At 03:30 PM 20/07/2009 -0700, Jan Heine wrote:
>The photo was taken during the rest day, not a stage that counted
>toward the win. Looking over the historic photos from the 1949 Tour
>from our book, it appears that most racers had the standard pump AND
>"gonfleur" (air cartridge) mounted on their frames. As I understand
>it, the rules of the Tour back then did not allow a wheel change in
>case of a flat, but only a new tire could be handed to the rider.
>This means that without a means to pump it up, they would have been
>out of the Tour. (If the wheel was broken, a new wheel could be used,
>presumably with an inflated tire already fitted.)
>
>I suspect Bartali's mechanics cleaned up the bike on the rest day,
>and to get to all the parts, they removed all the non-essential
>clamps. Before the start of the next morning's stage, they probably
>replaced the pump and gonfleur with their clamps.
So why would he have a spare tire on his shoulders?
http://aldoblog2008.blogspot.com/
He could be carrying a CO2 inflator behind the seat tube, hidden by his thigh.
John Betmanis
Woodstock, Ontario
Canada