A look at the clothing and accessories at this year's race
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Peter Sagan has his own limited edition collection within the 100 Percent range, for stage 13's time trial, he chose the S3 sunglasses. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
In the competition for the biggest sunglasses, Warren Barguil enters with these Ekoi Premium 70s (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Specialized aren't shy about showing off their riders' achievements with colour-matching bikes and kit. Julian Alaphilippe is seen wearing an array of yellow, to match his maillot jaune. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Elie Gesbert is one of a few riders in the peloton wearing the recently released Giro Empire SLX ultra-lightweight shoes (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Andre 'The Gorilla' Greipel has some custom Gaerne G.Stilo shoes, with past wins adorning the outer sides (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Greg Van Avermaet is wearing a pair of gold-themed custom shoes from American company Rocket 7 (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Marco Haller has made a small modification to this Sidi shoes to aid fit (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
American Ben King is wearing a pair of FLR F-XX II shoes - a brand also worn by Alex Howes and Nic Dlamini (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Astana Pro Team's Alexey Lutsenko is sporting team sponsor Northwave's Extreme Pro shoes (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
A brand new pair of Bontrager XXX shoes are being worn by a number of the Trek Segafredo team. They seem to be a replacement for their current range topping 'XXX Road' shoes (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Vivani has long been supported by DMT througout his career, and repays his loyalty by wearing their new KR1 knit shoes (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Gaerne have produced a Gaerne branded oversock for riders who have alternative footwear preferences (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Warren Barguil, in his national champion's jersey, is wearing Ekoi glasses with a well ventilated Bell Z20 helmet (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Andrey Amador has taken modification to the extreme with these Fizik R1 shoes. It looks to be for ventilation, unlike Marco Haller's fit issues (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
CCC Team's Lukasz Wisniowski opts for the well ventilated Pursuit aero helmet from team sponsor Giant (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
While wearing the polka dot jersey, Tim Wellens' HJC Ibex aero helmet was given the full polka dot treatment (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Thibaut Pinot wears the Giro Aether helmet paired with some colour-matching Oakleys (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Vincenzo Nibali is happy wearing his team-issue Rudy Project Spectrum helmet and Defender sunglasses (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Alexander Kristoff is also happy with team issue kit, wearing the 215 gram Met Trenta 3K Carbon helmet (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Astana Pro Team's Pello Bilbao is seen wearing the same Rudy Project glasses as Vincenzo Nibali, along with a Limar Air Pro helmet (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Greg Van Avermaet's Olympic gold medal is celebrated with golden kit, including his bike, shoes, helmet and Oakley Sutro glasses (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
When Romain Bardet's saddle needs a bit of extra grip, he adds some Lizard Skins tape - a practice common in time trials (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Alberto Bettiol and Vincenzo Nibali are both wearing stunning blue-purple Sidi shoes (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Cofidis riders are seen wearing heat-mouldable Bont shoes (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Dan Martin is wearing the two-part shoes from Mavic with their own custom design (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
George Bennett has gone full custom on his Shimano S-Phyre RC9 shoes - read below for more info (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Here's the inside of George Bennett's custom shoes (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Gerain Thomas wears Fizik's Infinito R1 Knit shoes, covered by aero overshoes for the stage 13 time trial (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Matteo Trentin celebrates his current position as European champion with some custom Sidi shoes (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Emanuel Buchmann is seen wearing Specialized's lightweight S-Works Exos shoes (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Rein Taaramare is sporting some as-yet-unreleased shoes from Mavic (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Rui Costa is using an unbranded pair of S-Works 7 shoes (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Simon Yates' Sidi shoes are one of the few ways to tell the brothers apart (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Mike Teunissen celebrates his stage one victory - and subsequent yellow jersey - with some simple yellow Boa dials for his Shimano S-Phyre RC9 shoes (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Pro's from UAE Team Emirates and Lotto Soudal are seeing the same Gaerne shoes that Victor Campanaerts recently used to break the hour record (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Alejandro Valverde is really making the most of the rainbow bands (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
