bike of tour de france 2023

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Bike Finder

Results have arrived, the stage-winning bikes from the 2023 tour de france.

We are keeping track of which bikes win each stage of the 2023 Tour de France. We'll find out what bike manufacturers are dominant, and what drivetrains, wheels, and tires are regulars on the podium.

Written by: Bruce Lin

Published on: Jul 28, 2023

Posted in: Bikes

The Cervelo S5 may not have won any stages this year, but it helped Jonas Vingegaard take a much bigger prize: the Yellow Jersey. Photo: ASO/Pauline Ballet

The Tour de France is full of exciting race action, tragic defeats, and heroic moments. It's what makes the Tour so magical. But bike nerds like us are here for another reason: the bikes! 

Riders, teams, and manufacturers all bring their best equipment to the Tour, so its the perfect place for us to geek out on new bikes, gear, and tech. 

For the duration of this year's Tour, I'll be keeping track of what bikes are winning each stage. At the end, we'll have some fun data, and maybe some inspiration for how to equip our own bike quivers at home. 

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2023 Tour de France - The Final Scores

 The 2023 Tour de France is now done and dusted. After spending the first two weeks locked wheel to wheel with Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard landed a couple killer blows on stages 16 and 17 to secure his second Tour victory. There were a lot of different winning bikes, and a few notable "losers." Let's review...

2023 Tour de France Jersey Winners

• General Classification  - Jonas Vingegaard - Cervelo S5 / Cervelo R5
• Points Classification  - Jasper Philipsen - Canyon Aeroad CFR
• Best young rider - Tadej Pogacar - Colnago V4Rs
• King of the Mountains - Guilio Ciccone - Trek Madone SLR / Trek Emonda SLR

The Yellow Jersey winner, Jonas Vingegaard, can be seen riding into Paris aboard his Cervelo S5 . This is the bike he used for the majority of this year's stages. He only switched to the lighter Cervelo R5 for the mountain stages, and it's what he rode on stage 17 when he took minutes out on Pogacar to essentially win the Tour.

Both Cervelo's have nabbed plenty of stage wins in the previous two years, but they came up short this year. The only Cervelo win was Vingegaard's Stage 16 TT win on the Cervelo   P5 . But hey, winning the overall is a much bigger deal. One thing I want to point out is that Vingegaard rode many stages with a 1x drivetrain. Take a look at his S5 above, and you'll see the single chainring set-up. I've been preaching the gospel of 1x road for a while, and while Vingegaard did switch back to a 2x for the mountain stages, I do feel a bit validated! 

The Green Jersey Winner, Jasper Philipsen and his Canyon Aeroad CFR were leagues ahead of everyone else. With 4 wins, they won the most stages this year and proved that they were the fastest combo on flat finishes. 

The White Jersey winner, Tadej Pogacar, put up a brilliant fight on his Colnago V4Rs . Unlike Vingegaard, Pogacar used the same frame for every stage, opting only to swap to shallower ENVE SES 2.3 wheels on the hardest mountain stages.  

The Polka-dot Jersey Winner, Guilio Ciccone, cleverly targeted the King of the Mountains and secured it late in the race on Stage 20. While he rode a polka-dot Trek Madone SLR into Paris, most of his KOM points were won on the lighter Trek Emonda SLR . Like Vingegaard, Ciccone had the option to switch between aero and all-rounder frames. 

Stage-Winning Frames and Components

• Best Bike - Canyon Aeroad CFR - 4 wins
• Best Drivetrain - Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 - 18 wins
• Best Wheels - Shimano Dura-Ace C60 - 4 wins
• Best Tires - Continental Grand Prix 5000 S TR - 8 wins

Of course, since Jasper Philipsen got the most stage wins, so did his bike, the Canyon Aeroad CFR . But thanks to the efforts of Tadej Pogacar and Adam Yates, the Colnago V4Rs was a strong second with three wins. 

Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 dominated most stages the Tour. It's not surprising since Shimano sponsors most of the teams. But even though Shimano groupsets won the majority of stages, it was SRAM AXS that took the overall. Interestingly, it looks like Vingegaard pairs Force AXS shifters with  RED AXS drivetrains, likely because he likes the new revised hood shape . Also, I have to say it again — Vingegaard rode several stages on a 1x drivetrain. AWESOME.

Again, thanks to Philipsen, the Shimano   Dura-Ace C60 wheels were the top wheel of the Tour with 4 wins, while Pogacar and Yates put the ENVE SES 4.5 into second with 3 wins. Interestingly, these wheels are close in depth, but Pogacar and Yates took their wins on hilly/mountain stages. It goes to show that deep aero wheels can win on climbs. Also, it's worth noting that Dura-Ace wheels took 2 additional wins with Ineos, but Kwiatkowski and Rodriguez rode the shallower Dura-Ace C36  to their two mountain stage wins. 

The tubeless  Continental Grand Prix 5000 S TR was the tire of the Tour with 8 wins. Again, like Shimano, Continental sponsors the most teams, so it's not that surprising. But independent rolling resistance testing has shown that the GP 5000 S TR is among the fastest of the fast. The tubeless   Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR G2.0 , however, was the tire that took the overall under Vingegaard, and it did also win 4 stages thanks to Philipsen. We did see a few clinchers win (all the Specialized teams and Cofidis still use clinchers), and we did see Vingegaard bust out some tubulars in the early Basque stages. But the story of this Tour was one of tubeless domination. 

The Formula for the Ultimate TdF Stage-Winning Bike

Frame: Canyon Aeroad CFR Drivetrain: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 Wheels: Shimano Dura-Ace C60 Tires: Continental Grand Prix 5000 S TR

Aero bikes won more stages. Pair the most sucessful aero frame with a benchmark drivetrain, aero wheels, and the fastest tires, and maybe you can win more stages than Jasper Philipsen. 

My Dream TdF Stage Winning Bike

Frame: Look Blade 795 RS Drivetrain:  SRAM RED eTap AXS (1x) Wheels:  ENVE SES 4.5 Tires: Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR G2.0

I just have to be different. I think the Look Blade 795 RS was the best looking new bike at the Tour, and I love that it finally broke the 15-year-long Cofidis win drought. Of course, me being a weirdo, it needs a 1x SRAM AXS drivetrain, just like Vingegaard used in many of the early stages this year. Then my favorite blingy wheels, the ENVE SES 4.5. Finally, I have to have bright, tanwall tires, so the Vittoria Corsa Pro is the pick for me. 

Stage 01 Winner - Bilboa > Bilboa

Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) took the first Yellow Jersey of the race by beating his twin, Simon Yates (Team Jayco-AlUla), to the finish line after an extraordinary breakaway. This may be the first time a pair of twins have competed for a stage win at the Tour! Yates is riding the newly released Colnago V4Rs, which the UAE Team rode all of last year under the "Prototipo" guise. This year they also switched to Shimano drivetrains, ENVE wheels, and Continental tires. 

Stage 02 Winner - Vitoria-Gasteiz > Saint-Sébastien

Victor Lafay (Cofidis) ended Cofidis' 15-year-long drought of Tour de France stage wins with a thrilling and powerful attack in the final meters of stage 2 to beat top favorites like Wout van Aert, Tadej Pogacar, and Tom Pidcock. He did it on Look's new Blade 795 RS. This French brand made the first carbon bike to win the Tour de France way back in 1986, and they brought us the first clipless pedals. Cofidis' Blade 795 RS is painted in Look's iconic Mondrian colors for the Tour. 

Stage 03 Winner - Amorebieta-Etxano > Bayonne

Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) took advantage of a monster leadout from Mathieu van der Poel to beat Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) and Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Dstny) to the line, proving that he is the sprinter to watch out for in this year's Tour. He did box out Wout van Aert (Team Jumbo-Visma) against the barrieers before the finish but was cleared by the race jury. Philipsen is riding Canyon's super fast and recently updated Aeroad CFR, which has a revised seatpost to reduce slips and squeaks. This is the same bike van der Poel used to win Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix this spring so it's already a proven winner. 

Stage 04 Winner - Dax > Nogaro

Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) has now won two stages in a row, beating Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Dstny) to the line once again and showing that he and Mathieu van der Poel might be the most potent sprinter/lead-out combo in the peloton. The finish was marred by several crashes, but Philipsen kept his Canyon Aeroad CFR safely ahead of all the chaos to take the win.

Stage 05 Winner - Pau > Laruns

Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) snuck into a large breakaway group to win the Tour's first mountain stage and snatch the Yellow jersey. Not only did the established favorites get caught out, but Adam Yates and two-time winner, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), lost significant time to last year's winner, Jonas Vingegaard ( Team Jumbo-Visma ), who moved into second. Hindley performed his coup on the Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL7, one of the most popular modern road racing bikes. Introduced in 2020, it combined Venge-killing aerodynamic efficiency with the Tarmac's agility and light weight to create a do-it-all racer that's super fast on flat and mountainous terrain. Interestingly, Bora, as well as the other two Specialized teams, are actually running still the old S-Works Turbo Cotton clincher tire, even though there's a new tubeless version of the Turbo available. Bora has stated that it does switch to the tubeless version for wet stages. 

Stage 06 Winner - Tarbes > Cauterets-Cambasque

Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) struck back after losing time to his main rival, Jonas Vingegaard (Team Jumbo-Visma) yesterday. Attacking on the final climb, Vingegaard was unable to follow, and Pogacar took the stage win, 24 seconds, as well as 10 bonus seconds. Vingegaard, however, is now in the Yellow Jersey, but the gap between the two is only 25 seconds. It's looks like it's going to be a big fight in the mountains. Pogacar has a much better kick, and might take a few more stage wins on his Colnago V4Rs. Fun fact: while Ernesto Colnago had been building Tour-winning bikes for decades, when Pogacar won his first Tour back in 2020, it was actually the first Tour win for a Colnago-branded bike.

Stage 07 Winner - Mont-de-Marsan > Bordeaux

After three sprint stages, Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and his Canyon Aeroad CFR have scored a hat trick of wins. He really is the fastest sprinter this year, and with three more flat stages in this year's Tour, there's a very good chance we'll see Philipsen and the Aeroad CFR take the top step again. Of note, Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan Team), took second, and looked oh so close to beating the Tour stage win record. The next chance for the sprinters will be stage 11, so we'll hopefully get a few different riders and bikes in the mix soon!

Stage 08 Winner - Libourne > Limoges

Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), finally broke Jasper Philipsen's winning streak in Limoges. The story of the day, however, was Mark Cavendish's crash and subsequent abandonment due to a broken collarbone. Pedersen is aboard the new Trek Madone SLR Project One. The Madone received a major update for 2023 with an "IsoFlow" opening in the seattube to enhance aerodynamics and improve comfort. It is also the first SRAM-equipped bike to win a stage. Pedersen's bike features a custom oil-slick Project One paint job for the Tour. Interestingly, he runs a massive 56-tooth outer chainring plus a gold Flattop chain, which SRAM reserves for world champions like himself. 

