I had not been to Spain before so I was looking forward to it and to working with the Rock Racing guys again. It was kind of a step up for me to be working with Rudy Pevenage, the man behind Jan Ullrich's TdF win and the 1,2,3 T-Mobile victory at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Also I would be working with Laurenzo La Page, a guy that was once a good 6 day rider but once retired, he became a director under the wing of Johan Bruynel at the US Postal squad. So I felt I was with some talented people.
I first had to get myself to a place the other side of Brussels [160kms away] where I would meet the other staff, soigneurs Willy and Wilfred and more so the other mechanic who was driving the truck. The truck we had was an old one but it was fitted out really well. It had a decent size area for the bikes and a very organised soigneur section in the front, like most trucks are. I was to drive a camper which was a borrowed one from a small team. Marcel was the other mechanic, a guy with 20 years experince that has done every job in cycling. He was once the mechanic for the super team of the late 80's and early 90's, PDM, my favorite team as a teenager.
I also must mention that 3 days before leaving the team had nothing, no truck, no camper, no team car and no TT bikes not even bidons, Rudy and Laurenzo got things together very quickly. So there was a few things to pack before the trip started but then 1600kms later we arrived in Palencia. Yeah the driving part sucks about this job as everyone else gets to fly. But we had a day and a half to unwind and get things ready. Later that day I met the other soignuers, David, a spainard and Damien, a French American guy.
My first day of Vuelta Castilla y Leon was spent not in the car but at the hotel preparing TT bikes, so an easy first race day. I even got time to watch some of the race on local TV and saw the crash that put Armstrong out of the tour. Then it was TT day, which I hate as its alot of work for such a short race. So many bikes to make ready but then there is alot of waiting around for your last rider to finish which in this case was second last. David Vitoria had just missed out on the stage win the day before, so he was in green and rode off second last.
Then it was my turn in the car as we were changing hotels so Marcel had to drive the truck. The team car is an Audi A6, so its much bigger than the little Fiat I am used to in Belgium. I have more leg room and the window goes all the way down, so no bruising of the ribs when I'm hanging out the window adjusting gears. Thou I still did come away from that race with sore ribs as I normally have the cooler in the back behind me, but the rear seats in the Audi are a little high for reaching to the bottom of the cooler for bidons. So the following day I sat it on the seat beside me until my ribs had healed. Other than that its a nice car to work in.
So the first week in Spain was good, the sun was shining, the hotels were nice, the food was good and most days I was up at 7 and finished work at 9 as the transfers weren't that long [when there were transfers]. But I did learn that when the Spanish say breakfast at 7:30, they mean 7:30 and not a second before. So you couldn't really eat until 7:45 in the end as nothing would be ready. The guys rode well and they finished the tour with 3 in the top 30 on GC with Valverde taking another stage win and Leipheimer, Contador and Zabriskie filling the Podium.
At the finish of that tour we stayed in Valladolid the night before making the trip to Bilboa to another hotel for a single day 1.1 race called Gran Premio Llodio. David and I went up in the camper and when we arrived we had trouble finding the hotel which was a new hotel. It was so new they didn't even have signage on it yet, and in the lobby there wasn't even furniture. We were the first people to stay there apparently as it had just opened.
The weather in this part of Spain was much different to what we had earlier in the week, it was a wet days racing. I spent the first half of the race in the car then Marcel jumped in for the last half while I set up a wash area at the truck to clean up the bikes as the guys came back. It wasn't much of a wash, just a bucket of soapy water and a bucket of clean water to rinse them off. Not much you can do when you can't plug a hose in, but atleast the riders went home with cleaner bikes. After Oscar been in the break for most of the day it came to a bunch sprint where Victor came in 6th, so not a bad day.
This is where Marcel left us as he had to be off to South Africa with the Belgian mtb team and wanted to spend some time at home beforehand. So from here I would be working with Jose, a Spanish guy that doesn't speak english and I dont speak spanish, mmm.
Salamanca was our next hotel stop. On the outskirts of town there was this motorway hotel that was very spanish. In the main bar there was what I believe to be family photos of Matadors and the head of a bull mounted to the wall and elderly people sitting around playing cards, it was a seedy place but great to experince.
From there I was off to Portugal for the 2.1 ranked Volta ao Alentejo em Bicicleta. After meeting Jose the night before we were up early and making our way. Willy and Wilfred had left just before us but somehow ended up doing an extra 150kms and arrived at the hotel sometime after us. They had GPS where as Jose just used an old fashion map, ya can't go wrong with a good map.
Again we had a free day to prepare stuff and would stay in the same hotel for 4 days then in the next one for 2. Its much easier when your at a tour like that, but the downside can be transfers. Some days we had 40km but other days it was 130km.
The tour started well for us with Chady making the break but just missing out on the win. It put us in a good position and it was good to be in a winning position. The guys rode the tour well getting some top 10 stage results and a final GC result of 5 riders in the top 20. Portugal itself was nice too, the weather was good and the landscape was simlar to Australia with gum trees, no Koala's thou.
The Portugese coast
Directly after the last stage finished it was time to pack up and make the long 2300km trip home. I left the race at 4pm and covered a nice 760km before stopping for the night at 1am, I had stopped earlier but the two hotels were closed so I had to drive on. The next day I was back on the road at 9 and made the 1200km back to Eersel by 10pm, just to give you an idea of the driving involved in this job.
One guy missing from the races here was Tyler. I was saddened to hear of his recent troubles, and as we all now know tested positive to a drug he was taking for his depression. Some might say its an excuse, call it what you will but I know the illness is real and should not be treated lightly. It's gotta be hard how things off the bike can impact so much on the bike. Depression is a very serious illness, just like Cancer. I urge you all to give your support to anyone suffering depression, as support is what they need the most. I wish Tyler all the best in his battle, and know that if he puts in as much in this battle as he did on the bike, he'll only come out stronger.
I had one quiet day but then was back at the Cinelli teamhouse cleaning and sorting out wheels. Then I was taking the weekend off as Linz and I were having friends arrive for Easter. Luke and Sarah came over from Dubai to see some of Europe. It was great to see them and it was great to ride with my old training buddy from back home once more. I took Lukey on some real Belgian roads and cobbles around one of my favorite areas near Booischot while the girls did some shopping in Leuven. The next day Luke and I were back on the bike but in the forrest this time. Then we went to see the team race in Aarschot, I wasn't really working that race but they got an idea of what I do. So I hope they enjoyed their stay and liked the lifestyle Linz and I have here.
Thats about it, I've taken a while to do this post, firstly because Spain was a long trip and then I have been at races with Cinelli since returning. So maybe the next one wont be so long.
Cheers and ride safe
Funky
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