at the Tour de France. These are the new TT bikes being built up for the Tour.

: We’re not exactly sure which rider used this bike at the Olympics, but it’s a beauty.

: A view of the equipment room from the entrance

: An opposite view of the equipment room (facing back towards the mechanic’s room and vehicle parking)

: Dozens of wheels with glue drying for new singles.

: The old singles.

: Durbridge’s old TT bike. All the new ones are getting built up before the TdF.

: The bikes and wheels that were used in the Classics.

: A view from the small kitchen to the three offices that keep GreenEDGE ticking along.

: This is the master spreadsheet which sits outside of the admin offices. It shows the schedule of every event, every staff member, every team vehicle. Susan Stewart (David McKenzie’s wife) is the Logistics Manager and obviously very handy with Excel.

: Boxes of swag coming in for all the riders (new jeans, shirts, kit, sunglasses, etc)

: Not only does the service course house all the equipment and vehicles, it also stores all the trophies that didn’t get taken home by the riders. This can sometimes be a problem for the riders when the trophies are massive and are difficult to take on a plane.

We would like to thank Orica-GreenEDGE for having us as their guests in Varese and for showing us what goes on behind the scenes to make a professional cycling team work. Full disclosure: Orica-GreenEDGE did not ask us to write this story and we were not paid to do so.

Craig

Hmm… some interesting stuff on that list of supplements.
- Robert Merkel
  
  Yeah. I’m presuming you’re referring to the BCAA supplements. Not sure I’d be wanting to take those.
  - Josh Hamilton
    
    You should probably do some research on what BCAAs actually are
    - Robert Merkel
      
      For the benefit of others, I presume that BCAA refers toBranched-chain amino acid, which are naturally occurring amino acids. As you’re undoubtedly hinting at, they are in the food you eat every day.
      
      As I understand from what I’ve read, there is some evidence that taking more of them in supplements is helpful for athletes.
      
      There is also some (limited and hardly conclusive) evidence that suggests that there might be a connection between this supplementation and the higher rates of motor neurone disease in certain groups of elite athletes (including Italian soccer players and American footballers).
      - Josh Hamilton
        
        So your point is you think they are bad because of some “limited and hardly conclusive” evidence? Name me one pro athlete who has not taken these during his or her career, it’s standard in most athletes nutrition/supplement plan
- http://www.nextlevelnutrition.com.au Alan McCubbin
  
  Looks like the supplement program is being run by Dr Manuel Rodriguez Alonso, rather than through Green Edge’s AIS connections.
  - Dave
    
    They can’t get too much stuff done by their AIS connections because they aren’t supposed to have organisational connections to CA/AIS under the UCI rules for ProTeams and Professional Continental teams. The rules are different for UCI Women’s teams which play under the same rules as Continental teams.
    
    GreenEDGE and Team Sky sail very close to the wind in this area as it is, getting CA/AIS to run their nutrition program would definitely step over the line into becoming a hybrid national/pro team. They could probably get somebody to look at it just to “check it’s all above board” and maybe check for quality too though.
    - http://www.nextlevelnutrition.com.au Alan McCubbin
      
      Thanks Dave, you learn something new every day. My limited impression of European doctors (albeit I’ve never worked over there) is that they have quite a different input into nutrition programs (both the scope and content they contribute) compared to their Australian counterparts.
      - Dave
        
        All the UCI rules are online. They make for good reading during a boring flat sprint stage of a grand tour.
        
        I think it’s good that the influences on OGE are more varied than just the CA track team cabal that was running things at first. What makes a good pursuiter or points race rider is not going to come up to scratch if you’re trying to perform in the elite road racing ranks.
- Hamish Moffatt
  
  That list would make Michele Ferrari blush.
  - Tom
    
    Really?
- jules
  
  i’ll only start worrying when they start using the riders’ dogs’ names on the spreadsheet
- Craig
  
  So that rattling sound they here when they ride isn’t a loose bolt after all!
  - jules
    
    it disappears by the end of the race though! (this is a joke people)
Pinarello413

excited to see the new bikes released
Neil_Robinson

so Gerro, Gossy and Stewy are already locked for le tour, while Clarkey, Cooky, Al Davis, Durbo, Impey, Lancaster, Langeveld, Cam Meyer, Vaitkus and Weening are on the short list (only 6 spots left for those 10).

Not surprisingly it looks to be a sprint heavy team, with a few guys there for sneaky stages.
- Craig
  
  Albasini and Impey are locked in too I think?
  - Neil_Robinson
    
    right you are, went a little cross eyed and must have missed them.
    
    that just reinforces the idea that there are 10 guys short listed for 4 spots.
    - Bob
      
      The OGE TDF team was finalised last week. O’Grady, Goss, Impey, Lancaster, Tuft, Gerrans, Albasini, Clarke & Cam Meyer.
PeterC

I believe the ‘special’ London bike will be the one Gossy had for the Olympics…..

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gallery/article/pro-bike-matt-goss-scott-foil-36263/1
Chadwick

Yeah if i could have Durbos TT bike that would be great :) Where does all the old kit go?
- http://www.cyclingTipsBlog.com cyclingTips
  
  Things like bikes and wheels are sold at the end of the season.
  - lekoshe
    
    The usual advice is never buy a used pro bike, given how brutally treated they are.
    - Dave
      
      I’d happily take a used Schleck time trial bike - one owner, low kilometres (due to careful selection of races) and only ever ridden slowly.
      
      I’d have to be paid to take an ex-Wiggo bike even if he hadn’t crashed it or taken out his anger on it. I would not want to take the chance on shit bike handling or 1930s attitudes to women being contagious diseases.
      - billy
        
        Dave can you clarify? I’ve never seen anything about Wiggos handling of women…
        Shit handling of bikes is a fair accusation though.
        
        Spiff
        
        @Dave mentioned attitudes to women. Quote in point: “”I descended like a bit of a girl after the crash” (www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/22512899). As a woman, I did not appreciate that comment in the least. Many women descend better than Wiggins does. I sure hope that attitude is not contagious.
      - Andy B
        
        I feel like you are forgetting how Andy Schleck became injured
Andy B

Nice insight into a pro team!

Whats the bike hanging under the “Gerrans” sign,
looks smick :)
Shane H

Just wondering what happens to all the bikes that are on the out? Do they go through Scott reps or do they get sold privately?
- http://www.cyclingTipsBlog.com cyclingTips
  
  See the thread above.
echidna_sg

first time I’ve actually seen a photo of team radios since Motorola days… what are those?
Timothy Wiley

Great to see Aussies calling Europe home. I certainly wouldn’t call Australia “home” mainly because its the worst country to ride a bike.
- echidna_sg
  
  trust me, you need to ride in more countries before passing judgement, I much prefer riding in Melbourne to riding in Singapore or KL in terms of safety and respectful drivers! but get out of the city and its a totally different beast…
  - Bracksy
    
    I think Tim might be riding in NSW because I’ve got similar views but I wouldn’t call Australia the “worst”. Probably 2nd or 3rd worst behind US and UK.
    
    Not sure about Melbourne but I think it might be more “bike-friendly” than NSW for sure. I think Sydney-siders in general are just rude, always in a rush and have big egos which they cannot handle on the road.
Patrick Smith

Really fascinating, thanks Wade & Orica for letting us peek behind the scenes, I’m guessing the Olympic bike would have been either Goss, Gerrans or O’Grady’s as Evans & Rogers would have been riding BMC/Pinarello respectively.
gjhjh

Maybe they should of bought a smaller bus…
michele

Funny how they spelled the name of their own japanese rider.