These photos of Team Sky's service course show tables and tables of new Rapha clothing. But when one rider's kit is put in one pile, the scale of each man’s allocation is breathtaking.
Photos courtesy Team Sky
All of this clothing for just one rider at the start of the season; some Irish clubs don't have this much between them. And it's all Rapha gear. This photo was taken by Team Sky personnel as they readied the clothing goodies for distribution to the riders. What we're looking at here is the clothing issued to British national road race champion Peter Kennaugh for the first half of the season. He'll get the same again in June. All of the riders get this quantity. Don't believe Philip Deignan or Nicolas Roche if you meet them at a race and they say they can't give you a full team kit!
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A closer look at some of Kennaugh's kit, which of course includes the British national champion's jersey. Kennaugh got this portion of clothing in time for Christmas and he will get the same again in March, completing the allocation for the first half of the season. Then he gets the same again in June for the second half of the campaign.
This is how the on-bike kit arrives at the team's service course in Italy; with boxes labelled with each rider's name. The casual kit arrives in other boxes. All the gear is made to measure for the rider's individual dimensions. The service course is essentially a team's garage, logistical base, storage facility and so on.
These are just the Nike trainers for the team to wear with their casual sports gear off the bike; nice work of you can get it.
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The attention to detail is great, with each piece of casual clothing the riders wear when not cycling all packed into branded bags.
Bags of a different kind; the branded suitcases that will start out shiny and new but get a pounding through the year with all of the travel involved in the pro game. These babies will see the luggage holds of lots and lots of airplanes this year. There were over 100 suitcases to ship out to riders all over the world last month.
Running a pro team of this size and to the level of perfection Team Sky demands must be a massive operation for 12 months of the year. Even sorting all of this kit and getting it into the right hands in a timely fashion must be a considerable undertaking. The staff make sure none of the kit gets mixed up so every rider gets what they need. And they worked long hours to make sure it was all dispatched early enough for the riders to have their first allocation before Christmas.
The pictures on the wall remind everyone what it's all about; Froome in yellow at the conclusion of the Tour de France riding down the Champs-Élysées with the men who helped him do it.
Philip Deignan (above) and Nicolas Roche could do a runner before the season starts and open a shop selling the gear they've been issued.
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