Tour de France 2012 backstage photo gallery

The racing rightly gets all the attention, but there’s a travelling township behind the race that, before and after every stage, makes sure it runs as smoothly as possible. Behind each team’s riders is a well-oiled machine, with the mechanics on the front line often working far into the night to get the cycles race-ready by the next morning. Only on rest days and in the lead up to the prologue is the atmosphere anything like relaxed… >