The Paris Olympics started a few days ago with the evidence to stopwatch and the victory of Grace Brown and Remco EvenepoelTechnical assistance for this Olympic event, as for all other international events, is handled by Shimano. Eight people, both men and women, are constantly on the course and provide neutral assistance. Among them there is also an Italian representative: Massimo RavaTogether with him, we go behind the scenes of the Paris Olympics and put ourselves on the front line behind the riders.
«We arrived in Paris – says Rava – on July 23rd, Tuesday. We have prepared everything we need until the start of the time trials. and carried out various checks on the equipment: wheels, bikes, gears, sprockets, etc. A count of what was necessary to have in the car, and over the course of the days the check becomes double, because every morning you go and recount everything. In reality it is almost a triple check, since the material is shipped from the Belgian headquarters, and it is expected that it will also be taken into account by them in the preparation phase."
European team
Eight people at the service of all the road tests seems like a lot, but it is not an excessive number, in fact it is almost reducedThere are so many things to do that 16 hands are almost not enough to do them all.
«For the time trials – Rava explains – we had 29 bikes divided between four machines, plus a lot of wheels. We had some athletes to follow, we came across some from different nations who participated with two riders.The first, most important one, is followed by the team's flagship car, while we followed the second. With only one car available, there's no guarantee there'll be time to get back to the starting line. Plus we are always behind the last rider to start, because in case of a breakdown of your flagship we will intervene".
Four cars, eight people, how many nationalities?
You are in this case: France, Belgium, Holland, Spain, Germany and of course Italy. The official language is EnglishWe are divided between four drivers and four mechanics, plus the manager who coordinates everything.
Now that the time trials are over, we move on to the road.
In the last few days we have been on the Montmartre climb to see some of the critical pointsThen we will also do a test of the complete route.
You've already seen something though...
Montmartre is a narrow street where the team cars will struggle to overtake to assist the riders. So we could be called into question often, as in the rest of the raceThere are few athletes at the start but many nations, so there will be a lot of cars following.
Where will you be placed?
We'll be behind the judges with one car. Then we'll be behind the race with the other two. There will be many flagships and some of them will be mixed, given that there are teams with only one athlete competing. Maybe Eritrea is with Slovakia, and two other nations with only one rider. You understand that if there's a crash or a general problem, they can't be in two different places.
So much work for you.
We work a lot with the national teams, because they only have one car in tow, so there are times when you have to intervene. I also participated in the Tokyo Olympics, and I worked so hard, it almost gave me a headache.
Then in the road race there is a risk that the group will explode and it is not easy to be everywhere.
The race is 270 kilometers for men and almost 160 kilometers for women. Only a few of the smaller nations will break away, but the group could stretch out. a lot and the flagships are far behind.
Will you still do a material check before the race?
Absolutely. There are many athletes competing with different groupsets and equipment, perhaps even within the same team. Some race with Shimano, some with SRAM or Campagnolo. The car will be full and we will only know at the last minute which component the rider will need.Let's say we'll have a nice "fruit mix." Consider that we also brought some wheels with traditional brakes...
Good luck then.
Crepi!
