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2023 tour de france bikes: a closer look at the peloton's speedsters.

Published on July 13, 2023

The bikes for the Tour de France 2023 are obviously the most powerful on the market. At this level, nothing can be left to chance, and it's only logical that the world's best cyclists should have state-of-the-art equipment at their disposal for the biggest race on the calendar. Every gram counts, so it's hardly surprising to find only carbon frames and  carbon wheels in the peloton. The International Cycling Union imposes a minimum weight of 6.8 kg to avoid overkill, which is detrimental to the solidity of the bikes, and therefore to the safety of the riders. The weight of Tour de France bikes is therefore close to this regulatory limit. Before we take a look at some of the bikes used in the Grande Boucle, let's see how much a Tour de France bike costs, and how you can ride a professional bike at a reduced price.

Tour de France 2023 racing bikes

The Tour de France is the most widely publicized cycling race, broadcast in almost every country in the world. It's a great showcase for brands, and they often go to great lengths to ensure that their new models are ready for the event. This year, there are 19 brands taking part in the race. The average cost of the jewels they offer riders is rather prohibitive: the price of a Tour de France bike varies between €9,000 and €18,000, depending on the team! When you consider that some 1,000 bicycles are present on the Grande Boucle... that's a lot of money criss-crossing France in July! Fortunately for them, the professional teams don't buy these bikes, or not at public price. Most of the time, the brands make the bikes available free of charge. Instead, they rely on the spin-offs for the general public who have seen them race.

Certified Pre-Owned Bikes: professional team equipment at reduced prices

As we've just seen, the cost of a bike for the Tour de France is very high... And it's even more exorbitant when you consider that it's possible to get ride a bike used by the professionals less than 5 years ago for a much lower price. Indeed, in such a short space of time, technology evolves very little. Buying a Certified Pre-Owned bike will give you the pleasure of riding a professional cyclist's bike at a reduced price. Among the selection of Certified Pre-Owned  road bikes from The Cyclist House, you'll find many of the peloton's stars of recent years. To ensure your satisfaction from the very first ride, our bikes are scrupulously checked and cleaned. All our bikes undergo a 114-point inspection by our mechanics. What's more, when you choose The Cyclist House for the purchase of your pre-owned bike, you benefit from a one-year warranty and a 30-day "money-back guarantee".

Ride the bike of a four-time Tour de France winner? It's possible, thanks to the magic of Certified Pre-Owned ! See the bike

⏩ Already own a bike you'd like to sell first? No problem, we'll buy it from you ! 💰

The bikes of the Tour's professional teams

With almost 56,000 meters of ascent and a passage through all of France's major mountain ranges, the Tour de France 2023 is particularly demanding. To adapt to this route, bikes are generally lighter. For some time now, handlebars have also been narrower (under 40 cm) to allow riders to adopt more aerodynamic positions. But these aren't the only changes we've seen in the peloton this year. Each brand took advantage of the event to introduce its latest innovations. The Cyclist House team presents you a small selection of the bikes of the peloton's stars and their main innovations.

The Cervélo R5 and S5 for Jumbo-Visma

You don't change a winning team... After winning 3 of the 4 distinctive jerseys last year, Jumbo is keeping the same Cervélo models this year: the R5 for the mountains and the S5 (with its pretty triangular stem!) for the faster stages, all now equipped by SRAM. On some stages, we saw title-holder Jonas Vingegaard and the redoubtable Wout Van Aert use a 1x groupset, a choice not yet widely available on the road. The advantages of this single-plate configuration are a slight aero gain and a lower risk of chain jump (given that there's one less derailleur...).

Colnago V4RS for UAE Team Emirates

The other big favorite, Tadej Pogacar, has opted for a Colnago V4RS, now equipped with Shimano's top-of-the-range Dura-Ace drivetrain. This model was already in use last year under the Prototipo name, which was, as we all know, a prototype. As a reminder, UCI regulations require teams to use bikes that are already on the market or will be within the next 12 months.

The new BMC Masterpiece and Teammachine SLR01 for AG2R Citroën Team

At AG2R, not everyone is in the same boat for this Tour de France 2023. Ben O'Connor and Benoit Cosnefroy are benefiting from BMC's prototype: the Masterpiece. A true masterpiece developed jointly by BMC and the Red Bull Formula 1 team. The two are also spoiled for choice when it comes to drivetrains, with the brand-new Campagnolo Super Record Wireless groupset. The rest of the team still uses the BMC Teammachine SLR01.

Canyon Aeroad CFR and Ultimate CFR for Alpecin-Deceuninck and Movistar

Both Jasper Philipsen's team and Spain's Movistar usually ride the Canyon Aeroad CFR with its sophisticated aerodynamics, but they prefer the Ultimate CFR for the mountains. When it comes to equipment, choices differ. Movistar opts for SRAM, while Alpecin opts for Shimano Dura-Ace. It's worth noting that Alpecin-Deceuninck's strongman, Mathieu Van der Poel, has a special livery.

Bora Hansgrohe / Soudal Quick-Step / Total Energies: full house for Specialized

By equipping three teams at the highest level, the American brand Specialized is the best represented brand in the Tour de France. Unsurprisingly, all three teams opted for the very best: the Tarmac SL7 . Indeed, even if there was some suspense about its appearance this July, the SL8 model isn't quite ready yet. However, there's a slight difference for Total Energies, which (due to a lack of resources comparable to the other 2?) is still using a Cassette with 11 speeds, not 12. With 24 professional riders out of 176 equipped, including Julian Alaphilippe and Fabio Jakobsen, Specialized had a strong chance of winning again at the 2023 Tour de France. In the end, it was Jay Hindley who was the first to raise his arms on his Tarmac.

Trek Madone for Lidl-Trek

Lidl-Trek boasts a state-of-the-art bike: the Madone SLR 9 AXS Gen 7. The great feature of this marvel is the cavity above the seat tube, called IsoFlow Technology, which accelerates the flow of air through the frame. This technical innovation, which gives the impression that the seatpost rests on nothing, is said to save one minute per hour compared with the old version! For the mountains, riders use the Trek Emonda SLR 9, less aero but lighter.

Look back on the Tour de France with Cofidis

French brand Look is back at the highest level, equipping the Cofidis men's and women's professional teams. The 795 Blade RS model has been chosen for the Tour de France. Look Combo handlebars Aero Handlebar is particularly well designed, with the possibility of easily changing the stem and the HandlebarIt's also possible to adjust the inclination. The whole unit is fitted with Shimano Dura-Ace, Corima wheels and pedals... from Look, of course!

Lapierre: French top-of-the-range for Groupama-FDJ

Thibaut Pinot, David Gaudu and their team-mates have the right to a rather special bike on the roads of the Grande Boucle. The Xelius SL 10.0 Symbiosis Edition has been designed by the French firm Lapierre, in partnership with the Obvious trio of artists who exploit artificial intelligence. The term is slightly overused these days, so make no mistake: the work of Lapierre and Obvious goes far beyond a simple ChatGPT invention! The idea was to combine creativity, technology and performance to create a unique bike, as beautiful as it is fast. And they succeeded! The frame features multiple references to science fiction, technical progress and dystopia. The gears refer to the bike, and the flowers to the rider who makes the most of it. In terms of performance, we're back to Lapierre's top-of-the-range quality, with a highly polished machine and an incredible weight of just 6.9 kg!

Ineos Grenadiers remains loyal to Pinarello

Winners of 7 of the last 12 Tour de France races, the Ineos-Grenadiers team continues to place its trust in the Italian brand Pinarello, its historic equipment supplier. Once again this year, former yellow jersey Egan Bernal and Tom Pidcock, among others, are riding the Dogma F12 model. Carbon fiber and nanoalloy make this bike one of the best in the peloton. Riders use it on every stage. Only the wheels sometimes change: in the mountains, the team prefers Princeton Carbon Works to Shimano.

German Cube bikes for Intermarché Circus Wanty

The Belgian team, which reached the top 10 of the overall classification for the first time last year thanks to Louis Mentjes, is once again using bikes from the German brand Cube. The models favored by the riders are the Litening Aero C:68 X for the flat and the lightweight Litening Air C:68X SLT for the mountains. The frame of this climber's bike weighs just 800 g! Fully assembled, it is within the 6.8 kg limit authorized by the UCI. That's enough to influence the famous watts/kg ratio!

Team Jayco Alula with Giant Propel Advanced SL

The Australian Jayco Alula team is equipped by one of the world's leading manufacturers: Giant. On this Tour de France, the Taiwanese firm is obviously providing their best bike, the Propel Advanced SL with its truncated ellipse-shaped tubes and D-shaped fork steerer tube... Very aerodynamic indeed! In the mountains, riders generally opt for the lighter TCR Advanced SL. Before finding all these marvels on our site very soon, don't hesitate to discover the previous versions of these models in our road selection. We can't guarantee that you'll knock off Strava's KOM/QOM, but you're sure to find something to please you! 😉

Florian Topin

A lifelong cycling enthusiast, Florian can't stop talking about it! As a web editor, he's free to write for hours about his favorite sport. From Lille, where he lives, he frequently crosses the Belgian border to tackle the Flemish mountains on his Giant TCR Advanced. Cobbled roads, wind, rain... Florian is used to difficult conditions, but he never really shines on the slopes of the dreaded Mount Kemmel. A convinced environmentalist, he is convinced that certified pre-owned bikes are the way of the future!

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Mathieu van der Poel's Tour de France bike is monochromatic, aggressive and hides a new seat clamp design

All-Shimano build is clean as a whistle

Simon von Bromley / Our Media

Mathieu van der Poel started out his 2023 Tour de France campaign onboard this custom-painted Canyon Aeroad CFR.

The super-clean white bike is one of three bikes the Dutch multidiscipline superstar has ridden at this year’s race.

Van der Poel has since switched to his regular metallic-red Canyon Aeroad after racing this and a special-edition Raymond Poulidor tribute bike in the first week of the Tour de France .

While subdued, this all-white paintjob – officially dubbed ‘MvdP white’ by Canyon – is handsome in a muted sort of way.

Let’s take a closer look.

A go-fast cockpit for the world’s best lead-out man

The integrated cockpit of van der Poel’s bike is as good as slammed with only a teeny-tiny spacer sitting beneath the stem.

