You see all sorts of innovative - if not necessarily polished - innovations at the Tour de France - Robin Wilmott-Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Bauke Mollema of Team Belkin chooses to forego the rubber hoods on his Shimano Di2 levers - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
No functionality is lost, but the naked lever does look odd - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
Mechanics wrap the hood with black bar tape to try to disguise the stripped lever - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
Despite the internal routing, mechanics still need to do a bit of cobbling with a ziptie on the Di2 wire - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
How close do you motorpace? - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
Many mechanics just put a piece of electrical tape over the stem at the valve hole to prevent it from rattling, but Bretagne-Séché have a more complete solution - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
Vincenzo Nibali has this height-adjustable post from FSA on one of his bikes. By turning the thick part with one hand, he can drop the saddle about 1cm - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
Lead-out man Adam Hansen of Lotto-Belisol has a drastically forward position on the bike (with a blacked-out Thomson alloy post). He also has 40cm handlebars and a huge amount of drop - all designed to get aero when winding up the speed for the sprint - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
Trek Factory Racing employs a combination of aluminum and lead weights, plugged into the crank spindle, to get their new Emonda bikes up to the UCI's minimum weight - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Should the lead spindle inserts not get the bike to the 6.8kg necessary weight, there are individually weighted and labelled lead weights like this that can be attached under water-bottle cages - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Campagnolo EPS now has a rubberized strap to switch off the internal battery to save juice - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
Movistar has a neat integrated number-plate holder - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
For whatever reason, Movistar brought Nairo Quintana's winning bike from the Giro d'Italia to the Tour de France. He is not at the race - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
This is Astana's mobile kitchen - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
Lampre-Merida is using BBB number-plate mounts - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
After years of cranking out the watts, Jens Voigt will be retiring at the end of this season - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
After capturing the King of the Mountains jersey of stage 1, Voigt got a polka-dot SRM head unit - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
French national champion Arnaud Démare has a black Lapierre that contrasts with the blue bikes of his teammates, but there is plenty of French pride on the handlebars - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
A Trek Factory Racing mechanic checks cleat alignment on Fabian Cancellara's shoes - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
Europcar's Thomas Voeckler kept his compression calf sleeves on until the start of stage 2 - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
Europcar has a host of Colnagos: C59, C60, V1-r, M10, CX-0 - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
Colnago commissioned The Hive to make these direct-mount calipers for its new V1-r model - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
An artfully shaped Deda bar/stem - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
Campagnolo's brand new Super Record has reshaped hoods - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
A bit of sandpaper adds purchase for the front derailleur clamp - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
Europcar has a mix of Campagnolo groups on its bikes. This is the new Super Record - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
The rear caliper on Colnago's new V1-r mounts below the chainstays - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
Campagnolo adopted a four-arm spindle with its new group, similar to the new Shimano Dura-Ace - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
Released just prior to the new Super Record, Super Record RS is a limited edition racing group - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
The Super Record RS has the same lever and body shape as the new group, just with a different hood - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
Tinkoff-Saxo Bank has a new vest for carrying seven water bottles. Instead of cramming the bottles inside a jersey, a rider just slides on this Sportful vest that a mechanic has loaded up inside the car - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Movistar is using the Canyon Ultimate CF SLX (shown here) and the new Aeroad CF SLX models for road stages at the Tour - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
Ka-Boom! Joaquin Rodriquez is hoping to spark a win at the Tour - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
Rodriquez is the one Katusha rider using the new integrated bar/stem from Canyon. The rest have Ritchey cockpits (one integrated, the other seven traditional bars and stems) - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
Giant-Shimano produced a properly themed bike for Marcel Kittel immediately after the German sprinter took the first stage and the Tour's first jersey - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
Chris Horner is taped up at the start of stage 2 - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
Nikki Terpstra gets loose before the start of stage 2 - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
The cockpit of the Canyon Aeroad CF SLX as the German brand intended - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
Internal routing is tidy alongisde the head tube - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
Garmin-Sharp is obliged to use the Garmin Vector power meter pedals, although most riders are only using the bodies, not the meters themselves - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
In order for the Garmin Vector pedals to work as a power meter, a pod must be mounted on the spindle and connected into the gold-plated junction - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
Garmin-Sharp riders use SRM power meters on all their bikes. Some, like this one, still have the logos covered up. Some do not - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
