In an innovative first for the sport, Visma-Lease a Bike are planning on strengthening their Tour de France challenge by having staff stationed in a mobile ‘Control Room’ van that will “collect and analyse crucial real-time data such as live TV footage, weather forecasts, and race radio”, enabling the team to “support the coaches in the car, and help them make the best possible tactical decisions faster”. That is unless the UCI gets involved, of course…
Just hours after the Dutch squad — looking to pull off an improbable comeback from serious crash injuries sustained earlier in the year and help Jonas Vingegaard to a third consecutive yellow jersey — unveiled its new ‘Control Room’, a dreaded UCI statement dropped, confirming that the sport’s governing body is “carrying out verifications to ensure that the setup put in place by the team is compliant with the regulatory framework in force”.
In short, the team said, in collaboration with team sponsor Visma (a “pioneer in business software”) and Dutch online bookie BetCity, Visma-Lease a Bike planned to bring a mobile “nerve centre” to the Grand Tour.
Stationed within it, team staff could then relay information to the team cars that otherwise might be missed in the chaos of the race.
“The Control Room is a high-tech van, equipped with advanced software, making its debut during the Tour de France,” the team explained. “With this mobile unit, the team can immerse itself directly in the race, ensuring perfect coordination with other members of the performance team.
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In the spirit of limitless thinking, and together with our partners Visma and BetCity, we proudly present this state-of-the-art innovation, enabling us to play smarter.… pic.twitter.com/uAgEYSNYFL
— Team Visma | Lease a Bike (@vismaleaseabike) June 27, 2024
“Our Control Room collects and analyses crucial real-time data such as live TV footage, weather forecasts, and race radio. This enables us to support the coaches in the car, and help them make the best possible tactical decisions faster.
“This innovation would not have been possible without the support of our main sponsor, Visma, a pioneer in business software, and their invaluable expertise in data collection and visualisation. BetCity, a Dutch provider of online sportsbetting, has also been a great support throughout the realisation process.”
However, just as quick as news of the ‘Control Room’ spread, so too came the UCI statement, the sport’s governing body stating that it had some “verifications” to carry out before we see the mobile tactics hub at the race.
The statement read: “Our priority is to maintain the integrity of the sport, ensuring sporting fairness, equitable access to technology and the primacy of man over machine. The UCI is committed to upholding these principles and will take appropriate measures based on the findings of the investigation.”
Visma-Lease a Bike has not yet responded to the UCI’s statement. Needless to say the ‘Control Room’ has not been particularly popular with the traditionalists, one cheery reply to the announcement on social media simply concluding: “Game has gone.”
Another wrote: “Imagine professional cyclists being able to read a race and make decisions. Cycling is dull now.”
However, many expressed excitement at the team embracing tech and innovation, even if others questioned how much valuable tactical advice could be garnered beyond telling everyone to follow Tadej Pogačar.
Time will tell whether we see ‘The Control Room’ at this year’s Tour, the race getting underway in Florence this Saturday.
13 thoughts on “UCI looking into Visma-Lease a Bike’s Tour de France ‘Control Room’ after team unveils “high-tech van” for tactical analysis and real-time decisions”
Looks like what other teams
Looks like what other teams are doing in the bus or cars.
Probably just the Veloviewer team app on a tablet, as all other teams.
Just in a new packaging because of the sponsors.
Might just take a little of
Might just take a little of the mental overload off of the driving directeur sportif?
This is what I was thinking –
This is what I was thinking – separate the analysis and strategy from the driving, mechanicing etc it could make the race much safer.
I remember the days of the TV
I remember the days of the TV detector vans, the majority just had a sleeping bag and supply of Pukka Pies, but managed to scare the public into buying a licence.
Can this technology hack & re-programme the opposition’s Di2 and Sram units?
Shorts the battery on the
Shorts the battery on the opposition’s hidden motor
UAE? Rebel scum…
UAE? Rebel scum…
The Visma-Lease a Bike
The Visma-Lease a Bike control van will have this tiny little exhaust port, that if hit at just the right angle will cause them to lose power and all of their screens to shut down.
Surely this is just their
Surely this is just their attempt to be a bit more like Formula One? It makes sense – if they could have the people in the control room communicating real time data to the riders rather than the people in the race convoy. Presumably they could have real time tracking of the riders, possibly live power and other metrics too. Down the line that could be something really interesting that could be used within TV coverage. Personally I hope the UCI doesn’t stop it as on the surface it feels like it should be encouraged, even if it is potentially more hype for the sponsors than a step forward in use of technology.
We might be missing the most
We might be missing the most obvious thing about this control room van presentation.
We all now know what Visma, one of the teams main sponsors, actually do, and they’re not a Dutch supermarket.
I’ve just looked at their
I’ve just looked at their website and I’m still none the wiser, beyond ‘software’.
Funnily enough probably
Funnily enough probably nothing that actually helps them do data analytics in sport, hence why i think its a bit of pr stunt than anything.
Basically they make software for accountancy and human resource systems, and push it out to cloud computing.
They might argue they’re capable of using their cloud software to do big data, or ai analysis on it, but it’s not a capability they sell or market yet.
I can see this being a big
I can see this being a big help to teams.. but I can’t help but think that this might take away a little of the human aspect of the sport.. the bits that make the sport fun to watch..
If you’ve got a data analyst sitting in a van looking at the teams numbers and seeing/controlling the race from all available angles.. then it might make things a bit more boring to watch and quite often our sport is already boring to watch.. I don’t want it more boring.
The guy riding the bike is
The guy riding the bike is the human aspect . This is brilliant tech and what pro cyciling is about Bringing new tech into the sport. Sure beats doping.