The Day Before The Tour, An Inside Look At AG2R and BH

The months leading up to the Tour de France have vanished quickly. On Saturday July 4th the Tour will launch its 96th run from the Principality of Monaco to the finish in Paris twenty-one days later. On the start line will be 20 of the world’s best cycling teams looking to leave their imprint on this year’s race. It will be a race of athletes and their equipment, against the mountains, coastal winds, weather, and the clock.

If last year is any indication of success then Pro Tour team AG2R should have confidence leading into the start in Monaco. With two stage wins in the 2008 Tour de France AG2R have built a team to continue to build on that success. Cyril Dessel and Vladimir Efimikn, both stage winners from the 08 Tour, have returned to the squad to lead their team. Adding support in the mountains are past Vuelta stage winner Jose Arrieta and the experienced Stephane Goubert. Last year on the critical mountain stage to Alp d’ Huez, when Carlos Sastre escaped for the win, Goubert was the rider that set tempo to prevent Sastre from taking even more time.

Also joining the squad is the current Irish National Road Champion Nicolas Roche who will participate in his first Tour de France. Lloyd Montgomery, Rinaldo Nocentini, Hubert Dupont, and Christoph Riblon will fill in the remainder of the spots. Riblon was never on a tentative list for the AG2R Tour de France roster but his good form at the right time secured the last and final TDF spot.

In 2008 the riders secured two TDF stage wins riding their BH G4 bicycles. The riders applauded the strength, handling and responsiveness of the G4. For BH the team’s success only fueled their desire to continue to build high end bikes using the latest advantageous technology available. This has led to the introduction of the BH G5, at the Tour de France, which wipes away the old standard of excellence. The new G5 is lighter, stiffer, compliant, and more responsive than any other BH model ever made. It’s almost a list of contradictory terms but the G5 manages to take these separate positive characteristics and combine them into one desirable racing machine. Prototypes hit the rider’s bottoms just before the Dauphine with Jose Arrieta receiving the first one. After an ample number of training and racing days were completed Jose was supposed to return the bike for analysis and possible modifications. A small wrench in BH’s plans was the fact that Jose loved the bike so much that he didn’t want to return the G5 but insisted on using it for the rest of the races leading up the TDF.

The changes to the bike are prominent, precise, and calculated. You can pull up the brochure and read about the increased stiffness of the bottom bracket, the larger head tube size, and carbon drop outs to understand the numbers. What I set out to do over the next few weeks is to explain the feeling the AG2R riders get from the BH G5 under the highest, intense, racing possible. It will be a look into the team, their expectations, tribulations and adventures on the new G5 from Monaco to Paris.