A professional team mechanic’s job is never easy, but when it involves traveling to a race on the other side of the world, things get considerably more complicated. HERE, OUR CREATIVE DIRECTOR JAMES STARTT speaks with Pinarello-Q36.5’s team mechanic about the process.
Martti Alesmaa is one of the many mechanics responsible for organizing the shipment of an entire team’s worth of bikes and equipment to Canada for the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec and Montréal, a trip that for many riders and staff would then dovetail into the World Championships in Montréal.
The Pinarello-Q36.5 service course is based in the Netherlands, and for most of the year the team truck heads off to races in Belgium, France, Italy, and perhaps Spain or Portugal. But packing up for Canada is an entirely different proposition.
“The most challenging thing was getting everything here from all of the different places,” Alesmaa said while working on the team bikes in the garage of the team hotel in downtown Québec City. “We had to load all of the bikes and equipment onto a cargo plane in Paris on Monday, the day before the riders left for Québec. But we had about four different racing programs just before that, so some of the guys were coming from Italy, while others came directly from the Tour of Britain. And getting all of their bikes to Paris on Monday morning was a real challenge.”
Alesmaa isn’t complaining, though. He knows the logistics could be much worse—and much less organized. Gone are the days when every rider and staff member had to bring an extra bike or wheelset, simply to ensure sufficient support when racing so far from home.
“Actually, it is really well organized,” he says. “We had a first drop-off a week before, where we could bring everything to the Quick-Step service course, which organized the initial shipment. And then we had a last call Monday morning at the airport. But still, until that Monday, it is a bit chaotic getting everything together.”
“We actually have fewer bikes [at Worlds] than at most races,” he adds. “At a normal bike race, say, the Tour of Britain, each guy has three bikes. But here we have one spare bike less for each rider.”
Regardless of the final bike count, the logistics and paperwork involved in moving an entire professional team across the Atlantic can be daunting.
Alesmaa, however, seems to have it all under control.
“You know, once you get everything together there on Monday and sign off, then it is super easy. When you arrive here in Canada, the bikes are all waiting for you in the garage. The organizers here make an incredible effort to make our job easier.”
“I have always been in cycling,” Alesmaa recalls. “As an amateur, I raced U23 for Estonia, but then I immediately started working in a bike shop and doing some coaching for the kids. And then one day I got a call to join the national team as a mechanic here in Canada at the Tour of Abitibi, the prestigious junior stage race, back in 2017. And that is how the snowball got rolling.”
This is Alesmaa’s first year with the Pinarello-Q36.5 team, but his connections to Pinarello—and to his current team leader Tom Pidcock—go back much further. In fact, his connection with Pidcock actually goes back to the young Brit’s earliest days in professional cycling.
“I worked with Tom at Ineos, so it was nice to come to Pinarello-Q36.5 and work with him again. But the first time I actually started working with him was in 2018. I was still working with the Estonian national team at the World Championships in Innsbruck, and I got an offer to work on the upcoming cyclocross season for the British team. And the next week I was on a plane to Belgium and stayed for the next five months. Tom was still racing as a U23 rider, so he wasn’t even a professional yet, but that is when we started working together.”
Alesmaa’s relationship with Pinarello is also a long-standing one: “Since I joined Ineos, I have been working with Pinarello, and we have always worked very closely with them, so I really know the bikes well. They are at all of the big races, and we are constantly providing feedback to develop the bikes even further.”
And even though much of his day might be spent working in a parking garage, Alesmaa genuinely enjoys the opportunity to travel.
“I love going to races outside of Europe because it is always so great to see people from other cultures and different lifestyles,” he says. “At the beginning of the season, the mechanics all look at the race calendar and decide which races to go to. Some guys have real preferences.”
“This is my fourth time here in Canada, so it was fairly natural for me to come here again. But I am always happy to return. It’s always nice to come back.”