Stage 09 Winner - Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat > Puy de Dôme

In the GC fight, Pogacar has now closed to 17 seconds behind Vingegaard, but it was the breakaway that won the day. Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech) judged his effort perfectly to take one of, if not the biggest win of his career. Woods overhauled a fading Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar Team) in the final meters of Puy de Dome aboard his Factor OSTRO VAM. Factor is a small British brand and the OSTRO VAM is its latest aero all-rounder. Since Israel-Premier Tech is also sponsored by FSA, this is one of the few bikes to run a mixed drivetrain, with Shimano components paired with an FSA carbon crankset. 

Now that was an exciting opening 9 stages! We're witnessing an incredible battle between the two favorites — Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar — and it's not clear (yet) who will be the strongest in the final week. 

While everyone catches their breath on the first rest day, here are some quick hit stats:

Most Wins - Canyon Aeroad CFR 

With three wins, the new Canyon Aeroad CFR has been the king of the first half of the Tour. This is entirely down to Jasper Philipsen's domination of the sprint stages. So far, the Colnago V4Rs is the only other bike with multiple stage wins (2). 

Shimano vs. SRAM

Shimano holds a strong 8-1 lead over SRAM. It's not too surprising since SRAM only sponsors 2 of the 22 teams at the Tour. Campagnolo sponsors one (AG2R) and the rest are running Shimano. However, since SRAM sponsors Jumbo-Visma, I think we can expect some more stage wins as the Tour continues. 

Tubeless vs. Clincher

I'll have to do some deeper investigating to be sure (many teams use a mix of tubeless, clincher, and tubular wheels), but it appears that 7 out of 9 stages so far have been won on tubeless tires. This shift started a few years ago, and at this point, all the top teams have the option to run tubeless set-ups. Victor Lafay and Jai Hindley are the only stage winners riding clinchers. The Cofidis team do also have wheels and bikes set up with tubulars, and Bora says it uses tubeless tires for wet stages or poor conditions. But it seems that most of the time they still prefer the clincher, probably with latex tubes. 

Stage 10 Winner - Vulcania > Issoire

The breakaway was expected to prevail today, and Pello Bilbao (Team Bahrain Victorious) came out on top in the final sprint. He dedicated his first Tour stage win to his late friend and teammate, Gino Mäder, who tragically passed away after a crash during this year's Tour de Suisse. In Gino's memory, Bilbao has promised to plant trees in deforested areas, an obsession of  Mäder's.  Bilboa has been donating €1 to Mäder’s charity for every rider he beats in each stage, and promised to donate double if he won a stage. 

As for the bike, Bilboa rode a Merida Scultura Disc Team. Merida is a Taiwanese manufacturer, who like Giant, actually manufactures frames for many other brands as well. The fifth-generation Scultura was released at the end of 2021 and incorporated new aero touches from Merida's Reacto aero bike. Team Bahrain brought frames with "Pearl-inspired" white paint, but Bilboa is riding a black bike, likely to commemorate Mäder.

Stage 11 Winner - Mont-de-Marsan > Bordeaux

Jasper " Disaster the Master" Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and his Canyon Aeroad CFR are looking unbeatable this year with 4 wins now. Philipsen didn't even need a leadout from Mathieu van der Poel this time. He jumped on the wheel of Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco–AlUla) in the final meters and steamed past. Philipsen clearly has the power and the positioning. Maybe his new aero bike is just that much more slippery than everyone else's. 

Stage 12 Winner - Roanne > Belleville-en-Beaujolais

Rider: Ion Izagirre Insausti Bike:  Look Blade 795 RS Drivetrain:   Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 Wheels:  Corima WS EVO 47 Tires:  Michelin Power Cup Competition Line Bike Type:   Aero/All-Rounder Stage Type:   Hilly

Ion Izagirre  Insausti  (Cofidis) took advantage of a chaotic day to go off the front alone and secure a second stage win for Cofidis. This is the French team's best performance in over a decade after a 15-year-long drought of Tour de France stage wins, and it's Izagirre's second Tour stage win after he took his first seven years ago. Interestingly, like his teammate and Stage 2 winner, Victor Lafay, Izagirre appears to be riding the Corima WS EVO 47 wheels with clinchers (instead of tubulars) rather than the higher-end Corima MCC EVO 47 wheels. Also, after seeing it again, I am starting to thing that Look's new Blade 795 RS in the   iconic Mondrian colors  might be the best looking bike at this year's  Tour. 

Stage 13 Winner - Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne > Grand Colombier

Rider: Michal Kwiatkowski Bike:  Pinarello Dogma F Drivetrain:   Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 Wheels:  Shimano Dura-Ace C36 Tires:   Continental Grand Prix 5000 S TR Bike Type:   Aero/All-Rounder Stage Type:  Mountain

Former world champion, Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) dropped the breakaway to take the summit finish of the Grand Colombier. Pogacar also managed to take another 8 seconds on Vingegaard with a late burst. Ineos (formerly Team Sky) has been riding the Pinarello Dogma for over a decade. The current Dogma F replaced the Dogma 12 in 2021. It continues to use Pinarello's trademark asymmetric frame design, but I'm always sad that the current Onda fork and rear stay design don't use the quirky wavy carbon the Dogma used to be so well-known for. 

Stage 14 Winner - Annemasse > Morzine Les Portes du Soleil

Rider: Carlos Rodriguez Bike:  Pinarello Dogma F Drivetrain:   Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 Wheels:  Shimano Dura-Ace C36 Tires:   Continental Grand Prix 5000 S TR Bike Type:   Aero/All-Rounder Stage Type:  Mountain

Carlos Rodriguez makes it two stages in a row for the Ineos Grenadiers and the Pinarello Dogma F. He paced his effort perfectly to bridge back to the front after getting dropped on the final climb and went alone to the win on the descent. He's now taken third in the GC away from Jai Hindley, but the two are separated by a single second. Likewise, the battle for first between Vingegaard and Pogacar remains a battle for seconds as the two remained glued together. With time gaps this close, maybe the podium in Paris will be determined by whose bike is slightly more aero...

Stage 15 Winner - Les Gets les Portes du Soleil > Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc

Another brutal day in the mountains and Wout Poels (Team Bahrain Victorious) took the win to give his team its second stage of this year's Tour. When he launched an attack on his Merida Scultura Disc Team, the other Wout (van Aert) didn't respond. He took the win nearly 3 minutes up on van Aert. Once again, there's nothing separating Vingegaard and Pogacar, the GC leaders, who came in several minutes behind Poels. Like his Bahrain Victorious teammate, Pello Bilbao, who won stage 10, Poels is riding the lightweight Merida Scultura for this tough and mountainous stage. He also switched to shallower 45mm Vision wheels. 

The GC race between Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar is still incredibly tight. They've been stuck to each other on every stage, which has allowed several opportunists to sneak away and steal stage wins as the Jumbo and UAE teams spend all their time and energy marking at each other. 

Double Stage Winners

Several teams and bikes have had a relatively good Tour so far, winning two (or more) stages:

• Alpecin-Deceuninck - Canyon Aeroad CFR  - 4 wins!
• UAE Team Emirates - Colnago V4Rs - 2 wins
• Cofidis - Look Blade 795 RS - 2 wins
• Team Bahrain Victorious - Merida Scultura Disc Team - 2 wins
• Ineos Grenadiers - Pinarello Dogma F - 2 wins

Of these multi-stage winners, the biggest surprise has to be the Look Blade 795 RS of Cofidis. After 15 years without a Tour stage win, to take two on a brand new bike makes the new Blade 795 RS look very promising. I also think it might be the best looking bike in the Tour right now. 

What Bikes Are Underperforming?

Of course, it's riders who win, not bikes, but sometimes, you expect certain bikes to win because they're ridden by exceptional teams and riders. Personally, I'm surprised that Specialized and Cervelo haven't taken more wins.

Specialized sponsors 3 teams at the Tour, all with high-power riders capable of winning stages. The Tarmac SL7 was also hailed upon its release as the king of aero all-rounders. But this year it's only taken a single stage with Jai Hindley. 

Cervelo is sponsoring Jumbo-Visma and Wout van Aert, a team and rider that have won multiple stages at the Tour over the last few years. But with a major focus on keeping Jonas Vingegaard in yellow, van Aert and the team perhaps don't as much freedom to chase stage wins this year, though van Aert has come very close on several occasions. 

What's Coming Up Next?

The next stage is the first and only time trial of this year's Tour. The winning rider will need a lot of horsepower, but also a very slippery bike. When seconds matter, reducing aerodynamic drag to save a few watts can be the difference. 

I also expect to see some serious fireworks between Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar in the time trial and the final couple of mountain stages. Maybe Cervelo will finally nab a stage win? Even if they don't, making it to Paris in the Yellow jersey is perhaps the bigger prize. 

Stage 16 Winner - Les Gets les Portes du Soleil > Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc

I thought Jonas Vingegaard (Team Jumbo-Visma) might make it all the way to Paris without a stage win, but he had the TT of his life today, taking a commanding win and pulling out an additional 1 min 38 sec over Tadej Pogacar (who chose to switch to a road bike for the final climb of the TT). Cervelo is well-known for its class-leading aero bikes, and the P5 TT bike has definitely shown itself to be very fast since Vingegaard's teammate, Wout van Aert, rounded out the podium. It's equipped with a 1x wireless SRAM RED AXS drivetrain, with a massive aero chainring, a full rear disc from Reserve, and Vittoria's Corsa Speed G+ 2.0 TLR tires which are among the fastest road tires ever tested.

Stage 17 Winner - Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc > Courchevel

While the big news is that Jonas Vingegaard increased his lead over Tadej Pogacar to a massive 7 minutes and 35 seconds, it was Felix Gall (AG2R Citroën Team) who took the Queen stage win aboard his BMC Teammachine SLR 01. The Teammachine is BMC's high-tech aero all-rounder, but it's particularly unique because it's the only bike in the peloton equipped with Campagnolo. AG2R are running the recently released Super Record EPS electronic groupset, which the team help develop and test. The latest Super Record group is a big shift for the legendary Italian component maker as it's a wireless disc-brake-only group which also does away with Campy's iconic thumb shifters. At $5,399 for a complete group, it's also absurdly expensive!

