Tour de France 2013: 'Radio Tour' vital as team cars fight for position, just like riders, writes Charly Wegelius There has been widespread critisim of these radios in recent years as many people blame them for making the races predictable and negative. This is a hot topic, but I try to use the radio to give the rider good information, not to radio control his every move. I really believe that a rider only gives his best when he is free to express himself, so I try to use it sparingly. Crucially, though, it is through this radio that I am able to give the riders safety information about the race - and being able to communicate this information to them makes the radios invaluable. A final radio links me to the second team car, which is an identitcal vehicle that travels behind. This is the car that stays with dropped riders, or moves ahead to cover breakaway groups. It is vital that there is a good co-operation between these two "Flagships" - nobody wants to have riders stranded in the doledrums with no water or food. Another source of info in the car is onboard TV. The mechanic, who sits in the back seat ready to leap into action at any moment, has a TV-ready Garmin GPS mounted so that he can watch the race live, keeping me up to date on how the race is playing out. Radio Tour is all well and good, but often the look on a rider's face can give away more than a mere time gap, and this input can be crucial when trying to figure out how a race will unfold. This melting pot of information and sound travels along with similar cars of the 21 other teams in the race. And this is where it can get a bit feisty. In theory there is a strict order to the cars, based on the individual classification, with the yellow jersey holders team in first place. In reality, no team, no matter how lowly in the ranking, wants to have their car stuck in a traffic jam in a crucial moment, so jockeying for position can be, lets say, intense. Add in to the mix dozens of press, TV and Radio motorbikes, all sharing the same small roads, and you have quite a tussle on behind the riders. Things can get really stressful, and at times it is a challenge to keep your mind on the real race, the bike race that is.