• Alex Golby
• Bayley Silleck
• Carrie MacNabb
• Cathy Sánchez Duvivier
• Connie Villalba
• Daniel Ferguson
• Dennis Selkoe
• George Bush
• Jimmy Casper
• JoAnna Baldwin-Mallory
• John Tomlinson
• Jonathan Downar
• Joseph LeDoux
• Mary Foley
• Myles Connolly
• Patrice Diallo
• Phil Liggett
• Reisa Sperling
• Rhonda Edmonds
• Stefani Jackenthal

So says first assistant director Daniel Ferguson about Patrice Diallo. About 30 pilots, or motorcycle drivers, follow the tightly packed group of cyclists, or peloton, on the Tour de France; their motorcycles carry both cameramen and race officials. Tall antennas sprout from the sides of the motorcycles, and bright orange stickers on the pilots' helmets identify them to the helicopters above.

Typically, the cameramen who film the Tour sit behind the pilots, but this arrangement is impossible with an IMAX camera weighing 40 kilos—the risk of a fall is too great. "The French production manager told me the camera was big, but not how big," Diallo recalls. "When I saw it for the first time, I said, 'Uh oh.' It seemed crazy." No one knew whether the Wired to Win team could pull it off. The first step was to design and build a motorcycle that could hold the IMAX camera. Diallo sent a BMW K75 to mechanics outside Paris, who took two months to rebuild the machine almost completely. Pressed up against Diallo's back like a washing machine, the giant camera whacked him in the back whenever it turned to the rear to shoot. Even the cyclists were impressed. "They'd ask, 'What is that?'" he recounts, "and I'd tell them it was the latest model of disposable camera."

Diallo had to be helped up and down from his seat, and could tolerate only two to three hours of driving a day. The bike was relatively easy to pilot at normal speeds (it could reach 140 kilometers an hour), especially when the camera was filming and his concentration was total. "The hardest part was braking suddenly with a million dollars behind me, that and the risk of an accident," he says. Luckily, the only near crash he experienced during filming took place on a flat surface, and Diallo was able to brake hard, put his foot down, and stop safely. Getting close to the racers was another challenge. The Race Commission oversees all media access to the Tour de France and decides what portion of each day's race—usually a segment no more than 50 kilometers long—will be allotted to each media team.

Because of the camera's complex technical setup—without a cameraman on board, the IMAX camera had to be operated and focused from a helicopter overhead—each shooting day started at 5 a.m. At first light the crew would calibrate the camera mechanism, test its communication systems, and go over the list of the day's shots. Then they would wait at the starting line until the peloton took off for the day. If Diallo was out in front, the rules dictated that he ride 10 to 20 meters ahead so as not to interfere with the aerodynamics of the pack. If he was riding beside the peloton, he could get to within two meters of the racers, but even close up, "it's very hard to find the rider you want because you have to concentrate on the road."

Fortunately, a car driven by an ex-cyclist followed Diallo's motorcycle as closely as possible, carrying an aerial coordinator. Diallo would say, "I've got the rider we want right beside me—tell the guys to turn the camera on," and the coordinator would radio the instructions up to the helicopter. Unable to recognize individual riders, the aerial team had to trust Diallo completely. Since his was the only mobile camera, Diallo sometimes had to do double or even triple duty. Sometimes he'd drive ahead, station his bike by the side of the road with the camera angled, as though on a tripod, and capture the cyclists as they flew by. At least once a day he'd have to get at least 45 minutes ahead of the peloton to allow the team enough time to change the IMAX camera's 2.5 minutes' worth of film. As at dawn, the team had to clean the lenses, recalibrate the mount system, test their communications—and refuel the helicopter! The record was three exhausting changes in one day.

Diallo has 20 Tours de France under his belt and has been with the Wired to Win crew for every shoot in France. "You can let a video camera run, but film is precious," he points out. "I like cinema because there's less of a margin for error." Luckily, Diallo needs less of a margin than any other man on a motorcycle.

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