This is what a functioning Garmin Vector pedal looks like with the pod attached - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
André Greipel, AKA the Gorilla, gets his own saddle from San Marco - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Ridley provides a matching paintjob on the Helium SL - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Lotto-Belisol's bikes are all painted red in a retro scheme - except this one - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Just because you're the star rider on a team at the Tour de France doesn't mean you get brand-new everything. This was Greipel's saddle before the start of stage 1 - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Greipel's Campy SRM crank gets a special Ridley graphic - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Jack Bauer's Garmin-Sharp bike isn't shy about its use of an SRM instead of Garmin Vectors. The pedal spindles don't even seem to have the power-meter internals - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Bauer's 140mm, -17° stem houses the typical Shimano Di2 junction box strap, but… - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
…mechanics have tightly wrapped the Di2 wire to the brake cable for a clean front end - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Visual cleanliness means aero cleanliness - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Not all bikes at the Tour de France are cutting edge - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Vincenzo Nibali's frame has a shark motif with sparkly paint - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Nibali also gets the Campagnolo Super Record RS group - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Jagwire's new sectional housing is lighter than standard housing. Trek, for example, uses it on its hyper light Emonda - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Three in one: Campagnolo, S-Works and SRM - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
A closer look reveals more texture to the paintjob - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Nibali bit off a win on stage 2 - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
FSA is using stickers over the bar tape for increased exposure. This can't be ideal for riders - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Nibali's Corima pads look quite similar to the unmarked pads on Yuri Trofimov's Canyon Aeroad CF SLX - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Nibali's Astana squad is sponsored by Specialized saddles, so his Fizik Antares must be blacked out - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Two of the nine Astana bikes have Fizik saddles - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Conversely, a rider on Katusha, which is sponsored by Selle Italia, has a Specialized saddle that he must black out - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Team have different strategies for quickly identifying riders' bikes when on the roofs of team cars. This is Sky's solution - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
This is Lotto-Belisol's marking for back-up bikes for quick identification from below - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Even the Noah aero bikes got the retro treatment for the Tour - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Retro paint, new-school design - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Aero seatmasts and integrated rear brakes eliminate two traditional number-mounting spots, so Lotto-Belisol puts it up here - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Lapierre's Aircode has a slightly recessed headset cap - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Arnaud Démare's immaculate bar tape - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Démare can't quite get his stem low enough, so he removed the headset cap - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
While the word 'integrated' is being applied more and more to bike parts, some things are still just ziptied on - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
NetApp-Endura's Fuji Transonic aero bikes are so new that some still have the sizing stickers on them - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
This is a quick-release for Shimano's new direct-mount rear brake - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Getting race radios set up is sometimes a three-man job - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Once wired in, riders can hear - and sometimes speak to - their directors - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Although no longer available as an individual item to everyday riders, the Gore cable lining is still popular in the pro peloton - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
The Gore lining keeps otherwise exposed cable clean for smooth shifting, no matter what the conditions - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
SRAM still has a line on Gore cable lining for certain partners - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Taping the route - or cue notes - to the stem is a time-honored tradition, and every rider seems to have his own method - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Since route profiles are created in horizontal orientation for books, why not keep them horizontal? - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Some teams combine route profiles from race organizer ASO with their own information - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
For those that just want to take a look before the start of the stage, there is this method - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Key points in kilometers are marked, typically the top or the duration of climbs - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
A horizontal profile made vertical - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
This integrated bar/stem is brand new. Why sully it with a taped-on cue sheet? - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Taping the profile in a circle works well enough - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Look's massive stem offers a healthy baseplate for a wide profile map - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
At the 2014 Tour de France we have seen all manner of unique modifications, as riders and teams seek to eke out the best performance, highest comfort and most information from their tools – while still remaining inside the UCI rules that govern the sport.
Water-bottle vest
A common sight in recent years is a domestique dropping back to a team car, and absolutely cramming his jersey — all three pockets, down the neck, up from the bottom — with water bottles to take to his teammates. Tinkoff-Saxo Bank and clothing sponsor Sportful have a better solution.
