{"id":165966,"date":"2018-07-17T11:25:03","date_gmt":"2018-07-17T11:25:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=165966"},"modified":"2018-07-17T11:27:42","modified_gmt":"2018-07-17T11:27:42","slug":"red-superb-tour-de-frances-eye-candy-essential","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/17\/red-superb-tour-de-frances-eye-candy-essential\/","title":{"rendered":"Red SUPERB: Tour de France’s Eye-Candy Essential"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s only one car permitted to cross the Tour de France finish line alongside all the cyclists. This special honour belongs to none other than the famed Red Car \u2013 Le Tour’s mobile command centre. Since 2015, the latest and most spacious \u0160koda SUPERB model with a custom \u201cCorrida Red\u201d paint job has become the shiny flagship of the world’s most famous bicycle race. So, what’s so special about it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

As mentioned above, the Red Car is the hypothetical brain of the whole race. For those three weeks, it houses the Tour Director Christian Prudhomme who uses it as a control room on four wheels. That this SUPERB is different is apparent not only from the shiny bodywork scattered with sponsor logos, plastic add-ons or retractable panoramic glass roof but the real treat hides inside. Since Prudhomme needs to transmit orders and receive information, communicate with the headquarters, organise traffic around the peloton, and stay in contact with his race marshals and other Le Tour cars, there’s a communication console placed in between the front seats. The Tour Director sits comfortably in the back, with chilled drinks from the built-in mini fridge at his disposal, and keeps an eye on everything through six roof radio antennas, several microphones, and four radio channels.<\/p>\n