Traveling Circus

The Tour de France is certainly one of grandest spectacles in all sport. One hundred seventy-six riders from twenty-two teams started the race this year, and the additional number of support staff for each team swells the ranks of people traveling with the race enormously. It's like a bedouin caravan of epic proportions winding its way through every part of France, putting on a show for the throngs of spectators along the way. For those who bear witness, it is truly a traveling circus.

For BORA-hansgrohe, just getting all the riders, team bikes, and all the riders' gear to the start line involves an impressive amount of logistics. Team members travel from all points to converge at the Grand Depart, and face transportation issues of their own. And that's before the race even starts! Once underway, the Tour travels across France, covering thousands of kilometers with transfers between towns for three weeks. That's a lot of traveling! So how do they do it?

When at last the Grand Boucle reaches the finish line on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, most will breathe a sigh of relief. The newly crowned victors will celebrate. The disappointed may rue the events that stole their success. And virtually all the riders will justifiably look forward to a well deserved rest after three weeks of racing around France.

But just because the race is over, that doesn't mean that everyone can relax. Unraveling the tightly knit fabric that kept the team on the road since before the start of the race takes a lot of work. And again, much of that is up to the mechanics. As the sun sets on another Tour, all the equipment needs to be disassembled, organized, and packed up. Some goes back to the main service course, some home with the riders, and before you know it, they will do it all again at another race. Because c'est la vie.