How tech is evolving at the most important bike race of the year
The 2024 Tour de France is in full swing, with the battle raging for stages and jerseys.
As with previous years, we packed our notepads and cameras, and headed out to the Grand Depart to tour team hotels looking for the hottest pro bikes and latest tech trends.
Just as with last year’s race, the 2024 Tour de France has already thrown up several notable tech trends during its first two weeks.
We’ve seen 1x drivetrains on the Galibier, ever chunkier tyres, new aero bikes and tech, waxed chains and more.
So, let’s dive into the key tech trends shaping the racing at the 2024 Tour.
1x on the Galibier
At last year’s Tour, much (digital) ink was spilled about defending champion Jonas Vingegaard’s use of a 1x drivetrain for the Tour’s hilly opening stage.
At this year’s Tour, though, Vingegaard opted for a 1x drivetrain to race over the Galibier – one of the most fearsome climbs in the French Alps – on stage 4, and barely anyone batted an eyelid.
From the limited images available, it’s hard to decipher exactly what gears Vingegaard used.
Supposing he had a 50t chainring paired with a 10-36t cassette at the rear, though, that would have provided him with a similar spread of gears to a 55/40 double crankset with an 11-29t cassette.
A bit like road disc brakes, perhaps 1x has finally been accepted as just another valid way to optimise a rider’s setup.
With the latest 12-speed drivetrains, particularly those with a 10t sprocket at the rear, though, there’s far less of a compromise – especially when the top riders are climbing so fast that smaller gear ratios clearly aren’t required beyond the most extreme gradients.
The critical distinction may be that bike and component manufacturers are no longer trying to push an all-or-nothing approach to 1x drivetrains, as has happened previously.
When 3T sponsored the Aqua Blue Sport team for the 2017 and 2018 seasons, for example, the team’s road bike – the original 3T Strada – didn’t even include the option to mount a front derailleur.
As a result, its riders were effectively forced into using 11-speed 1x drivetrains for all races, whether they liked it or not. Unsurprisingly, when the results didn’t come, many were quick to point the finger at their bike setups.
In July 2018, 3T relented and released the Strada Due (which has since been superseded by the Strada ICR), but the damage to 1x’s reputation for road racing had already been done and the team folded before it had a chance to try the new bike.
Nowadays, all riders using 1x are – ostensibly – doing so by choice, and it’s hard to argue with the tech choices of the riders and team that won all three Grand Tours last season.
New aero bikes
While all-rounder road bikes continue to dominate in the Tour peloton, the enduring influence of aerodynamics on professional cycling can’t be overlooked.
One bike brand that’s bucking trends and leaning fully into the low-drag philosophy is Dare, with its new hyper-aero Velocity Ace.
Although the bike has yet to be officially announced, Alexander Kristoff and his Uno-X teammates have been riding the new aero road bike throughout this year’s Tour after it was also teased at Eurobike.
With its deep tube shapes and aggressive wing-shaped handlebar, it could easily pass for a time trial bike if adorned with a set of triathlon bars.
Van Rysel also surprised us with a new FCR aero road bike. Although the Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale mechanics wouldn’t let us photograph it up close at their team hotel in Florence, we were nevertheless able to piece together the key details from afar – and from images taken during the opening stages of the race.
If Van Rysel’s existing RCR Pro takes inspiration from a lightweight aero all-rounder such as the Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL7, the FCR is more in the vein of a dedicated aero road bike such as the Cannondale SystemSix Hi-Mod or defunct Specialized S-Works Venge.
Deeper truncated aerofoil tube shapes feature heavily throughout the bike, with a greater effort made to integrate the top of the fork crown with the rest of the frame.
As with the RCR Pro, the FCR appears to use a Deda integrated cockpit. However, it could be a new, more aerodynamic design than the one the RCR Pro uses because the deep headset spacers suggest efforts have been made to further optimise this area.
New aero kit
Beyond those new bikes, other teams have been looking for clever ways to optimise their drag in other ways.
While they may be less practical than round bottles, Lidl-Trek riders have been using the Trek Madone SLR’s new aero water bottles.
Likewise, Mark Cavendish used Tacx aero bottles to take an historic 35th stage win on stage 5.
For an in-depth look at his record-breaking bike setup, you can check out our in-depth feature on Cavendish’s custom-painted Wilier Filante SLR. And if you want to see how bike tech has changed over his long and illustrious career, check out our comparison between Cav’s first and last Tour de France stage-winning bikes.
Looking to reclaim the Tour title from his great rival Vingegaard, Tadej Pogačar’s team also has a few new bits of aero kit up its sleeve.
First of all, it’s using Carbon-Ti X-Rotor Aero disc brake rotors. Priced at €205 per rotor, and weighing a claimed 75g (140mm), these use a structural carbon fibre carrier for a smoother transition between the mounting point and the braking surface.
Carbon-Ti doesn’t offer any figures to show how much drag they could save compared to a set of standard brake rotors.
Newcastle-based brand Evolve Aero says its Aeroto aerodynamic disc rotor covers (£79 per cover) offer “potential savings of 0.5 to 2 watts” when fitted to a front wheel, though, so the gains from the Carbon-Ti rotors could be similar.