Stage 18 Winner - Moûtiers > Bourg-en-Bresse

Kasper Asgreen (Soudal Quick-Step) got into a four-man breakaway that displayed exceptional teamwork to hold the peloton at bay and disappoint the sprinters in a thrilling finish. It's the second stage win for the Specialized S-works Tarmac SL7. Asgreen's bike is essentially the same as the bike Jai Hindley used to win stage 4, with one notable exception. It seems that like the other two Specialized teams — Bora and Team TotalEnergies — riders at Quick-Step are still using the older Specialized S-Works Turbo Cotton clincher tire, in some cases with the older Roval Rapide CLX wheels instead of the Rapide CLX II. A possible explanation is that the older clincher set-up is a bit lighter (around 100 grams) than the newer tubeless wheel and tire combo. He may also prefer the tubular-like ride quality of the Turbo Cotton tires. Either way, it's a proven winner since Asgreen won Tour of Flanders in 2021 on this exact set-up. 

Stage 19 Winner - Moirans-en-Montagne > Poligny

Stage 20 Winner - Belfort > Le Markstein Fellering

Rider:   Tadej Pogacar Bike:   Colnago V4Rs Drivetrain:   Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 Wheels:   ENVE SES 4.5 Tires:   Continental Grand Prix 5000 S TR Bike Type:   Aero/All-Rounder Stage Type:  Mountain

The Tour de France overall was essentially decided on stage 17 when Jonas Vingegaard gained minutes on Tadej Pogacar on the final climb. In his post-race interview, Pogacar expressed a desire to win stage 20, the final mountain stage, a small but important consolation prize for his efforts this year. Of course, Pogacar being the animal that he is, delivered the win. It may not be the Tour finish he hoped for, but he and the UAE team were able to take 3 stages this year on their brand-new Colnago V4Rs. Despite winning the overall, Jumbo Visma and Cervelo had a much quieter Tour. Only the Cervelo P5 TT bike won a stage, while the S5 and R5 came up a bit short (though Wout van Aert came very close several times). The overall is the bigger prize though, so while Colnago won more battles, Cervelo won the war.  

Stage 21 Winner - Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines > Paris Champs Elysées

Jonas Vingegaard has wrapped up GC, so the final parade into Paris ends with one last chance for the sprinters on the famed Champs Elysées. The expected favorites — Jasper Philipsen, Dylan Groenewegen, and Mads Pedersen — were all there at the final sprint. But it was an amazing upset by Jordi Meeus (BORA - hansgrohe) who beat everyone to the line by mere centimeters. It is a great finish and a bit of redemption for Meeus, who struggled to make in impact in the early stages. It also gives the Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL7 its third win, putting it on terms with the Colnago V4Rs, and it also means that clincher tires were able to pip all the tubeless tires one last time.  

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Which Tour de France superbike is the best? Pinarello vs Specialized vs Colnago vs Cervelo

First Published Jun 30, 2023

The Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL7, Cervelo S5, Colnago V4RS and Pinarello Dogma F are some of the most successful road bikes of the 21st century, the top cyclists who ride them are likely to add to this winning tally during this year's Tour de France. UCI rules mean that these ostentatious machines are also available to mere mortals like you and me... so, which is best? Let's find out!

Value for money and the Tour de France aren’t exactly two things that go together, and today's test is no exception. That's because we’ve got our hands on some of the most expensive bikes that you can possibly buy. 

If you’re in the market for the ultimate road bike, or just like looking at what the pros are riding, then here's how they compare and which we’d spend our money on.

You might have already seen from our previous videos that my personal pride and joy is an S-Works Tarmac SL7, the one shown above in fact! However, over the past few weeks, I’ve had the chance to ride some of its World Tour competitors. Let's find out if it’s made me regret my purchase…

The Contenders

Pinarello dogma f.

Let’s start with the Pinarello Dogma F. After all, this is the bike that the Ineos Grenadiers have made famous - and although a Tour de France GC victory looks unlikely this year, Pinarello remains the brand with the most Tour de France wins by quite a margin. 

The Dogma was also one of the first bikes to truly embrace the aero AND lightweight philosophy, combining aerodynamic tube shapes without going so mad that the bike weighs too much to smash it up a mountain.

> Review: Pinarello Dogma F Super Record EPS 2023

Some people like to call this particular version the F14, but officially Pinarello ditched the numbering system when this bike was released in 2021, replacing the F12. There are plenty of nods back to Pinarello bikes of old: for example, the fork still has the 'Onda' curve which is said to reduce longitudinal and lateral shocks.

This latest generation also has fully integrated cables, is 9% lighter and is 4.8% less draggy than the F12 that won all those races according to Pinarello.

Our particular build is a very Italian affair, with Campagnolo Super Record EPS and these very swish Campagnolo Hyperon wheels. Like nearly all the Dogma F bikes out there, the finishing kit comes from the in-house componentry brand MOST.

Colnago V4Rs

Next up we have a bike which has a far greater chance of winning the Tour, the Colnago V4Rs. This will of course be piloted by the likes of Tadej Pogacar and Adam Yates. Like Ineos, UAE Team Emirates will have just one bike at their disposal for the 2023 Tour, which will be used by both sprinters and mountain goats alike.

The V4Rs isn’t exactly a brand new bike despite only being released last year. Pogacar was seen for what seemed like ages on the 'Prototipo', before we discovered that it would indeed be called the V4Rs.

> Review: Colnago V4Rs

Our particular build is a bit of a mashup between the UAE 2022 and 2023 setups, with a team colourway, a 12-speed Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 9200 groupset as well as Dura-Ace C50 wheels and a Deda cockpit.

If we’re talking about winning bike races, then this is one bike that kind of has to make the cut. The Cervelo S5 is the Canadian brand's out-and-out aero race bike. At last year’s Tour it was the most victorious bike in the peloton, picking up three stage wins and plenty more podium finishes.

There’s plenty to look at on this bike, not just because of the garish green paint job commemorating Wout Van Aert’s green jersey at last year's Tour. With the radical head tube and wing-style stem, Cervelo designers have really ripped up convention in the name of cheating the wind.

Believe it or not, the bike we got our hands on is Wout van Aert's actual bike that he rode on to the Champs Elysse last year, so predictably I wasn't allowed to ride it, not even around the block! Happily, however, the local bike shop had one that I was able to ride in a very similar build with Shimano Di2 and Dura-Ace wheels.

> Is Vingegaard going 1x for the Tour de France?

At this year's Tour, there are a few major differences between the Jumbo–Visma bikes when compared to Van Aert's green machine, as the team has switched to SRAM groupsets in a lucrative offer that Shimano reportedly couldn’t match.

The wheels have also been switched out, with this year's bikes fitted with Reserve wheels, a sister company to Cervelo. My word the bike industry is incestuous!

Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL7

Take a look around any pro peloton, Surrey club run or in the pages of a high-end bike magazine, and you’ll be hard-pressed to miss the Tarmac SL7. This bike has almost become too popular for its own good! The SL7 has a truly enviable reputation as THE lightweight 'and' aero bike to beat.

A year ago when looking for my own ultimate bike, the SL7 was my frameset of choice. It's a bike that showcases the potential and engineering prowess of the big S, rather than previous efforts such as the Venge ViAs. I also owned a rim brake Venge ViAs, and it was most definitely a bike to forget in my opinion. 

> 2023 cycling tech predictions — Specialized Tarmac SL8

With this SL7, the compromises in my mind are just right. The cables are semi-integrated and run under the stem, something that has now become far more popular than when the bike was released in 2021. The frame weight now rivals that of a pure climbing bike. 

Unlike many brands, Specialized develops its top-end bikes in its own in-house wind tunnel (called the Win Tunnel of course), which means that simulation time is much less limited, and real-world performance is more likely when compared to bikes developed purely using CFD (Computational fluid dynamics). 

> Custom Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL7 staff race bike: Which parts would you switch out?

Out of all the bikes here, you could argue that this one is the lowest spec with a now quite dated Shimano Ultegra 11-speed Di2 groupset and first-generation Roval Rapide wheels. If you want to check out the rest of my build, including Magura brake callipers and a shiny titanium top cap, then click the link above. 

> The rising cost of cycling — when will this crisis stop!?

Let’s kick off our comparison with some prices shall we. Be warned they’re all pretty eye-watering!

It’s safe to say that if value for money is the aim of the game, then all four of these bikes are some way off even making the long list. The S-Works Tarmac SL7, despite now being £500 more than it was at launch in 2020, is actually the 'cheapest' frameset at £4,500. As with all the bikes here, you get a proprietary seatpost included.

The V4RS is next, costing £5,000 for the frameset. Unlike the SL7 you don’t get a stem included, so you’ll need to add that to your bill. 

> Best road bikes 2023 — find your perfect drop bar bike whatever your budget

The S5 takes another jump up to £5,400, but does come with a set of bars and a stem. This means it likely works out similar to the V4RS if you’re building them up with equally premium components.

Finally, the most expensive of the four is the Dogma F which comes in at £5,500 with few additional extras, meaning your total build cost might be quite scary. 

I thought I’d have a quick look and see what full bikes you can currently get for that kind of money, and the answer is most! You can buy bikes with carbon aero frames, electronic groupsets and carbon deep-section wheels for five grand or less, and that’s before even looking at the second-hand market. In fact, in our 2023 road bikes buyer's guide only two complete bikes will set you back more than these framesets. One thing is for sure, if you want the ultimate in the world of bikes then you need some very deep pockets!

> Best road bikes under £3,000

Geometry plays a pretty key role in the way a bike rides. As you can imagine, with all the bikes being designed for racing, they’re aggressive, low-slung machines.

> How to read a bike geometry table: the numbers made easy

We’ve compared the bikes in a size 54cm (or medium) which is a 530 in the case of the V4Rs. The simple reason for this is that it's the size I ride, but the numbers are relative across the size range. 

When it comes to reach, the Tarmac SL7 and the V4RS are the slightly longer bikes, but with only a 4mm difference between the longest and shortest - we’re not even talking about having to use a different stem length.

The stack of the bikes throws up some slightly larger differences. The SL7 and the S5 are the lower of the bikes, and it’s not surprising given the short headtube on the Cervelo. 

That said, even the Colnago with the biggest stack and headtube is far from an endurance bike. So, if you’re not looking for that super aero position that can get uncomfortable, then an endurance -orientated bike might be the way to go. The extra comfort that they can provide can mean you will ride it quicker anyway. 

The SL7, S5 and Dogma F all share a head angle in the region of 73 degrees, which is fairly typical of a modern race bike designed to combine fast steering with high-speed stability. The V4RS is the outlier here, with a slacker fork. This means, on paper, that the steering won't feel quite so quick in favour of descending stability.

> Should I buy a race bike or an endurance bike? The big differences, explained

The seat tube angles are all pretty similar and are designed to put you over the cranks for optimum power transfer - although you will notice that most pro riders switch to a 0-degree seatpost to put them even further forwards. This is most noticeable on the SL7 thanks to its seatpost shape.

