For the third year in a row, Shimano is supporting the Tour de France with the neutral race service. The blue cars and motorbikes replaced the legendary yellow vehicles of the Mavic company, which had run into financial difficulties at the time. The neutral material car always steps in if a rider breaks down with a technical defect and there is no team vehicle nearby to help him. The wheels and racing bikes are then used to ensure that things can continue at least temporarily.
Neutral equipment vans at the Tour de France: Two Skoda vehicles in action
There are two neutral service cars, one near the lead group and a second behind the peloton. Eight or six wheels in sizes XS to XL and a few spare wheels are mounted on the roofs of the Shimano-Skodas, with more wheels stowed on the back seat of the car. The blue-painted carbon frames come from the Origine brand, a French direct bike distributor near the Belgian border. The Axxome II GT model, which is used as a Tour de France replacement bike, is more of an endurance racing bike than a professional sports bike in terms of seating position and is marketed as such.
The road bikes are equipped with high-quality Dura-Ace Di2 groupsets, Dura-Ace Aero rims and Continental Grand Prix 5000 tyres. However, in view of the inexpensive and heavy aluminium add-on parts from the Shimano sub-brand Pro, a total weight of less than 7.5 kilograms is hardly realistic. The aero trend also seems to have left its mark on the bikes: With round tube shapes and cables running on the outside, riders would be at a clear technical disadvantage.
Various pedal systems
However, this should not be the biggest problem if a racer is dependent on one of these spare bikes from the neutral equipment van. The racing bikes are equipped with a colourful mix of the four different pedal systems used in the peloton: Look, Time, Shimano and Speedplay. The fact that a rider needs a spare bike in a suitable size and with the right pedal system seems unlikely. Fortunately, this is an extremely rare occurrence.
