Cannondale-Garmin mechanic Geoff Brown and Trek Factory Racing's Rober Gonzalez talk shop
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We obviously couldn't see the top of the Cannondale team bus but we're guessing it's just as clean as the rest of it(Image credit: James Huang)
Cannondale-Garmin mechanic Geoff Brown pulled out some old, long-reach Shimano calipers for the rear of the Synapse for better clearance on 30mm rubber than Shimano Dura-Ace (Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
Close up on the front end of a Cannondale SuperSix (Image credit: Cannondale)
Trek Factory Racing went all in with the endurance Domane bikes at Scheldeprijs — clearly a trial run for Sunday (Image credit: Courtesy Castelli)
Pro gear is always cleaned well after every stage. But you can't wash away crashes(Image credit: Ben Delaney / Future Publishing)
Eugenio Alafacio of Trek Factory Racing really didn't want to see his heart rate during the Giro's opening TTT(Image credit: Robin Wilmott/Immediate Media)
Being a mechanic for a professional cycling team often involves long days and early mornings to ensure the riders' bikes are in optimal condition for racing. Cyclingnews spoke to Cannondale-Garmin mechanic Geoff Brown and Trek Factory Racing's Rober Gonzalez about the work required on the bikes after a stage and on the morning of a stage at the Giro d'Italia.
"We arrive at the start, obviously we take the bikes of the roof rack, then we quickly go through the gears on each bike. We make sure the batteries are still full, we did last night anyways but we just do it as a matter of course," Brown said.
"Today, it's raining unfortunately so what we do there is regulate the tyre pressure and lower them a little bit to make sure they tyres are a good pressure for the rainy surface that we have."
For Gonzalez, it's a similar process of having 99% of the work done the night before with only minor adjustments in the morning.
"We just check the pressure in the tyres and is something is needed that special ,we change it. It's ok, normally, we do all the hard work in the evening after the race."
Watch the video below to find out more about the pre-race jobs of the mechanics and click here to subscribe to the Cyclingnews video channel.
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