Lest we forget, cycling is a team sport. It’s not just about the riders. It’s the staff who ensure both rider and machine have the optimal support all season long. I enjoy watching them prepare for a race. At best it’s a well-orchestrated dance despite them often having to work in confined spaces with a bevy of on-lookers. Work over for a few hours, I catch up with one of Cannondale Pro Cycling’s experienced senior mechanics, Guiseppe Archetti.
G4: Have you worked for Cannondale for a long time?
GA: Yes, since 1998, I started with what was then team Saeco, so I’ve worked for them for about 15 years or so.
G4: Were you a professional cyclist?
GA: No I was an amateur rider, not a professional.
When I started I had plenty of passion for the bike. Of course, I still have that passion but it’s my work and if I continue to work it’s because I’m both passionate about the bike and cycling.
G4: Like the riders, you’re away from home a lot?
GA: Yes, more than 100 days a year. I’m very fortunate my wife understands that we live thanks to the bike. She’s busy at home with the three children and time passes quickly. My mother used to live with us, but she passed away last November, and my wife’s parents live just 15kms away. So she’s not alone.
G4: How did you start?
GA: I finished as an amateur rider in 1987 and started working straight away for team Carrera. I spent 6 months to start off with in their Service Course to understand the work and what happens on the road in the life of a mechanic.
G4: I suppose that in your 25 years plus as a mechanic that there been a lot of changes to the bikes. What have been the biggest ones?
GA: Go back a few years and no mechanic could have foreseen that steel frames would have been overtaken by carbon. Okay, the wheels for sure because they’re so much lighter but the frames…..
Of course, it’s not just the frames, it’s everything else that’s now carbon and also the group sets. Who would have thought of electric group sets? The bike of today is completely different from the bike of yesteryear.
G4: So has it become more technical?
GA: No, not really, but it has changed. Like many white goods, we now use computers to analyse the bikes. It’s not any more difficult, just different. Obviously you have to keep up to date with the changes. But one thing doesn’t change. You can always tell a mechanic from the others, we’re the ones with the dirty hands! You see, at the end of the day, despite all the technical advances you have to work on the bike with your hands and get your hands dirty.
We’ll be back tomorrow with part two, where Guiseppe tells us more about his daily workload.
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