Stage 14: The Age of Information At the very beginning of the Tour de France, each team is given books that contain all of the critical information on every stage. More detailed than the race guides available to the public, these "race bibles" are used by every member of the team and support staff to make decisions around tactics, equipment choices, and feeding strategies. Many of the riders pore over the stage maps in the race bible in search of the stage that best suits their strengths and offers them opportunities to take a stage win. At the very beginning of the Tour, Richard Virenque, for instance, chose Stage 10 to Saint-Flour as the day he was going to attack. He knew the stage profile and the likely situation in the race would suit his goals of opening a big lead in the King of the Mountains competition. There are still 13 teams in the Tour de France that have yet to win a single stage, and riders from those teams are quickly running out of opportunities. Team directors and riders will be looking even more closely at the race bible to devise tactics that will give them the opportunity to please their sponsors with a stage win. Considering that the overall contenders are likely to win the key mountain stages in the Alps, these riders will be targeting Stage 18 as their last chance to win. The race bible provides important information to the soigneurs as well. Not only do the soigneurs need to position themselves in the feed zone, they also have to be present at other critical areas of stages. Back in Stage 3, several teams had support staff waiting at the end of the cobblestone sections to hand up food and water to riders because they knew the team cars would be delayed by the chaos caused by the cobbles. Likewise, staff members were present at the bottom of the final climbs in the Pyrenees in order to collect riders' helmets. Even the mechanics study the race bible to determine the best equipment to use for the day. During flat stages like Stage 14 today, most riders used semi-aero wheels that cut the average drag of bicycle and rider about 4-5%. This helps riders conserve energy because they can ride the same speed with less work. Thought of another way, semi-aero wheels can help a rider go about 1.5% faster without having to work any harder. During climbing stages like the ones in the Pyrenees, the weight becomes more important than aerodynamics. As a result, some riders use completely different bicycles for the mountain stages. Lance Armstrong, for instance, rides a heavier bike in most stages of the Tour, but switched to an ultralight Trek that is just over the UCI weight limit of 6.8 kilograms for key mountain stages. Even riders who don't switch bicycles use lightweight wheels to lighten their machines for the mountain stages. The mechanics use the race bible to plan ahead for all the changes they need to make to the machines. Information from the race bible is even used during the stage. Cycling tactics and strategies need to be flexible and the situation on the road is always changing. Team directors look at the race bible to provide riders with information about upcoming changes in direction that will put them into a headwind, tailwind, or crosswind. They also alert their riders for upcoming obstacles, including towns where the roads are likely to be narrow and full of traffic islands. The Tour has fully embraced the Information Age. Very little is left to chance in the modern Tour de France, and it is very important for everyone involved in the race to be fully informed about the demands of the upcoming stages.