Remco Evenepoel's bike for the Tour de France: New wheels, new chainrings, and that beautiful gold paint

With the Tour de France looming large in the coming days (or already underway if you're coming to this article after the Grand Départ) there are basically only three names on everyone's lips: Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard, and Remco Evenepoel, despite the stellar field of riders the Tour always attracts.

Evenepoel is usually utterly unassailable in a time trial, and a force to be reckoned with in one-day races and shorter stage races, but is perhaps the outside favourite for the Tour compared to Pogačar and Vingegaard. He shouldn't be underestimated, however, and has a palmares that would be the envy or more or less any rider, including two Olympic gold medals, a Vuelta a España overall win, a rainbow jersey on the road and two for his time trial efforts, and a pair of monument victories at Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

He has been riding Specialized bikes for a long time in his career, and at the Critérium du Dauphiné recently - a key warm up race for the Tour de France - we got up close and personal with his gold S-Works Tarmac SL8 in a setup that's almost certain to mirror what he'll use for the majority of the Tour.

Keep reading to also see several of Evenepoel's custom-painted bikes from years gone by in this hub, or check out our five favourite custom Olympic bikes feature, as well as winning Olympic road race bikes from years gone by.

What is Remco Evenepoel's bike?

Soudal-Quickstep is one of several teams sponsored by Specialized, and it now only produces the new Tarmac SL8 'all-rounder', rather than having separate aero and lightweight race bikes. The brand produces the lightweight all-rounder Aethos model, but it isn't raced at the top level.

Evenepoel is a smaller rider at 171cm, and uses a 52cm frameset. He technically is between two sizes, but, as nearly all pros would, he's sized down and opted for a longer stem. Very light builds are achievable with the lightweight S-Works SL8 Tarmac, though we expect the gold paint added a few hundred grams; expect him to switch out to an all black, unpainted bike, likely with shallower rims too, for the high mountains.

His bike is relatively stock, with everything being very much sponsor correct. The wheels are the latest Roval Rapide CLX III model, shod with currently unreleased tubeless versions of the venerable Turbo Cotton tyre. He uses a one-piece Roval Rapide cockpit, and the only non-standard part of his Shimano Dura-Ace groupset is the CarbonTi chainrings, something we've also seen on Tadej Pogačar's bike.

The bike(s) that Remco Evenepoel rode to glory at the Paris Olympics road race

Evenepoel rode the majority of the Olympic road race on his custom Tarmac S-Works SL8 which featured black, silver, pink, purple and gold highlights. Equipment aside from the special paint appears to be the same as Evenepoel has been using all year. This year is Specialized's 50th anniversary, so we'd guess the folks back at Specialized HQ have even more cause to celebrate now.

The Belgian opted for 56/40T chainring sizes for the relatively flat road race and used them to devastating effect. We also spotted a waxed chain in the pictures down below.

A Dura-Ace Di2 electronic groupset takes care of shifting and braking. The majority of the rest of the bike equipment comes from the Specialized subsidiary brand Roval which provide the Rapide handlebars, saddle, and wheels. The tyres are also from Specialized and we believe were set up with latex inner tubes.

Remco Evenepoel's Paris Olympics winning TT bike

Next up is Evenepoel's Shiv time trial bike which he used to win the Olympic time trial event on. The course was wet and the city streets were treacherous, but the Belgian's effort was issue-free.

The Shiv has also received the same Specialized custom paint treatment but features, like most TT bikes, a few more eye-catching features.

Up front, there is a custom carbon fibre time trial handlebar for Evenepoel which routes his brake hoses internally and also features a neat integrated computer mount to keep the bike computer out of the wind, as well as hand rests that are angled inward, we assume to bring the riders hands together in a more aero position.

Equipment is Dura-Ace again, except for the very large Digirit front carbon fibre chainring, a brand we also see used indoors for track events. Digirit components are made in Taiwan.

Tyres are Specialized Turbo Cottons, which also look to be fitted with inner tubes judging by the valve stems. Evenepoel must have thrown caution to the wind on the soaked and slick Parisian streets in order to secure victory.

