The Tour de France is in full swing, with the time trial stages starting a few days ago. This is an interesting opportunity to check out what kind of sports technology the riders are using: bike computers, trainers, washing machines, electric fans (the kind that spin, not loud ones), etc.
In the video above, we walk you through the entire team/technical zone (known as the paddock) and explain how it all works – from the warm-up routine/schedule to each step from warm-up to the start gate (including UCI checks, extra warm-up trainers at the start gate, etc.) And of course we talk about pineapples.
Now, the stages of the Tour de France are basically divided into two categories: normal stages and time trial stages. I think there are gravel stages too, but I’ll keep it brief here. The bikes used in these two categories are different, and some teams use additional equipment that is not usually used on road stages. For example, very few riders do a warm-up on normal road stages, because it’s built into about 10km of the race. However, some teams use trainers to cool down after the stage.
Similarly, when it comes to bikes, different bikes have different groupset configurations and often different bike computers and bike computer mounts – for example, in this year’s time trial stages we saw more teams using the smaller (and older) Garmin Edge 130 Plus than any other time trial stage to date.
If you’re looking for a slight performance boost at the tip of this TT, it makes sense to shave a few grams off the weight and aerodynamic impact here – although of course it may be logistically easier to fit the mount into the gap space of the aerobars.
Of course, the use of TT bikes means that this is not a good stage to look closely at what bike computers teams typically use, just as it is not a good stage to look closely at what power meters power meter companies typically use. For the most part, the power meters are consistent with the Shimano/SRAM sponsorship of the teams, with the exception of one team, SRM (Team UAE). There are 15 teams on Shimano, four on SRAM, and three on either FSA or SRM.
However, during normal road stages you can also get a sneak peek at which Shimano teams are fitted with power meter pedals in order to get more accurate data. The teams are keeping the pressure on Shimano in this field and outside of the visible races where people like me take photos of the bikes, many Shimano equipped teams and riders are now using power meter pedals in order to get more accurate training power data.
Now, some things aren’t easily visible on a TT stage, but one item that isn’t easily visible on a normal stage is trainers. So, let’s dig into that. As always, all of these trainer partnerships are sponsored by their respective manufacturers. Of particular note is that Elite announced the Elite Justo 2 and Elite Avanti trainers just two days before Eurobike 2024. And, sure enough, many of the Elite team were using them during their warm-ups. There’s the Justo 2 and there’s the Avanti. Here’s the Justo 2.
But perhaps the most interesting Elite tidbit is the one item that wasn’t announced: the following trainer from Team Decathlon.
At first glance it looked like the previously sold Elite Direto XR, but then I noticed the “Team Edition” sticker, and since it was for teams I assumed it was just marketing stuff, but after texting with Elite I discovered it was in fact a legitimate new edition of the Elite Direto XR with new software features.
Specifically, this new Elite Direto XR Team Edition will feature Race Mode (10Hz data transfer), Shimano Di2 Trainer Control, Pain Break and Standalone Mode. It will be available exclusively at Decathlon later this summer. This is a smart partnership and it’s great to see Elite adding these features.
Additionally, Tacx was equipping some teams with the Tacx NEO 3M while others were equipped with the Tacx NEO 2T. As always, Tacx was skinning trainers (NEO 3M units) for the team currently holding the title jersey, such as the KOM/Sprinter etc jersey.
Interestingly, we discovered on Instagram that the skinning of these trainers isn’t done by Tacx directly, but by a third-party company, Wrap My Bike.
You can also see similar skins/stickers by Wahoo on team trainers, like this one for Team EF:
Additionally, we also see bike computer skins, with yellow jersey holder Tadej Pogačar seen sporting a Wahoo BOLT V2 with yellow decals.
Either way, here is a complete list of which teams were using which trainers. In cases where there may have been a mix of trainers, I used the most prevalent trainers, but in most cases, if there were any unusual trainers, it was usually just one or two different models of trainer.
Oh, and finally, near the start gate at the TT there is a collection of trainers for the riders to ride. I’m not sure if the various teams just put this there for all their riders or how it works, but there was basically a Noah’s Ark of trainers, with at least one from each brand, and maybe two, ensuring that riders had options if they wanted to continue warming up until the last seconds. These were usually done on a second road bike brought in by the team mechanic.
But there were also two sets of Elite rollers on offer in case riders wanted to do the same on their TT bikes and avoid the hassle of having to change wheels at the last second.
So, keep an eye out for sports tech in upcoming Tour de France stages and the women’s division (this year it’s conveniently starting in the Netherlands where I live).
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