Team Sky have been criticised by colleagues for their lack of etiquette when using motorhomes
Fellow bicycle racers have criticised Team Sky for their car park etiquette, as it has emerged their the team’s collection of motorhomes are taking up too much space in hotel car parks.
The accusations, made by rival Tour de France teams, follow news last month of Team Sky hitting out at sanctions banning racers bedding down for the night in motorhomes, instead insisting that all team members stay in allocated hotels.
The team originally wanted to use motorhomes to accommodate Richie Porte and Chris Froome during this year’s Tour. Sky’s reason for its mass of motors is said to be in able to reduce the stress and hassle, along with potential hygiene problems, that come with changing hotel rooms every night of the Tour de France.
Porte is said to be “perplexed” by this new enforcement.
La Francaise des Jeux (FDJ)’s manager Marc Madiot has said that Chris Froome’s team “lacks basic etiquette”. Team Sky not only has a kitchen truck, which was debuted at the Giro d’Italia but it also has a fleet of motorhomes for members of staff.
The kitchen truck still stands tall and three motorhomes house Sky’s staff. The team’s nine cyclists are able to have their own hotel room, despite other teams sharing two per room.
But it seems that Team Sky are cramping peoples’ style, as in the past few days both Europcar and LottoNL-Jumbo have have complained of not having enough space to park their vehicles when they were sharing hotels with Sky.
“It’s really not easy with all the additional vehicles from team Sky,” Frans Maassen, LottoNL’s sports director, told Het Nieuwsblad newspaper.
“We slept the previous night together in the same Mercure in Lisieux. Sky had three mega-campers. They had them parked long before even one car or truck of ours had arrived. It does not work, of course.”
In fact, Sky have caused such a stir that French paper L’Equipe ran a spread in last Monday’s issue.
Madiot told L’Equipe that Sky needs to have “some basic etiquette” when considering motorhomes and trucks.
Stabbed in the back, British cycling coach, Dave Brailsford expressed his surprise when that the issue had arisen in the press before other general managers had even mentioned it to him.
“Lotto arrived at the same time as our guys in the hotel and they had the choice of where to park and everyone agreed that they have that area and we had an area over there. Everyone was happy, ‘Yes, how are you doing, Dave? Everything’s all right?’
“And then you read in the newspaper that they are having a moan,” Brailsford said after a press conference with Froome.
“It makes it difficult to work with people like that. I don’t have respect for that, my philosophy is to take the problem to the person, I wouldn’t smile in your face and then talk about it in the press. I don’t have much respect for that really.”
Although the Tour de France is drawing to a close, the UCI might have to enforce a new rule regarding car parking space before the next major event, the VueIta España.