Though not as extreme as the setup used by some riders, van der Poel hasn’t been able to resist the urge to tilt his hoods slightly inwards in chase of further aero gains.

Jasper Philipsen’s lead-out man will want to ensure he’s efficient as possible when pushing watts in a sprint.

In terms of measurements, van der Poel's Canyon's CP0015 cockpit has an 11cm stem length, with the width-adjustable handlebar set at 40cm.

With many riders at the 2023 Tour running a 36cm or 38cm bar , that's a fairly conservative setup.

A neat 3D-printed out-front mount is fitted to the underside of the bar.

Seat clamp change made official?

Van der Poel’s Aeroad features an exposed expander wedge on the top tube just in front of the seatpost. A similar design is used on many of the best aero road bikes .

This design is different to both that seen on the existing consumer version of the Aeroad and the bike he rode to victory at Milan-San Remo .

The bike seen at Milan San Remo hid the expanding wedge inside the top tube. It is exposed on van der Poel’s Tour de France bike.

The original seat clamp – used on the consumer version of the Aeroad to date – adopted a design similar to that of the Canyon Ultimate, clamping as low as possible on the seat tube to enable the post to flex. This is said to improve rear-end comfort. The clamp was accessed from the rear of the bike between the seatstays.

Looking at the Canyon web store, it appears the change seen on van der Poel's latest bike has carried over to at least some of the brand’s top-end versions of the Aeroad.

A Selle Italia Flite saddle slammed all the way back on its rails sits atop the deep aero-profiled seatpost.

An all-Shimano build

Van der Poel's build is dominated by Shimano parts, covering both the groupset components and wheels.

When we saw van der Poel's bike at the Grand Départ in Bilbao, it featured Shimano Dura-Ace C50 wheels, shod with a pair of 28c Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR tyres .

Those tyres inflate to 29.3mm on the C50's 21mm internal rim width.

That's still wide by modern standards – but not as wide as the tyres seen on Tadej Pogačar’s Colnago V4Rs .

On Pogačar’s bike, the (nominally) 28c Continental Grand Prix5000 TT TR tyres inflate to 31.3mm (front) and 32.2mm (rear) on the 25mm internal rim width of the ENVE SES 4.5 wheels.

Back to van der Poel's bike, and the wheelset is paired with the near-ubiquitous Shimano Dura-Ace R9200 Di2 groupset , with van der Poel opting for 54/40t chainrings.

How much does Mathieu van der Poel's bike weigh?

The Aeroad is Canyon's aero road bike, with the Ultimate sitting alongside it at the top of the German direct-sales brand's range as a lightweight all-rounder.

We put van der Poel's bike on the BikeRadar scales at the Tour de France – and, in full team trim, it comes in at 7.94kg.

Mathieu van der Poel’s Canyon Aeroad | Specs

• Frameset: Canyon Aeroad CFR MVDP
• Groupset: Shimano Dura-Ace R9250 Di2
• Wheelset: Shimano Dura-Ace C50
• Tyres: Vittoria Corsa Speed, 28c (29.4mm measured), tubeless
• Cockpit: Canyon CP0015, 11cm stem, 40cm handlebar
• Saddle: Selle Italia Flite Boost Kit Carbonio Superflow MVDP Edt
• Weight: 7.945kg

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What is the black stick below the riders' saddles at the Tour de France?

Using a black stick, Dimension Data is providing Tour de France viewers with real time data analytics for every rider

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You may have noticed the black plastic stick jutting out from the back of riders saddle during the Tour de France and wondered what they are.

These are transmitters used by the Tour's official technology partner Dimension Data – the company that sponsor's the team of the same name – to collect real-time data from riders during the race.

First seen during the Critérium du Dauphiné in 2015 and the subsequent Tour, the collection device has been upgraded for 2016 to collect more data, including gradient, temperature and wind speed as well as a GPS tracker to give rider location and speed.

All data is received by Dimension Data's big truck, where the raw numbers are transformed into meaningful stats.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbBz_qlazho

The idea is that Dimension Data analyses the stats transmitted to provide viewers with enough data to enhance the viewing experience, as well as providing accurate position of all 198 riders for the calculation of time gaps.

So what does this all mean? It is not just broadcasters that have access to exactly where each rider is on the road at any given moment.

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In addition to watching the stage on television, you can either go to the Dimension Data website or use the Tour de France app to track the riders' position along with other data that may be of interest.

This article was updated for 2016

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Nigel Wynn worked as associate editor on CyclingWeekly.com, he worked almost single-handedly on the Cycling Weekly website in its early days. His passion for cycling, his writing and his creativity, as well as his hard work and dedication, were the original driving force behind the website’s success. Without him, CyclingWeekly.com would certainly not exist on the size and scale that it enjoys today. Nigel sadly passed away , following a brave battle with a cancer-related illness, in 2018. He was a highly valued colleague, and more importantly, an exceptional person to work with - his presence is sorely missed. 

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Tour de France bikes ranked: cheapest to most expensive

Which team has the most expensive bike in the Tour de France peloton?

Tom Hallam-Gravells

Online production editor.

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The Tour de France isn’t only cycling’s biggest race, it’s also one of the largest sporting events in the world, attracting the best riders who battle it out for the famous yellow jersey.

Competing at the race requires incredible talent, but riders also rely on the best bikes and most cutting-edge technology currently available. Naturally these bikes come with hefty price tags - ones that can’t be easily justified to any sceptical spouses - but just how much would a Tour de France bike set you back?

Alex and Ollie decided to rank every team’s bike from cheapest to the most expensive. They’ve only picked the drop-bar bikes that teams will use for the majority of stages and provided estimates of the costs.

These will vary to what’s commercially available as teams often use customised set-ups, but we can let them off if their estimates are slightly off.

22: Uno-X | Dare VSRu | £5600 / $7115

Debutants Uno-X boast the cheapest bike in the Tour de France peloton, the Dare VSRu with Shimano ’s Dura-Ace Di2 groupset.

Like the team, it’s a new brand to the Tour de France and probably one many may not have heard of, but the Taiwanese company has made inroads in the industry in recent years.

Velo Collection (Michael Steele) / Getty Images

Both Uno-X and Dare are making their Tour de France debuts.

21: Intermarché-Circus-Wanty | Cube Litening | £6543 / $8315

There’s a big jump from Uno-X to Intermarché-Circus-Wanty who ride Cube Litening bikes.

The team has an option of the Litening Aero or the lighter Litening Air. It combines these with Newmen wheels and Shimano components, plus fancy CeramicSpeed pulley wheels.

=19: Groupama-FDJ | Lapierre Xelius SL | £8000 / $10,150

We’re only three bikes in and we’ve already reached five figures in American dollars.

French team Groupama-FDJ has been partnered with Lapierre since 2002 and this season it's been riding the Xelius SL. That’s a long partnership in the world of cycling but the team has been using Shimano components for even longer, over 25 years. It’s the same again at the Tour de France with Shimano’s Dura-Ace groupset and wheels used across the bikes.

=19: Bahrain Victorious | Merida Reacto/Scultura Team | £8000 / $10,150

Next up is Bahrain Victorious who ride Merida Reacto and Scultura bikes along with Shimano components and Vision wheels.

Bahrain Victorious is a fairly new outfit, founded in 2017, and it's been partnered with Merida since its inception.

18: dsm-Firmenich | Scott Foil RC | £9199 / $11,750

dsm-Firmenich just breaches the £9000 barrier with its Scott Foil RC. Like many teams on this list, it uses Shimano components and wheels.

The French outfit first started riding Scott bikes in 2021 and since then its taken six Grand Tour stage wins, but none at the Tour de France. Will that change in 2023?

17: Alpecin-Deceuninck | Canyon Aeroad CFR | £9799 / $12,450

At the time of writing (on the first rest day), Alpecin-Deceuninck has been the most successful team at this year’s race, bagging a hat-trick of stage wins through sprinter Jasper Philipsen . Those victories came atop the Canyon Aeroad CFR which, once again, is specced with Shimano components and wheels.

© Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images

Philipsen and his Canyon bike have taken three stage wins (at the time of writing).

16: Movistar | Canyon Aeroad | £9999 / $12,750

Movistar similarly uses Canyon bikes but unlike Alpecin-Deceuninck, its are paired with SRAM ’s RED eTap AXS groupset and Zipp wheels. That brings up the cost slightly, falling £1 short of the £10,000 mark.

15: Israel-Premier Tech | Factor Ostro VAM | £10,500 / $13,350

We’re not even halfway through but the £10,000 barrier has already been breached courtesy of Israel-Premier Tech ’s Factor Ostro VAM.

Alongside the aero Ostro VAM, the team also rides the O2 VAM which was only recently released - and Factor says that it’s “the world’s fastest climbing bike”.

Factor says the new O2 VAM is "the world's fastest climbing bike".

14: Cofidis | Look 795 Blade RS | £10,600 / $13,500

It’s been a big Tour de France so far for French team Cofidis which picked up its first stage win at the race since 2008 after Victor Lafay triumphed on stage 2.

That victory came atop a Look bike who only partnered with Cofidis at the beginning of 2023, and it’s already proving to be a looky partnership.

Lafay ended Cofidis' long 15-year drought without a Tour de France win.

13: Lotto Dstny | Ridley Noah Fast/Helium | £10,700 / $13,650

Lotto Dstny is one of the oldest teams in the pro peloton, dating back to 1985. It's endured a difficult couple of years and was relegated from the UCI WorldTour at the end of 2022. As a result, it had to rely on an invite from the organisers but it received one and it's at the race riding Ridley bikes.

12: Arkéa-Samsic | Bianchi Oltre | £11,928 / $15,150

Arkéa-Samsic just misses out on the top 10 with its Bianchi Oltre.

Shimano is proving to be a popular option in this list so far and it's back again here too, with Arkéa-Samsic’s bikes specced with Shimano components and wheels.

11: Team Jayco AlUla | Giant Propel | £11,999 / $15,250

The eleventh most expensive bike falls agonisingly close to the £12,000 mark, clocking in at £11,999. That’s for Jayco AlUla ’s Giant Propels which are fitted with - you guessed it - Shimano groupsets plus CADEX wheels and tyres.