So, out of all of them which feels the most aggressive? Well, the S5 certainly feels nimble with the shortest wheelbase and chainstays. The SL7 is pretty similar, followed by the Dogma F, and then the most relaxed of the four is the V4RS (but it’s far from an armchair).  

If you’re tiny or very tall then the Pinarello might be your best bet, with 11 frame sizes ranging from 50cm to 62cm.

We’re being told more and more that weight isn’t the be-all and end-all, even on pretty hilly rides. If you’re shelling out this much on a bike though, we think it should at least be light enough to be able to impress anyone who picks it up at the cafe. 

The SL7 and V4RS win in this regard, with frame weights of 800g and 798g respectively. The Dogma F is 865g unpainted, so not exactly a lot more, and it’s this bike that surprised me the most. With our setup it weighs 6.9kg, so just over the UCI weight limit. This i surprised me slightly given that it’s got discs and does look chunkier than the SL7 and V4RS.

As the out-and-out aero bike, it comes as little surprise that the S5 is the heaviest of the four, with a frame weight of 975g. The fork is also a bit heavier than its counterparts, and so most high-end builds end up weighing about 7.5kg.

For the vast majority of us, the minuscule differences in weights will have next to no effect on our performance, even on the hilliest of terrain. It’s probably best to ignore them unless you’re going full-weight weenie!

Tyre clearance

You’ve probably heard by now that tyres are getting wider. Most of the pros are on 28mm tyres, and riders like me now often like to train on 30mm tyres, with some even opting for 32mm. This means that tyre clearance is important for most of us when considering a new bike, but it’s unlikely to be a determining factor between these four.

Compared to previous generations, all four have boosted tyre clearance. The SL7 and V4RS offer a claimed capacity of 32mm, the S5 up to a whopping 34mm and the Dogma F still a perfectly respectable 28mm.

Realistically you can likely fit larger than those claimed sizes in each. Plenty of people have reported running 32mm tyres on the Pinarello with no rubbing, and so it’s highly unlikely that you’d ever need to max out any of these frames.

Looks/colours

Call me vain, but looks matter! The SL7 frameset paint options get refreshed every year, and there are currently three options for 2023.

The V4RS is available in five colourways, including both the men's and women’s Team UAE and ADQ replicas. Personally I’d be most tempted by the white one...

With the S5 you’re certainly more limited with just two options. Cervelo has never been known for going loud with its paint - but to be fair, the two choices are pretty sweet in my opinion: a very stealthy black on black or sapphire/ice. 

> Are these Trek’s wildest paint jobs ever?

The colour options are an area where the Pinarello is the clear winner for me. Not only are there seven colourways to choose from, but the Myway section of the website allows you to customise your colour scheme with up to 5000 different combinations. You’re therefore unlikely to see two the same in any one place which to some riders will be invaluable. There are different graphic layouts, 27 different colours to choose from as well as gloss or matt finishes. Let us know what you think of my creation!

All that customisation does cost a pretty penny - £650, in fact. But if you’re dropping five and a half grand on a frameset alone, then suddenly it doesn't seem so bad to have it look like no one else's.

Out on the road

I’m guessing that you all want to know how they behave out on the road. Well, as you can imagine, they’re all very nice bikes to ride. 

I reckon the S5 feels the stiffest. It’s a thoroughbred race bike that feels like a dying breed with the fastest handling, a less compliant rear end and slightly more weight (that is arguably negligible). It's everything an aero bike should be, and if I was contesting a Tour de France sprint then this is the bike I’d choose.

On UK roads I don't think the weight will hold you back at all. Most climbs last under 10 minutes, and therefore power and stiffness play a larger role than weight, unlike on the continual steep gradients of European mountain passes that can go on for over an hour.

However, the SL7 is the bike I’d choose to ride an entire Tour de France on if I did have to do the full three weeks on just one bike. Despite what manufacturers would have you believe, every bike is a compromise. It’s impossible to have a bike that is aero, light and compliant, yet super stiff - but the S-Works for me manages to compromise the least and deliver in each of those areas. It’s no wonder, then, that it’s racked up quite so many wins on sprint and mountain stages alike.

> Specialized Allez Sprint vs Trek Emonda ALR

The V4RS is in essence a very similar bike to the Tarmac. It weighs pretty much the same, is supposed to be a do-it-all and it does indeed do it all well.

In our full review  we gave it an 8/10, so it’s a very capable bike. We did pick up on the inherent stiffness, making it a less comfortable bike than some of its other World Tour all-around competitors, namely the SL7. That can be forgiven if it’s an out-and-out racer like the S5, but the slacker front end feels like an odd choice if that’s what Colnago was going for.

The Pinarello is a bike I’m torn on. The looks don’t necessarily do it for me, but I respect the decision to stick to the brand's heritage. In the press release, Pinarello talk about "balance". Until I rode the bike I dismissed this as meaningless PR talk, however on the road, I do get it. Like any good race bike, speed feels easy to come by both on the flats and climbs. The handling is just as suited to a twisty town centre crit as it is hooning down a fast descent.

Performance-wise, I think that the Dogma F is every bit as good as the SL7, but certainly doesn't exceed it. It also costs around a thousand pounds more.

In a world where road race bikes are looking more and more alike, the Pinarello has somehow looks managed to look like nothing else on the market. That does make it feel special.

The Colnago just doesn’t quite do it for me. It feels more 'ordinary' than the other bikes, and that means that I’d be far more tempted to get Colnago's C68 if I specifically wanted a Colnago to make me smile, because it's a bit more unique.

For me, the SL7 is still the bike to beat when it comes to road race bikes. It's this that the V4RS seemingly tries to emulate, but despite being nearly three years old, the SL7 still comes out on top. 

The Cervelo S5 was the pleasant surprise of the bunch. It's just so bloody fast!  Perhaps even the fastest bike I’ve ridden. But, would I choose it as a bike to ride every day of the week? No. It's a little too aggressive and not as compliant as the other bikes here.

In fact, all four bikes are hard to recommend to mere mortals like me and you. They’re phenomenal race machines, but in all honesty, you can get 99% of the performance from bikes half this price!

It's likely these four bikes are going to be responsible for a scary amount of Tour de France stage wins in 2023 - but would one of them be your first pick if money was no object? Let us know in the comments section below...

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Jamie has been riding bikes since a tender age but really caught the bug for racing and reviewing whilst  studying towards a master's in Mechanical engineering  at Swansea University. Having graduated, he decided he really quite liked working with bikes and is now a full-time addition to the road.cc team. When not writing about tech news or working on the Youtube channel, you can still find him racing local crits trying to cling on to his cat 2 licence...and missing every break going...

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Interesting to look at the chart from Spesh. I've got the last iteration of the Sworks Venge and it's a 7.3kg build. On paper it's faster than the SL7 (although nothing is that fast with me on it). Wonder how it compares with the S5.

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Yes, it's a real shame they got rid of it despite their graph showing it's slightly faster than the Tarmac. I've got one too (black, iridescent decals) and it's fast even with me on it. But my favourite thing is the noise that the Rovals make when pushing on. 

That graph (Apple's marketing is guilty of doing this as well) has no scale bars, it also appears to be cropped off thereby exaggerating the differences between models. This is a big no no in science...

The Colnago of course. 

Not the Colnago:

Dogma F: 208W

V4Rs: 221W(!)

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Looking forward to not queueing/filtering round bedminster bridges.

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2023 TOUR DE FRANCE ROUTE REVEALED

             GET READY FOR THE 2023 TOUR DE FRANCE!

Bilbao on July 1  next year is where the Tour de France will celebrate its 120th anniversary. The Grand Départ in the Basque Country precisely offers the kind of scenery and roads that will pay tribute to the pioneers of 1903, because their successors, from the beginning of the race, will be plunged into a Pyrenean sequence with many twists in store, on both the Spanish and French sides of the border.

The punchers will tuck into a menu of their favorite flavors on the roads of the Classica San Sebastian (on stage 2), whilst the sprinters will have a free rein in Bayonne (on stage 3) as well as on the Nogaro circuit (on stage 4) and the climbers will already have to get to grips with the slopes on the stages finishing in Laruns (on stage 5) and on the Cambasque plateau near Cauterets (on stage 6). The rare starts of the Tour that take place in southern climes generally give rise to a dense program, but this time the total of 30 climbs rated category 2 and above is chiefly due to the mountainous grand slam to be tackled this year, because each of France’s five mountain ranges will be visited by the pack.

In this collection of more or less demanding climbs, the one attracting most attention is likely to be the ascension of Puy de Dôme (on stage 9) whose roads will once again be open to the riders on the Tour (but not to their fans), 35 years after the last ascent to overlook Clermont-Ferrand. This reunion with the past, which brings back memories of the duel between Anquetil and Poulidor in 1964 or recalls the victory by Fausto Coppi in 1952 on the edition of the first high-altitude finishes, especially promises an initial and extremely tense battle between the pretenders for the title. The last four kilometers of tarmac before the finishing line, with an average gradient of almost 12%, could be the fuse that awakens the dormant volcano.

The leading lights of the pack will be following in mythical footsteps on the Puy de Dôme, but will also be testing each other’s mettle on peaks that are set to play host to the fiercest contests of the future. For example, an emerging legend will have pride of place on Bastille Day, with the battle taking place on the Grand Colombier (on stage 13), where the finishing line will be set up for the second time in the race’s history. Following the summit of the Jura, the big shots will fight for supremacy on the Col de la Loze, just before soaring down to the high-altitude airstrip in Courchevel (on stage 17), to conclude a sequence in the Alps where the strongest riders will simply become untouchable.

The Col de Joux Plane pass and its subsequent descent before Morzine (on stage 14), the climb up to Le Bettex the following day (on stage 15), as well as the Côte de Domancy slope which is on the program for the sole time-trial of this edition (on stage 16), will in effect make and break the hierarchy between the handful of riders concerned by the Yellow Jersey. The temperament observed among the expected favourites on all the roads of the cycling world suggests that they will not miss any opportunity to go head-to-head.

The same will again be true on the penultimate day of the race, where the relief of the stage through the Vosges Mountains to the ski resort of Le Markstein will include 3,500 metres of climbing over a distance of only 133 km, taking in the Col de la Grosse Pierre and the ascensions of the Petit Ballon and the Platzerwasel (on stage 20). The leader designated in Alsace will be honoured the following day on the Champs-Elysées, where the race will close with a sprint festival that will have also visited Bordeaux, Limoges, Moulins and Poligny, allowing prestigious victories to be enjoyed in all the classifications!

Photos: Sprint Cycling Agency

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Tour de France Winning Bikes by Year (1903 to 2023)

36 different bike brands won the Tour de France in 110 editions. In this article, cycling fan Alex Lee breaks down the top 12 bike brands that have won at least 3 times.

