Normal service has been resumed

[ex-khobar Andy]

The Tour is back on. Huge crash around mile 90 in the first stage.

[Burning Petard]

Thanks Andy for the reminder. I have the Velo News TdF issue on my coffee table and I have barely looked at it. Still recovering from the general affect and effect of the plague--even tho I had no personal experience. I have just been doing my hermit in a cave act.

I hope the Napleonic Law system keeps that "fan" tied up in financial knots for years.

snailgate

[Burning Petard]

Me, I am pulling for Mark Cavendish to win a couple more stages. But the race today had something for everyone. Lots of strategy, Big names falling apart. A sprinter (takes a powerful engine) winning the stage with climbs that usually leave the sprinters hanging on at the back. Beautiful mountain views.

Anybody know what brand the three-wheeled motorcycles are used by many of the camera teams? Beemers no longer seem to be the automatic choice for this chore.

snailgate

[Bicycle Bill]

Me, I am pulling for Mark Cavendish to win a couple more stages. But the race today had something for everyone. Lots of strategy, Big names falling apart. A sprinter (takes a powerful engine) winning the stage with climbs that usually leave the sprinters hanging on at the back. Beautiful mountain views.

Anybody know what brand the three-wheeled motorcycles are used by many of the camera teams? Beemers no longer seem to be the automatic choice for this chore.

snailgate

It's the Yamaha "NIKEN".  A squadron of some 30 motorcycles are needed for controlling traffic, making sure the riders get their fresh bottles, transporting race officials and journalists, as well as accompanying the publicity caravan.

Yamaha became the official supplier of the Tour de France beginning in 2019.  The three-wheeled motorcycles first accompanied the peloton on the Paris-Nice classic that spring, according to an article originally posted in 2019.

Frank Meneghini, who is in charge of the A.S.O. (Amaury Sports Organization, which owns/organizes the Tour de France and certain other European one-day classics) car and motorcycle fleet, was quoted as saying, “We made our first visit to Yamaha a year ago (which would have been 2018) and we have put in a lot of work with them to make the needed modifications for the different functions that we carry out in the races.  For example, we install radio communication equipment that changes weight distribution.  The NIKEN also has to be equipped with a specific support for the race information slate or a tall windscreen that is not available on the standard model.”

Once these adjustments were made, Yamaha proceeded with the certification of these new materials, while the motorbike riders put in several tests before using the bikes in the races.  And the verdict is unanimous when it comes to the riding comfort of the Japanese motorcycles.

“We did some tests on the cobblestones to ready for Paris-Roubaix and all the riders confirmed that the three-wheelers provide a lot of stability.  Its look also makes it an atypical motorcycle and that is not negligible,” concludes Meneghini.
https://www.letour.fr/en/news/2019/with ... ls/1276061

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