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E ven in these timesoi cc,„„),„ic uncertaintv. it is still possible
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to raise a smile and feel good about some of the things we do in the transport industry.
In fact, if you want to cheer yourself up, just take a minute or two to check out the positive things that trucks can and are used for.
Trucks are the great enablers of modern times. We all know it and we need to keep shouting about it: trucks deliver everything.
And if Team Sky, the world's newest professional cycle racing team, have anything to do with it, that includes sporting success.
Italian job
Helping the team achieve its sporting goals are four very special Volvos — two FH500 Globetrotter-cabbed 6x2 rcarsteer rigids and two custom-built tri-axle 9700 coaches. For three months. CM has followed the progress of Team Sky, from when its Volvo support vehicles took shape at coach builder iS Fraser in Oxfordshire to the Tirreno — Adriatico race in the snow-capped hills of Inseam/ in mid-March. where we saw how important the vehicles are to its success.
Team Sky is backed by the broadcaster BSkyB, which is part of News Corp, one of the largest and most powerful media empires in the world. Media pundits are saying Sky's entry into road racing ahead of the 2012 London Olympics might even echo the galvanising effect the broadcaster had on English football in the early '90s, with the establishment of the Premier League.
According to team principal Dave Brailsford,Team Sky has set itself some pretty tough targets to achieve over the next live years — not least the stated aim of becoming the best sports team in the world.
However, foremost among Team Sky's sporting objectives is that of winning the Tour de France with a British rider, To help achieve this goal, the team has signed Olympic gold medallist Bradley Wiggins and a team of top cyclists
Evans background is in Formula I. including time spent working for what was the Honda Fl Racing team.
Early in the genesis of Team Sky, Evans says the decision was made to do things differently. In effect, to throw a rock in the pond of professional cycle racing.
In practice, this meant focusing on creating exactly the right environment for the 26 elite athletes who make up Team Sky to win their races With money no object. Team Sky has attempted to provide the very best of everything the riders could possibly need.The team calls it being rider-centric:
Brailsford expands on this theme: -The team members will set their own goals and we build everything around them to enable them to achieve those goals"
This philosophy has led to the provision of two ultra-luxurious Volvo coaches and two left-hand-drive Volvo FH-hased mobile workshops. as well as a fleet of Jaguar X-Type 2.2 diesel estate and saloon cars, which are used as race convoy cam carrying spare wheels and bikes.
In order to source the best possible vehicles, Team Sky turned to Guy Elliott, CEO Northern Europe for DHL Supply Chain. Following a chance meeting in Bonn. Elliott asked Volvo national fleet manager David Clibbom to provide expertise and advice to Team Sky on the provision of a total solution to include funding, vehicle specifications and delivery schedules.
-The initial meeting." says Clibbom."created an opportunity for Volvo to get involved as a partner rather than just as a supplier to Team Sky."
Team comfort
While conscious that CM is not usually concerned with passenger transport, we need to look at the coaches because they arc an integral part of the vehicle solution provided by Volvo, The trucks and coaches have a symbiotic relationship in that they exist because of each other, and provide two links in a unified support team that is dedicated to keeping the riders and their bikes in the peak of health.
In the case of the bikes, it's mechanical and even electrical — they have Dura-Ace electronic gear changi mechanisms and Push-To-Talk' electronic team comn nications devices mounted on the handlebars The coaches provide a sanctuary for the riders away from the hurly-hurly of race day. Their interiors are designed to help them relax and focus on maintaining their physical state and. just as importantly, their ment attitude before and after a race.
The sheer quality of the vehicles' presentation, is guaranteed to make rival teams as green with envy as a maillot vert.
Riders' every whim is catered for: each rider gets an individual swivelling leather armchair with docks for his team i Pod, team iPhone and team MacBook Pro laptop computer.
Since Sky is the team sponsor, it comes as no surpris to find that there is a huge choice of films and televisio programmes available for each individual to watch, thanks to the Sky boxes under each seat.
In fact, the interior is more like the first class cabin c an A380 Super Jumbo. It is fair to say that even the mc pampered rock band in the world will not have transix with even half the features that, courtesy of coachbuik JS Fraser. the Volvos have been blessed.
For example, the seats have electrically operated calf supports and a team soignear (the cycling term for the physio or masseur) travels with them to reduce the soreness caused by build up of lactic acid in the riders' leg muscles.
Hyper-attention to detail, says Brailsford, gives Tean Sky marginal gains in sporting terms and performance thus enhancing its chances of delivering the race victories it craves.
And the transport industry can bask in the afterglow of helping to deliver a British success story. •
from around the globe. Collectively and individually, Team Sky's mindset is all about winning.
Facebook fans
The official Team Sky launch took place in January at Millbank in London. However, that was was preceded by a series of ride-outs, where 23 of the 26 team riders three were competing in Australia led several hundred fans for a brisk tour of the capital in the frosty sunshine.
The ride-outs were filmed for Sky News, and then syndicated to the BBC and ITN.
As you would expect from a media-savvy company such as Sky, the event was reported on Team Sky's Facebook fansite and website within minutes of them taking place.
The launch itself was a high-energy event that was attended by print and broadcast media of all levels, as well as the national dailies, and. of course, the specialist cycling press. Sky's own Dermot Murnaglian interviewed the team and the management as they assembled on stage. Coldplay aptly provided the background music.
If you're wondering where this is going. bear with us. because the detail is crucial to understanding where Team Sky is coming from.
Although. at first glance. the operation seems to bear as little relation to a normal transport company as Postman Pat does to a typical Royal Mail delivery driver, there is a lesson to be learned for everyone in the transport business. Team Sky is all about cultivating and adopting a winning attitude.
Not riders of the norm When talking to Gwilym Evans, head of special projects at Team Sky, two words come up time and again: quality and winning. Those words were also emphasised by Brailsford at the team's official launch. It seems that these five syllables have been ingrained into the team's DNA.