Being an ex-pro bike racer and current Mini owner, I was particularly thrilled to see a Mini as a support vehicle for a pro team at today's Paris-Nice race.

The roof rack is modified to hold up to 4 bikes. Typically for this particular stage, it hold 2 bikes and 2 wheels.

 

Awesome find.

 

Was it a diesel? Or maybe a pre-release electric?!!!! Love that it's THE support in a time-trial stage. Love pro cycling and love Euro-inspired cars. Great to see both together.

As an aside, my bucket list has following the Tour de France for all its stages (really pre-driving the stages so I can see all the finishes or sections of each stage and avoid the madness in each sleepover town). Am planning to do this in a MINI or via scooter.

OK, back to my real life. Ciao!

Jeff

 

Mini Clubman S supports Team Giant-Alpecin in the 2016 Tour de France. Even as a non pro cyclist, it's pretty special to see this car running around behind the peloton. The roof rack is loaded with bikes. The Tour de France is up to Stage 11 of 21 now, and the Clubman Team Car gets some TV time.



It's looking pretty good out there!

 

Big fan and seeing the Giant team with MINIs is great!

Drive Hard. Drive Safe. Keep Grinning.

 

It's been a pretty wild Tour so far. Lots of firsts and lots of the bizarre stuff, too, especially today's stage. Love to watch it each day. Gets in the way of bike rides a little, but I do get it recorded. One of the Giant-Alpecin (MINI) Team members, Tom Dumoulin, won stage 9, a mountain stage pretty impressively.

Awesome scenery and great efforts by all the guys on (and off) the bikes.

 

The MINI support vehicle caught my eye too, having recorded and watched every stage. Hats off to Tom Dumoulin on today's Stage 13 TT results...

I never raced bicycles but in earlier years, rode a bunch of miles every week with training rides after work to prepare for cycle club roadie rides each weekend over local mtn passes. Also, often did non-technical single track rides on local trails. Had another bike dedicated to self-contained touring. All bikes of many hanging in former garage are long gone now - save one; my 1993 Specialized S-Works steel, rigid frame mtn bike (skunk-works factory built, equipped with full XTR gruppo and more premier stuff). It was too pretty to ride offroad and thus scratched, so used my beater Stumpjumper Comp for that while saving said S-Works as pavement trainer bike (more friction with Specialized Umma Gumma mtn bike tires = more workout in limited available time). Its the only one still hanging in the garage 23 yrs later, still sporting those tires. "Garage Art" of sorts...

Sheesh, I've gotten old...

 

Never too old to ride! Light road bikes now make it easier to get up hills and aero considerations make them a lot faster in the flat stretches. Other than swimming, it's the only form of exercise I know that is low impact for us oldsters. The range of bike types is always expanding, too. Get back into it. Love to get out on rides plus the health benefits it brings.

It was a really good individual TT in the Tour on Friday. The route was demanding. Dumoulin has had a couple great stages so far. Note that the Giant-Alpecin (MINI) team's white shirts sport black MINI like stripes. Haven't been able to count the number of bikes that are carried on their Clubman support car's custom roof rack, looks like 6 or 8 bicycles? Figure the price of those Pro level bikes easily at $10-14k a piece. That makes it money in bikes than car by quite a bit!

 

LOL, know what you mean. I used to ride motocross bikes to stay in shape between sports car races. Now I break into a sweat just changing wheels.

Drive Hard. Drive Safe. Keep Grinning.

 

Got a chance to count bikes on the Clubman support car for the Giant Alpecin team during yesterday's stage to Bern, Switzerland... I made out at least 8 bikes on that roof rack. It turned out to be a very fast paced stage that had a great last few kilometers to a photo finish on Monday. Quite the show.