Trek-Segafredo's Lizzie Deignan wears rainbow bands on her sleeve cuffs as a former world champion (Image credit: Josh Evans)
The Valcar Cylance riders have a mix of purple and fluoro yellow framesets (Image credit: Josh Evans)
It isn't just Team Ineos at the Tour de France who have spent some mony on wheels from German brand Lightweight (Image credit: Josh Evans)
The Movistar team share the same bikes and kit as the men's team but ran 11-speed Campagnolo EPS groupsets instead of the latest 12-speed (Image credit: Josh Evans)
French national champion Jade Wiel went all-in with her FDJ Nouvelle - Aquitaine kit (Image credit: Josh Evans)
Van der Breggen's Zipp wheels also get the rainbow treatment (Image credit: Josh Evans)
Annemiek van Vleuten's Scott Foil RC (Image credit: Josh Evans)
Vos' Liv frameset was equipped with new wheels from Giant's component brand Cadex (Image credit: Josh Evans)
Alice Barnes has gone for a classic look on her British national champion's jersey (Image credit: Josh Evans)
Another former (multiple) world champion in Marianne Vos has a rainbow collar and cuffs (Image credit: Josh Evans)
Current world champion Anna van der Breggen has a custom painted Specialized Tarmac Disc (Image credit: Josh Evans)
The Bigla team race with helmets and sunglasses from Endura (Image credit: Josh Evans)
La Course by Le Tour de France was won by Marianne Vos (CCC-Liv) in Pau on Friday, with the Dutchwoman beating Team Sunweb's Leah Kirchmann and Bigla's Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig in an uphill sprint to the finish line.
Ahead of the race, Cyclingnews had a look at the tech on display at the Women's WorldTour race, with plenty of different and new bikes and components on display.
The teams taking part in the race have vastly varying budgets, resulting in an array of groupsets and drivetrain components on display from mechanical Shimano Ultegra and Dura-Ace through to the latest SRAM RED eTap AXS and Shimano Di2 offerings.
Plenty of national jerseys were on display at the race after their first outings at last week's Giro Rosa and following the majority of northern hemisphere nations undertaking their national championships on the last weekend of June. Former world champions Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo) and Vos – who won the race – wore their team issue jerseys with rainbow bands around their sleeve cuffs to denote their former world titles.
Earlier this year, Specialized announced they would no longer be making gender-specific bikes following the analysis of thousands of bike fits. The data concluded that there was no gender correlation for frame geometry and so the brand have simply increased the range and number of sizes available of their frames to ensure riders have the best possible fit, regardless of gender.
One obvious area that does need to be gender-specific is saddles and while many riders get on well with men's or non-gendered saddles, many others don't. There were several of Specialized’s popular Mimic saddles being used at the race, alongside triathlon saddles and non-sponsor correct options.
Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig was seen ahead of the race with an old Specialized saddle, which is no longer in production but clearly works for her. In the Tour de France, Team Ineos have recently made headlines by using Lightweight Obermayer wheels, which Uttrup Ludwig was also seen with at the startling in Pau.
CCC-Liv share the majority of their components, clothing and accessories with the CCC men's team, albeit using female-specific Liv bikes as opposed to Giant framesets. Giant recently announced the launch of their Cadex wheels and components lined and Vos was the only CCC-Liv rider who was racing with the new brand's wheels at La Course.
Click through the gallery above for a close look at all of the tech on show at La Course by Le Tour de France.
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