The Best Seat In The House

Sitting at the front of over 40 cars in the Tour de France is the AG2R car. Every team here at the Tour have two vehicles in the race, a first directors car and a second directors car. It’s often that during the Tour some teams never see the front group or the back of the peloton. If you’re unlucky enough to drive the 2nd team car then your chances of seeing the race are pretty slim considering you’re 30 cars back. But think of the view of your car number one, the first car in the order, the first car to respond to any problems, and the best view of all the action. This is exactly where Vincent Lavenu, the director of AG2R, sits on stage 9.

Nocentini was still in yellow and today with two big climbs, including the torturous Tourmalet, the team had 160km to defend if they wanted it at the end of the race also. The team rode superbly with their climbers of Goubert and Efimkin. These two riders, with Nocentini on their wheels, set a tempo just quick enough to ward off any attacks. With almost opposite styles these two riders were in charge for many kilometers of the race. On their new G5’s Goubert’s climbing style is more in the saddle with a larger gear to keep his speed up. A look at Efimkin showed that he liked to alternate in the saddle with out of the saddle spurts while keeping a quick pedal rhythm. In either case it’s the broader bottom bracket and larger seat tube and down tube that create a strong platform for the riders power transfer. Their quick pace up and over the Tourmalet was rewarded when on the run into the finish other teams started to take up the chase thinking about the stage win.

For Nocentini this was his second full day in yellow and as he rode to the start this morning he had to maneuver his way to the front. On the team car, waiting in line for the race to start, sat a full stack of BH G5 bikes all ready to be ridden at a moments notice. Most of the riders will have three to four BH bikes at their disposal in case of problems out on the road. They will have their race bike, the spare bike, the replacement bike that is kept in the truck, and their TT bike. All of these 100% carbon bikes have a stock geometry that allow the consumers at home to get the exact same high end bikes as the professionals. The G5 delivers a 100% improvement in stiffness of the bottom bracket while keeping comfort with their unique seat stay design. Stage 9 took the riders almost 5 hours going over two big mountains and if you continue to add the hours together that they spend in the saddle then comfort will quickly move up your list of requirements.

At the end of the day AG2R kept yellow and this sets them up nicely for the next four to five days. Nocentini will be happy to keep the yellow handlebar tape that sets his bike apart from the rest. AG2R have ridden a great race up to this point and surprisingly it seems to be a battle of glory between the French teams. Tomorrow’s rest day will be appreciated by many and the following four days will then return to the sprinters for their chance at victory.