One thing with professional races, like the Tour de France, is that the race waits for no one. The front of the race may slow if there is a crash or for a “nature” break but for flat tires or bike mechanicals, you will quickly fall behind. The job of the team car is to feed riders bottles as well as food along with making sure their bikes stay in proper working order. Often times this means fixing whatever needs fixed while moving at speeds of 30 or 40 mph, or more. The Wall Street Journal put interviewed a mechanic from one of the teams who is the one reaching out the window performing any fixes. It’s a pretty interesting task and one that seams risky for both rider and mechanic. The next time you see a rider getting service on their bike from the team car, you’ll know what’s going on.
