A typical day on the tour

OK, a lot of you have been asking what a typical day looks like. While they are different depending on the time of the start, the distance of the hotel from the start or finish etc, they have a lot in common.

First, the support team for this race is: 3 Soigneurs, 2 Mechanics, the Director Sportif, and the Driver (me). we are only supporting 5 riders (there were 6 but we had one drop out), and a lot of the teams with more riders have WAY more people than we do.

We have an RV which I drive, a large truck which one of the mechanics drive and one of the soigneurs comes along, a 'race' car where the Director and a mechanic ride, another support car which a soigneur drives, and a feed zone van which a signeur drives. The RV and truck need to be at the finish area before the riders. The feed zone van is escorted to the feed zone, and then usually races past the peloton to a critical point such as the top of a climb for additional support.

Now, to the day:

6:00 - wake up and shower
6:15 - breakfast in the team meal area (way ahead of the riders)
6:30 - mechanics open the truck, get out all the bikes and wheels and check them
6:30 - 2 soigneurs load the 3 cars with drinks, energy snacks, lunches in musettes, etc
7:00 - mechanics load the cars with bikes and (lots of) wheels
7:00 - driver opens the RV, makes sure that the fridge and cupboards are stocked
7:30 - team meeting to arrange transportation, routes, roles
7:45 - bags are gathered from the hotel, racers go for breakfast
8:30 - truck is loaded with bags and gear and leaves
8:45 - racers load into RV and rest of convoy leaves for start
9:15 - arrive at start, racers get ready in RV
9:45 - racers head for start zone after interviews, autaographs
9:50 - feed zone cars leave, support cars queue
10:00 - RV leaves, race starts
1:00 - truck arrives at finish, sets up in team parking
1:00 - soigneur checks everyone into hotel and does room assignments
1:15 - set up massage tables, mix recovery drinks
2:00 - RV arrives in finish town, drops gear at hotel, goes to team parking
3:30 - soigneur and driver head for finish
3:45 - finish - direct racers to hotel or RV and give them recovery drinks
4:00 - mechanics start cleaning and repairing bikes and wheels
4:00 - soigneurs start massages (and finish 8-9)
6:00 - mechanics and driver wash and fuel vehicles, replenish supplies
6:00 - soigneur prepares 3 coolers of water and mix bottles, musettes, etc
8:00 - drivers analyze next day requirements for racers, gear, etc and make a plan
8:15 - dinner
9:00 - watch NBC one hour highlights and actually find out how the day went on course

And do it all again, every day, until the race is over.