lodging & # of bicycles questions
A few questions, sorry if repeats from other threads:
1) Where do the riders sleep at night? I'm guessing the team bus takes them to a hotel, but do all the riders stay in the same hotel or does each team figure out where they'd like to stay?
2) Is food preparation for riders done on the team bus? If not, I wonder if the cooks have access to the hotel kitchens or if the kitchens cook for the riders.
3) How many bikes does a rider typically use in a Tour? I'm guessing one for most stages + one for time trials? Or will they use one for climbing days, one for flat days, one for TTs?
3a) Say a rider crashes a bike badly. He needs a new one. Does the team car have a bike for all 9 riders all dialed in and ready to go? (I'm guessing no, since they seem to carry 5-7 bikes, not 9 or so.)
3b) In terms of bikes...how long does a typical pro level rider use a bike? (I'm guessing it varies.) It seems like you'd get a bike at the start of the season and once you get it adjusted to exactly how you like it want to use that for the season. Then again, most pro riders are such machines that they might not even care as long as it has the pedals they like and the saddle height is okay.
Will a rider use one main bicycle for the entire TdF? (I mean outside of say the TT bike.)