Originally Posted by
2manybikes
. It's a lot easier to have another bike ready to ride than switch the gearing around a lot.
Incorrect. For the most part the gear changes your talking about at this level are moving from say an 11-23 to an 11-28, which is as simple as changing a wheel.
Second, they basically tear down and reassemble the bikes everyday anyway, so not a big deal at all for a pro team mechanic to set up a bike for a particular stage.
At the 2003 TDF, we stayed at the same hotel one stage as the IBanesto team, and we watched the mechanics do this. They even stripped and reglued tubulars on the wheels.