The red detail on Elite's Leggero bottle cages doesn't really go with the Movistar blue, it was a black marker pen to the rescue. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Either Marcus Burghardt or his mechanic have superstitions about the number 13 (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Egan Bernal's sunglasses of choice are the Sutro from Oakley, along with a Kask Protone helmet (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
A number of Bora Hansgrohe riders are wearing these 100% S2 sunglasses (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Jack Haig opted for some pretty sizeable Scott eyewear for the Stage 13 time trial (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Both Bora Hansgrohe and Deceuninck Quick Step were using Specialized helmets equipped with MIPS and ANGi (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Nairo Quintana's eyewear of choice is the 22 gram EV Zero from Oakley, paired with a yellow Abus Airbreaker helmet (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Jesus Herrada uses kit matching Roka SR-1 sunglasses that weigh a featherlight 24 grams (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Rigoberto is clearly a fan of eyewear coverage, sporting these POC Aspires (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
In the race for the biggest eyewear, we think Adam Yates is taking the prize with these Scott Sport Shields (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Some of AG2R La Mondiale riders are using the £900 Mavic Comete Ultimate shoes and aero socks from clothing sponsor Rosti (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
EF Education First riders are using Rapha's Pro Team aero socks and their own choice of shoes (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Most Deceuninck Quick Step riders are wearing S-Works 7 shoes and Defeet aero socks (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Lotto Soudal seek the marginal gains with Gaerne branded aero socks and G.Stilo shoes (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Thomas De Gendt is seen using unbranded energy gels ahead of stage 12. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
The Tour's organisers clearly respect 'the rules', as proven by the upside-down printing of the number 13 (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
The Tour de France has always been a showcase for the latest bikes, wheels and other cycling hardware, as brands vie for the eyes of the biggest annual sporting event in the world. Alongside the hardware, teams and riders have sponsors for shoes, helmets, sunglasses and other accessories, alongside the latest clothing technology.
In the modern era of the sport, no stone is left unturned in the search for the smallest of gains; we are in an age of aero helmets, aero shoes and even aero computers.
Custom Designs
Shoes and sunglasses are two of the items that commonly get the custom treatment, and the Tour de France is no different.
Some riders opt for a simple change of Boa colours, such as Mike Teunissen (Jumbo-Visma) who is now sporting yellow versions perhaps in a nod to his stage 1 success.
Other riders take their customisation to the extreme, such as Teunissen's teammate George Bennett, who is wearing some stunning custom Shimano S-Phyre RC9 shoes, designed by his girlfriend Caitlin Fielder, an artist who has also designed shoes for Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) and Estaban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott).
It's not uncommon for world, European and national champions, and classification leaders, to wear team-issued custom clothing and accessories.
Current European champion Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) is wearing custom Sidi Shot shoes, and Alejandro Valverde has rainbow stripes adorning almost every item of clothing, component and accessory – largely from Italian brand Fizik.
Aero Socks
Traditionalists may loathe the use of aerodynamic socks but a number of WorldTour teams now use them to save an extra few watts. As pioneers of the marginal gains mentality, it's little surprise that Team Ineos are one of the teams to utilise the technology. AG2R La Mondiale and Lotto Soudal are among the others.
Sponsors, look away
Sometimes, riders don't get along with their sponsors' kit, usually resulting in modification.
Check out what Andrey Amador (Movistar Team) has done to his shoes. Occasionally, however, no amount of modification will do and riders will outright use another brand. In a bid not to upset those who pay them, riders will go to great lengths to hide what they are using, sometimes even with the help of the very sponsor they're choosing not to wear. For example, early-race Polka-Dot jersey wearer Tim Wellens is using a pair of Gaerne branded lycra oversocks, over what look to be a pair of Specialized S-Works 7 shoes.
Click through the gallery above for a closer look at some of the shoes, sunglasses, helmets and more on display at the 2019 Tour de France.
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As the Tech Editor here at Cyclingnews, Josh leads on content relating to all-things tech, including bikes, kit and components in order to cover product launches and curate our world-class buying guides, reviews and deals. Alongside this, his love for WorldTour racing and eagle eyes mean he's often breaking tech stories from the pro peloton too.
On the bike, 30-year-old Josh has been riding and racing since his early teens. He started out racing cross country when 26-inch wheels and triple chainsets were still mainstream, but he found favour in road racing in his early 20s and has never looked back. He's always training for the next big event and is keen to get his hands on the newest tech to help. He enjoys a good long ride on road or gravel, but he's most alive when he's elbow-to-elbow in a local criterium.
