Last Updated on March 25, 2024 by Emmanuel
The Tour de France is so enjoyable that many can’t help but find free time to watch the riders climb the sweaty tracks, descend the valleys at high speed, or ride the Champs Elysées.
However, you might also wonder if Tour de France riders use multiple bikes like many others; relax to read this thorough content.
Table of Contents
Can Cyclists in the Tour de France Use Multiple Bikes?
It belongs to each cycling team to define the maximum road their riders must have individually; the typical practice is a road and a time-trial bike per rider.
Besides, professional cyclist teams can bring spare road bikes and extra time trial bicycles to support their riders immediately when theirs become faulty.
For example, the following cycling stage can be flat or have lots of climbing like the French Alps, requiring specific road bicycles.
A team can also change the average rider’s initial bike’s gearing, wheels, or other components while ensuring the team leader has the required bikes to compete suitably.
You would have noticed that the team leader often relies on other teammates who ride as a team rather than competing individually.
A teammate can for example pass his bicycle to the leader when he has mechanical problems.
Such quick help lets the team leader continue the race without losing time while the support rider waits for the team car to replace the faulty bike.
Also, the Mavic brand that sponsors the TdF provides neutral support to all teams. It can for example replace faulty wheels or give a generic bike to riders who can’t get immediate support from their teams.
How Much Do The Road Bikes Used in the Tour de France Weigh?
The TdF professional cyclists used to ride light biles in the 200s but the rule has changed; their teams must bring heavier road bicycles.
Old bikes’ frames typically weighed below five kg, while the Union Cyclist International’s rule was six point eight kg limit.
It required teams to add weight compulsory to comply with the UCI’requirenest but now the bicycle manufacturers prioritize aerodynamics.
Also, the bikes on the Tour de France must have tubeless tires, disc brakes, and other known components.
- Caleb Ewan from the Jayco-AlUla team used to ride a 7.80 kg bicycle before retiring.
- The fast and flat stages required Alberto Bettiol to ride a Cannondale SystemSix Hi-Mod weighing 8.16 kg.
- Jasper Stuyven had a Trek Madone SLR weighing 8.26kg.
- John Degenkolb’s bike was a new Scott Foil RC designed for the pro peloton weighing 7.71.
- Taco van der Hoorn had a Cube Litening C:68X TE weighing 7.87kg to excel in the peloton.
How Many Gears Do the Tour de France Bikes Have?
The bicycles used in the most critical races, such as the Tour de France tend to have 12-speed electronic groupsets.
Shimano, Trek-Selgafredo, Movistar, Cannondale, and other brands that sponsor the TdF also equip their bicycles with carbon wheels and other quality components.
Also, the professional peloton bikes have tubeless wheels and tires, as we previously highlighted.
Have Specific Bicycle Brands Won the Most Tour de France?
The Tour de France started in 1903, and many brand bikes won from ten until 2024 in which we are writing this content.
For example, Jonas Vingegaard won the yellow jersey in the 2022 edition after Tadej Pogacar won it previously riding the Colnago Prototipo bikes.
We can go on to give some other examples but let’s stop here; feel free to do your research online
When Did Wearing Helmets Become Compulsory in the Tour de France?
Now wearing quality helmets typically leads to severe accidents including fatal ones, which can be avoided if you have this protective gear.
For example, the Russian professional rider Andrei Kivilev died on 12 March at the Paris – Nice stage.
Andrei Kivilev’s death led the Union Cyclist International (UCI) to make wearing helmets compulsory.
Each endorsed race must require its riders to wear helmets that protect their faces and heads to increase their riding safety.
Many appreciated that UCI’s decision was wise; the Tour de France hasn’t registered any other fatal accident since 2003.
As you would have noticed, everyone who uses a bicycle wears a helmet to protect themselves.
The Content Final Thoughts.
That’s what we can tell about whether racers in the Tour de France use multiple bikes; we hope this content is helpful.
Be it a tea leader, his supporter, or teammates, they all have multiple bikes to tackle the climbs, time trials, etc., but most riders only have two bikes.
To whether racers in the Tour De France use multiple bikes, the answer is that they do.
Also, the prestigious Tour de France racing requires endurance and physical strength from the start to the end.
We hope to meet in the coming TdF when riders enjoy riding the twenty-one stage on the emblematic Champs Elysees.
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