10: Ineos-Grenadiers | Pinarello Dogma F | £12,400 / $15,750

When we’ve previously compared the cost of pro bikes, Ineos Grenadiers ’ Pinarellos have always ranked much higher. This time the Pinarello Dogma F is only tenth on the list, although it still costs an eye-watering £12,400/$15,750.

Ineos Grenadiers has won seven Tours de France since partnering with Pinarello in 2010.

9: Astana Qazaqstan | Wilier 0 SLR | £12,480 / $15,860

Next up is Astana Qazaqstan which is unique from everyone on the list so far as it has two wheel sponsors, Corima and HED. These are used on the Wilier 0 SLR which, in Ollie’s opinion, has one of the coolest paint jobs at this year’s race.

=7: EF Education-EasyPost | Cannondale SuperSix EVO LAB71 /SystemSix | £12,500 / $15,885

EF Education-EasyPost has ridden Cannondale bikes since 2015 and that will continue for the foreseeable future after it agreed a new sponsorship deal on the first rest day of the Tour de France - although it strangely doesn’t have an end date.

The team currently has a choice of either Cannondale’s SuperSix EVO LAB71 or its aero offering, the SystemSix.

=7: Jumbo-Visma | Cervélo S5 | £12,500 / $15,885

Defending Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard and his Jumbo-Visma teammates ride Cervélo bikes, including the aero S5.

Simon Richardson managed to get his hands on Vingegaard’s bike ahead of the race and there were some interesting features.

=4: BORA-hansgrohe , TotalEnergies and Soudal Quick-Step | Specialized S-Works Tarmac | £13,000 / $16,520

The £13,000 barrier is breached by three teams who all use Specialized bikes along with Shimano groupsets.

They’re all also finished with Specialized finishing kit and componentry meaning that they all clock in at the same price of £13,000.

3: AG2R Citroën | BMC Teammachine | £13,800 / $17,540

AG2R Citroën claims the bottom spot on the podium with their BMC Teammachine. It's one of the rare teams on the list that also uses Campagnolo groupsets.

Alongside the Teammachine, the team’s riders are also using an unreleased prototype BMC . Not much is known about it but we managed to get our hands on Ben O’Connor ’s bike during the opening weekend of the race.

2: UAE Team Emirates | Colnago V4Rs | £14,000 / $17,800

Tadej Pogačar is hoping to reclaim the Tour de France title he lost in 2022 and he’s doing it atop a Colnago V4Rs. There are lots of cool features and components on the UAE Team Emirates bikes and Pogačar’s specifically is heavily customised.

1: Lidl-Trek | Trek Madone SLR 7 Gen 7 | £14,500 / $18,450

The most expensive bike at the 2023 Tour de France, according to our calculations, is Lidl-Trek ’s Trek Madone SLR 7 Gen 7.

The bike caught plenty of attention when it was released last year thanks to its unique seat tube which contains a hole at the top.

Other notable features include custom paint jobs with each rider getting to create their own design as a part of Trek’s Project One. The results are seriously cool as we found out when we encountered Mads Pedersen ’s bike.

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Shimano is a bike component manufacturer based in Osaka, Japan. The company is one of the industry’s most popular manufacturers and it makes up around three-quarters of the bicycle component market by value.

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3 What Do You Need To Ride 500km? | Tuscany Trail Gravel Ride

4 How Fast Is An Old Tour De France Pro With Modern Kit?

5 Does Crank Length Matter? | How Short Is Too Short?

Tom is our Online Production Editor who creates tech content for the GCN website

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TOUR DE FRANCE LIMITED EDITION

Be a legend, the race that turns riders into legends.

An event that transcends sport. A bike that goes beyond.

At Bianchi we wanted to honour the 176 elite athletes who will take the start of the 110th Tour de France.

The Official Bike of the Tour De France 2023, the Oltre RC, has been painted in a special, contemporary livery that strikes a balance between the heritage of Le Tour, and modern design sensibilities. This is a full bike build, completed with Bianchi Reparto Corse components. Hand assembled by our technicians, hand-painted by our artisans.

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Winner of the Red Dot and iF awards, two of the design world’s most prestigious accolades, the Oltre RC represents a full, revolutionary aero bike. A new frontier of racing performance, not to mention a rideable work of art. The Tour de France edition is a complete bike, boasting exclusive Bianchi Reparto Corse-developed components, as well as Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 drivetrain.

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Contemporary visual expression merges with iconic celeste. Iridescent shimmers, shot through with the lustrous, unmistakeable yellow of Le Tour. The pigments have been devised in Bianchi’s in-house colour lab, and the frames will be hand-painted in Italy by artisans who embody our passion for pushing technical and conceptual boundaries.

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Are the bikes the pros ride at the Tour de France the same as you can buy in the bike shop?

You may have heard that professional cyclists use extra-special bikes, and you may be wondering if they are in any way similar to the very best ones you can actually buy in your local bike shop. Let's have a look at just how similar pro bikes are to the real deal, and what makes them so eye-wateringly expensive. 

> Check out Wout Van Aert’s super-fast Cervelo S5 aero road bike

An appealing part of professional cycling is that you can walk into a bike shop and ride away on a road bike very similar to the ones ridden by the likes of Wout van Aert and Tadej Pogačar.

Broadly speaking, the answer to the question of whether pro bikes are the same as the ones that you or I can buy in the shops is: yes. All you have to do is spend in excess of £10,000 and you'll be presented with something very similar to the ones being raced towards Paris. 

But, let's take a look at what makes these bikes different to the ones ridden by the pros. It's not a case of saying that these bikes will be identical. There may be similarities in terms of the brand and model, but the pros often have custom-built or specifically modified bikes that cater to their needs and preferences. 

Some parts that the pros add to their bikes you can buy, but some could be worse for you and your riding than the stuff you'll get as stock components. 

Nothing is as simple as yes or no, so let’s dive a little bit deeper and look at the individual parts that make up a pro bike. There are plenty of tips we can take away. 

> 2023 Tour de France bikes — your definitive guide to what the top pro cycling teams are riding this year

The main component of any bike is the frameset, and the top-end models you'll see in bike shops are the same as the ones that the pros are riding.

Pro bikes have the lightest, stiffest versions of those frames, and they often have them well ahead of general sale, with the Tour de France being a showground for many prototype bikes. 

One thing we know for certain is that you should be able to get your hands on a frame that's the same as your favourite rider's, as anything used in the Tour de France must be released to the public sooner or later. 

> Affordable* pro race bikes from Specialized, Canyon, Trek, Pinarello, Cannondale and more

However, there have been some instances where riders have requested their sponsors make one-off bikes with special geometries just for them. That list includes names like Fabian Cancellara and Peter Sagan, who both previously had custom-made versions of their team’s race bike because they didn’t like the geometry (the frame’s measurements) of the standard-issue bike.

When you're one of the biggest names in the men's professional peloton, you can request things like that. But on the whole, pro riders generally ride the same frames that you can buy. 

However, if you're looking for exact team replicas, they aren't as much of a thing as in the late 90s. Many team paint jobs aren't quite as distinctive either.

This means that although you can buy the same Cervelo S5 aero road bike as Van Aert, you may have to leave the Jumbo-Visma paint job behind - unless you get your hands on one at an end-of-season auction for a sizeable fee.

As with bike frames, there's rarely any groupset component on display that you won’t find on high-end bikes in your local bike shop. Although, pro riders often have access to the latest and most advanced versions of these groupsets, before they are made available to us. 

> Your complete guide to SRAM road bike groupsets

The choice of groupset depends primarily on team sponsorship, and of the 18 WorldTour men's teams, 12 use Shimano groupsets, only one runs Campagnolo and the rest are on SRAM. 

You might find the odd pro bike sporting a power meter that isn't sponsor-correct, but the electronic shifting provided by the main three groupset manufacturers is so good that we rarely see anyone stray from their sponsor products.

Riders may also opt for swapping out the standard outer ring for one with more teeth, particularly if a stage is set to end in a fast sprint or in a flat time trial stage.

More recently we've seen Jonas Vingegaard and Wout van Aert ditch this outer ring altogether, switching to a single chainring setup for the opening stages of the 2023 Tour de France. 

> Jonas Vingegaard uses 1x gearing for Tour de France opening stages

The shifters are an area where pro bikes may differ from one you can get off the shelf, but it doesn't mean you can't make the same modifications too. Back in 2019, we did see some of the SRAM-sponsored Trek-Segafredo riders using Shimano’s Di2 sprint shifters instead of the SRAM Blips. 

These modified satellite shifter buttons allow riders to shift gears when resting their hands on the tops of the bars, and you can certainly buy these special shifters with your new bike. We'd recommend asking the mechanic if they could fit them for you, though. 

Wheels and tyres

> Are expensive carbon road bike wheels worth the money?

Many of the bikes in your local bike shop are likely to come with cheaper aluminium wheels, but you won't find stock aluminium wheelsets anywhere near a pro bike. 

Carbon fibre wheels are the only options for the pros, because they offer superior performance as they can be lighter, more aerodynamic and stiffer, which all add up to being faster. 

While the wheel choice of the teams comes largely down to the sponsors, it's not uncommon to see non-sponsor wheels used. Ineos have used wheels from boutique German brand Lightweight in the mountains, and Aerocoach wheels often featuring in time trials.

In the Dauphine, about half of Astana Qazaqstan were spotted using HED wheels, while others remained on Corima. Astana didn't seem to be trying to hide the fact they were using them with the rather huge blue decals. 

> New bikes, wheels and components break cover ahead of Tour de France – here's 8 things we learnt at the Dauphiné

Riders have a variety of depths to choose from depending on the race conditions, terrain and personal preference. There has been a shift towards tubeless tyres - although tubular is still used, where the tyre is glued to the wheel rim. 

Why? The main reason for sticking with 'tubs' is that if you puncture, the tyres usually remain somewhat rideable for longer than clinchers or tubeless clinchers. You can keep on riding in relative safety until your team car comes up to you, giving you a shorter chase back onto the peloton. A clincher or tubeless tyre isn’t glued onto the rim and once deflated, there isn’t much holding it onto the rim.

Generally, a tubular tyre and wheel system is still lighter than tubeless, but bikes that you'll see in a shop will always come with clincher or tubeless tyres nowadays. Tubular tyres are specialist equipment designed for racing, and while it's easy to get hold of tubular tyres, you'll need to fit the right wheels in order to use them.

