Mavic Neutral Support-SSC

by Trish Albert

Race: Tour De Georgia
Date:  4-24-2005

Thanks to my friend, Scott Hodge, I had a ride in Mavic car 3 for the final stage of the Tour De Georgia from Blairsville to Alpharetta. Scott is a long time volunteer Mavic mechnanic and was working the motorcycle for Sunday's stage. Crowds started to gather as early as 9:30 to send the riders off. The riders, however, did not arrive until well past 10:30. The cold temperatures and high winds forced most of them to sit in the team vans until the last minute to sign in. Healthnet presented by Maxxis had it the best as their team bus made the trip from California to the TdG.

The Mavic moto driver and mechanic, Scott Hodge, ready themselves for another day.

About 5 minutes before the start, I got into the Mavic 3 car with Alex, the mechanic, and Jason, the driver. Joining us was another VIP, Dave Shields, author of "The Race." Both Alex and Jason are from Massachusetts and are Mavic veterans. Jason worked 10 days of the Tour De France in 2004. He said that it was boring compared to working US racing because the European teams have two cars in the caravan unlike in the US where one car is typically used.

Mavic's job is neutral support or to support any rider from any team with a mechanical. Mavic supplies spare bikes and wheels in different configurations including Campy, Shimano 10 speed, and Shimano 9 speed. Mavic 3's job was to follow any break that got at least 2 minutes up on the field. Until then, we stayed in front of the peloton with some of the media and Comm cars. Mavic 1 followed the peloton, and Mavic 2 would follow a break until it got two minutes on the peloton. The motorcycle worked several angles.

Mavic cars 2 and 3 are ready to go.

The morning started off on Radio Tour with the announcer checking in with each team and follow car. Every car in the caravan has a radio set to Radio Tour, which is broadcast in English and French. Radio Tour broadcasts race updates, course conditions and turns, and also calls up cars from the caravan to service the riders. Mavic also has its own radio to communicate between the cars and motorcycles. They may call out road hazards, turns, and novelties that Radio Tour does not.

The riders started the day with a lacidazical mentality. In the first 25 miles of racing, the riders took more nature breaks than they rode. Mavic 3 patrolled the front of the caravan. The most excitement came when the peloton flew single file down a small hill. Cars in the caravan follow a protocol. They generally stay to the right or slightly in the middle of the road unless someone is coming on the left. The passing vehicle sends short honks to let the other cars know they are coming by. Longer honks with the cars behind one another mean to speed up. As the riders came down the hill, Alex had to honk to let the cars in front know to speed up.

Checking in with Mavic 2.

When word came in over the Mavic radio that CSC and Phonak said they were happy with the overall GC placings, we knew today would be a boring stage. The only thing that might spice things up was if the retiring Andrea Tafi (Saunier Duval-Prodir) decided to attack and try to win one last race.
 

Rolling along at 20 mph through the Georgia Countryside. The peloton was piano! piano!

With the race lull, conversation turned to why the mechanics enjoyed working for Mavic. There are several staff mechanics that work full time while others are volunteers for a specific race. The volunteers get their expenses paid for but receive no salary. Jason and Alex agree that they do not do it for the money or "hot chicks" although Jason's girlfriend is also a Mavic mechanic (car 2 driver Jennifer). Alex is a former Cat. 2 racer and says that he had neither the talent nor the desire to continue racing. Jason, a former Cat. 3, agrees. They wanted to stay involved with racing other than being on the bike. They also enjoy the travel and the people they work with as well as always coming back from a race with more clothing than they started with.

As the first 65 miles trudged on, boredom hit the Mavic 3 car. Jokes were told. This VIP even came up with a good one, much to the surprise of the mechanics. Lunch was eaten, and everyone tried not to fall asleep.  Mavic 1 and the moto had a bit more excitement as they did several repairs for teams. The Symmetrics team car kept getting lost. Just past the feedzone, they ignored the course marshal and went straight rather than turning right like every other car in the caravan. They finally got back in the caravan only to get lost again! We in Mavic 3 wondered how they could get lost in the middle of a caravan while the State Patrol and course marshals told everyone exactly where to go.

The mechanics enjoy having a good time but are all business when the race gets going. A good wheel change is worth its weight in gold. They know that the race winner may depend on them if their team car is not around, and a bad wheel change can cost someone the race. One of the Healthnet riders is known as being a complainer about even the easiest wheel change; most riders are easier to work with. Jason told the story that when he was at the Tour De France last year, he was half way through a wheel change when the team car rolled up. Rather than have their rider seen with Mavic wheels, he pulled out the Mavic wheel and
completed the wheel change with one of the team's regular wheels.  During this stage, Bobby Julich (CSC) got several bike changes from the CSC team car. The Mavic mechanincs think it was his mechanic's revenge for using the Osymetric rings.

Danny Pate (Jelly Belly) signals for Mavic Neutral Support

Nearly half way into the race, several riders finally woke up and decided to race. Andrea Tafi went off the front and quickly got 20
seconds on the peloton. Danny Pate (Jelly Belly), Sven Krauss (Gerolsteiner), and Dom Perras (Kodak-Sierra Nevada) bridged up with a few miles. Mavic 3 took over support when the break reached 2 minutes. Not all of the teams moved their cars up to the break. Danny Pate needed to shed some of his clothes and waved for Mavic support. He handed them to Alex through the window. Eventually, the Jelly Belly car made its way to the break, and Alex gave the clothes back while driving at 30 mph.

Danny Pate hands Mavic extra clothing

Mavic hands the clothing back to the Jelly Belly team car after they began following the break.

With no threats to the GC, the four riders were allowed to get 3 minutes, 20 seconds on the peloton. Mavic 3 sat behind them in case they needed support. As we got closer to Alpharetta, the crowds got thicker. At some points, people were trying to get into to the road. One spectator nearly got run over by a security marshal when he stepped out in front of the motorcycle. Alex and Jason kept an eye on the break in case someone flatted.

As we entered the six finishing circuits, the break was less than 90 seconds in front of the peloton. Even so, the peloton did not seem interested in catching it quite yet. Mavic 3 had pulled in front of the break, and Mavic 2 had taken over support. The Commisaires decided that we could move into the caravan, so we pulled over to a safe spot and let the caravan pass us. We moved back to about 3 cars from the end. Each lap, we saw the field go by twice. With 3 laps to go, the gap to the break was less than 15 seconds. With about 5 laps to go, Mavic 2 was called back from behind the break. The moto took over support until the break had less than 15 seconds to the pack. At 2.5 laps to go, Danny Pate, who is a very strong time trialist, tried to go off the front. His effort was short lived as the LRP driven peloton swallowed him up. The sprinters teams started to come to the front to control the race as the circuit was perfect for a bunch sprint. Healthnet began to show itself on the last lap. The caravan was pulled off into deviation, so that the riders could finish the race without the fear of getting run over by a car. Gord Frasier (Healthnet) won with his teammate and Sprint Leader jersey Greg Henderson in second.

Even with the breakaways and some pot holes, Mavic 3 did not change any wheels out during the final stage of the TdG. The mechanics were amazed as to the few wheel changes done during the week. They theorized that the heavy rains washed the hazards from the road.

Trivia: SSC on the backs of the Mavic vehicles means Special Service Course. A service course is where a team typically keeps its equipment, spare bikes, and the mechanics fix things when the teams are not on the road. The Special Service Course is a mobile vehicle that allows Mavic to service all of the teams on the go.