Jonas Vingegaard rode a Cervélo bike to his second Tour de France overall win in 2023 with SRAM Red eTap AXS electronic groupset and Reserve Wheels.

Depending on the stage profile, Jonas Vingegaard’s bike can be a Cervelo R5, S5, or P3.

• Cervélo R5 is an all-rounder, lightweight road race bike for the mountains.
• Cervélo S5 is an aero bike for the flat stages.
• Cervélo P5 is a time trial bike that Jonas rode to win the Stage 16 ITT.

Full specifications and setup of Jonas Vingegaard’s bike.

Cervelo bikes

2023 Cervelo R5 vs S5 vs Caledonia 5 vs Soloist

Cervelo S5 Frame Geometry (2018-2023)

Cervelo Soloist Frame Geometry (2022-2023)

Cervelo Caledonia Frame Geometry (2021-2023)

Cervelo Aspero Frame Geometry (2019-2023)

2023 Cervelo R5 Size Charts and Guide

Pinarello – 15 wins

L’auto – 10 wins, peugeot – 10 wins, gitane – 9 wins, trek – 10 wins, alcyon – 7 wins, eddy merckx – 5 wins, automoto – 4 wins, bianchi – 3 wins, colnago – 3 wins, helyett – 3 wins, la sportive – 3 wins, tour de france winning bikes by year.

Throughout 110 editions (up to 2023), the Tour de France has been won by 36 different bike brands . Many of these brands are unknown to cycling fans today. Few bike brands, such as Colnago, Pinarello , Specialized , and Trek , are synonymous with cycling fans today.

The road bike industry has undergone massive change and innovation in the past 20 years by introducing new technologies such as electronic shifting , carbon fiber frames, disc brakes, and tubeless tires .

This article will go back in history and explore all the Tour de France winning bikes .

Pinarello has a long history in cycling, dating back to 19534, when it was founded by Giovanni Pinarello in Treviso, Italy. With 15 Tour de France wins, Pinarello is the most successful bike brand at the Tour de France.

Pinarello’s dominance at the Tour de France can be summed up in two eras.

• Mid-1990s. Miguel Indurain won four consecutive Tour de France from 1992 to 1995, followed by Bjarne Riis (1996) and Jan Ullrich (1997).
• Mid-2010s. Team Sky (Ineos-Grenadiers) won seven Tour de France with Bradley Wiggins (2012), Chris Froome (2013, 2015, 2016, 2017), Geraint Thomas (2018), and Egan Bernal (2019).

Today, Pinarello’s top-of-the-line bike is the Pinarello Dogma F .

L’Auto (now L’Equipe) is not a bike brand but the French newspaper that started the Tour de France in 1903.

From 1930 to 1939, Henri Desgrange, the newspaper’s owner, required all riders to paint their bikes’ downtube with L’Auto as part of the marketing campaign and publicity stunt to increase the race profile.

During that period, riders competed based on national teams, so there wasn’t any commercial conflict of interest.

Today, most of us know Peugeot as the French automotive brand. Peugeot started making bicycles way back in 1882 and won their first Tour de France with Louis Trousselier in 1905 and their last win came in 1977 with Bernard Thévenet.

In the past 50 years, the bicycle arm of Peugeot has gone through various ownership. Today it’s part of Cycleuope, which owns bike brands such as Bianchi and Gitane.

Here’s an interesting fact; Peugeot has a complete bike lineup from road to mountain, city, kids, and electric bikes.

2023 Tour de France Bikes and Gear

2023 Tour de France Sunglasses Brands and Models Guide

2023 Tour de France Helmets Brands and Models Guide

2023 Tour de France Bike Brands and Models Guide

Gitane is a French bike brand synonymous with racing from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s. All nine of Gitane’s Tour de France wins occurred during this period with legendary French riders such as Bernard Hinault (4), Jacques Anquetil (2), Laurent Fignon (2), and Belgian Lucien Van Impe (1).

Today, Gitane is part of Cycleuope, which owns the Bianchi and Peugeot bike brands. Gitane produces mostly city and mountain bikes today. They don’t have much presence outside of France.

Founded in 1976, Trek is one of the leading bike brands today with its men’s and women’s World Tour teams.

Trek’s first Tour de France win was in 1999 by Lance Armstrong. For the next seven years until 2005, Lance Armstrong dominated the Tour de France, helping to raise Trek’s profile in the United States and worldwide. In 2012, all seven of Lance’s Tour de France wins were nulled.

Trek’s other three Tour de France wins were with Alberto Contador in 2007, 2009, and 2010 although the 2010 win was later nulled.

Trek offers the riders three types of road bikes; Trek Emonda (lightweight), Trek Madone (aero) and Trek Domane (endurance), and the Trek Speed Concept (TT).

Alcyon was a French bicycle, motorcycle, and automotive brand active from 1903 to 1954. They sponsored their own cycling team from 1905 to 1959 under different names such as Alcyon-Dunlop, Alcyon-Soly, Alcyon-Armor, and Alcyon-Leroux

Their first Tour de France win was in 1909 with François Faber, a Luxembourgian rider. Their last win was in 1929 with Belgian Maurice De Waele. From 1930 onwards, the Tour de France organizers required the teams to paint their bikes’ downtube with L’Auto, the newspaper that started the Tour de France.

2023 Tour de France Riders’ Gear

Wout van Aert’s Red Bull Helmet at the 2023 Tour de France

Mark Cavendish’s Sunglasses at 2023 Tour de France

Mark Cavendish’s Shoes at 2023 Tour de France

Mark Cavendish’s Bike at 2023 Tour de France

Jasper Philipsen’s Bike at 2023 Tour de France

Eddy Merckx is no stranger to cycling fans. He’s widely known as the most successful cyclist of all time , winning the Tour de France (5 times), Giro d’ Italia (5 times), and 34 Tour de France stages .

The Eddy Merckx bike brand was only started in 1980 after he retired. Eddy Merckx was riding bikes built by Masi and Kessels with his name painted on the downtube for his five Tour de France wins.

In 2008, Eddy Merckx sold all his shares in the company to Sobradis, a Belgian holding company. In 2017, another Belgian company, Race Productions, which owns Ridley Bikes, took over Eddy Merckx after struggling with sales for the past decade.

Automoto was a French bicycle and motorcycle manufacturer that started in 1902. It was the dominant bike brand in the mid-1920s, with four consecutive Tour de France wins from 1923 to 1923 with three different riders.

In 1930, it was bought by Peugeot and sadly discontinued in 1962.

Bianchi is the oldest bicycle manufacturing company today. It was founded in Italy back in 1885 by Edoardo Bianchi who was a 21-year-old medical instrument maker.

All of Bianchi’s three Tour de France wins were achieved by Italian riders. Fausto Coppi won in 1949 and 1952 and Marco Pantini won in 1998. Bianchi was present at the World Tour with Team Jumbo-Visma (2014 to 2020) and Team BikeExchange (2021.

Team Arkea-Samsic will ride the Bianchi Oltre (aero) and Bianchi Specialissima (lightweight) at the 2023 Tour de France.

Today, Bianchi bikes are known for their Celeste color, also known as Bianchi Green.

Colnago has a long history, dating back to 1952. It was founded by Ernesto Colnago near Milan, Italy. In May 2020, Chimera Investments LLC, based in the UAE, acquired a majority stake in Colnago.

Colnago’s first Tour de France win was in 1960 by Italian rider, Gastone Nencini. It was a long 60-year wait for their second win until Tadej Pogačar won two consecutive Tour de France in 2020 and 2021. He also won the Best Young Rider and Climber Classification in these two years riding the Colnago V3Rs .

In 2023, Tadej Pogačar will be riding the Colnago V4Rs in an attempt to win his third Tour de France General Classification .

Tour de France Race Guide

2023 Tour de France on TV Broadcasts Availability

2023 Tour de France Prize Money Breakdown

How is the 2023 Tour de France Time Limit Calculated?

What is the meaning of Tour de France Jersey Colors?

Why is the Tour de France So Popular?

Helyett is a little-known French bicycle manufacturer started by the Picard brothers in 1926. It took its name from a lead character from a late 19th-century play, Miss Helyett, which is why the Helyett logo has a young women’s face on it.

Frenchman, Jacques Anquetil won three of his five Tour de France onboard a Helyett bike in 1957, 1961, and 1962.

La Sportive’s three Tour de France wins occurred right after World War 1, from 1919 to 1921. Right after the war, Europe was in bad shape and many bicycle manufacturers were either out of business or didn’t have the manufacturing capabilities.

The remaining brands include Alcyon, Armor, Automoto, Clément, La Française, Gladiator, Griffon, Hurtu, Labor, Liberator, Peugeot, and Thomann came together. They provided more than half the peloton with various bicycles and components so that the Tour de France can take place.

Once each brand recovered from the aftermath of World War 1, La Sportive disbanded in 1922.

Tour de France Records and Stats

How Many Rest Days in the 2023 Tour de France?

How Many Riders at the 2023 Tour de France?

How Many Stages in the 2023 Tour de France?

Tour de France Time Trial Winners’ Average Speed

What is the 2023 Tour de France Distance?

What is the Fastest Average Speed at the Tour de France?

Which Rider the Most Tour de France Appearances?

Alex Lee is the founder and editor-at-large of Mr. Mamil. Coming from a professional engineering background, he breaks down technical cycling nuances into an easy-to-understand and digestible format here.

He has been riding road bikes actively for the past 12 years and started racing competitively in the senior category during the summer recently.

Mr. Mamil's content is for educational and entertainment purposes only. The content is not a substitute for official or professional advice. Please do your own due diligence.

Mr. Mamil participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. We also participate in various other affiliate programs, and at times we earn a commission through purchases made through links on this website.

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Gallery: The best tech spotted at the 2023 Tour de France

There were custom components and prototype bikes at the Grand Départ in Bilbao

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The Tour de France - the biggest, most famous bike race of all - is an event fought more and more on marginal gains. 

At this year's Grand Départ, the 22 participating teams parked up by Bilbao's San Mamés stadium, and readied their equipment under cloudy Basque skies. There, armed with a camera and a curious mind, Cycling Weekly went hunting for the latest tech. And we weren't disappointed. 

Here are some of the most exciting tech insights we spotted in the team paddock, including Tadej Pogačar 's lightweight carbon upgrades, Jonas Vingegaard 's 1x set-up, and a prototype BMC Teammachine. 

Tadej Pogačar goes lightweight

Two-time race winner Pogačar is back with a vengeance at the Tour de France, having missed out on a third yellow jersey last time round. 