Bike position 

This isn’t strictly a difference between shop bikes and pro bikes, as you can set your bike up in any way that you choose - but the number of pro riders with long, low and narrow positions is greater than you’d see on the average club ride.

Pro riders have access to regular bike fittings to ensure an ideal fit and to maximise their efficiency and comfort, while also stretching every day to keep them comfortable in what can look like back-breaking positions.

They may also have personalised adjustments to their handlebars, stem, saddle, and pedals based on their riding style and body proportions.

> How to make your bike more comfortable

The bikes in a shop will be set up differently for one key reason: comfort. Generally, they will feature a wider and higher handlebar position that is also closer to the saddle. This will often be more comfortable for the average human who is buying the bike.

A good shop will always adjust the position for you, so you can replicate those super-low racer positions if you want. Just be ready to see a chiropractor when your back goes!

Some tips and tricks 

Electrical tape is your best friend.

A team's mechanic will always have electrical tape to hand, and it can be very useful for stopping rattles and unwanted movement. For example, riders will use tape inside their computer mounts to stop their bike computer from going walkies.

The pro team mechanics will also put bar tape on the riders' pedals to stop any unwanted movement. Both are neat tricks that you can employ yourself.

Bike too light? Use aluminium parts

If you have deep pockets, your bike might actually be lighter than a pro bike because the UCI enforces a 6.8kg minimum weight limit for bikes at UCI-sanctioned events. 

If a pro bike is a bit too light, riders will often opt for an aluminium handlebar or stem to bring the weight up. These are also less likely to snap when there is a pile-up... and there are lots of pile-ups in the Tour de France.

The versatile Sharpie 

Aside from signing autographs, looking closely at some pro bikes - especially the tyres and saddles - you'll see that a whole load of fun has been had with a Sharpie permanent marker. 

> Check out the best road bike saddles 2023 

If a rider doesn’t like the sponsor’s saddle and they’re an important rider, then they will sometimes just use their preferred perch and scribble out the logo.  Tyres are a big culprit for this too. 

Sponsorship logos... everywhere 

While paint jobs on pro bikes aren't always as distinctive anymore, the sponsors of the jersey, groupset, wheels, power meter, brake pads and even the team owner's family plumbing business get their logo somewhere on the bike. 

Pro bikes often start with the same design that you can buy in the bike shop, but can end up looking a bit of a mess after the sponsors have got to work. 

So, to summarise, brands want pros riding and winning on their bikes to make them more appealing to consumers, and this means many manufacturers offer versions of professional bikes for sale to the general public. They are inspired by their professional counterparts, but may have slight modifications to suit recreational riders. 

So, while you may not be riding an exact replica of a professional cyclist's bike, you can get pretty close. 

Which pro team bike would you most like to buy? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Emily is our track and road racing specialist, having represented Great Britain at the World and European Track Championships. With a National Title up her sleeve, Emily has just completed her Master’s in Sports Psychology at Loughborough University where she raced for Elite Development Team, Loughborough Lightning.

Emily is our go-to for all things training and when not riding or racing bikes, you can find her online shopping or booking flights…the rest of the office is now considering painting their nails to see if that’s the secret to going fast…

Add new comment

I know my Trek frame is exactly the same as used by the pro team albeit with Ultegra, but I don't really believe that should always be the case. The UCI rule is all bikes and components should be available to the public to buy. But why? Is it really neccessary? So long as those pro bikes conform to a strict spec in the name of fairness and financial equality to all teams I dont really think its should be. 

I could buy a top of the range bike that costs £10k+ but am I really ever going to make it go as fast as a pro? Never in a million years. If you look at F1 you can't buy and legally drive one on the roads. Same goes for MOTOGP. They are not available to buy road legal bikes. Am I ever going to go as fast as Valentino Rossi down the M1? I don't see why cycling has to be this sport where items have to be off the shelf.

Top brands can and would still sell very hight spec bikes to the public and I don't think it would even effect sales if the very very top end frames and components were not for sale to the general public. There are dozens of brands out there who are making exceptional bikes that don't sponsor a World or Continental league team. Really, how many people own a Pinarello Dogma F with 12sp Dura-ace or an S-Works Tarmac? I see them occasionally and more often than not the person on them are not what i'd call in 'prime' physical condition. Would they still buy the best bike available to them even if it were several rungs lower on the spec ladder? Of course they would. They are not going to suddenly shun the sport cos they can't climb aboard the same bike as their favourite pro athlete. 

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I'd bloody well hope the bikes the pros ride are different to the ones you can buy in shops. The ones in shops should have longer-lasting components, especially when it comes to things like bearings. Top pros can use ceramic bearings and sewing machine oil, because they have a team of mechanics to overhaul them after every stage/race. But it goes further than that. The average amateur fat bastard (comparatively speaking) should probably have at least a couple more spokes per wheel than the skinny pros.

I've always thought it was silly that bike manufacturers use the same models of highly-stressed components like wheels and seat posts across their size range. It means that either those on XS models are pushing around unnecessary weight, or those on XL frames will inevitably break things. It is particuarly stupid on e-bikes, as a motor that will feel incredible to a small woman will barely make any difference to a large man.

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I dunno about that, there seem to be a good number of helmet compulsion types, the eternally grateful "it saved my life, you'd be stupid not to"...

I'd say it's worse now than in the past

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I'm imagining something like this?  

Was the first question your insurance company asked now "please can we have a crime reference number?"...

Joey Barton probably wanted to get this legal case out of the way to prepare himself for the next one. He's a bit of a thug and his next case...

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That was the latest standard. 

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With Eye on Olympics and Tour de France, Demi Vollering’s Rampage Continues at Tour de Suisse

‘it is always good to win climbing races before your big goal’: dutchwoman on a swiss roll, taking three out of four stages..

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Demi Vollering may have taken a while to fully get going this year, but now she can’t stop winning.

The Dutchwoman went on the rampage in the Tour de Suisse , blitzing the field to take three out of the four stages and to monopolize the overall.

She ended the race 1:28 clear of her nearest rival Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM), and was also way out front in the points classification.

It was a dazzling performance in what is now her adopted country.

“It is really nice because it is kind of a home race, of course,” she said. “I am really happy that I could win this race. There are really nice stages, so it is also a good feeling already towards the Tour de France, because we also have there a lot of climbing.

“It is always good to win climbing races before your big goal.”

Just as her big rival Annemiek van Vleuten was before her retirement last year, Vollering is the queen of women’s cycling.

She won the Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift last season, beating Van Vleuten and others, and scooped numerous other successes including the Ardennes triple of Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

This year things were a little slower to get going, with numerous placings but no wins prior to May. The Team SD Worx-Protime rider really got into her stride then, though, landing 11 wins in her past 15 days of racing.

With those including GC victories in the Vuelta España Femenina, Itzulia Women, the Vuelta a Burgos Feminas and now the Tour de Suisse, she is firmly in the driving seat heading towards her major season targets.

“As soon as I on the bike and I know I can win, I am a killer,” Vollering said recently in a video about the Tour de France Femmes. “I think you need to have this.

“Something comes up that is not always there in normal life. It’s a really strong feeling that you want something.”

That killer instinct was on display in the Tour de Suisse, with Vollering putting her rivals to the sword from the start. A solo victory on stage one’s uphill finish to Villars-sur-Ollon thrust her into yellow, something she consolidated on Sunday’s stage two with a time trial victory in the same town.

A superbly-executed breakaway on day three did see Bradbury and Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) steal a march and take first and second, but Vollering remained in the driving seat and underlined her grip on the race with a sprint win against Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek), Bradbury and Niewiadoma on Tuesday’s concluder.

“Today I didn’t expect that. It was really nice to sprint again,” she said after that final stage. “I didn’t do that for a long time, and I really like to sprint in a final like this. So it was nice, it was a really strong battle with the girls.”

Vollering was a woman in a rush in the race, and after it too.

She followed podium duties with quick interviews and then dashed to the airport, aiming to take a flight to the Netherlands so she can dispute the national time trial championships on Wednesday.

After the nationals her eyes will turn towards her top targets of the season, with three events prominent on her mind.

“For me the biggest one of course is the Tour de France, but also before that we have already the Olympics,” she said. “And that is always really special. Then after those two we have the world championships in Switzerland, so it will be really nice to finish the season with a nice crown there.”

Her appetite remains as strong as ever. Amid talk of a rumored million euro offer from UAE Team ADQ, and with other teams also fighting for her signature, she makes clear that she wants more.

“The Tour de France start in Rotterdam is really special for me. It gives me a lot of motivation and a lot of power that the start this year is in Rotterdam and that we finish on a beautiful mountain like Alpe d’Huez.

“This year maybe it is going to be more difficult, but also I trust that my team and me are super motivated.

“I won already one time the Tour. I hope many more will follow.”

Your 2024 @tds podium: @demivollering – @teamsdworx Neve Bradbury – @WMNcycling @ElisaLongoB – @LidlTrek #UCIWWT ©️ Getty pic.twitter.com/FhBQ92zPFV — UCI_WWT (@UCI_WWT) June 18, 2024

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Tour de France 2024 – Comprehensive team-by-team guide

A full rundown of all the teams, their leaders and the riders to watch at this year's race

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As the 2024 Tour de France rolls out from Florence, Italy on June 29, there will be 176 riders competing across 22 teams – some with a target on overall victory, others looking for stage wins and more still pleased with any opportunity that comes along their way to gather publicity on the biggest cycling stage in the world. 

All 18 WorldTour teams, plus the two best-ranked ProTeams – Israel-Premier Tech and Lotto-Dstny – got their automatic invitations to race while organisers ASO handed out wild card entries to Uno-X Mobility and TotalEnergies.

Crashes, form and Olympic goals have shaped the selections and ambitions for the teams but regardless all will be fighting to make an impression as the 21 days of racing over 3497.3km from Tuscany to Nice in the south of France unfolds.

Cyclingnews has pored through every squad, assessing their leaders, objectives and chances of success to bring you this comprehensive team-by-team guide.

• Team leader: Jasper Philipsen
• Objective: Stage wins, points classification
• Rider to watch: Mathieu van der Poel

In the bunch sprints of the Grand Tours of recent years, one team has stood out above the rest as masters of the lead-out train: Alpecin-Deceuninck .