On stage 1, a Tinkoff-Saxo Bank rider dropped back to the car and, instead of grabbing bottle after bottle, just grabbed a mesh vest loaded with seven bottles. With five bottle holsters one the back and one on each side of the front, the Sportful vest clips on with a single plastic buckle like on a backpack stabilizer strap.
Tinkoff-Saxo bank has a new vest for carrying seven water bottles. instead of cramming the bottles inside a jersey, a rider just slides on this sportful vest that a mechanic has loaded up inside the car: - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
Tinkoff-Saxo Bank team boss Bjarne Riis said he spoke to Sportful about the novel idea a few weeks ago.
“We asked if it would be possible to make such a thing, and they said yes,” Riis said. And the rest – and perhaps the old jersey-stuffing tradition – is history.
Featherweight meets lead weight
One UCI rule is the minimum bicycle weight regulation, which specifies that all bikes must weigh at least 6.8kg (14.99lb). Trek just introduced the Emonda, a road bike that weighs – when built to a certain spec – just 4.65kg / 10.25lb. That weight is with hyper light Tune wheels, but even with the team’s taller-rimmed Bontrager hoops and an SRM power meter, many Emonda bikes are still underweight. So, Trek has a modular system of cylindrical weights that are inserted into the crank spindle.
Using a mix of solid aluminum and lead as needed, Trek mechanics can get the bikes exactly to minimum weight, taking into account the particular wheels to be used that day. Using all lead pieces, it weighs 350g. For smaller frames, sometimes an additional piece of lead is needed, which can be bolted underneath the water-bottle cage.
Trek factory racing employs a combination of aluminum and lead weights, plugged into the crank spindle, to get their new emonda bikes up to the uci's minimum weight: - Ben Delaney / Future Publishing
The rule, originally instated as a safety measure, is now outdated and widely regarded as silly; adding lead weights clearly isn’t adding safety. “The UCI knows the rule needs to be updated,” Trek Factory Racing team liaison Jordan Roessingh said. “They just don’t have a solution yet.”
Less is more
We have seen a few variations of shifter configurations over the years, but we have never seen a rider remove the rubber hoods. Bauke Mollema of Team Belkin prefers the feel of a naked lever wrapped in a bit of handlebar tape. While a continuous wrap of bar and lever would probably be smoother, team mechanics use the team green on the bar and black on the lever to somewhat disguise the fact that the hood cover is missing.
Bauke mollema of team melkin chooses to forego the rubber hoods on his shimano di2 levers: - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
Dropper posts on the road?
Vincenzo nibali has this height-adjustable post from fsa on one of his bikes. by turning the thick part with one hand, he can drop the saddle about 1cm: vincenzo nibali has this height-adjustable post from fsa on one of his bikes. by turning the thick part with one hand, he can drop the saddle about 1cm - Robin Wilmott / Future Publishing
Adjustable-height seatposts at professional bike races aren’t new — on the mountain-bike circuit. But a dropper post on a road bike? Well, Vincenzo Nibali has one on one of his spare bikes. As one of the very best descenders in the peloton, the Italian probably appreciates the dropper post for the same reason mountain bikers do; it makes whipping the bikes around on descents easier, and you can get your weight lower while still keeping contact with the saddle. The FSA EB13 model works by twisting the thick part with one hand, raising or lowering the saddle.
And that's not all…
Check out the massive gallery above for dozens of up-close details on the bikes and gear of the 2014 Tour de France peloton.
Ben Delaney is a journalist with more than two decades of experience writing for and editing some of the biggest publications in cycling. Having studied journalism at the University of New Mexico, Ben has worked for Bicycle Retailer & Industry News, VeloNews and BikeRadar. He has also previously worked as Global Brand Communications Manager for Specialized. Ben covers all things road and gravel, and can be found logging big miles in the Rocky Mountains that nestle alongside his home in Boulder, Colorado. He has covered the most important bike races in the sport, from the Tour de France and Tour of Flanders, to the Unbound gravel race, and specialises in tech content, showcasing what the pros are riding and putting everyday equipment through its paces.
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