With over 56,000m elevation in this year's edition, the UAE Team Emirates rider has prioritised saving weight. His bike is rigged up with lightweight Carbon TI X-Rotor discs, a Carbon TI chainring and bottle cages made from, yes, you guessed it, carbon fibre.

Pogačar is riding this year's race despite still feeling the effects of a broken wrist, suffered at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in April. 

To offer him extra comfort on the bike, handlebar brand ENVE has developed a custom, extra stiff SES Aero One-Piece bar for the Slovenian national champion. The project began in January, and took over four months to complete. 

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The tyres on Pogačar's bike are 28mm, but are set on wide rims, so blow out larger. 

ENVE also 3D-printed top bearing covers for the UAE Team Emirates riders. A contact at the company told Cycling Weekly that the new component gives "greater compatibility with the IN-Route internal cable system" on the Colnago V4Rs .

One final quirky thing about Pogačar's bike is this little sticker he has on his race number. 

If you're wondering what the '9' symbolises, it's the number of stages he has won at the Tour. In fact, every rider who has won a stage of the race gets a special sticker.

Are TT tyres the norm? 

UAE Team Emirates were one of a number of teams running Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT tyres on stage one. The brand's website says the tyres offer "maximum speed" and "minimum weight", so they lend well to road races. 

The riders on Ineos Grenadiers seemed split on whether to go for the TT option, or Continental's more versatile GP 5000 S. Egan Bernal went for the former, while, as you can see below, debutant Ben Turner preferred the latter. 

Jonas Vingegaard ditches a chainring

Vingegaard's mechanics tried their best to conceal his bike in the team paddock, but here's our stealthy snap.

While doing his recon of the Côte de Pike on the eve of the race, reigning champion Vingegaard was spotted running a single chainring. 

It came as no surprise, then, when the Dane's bike in Bilbao on Saturday came equipped with the 1x version of SRAM 's Red eTap AXS - the same set-up he used at last month's Critérium du Dauphiné . 

A closer look showed he had a 50T chainring, with a 10-36 cassette. The only other rider to go 1x at Jumbo-Visma was Wout van Aert, who used a similar groupset at Paris-Roubaix . 

A tiny cassette for Mathieu van der Poel

With 34T cassettes now commonplace in the WorldTour peloton, the one on Mathieu van der Poel 's spare bike stood out as being particularly small. 

Concentrating intently, we counted 30 teeth on the Dutchman's biggest cog. His front chainrings were 54T and 40T respectively. 

Something that leaped out on the bikes of Van der Poel's Alpecin Deceuninck teammates was their metallic purple Elite bottle cages. Paired with the glossy purple of the Aeroad CFR, the colours were a sight to behold. 

Van der Poel, who has been riding an updated version of the bike this year, went with a slick white, however.

A prototype BMC Teammachine?

AG2R Citroën's Ben O'Connor is riding a different bike to his teammates at this year's Tour. 

The Australian's black BMC Teammachine SLR is a cut above those of his peers, and is handcrafted in the bike brand's Mpc (masterpiece) set-up, meaning it is fitted with the highest-end components on the market. 

Paint jobs galore

It's not just the riders' kits that get switched out for the Tour , their bikes get special treatment, too. Here's our pick of the bunch. 

Benoît Cosnefroy's design bears Red Bull branding. The bike is thought to be the same protoype the team rode at the recent Critérium du Dauphiné .

An artist collective used artificial intelligence to design this paint job for Groupama FDJ's Lapierre Xelius .

Here's a closer look at the AI creation.

Lidl-Trek are on one-of-a-kind Project One Icon Trek bikes . Here's Mads Pedersen's metallic, multicoloured Madone. 

Could this Wilier Filante SLR be the bike Mark Cavendish uses to take stage win 35?

Vowels are so out of fashion.  

Subtle sprint shifters

Ever wondered how sprinters click through the gears while cutting through the air in the drops? Well, they use satellite shifters, which are attached to the bars, and cut out of the bar tape. 

Here's Mark Cavendish 's trigger. 

Sprint shifters aren't only for the fastmen, though. Romain Bardet and a handful of his dsm-firmenich teammates also had them fitted to their bikes. 

Cavendish only opted for one, for his right hand, while Bardet had them on both sides. 

A custom jockey wheel

Last but not least, here's a shot of the custom jockey wheel Cofidis' Guillaume Martin was sporting in Bilbao. 

The component was produced by French brand Nova Ride, and is composed of ultra-lightweight carbon fibre. The rest of the Cofidis team were running standard Shimano Dura Ace set-ups.

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Tom joined Cycling Weekly as a news and features writer in the summer of 2022, having previously contributed as a freelancer. He is the host of The TT Podcast , which covers both the men's and women's pelotons and has featured a number of prominent British riders. 

An enthusiastic cyclist himself, Tom likes it most when the road goes uphill and actively seeks out double-figure gradients on his rides. 

He's also fluent in French and Spanish and holds a master's degree in International Journalism. 

18-year-old crashed during women's junior road race and was taken to hospital by air ambulance

By Tom Thewlis Published 27 September 24

Wearing a cycling helmet whilst riding provides some protection in the event of an accident, but should we go further and consider a full-face helmet instead?

By Tim Russon Published 27 September 24

Colnago launch special edition V4RS Tadej ahead of the elite men’s road race at the World Championships

By Tom Thewlis Published 26 September 24

British Cycling and UK Sport supporting bid to bring race back

By Tom Davidson Published 11 September 24

To put it in Euro per kilometre, the 2023 men's Tour paid €142.94 per km while the women earned €52.7 per km

By Anne-Marije Rook Published 19 August 24

Former Tour de France winner and Olympic champion reveals further details about his mental health struggles and suggests 2022 interview potentially saved his life

By Tom Thewlis Published 2 August 24

Tadej Pogačar has now officially joined the club, becoming the eighth man to achieve one of professional cycling’s most sought after accolades

By Tom Thewlis Published 22 July 24

Any riders finishing too far behind are eliminated from the race - we look into the details of the complicated system

By Alex Ballinger Published 19 July 24

Unchained series renewed with upcoming season to cover 2024 Tour

By Tom Davidson Published 17 July 24

When LeBron James was a child in Akron, Ohio, the bike helped him overcome barriers and gave him joys, freedoms and accessibility he otherwise wouldn't have had.

By Anne-Marije Rook Published 15 July 24

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Tour de France

Bike check: jai hindley’s tour de france stage 5-winning specialized tarmac sl7, a breakdown of jai hindley's specialized s-works tarmac sl7 which he rode to win stage 5 of the 2023 tour de france..

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In case you missed it, Jai Hindley ( Bora-Hansgrohe ) took the win at stage 5 of the 2023 Tour de France . He did so on this Specialized Tarmac SL7 as he went solo over the summit to finish in Laruns as the stage winner.

While Hindley went with Roval Alpinist CLX II wheels for his stage win, the vast majority of the Tour will be ridden with the bike set up just like this. Specialized-sponsored teams usually don’t stray too far from the plot, as just about everything here on this bike is either directly produced by Specialized or related to the brand. The main exceptions are the Shimano drivetrain and pedals and the Wahoo computer seen below.

See all the details of Jai Hindley’s stage 5-winning S-Works Tarmac below.

• Tour de France stage 5: Jai Hindley doubles up, Jonas Vingegaard gaps Tadej Pogačar in stunner
• The 5 coolest things about the Canyon Aeroad of Alpecin-Deceuninck and Tour de France stage winner Jasper Philipsen

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You Can Buy Tadej Pogačar’s Limited Edition World Colnago V4Rs for $17k

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Just in time for the Road World Championships, Colnago and Tadej Pogačar announce a limited edition Colnago V4Rs. This bike (this model and configuration) is the same one that Tadej will use to race at the World Championships in Zurich on September 29th. 

Pogačar’s Limited Edition Colnago V4Rs

The model is the same as the one he used to great success with Team UAE over the season, but this one is extra and way more colorful. 

Colnago channeled their inner Pop-Art artist for the design and colorway, allowing all the major victories achieved by the three-time Maillaut-Jaune to guide their way.

Design Inspiration

How many professional victories for Tadej Pogačar? Eighty-five victories. That includes four Grand Tours and 14 Classics. Those results landed him on the top of the UCI individual ranking since 2021.

Pogačar is a phenomenal cycling talent and a force of nature when it comes to his targeted races. Plus, he’s not alone in his cave training and avoiding the cycling public. The guy seems to become more likable with every victory. 

Each Color Tells a Story 

The color pallet ties together the story of Pogačars major race wins and the historic jerseys that come with the victories:

• Yellow, to celebrate three Tour de France GC victories (2020, 2021, 2024)
• Pink, as homage to the 2024 Giro d’Italia and the pink jersey he wore for 20 out of 21 stages;
• Green, to recall Il Lombardia, the Monument Classic that he conquered in 2021, 2022, and 2023, and for Liège-Bastogne-Liège, which he won twice, in 2021 and 2024;
• Heavenly blue, for Paris-Nice, one of the most prestigious one-week races on the calendar, won in 2023;
• Blue, the color of Tirreno-Adriatico (victories in 2021-2022) and of the KOM jersey at Giro d’Italia (2024);
• White, the color of the best young rider of the Tour de France, a special classification that Tadej Pogačar won for four years, from 2020 to 2023;
• Red dots to celebrate the iconic KOM jersey of the Tour de France, a special classification that Tadej won in 2020 and 2021;
• Bronze, for two precious bronze medals: the one at the Olympics in 2021 and the one obtained at the World Championships in Glasgow in 2023;
• Purple… because, as Tadej stated, you always need something purple in your life. The Slovenian actively participated in creating the bike and gave feedback to personalize his Colnago.

This Time it’s Personal

The bike and this updated Pogačar design have some unique, one-of-a-kind details. Unlike the above accolades, these details are aesthetically pleasing and functionally add performance to the Pogačar machine. 

Pogačar Logo 

The TP (Tadej Pogačar) logo is visible on the frame, notably on the top tube and seat tube junction. The pattern also appears in other areas on the bike, like the chainstays and throughout the design.

Carbon-Ti-ime 

If you’re a Tadej Pogačar fan – really, who isn’t these days? You know he rides a mixture of Carbon-Ti chainrings, brake disc rotors, thru-axles, and screws. All these extra gains (or weight reductions) come on the limited edition bikes. 

The crankset is Shimano Dura-Ace with carbon-Ti carbon fiber structure chain rings and unique engraved logos. 

The disc brake rotors are Carbon-Ti X-rotor steel carbon 3. What Carbon-Ti calls the highest level of (carbon brake rotors) technology available on the market. The threaded thru-axles are also Carbon-Ti and gold anodized, with a laser-etched graphic “reading Colnago—TP—Carbon-Ti.”

The same graphic can be seen also on the screws of the bottle cage, which are in the same gold anodized color and contribute to the bike’s overall weight-saving.

