In order to beat the heat and the stress of "Le Tour" stages, every day Etixx - Quick-Step uses a cold bath at Le Tour de France. This temperature specific bath is located in the team camper outside the team hotel. There are multiple physical, as well as mental, benefits of this cold bath.
"It's a perfect way to cool down after the race," Team Doctor Helge Riepenhof said. "The cold bath serves four major functions. The first is to cool down your body temperature, immersed in a cold and nice environment. This is nice for your heated body without the risk of getting ill. The second effect is actually sitting in the water, which produces some hydrostatic pressure on the legs. Hydrostatic pressure on the legs means the vessels get a kind of compression, and this compression improves the venous flow to your heart, which improves recovery. The third function is that it's simply nice. It's a great feeling. It's a mental boost to get out of the heat and return to the cold. Also, everyone says it is an ice bath, but it is not. It is a bath between 10 to 12, and sometimes 14 degrees celsius. On very rare days it is eight degrees celsius. We set it based on how hot it is outside. But normally the temperature fluctuates between 10 and 14 degrees celsius. It's warmer than the temperature that would create ice, but cold enough to carefully and slowly lower the body temperature. The fourth function is that the bath is a natural way to reduce inflammation. You don't want to completely kill the inflammation, as inflammation has a purpose in the process of repairing muscle tissue. The cold bath reduces it to where it is in a perfect state for the body to recover and heal. Riders do it immediately after the race, but also after massages and before bed, because you sleep better. Riders don't just sit in the water. They also put their under arms in the water. There are a lot of nerves in that area that can give feedback about temperature to the brain. So, after having your under arms in the water, and across your legs, you can go to bet with your body feeling cooler and that makes it easier to go to bed, which improves sleep quality."
Image: Etixx - Quick-Step TDF Miniature Rider "Charlie" and the Cool Bath Duck. Photo ©BrakeThrough Media
Etixx - Quick-Step riders feel confident in the cold baths helping them recover better each day.
"It's really nice after long and hot stages to recover in the cold bath," Mark Cavendish said. "You feel better immediately. You cool down and your body recovers faster, where you can be ready for the next stages. The cold bath has made a huge difference at Le Tour, where's it's been so hot the past few days."
Image: Matteo Trentin in the Cool Bath. Photo ©BrakeThrough Media
Image: Matteo Trentin (top) and Julien Vermote (below) using the cool bath after another hot TDF stage. Photo ©BrakeThrough Media
"I don't just do it after the stage, but also before bed in the evening," Matteo Trentin said. "If you do it, and also put your under arms inside, you sleep really well. It is really relaxing to cool your body in a controlled way. It is really a mental boost as well, because you can actually feel the difference these baths make immediately. I noticed it more than ever the few stages in the Pyrenees. It was so extremely hot, but these baths removed a lot of the stress of the heat that otherwise can wear on you after a few days. And as anyone knows, Le Tour is a mental grind as much as it is a physical one."
Velon has entered a partnership and content-capture agreement with GoPro, maker of versatile cameras and enabler of today's most immersive and engaging content.
Under the terms of the deal Velon will capture both on-bike race footage and behind the scenes videos with GoPro. Together, Velon and GoPro will give a unique view on the sport and show more of what goes into winning the world's biggest bike races – be it from the riders', the Directeur Sportifs [sporting director]', the mechanics' and the teams' point of view.
GoPro will partner with Velon, whose teams make up two thirds of the 17 WorldTour (top level) squads, to show the content on their digital and social media platforms.
The deal is effective immediately and Velon will begin capturing content starting at the 102nd edition of the Tour de France Velon will exclusively use GoPro cameras, with the deal running throughout 2015.
With their line of wearable and gear mountable cameras, GoPro is transforming the way we watch sports. Their top-end model, the HERO4 Black, delivers up to 4K-resolution video and couples this with an ultra-wide field of view, high quality audio and wireless viewing / control features to enable a more immersive experience than ever before. The partnership centres on GoPro's unique ability to offer unprecedented angles, perspectives and points of view – all in broadcast quality – to create a more engaging experience for sports fans across the world.
Velon CEO Graham Bartlett said: "The partnership will show fans a new side of cycling, with the fantastic moments that have never been captured before, I think this is a great deal for the sport. GoPro's YouTube channel is one of the world's highest ranked online sports channels, in the top 5 for both subscribers and video views, we want this partnership to excite the fans and open the sport up to new ones from around the world."
Todd Ballard, Senior Director of Lifestyle Marketing for GoPro said: "Cycling is one of the ultimate team sports, but the best moments often happen away from the TV cameras. By partnering with Velon, we can get inside the action and show what it takes to win in one of the world's most demanding sports, bringing the sport alive for our millions of fans."
About Velon
Velon is a business venture formed by pro-cycling teams in 2014 to foster longer term stability for its members and the sport. It is wholly owned and controlled equally by the 11 shareholding teams. Headquartered in the UK, the commercial organisation was founded by BMC Racing Team, Etixx - Quick-Step, Lampre - Merida, Lotto Soudal, Orica GreenEDGE, Team Cannondale - Garmin, Team Giant - Alpecin, Team Lotto NL - Jumbo, Team Sky, Tinkoff - Saxo, Trek Factory Racing.