They were a prominent presence throughout the bunch finishes at the recent Giro d’Italia, but Kaden Groves wasn’t able to ride them to victory. However, at the Tour de France, the team will have Jasper Philipsen , the quickest sprinter in the peloton.

Philipsen was one of the stars of last year’s Tour, storming to four stage wins (as many as any sprinter has managed at a single Tour since the 2011 edition), as well as riding consistently enough to claim the green jersey. He didn't slow down this spring, either, with victories at Milan-San Remo and the Classic Brugge-De Panne, as well as a second place at Paris-Roubaix, among his very impressive results.

Not only is Philipsen the quickest sprinter in the race, but he’ll also have the quickest lead-out man riding for him in Mathieu van der Poel . The pair work brilliantly together, as seen not just at last year’s Tour sprints, but also during the spring, when Van der Poel helped Philipsen to triumph at Milan-San Remo, and vice versa at Paris-Roubaix.

Van der Poel will also go hunting for stage wins on appropriate stages, most likely on days with punchy parcours too hard for sprinters but not hard enough for climbers. For a man so untouchable in the Classics, it’s perhaps surprising that he only has one stage win to his name from three Tour appearances, but he has often ridden here with a future goal in mind, as will be the case this year as he builds towards the Olympics.

• Team leader: Arnaud Démare
• Objective: Stage wins
• Rider to watch: Kévin Vauquelin

With Warren Barguil having followed Nairo Quintana out the door, Arkéa-B&B Hotels are going in a fresh direction for the 2024 Tour with sprinter Arnaud Démare as their new talisman.

Having grown increasingly frustrated with the lack of opportunities provided him by his former Groupama-FDJ team, who selected him for only one Tour de France start in the last five years, Démare has moved to a team where he won’t just be picked but will command unified support behind him.

It’s hoped that as a winner of two Tour stages in the past, Démare can deliver the team their long-awaited first-ever following ten winless Tours, but does the Frenchman have the shape to do so? He hasn’t made the top ten of any race for almost four months, and recently fractured a finger at the 4 Jours de Dunkerque, plunging his Tour preparations into doubt.

It could therefore be up to others in the line-up to deliver, from which Kévin Vauquelin has shown particular potential. The 23-year-old has done everything this year, from making the top 10 at both Itzulia Basque Country and Tirreno-Adriatico, finishing second on the Mur de Huy at La Flèche Wallonne and winning a time trial at Etoile de Bessèges. He could be a contender for a variety of different stages though specialises in climbing hills and mountains.

• Team leader: Mark Cavendish
• Rider to watch: Alexey Lutsenko

At last, it's nearly time for the race that Astana Qazaqstan 's whole season has been building up towards.

Since signing Mark Cavendish in January 2023, they've made it their foremost mission to deliver the Manxman to the elusive win number 35, move clear of Eddy Merckx, and thereby become the outright record holder for most stage wins at the Tour de France.

It had initially been intended as a one-year plan, but after the heartbreak of last year’s race, where Cavendish crashed out at the end of the first week , he and the team have decided to have one last shot at history this July.

Unlike last year, when he went into the Tour off the back of a final-day victory in Rome at the Giro d’Italia, Cavendish has shown only sporadic signs of form this season, confined to smaller races. He won a stage during his first race of the season at the Tour of Colombia in February but had to wait another three months for a first victory on European roads at the Tour of Hongrie.

The Astana team is set to be built entirely around him. Veteran lead-out master Michael Mørkøv was signed exclusively to deliver him in the sprints, while Cees Bol and Davide Ballerini will sacrifice their own sprinting ambitions to form part of his lead-out train.

One rider who might be granted some freedom to ride for himself is Alexey Lutsenko . He showed great form by winning Il Giro d’Abruzzo before abandoning the Giro d’Italia and finishing seventh and eighth on GC in 2021 and 2022, respectively. He has two Tour de France GC top 10s, as well as a stage win in 2020, on his palmarès, so another top showing isn't out of the question.

• Team leaders: Pello Bilbao
• Objective: GC, stage wins
• Riders to watch: Santiago Buitrago, Matej Mohorič

What Bahrain Victorious lacks in a single stand-out GC contender, they make up for in strength in depth. Following Antonio Tiberi’s fifth place at the Giro d’Italia, they’re hoping to extend their run of top-six finishes on GC to a fifth consecutive Grand Tour and have several riders potentially capable of doing so.

Their best candidate is Pello Bilbao , based on his performance at the Tour last year and in stage races so far in 2024. He was sixth place last year and has been building nicely towards that level again this year with sixth-place finishes at Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana and Itzulia Basque Country, plus third at the UAE Tour in between.

Santiago Buitrago is poised to make his Tour debut. He brings with him considerable expectations off the back of his stage wins and top-ten finish at the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España, respectively, as well as his impressive showing at Paris-Nice earlier this year.

It’s also hoped that Jack Haig can rediscover some form ahead of the race, while even veteran Wout Poels could post a high GC finish based on his recent third and sixth-place finishes at the Tour de Hongrie and Tour of the Alps, respectively.

Poels and Bilbao were two of the three different riders to win a stage at last year’s Tour, along with Matej Mohorič, who will again be using his nous and engine to target breakaways. The Slovenian has three Tour stage wins on his career palmarès and it wouldn't be a surprise to see him add another win here.

With Phil Bauhaus , a debutant last summer, also posing a threat in the bunch sprints, Bahrain Victorious has the resources to target a win on almost every stage.

• Team leaders: Guillaume Martin
• Riders to watch: Bryan Coquard, Ion Izagirre.

For the first time in many years, Cofidis can go into a Tour de France without being badgered about questions of whether this will be the year they at last manage to claim a stage win.

By triumphing on stage 2 of last year’s edition, Victor Lafay ended the team’s 15-year drought and then Ion Izagirre added another stage a week later.

Lafay has since left for Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale but Izagirre remains and is set to ride, with stage wins on hilly and mountainous days again likely to be the target.

Guillaume Martin will ride his eighth consecutive Tour de France and will be the team’s leading GC hope. He’s placed eighth, 10th, 11th and 12th in past appearances, but has never won a stage, so he may prioritise trying to take one from a breakaway.

Bryan Coquard is another rider without a Tour stage win to his name despite many near misses, including a couple of fourth-place finishes last year. He’ll be the team’s man for the bunch sprints, especially on hillier days that weaken the specialists.

While these riders bring experience, 25-year-old Axel Zingle has form and potential. He’s been consistently in contention for multiple semi-Classics over the last few months and could win from a breakaway if he picks the right move.

• Team leader: Felix Gall
• Rider to watch: Sam Bennett, Benoît Cosnefroy

In the middle of an exceptional season, in which they have already racked up more victories than they managed in the last two seasons combined, expectations are high for Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale as they head into the biggest race of the year.

Although the men who delivered stage wins (Valentin Paret-Peintre and Andrea Vendrame) and fourth overall (Ben O’Connor) at the Giro d’Italia will sit this one out as they rest and recover, the core of the other names who have made 2024 such a success are set to be present.

Benoît Cosnefroy has been the team’s biggest contributor with seven of their 23 wins (as of the end of May) and will target the hilly stages, while Dorion Godon will be a candidate in reduced bunch sprints, having won two sprint finishes at the Tour de Romandie in late April.

In the pure flat finishes, Sam Bennett will still be their main candidate, having recently shown signs of returning to form with a haul of wins and GC at the 4 Jours de Dunkerque.

Felix Gall might have had a quieter season to date, but he'll still be the team’s main man for the mountains and their GC candidate.  He finished eighth overall last year after breaking through with a series of good performances in the spring, while he'll also be hoping to replicate his breakaway stage win at Courchevel.

• Team leader: Fabio Jakobsen, Romain Bardet
• Rider to watch: Warren Barguil

For the Tour de France, DSM-Firmenich PostNL are making the unusual move of deploying the same two leaders as they did at the Giro d’Italia.

In the bunch sprints, Fabio Jakobsen will again line up as he continues to rediscover his mojo. The Dutchman still only has one win to his name (at the Tour of Turkey) since signing for the team this year, and he failed to get involved in the Giro bunch sprints before abandoning during the second week. However, the team still retains faith that he can reach the level that saw him win a stage on his Tour debut two years ago.

Romain Bardet fared better at the Giro than Jakobsen, finishing ninth overall while coming close to a stage win on Bocca della Selva. Though he has made the top 10 in all but two of the eight Tours he has finished throughout his career, his excursions in Italy may mean he targets stage wins this time instead.

With 11 wins to their name – including just one WorldTour race and only three outside the Tour of Turkey – DSM need some big results. That means that another French climber, Warren Barguil , will likely be given the freedom to attack and get into breakaways.

• Team leader: Richard Carapaz
• Rider to watch: Neilson Powless, Ben Healy

Last season was the first in EF Education-Easy Post ’s 16-year history that they did not place a rider in the top 10 of any of the Grand Tours. That run continued at the Giro d’Italia last month, where they aggressively targeted stage wins rather than GC via constant attacks, and were eventually rewarded in the final week with success from Georg Steinhauser in the Dolomites.

Nevertheless, they intend to strive to finish as high as possible at the Tour with Richard Carapaz as their leader. The 2021 podium finisher and 2019 Giro champion was signed in 2023 to do precisely that but he endured an under-par season last year and is only just showing signs of some form recently, with a stage win and seventh overall at the Tour de Romandie. 

With Carapaz’s form still uncertain, there ought to be plenty of scope for the rest of the line-up to chase their own personal ambitions. Neilson Powless , for instance, could either chase GC as he did in 2023 (when he finished 12th), or stage wins and the polka-dot jersey as he did last year.

Irish puncheur Ben Healy is set to make his Tour debut, and if his Giro debut from last year and performances in the Classics are anything to go by, we can expect him to attack at every opportunity.

Alberto Bettiol ’s form during the spring suggests he could add a Tour stage win to the one he managed at the 2021 Giro, while Marijn van den Berg has also earned a spot on the team thanks to his impressive early season performances.

• Team leader: David Gaudu
• Rider to watch: Stefan Küng

A new dawn awaits Groupama-FDJ as they embark upon the first Tour de France of the post-Thibaut Pinot era. Before retiring at the end of last year, Pinot had been the fulcrum of the team, appearing for them in all but two of the last 12 editions — sometimes with great success, other times with great heartbreak.