Custom Enve SES 4.5 Wheels 

Tadej Pogačar’s custom Enve SES 4.5 Wheels are already super high-end and don’t need any mechanical improvement (at least, IMO). So, the wheels are decorated with the same graphic patterns as the frame, giving them a super matchy feel while staying within the ENVE style guide. 

Prologo Saddle Nago R4 Tadej Pogacar 24

A special Prologo Saddle completes the bike, the Prologo Nago R4 Tadej Pogacar 24, with yellow accents and the names of some of Tadej’s most important victories emblazoned upon it. 

Rear derailleur hanger by Framesandgear

The Framesandgear Colnago Disc Brake Direct Mount Derailleur Hanger for V4RS Blue offers precise shifting, improved stiffness, and a lightweight design.

Pricing and Availability

The Colnago V4Rs Tadej will be available as a limited edition from September 26th until October 14th. The Colnago V4Rs will be equipped with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2, Enve 4.5 SES Wheelset, and Colnago CC.01 Handlebar at a suggested retail price in Europe of $17,200.00  

Pro Bike Check: Tadej Pogačar Wolrds  Limited Edition Colnago V4Rs 

• Groupset: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 R9200. 
• Chainrings: Carbon-Ti unique limited edition custom Colnago TP 52-36t 
• Cassette: 12-speed, 11-30t
• Wheels: ENVE SES 4.5 special limited edition Colnago V4Rs Tadej
• Rotors: Carbon-Ti X-Rotor SteelCarbon 3 – 160mm front / 140mm rear
• Tires: Pirelli P ZERO Race TLR X 28mm BK
• Saddle: Prologo Nago R4 Nack 147 Tadej Pogacar 24 
• Handlebar: Colnago CC.01
• Thru-axles: Threaded thru-axle front Ø12 L120mm – hex 6 Carbon-Ti Gold TP and Threaded thru-axle rear Ø12 L163mm – hex 6 Carbon-Ti Gold TP
• Rear derailleur hanger: Framesandgear Direct Derailleur Mount V4Rs Blue

Colnago.com

Jordan Villella is the Racing Tech Editor for BikeRumor.com, specializing in cross-country mountain, gravel, road, and cyclocross. He has written about bicycles and bike culture for over fifteen years with no signs of stopping.

Before BikeRumor, Jordan raced professionally and wrote for MTBR and the now-defunct Dirt Rag Magazine. He’s covered the World Championships, World Cups, and everything in between — where he loves to report what people are riding.

Based in Pittsburgh, PA,  Jordan coaches cyclists of all abilities with  Cycle-Smart ; you can find him racing bikes around North America and adventuring with his family.

For an inside look at his review rides follow him on Strava .

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Everything to know about the 2023 Tour de France

Cycling's biggest event will begin on july 1, by max molski • published june 28, 2023 • updated on june 28, 2023 at 11:25 am.

The top cyclists from around the globe are about to embark on a grueling journey through France.

The 110th Tour de France is set to begin this weekend as competitors chase yellow jerseys and the overall top prize throughout the next month. The event will conclude in Paris after 21 stages with one racer being crowned the champion.

Here is everything to know about this year’s Tour de France, including TV information, course details and key racers.

24/7 New York news stream: Watch NBC 4 free wherever you are

When does the 2023 Tour de France begin?

The Tour de France does not actually begin in France.

The competition begins on Saturday, July 1, with the Grand Depart in Bilbao, Spain. Racers will cross over into France in Stage 3 and remain there until they cross the final finish line.

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When does the 2023 Tour de France end?

WNBA viewership soars to new record, while attendance hits more than two-decade high

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Speaking of the end, the 2023 Tour de France will conclude on Sunday, July 23, when the cyclists race from Yvelines to Paris in the final stage.

How to watch the 2023 Tour de France

NBC, Peacock and USA Network will broadcast different stages of the 2023 Tour de France.

Peacock will also air pre-race shows ahead of each stage of the competition.

How to stream the 2023 Tour de France

Coverage can be streamed on Peacock, NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app.

How long is the 2023 Tour de France?

The total distance for the 2023 Tour de France is 3,408.9 kilometers (2,118 miles). Cyclists will have to go that distance across 21 stages with just two rest days throughout the event.

2023 Tour de France route

Here is a look at each stage of the 2023 Tour de France with start and finish points, as well as distance:

• Stage 1: July 1, Bilbao to Bilbao, 182 km
• Stage 2: July 2, Vitoria Gasteiz to Saint-Sebastien, 209 km
• Stage 3: July 3, Amorebieta-Etxano to Bayonne, 193.5 km
• Stage 4: July 4, Dax to Nogaro, 182 km
• Stage 5: July 5, Pau to Laruns, 163 km
• Stage 6: July 6, Tarbes to Cauterets-Cambasque, 145 km
• Stage 7: July 7, Mont-de-Marsan to Bordeaux, 170 km
• Stage 8: July 8, Libourne to Limoges, 201 km
• Stage 9: July 9, Saint-Leonard-de-Noblat to Puy de Dome, 182.5 km
• Stage 10: July 11, Vulcania to Issoire, 167.5 km
• Stage 11: July 12, Clermont-Ferrand to Moulins, 180 km
• Stage 12: July 13, Roanne to Belleville-en-Beaujolais, 169 km
• Stage 13: July 14, Chatillon-sur-Chalaronne to Grand Colombier, 138 km
• Stage 14: July 15, Annemasse to Morzine Les Portes du Soleil, 152 km
• Stage 15: July 16, Les Gets Les Portes du Soleil to Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc, 179 km
• Stage 16: July 18, Passy to Combloux, 22.4 km
• Stage 17: July 19, Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc to Courchevel, 166 km
• Stage 18: July 20, Moutiers to Bourg-en-Bresse, 185 km
• Stage 19: July 21, Moirans-en-Montagne to Poligny, 173 km
• Stage 20: July 22, Belfort to Le Markstein Fellering, 133.5 km
• Stage 21: July 23, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines to Paris Champs-Elysees, 115.5 km

2023 Tour de France prize money

The total prize money for this year’s competition is €2,308,200, which is around $2.5 million.

The winner will take home €500,000 (around $546,000), the second-place finisher will earn €200,000 (around $218,000) and third place will collect €100,000 (around $109,000).

Who will race in the Tour de France 2023?

Each of the last three Tour winners will be racing in 2023.

Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark is looking for a repeat after emerging victorious in 2022. Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia already has a back-to-back under his belt, winning consecutively in 2020 and 2021. Egan Bernal of Colombia, the 2019 winner, is eyeing his second Tour title.

Mark Cavendish’s last ride will also be something to watch. The 38-year-old from Great Britain is tied for the all-time record in Tour stage wins (34) and said 2023 will be his final season.

As for the U.S., six Americans will participate this year: Lawson Craddock, Matteo Jorgenson, Sepp Kuss, Neilson Powless, Quinn Simmons and Kevin Vermaerke. Powless’ 12th-place finish last year was the best finish by an American in the competition since 2015.

In all, 22 teams will compete in the 2023 Tour de France. Each team has 10 members, two of whom are substitutes.

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Six tech trends from the 2023 Tour de France | 1x drivetrains, all-rounder road bikes, divergent tyre philosophies and more

What’s hot at the most important bike race of the year

Simon von Bromley

Having gorged ourselves on bike tech and pintxos at the Grand Depart of the 2023 Tour de France , the BikeRadar team is now back home and digesting everything we learned.

As always, there was lots to see, and the archetypal Tour de France bike has evolved significantly since last year’s start in Copenhagen, Denmark .

From lightweight, aero all-rounder bikes and 1x drivetrains , to supersized tyres and ultra-expensive parts, this year’s Tour certainly has its own special flavour.

With that in mind, let’s dive into six of the key tech trends dominating the peloton at the sport’s biggest race.

After a stunted start to life in the pro peloton , 1x drivetrains for road bikes are back in the conversation.

At the time of writing, we’ve seen two riders using 1x SRAM Red eTap AXS drivetrains so far at this year’s Tour.

Do two riders make a trend, though? Well, they do when it’s last year’s yellow and green jersey winners, Jonas Vingegaard and Wout Van Aert.

As for why these two are choosing to run 1x instead of 2x, it’s hard to say.

On the right parcours ( Van Aert used a 1x drivetrain for this year's Milan-San Remo , for example), it’s possible to eke out a few marginal gains with a 1x setup, such as an improved chainline, marginally reduced aerodynamic drag and, of course, a simpler shifting setup with less risk of chain drops.

On the other hand, with only one chainring available, riders must choose between having lots of gear range but larger jumps between the gears, or less overall range and a tighter cassette, so there are compromises to it as well.

Could it be pressure from the team performance directors or sponsors? SRAM has, after all, pushed 1x for road and gravel much more than Shimano, who sponsor the majority of teams in the peloton.

We don’t know, of course, though we are sure neither Vingegaard or Van Aert would run it on their bikes if they thought it was a significant disadvantage.

Like the changes from rim to disc brakes , tubular to tubeless tyres and lightweight to aero road bikes in recent years, pro riders can sometimes be cautious about tech innovations, so we don’t expect the rest of the peloton to be jumping ship to 1x anytime soon.

We can still be sure other riders and teams will be paying attention, though, and if Jumbo-Visma does have success on 1x then we may see more of it at the Tour going forward.

Divergent tyre choices

Just when we thought things were calming down in terms of tyre choices, we actually saw a wide variety of types and widths at this year’s Tour.

As has been happening for a number of years, we’re seeing an ever-increasing amount of tubeless wheels and tyres and far fewer tubular options.

Interestingly, though, it appears teams haven’t simply settled on 28c tubeless tyres across the board.

Instead, each team appears to have optimised its tyre setup for the specific bike and wheel combinations it uses.

For example, when we saw Jonas Vingegaard’s Cervélo S5 at the Jumbo-Visma team hotel, it was equipped with 24mm-wide Vittoria Corsa Pro tubular tyres.

That’s quite narrow by modern standards, but given they were mounted to a set of Reserve 34|37 wheels , I suspect this was a lightweight combination intended to help get his bike weight down as much as possible for the lumpy opening stages.

We wouldn’t be surprised if Jonas switched this wheelset for something more aero, perhaps with tubeless tyres, for the flatter or more rolling stages of this year’s Tour.

Over at the UAE Team Emirates hotel, Tadej Pogačar’s bike had Continental GP5000 TT TR tubeless tyres mounted on ENVE SES 4.5 wheels .

These were nominally a size 28c, but on the ENVE rims – which have a super wide, 25mm internal rim width – these tyres were actually measuring up at a whopping 31.3mm at the front and 32.2mm at the rear.

