80 years ago, Gaston Lapierre gave his new bike brand his surname: Lapierre. Today, on Bastille Day, Team Picnic PostNL will race Stage 10 of the Tour de France on custom-painted 80th anniversary Lapierre Xelius DRS race bikes to honour 8 decades of their sponsor brand's history and its French roots.
Cyclingnews was out at the Tour de France in the run up to the Grand Dèpart, visiting team hotels and looking at bikes and equipment. The Catalan sun was high in the sky and blazing down on us as we made our visit to Team Picnic PostNL to try and take a look at this bike ahead of the race.
Not much was moving in the late afternoon heat, but we got some time with Warren Barguil's Xelius DRS bike whilst the team mechanics worked away quietly. By Stage 10 of this Tour, punished by the furnace-like heat and UAE Team Emirate's vice-like grip on the race, a new custom-painted machine for Bastille Day will no doubt boost rider morale.
100 individually numbered framesets of this Xelius DRS will be available globally in small, medium and large sizes, and will set you back €4,499.
Bastille Day always produces some explosive racing exploits at the Tour, and this 80th anniversary Xelius may well write a fresh page in the Lapierre history book today.
(Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
This paint scheme is called 'Kinetic Dust'; the concept is said to 'illustrate the emotional residue of performance'.
(Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
The paint scheme uses a dark blue, teal and champagne mix. The team's riders will be aiming for champagne at the end of today's stage.
(Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
This is the sixth generation of the Xelius. A raw, unpainted frame weighs a claimed 740 grams; this paint scheme will add a little more.
(Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
Michelin Power Cup S tyres for Barguil; this is currently an unreleased race tyre from Michelin, and it continues the French theme nicely.
(Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
The ‘Kinetic dust’ paint job is said to capture the ‘beautiful grit of performance’
(Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
Lapierre began in Dijon in 1946; over the years, it has transitioned into making high-end race bikes.
(Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
Barguil's bike had the RB167 integrated handlebar fitted, and it was pretty much slammed.
(Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
The under/in-stem routing caught my eye; it's a small help in seeing where the brake hoses are going when building the bike up.
(Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
It's a full Dura-Ace groupset for the Team Picnic bikes.
(Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
The Lapierre 'split stay' seatstay design is one of the most eye-catching parts of the frame.
(Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
The seat stays run alongside the seat tube without making contact; the idea is that it leaves the seat tube more free to flex for comfort.
(Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
Spot the white paint marker for Barguil's seat post height.
(Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
The team use Italian Ursus Arya carbon-spoked 50mm wheels paired with the Michelin tyres.
(Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
We don't really know anything about these Michelin tyres yet; they will be a top-end racing model, with quite long tubeless valve stems here for Barguil.
(Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
Finally, we noticed this subtle nod to 80 years of work.
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Tom joined the Cyclingnews team in late 2022 as a tech writer. Despite having a degree in English Literature he has spent his entire working life in the cycling industry in one form or another. He has over 10 years of experience as a qualified mechanic, with the last five years before joining Cyclingnews being spent running an independent workshop. This means he is just as happy tinkering away in the garage as he is out on the road bike, and he isn’t afraid to pull a bike apart or get hands-on with it when testing to really see what it’s made of.
He has ridden and raced bikes from an early age up to a national level on the road and track, and has ridden and competed in most disciplines. He has a keen eye for pro-team tech and enjoys spotting new or interesting components in the wild. During his time at Cyclingnews, Tom has already interviewed some of the sport's biggest names including Mathieu van der Poel, Tadej Pogačar and Alberto Contador. He's also covered various launches from brands such as Pinarello, Ridley, Specialized and more, tackled the Roubaix Challenge sportive aboard his own rim-brake Cannondale SuperSix Evo, tested over 20 aero helmets in the wind tunnel, and has created helpful in-depth buying advice relating to countless categories from torque wrenches to winter clothing.
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