Phonak hard at work

By Shane Stokes

While T-Mobile have been burning up the roads on the east of the island, their Swiss neighbours have been clocking up pre-season kilometres from a base about 50 kilometres away. Phonak have been based in a plush hotel near the golden shores of Playa de Palma (Palma beach), building form for what they hope will be a successful 2006 season.

The riders had a rest day on Friday but several of them opted to head to the local velodrome to work on their positions on their new bike. Former world time trial champion Santiago Botero has also been honing his aero form, spending part of Thursday evening experimenting with handlebar positions, under the watchful eye of the team aerodynamicist.

BMC chief engineer Rolf Singenberger was also close by, taking Cyclingnews through some of the exciting new changes in their equipment for 2006. A new paint-job sees the old Phonak frame colours replaced by a more appealing red, black and white colour scheme, while both the road and time trial frames have been tweaked in order to make them lighter.

More details of the Phonak camp coming soon.