Evolve Aero notes results will vary from wheel to wheel and from bike to bike, though.
UAE Team Emirates also has a new time-trial specific front wheel from ENVE. According to the brand, it uses a super-deep hookless rim design that’s intended to offer class-leading aerodynamic performance at a lower weight than previously possible.
Although Pogačar opted against using it for the TT on stage 7 (Pogačar instead used an AeroCoach Aeox Titan front wheel paired with an AeroCoach Aeox Orbit disc at the rear), his teammate, Tim Wellens went with it.
Could he have been gathering race data on the new wheel ahead of the Tour’s crucial final time trial on stage 21?
Just when you thought no aero stone had been left unturned, Continental announced itself as the latest brand to produce an aerodynamic tyre.
Developed in collaboration with Swiss Side and DT Swiss, the Aero 111 front tyre is based on Conti’s standard GP5000 S TR tyre but uses a patented tread pattern designed to reduce drag and improve performance with deep-section rims.
Tread patterns on road tyres may seem slightly trivial in the grand scheme of things, but Swiss Side’s aero data promises some impressive gains, especially at higher yaw angles.
With Schwalbe, ENVE, Cadex and now Continental all producing ‘aero’ tyres, we think it’s time to rubber stamp this one as an official trend.
Ever chunkier tubeless tyres and a novel new size
Talking of tyres, there have been developments in sizes too.
While 700x28c was again the most common size we saw at the 2024 Grand Depart, the average measured width continues to grow, perhaps as wheel manufacturers develop wider rims.
The 28c P Zero Race TLR RS tyres on Carlos Verona’s (Lidl-Trek) Bontrager Aeolus RSL 51 rims measured up at 30mm wide, for example, while Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) had a set of special-edition 28c GP5000 S TR tyres (with stealth logos) that measured 30.2mm-wide on his Shimano Dura-Ace C50 rims.
Cavendish also stuck to 28c Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR tyres on his Vision Metron 60 SL wheels, although some of his larger teammates opted for 30c tyres.
Just like last year, Tadej Pogačar had the widest tyres of the bunch. This year, though, he had a set of Continental GP5000 S TRs so wide they’d raise eyebrows at a cyclocross race.
Using a set of 30c tyres on ENVE SES 4.5 rims, they measured up at 32.5mm-wide at the rear and a whopping 33.3mm at the front.
Do these XL slicks explain how Pogačar was able to take time out on all of his rivals by descending the Galbier at rapid pace on stage 4? Probably not, but they can’t have hurt his confidence either.
Vingegaard’s bike was also equipped with wider tyres than at last year’s Tour. When we saw his Cervélo S5 at the Grand Depart in Bilbao, it was specced with 24.4mm Vittoria Corsa Pro tubulars.
This year, we saw his Cervélo R5 in Florence with 29c Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR tyres set up tubeless, measuring 29.7mm-wide.
That Vingegaard’s tyres have grown more than 5mm in width in a year is perhaps less notable than the fact he’s using 29c tyres in the first place – because it’s a size we weren’t aware even existed.
According to the text on the tyre, the 29c tyres are specifically for 25mm-wide rims.
We suspect these may have been created in response to the UCI’s recent directive that teams must follow the latest guidelines from the ETRTO and ISO – two international standards organisations.
Put in the spotlight by Thomas De Gendt’s crash at the UAE Tour earlier this year, the most up-to-date guidelines state the minimum tyre size for 25mm-wide rims is 29c (where it had previously been 28c).
Having a 29c option, then, might help teams avoid sizing up to marginally heavier and less aerodynamic 30c tyres.
Waxed chains gain traction
With teams always on the lookout for marginal gains, chain lubricants have become a bigger focus in recent years.
With brands such as CeramicSpeed and Silca touting waxed chains as the new gold standard for efficiency and cleanliness, we might assume every team in the WorldTour has simply switched to that approach.
The reality is different, though – some teams have and some haven’t.
Ineos Grenadiers – the team that popularised the concept of ‘marginal gains’ in the modern era – doesn’t use waxed chains, for example, instead relying on more traditional, oil-based lubricants.
Having mentioned this in one of our YouTube videos from the Grand Depart, during a feature on Geraint Thomas’ new Pinarello Dogma F, it prompted a surprising amount of consternation in the comments from our viewers.
The common thread seemed to be many felt it was unfathomable that one of the top teams in the sport wouldn’t put the extra effort in, for what many consider to be a proven performance advantage.
We’re going to explore this further in an in-depth feature coming soon, but the long and short of it is that running immersively waxed chains at the Tour is a big logistical hurdle.
Team mechanics have dozens of bikes to clean and maintain every day, and that typically involves using pressure washers and solvents to speed up the job – two things that are incompatible with waxed chains.
Mechanics could take the chain off every bike before cleaning it and then install a freshly waxed chain afterwards.
That requires additional time and resources, though, and brings risks in terms of mistakes being made during installation or inconsistencies in shifting between chains.
