Superposed epoch for different quantities derived with the method described in Sect. 3.1. The sheath is shown with an orange background colour (time range 0 <t< 1) and the MC with a blue background colour (1 <t< 4). The time t is normalised with the sheath duration for t< 1 and with the MC duration for t> 1 (the MC duration is three times longer than the sheath duration as observed in average). The black dots, connected with a line, are averaged values for each bin on the time axis, the grey band represents the error of the mean and the red line represents the median values in each time bin. The average profiles were computed filtering those events that had less than 20% of data gaps in the transient structure (MC or sheath). The number of events after filtering is shown in each panel. The panels represent: magnetic field B, bulk velocity V, proton density n_p, proton temperature T_p, plasma beta β, normalised magnetic-fluctuation density rmsBoB (Eq. (1)), GCR intensity normalised to the pre-ICME level n_GCR and absolute magnetic fluctuation rmsB, Eq. (2). A clear discontinuity of the magnetic fluctuation intensity, rmsB, is present at the shock position (front of the sheath). The normalised magnetic fluctuations, rmsBoB, inside the MC are significantly lower than in the ambient solar wind (by a factor of ≃3).