What the pro riders, mechanics and manufacturers are doing at the top of the sport
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The Specialized logo intersects the green and darker sides of the bike(Image credit: Specialized)
Movistar were using the new Campagnolo Bora WTO 77 on the front of their Canyons(Image credit: Pete Goding.)
Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) wearing the yellow jersey stage 20 at the Tour de France(Image credit: Getty Images)
The new Shiv TT has been completely redesigned from its predecessor and again is disc brake only(Image credit: Pete Goding.)
Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) wheelies over the stage 20 finish line at the Tour de France(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) became the youngest Tour de France winner in more than a century after 21 stages of racing, an unexpectedly long stint in the yellow jersey from Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep), an injury to Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) that ended a true GC battle and some freak weather shortening two stages at the end of the race.
Here we take a look at all of the tech on show at the 2019 Tour de France, who won and with what, the winners and losers from bike and component manufacturers, plus all of Cyclingnews’ individual pro bikes from this year’s race.
Who won, and with what?
Here we list each stage winner, team, frameset, groupset, wheels and tyres (all tubular unless stated).
Compared to last year’s race, where Specialized framesets won seven stages and Shimano won 18, the spread across this year’s Tour de France in terms of wins by brand is much wider.
The main reason for this is most likely the parcours throughout the race, where we waited until the Tourmalet on stage 14 for the first true mountain test. The strength of Jumbo-Visma and Lotto Soudal also undoubtedly benefitted Bianchi and Campagnolo, respectively, compared to last year.
An array of new bikes have been launched this year but not all of them were successful at this year’s race. Specialized’s new Shiv TT frame was first seen at the Giro d’Italia in May but wasn’t officially launched until the build-up to the Tour. While the new Shiv TT wasn’t massively successful in the team time trial in Brussels – third and twelfth for Deceuninck-QuickStep and Bora-Hansgrohe, respectively – Julian Alaphilippe stormed to victory on stage 13 in Pau, with teammates Kasper Asgreen and Enric Mas also breaking into the top-ten on the new bike.
Another new bike that saw success was the Scott Addict RC ridden by Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) to two stage victories. The new lightweight bike is disc brake only, features aerodynamic cues in the tube profiling, plus a frameset-specific integrated cockpit from Syncros.
Disc brake-equipped bikes winning mountain stages at Grand Tours is no longer an anomaly, however, one team to continually stick with rim brakes is Team Ineos. The team switched from Pinarello Dogma F10 to Pinarello Dogma F12 earlier this season when they morphed from Team Sky into the current team name and while the new F12 is available with disc brakes, Team Ineos have been seen nowhere near the modern braking system. Cyclingnews understands the team is very sensitive about their bikes' weight and that adding the additional weight outweighs any additional benefits of better braking. The British team even went as far as switching out their usual Shimano Dura-Ace R9100 wheels for self-funded Lightweight Meilenstein Obermayers in the pursuit of saving a few hundred grams. The question is whether this says more about Team Ineos' pursuit of perfection or the weight of their Pinarello bikes – especially when we know disc brake bikes can easily be built to 6.8kg.
Other new bikes that were launched in the build-up to this year’s race but weren't as successful include the Cannondale SuperSix Evo, Wilier Zero SLR and Colnago V3rs. None of which won a stage. The new Colnago wasn’t even seen being raced on by UAE Team Emirates at the race, suggesting the bike isn’t yet ready commercially and the question remains as to why the company would choose to launch a bike that isn’t ready when their launch details are likely to be lost in the sea of Tour news breaking all day, every day throughout the race.
While Shimano won an impressive 15 stages versus Campagnolo’s five, it is worth remembering that Shimano sponsors four times the amount of teams at the Tour de France compared to Campagnolo (16 for Shimano, four for Campagnolo). So, in terms of representation, Campagnolo is punching well above their weight.
The only real losers at this year’s race are SRAM, who after winning two stages at the Giro d’Italia in May through Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) and Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo), were without a win during the biggest race of the year. Although a small conciliation will be the two days Ciccone wore the yellow jersey for Trek-Segafredo and SRAM alike.
New pro trends
As disc brakes continue to rise to prominence at the top of the sport (this year seven stages were won with disc brakes), another new technology has entered the WorldTour. Tubeless tyres took a first WorldTour victory with Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) at Gent-Wevelgem in the spring and have continued to be used by the team.
It is worth saying, however, that while disc brake frames can now often be built close to the UCI minimum weight limit, traditionalist riders such as Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) and Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First) continue to opt for rim brake spec bikes.
Interestingly, Uran’s new Cannondale SystemSix Evo – another bike launched in the build-up to the race – is only available as a rim brake option in the entry-level version of the frameset as opposed to Cannondale’s range-topping Hi-Mod carbon. This shows that Uran is favouring rim brakes over a better quality frame, and possibly even a lighter or similar weight full build.
At the 2019 Tour de France, Deceuninck-QuickStep, Bora-Hansgrohe, Movistar Team, EF Education First and UAE Team Emirates were all seen racing with tubeless tyre setups and with claims of better rolling resistance, puncture protection and grip, it is only a matter of time until they become as prominent as disc brakes.
11-30 cassettes continue to be used by GC riders with the traditional 53/39 chainring combination, with sprinters often opting for larger chainrings on the flatter stages.
Scroll down to see all of the pro bikes, news and features from this year’s race.
