How can you make fast guys go faster?
We attempted to do just that during the team time trial training camp here in Girona. After our second place finish in the team time trail (TTT) in Qatar and our TTT win at the Tour de Georgia, we should be ready to be competitive in the first Grand Tour of the year.
The Giro d’Italia starts this year with a TTT over 23.5 km in Palermo, on the island of Sicily. Going for the victory in a Grand Tour will of course be much harder than the previous events. So we brought all the riders going to the Giro together and concentrated on perfecting the team performance over the course of two days.
Directors Johnny Weltz and Matt White found a route in Girona that was nearly the same as the one the team will have to face in Palermo – mostly flat with a few small elevations in the road. We practiced a special warm-up protocol with white vests to have better protection against the heat in Palermo. The mechanics made numerous adaptations to the time trial bikes to make sure the fit and the aerodynamics were perfect. Special pre-race drinks were adapted by the team’s Sports Physiologist Allen Lim and the new skin suits were tested.
The most difficult part of the process was to find the best line-up and order for the riders. After five changes, we figured out the best order possible of the nine riders who will defend the colors of Slipstream Sports in the Giro this Saturday.