Remco Evenepoel's 2024 Specialized Tarmac SL8 

Below is the bike Evenepoel started the 2024 race season on, which we snapped and got up close and personal with at a pre-season training camp.

Evenepoel has ridden so many custom bikes this year though that it's hard to remember this model already.

At the time, this chequerboard bike marked a departure from Evenepoel's old two-piece bar and stem to the integrated Roval Rapide handlebar, which is a common sight now as we head toward the tail end of the year.

Elsewhere, it's a fairy familiar spec and build, with Dura-Ace di2 equipment and Roval components. The chrome and black bike Evenepoel used at this year's Tour de France seems to perhaps be a development of this paint scheme idea.

2023: Remco Evenepoel's World Champion's Specialized Tarmac SL7

Having won the 2022 World Championship road race in Wollongong, Australia, Evenepoel was, as is customary, treated by his bike sponsor to a mostly white bike to ride for his season in the rainbow bands. Given the release of the new Specialized Tarmac SL8 at the Glasgow super-worlds, it was the final time we saw the Belgian superstar on the outgoing model.

Given rule changes and new equipment from Specialized, it was also the last time we saw him with the aggressively turned in hoods we got used to seeing so many riders opt for before they were banned by the UCI, and the last time we saw him opt for a separate bar and step combo.

2022: Evenepoel's World Championship winning bike 

In order to earn oneself a rainbow bike one must first win the world championship road race. Remco Evenepoel won the hilly course in Wollongong, Australia, with a solo attack 25km from the line. He was riding a bike very much the same as his current white steed, but in the case of the world championship race, he was running the older model of the tyres.

While the bike and componentry were essentially the same, the all-black paint job will have been lighter as it is essentially raw carbon rather than heavy white paint. Interestingly on his worlds-winning bike, we did spot that the Di2 cable had been secured to the derailleur hanger by what looks like heat shrink or black tape, to avoid any potential mishaps in such an important race. While we didn't spot this on his bike at the training camp it may be something we see during races.

Remco Evenepoel's 2022 Vuelta a España winning bike 

Some riders can win one-day races regularly. Some riders can win grand tours and stage races. The crossover at the centre of the Venn Diagram that encompasses both races contains an alarmingly small number of riders. One of them though is Remco Evenepoel, who, before winning the world championships in Australia, brought the red jersey of the Vuelta a España back to Belgium for the first time in many many years.

His bike, as per his worlds-winning, and world champions bikes above, was mostly stock, save for a commemorative red paint job and a colour-matched saddle and bar tape. The Roval Rapide, rather than Alpinist, wheelset features red decals applied over the white.

Remco Evenepoel's time trial bike

While Remco spends the majority of his time on his S-Works Tarmac SL7 through the season, he occasionally has to take part in time trials. As part of his 2022 Vuelta win, he also took stage 10 aboard his Specialized Shiv TT bike by a margin of 48 seconds.

Below you can see the setup he usually opts for, though for the Vuelta he used an Aerocoach front wheel rather than the Roval model you can see here. It's a bike designed to battle against the clock, so everything is optimised for maximum efficiency, including custom-made bars moulded to his forearms

Remco Evenepoel's gravel bike

Gravel is the hottest genre in cycling at the moment, and more and more pro racers from the road scene are popping up at gravel races. While Remco Evenepoel doesn't routinely take part in the gravel scene at the moment, his presence at the 2021 Belgian Waffle Ride, a gravel race in California, aboard an S-Works Crux was noteworthy enough to warrant a gallery, despite the fact he only rode the short 'Wafer' route rather than the full 'Waffle'.

Given he's a Specialized and Shimano-sponsored athlete, it's no surprise to see him aboard an S-Works Crux, equipped with Shimano GRX Di2 and Roval wheels. The tyres, Pathfinder 42mm models, were also Specialized. Given the lack of neutral service in gravel racing, it's much more common to see riders carrying repair equipment, like spare inner tubes, along with them for the race in case of any bad luck.