It’s official, the Tour de France has begun. It kicked off with a British one-two, with the Yates twins finally doing what most of the nation’s cycling fans have hoped they would for the better part of a decade, breaking away together.
Cyclingnews currently has three members of the team on the ground. Stephen Farrand and Daniel Ostanek are leading the charge in the mixed zone, speaking to the riders to break the latest headlines from the race.
And I’m here on my own Tour; a Tour of the team hotels. I’ve brought my metaphorical binoculars and I’ve been trying to spot the latest tech, newest bikes, and tricksiest hacks. I’ve been up close and personal with various new pieces of equipment, taken a peek inside mechanics’ trucks and kitchen trucks, and even visited the mobile barber brought to town by Alpecin (I forewent the offer of a haircut).
Below you’ll find the fruits of my labour. I’ve spotted a handful of new bikes, one of which had never been seen before, and more than a handful of new components including more 3D-printed saddles, new tyres and nifty handlebars. The bit I find most interesting though is the quirky tricks and hacks; those neat marginal gains, comfort-adding changes and rider-specific preferences like adding a layer of foam to your pedals (…you’ll see!)
A prior warning here… this gallery is a big one, so feel free to grab yourself a coffee – or a Spanish Cerveza, depending on what time you’re reading this – and settle in. I’ve segmented the page up, and you can use the links above to jump down to your chosen section.
See you on the other side…
New bikes
Let’s start strong with a few new bikes, and first up. The ‘prototype’ Ridley, which appears to be a semi-aero, semi-lightweight race bike. This one is Caleb Ewan’s and it weighed in the region of 7.5kg as you see it here.
The UCI sticker on the downtube gives us no clues as to its name, so we’ll have to wait and see on that front, but it looks to be complete and ready, so we’d be surprised if it didn’t launch before the end of the year.
This appears to be the new SRAM Universal Derailleur Hanger (UDH) too, marking the tech’s first appearance on the road.
The second new bike is courtesy of Ben O’Connor’s BMC, complete with its crazy explosion of stuck-on graphics.
It features a super deep head tube, almost certainly taking advantage of…
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