David Gaudu will seek to fill the void left by Pinot, as he has for several years now. Fourth overall in 2022 remains his highest finish at any Grand Tour, and though a repeat of that looks ambitious given his stuttering form this year, he’s still dreaming of a podium finish.

If Gaudu doesn’t have the legs to mount a serious GC challenge, targeting stage wins may be the team’s optimum approach, and they have plenty of riders capable of delivering on that front.

Rising star Lenny Martinez misses the race in favour of the Vuelta a España, but 21-year-old Romain Grégoire is set to make his Tour debut on the back of some very impressive results this year, including a stage win at Itzulia Basque Country

Valentin Madouas has become a recognisable face from recent Tours without quite winning a stage, though he certainly has the talent to do so. Stefan Küng will, as ever, be a candidate for both the time trials as well as select breakaways.

• Team leaders: Carlos Rodríguez
• Objective: GC
• Rider to watch: Tom Pidcock, Egan Bernal

Last year was only the second time in the last decade that Ineos Grenadiers failed to put a rider on the GC podium at the Tour de France. Even since their run of yellow jersey-winning Tours came to an end in 2020, up until then they had still managed to crack the podium through Richard Carapaz (in 2021) and Geraint Thomas (in 2022), but last year their highest finisher, Carlos Rodríguez , finished further down in fifth place.

Still, that result means Rodríguez is the obvious choice to lead the team’s 2024 GC bid, and the 23-year-old has bolstered his status with overall victory at the Tour de Romandie and second place behind Juan Ayuso at Itzulia Basque Country.

Also in the squad are other, more wildcard options for GC. Geraint Thomas would usually be a dependable candidate, but it’s unclear how fresh he will be, having dug deep to seal third place at the Giro d’Italia , while Tom Pidcock has stated that he intends to concentrate on the GC rather than stage wins, despite failing to make the top ten last year.

And what of Egan Bernal ? The 2019 champion has for the first time since his horror crash two and a half years ago shown form approaching his best, with third overall at Volta a Catalunya and top tens at Paris-Nice and the Tour de Romandie, but it remains to be seen if he can manage a sustained GC bid over three weeks.

Michał Kwiatkowski and Laurens De Plus will be on hand to help the aforementioned trio achieve their GC goals, even if the Belgian could harbour ambitions of his own after racing to an unexpected and impressive fifth overall at the Critérium du Daupihiné. 

• Team leader: Biniam Girmay, Louis Meintjes
• Rider to watch: Georg Zimmermann

Biniam Girmay returns to the Tour de France hoping for a positive turn in fortunes. So far his season has been blighted by interruptions, with promising form in the early spring classics halted by a crash at Dwars door Vlaanderen, and another crash spelling the end of his Giro d’Italia one day after finishing third in Fossano.

He’s since returned to winning ways with victory at the Circuit Franco-Belge , and looks on course to arrive at the Tour in form. As Intermarché-Wanty ’s star, the onus is on the Eritrean to make an impact and he has the chance to make history as the first-ever Black African to win a stage of the Tour de France. His consistency and versatility also make him a candidate for the green jersey.

Like Girmay, who failed to show his best self at last year’s Tour, Louis Meintjes will be hoping to return to the form that saw him finish seventh overall in 2022 rather than crash out last year.

Meintjes will be the team’s GC leader, but the rest of the line-up will have the freedom to get into break and chase stage wins, much as Georg Zimmermann (who was second on stage 10) did last year. Rouleurs like Laurenz Rex and Hugo Page might fancy their chances of winning a stage this way, too.

• Team leader: Stephen Williams
• Rider to watch: Derek Gee, Pascal Ackermann

Israel-Premier Tech 's high ambitions from 2021, when they gambled on signing Chris Froome in the hope that he could recover from his horror crash two years earlier and revive his Tour-winning form of old, have since been significantly tempered.

Now no longer a WorldTour team, they've instead depended upon a wildcard to earn entry into the Tour de France, and their hopes are limited to chasing stage wins rather than mixing it up in the battle for the yellow jersey.

Froome himself is still fighting for selection. He’s eager to avoid a repeat of last year when he was left out of the Tour line-up, but his hopes of proving himself worthy were compromised when a fractured wrist sustained during Tirreno-Adriatico forced him to miss almost three months of racing.

His compatriot Stephen Williams is enjoying a terrific season, winning both La Flèche Wallonne and the Tour Down Under. He'll therefore be a top contender for stage wins in the hilly terrain.

The team should have a presence in the sprints, where Tour debutant Pascal Ackermann aims to add to his Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España stage wins and complete the Grand Tour clean sweep.

The rest of the line-up will be made up of stage hunters such as Dylan Teuns (who won here in both 2019 and 2021), and Derek Gee . The Canadian, who last year burst onto the scene with a series of breakaway second places at the Giro d'Italia, makes his Tour debut in the form of his life after scoring a stage win and third overall at the Critérium du Dauphné .

• Team leader: Simon Yates, Dylan Groenewegen
• Riders to watch: Michael Matthews

For a second successive season, Jayco-AlUla leader Simon Yates has foregone his usual Giro d’Italia participation in order to concentrate more committedly on the Tour de France.

Last year, this approach turned out to be a success, as he came to the Tour with some of the best legs of his career, eventually finishing fourth overall, and only missing out on a podium finish by 87 seconds to his brother Adam. His build-up to this year’s Tour isn’t so encouraging, however, having not shown much form since winning the AlUla Tour in the winter.

Jayco-AlUla aren’t putting all their eggs in the single basket of Yates’ GC bid. Dylan Groenewegen will be led out in the sprints by the likes of Luka Mezgec to see if he can add to his five Tour career stage wins, having come close last year with a second and third-place finish at Moulins and Paris, respectively.

On days too hilly for Groenewegen, Michael Matthews will step up, and may also try to get into some breakaways as he did to win a stage in 2022. He looked in fantastic form this spring, placing second at Milan-San Remo and, before being relegated for deviating from his line, third at the Tour of Flanders.

• Team leader: Mads Pedersen, Tao Geoghegan Hart
• Rider to watch: Giulio Ciccone

As a team boasting a diverse range of talent, Lidl-Trek could feasibly compete for all three of the major jerseys.

For the yellow jersey, they have Tao Geoghegan Hart . He’s only done the Tour de France once in his career and is eager to target GC here while still in his prime years. Victory might seem implausible, but that was also the case when he triumphed at the Giro d’Italia in 2020.

Mads Pedersen finished a distant second to Jasper Philipsen in the points classification last year, though he did score his second stage win in as many years. He's shown the kind of excellent form throughout this year to suggest he could bridge that gap, as well as add to his stage win tally.

As for the king of the mountains, Giulio Ciccone won that classification last year and will now be present to potentially defend that title after saddle sore surgery forced him to skip the Giro d’Italia.

Lidl-Trek might even have had a prime candidate for the white jersey if Matias Skjelmose had opted to ride, but he plans to skip the Tour and save himself for a Vuelta a España overall bid instead.

• Team leader : Arnaud De Lie
• Rider to watch: Maxim Van Gils

Compared to other teams, Lotto-Dstny have a laser-focussed approach when it comes to the Tour de France. Not only will it be their first Grand Tour of the season, having opted out of the Giro d’Italia, but they have also narrow down their ambitions to focus exclusively on stage wins, having not placed a rider in the top 10 for 14 years.

They haven’t had success on these terms recently, though, with no stage win to their name since Caleb Ewan’s victories in the sprints during the 2020 edition. The Australian has led the team for the past five Tours, bringing much success initially with multiple stage wins in 2019 and 2020, but nothing in the three editions since then.

He’s now left the team for Jayco-AlUla, and taking his place as Lotto’s leader will be Arnaud De Lie . Much is hoped from the 22-year-old debutant based on his rapid rise over the past two years, and he'll be especially threatening on hillier days where the pure sprinters will struggle.

However, the Tour will be a big step up from the level of competition he’s used to, and he’s only recently r eturned to form after suffering from Lyme disease during the spring.

De Lie might be the most hyped name, but another young Belgian, Maxim Van Gils , has been the team’s best performer so far this season. He finished second on the stage to Grand Colombier last year and has since established himself as one of the very best puncheurs in the world following podium finishes at Strade Bianche and La Flèche Wallonne, and a fourth place at Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

2023 super-combativity winner Victor Campanaerts is also set to ride again, though his season to date has been a quiet one.

• Team leader: Enric Mas
• Rider to watch: Rémi Cavagna

2024 has so far been another difficult season for Movistar , with Pelayo Sánchez’s stage victory at the Giro d’Italia their only win at WorldTour level all year.

That doesn’t bode well for their prospects at the Tour de France, where they have, in recent years, laboured to reach the levels of the past. They’ve now gone two successive Tours without placing a rider in the top 10, having done so in eight of the nine previous editions.

If any of their roster is to break that duck, it’ll be Enric Mas . The Spaniard has generally been one of the most dependable GC riders of his generation, making the top six in six of his last eight Grand Tour appearances.

However, he has been forced to abandon both of his last two Tours de France, with his participation last summer ending on the first day following a crash.

So far, Mas has enjoyed a solid season without causing too much of a stir, finishing fifth overall at Volta a Catalunya and sixth at the Tour de Romandie. Considering that he normally ups his game for the Grand Tours, that’s encouraging.

New signing Rémi Cavagna is a dependable name in the time trials, breakaways and in helping team leaders on the flat, though the Frenchman hasn't scored a WorldTour win of his own since 2021. Returning star Nairo Quintana won't make the race, meanwhile, after breaking his hand in a crash at the Tour de Suisse.

• Team leaders: Primož Roglič
• Riders to watch: Jai Hindley, Aleksandr Vlasov

For the 2024 season, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe signed Primož Roglič with the primary objective of winning the Tour de France.

The team might never before have made the podium at any previous edition in their 10-year history, but Roglič has the calibre to challenge for yellow, as well as the desire, having moved from Visma-Lease a Bike for that specific purpose.

The Slovenian has left it to the last minute to show the kind of form he'll need to challenge for the yellow jersey, with his Critérium du Dauphiné victory his best showing of 2024 so far. The week-long warm-up race marked his first race since the heavy crash suffered by him, Remco Evenepoel, and Jonas Vingegaard at Itzulia Basque Country.

