The mechanics get little by way of credit, but they've been busy here at the Tour Down Under (Image credit: Colin Levitch)
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With around a hundred race-days per year, getting bikes race-ready is a never-ending task (Image credit: Colin Levitch)
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Gluing tubs is a common sight on a WorldTour mechanic's to do list and each mechanic has their own preferred method. Deceuninck QuickStep use old bidons... (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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Whereas other teams prefer simple ketchup bottles for their narrower nozzles (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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You probably shouldn't file carbon dropouts at home, these guys know what they're doing (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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Not just riders have their names stickered onto their tools (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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Rather than finding a socket, a power bank can be a great way to charge your power meter while on the move (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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The Fumpa handheld compressor - great for race-day tyre inflation (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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Ever wondered what tyre pressures the pro teams run? It's 100psi in this camp (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
And 0psi here... after Baska punctured his tubular. Another thing to keep the mechanics busy (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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Last minute repairs kept them busier still. This UAE Team Emirates mechanic was frantically trying to unclog a tubeless valve (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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Power tools for thru axles. When they're changing wheels all day, every day, they'll take any opportunity to speed up the job (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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Last minute adjustments to Elia Viviani's disc brakes (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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And a slightly more pressing repair for Dowsett, who helped his mechanic adjust his saddle before the start of stage 1 (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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Some riders like to get hands on themselves, to take the load off the mechanics (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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The saying goes: If you want something doing well, do it yourself, but we're not sure that applies to fixing bikes (Image credit: Colin Levitch)
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Neilson Powless did a pretty quick job of switching out his own tyres (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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Richie Porte and Koen de Kort pose for photos with Trek Segafredo's new neo pros (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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Santiago Buitrago also got a snap with a joey... insert Joey Rosskopf joke here (Image credit: Colin Levitch)
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One of Lotto Soudal's new recruits poses for photos... with Jon Dibben (Image credit: Colin Levitch)
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Tanja Erath displaying way too much happiness for someone holding a snake (Image credit: Colin Levitch)
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Something that could be mistaken for a snake. This stem is, hands down, the longest we've ever seen... (Image credit: Colin Levitch)
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It depends how you measure it, but we reckon it's 170mm (Image credit: Colin Levitch)
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A 144mm stem for Luke Rowe... but it's not custom made (Image credit: Colin Levitch)
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Australia is a long way from Europe where most WorldTour teams keep their team cars. Thankfully, Subaru came to the rescue (Image credit: Colin Levitch)
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Not Team Ineos, of course. They were the only team here with their own car (Image credit: Colin Levitch)
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Walking the pits of the women's race, we got to see even more great bike brands on show (Image credit: Colin Levitch )
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The Canyon SRAM team bike is largely the same as 2019, but that's no bad thing (Image credit: Colin Levitch )
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This Cannondale SuperSix isn't dissimilar to the bike of EF Education First, but the stock colour scheme still looks pretty darn good (Image credit: Colin Levitch )
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We'd say the Trek Segafredo women's team bike is the best looking of all the WorldTour bikes (Image credit: Colin Levitch )
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We recently reviewed the LEM MotivAir helmet and found it to be a pretty decent lid. It's good to see it making an appearance at the top of the sport (Image credit: Colin Levitch )
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Welcome to the section in this gallery dedicated to shoes. Warning: we cannot be held responsible for the jealousy you're about to feel (Image credit: Colin Levitch )
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Crono's shoes kicks mightn't be the newest, but they're still pretty bling (Image credit: Colin Levitch )
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New shoes from Rapha, we've already seen the purple version, but they do look good in black (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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These shoes were first seen on the feet of Rein Taaramäe at the Tour de France. Six months on, here they are with Axel Domont. They're still yet to be released by Mavic (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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George Bennett's girlfriend designs custom shoes, so it's unsurprising to see him sporting a pair (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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Here's the inside of Bennett's custom Shimano S-Phyre shoes (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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A light and airy shoe such as the new Fizik Vento Powerstrap R2 Aeroweave is perfect for the Australian temperatures (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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Matching shoe-and-sock combos never fail to look great (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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Talking of looking great, it's important to keep your shoes looking fresh on race day (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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Axel Domont agrees, although the fabric sections on his Mavic shoes have seen better days (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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White shoes might look the best, but they require the most work to keep clean (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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Unsurprisingly, sunglasses need to be kept clean too. Thankfully, teams seem to have an