With deep enough pockets, you could buy nearly every bike being raced at the 2026 Tour de France, but what road bikes do the best cycling teams in the world actually use? In this article, I’ll run through some of the best road bikes in the world and nominate five road bikes that deserve to be raced in the Tour de France.
There aren’t many sports where you can purchase exactly the same equipment as your idols, so cycling is different in this respect. Take the Colnago Y1Rs, for example. It’s the bike on which Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) has been making history, and for a pretty penny (£11,999) you could ride it too…
Tadej usually races a lightweight, unpainted version of the radical aero bike, complete with Enve SES Pro wheels with silver hubs and spokes.
Tadej Pogačar rides a lightweight unpainted Y1Rs
(Image credit: Getty Images)
But would you choose it over Jonas Vingegaard‘s Cervélo S5?
The Cervélo S5 (Visma-Lease a Bike) is widely regarded as one of the best aero bikes in the world. This latest version, which was released in July last year, is supposed to be much lighter and comfier than its predecessor.
Like the Y1RS, it has a bayonet-style fork which decouples the steerer from the head tube, meaning this can be made effectively deeper and thinner to improve aerodynamics. The S5’s V-shaped integrated bar-stem is also similar to the Colnago’s while its Reserve wheels are deeper at the rear than front.
Vingegaard rides a Cervelo S5
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The two favourites do use different groupsets. Pogačar‘s Team UAE Emirates-XRG is sponsored by Shimano, so the defending champion runs a 2x Dura-Ace Di2 setup. Vingegaard’s Visma-Lease a Bike is sponsored by SRAM, which supports both double and single chainrings on the road. On certain road stages, he’ll go 1x and in the mountains he’s likely to pair a 1x SRAM Red Aero chainring with a Red XPLR AXS gravel cassette and derailleur.
As for the most popular bike in the pro peloton, it’s a three-way tie. The Pinarello Dogma F is raced by Q36.5 and Netcompany-Ineos, the Canyon Aeroad CFR is used by Movistar and Alpecin Premier-Tech, and the brand new Specialized Tarmac SL9 is ridden by Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe and Soudal-Quickstep.
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The all-round Dogma F is unchanged since 2024 but Canyon gave the Aeroad CFR a new handlebar, the flared and long CP0053, earlier this year. Specialized says the Tarmac SL9 is marginally more aerodynamic than the SL8 thanks to a thinner and better integrated head tube and a slimmer seat tube which curves around the rear wheel.
Of course, Remco Evenepoel once again gets a rather special paintjob to commemorate him being the reigning Olympic Champion.
Remco Evenepoel and his Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team ride the new Specialized Tarmac SL9
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Remco and Lipowitz aren’t the only ones with new bikes. Team Total Energies has a prototype Litening Aero C:68X from German brand Cube. The key differences to the current model are its more carved out head tube, sawn-off seat cluster and very deep-topped integrated cockpit. The French team may roll out the lighter Litening Air C:68X climbing bike for mountainous days.
Team TotalEnergies have a brand new Cube
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Bahrain Victorious lines up with a brand new Bianchi called the Specialissima RC. As has become increasingly common, it’s an all-rounder that combines aero performance with low weight.
The Italian brand claims the frame weighs just 750g and that the bike is 16 watts more aerodynamically efficient than before at 50km/h. It was released a few weeks ago, so we haven’t managed to swing a leg over one yet. But Bianchi promises good compliance from its exclusive use of Countervail carbon fibre. It will be interesting to see whether Bahrain race the Specialissima instead of the Bianchi’s Oltre RC aero bike.
Bahrain Victorious have a choice between the newly updated Specialissima and Bianchi’s Oltre RC aero bike, the bikes on this team car are the Oltre models
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Orbea, ridden by Lotto-Intermarché, was another brand to officially launch a bike on the eve of the race: an updated Orca Aero. Among the usual ‘stiffer, lighter, faster’ marketing material, the Basque brand said a lower bottom bracket confers a big aero advantage over the old bike by lowering the rider’s position.