His two stage wins at the late summit finishes at Le Collet d'Allevard and Samöens 1600 were his first since the opening day at Itzulia, though a shaky final stage showing – where he shed almost a minute to Matteo Jorgenson and only held onto yellow by eight seconds – could provoke some cause for concern. 

Roglič’s presence means last year’s leader Jai Hindley — who enjoyed a day in the yellow jersey after winning stage five in Laruns before back pain contributed to a slip down to seventh on GC — will be demoted to the role of super-domestique.

While Hindley’s form has tailed away since his impressive third-place finish at Tirreno-Adriatico, Aleksandr Vlasov might believe he has the results to justify potential co-leadership status. With a second place at Tour de Romandie, sixth at Volta a Catalunya and fifth at Paris-Nice, he has been among the team's top performers this year. At the Dauphiné, he proved a reliable and strong deputy for Roglič.

Elsewhere, the rest of the team is geared exclusively towards targeting the yellow jersey, with Champs-Elysées-winning sprinter Jordi Meeus missing out on selection as the team looks to domestiques Danny van Poppel , Nico Denz , Marco Haller , Matteo Sobrero , and Bob Jungels .

• Team leader: Remco Evenepoel
• Rider to watch: Mikel Landa, Ilan Van Wilder

In a drastic change of approach, Soudal-QuickStep have abandoned their usual Tour de France strategy of targeting bunch sprints and stage wins, and instead are going all in on Remco Evenepoel ’s push for GC.

This is set to be Evenepoel’s debut Tour, and it’s a hugely anticipated one, given the already enormous star profile he’s built for himself through many superb performances and major results including two Liège–Bastogne–Liège victories, the world title in 2022, and the GC at the Vuelta a España that same year.

His build-up has been compromised after a crash and fractured collarbone at Itzulia Basque Country stalled the momentum that had already seen him win Volta ao Algarve and finish second at Paris-Nice, but the plan remains the same.

His first race back, the Critérium du Dauphiné, saw him score a dominant time trial win, though he faded hard in the closing three mountain stages, losing 2:58 to Primož Roglič. That will be a major cause for concern heading into July.

As part of the team building around Evenepoel, Mikel Landa has been signed up as a super-domestique. The Spaniard has performed this role in the past – at Sky to help Chris Froome win the 2017 Tour de France, and at Movistar for Richard Carapaz’s 2019 Giro d’Italia triumph. Second at Volta a Catalunya and 10th at the Dauphiné suggests he has the legs to do something similar this year, too

Landa will be joined by Evenepoel’s familiar right-hand man, Ilan Van Wilder . The Belgian has ridden in support of Evenepoel many times, most notably during his triumphant Vuelta a España effort two years ago and should be in solid form, too, having placed fourth at the Tour de Romandie.

The team’s focus on GC means there will be no room for in-form sprinter Tim Merlier, despite his success at the Giro d’Italia, nor even home favourite Julian Alaphilippe, as the remaining spots instead go to domestiques including Yves Lampaert , Casper Pedersen , Louis Vervaeke and Gianni Moscon .

• Team leader: Mathieu Burgaudeau
• Rider to watch: Steff Cras

When TotalEnergies signed Peter Sagan for the 2022 season, they hoped the Slovakian would be the star name to make them protagonists at the Tour de France. His first edition for them was typically consistent, finishing in the top six of five different stages, but lacking the edge of his heyday; by the following year his powers had seriously waned, and he only made the top ten once.

Sagan now having retired, the team must embark on a new direction. They’ve struggled at the Tour in recent years, and haven’t won a stage since Lilian Calmejane in 2017.

It will be hard for them to break that duck this year. Of the four non-WorldTour entries, they probably have the weakest roster, as reflected by the fact that they’d only won three races this season as of the beginning of June.

Consequently, they’re strategy will be to buy daily tickets in the lottery that is getting into the breakaway. Mathieu Burgaudeau is a particular specialist at this, having finished second and third on stages of last year’s race, and placed second in the King of the Mountains classification at this year’s Paris-Nice riding similarly aggressively.

The likes of Pierre Latour, Anthony Turgis, Geoffrey Soupe and Alexis Vuillermoz all provide experienced options for TotalEnergies to potentially select. And though the team don’t tend to target GC anymore, Stef Cras ’ 11th place finish at the Vuelta a España last year suggests he could become their first rider to crack the top ten since Pierre Rolland in 2015 — although his participation remains up in the air due to his involvement in the horror crash at Itzulia Basque Country.

• Team leaders: Tadej Pogačar
• Rider to watch: Adam Yates, Juan Ayuso

Phase one of UAE Team Emirates ’ great ambition to win the Giro/Tour double this year with Tadej Pogačar was a success, with the Slovenian waltzing to an enormous victory at the first Grand Tour . Now, it’s time for the hard part.

Pogačar won the Giro at a canter, almost 10 minutes clear of second place as he won a staggering six stages without ever appearing to have to stretch himself. But at the Tour, he’ll be up against a much stronger field of GC candidates, none of whom have the accumulated fatigue of having already completed a Grand Tour this season – even if Evenepoel, Roglič, and Vingegaard are all making comebacks from that brutal Itzulia crash.

UAE Team Emirates provided ample support to him at the Giro, with Rafał Majka and Vegard Stake Laengen impressing in particular, but the team is set to ring in the changes with an all-new line-up at the Tour.

On paper, it’s a much stronger group of riders. In Adam Yates , they have the man who finished third last summer, even if his form this year is in more doubt having performed only in patches since winning the UAE Tour in February. Juan Ayuso provides another potential GC option, making his Tour debut on the back of a podium finish at the Vuelta a España and overall victory at Itzulia Basque Country earlier this year. 

More climbing firepower will come from João Almeida , another rider who would slot in as a GC leader at most of the other teams in the peloton. Elsewhere, Pavel Sivakov and Marc Soler bolster the climbing line-up along with Tim Wellens and Nils Politt , the latter pairing set to feature in the engine room during flatter stages.

The team will be hoping Ayuso, Sivakov, Wellens, and Politt recover well from a mass spill at the Critérium du Dauphiné, with Ayuso forced out of the race with pain in both hips as a result.

• Team leader: Alexander Kristoff
• Riders to watch: Andreas Leknessund, Magnus Cort

After making a successful Tour de France debut last year, Uno-X Mobility have been invited back by ASO as a wild card entry again.

Last year, they impressed by being active in the breakaways, with Tobias Halland Johannessen enjoying particular success with three top-six finishes. He’s set to return this year and on the back of some good form, too, having finished sixth at La Flèche Wallonne during the spring.

This time, they’ll have more strings to their bow. In new signing Andreas Leknessund , they have a rider capable of challenging for GC, even if he hasn’t yet shown the form this season that saw him finish eighth overall at the Giro d’Italia last year. And Magnus Cort brings considerable experience as a two-time former stage winner at the Tour, and will be dangerous from an intermediate stage break or reduced bunch sprint.

They will also again have Alexander Kristoff for the bunch sprints, who, though poised to turn 37 during the Tour, has been winning regularly this past month or so and could have it in him to add to his four career Tour stage wins. 

But they are also sure to be one of the main presences in the breakaways, with Jonas Abrahamsen posing a particular threat, having recently won the Brussels Cycling Classic that way.

• Team leader: Jonas Vingegaard
• Rider to watch: Sepp Kuss, Wout van Aert

As the Tour approaches, Visma-Lease a Bike are still sweating on the fitness of Jonas Vingegaard . The defending champion’s participation was plunged into doubt when he crashed out of Itzulia Basque Country in April and hasn’t raced since. He has recently returned to training at high altitude, though his exact racing level won't become apparent before the Tour.

Given the severity of that fall, the fact he has a genuine chance of returning in time feels miraculous, but doing so with the form to win the yellow jersey again will be an even bigger ask.

Prior to that crash, Vingegaard had started the season in intimidatingly good form, triumphing at both Tirreno-Adriatico and O Gran Camiño while claiming five stage wins in total, and would surely be the overwhelming favourite for yellow were it not for his fitness and form doubts. 

Should the Dane fail to recover in time, it might be up to Sepp Kuss to fill his boots. The peerless climbing super-domestique proved himself as a Grand Tour GC rider by winning the Vuelta a España last year, though he hasn’t shown anything like that form so far this year. On top of that, he abandoned the Critérium du Dauphiné before the final day of racing as he wasn't feeling 100% .

Like Vingegaard, Wout van Aert , too, is a doubt as he tries to recover in time from the injuries that ruled him out of both the Giro d’Italia and the major spring Classics, though he has returned to racing at the Tour of Norway.

He hopes to join other stalwarts of the previous yellow jersey-winning campaigns Tiesj Benoot , Dylan van Baarle and Christophe Laporte . Matteo Jorgenson will make for a very useful addition to the line-up, bringing a diverse range of talents that has this year seen him win Paris-Nice and Dwars door Vlaanderen and score a surprising second overall at the Dauphiné.

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Stephen Puddicombe is a freelance writer based in Bristol. He has written for Cyclingnews since 2020, and has covered cycling professionally as a freelancer since 2013, writing for outlets such as Rouleur , Cycling Weekly and Cycle Sport , among other publications. He is the author of The World of the Tour de France, published by Sona Books. Outside of cycling he is a passionate cinephile, and a long-suffering Spurs fan.

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Specialized’s New Chisel Blends Price and Performance

Starting at $2,600, Specialized’s new aluminum full suspension mountain bike borrows geometry and suspension from the brand’s pricier carbon platforms.

The new Chisel full-suspension aluminum mountain bike shares its name with the Chisel aluminum hardtail. Though it might confuse some buyers, Specialized could have named this bike whatever it wanted because the new full-suspension Chisel totally rips.

At first glance, the Chisel looks like an Epic , Specialized’s carbon full-suspension XC race bike. And your eyes are not deceiving you—the similarities between the new Chisel and the Epic are striking. Specialized even claims that the two bikes share kinematics and geometry. They also share all their small parts like bottle cage bolts, seat binder, and linkage hardware.

However, the new Chisel is perhaps a closer cousin to the previous generation Epic Evo . The two bikes share the same amount of suspension travel, with 120mm in the front and 110mm out back. (With 120mm of suspension travel both front and rear, the latest Epic is slightly more capable.)

