A strong voice booms from the YAS Marina F1 circuit loudspeakers: “Attention all cyclists! No riders are allowed on the F1 track!” Riders and management look at each other somewhat bemused. It’s midday on a Tuesday in the blistering heat of Abu Dhabi and I have joined the German pro team Bora-Argon18 for a training ride. The pro teams have been invited to gather in the paddocks for a pre-tour ride around the YAS Marina Circuit. Now denied at a seemingly short notice to use the track, the teams decide to hit the public roads on YAS Island as an alternative. I hooked on to the back of the young Bora-Argon18 team, made up of six riders, including the German National Champion Emanuel Buchmann, and we made our way out into the midday sun. None of us really know where we are going. The streets of YAS Island are deserted and all we pass are countless numbers of speed bumps, traffic lights and a few other pro teams. The randomness of the route seems to result in us riding in circles, but at least with my admittedly limited ability to understand German, I am able to pick up on the riders’ spontaneous direction choices. “Links, rechts, gerade aus.” After 1.5 hours of cruising around in temperatures averaging 43 degrees C and to my relief, never at any pace higher than what I can comfortably keep up with, we returned to the F1 paddocks. The boys on the team are very friendly and engaging and appear genuinely interested in knowing what life is like in the United Arab Emirates.
Bora-Argon18 is one of the pro teams competing in Abu Dhabi Tour, the final tour of the UCI road cycling season. This team has come to Abu Dhabi with high expectations: aspiring — the race team manager advises me, to perhaps even win the tour. The Abu Dhabi Tour will provide the Bora-Argon team with the opportunity to race against some of the best riders in the world.
I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to spend some time behind the scenes with the Bora-Argon18 team during the tour. I am curious to understand a little more of the roles of relating to a race team’s support staff, the logistics involved during a day of racing and the riders routines.
The Support Team
The entire German/Austrian team visiting Abu Dhabi consists of six riders and eight support staff. The Team Manager, who travels with the team for approximately 100 of 180 days of racing in total, is responsible for the team’s budget and finances as well managing the team’s relationships with its sponsors. His personal assistant always travels with him and has joined the team in Abu Dhabi. The Sports Director’s main responsibilities include race planning for the season and race tactics both before and during the races. He is always present in the support car, prepared to swiftly amend and come up with new race strategies for the riders and keep them informed with how the race is unfolding. Sport Directors are often ex-professional riders themselves with an abundance of race experience.
Team Bora-Argon18 travels with three physiotherapists, one of them female. In general their job requires them to look after the health and well-being of the riders, managing and planning the prevention and rehabilitation of any injuries the riders may sustain during a race. On tour, the physiotherapists provide hands-on treatment and massage to the riders in line with their individual needs at any time. Treatments are usually completed before each rider’s evening meal, or if the day’s racing finishes late, after the meal. In the unfortunate event of a rider being involved in a crash, the physios will test, assess and treat each individual and, in extreme circumstances, to advise whether it is healthy for the rider to continue racing. The physio team also assists in the daily organisation and packing of the refuelling needs as well as providing support at feeding zones.
Bora-Argon18 has two world class mechanics on this tour. Their busiest time of the day is after each day of racing where they are responsible for preforming a full check of the fleet and ensure the state-of-the-art Argon18 bikes are ready and running perfectly for the following days’ racing. If there are no specific problems to attend to, their work usually is completed within ninety minutes. However, if there have been crashes and serious damage to bikes, their work can extend long into the night. One of the mechanics will always be on the road during the race, riding in the support car and ready to attend to any mechanical problems that may occur.
What You Don’t See on TV
It’s day two of the tour – the Capital Stage, a 130km flat stage across Abu Dhabi city, starting at YAS Marina Circuit at 1:00 p.m., with temperatures already touching 40 degrees C. I am ensconced in the passenger seat of one of the team’s two support vehicles along with the sports director and one mechanic. Part of the team’s strategy for this stage is for one of the riders to break away and collect sprint points as he currently leads the intermediate sprint classification. Our car is due to follow the breakaway group in order to provide support to that rider. Only one kilometre into the race and the breakaway is initiated and we are informed once the gap to the main peloton has reached one minute and we have the green light to follow the breakaway. The two team support cars coordinated and stopped briefly, enabling our car to quickly grab the respective spare bike for the breakaway rider. We sped past the long train of support vehicles and past the peloton, before reaching the breakaway which consists of six riders.
The radio in the car is constantly buzzing with the female UCI commissar’s continuous updates, advising of the race’s progression. Information provided includes the distance covered by the riders, which riders are leading the peloton, the gap to any breakaway, landmarks passed, which riders are asking for assistance or water and of course, any major incidents like crashes or disqualifications. The mechanic tells me the supporting job is much lighter in the terrain of Abu Dhabi than, for example, the Paris-Roubaix which takes place in part over cobblestones. It is easier to manoeuvre the car to the riders on the exceptionally wide roads and the riders are also faced with less mechanical breakdowns and punctures on the smooth roads of the UAE. One of the challenges however, in the high temperatures is to organise sufficient ice-cold water bottles and ice socks (for cooling down the riders’ bodies) and to ensure they remain ice-cold both for both the duration of the race as well as any extra travel time.
With temperatures in the 40’s, even reaching over 50 degrees Celsius, the riders are calling for cold water for the team approximately every 15 mins. On the radio, the commissar is calling a support car to the bunch every few minutes. On average each team use 150L of water per day.
As we have passed the first of today’s two intermediate sprints, the sports director makes his calculations as to how these will affect the overall points classification and the breakaway rider is subsequently fed tactics for the 2nd sprint.
I am amazed by the skills of the support driver. He is required to manoeuvre the car very close to the riders from behind and then continue driving whilst feeding information and tactics as well as supplying and changing water bottles. All the while the driver must retain the overview of both the safety of the team’s own rider at the side of the car and the rest of the riders in any group. This is noteworthy multi-tasking.
I was lucky to have front seat view of the front of the race and the intermediate sprints and the time in the car flew by like a gripping blockbuster in the cinema.
The Argon18 Team Fleet
This team is sponsored by Canadian bike manufacturer Argon18, existing since 1989. The preferred choice of race bike for four of the team riders is the Nitrogen Pro model, which is their flat, stiff and aerodynamic weapon. It’s the bike for powering down the front and finishing in a sprint. The Nitrogen Pro aero frame is versatile and one of very few frames that will also allow for a top end of the spectrum time trial and triathlon set up.
The remaining two riders are on the Gallium Pro, which is Argon 18’s super lightweight frame (weighing in at only 800g); it is stiff and great for climbing. Argon18’s technology addresses performance, with the Gallium Pro’s bottom bracket part of the frame stiffened to ensure power and stiffness whilst the top part brings comfort to the rider.
Both bikes have a versatile saddle adjustment system and 3D head sets. Find out more about these pro peloton bikes at Dubai and Abu Dhabi based shops of BeSport Bike Shop.
Immense Energy
It’s hard not to love having these top athletes in town. The energy they bring is incredible. They set an admirable example of health, athleticism, courage, team work as well as a desire to succeed. Some of these riders have certainly reached celebrity status among their fans; there is hunger for their media and fan interaction. As the tour finishes and the riders and their teams leave Abu Dhabi, most of them to take their well deserved end of season holidays, I feel a sense of emptiness. Luckily Dubai Tour 2016 is only four months away and we look forward to welcoming all the teams back to the UAE for another fantastic pro tour.
Words By: Helle Bachofen von Echt
Photos By: Usman Oluwaseyi
