Recently on Cyclingnews.com |
 Giro finale Photo ©: Bettini |
|
|
Behind the Blue Curtain
Inside the Discovery Channel bus with Chris Brewer
Chris will be bringing us daily updates from within Discovery Channel HQ, getting the lowdown from team management.
Discovery Channel is the team on everybody's lips at this year's Tour de France. Why?
One name - Lance Armstrong.
This network of riders and staff previously existed as the US Postal Service Pro Cycling Team, helping Lance win his six Tour de France crowns, and in 2005 they're gunning for a seventh title. Follow the progress of the team here on Cyclingnews.com from 'Behind the Blue Curtain'
July 7, 2005: Coloured Lids
Aside from the weather, today was a day the team could use: a relatively flat day, no big changes in GC to be expected, and no huge drama on the agenda. Yaroslav "Popo" Popovych is still in white, you-know-who's in yellow, and so I got to thinking about the coloured items the two guys are wearing, and that lead me to Toshi Corbett with Giro helmets.
Toshi's usually seen walking about the Tour with a huge black bag under his arm, and inside that bag is some seriously good shwag: coloured Giro Atmos helmets for those riders 1] lucky enough to be awarded a coloured jersey and 2] on a team sponsored by Giro. "Every year we want to do something special for any of our athletes fortunate enough to be in a coloured jersey," he said as the buses made their way into the team area. "Giro makes special helmets to go along with the GC jerseys and to also commemorate their day in the leader's jersey."
What's cool about this is that Giro doesn't just give one to each of the overall champions. They realize that even one day in a leader's jersey is a huge accomplishment, and any Giro athlete will get a coloured lid sooner or later. "We've found that the guys will usually have their jersey framed and hanging over their mantelpiece, so we make sure that we send them the corresponding Atmos helmet as well."
Toshi also offers up one of the helmets for the riders to wear during the stage, but that's one aspect the guys don't always jump on. "Lance's kind of superstitious that way. He'll only wear the yellow helmet on the last stage. And I guess if the boss leads that way, the others will usually follow."
All for now from Troyes, France, thanks for checking in.
Cheers,
Chris
|
|
|
|
|
2005 entries - the Tour de France
- July 28 - Lance's Tour curtain call
- July 23 - Time Trial support
- July 19 - How to become a pro
- July 18 - All's well on rest day
- July 16 - The Disco team car
- July 15 - Iconography
- July 14 - The team behind the team
- July 13 - A little bit of Discovery tech
- July 11 - Staying on guard
- July 9-10 - Life at the start & Entering the Holy of Holies
- July 7 - Coloured Lids
- July 6 - Recovering after the TTT
- July 5 - Stage 4 - Mystery Oakleys?
- July 4 - Stage 3 and looking ahead to the TTT
- July 3 - Discovery Channel Satisfied with Stage 1 Result
Previous Cyclingnews articles on the Discovery Channel team
Interviews
- Lance Armstrong: Ready for Number 7
- Lance Armstrong: Suddenly seven
- Lance Armstrong interview: On top of his game, having fun
- Johan Bruyneel: It's not a formality, really
- Lance Armstrong: Three weeks to go before the Tour de France
Tech
- Tour de France tech - Lance's TTX