As with Jumbo-Visma, we don’t know if this is what Pogačar will run for every stage. He might switch over to narrower, lighter wheels and tyres for the mountain stages, for example.

But it’s pretty wild to see tyres this wide being used for standard road stages at the Tour de France, and we suspect other teams will again be paying close attention to how they get on.

One bike to rule them all?

While we saw a smorgasbord of heavyweight aero road bikes at last year’s Grand Depart , this year it was all about the lightweight-aero all-rounders.

Of course, that’s perhaps unsurprising given this year’s opening stages around Bilbao, Spain, were significantly hillier than those around Copenhagen, Denmark, where last year’s race started.

The influx of a number of new bikes in this niche, such as the new Factor O2 VAM , a new prototype Ridley and the Look 795 Blade RS shows that many riders at the pointy end of the sport are still chasing those last few hundreds of grams.

Of course, we also know – thanks to the frequent comments we receive on the topic – that many outside of the pro peloton care a lot about bike weight too.

Is this just bike brands waking up to consumer demand then? Possibly – bike brands do exist to sell bikes, after all.

We might also wonder if many brands are looking at the popularity and success of bikes such as the Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL7 – arguably the archetypal lightweight-aero all-rounder road bike from the last few years – and thinking they’d like some of that success for themselves.

In terms of how much bikes actually weighed at this year’s Tour, we saw a real range – from just over 6.9kg for Simon Clarke’s new Factor O2 VAM, all the way up to 7.945kg for Mathieu van der Poel’s Canyon Aeroad CFR .

Interestingly, looks were fairly deceiving in this department.

Despite Pogačar’s Colnago V4Rs being adorned with an array of super expensive, weight weenie parts, including carbon chainrings and those TT tyres, it was – at 7.245kg – only 100 grams lighter than Ben O’Connor’s new prototype BMC aero road bike (which weighed 7.345kg, according to our scales).

If you want to see how much every bike we saw at this year’s Tour weighed, though, check out our videos from this year’s Grand Depart on our YouTube channel .

Time trial tech for road stages

Time trials typically see riders go all-in on speed, eschewing any worries about comfort and durability.

Increasingly, though, we’re seeing time trial-specific kit being used in road stages of the Tour de France too.

Aero helmets , skinsuits and aero socks , for example, are now almost ubiquitous throughout the Tour peloton.

Tadej Pogačar has also been wearing Rule 28’s Aero Base Layer – a base layer with ridged sleeves designed to reduce a rider’s aerodynamic drag – underneath the young rider classification leader’s white jersey.

The main cost for using these instead of standard versions is comfort, but some teams are going further and risking more punctures for marginal gains in rolling resistance.

So far, we’ve seen riders from UAE Team Emirates, Ineos-Grenadiers and Bahrain Victorious all using time trial-specific Continental GP5000 TT TR tyres for road stages.

Wout Van Aert also used Vittoria Corsa Speed G2.0 TLR tyres (Vittoria's time trial-specific tubeless tyre) for stage 4, while we saw a Team Jayco-AlUla Giant Propel Advanced SL 0 equipped with the same tyres in the days before the race start.

It’s notable that the riders and teams doing this seem to be ones using tubeless wheels and tyres.

We suspect the fact that tubeless sealant can potentially help seal any untimely punctures is encouraging some teams to take their chances.

Of course, there’s still the reduced wear life of the thinner treads to contend with on these kinds of tyres, but, when you’re not paying for your equipment, and have a small army of mechanics at your disposal, that’s less of an issue.

Handlebars are getting narrower

As most of us are aware, it doesn’t matter how aero your bike is if you don’t adopt an aerodynamic riding position .

With that in mind, most of the bikes we saw at this year’s Tour were fitted with long stems and narrow handlebars , to help the riders get stretched out and lower their frontal area.

Caleb Ewan, for example, had a Deda integrated handlebar on his new Ridley with an enormous 14cm stem and a super-narrow 36cm handlebar – perfect for helping the diminutive sprinter squeeze through tight spaces in the bunch.

While seeing the narrowest bar widths on the bikes of smaller riders isn’t a surprise, even taller riders are using skinny bars at the Tour these days too.

AG2R-Citroen’s Ben O’Connor, for example, is reportedly 188cm tall, but had a 36cm wide handlebar (also paired with a 14cm stem) on his prototype BMC aero bike.

Even climbers, such as Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Jonas Vingegaard, are using relatively narrow 38cm handlebars – presumably they don’t mind giving up a little leverage for the potential aero gain.

The widest bars we saw in Bilbao were just 40 centimetres wide – on Mathieu van der Poel’s Canyon Aeroad and Mark Cavendish’s Wilier Filante SLR , although, like many, van der Poel turns his brake hoods in, which effectively gives him a narrower position hand.

Of course, there likely are some riders in the bunch still on 42 or 44cm wide handlebars, but it’s certainly a dwindling number.

Haves and have-nots

There’s no budget cap in professional cycling and a race like the Tour de France can painfully expose the differences between teams even at the top of the sport.

Some UAE Team Emirates riders, for example, appeared to have every piece of bling available – from the time trial-specific GP5000 TT TR tyres already mentioned, to ENVE wheels and components, weight weenie parts such as Carbon Ti chainrings and brake rotors, and ultra-light custom carbon seat posts.

In contrast, though, Peter Sagan and his Total Energies teammates are still running the previous generation Dura-Ace Di2 R9100 groupset and Specialized Turbo Cotton clincher tyres that were launched nearly 10 years ago.

There’s nothing wrong with 11-speed Dura-Ace, of course – just because there’s something new available, doesn’t mean the old stuff is suddenly rubbish – and the Turbo Cotton tyres are still regarded as some of the fastest clinchers ever made.

However, it’s hard to ignore the obvious disparities between one of the best-funded teams in the peloton and one which perhaps isn’t quite as flush with cash.

That said, it's fair to question how much of a difference all of this makes.

It doesn’t matter how posh the bike is – the rider still has to turn the pedals, after all.

But considering the margins between winning and losing can be so small at this level, these small differences can add up, especially over the course of a three-week Grand Tour.

Maybe it’s time to introduce budget caps in cycling and level the playing field a bit? Let us know what you think in the comments.

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Mont Ventoux summit finish likely for 2025 Tour de France after four-year absence

Full route to be revealed on October 29, Pyrenean time trial also rumoured

One of cycling's best-loved ascents, the daunting Mont Ventoux, could well be back on the Tour de France route in 2025 after a four-year absence, with a summit finish rumoured for the 'Giant of Provence' for the first time in the race since 2016 .

According to regional newspaper La Marseillaise , a summit finish on the Ventoux is "expected" in 2025. The media outlet also cites local département president Dominique Santoni as saying that "there was a very strong possibility that the Tour de France comes here next year," although Santoni did not say exactly where he means by 'here'.

The Ventoux last appeared in the Tour de France back in 2021, when a spectacular double ascent culminated in Wout van Aert claiming a solo victory in the nearby town of Malaucène. 

The 2021 Tour de France Ventoux stage was also where the Jonas Vingegaard-Tadej Pogačar rivalry first reached a high point, as Vingegaard briefly dropped the Slovenian near the summit of the monster climb. Pogačar went on to win overall, but Visma-Lease a Bike later said his difficulties that day on the Ventoux became the starting point for their development of a strategy to defeat the UAE Team Emirates racer in the 2022 Tour and again in 2023.

Rather than 'just' crossing the top of the Ventoux like in 2021, the Tour de France last had a summit finish on the mountain in its 2016 edition, when a wind-blighted ascent forced the organisers to end the stage at the Chalet-Reynard restaurant, roughly three quarters of the way up the climb. 

Victory that day went to the recently retired breakaway specialist Thomas de Gendt (Lotto-Dstny), but it is mainly remembered for Chris Froome's desperate run up the last part of the climb after he came off worse in a crash involving an in-race TV motorbike.

As was only to be expected given its name, the Ventoux formed the main attraction of the CIC-Mont Ventoux Denivélé, the now-suspended one-day race, both in 2022 and 2023. However, it has not formed part of the Tour.

Should the 'Giant of Provence' finally feature on the 2025 Tour de France route, there are rumours it would tackled sometime in the second week. Next year's Tour has a confirmed Grand Depart in Lille in northern France on July 5.

Other, unconfirmed rumours Tweeted by cycling writer ammattipyöräily , suggest that a return to La Plagne in the Alps, last visited in 1995 by the Tour de France, is also possible a decade on in the race.

La Plagne was where Miguel Indurain all but sealed the deal on his fifth Tour de France win as he shed all his rivals with a remorseless pursuit of fellow contender Alex Zülle. 

Eight years earlier, the ski station in the eastern part of the Alps was where Stephen Roche staged one of cycling's most famous comebacks in a duel against Pedro Delgado, prior to going on to win the Tour outright.

A visit to Brittany?

At the moment, nothing has been officialised about the 2025 Tour de France route barring the opening three days in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais northerly region, a stage 4 start in Amiens and - after this year's finish in Nice - a final run-in to Paris on July 29.

The 2025 Tour starts on Saturday July 5 in Lille with a sprinters stage, then immediately switches to a much hillier format for a long trek to the northern coast on Sunday July 6, finishing in Boulogne-sur-Mer. Stage 3 - on Monday July 7 - should be another bunch sprint, finishing in nearby Dunkirk. The Tour finally leaves the region via a start in the westerly city of Amiens on Tuesday July 8.

According to velowire the website which specialises in predicting the route of the upcoming Tour de France in as much detail as possible, the route will likely continue to head west through Normandy and Brittany. The latter would be partly in homage to another five-times Tour de France winner and Brittany's most famous racer: Bernard Hinault, whose 40th and final Tour victory took place in 1985.

Stages in central France could then follow, with the first week 'extended' to July 14 and a finish on the Mont Dore near Clermont-Ferrand on stage 10. A transfer south to Toulouse on the first rest day on the Tuesday of week 2 could precede at least a couple of days in the Pyrenees, possibly featuring a mountain time trial and prior to the speculated ascent of the Ventoux.

Week 3 then takes the Tour into the Alps, about which very little is yet known, Velowire speculates this could be due to the densely packed cycling calendar this year, delaying organisers' ability to finalize their plans. The website also suggests that a global drop in the number of sprint stages compared to 2023 could well be on the cards as well.

🇫🇷 2025 Tour de France (5/7-27/7) rumours | #TDF2025Rumours circling around that this might actually be happening. Next summer it will be 30 years since Miguel Indurain's 'riding them off the wheel 1 by 1' -show on ⛰️🏁 La Plagne, 1995 Tour de France.pic.twitter.com/htanB3O7JH September 23, 2024

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Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews , he has also written for The Independent ,  The Guardian ,  ProCycling , The Express and Reuters .

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