After nine days of racing, it is fair to say it has been a pretty brutal start to the 2023 Tour de France. This year’s race has already covered two out of France’s five mountain ranges in the shape of the Pyrenees and the Massif Central, which has led to some explosive racing – particularly between the two race favorites, Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard.
Though bike racing is at least 90% about the rider, it is still interesting to see which bike brands are finding themselves at the top of the podium. To gauge this more easily, we have devised a straightforward system to rank bike brand performance at this year’s Tour de France so far.
Scoring is simple: for each stage victory, a bike brand receives three points. For second-place finishes, two points are awarded, and one for third. Though this doesn’t take into account jersey classifications, after an opening week with such varied terrain, it isn’t a bad measure of performance.
1st place – Canyon
Despite the success of Tadej Pogačar and Adam Yates in the opening week, it is Canyon that takes the top spot on our list, with the Canyon Aeroad CFR proving the most successful bike so far. The range-topping aero bike from the German bike brand has been ridden to an impressive three stage victories and one second place so far, racking up a total of 11 points.
(Image credit: Future ( Josh Croxton))
All points scored are from the results of Jasper Philipsen, who has shown himself to be the strongest sprinter in this year’s Tour. It isn’t all down to him though – teammate Mathieu van der Poel is probably the strongest leadout man you could possibly hope for, and has delivered Philipsen to prime position on a number of occasions.
(Image credit: Stefan Rachow)
Team Alpecin-Decuininck’s bikes are clad top to bottom with Shimano’s latest and greatest components, with Dura-Ace R9200 in use for the groupset, and Dura-Ace c60 wheels helping keep the team moving.
As the current leader of the points classification, Philipsen is currently using a special edition green Canyon Aeroad CFR. He will be hoping to keep this custom livery all the way to Paris, but there are a fair few mountains to contend with in the meantime.
2nd place – Colnago
Colnago is up next, with its flagship race bike, the Colnago V4RS. Colnago scored a total of 8 points, which is made up of two stage wins (Yates stage 1, and Pogačar stage 6), and two third places (Pogačar stages 1 and 2).
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