- Title: CYCLING-TOUR/SKY Froome and Team Sky prepare for Tour de France grand depart
- Date: 3rd July 2015
- Summary: ZEIST, THE NETHERLANDS (JULY 3, 2015) (REUTERS) TEAM SKY RIDER, CHRIS FROOME, SIGNING FAN'S AUTOGRAPH FROOME TALKING TO TEAM SKY CREW MEMBER NEXT TO BIKE FROOME CYCLING AWAY TEAM SKY RIDER, LUKE ROWE, TALKING TO CREW MEMBER TEAM SKY RIDER, IAN STANNARD, ON BIKE TEAM SKY RIDERS CYCLING AWAY TEAM SKY MECHANIC CHECKING BIKE WHEEL MECHANIC FIXING BIKE VARIOUS OF MECHANIC PLACI
- Embargoed: 18th July 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Netherlands
- Country: Netherlands
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA5XAHIIIJJ4UAAEU2I6I9H6NT6
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Team Sky set off for their final training session on Friday (July 3) before the Tour de France begins in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
The Grand Depart will see the world's greatest cyclists course through the Dutch University town's winding streets in an individual time trial, during which the riders will cycle at full speed for 13.7 kilometres.
Briton Chris Froome, who won the race in 2013 but crashed out of the Tour in the fifth stage last year, is one of four pre-race favourites along with Spaniard Alberto Contador, Italian defending champion Vincenzo Nibali and Colombian Nairo Quintana.
Team Sky named a climbers' team to help Chris Froome win the Tour de France for the second time, with Richie Porte being included despite uncertainty following his Giro d'Italia withdrawal.
Australian Porte, as well as Ireland's Nicolas Roche, Dutchman Wout Poels and Czech Leopold Konig will assist Froome in the mountains.
Ian Stannard will be Froome's domestique in a treacherous first week featuring cobble and possibly tricky weather conditions.
Behind the scenes, a team of mechanics support the riders throughout the race. Team Sky have 63 bikes, and 75 pairs of wheels just for the Tour's cobblestone stage.
Team Sky mechanic Gary Blem told Reuters Television he treats every day as if it were an individual race.
"Basically, we just run through the gears, make sure the gears are changed and smooth, make sure the batteries are charged. Right now we're doing a few alterations, a few gear changes, the guys are opting for different chain rings for the time trial. Some of the riders are doing last minute changes on their position, and then we duplicate that on their spare bikes as well. So it's basically just last-minute changes to the bikes and double-checking things, but we're virtually ready now for the tour, can't wait for the tour to start so get the ball rolling," he said.
As well as mechanical assistance, the tour bus is equipped with a kitchen and dining room where team chef Henrik Orre ensures the riders get their required daily sustenance.
"They have some place between 6 and 7,000 calories per day. We do two meals for them in here every day, we do breakfast and we do dinner. But a huge part of what they eat is actually what they eat on the bike, and recovery straight after. So I'm guessing only on the bike they eat something, 50 grams of carbohydrate every 30 minutes, so they have pretty much, and they drink one bottle, so that's pretty big part of their fuel every day," he told Reuters Television.
After Saturday's opening stage, the Tour continues to Zelande in the Netherlands as well as the Belgian town of Antwerp, before the cyclists travel across France.
The race ends on Paris' Champs-Elysees, after a total of 3,360 kilometres (2088 miles). - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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