Race day team car support

I don’t fully understand how teams coordinate support between the team cars or how they make repairs. We see them swap wheels and swap bikes. Sometimes riders get their original bike back. I can’t imagine they’re doing wheel repairs in the car and must simply have a supply of good wheels; do they ever use them all up? And there is usually more than one team car, so there must be some coordination. Is there any video or source where that highlights how teams manage all of this?

You’ve just come up with an idea for a new Escape article.

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In cobbled races there are often team-helpers all across the course with spare wheels. The team cars will grab the unused wheels as they drive past. I think the risk of running out is low, especially with all the spares on the bikes up top as well.

Mechanics definitely do repair things and replace tyres in the back of the car though - not fun!

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What about the scenario where a rider punctures and gets given a spare bike? Do the team stop somewhere to swap out the wheel on that bike so it’s ready to use again? And then rejoin the race convoy? I assume they do rather than somehow magically swapping the wheel out while it’s still on the roof…

or maybe if there isn’t time they just swap a wheel out in the event of a second, or subsequent, puncture. It seems like bike swaps are faster for key riders and they’d always want to be prepared if they can.

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Former US National Team/Pro women’s team DS here - there have been times, depending on the event and rider, where we would replace the wheel from the “A” bike with a new wheel whilst the rider is already under way with their spare “B” bike. Theoretically the rider would be in the caravan and we could swap out bikes once more to get the rider their “A" bike which is easy with team radios, not so easy without. Some riders just prefer their “A’“ bike, regardless of “B” bike exactitude. We almost always agree in the team meeting that after halfway through a race we would go to spare bike straight away and not change out wheels like we would before the half way mark. Once again though, it depends on the event and rider. Like Jasedepuit says above, we have done repairs in the car (def not fun, AT ALL) but sometimes you need to. We’ve done a full rearrange of the bikes on the roof once, swapping out wheels for riders’ bikes because it was a hell of a day (best told over beers) and we tore through equipment due to the mayhem of a Jr Men’s race. Roubaix is a specific beast of a day and we would have staff leapfrog from sector to sector with wheelsets and a spare bike for our #1 rider because we might never see riders until its far too late.

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How about writing a book with all of the "best told over beers” stories?! Title: “Tales From the Back Seat.” :slight_smile:

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Ha, that would be funny. I can tell you the tale of this one race day when my mechanic felt compelled to put his seat belt on during a nice drive back up to the caravan after a service. : )

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