Every year it seems that teams play musical chairs with their various bike sponsors. It’s hard to keep track. If you’ve been wondering who’s riding what at this year’s Tour, we thought it might be fun to scroll through the various bikes in the Tour de France for 2023.
Inevitably one of the main reasons bike brands sponsor teams is for marketing reasons: to get their brand publicity when it’s used by some of the strongest cyclists in the world in the biggest bike race. But many of the best brands use their sponsorship also as an essential method to improve the quality of the bikes. Getting feedback from the pro riders helps the brand engineers and developers discover what works best and what is superfluous to the frame design.
Bikes from tour de france at Wrench Science
At Wrench Science we stock many of these top level brands and they have remained our favorites and best sellers over the years because they do take the feedback of their cyclists seriously and continually work to make their bikes from the Tour de France even better.
Pinarello / Ineos-Grenadiers
Pinarello has been the trusted bike sponsor of the Ineos-Grenadiers (formerly Team Sky) since the team’s inception. And they have helped three different Ineos riders win all three Grand Tours over the years. Chris Froome, Garaint Thomas, and Egan Bernal have six Tour wins among them, with Froome having taken four in his career and Thomas and Bernal taking one apiece (so far). Riding Pinarello Dogmas in all their iterations, the team has supplied the Italian bike manufacturer with loads of feedback and given them the motivation to keep pushing the innovation envelope. It is what has helped to make the Dogma F one of the most sought-after and best riding bikes in the world. It is one of the most renowned bikes of the Tour de France.
Colnago / UAE Team Emirates
If there is one bike brand that can match Pinarello for prestige and desirability, it must be Colnago. Though its sponsorship of Tadej Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates squad does not have the long history like Pinarello and Ineos, that is likely to change with long-term contracts tying team and rider to the brand for many more years. In all likelihood, there will be several more Grand Tour wins for UAE, thanks to the amazing rider from Slovenia. The superior handling and snappy ride quality that the Colnago V4Rs offer matches perfectly with Pogačar’s riding style. And since the team also has elite riders like João Almeida, Adam Yates, and Jay Vine on long term contracts as well, this is a squad-bike brand union that will certainly see many more major victories.
Look / Cofidis
New for this season, the Look’s sponsorship of Cofidis just feels so right. The classic French bike brand and the super-long established French team look great together with the predominantly red team kit matching the Mondrianian Look frame colorway. The comfort, ergonomics and aerodynamics that the Look frames offer pairs well with the team’s style of riding since they are often off the front looking for glory in the breakaways. With an early and impressive stage win on stage 2 already in the 2023 Tour de France means that this year’s Tour has already been a success for Cofidis and Look.
Bianchi / Team Arkea-Samsic
This is the first year where the French Team Arkea-Samsic rides Bianchi bikes. It’s also the team’s first year in the WorldTour, which means Bianchi is back racing at the highest level after a year away from major sponsorship. To make the most of their time at the top, Bianchi has plowed tons of R&D into their 2023 framesets, offering a mixture of aerodynamics and superior ride quality that will make both pro and amateur love riding them. Without a top-GC rider, the team will be hunting stages and the aero advantage the Bianchi Oltre RC offers will prove incredibly useful.
Wilier / Astana-Qazaqstan Team
Having been with the Astana team now for several years, Wilier will be the frame that Mark Cavendish attempts finally to break the Eddy Merckx record of 34 stage wins. Having started the Tour even with Merckx, this climb-heavy edition of the race makes his task all that more difficult, and spectacular. The Wilier Filante SLR is a worthy machine for the crazy power a top sprinter can put out, while the Wilier Zero SLR will give climbers like Alexey Lutsenko the lightweight performance that he’ll need to score a victory at the top of a mountain.
What makes bikes in the Tour de France exciting?
Though there are still industry trade shows like Eurobike where brands can release their latest gear, it’s much more common for brands to plan big releases around the biggest race in the world. So for gear junkies, getting a look at what the pros are riding and wearing at the Tour de France gives us an idea of what we can look forward to seeing on our shelves in the next months. Not just bikes from the Tour de France but new wheels, shoes, helmets, clothing…it all gets trotted out now, tested, and released in the coming months. It’s like Christmas in July.
Full list of bikes at the Tour de France
- Cervélo / Jumbo-Visma
- Colnago / UAE Team Emirates
- Pinarello / Ineos-Grenadiers
- Lapierre / Groupama-FDJ
- Cannondale / EF Education-EasyPost
- Specialized / Soudal-QuickStep
- Merida / Bahrain Victorious
- Specialized / Bora-Hansgrohe
- Trek / Lidl-Trek
- BMC / AG2R Citroen Team
- Canyon / Alpecin-Deceuninck
- Cube / Intermarché-Circus-Wanty
- Look / Cofidis
- Canyon / Movistar Team
- Scott / Team DSM
- Factor / Israel – Premier Tech
- Giant / Team Jayco-AlUla
- Bianchi / Team Arkea-Samsic
- Ridley / Lotto Dstny
- Wilier / Astana-Qazaqstan Team
- Dare / Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
- Specialized / TotalEnergies