Custom paint, custom tool kits and Peter Sagan’s S-Works Tarmac
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Peter Sagan's Sagan Collection Specialized S-Works Tarmac Disc (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Tejay van Garderen's Cannondale SuperSix Evo (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Tadej Pogacar's Colnago V2-R (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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The 2019 Tour of California Danish Coffee Club (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Vision Metron integrated, aero handlebars in Bianchi celeste (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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George Bennett and his Jumbo-Visma teammates race with yellow helmets while teammate Primoz Roglic currently wears a pink one in Italy (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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SRAM and Zipp provides the neutral service at the race (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Box fresh Shimano S-Phyre shoes in the Californian sun (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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A custom tool box for one of the Bora-hansgrohe mechanics (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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A Bora-hansgrohe rider works with his mechanic to get his position dialled ahead of the race (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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A Katusha-Alpecin rider looks to have taken a drill to his team-issue Sidi Shot shoes in an attempt to improve ventilation (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Custom Bont shoes for US national champion Jonny Brown (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Magnus Cort's Argon 18 Gallium Pro (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Travis McCabe's Van Dessel Motivus Maximus (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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McCabe usually rides for Floyd's Cycling but is at the Tour of California for the USA national team (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Rigoberto Uran's Cannondale SuperSix Evo (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Rick Zabel's Canyon Aeroad Disc (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Cavendish had course notes focusing on the different climbs for the stage (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Mark Cavendish's BMC Timemachine Road (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Degenkolb had a piece of mahogony glued to his down tube (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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John Degenkolb's custom-painted Trek Madone Disc was first seen during the spring Classics (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Rohan Dennis' Merida Scultura (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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All of the Sagan Collection framesets feature this Sagan detailing on the top tube (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Zdenek Stybar's Specialized S-Works Venge (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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An insight into the amount of bidons a team will get through in a single race (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Being one of the longest serving WorldTour mechanics gets you high-end custom tools (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Bahrain Merida riders are racing on a mix of Reacto and Scultura framesets (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Ahead of the race start, Bahrain Merida mechanics unpackaged their bikes from transit which had extensive protection (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Team Ineos are racing the Tour of California on their all-new Pinarello Dogma F12 (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Emerson Oronte is racing on 'Greece' (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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A look at the forks on the Greece design (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Brandon McNulty is racing 'Brick' designed by Marcus (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Another look at the Music design (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Musical notes feature on the seat tube of Ellsay's bike (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Nigel Ellsay's design is called 'Music' (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Murphy's design is a royal blue overlaid with multicoloured speckles and dubbed 'Galaxy' (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Trek-Segafredo are another team with a mix of aero and climbing bikes (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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The latest Trek Madone Disc was first seen at the Criterium du Dauphine last year (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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After a few riders raced tubeless during the Classics, tubular tyres are still king (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Team Novo Nordisk's Colnago C64 framesets are paired with Shimano Ultegra components (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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The Hagens Berman Axeon Pinarello Dogma F10 Disks (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Hagens Berman Axeon also run SRAM's new eTap RED AXS groupset (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Alongside Mitchelton-Scott in the WorldTour, Hagens Berman Axeon race with tyres from Pirelli (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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The Hagens Berman Axeon Pinarello Dogma F10 Disk have some nice paint detail on the inside of the forks (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Zipp provides Hagens Berman Axeon with cockpit components and plenty of spacers (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Hagens Berman Axeon race with SRAM eTAP groupsets and so the interface port has a blanking plate in place (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Travic McCabe and Keegan Swirbul are racing for the USA team but on their Floyd's Pro Cycling Van Dessel bikes (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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A Deceuninck-QuickStep mechanic bleeds the disc brakes on an S-Works Tarmac ahead of the race (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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The eye-catching 'oil stain' paint design of EF Education First's Cannondales (Image credit: Pat Malach)
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Kyle Murphy's custom Felt for Rally UHC was designed by Sarah (Image credit: Pat Malach)
The 2019 Tour of California kicked off on Sunday for the 14 edition of the WorldTour race. The 13 WorldTour teams were joined by Rally UHC Cycling, Israel Cycling Academy, Cofidis, Hagens Berman Axeon, Team Novo Nordisk and the USA national team on the opening stage in Sacramento.
The race offers an opportunity to take a look at some of the lesser-seen tech alongside the WorldTour teams.
Rally UHC Cycling use the race as a platform to showcase the UnitedHealthcare Children’s Foundation with the team’s riders racing on custom-painted framesets, which were designed by six young grant recipients through the foundation.
The bikes are being auctioned during the race with all proceeds going to the foundation once the race has finished and giving bidders the opportunity to own a bike straight from the 2019 Tour of California. You can learn more and take a look at the bidding here.
Alongside the Rally UHC custom bikes, Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) is racing on the third iteration of the Sagan Collection design, which follows a gold and teal designs with a silver theme featuring the same glitter, matt and metallic paint design.
Custom designs don’t end with just framesets thought, with Hagens Berman Axeon’s US national road race champion Jonny Brown racing on brand new custom Bont Helix shoes.
Team mechanics from Bora-Hansgrohe and EF Education First also get on the custom bandwagon with custom built and custom finished tool boxes, respectively.
Click through the gallery above for a look at the tech and bikes on show at the 2019 Tour of California.
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