Škoda again leading the Tour de France peloton

This year’s 111^th edition of the Tour de France will start on 29 June in Florence, Italy. And for the first time in the race’s history it won’t end in Paris, where the Olympic Games are about to begin. After 21 stages and 3,492 kilometres, this year’s Tour will culminate in Nice on the Côte d’Azur on 21 July.

The race director’s new Superb iV

Another innovation is the new red Superb iV. The plug-in hybrid representative of the popular model’s fourth generation has undergone several modifications to enable it to stand in for the Enyaq as a mobile command centre on some stages. These modifications include a champagne cooler, a fridge, a Kenwood radio system, a red beacon and antennas.

The biggest challenge for the team that converted the Superb into the race director’s car was installing the panoramic retractable roof. Unlike conventional cars, the roof opens from the back to the front to make it possible to manage the race from the car, i.e. when Tour director Christian Prudhomme needs to stand up in the back of the car to control the race and watch the action.

 The race director’s Škoda Enyaq

“We cut out the original full roof, welded on another one with a cut-out for the window mounted back to front, designed and fabricated a new frame, fitted the window, and then had to make it fit with the roof profile. To integrate the inverted sunroof perfectly into the interior of the car, we also had to produce a new ceiling panel,” explain Viktor Görög and Miroslav Finkous on behalf of the Test Car Construction team, which normally builds prototypes for driving tests.

“We also had to modify the water run-off channels. Our electrical specialists programmed a time delay for opening the roof, which ensures that all the rainwater runs off in a controlled manner first before the window opens to its full extent,” adds Jan Novák, responsible for Model and Test Car Production, pointing out another interesting detail.

 Škoda Superb iV with the main trophy for the Tour de France winner

Škoda’s red fleet also received a slightly modified paint job for this year’s edition, with green elements on the side. This year, Škoda Auto is once again the main official partner and provider of support cars. As part of its sustainable mobility drive, it will provide the organisers with 205 electric or plug-in hybrid cars.

You can have the race director’s car for your mantlepiece at home – thanks to Škoda’s partnership with printables.com, anyone who owns a 3D printer can print models of the red Superb and Enyaq race director’s cars to scale of 1:24. The project is part of the Škodaverse initiative based on exploring new technologies, shifting the boundaries between the digital and physical worlds and co-creation with customers and the community.