The major difference between the Chisel and the Epics is the materials employed for the frame. The Chisel is made from aluminum, specifically Specialized’s M5 Alloy, with hydroformed tubes that are then joined using their patented D’Alusio Smartweld process. Specialized debuted Smartweld in 2013 on the S-Works Allez and then popularized it with the 2015 Allez Sprint. Instead of traditionally cutting and mitering aluminum tubes, Smartweld uses hydroformed joints. The process requires less material without loss of structural integrity at the weld.

While previous Smartweld efforts were impressive—particularly how Specialized formed the downtube of the Allez Sprint as one piece with the bottom bracket—the new Chisel pushes the technique up another notch with its single-piece seat tube. Which is certainly the most complicated single-piece alloy bicycle tube I have seen.

Specialized didn’t only form the bottom bracket as part of the seat tube, it also formed in the suspension pivots. Most brands weld these parts to the seat tube. The main advantage of forming the parts together is weight saving, but it’s also an impressive bit of aluminum trickery that looks exceptionally clean.

Another big difference between the Epic 8 and the Chisel is price. When we reviewed the S-Works Epic 8 in March, it was the most expensive (non-electric) mountain bike we had ever tested at $14,500. The Chisel Comp is priced at $3,400. This means for the price of one S-Works Epic 8, you could buy Chisel Comps for yourself and three friends—and still have some money left over.

Chisel Details

If you hate proprietary standards or integration, there is much to love about the new Chisel. Unlike the new Epic, there are, thankfully, no cables running through any headset. The frame uses a standard English threaded BSA bottom bracket, and the seat tube is compatible with round 30.9mm seat posts and is secured by an external seat binder.

The bike has internal routing for the rear brake, derailleur, and dropper post. The new Chisel lacks an internal storage compartment. While the feature hasn’t grown on me, many riders prefer the clean look of storing their spares and tools internally.

None of the frame standards on the new Chisel are proprietary or annoying. Overall, it’s a delightfully easy bike to work on, customize, and upgrade.

While Specialized claims that the Chisel shares geometry with the Epic 8, that’s not exactly the case. Both bikes share the same 75.5º seat tube angle and are within 2mm of wheelbase length. But the headtube on the Chisel is 0.6º steeper at 66.5º compared to the Epic’s 65.9º.

In terms of stack and reach, the Chisel is about 5 mm shorter across its size range. Stack figures are a bit more mixed bag, depending on sizes. An XL Chisel is just 1 mm taller than the Epic, while a Large is 10mm taller.

The Epic 8 saw some dimensional changes to its build kit, which carry over to the Chisel as well. All sizes now use a 60mm stem, plus 170mm cranks on the medium (instead of the 175s used on the Epic 7 of the same size).

The Chisel's geometry does not stray from where Specialized and other brands have taken the current crop of slightly longer-travel cross-country bikes. This makes perfect sense, given how well these bikes meet the demands of everyday riders and racers alike.

Models and Pricing

The new Chisel is available in three complete bike builds. There is a gloss pink frameset option for fans of wild Specialized paint jobs. The frame sells for $2,000 and includes a RockShox Deluxe Select+ rear shock.

Specialized Chisel Frameset

Complete bikes start at $2,600 and riders can select between SRAM or Shimano builds at this price. Both builds feature an X-Fusion Pro-02 rear shock and a RockShox Recon Silver RL fork. The Shimano model comes with mostly Deore drivetrain parts and Shimano M4100 brakes.

Specialized Chisel Shimano

The SRAM build uses a mix of NX and SX Eagle for the drivetrain and Level T brakes.

Specialized Chisel SRAM

The “top-end” complete build is the Chisel Comp, which sells for $3,400. For the extra $800, riders get upgraded suspension with a RockShox Deluxe Select+ rear shock and a SID fork. The rear derailleur gets upgraded to Shimano SLX, although the cassette remains Deore. Brakes on the Comp are M6100 and a Shimano crankset replaces the generic one from the lower-tier build. All of the complete builds include a TranzX dropper post.

Specialized Chisel Comp Shimano

Ride Impressions

We’re currently in the golden age of the cross-country mountain bike. It feels a little silly saying that in a review of a relatively affordable aluminum mountain bike but it’s true.

A few years ago, cross-country bikes were dedicated race machines and weren’t all that fun to ride. They were twitchy, stiff, and sometimes downright sketchy. But with XC race courses becoming more demanding (with bigger and more technical features), XC racers needed bikes with more capability but without giving up speed and power transfer.

To be perfectly fair to the Chisel, I did not expect a 28.5-pound bike to ride the same way a 22.5-pound bicycle does. The lack of those six pounds gives bikes like the Epic 8 their lethal efficiency on climbs. But after riding the Chisel, it is clear that Specialized used the right geometry, suspension kinematics, and amount of travel to capture the essence of what makes modern XC bikes so good and so versatile.

Climbing on the Chisel is certainly the bike's weak point, but truth be told, you don’t feel it all that much on the trail. Particularly when climbing seated up a rough bit of singletrack, the rear of the bike feels perfectly planted on the trail. A stiff frame with lots of rear wheel traction makes the Chisel feel much lighter and snappier than its weight might initially suggest. Climbing on smoother trails or fire roads is where I would expect to feel the bike’s weight the most, but even there, I was left thoroughly impressed and delighted by the Chisel’s pep.

Point the Chisel back downhill, and you’re instantly rewarded. It’s a bike that feels incredibly poppy, easy to flick in and out of corners, and it’s a total hoot to bump-jump off small lips, rocks, and roots. The stiff aluminum frame shines with how accurate it feels when pinging your way through a rock garden or down a succession of small drops.

Modern mountain bike geometry makes shorter travel bikes much more capable than before. So, if you want to chase an enduro bud down a rowdy downhill, the Chisel will keep up, providing you have the skill (and guts) to do it. In its stock form, you’re more likely to run out of brakes and tires before reaching the limit of the suspension and geometry.

Though it does its job admirably well, the Chisel only has 120mm (front) and 110mm (rear) wheel travel. The bike has impressive traction, and while I never felt like I was blowing through the travel, it’s still fundamentally a cross-country bike with a single pivot/flex stay rear suspension layout. This system trades weight for the small bump sensitivity and refinement you can get from heavier and more complicated rear suspension designs. This means the Chisel feels harsh on particularly chunky trails, where you constantly hit rocks and roots.

In its stock form, the Chisel is a great bike but brands always make some compromises on bikes in this price range to hit the cost target. If there’s a single part holding the Chisel back, it’s the stock wheels. The 27mm internal width is reasonable but still felt narrow. When absorbing an impact through a corner, there was quite a bit of tire squirm, which can be unsettling if you’re not used to it.

A highlight of the Chisel build kit for me was the Shimano drivetrain parts. The dominance of SRAM 1x electric-shifting drivetrains has almost eliminated Shimano from North America’s higher-end mountain bike market. But at Chisel’s price, Shimano's shifting still leads. The SLX parts on the Chisel performed flawlessly. The shifting is precise and has wonderful tactile feedback. I did not feel that changing gears using a cable held the bike (or me) back one bit.

Is the Chisel Worth It?

The value proposition of a bike is always a tricky subject because it is highly subjective. For some riders, a $3,400 or a $2,600 bike is cheap. For others, it could be the most money they ever spend on a bike.

What struck me the most was how absent aluminum full-suspension cross-country(-ish) bikes are from the lineups of other large brands. Cannondale, Giant, and Canyon do not offer aluminum variants of the Scalpel, Anthem, or Lux. Trek has an alloy version of the Top Fuel ($2,700), but it’s tough to call it a cross-country bike when it’s a solid 4 pounds heavier (34.4 lb.) than the base version of the Chisel, which is $100 cheaper.

The Chisel’s closest competitor is perhaps the Orbea Oiz H30 ($3,300). The Oiz is a bit racier than the Chisel and features a remote lockout and a comparable build kit to the Chisel Comp. Another option is the Salsa Spearfish ($3,800) and a more trail-oriented option would be a bike like the aluminum Rocky Mountain Element . The Element A30 sells for ($3,300) with a similar build kit to the Chisel Comp.

But for all these bikes, the closer they get to $4,000 in price, the more the aluminum bikes start to overlap with lower-end carbon models. This is especially true if riders look past current-year models and consider bikes from a previous model year that are often on sale.

This is likely the main reason higher-end aluminum bikes have largely disappeared from the mid-tier of many brand lineups. Consumers overwhelmingly prefer and buy carbon fiber bikes. They would rather look for a carbon bike to fit their budget than consider an aluminum alternative. But in this price range, the aluminum models often feature better parts and are not much heavier.

Plus, there are some genuinely good reasons to consider an aluminum bike besides price. For one, aluminum makes for a durable frame that can brush off scrapes, rock strikes, and small impacts that might necessitate a more thorough damage inspection on a carbon frame. It’s also worth considering that aluminum bikes are significantly less energy-intensive to produce. Plus, aluminum is an easier material to recycle. Sure, those last two reasons might not enhance the bike's performance, but they're a nice bonus. Still, if you are a rider who's tough on frames, the durability aspect of going aluminum is hard to overstate.

Final Thoughts

While it’s unlikely that most riders will view aluminum frames as having the same cache as carbon fiber, plenty of folks appreciate what aluminum offers. The cult status of road bikes like the Specialized Allez Sprint and Cannondale’s long-running CAAD series certainly come to mind in this context. The original Chisel hardtail showed glimmers of a similar following, but for the most part, aluminum mountain bikes have yet to gain equal fandom.

Is the new Chisel good enough to change that? I certainly think so.

I don’t think the Chisel will tempt many riders with bigger budgets to overlook carbon models in its favor. But riders who opt for the Chisel are not “settling” for aluminum by any stretch of the imagination. Riding the Chisel made me just as giddy and happy as riding mountain bikes that cost five times as much. So while there’s nothing wrong with aspiring to a carbon bike, the aluminum Chisel has no real downside.

Test Editor Dan Chabanov got his start in cycling as a New York City bike messenger but quickly found his way into road and cyclocross racing, competing in professional cyclocross races from 2009 to 2019 and winning a Master’s National Championship title in 2018. Prior to joining Bicycling in 2021, Dan worked as part of the race organization for the Red Hook Crit, as a coach with EnduranceWERX, as well as a freelance writer and photographer. 

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