abundance of wet wipes on hand (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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Either someone scrubbed a bit too hard, or they're trying to hide something (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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Yet again, Adam Hansen's winning the shoe showdown. He also wears an on-the-bike dynamic fit system from Leomo (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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Here's Hansen sporting his other shoes, but more importantly, the DeFeet TDU editon socks that are being sold to raise money for WIRES (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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Black Inc has joined Israel Start-Up Nation in the WorldTour with this neat looking front end (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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As European champion, Viviani's bike, kit, and tech has been given the custom treatment (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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The Mitchelton logo really pops in the sun on Mitchelton-Scott's bikes (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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Rainbow-themed everything for World Champion Mads Pedersen (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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The 54/41 chainrings paired with a 10t cassette sprocket make for a "supercharged" top gear (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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Taco van der Hoorn's handlebars are turned in. Whether it's for aero gains or comfort reasons, we have no idea (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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Romain Bardet's pedals are given a bit of extra material. We're assuming it's to make for a more secure fit (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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There'll be no dropped chains in the Team Ineos camp (Image credit: Colin Levitch)
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Don't worry, Jon Dibben doesn't have to bring his own wheels to race days (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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Neither does Michael Schwarzmann. We're assuming it's due to different riders wanting different tyre pressures (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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Adam Hansen was seen emptying all of these gels into a drinks bottle before stage 3 (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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Rumour has it, Team Ineos is trying to reinvent the popular nursery rhyme (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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Jumbo Visma find plenty of uses for latex inner tube offcuts (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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They even use them to keep quick release skewers from rattling when the wheels are in transport (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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When spending 20+ hours a week on your bike, you need to make sure it fits correctly - whether that's with a backwards seatpost or a fully slammed stem. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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According to James Piccoli, this charm was a gift from his mum, and is "from a climb in Italy called the Madonna della Ghisallo, it's supposed to protect cyclists during training and racing" (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
We're four days into the racing here at the Santos Tour Down Under, where all 19 WorldTour teams are showing off their new tech for the upcoming season.
We've already brought you one mega tech gallery, but there's just so much here on show that we've decided to do another.
Unsurprisingly, the racing here has been fast and furious, and a few unfortunate crashes have kept the mechanics busy. Over the past week, we've gotten a glimpse into pro cyclists' minds by taking an inside look at the WorldTour data screens. We also got up close and personal with a bunch of exciting new tech, including Rohan Dennis' kit, the TDU edition Allez Sprint, and a brand new Giant TCR.
On the subject of new, we've had our beady eyes out for never-before-seen tech; the sort of stuff that the pros get to test before it makes its way into the public domain. We recently spotted a few pairs of new cycling shoes that are, for now at least, only available in the tight-knit circle of pro bike racing, including Romain Bardet's custom Mavic shoes that are for sale at auction for the bushfire relief.
We've also found a bunch of tech that is pretty unlikely to ever become available to the rest of us mere mortals. A ~170mm stem certainly caught our eye, as did a hyper-specific 144mm stem on Luke Rowe's Pinarello. We assumed it was custom made, but the mechanics explained otherwise. Apparently, they measure every stock stem, in the same way, to account for manufacturing tolerances and differences between models. They really do think of everything.
Trek-Segafredo riders are using a 54-tooth chainring, which when paired with a 10t cassette sprocket, offers a huge top gear (equivalent to a 59 x 11). According to the riders, it's good to have a "supercharged" top gear for descending while keeping the first 11 cassette sprockets more in line with what they've grown used to on 11-speed groupsets.
Now that the racing has begun, we've spent some time wandering the pits at the various start lines, checking out any race-day alterations and chatting with mechanics to see what, if any, changes have been made to get a bike race-day ready. Unsurprisingly, for the hilly day to Paracombe, a number of riders switched out their heavier deep-section carbon wheels in favour of lightweight climbing wheels.
For part two of our Tour Down Under tech gallery we have even more photos than in part one, so make yourself comfortable and scroll through the gallery above to see even more pro bike tech.
Each year the WorldTour racing season kicks off in Adelaide with the Tour Down Under. With that, the riders and teams are sporting their 2020 kit for the first time, and those who have joined a new team will be outfitted in new gear from head to toe.
While there hasn't been nearly as much unrest in with bike sponsors as last season, Astana and Israel Cycling Academy are on new bikes for 2020, choosing Wilier and Factor, respectively. With Cofidis making the jump to the WorldTour, they also have a new bike sponsor, trading Kuota for De Rosa.
Here we also share how to live stream the Tour Down Under, no matter your location, with ExpressVPN.
As we have wondered the pits over the last couple of days, there is no shortage of fresh gear to look at as riders filter in and out of the Tour Down Under's infamous big white tent.
Click through to see our gallery from the first two days at the Tour Down Under.
Originally from Bude but now based out of Exeter, Josh is the former eCommerce manager of the Bike Shed in Devon. After racing cross-country with friends as a youth, he soon turned to road cycling. Nowadays, 27-year-old Josh is a Cat 1 road racer for Team Tor 2000. While he enjoys a good long road race, he's much more at home in a local criterium. He dabbles in fair-weather cyclocross and will happily slog out a century if you reward him with cake. Oh, and in his spare time, he writes about tech and deals for Cyclingnews and BikePerfect. Rides: Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL6 Disc, Trek Emonda ALR, Specialized Crux.
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