Lotto-Intermarché have a new Orbea Orca Aero to showcase
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Unsurprisingly, all 23 teams are using carbon fibre bikes. Oliver Naesen was the last Tour de France cyclist to race a metal bike, a steel Eddy Merckx Corsa, on the final stage of the 2019 Tour into Paris. The last Tour de France-winning metal bike was the Pinarello Dogma FP belonging to Oscar Pereiro. The Spaniard was awarded the 2006 title after Floyd Landis’ disqualification. Made mainly from magnesium alloy, the Dogma FP had carbon seatstays and a carbon fork. The last steel bike to win the maillot jaune was Miguel Indurain’s 1995 Pinarello. Let me know if you prefer that era of bike or the current crop of race machines in the comments below.
One of the best-looking Tour de France bikes is the bright red Wilier Filante SLR ID2 ridden by Groupama-FDJ. The Italian brand says the lightweight aero bike uses a deeper fork, aero bottles and a narrower, flared handlebar to be significantly faster than the model Mark Cavendish rode to set his Tour de France stage-win record. Wilier really seems to be delivering some excellent performing bikes at the moment so this one is well up our list of bikes to review in 2026.
Groupama-FDJ’s Wilier Filante SLR ID2 certainly turns heads
(Image credit: Getty Images)
You can’t yet buy all the 2026 Tour de France bikes because some are prototypes. These include an unnamed Van Rysel for young French GC hopeful Paul Seixas. The blacked-out bike seems to marry aspects of the French brand’s existing road race bikes, the aero RCR-F and the lighter RCR Pro, into an all-rounder platform. Watch our video for more info.
Paul Seixas rides a prototype Van Rysel
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Uno-X Mobility also has an unreleased Ridley climbing bike we spotted at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. We imagine the Norwegian team will choose what could be a new Falcon RS in the Alps and Pyrénées over the heavy Noah Fast 3.0 aero bike.
Uno-X Mobility can choose between the Ridley Noah Fast 3.0 aero bike and what we believe is a new Falcon RS, here we’ve got the Noah Fast ready to roll
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Have I missed any? Oh, yes quite a few. Cofidis has a new Look Blade 795 RS 3, which is said to come with 350 fit options. EF Education-Easypost will race the more aggressive fifth-generation Cannondale SuperSix Evo, another all-rounder which killed off the American brand’s full-fat aero bike, the SystemSix. Team Jayco-AlUla is set to exclusively race the new Giant Propel Advanced SL. Claimed to be 355g lighter and 18.4 watts faster than before, mainly thanks to fancy new Cadex components, the fourth generation Propel is an aero bike that can meet the 6.8kg UCI weight limit, leaving no room for Giant’s TCR climbing bike.
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Just popping back to that Look bike quickly, Cofidis is the only team at the 2026 Tour de France using a Campagnolo groupset. Everyone else is using either Shimano or SRAM. Ten teams are on SRAM Red and 12 are on Shimano. SRAM is definitely on the rise in pro cycling, having increased from two WorldTour teams five years ago
Mads Pedersen and Jonathan Milan will be looking to add to their haul of Tour de France stage wins for Lidl-Trek on the eighth-generation Trek Madone SLR. Featuring a hole in the seat tube for comfort, the latest Madone SLR amalgamated the Madone aero bike and Émonda climbing bike into one model in 2024.
Juan Ayus aboard Lidl-Trek’s Madone SLR, with a fetching Tour de France paintjob
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NSN Cycling Team, Biniam Girmay’s outfit, has the oldest bike in the peloton with the Scott Foil RC, an aero bike which hasn’t been updated since 2022. Scott’s newer road race bike, the Addict RC Ultimate, is too light to be raced in the WorldTour.
NSN Cycling Team’s Biniam Girmay rides the Scott Foil
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Picnic PostNL race the Lapierre Xelius DRS while Tudor Pro Cycling is a Swiss team using Swiss bikes, the BMC Teammachine R.
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Caja Rural is a Spanish team with a wildcard entry using bikes from Spanish brand MMR. This is the MMR Aelion all-rounder bike which we really don’t see a lot of in the UK or US.
XDS Astana Team ride the X-Lab AD9
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But a brand that is currently taking the world by storm is X-LAB, having partnered with hundreds of dealers in North America. XDS-Astana race the Chinese brand’s flagship race bike, the AD9.
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