Jan Schaffrath, Sports Director for Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team, is on the German Olympic Cycling Team staff at the 2012 London Olympics. Here is his first blog entry documenting his experience.
This will be my second time at the Olympics, as I also participated as a staff member in Beijing in 2008. I'm here to help the team with the tactics, and to organize the daily schedule. It's not easy here, as much as it may seem so. When you arrive, everything is big and new. You have to adapt yourself really quickly, and find immediately solutions to issues that may arise.
Today we went on the parcours. I had to fight against the traffic, the real enemy here for the moment. It took 2 hours to get into the parcours! We went with our five guys from Germany: Grabsch, Martin, Greipel, Degenkolb and Sieberg. The parcour is interesting. The circuit, which we have to do nine times, is not easy. There is a pretty important climb, and the roads are narrow. The end, however, is flat. It will be spectacular.
I also saw other teams here on the parcour. Yesterday, for example, I saw Tom and Stijn with the Belgian team. It's strange to see riders you work with for the entire year, being part of another team. But that's also fantastic. It's like what happens in the football clubs during the Olympics and the world championship. It's a great feeling, and I'm really proud to defend the colors of my nation here.
The only downside, for me, is that I can't go to the opening ceremony tomorrow. The day after we have the race, so we have to stay focused. It's strange. I'm in London, and I will watch the ceremony on the television like the rest of the world. The difference maybe will be the fire works. I'm sure we will see them. It will be like Dec. 31, the last night of the year. But perhaps a little out of season! ;-)