It’s also worth remembering a freshly waxed chain needs to be run in for a few kilometres before it reaches peak performance.
Logistics aside, many teams have sponsorship arrangements that tie them into using certain lubricants. Ineos is sponsored by Muc-Off, for example, which doesn’t make waxed-based lubricants.
As we’ve pointed out before, the pros don’t always get the best of everything – there’s plenty of great tech the pros can’t have, but you can.
Pro teams sometimes use non-sponsor-correct equipment, but doing so always risks souring commercial relationships and – ultimately – can hurt teams more in the long run.
Of course, that’s not to say it can’t be done.
Visma-Lease a Bike is all-in on waxed chains for this Tour, for example, as is Lidl-Trek – the latter partly in thanks to a prototype automatic chain waxing machine made by Belgian brand, Cyclowax.
Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates also uses AbsoluteBlack’s GraphenLube, which is available in drip-on or hot-melt form.
However, the realities of life on the road at the Tour make it a trickier process than many realise.
Strade Bianche setups for the gravel stage
The gravel roads of stage 9 created exciting racing that shook up the formula and got everyone talking.
As predicted, though, we didn’t see any dedicated gravel bikes being used.
Even Israel-Premier Tech, which used Factor’s Ostro Gravel at this year’s Paris-Roubaix, rode its ‘standard’ aero road bike – the new Factor Ostro VAM.
Ultimately, the gravel sectors bore a strong resemblance to those found in one of cycling’s most popular races, the Strade Bianche, and dedicated gravel bikes simply weren’t required.
Instead, practically everyone used their standard road bike with chunkier-than-normal tyres.
Specialized-sponsored teams also played things safe by swapping from their Turbo Cotton clincher tyres (which we covered in our recent look at Remco Evenepoel’s custom Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL8) to tubeless models – most likely either the S-Works Turbo 2BR or the S-Works Mondo 2BR.
This was an understandable switch because the tubeless sealant used to keep the tubeless systems airtight also provides a bit of extra protection against small punctures.
Tubeless tyres can also be run with tubeless tyre inserts, offering additional protection against rim damage, and a run-flat solution that enables riders to keep riding until they can get a wheel or bike change.
We don’t know which (if any) teams used inserts, of course, and clearly tubeless sealant can’t prevent all punctures, but such mitigations likely helped many riders during the stage, even if they went unnoticed. As always, we often only hear about these things when something goes wrong.
Bike tech aside, we also predicted that “most of the teams’ prep will be put into strategising for quick wheel changes and/or bike swaps in the event of inevitable punctures”, and Visma-Lease a Bike showed it had done just that.
The team had clearly learned lessons from the chaos on stage 5 of the 2022 Tour de France, from Lille to Arenberg. After dropping his chain, Vingegaard first swapped bikes with Nathan Van Hooydonck – a rider almost 20cm taller than him – before quickly realising van Hooydonck’s bike was far too big for him.
Panicking, Vingegaard almost took the bike of another teammate, before his team car finally arrived to give him one of his own. A frenzied chase back to the bunch ensued and while Vingegaard ultimately limited his losses on that stage, the whole ordeal undoubtedly caused him stress and cost him energy.
This time, when Vingegaard suffered a mechanical, he promptly swapped onto the bike of his similarly sized teammate, Jan Tratnik, and rode the rest of the stage on that.
For all the focus on bike tech and marginal gains, it clearly showed that keeping calm and making the right decision in the heat of the moment usually makes an even greater difference.
Looking forward
From here on, it’s mostly mountain stages all the way to Nice.
That means we’ll likely see riders optimising their setups for the lowest possible weight over the coming days – trying to get as close as possible to the UCI’s minimum bike weight limit of 6.8kg.
Once the race reaches the South coast of France, though, it’s worth remembering there’s no processional final stage to Paris this year.
Instead, fans will be treated to an individual time trial, taking the riders from Monaco to Nice, via the surrounding hills.
The route includes the ascent of a category 2 climb, with a length of 8.1km and an average gradient of 5.7 per cent, followed by a descent of the Col d’éze.
Given most time trial bikes are designed around speed on flat and rolling courses, though, this poses a number of interesting tech dilemmas for riders.
The climbing starts almost out of the gate, so could riders use a road bike for the climb before switching to a time trial bike for the rest of the stage?
At last year’s Tour, for example, Pogačar opted to swap from his TT bike to his road bike for the final climb during the individual time trial on stage 16. In contrast, Vingegaard stayed on his TT bike for the entire course (and ultimately won the stage by more than a minute and a half).
Of course, the best teams will have done reconnaissance rides on the course and analysed possible race scenarios.
Given swapping bikes costs valuable seconds, though, we suspect the top riders will make every effort to get their TT bikes as light as possible and ride those for the whole stage.
This is because the aerodynamic advantage offered by dedicated time trial bikes, mostly due to the riding position they enable riders to adopt, is so great it usually makes carrying the additional weight a worthwhile compromise.
As always, though, we’ll have to wait and see. Hopefully, the fight for the yellow jersey is still undecided, and we’ll get to see each rider’s performance and technical choices affect the final result.