As a heatwave swept Holland in the days before the start of the 2015 Tour de France, pro mechanics were working feverishly to assemble, reassemble, fine-tune and polish hundreds of bicycles. BikeRadar went around to visit many of the mechanics as they wrenched away — many with aprons over naked torsos in the heat — and captured the gallery above.
With the Tour this year again including a cobbled stage — many riders are calling stage 4 the Paris-Roubaix stage, as it takes in a few sections of pavé from the spring classic — many teams brought endurance bikes as they would for Paris-Roubaix in addition to standard road and aero road bikes. Since the race this year starts with a time trial, those bikes have to be readied as well. And since each rider requires at least one, if not two, back-up bikes for each type of machine, the total number of bikes adds up quickly.
At this point in the season, riders' positions are solidified, and fit coordinates are standardized across all of their bikes. Some mechanics use spreadsheets to keep track of the data; others use detailed handwritten notes.
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MTN Qhubeka mechanic Stef van Zundert consults his notes on rider specs while assembling bikes
But while all the fit coordinates are identical from one bike to the next, the componentry isn't always the same. Most often, the B or C bikes for riders will be lacking a power meter, or have a different power meter, while the A bike has the primary set-up.
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