All the best bikes, gear and other tech from the Tour de France
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Two of the nine Astana bikes have Fizik saddles(Image credit: BikeRadar)
Sylvain Chavanel of IAM Cycling has a custom-painted Scott Addict for this year's Tour de France(Image credit: Ben Delaney / Future Publishing)
Nibali's Corima pads look quite similar to the unmarked pads on Yuri Trofimov's Canyon Aeroad CF SLX(Image credit: BikeRadar)
Vincenzo Nibali has this height-adjustable post on one of his bike. By turning the thick part with one hand, he can drop the saddle about 1cm(Image credit: BikeRadar)
Mark Cavendish has ridden a 52cm Venge in the past, but he's on a 49cm S-Works model for the Tour(Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
The cockpit of the Canyon Aeroad CF SLX as the German brand intended(Image credit: BikeRadar)
The new Canyon Aeroad CF SLX is a 960g frame that has been in development since 2012(Image credit: Ben Delaney / Future Publishing)
The Ridley Helium SL is built to be light and stiff for efforts in the mountains (Image credit: Ridley Bikes)
Johan Vansummeren is often the tallest rider in any peloton at 197cm tall, but wraps his frame around a 58cm Cervélo R5(Image credit: Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing)
The full Trek Factory Racing team roster is represented on the side of the bus(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
While his eight teammates are restricted to Cannondale green for their animal themes, Sagan gets a pass on the color palette(Image credit: Brakethrough Media)
The new Kask Proton showed up atop Team Sky at the Tour de France(Image credit: Ben Delaney/Future Publishing)
The new Bell Star Pro is a 'convertible' aero helmet, with operable vents and a removable shield lens(Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
Garmin Virb camera and K-Edge mount on Elia Viviani's bike(Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
Lampre-Merida's José Serpa said Shimano asked each of its sponsored teams to put the camera on two riders' bikes(Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
Rapha has four new T-Shirts for the Tour de France(Image credit: Courtesy Rapha)
Lotto-Belisol voted cobbles confidence in Ridley's Helium SL(Image credit: Sam Dansie/BikeRadar)
As team leader, Rui Costa is the only Lampre-Merida rider to have the new Merida Reacto KOM frame at the Tour de France(Image credit: Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing)
A new retro paint scheme for the Lotto-Belisol team. Pictured here is the Ridley Noah FAST, which is built for fast sprints (Image credit: Ridley Bikes)
Rotor is the power meter sponsor of Lampre-Merida, but Rotor and Power2Max have worked closely for years(Image credit: Ben Delaney / Future Publishing)
Tinkoff-Saxo Bank has a new vest for carrying seven water bottles. Instead of cramming the bottles inside a jersey, a rider just slides on this Sportful vest that a mechanic has loaded up inside the car(Image credit: BikeRadar)
Not all bikes at the Tour de France are cutting edge(Image credit: BikeRadar)
Since route profiles are created in horizontal orientation for books, why not keep them horizontal?(Image credit: BikeRadar)
Team bus driver Matt Rompion comes from Luxembourg, but spends 170-200 days a year driving and looking after the bus and its pro passengers(Image credit: Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing)
Each day during the 2014 Tour de France, Cyclingnews is bringing you a daily tech article thanks to BikeRadar. We've made it easy to keep up to date with all the articles and photo galleries so far by including them all in one easy to find place, right here.
One of the tallest riders in any race, 33-year-old Johan Vansummeren's (Garmin-Sharp) 197cm (6'5") frame manages to fit on to a stock 58cm Cervélo R5 frame. The frame's construction is unchanged from last season, but this glossy graphite and red paint finish is all new for the 2014 Tour de France, and should be available to buy in 2015.
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Popular French rider Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling) got a freshly painted one-off bike back in May that he's brought to the Tour de France. Painted in Switzerland by André Marty, the bike's design was created by Scott staffers with input from Chavanel.
Russian squad Katusha is debuting Canyon's new Aeroad CF SLX at the Tour de France with the notable difference between the team bike and stock the absence of the integrated bar/stem on the team machines.
Cavendish was to ride a custom-painted Specialized S-Works Venge for the Tour de France. After previously riding a 52cm frame, Cav switched to a size 49cm frame with a 140mm stem to get low and long but after crashing on the first stage, it is unsure when the 'Manx Missisle' when next line up at a race with this bike.
The reigning champion of the Tour de France, Chris Froome rolled roll off the start in Leeds, England aboard a new Pinarello Dogma F8 but he won't be able to find out of the aero bike would have delivered him to Paris in yellow.
Modern road racing places many demands on professional riders, and team buses have evolved to take a central role within the sport. BikeRadar was given a tour of the newer of BMC's two buses, dating from 2011, by its full-time driver Matt Rompion, who gave us a guided tour.
Every year the Tour de France tackles a new route, but this year riders and fans were in for something special on stage 5 that tackled many cobblestone sections made famous by Paris-Roubaix which meant team mechanics were kept busy equipping riders with special bikes, tubulars and modifications.
At the 2014 Tour de France we have seen all manner of unique modifications, as riders and teams seek to eke out the best performance, highest comfort and most information from their tools – while still remaining inside the UCI rules that govern the sport.
During the lead-up to the Tour de France, mechanics and riders invested hours to ensure their bikes and bodies were as finely tuned and ready to roll as possible.
On Monday in London after stage 3 of the Tour de France, Rapha celebrated its 10th anniversary with a party on The Mall, just steps from the finish where Marcel Kittel took his second stage win, releasing special-edition gear, including a Kings of Pain line and other, more Tour-specific T-shirts and Team Sky gear
Team Sky throughout the Tour de France are wearing the new Proton helmet from Kask, the fourth lid that the Italian helmet manufacturer and Team Sky have developed in collaboration. Kask claim the helmet has one of the lowest drag coefficients of any ventilated helmet on the market, while maintaining a fast heat dissipation rate but is yet to release any wind tunnel testing results.
For this year's Tour de France, UK artist Death Spray teamed up with Cannondale for provide animal-themed paintjobs for each of the team’s nine riders ranging from Peter Sagan’s Wolverine to Ted King’s Grizzly Bear and more.
For the first time in Tour de France history, race organizers have allowed action video cameras to be mounted on riders' bikes — and Shimano is leaping at the opportunity. Shimano CM-1000 cameras are mounted on bikes for Bianchi, Lampre-Merida, Orica-GreenEdge and, not surprisingly, Giant-Shimano. Team Cannondale had the Garmin Virb video camera on a couple of bikes with the Garmin logo covered over.
The videos are uploaded by race organiser ASO the next day.
Spanish crank manufacturer Rotor will soon have a left-crank-only power meter called the Power LT. At the 2014 Tour de France, Lampre-Merida riders are using Rotor cranks with Power2Max spider-based power meters and Rotor Power left cranks on their bikes
At the Tour de France, Bell Helmets launched its new Star Pro aero helmet, a convertible model where the rider can slide an internal cover open or closed with a finger, and claims it is the "the first-ever dual-purpose helmet", offering some aero advantage but with the ability to give more airflow when needed.
Ridley Bikes, the official bike partner of Lotto-Belisol, has just released details of its updated paint scheme in time for the Tour de France. The new paint brings gives the bikes a retro look to match the 2014 team kit. Both the team Helium SL and Noah FAST models will receive the new detailing.
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