A series of pictures taken at La Tranchée de Wallers-Arenberg, or La Trouée d'Arenberg, France, during the Paris Roubaix cycle race, on the 12th April 2015.
Jack, Nicolas Pierron of B’TWIN and I were ‘holding wheels’ for the FDJ.fr team, we were placed at the exit from the infamous 2.8 kilometer long, 5 star (hardest grade) cobbled section, just in case of mishaps with wheels or punctures.
A rapid moving peloton was rolling at an average of over 50 kmh at the start of the race, which meant they were ahead of schedule, so despite heading out early, we had to undertake a frantic 5 kilometer hike through the crowds to position ourselves at the agreed rendezvous point.
There are a huge number of people behind the scenes at cycle races in all sorts of roles, a fair number of support crew are dotted along critical points of the race, they’re placed strategically to assist in the event of mechanical issues in order to save precious seconds and get the riders moving again with minimum delay if there’s a mishap.
Our location was particularly important, as the trench is notoriously grueling on the bikes; adding to the difficulties, the team cars get held back as the peloton draws out into a long line, the riders sprint into cobbled sections and string out as they try to ride the center crest of the thin pavé strip, they do this in an attempt to make the passage slightly less harsh for themselves, riding off camber makes it more difficult and puts additional strain on the tyre walls.
In this instance the riders took several minutes to pass through due to a breakaway and the predictable thinning of main group that followed; luckily none of the FDJ team required our assistance, although the French National Champion Arnaud Démare did puncture further along, which is unlucky, as he was well positioned in the race.
We bumped into Sir Dave Brailsford (the main man at Team Sky and the mastermind behind the development of British cycling), who was there with one of his mechanics, doing the same thing as us. He wasn't too troubled that two Brit’s were supporting a French team, it’s an international sport after all and we were also cheering on Sir Bradley Wiggins, Ian Stannard, Luke Rowe and Geraint Thomas, so all was well.
A great day out, exciting and fun, thanks to Nicolas, Cyril and Pascale for the inspiring opportunity to get immersed in the race.
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