This week at the Tour de France, French bikemaker Lapierre marked their 80th anniversary with Team Picnic PostNL riding a limited-edition, lighter-than-ever Xelius DRS aero road bike. Their flagship lightweight aero road racing bike gets a lighter layup and a special edition paint job, meant to celebrate eight decades of bike building and racing. Debuted on Bastille Day at the Tour, just 100 individually numbered anniversary frames will be made available to cyclists. So snap one up quickly!Lapierre Xelius DRS aero road bike, 80th Anniversary edition(Photo Chris Auld/Team Picnic PostNL)Painted in a subtle 3-color blue fade dubbed Kinetic Dust, Lapierre describes the anniversary edition Xelius DRS as a celebration of the legacy Gaston Lapierre began in 1946. The anniversary frameset introduces a new Kinetic Dust colourway concept, which illustrates the emotional residue of performance. Visually, this design is represented by particle dispersion across the frame, with the density increasing in areas put under the highest stress, such as the bottom bracket, aero fork, and the junction of the seat stays and top tube. The backward scattering of the dust also embodies the continuous forward movement.The dark blue represents the brands heritage & legacy. The middle teal suggests motion & modern performance, or as Lapierre also describes it, the moment pain transforms into momentum. And finally, the Champagne is an on-the-nose reference to success and winning races. This Xelius DRS has been raced to stage victories in all three of the Grand Tours, after all.The bike itselfLapierre launched the 6th gen Xelius DRS back in late 2024, as a unique all-rounder combining top-tier aerodynamics, comfort from its unique seatstay configuration, and ultralight weight. Faster on the flats, faster on the climbs. Perfect for Grand Tour racing.It already came in two carbon spec levels: a 908g frame that gets built into complete bikes starting at 3600 with 105 Di2, and a 790g frame that looks to start now for builds from around 6500 with Force AXS. But now, theres an even lighter ultra-premium UD Factory Lab carbon layup just for this anniversary bike. With a claimed weight of just 740g, it is now even lighter than Lapierres previous Xelius SL climbers bike.Tech detailsXelius DRS UD Factory Lab ultra-high-modulus UD carbon frame & fork 740g claimed frame weight (size M, unpainted without hardware)80th Anniversary Kinetic Dust paint job blending dark blue, teal & champagneincludes size-specific Lapierre 1-piece carbon cockpit with 5 flareall Xelius DRS bikes include thru-axle with multi-tool, plus out-front GPS mounts1.5 Acros integrated headset for fully internal cable routingproprietary D-shaped aero carbon seatpost, 0mm offsetmechanical or electronic 2x shifting compatible32mm max tire clearanceflat mount disc brake with 12mm thru-axles3 frame sizes available (S-L)Lapierre Xelius DRS 80th Anniversary edition Pricing and AvailabilityOnly 100 individual 80th Anniversary Xelius DRS framesets will be sold globally. The special 80th edition sells for 4500, include painted-to-match frame & fork, plus seatpost, headset, cockpit, GPS mount, thru-axles, and integrated multi-tool. It is available in small, medium, or large sizes only. (Photo Chris Auld/Team Picnic PostNL)Pre-orders are open now until the one hundred frames sell out. Lapierre will deliver the framesets to buyers starting in October 2026. Then, its up to you how you build it up. LapierreBikes.com

Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) outsprinted breakaway partner Harold Tejada (XDS-Astana) to win stage 13 in Belfort at the end of what was the longest stage of this year's Tour de France.The pair nipped out of the final selection of a huge breakaway that had established itself after around 30km of riding.With the cat-one climb of the Ballon d'Alsace to be crested with 30km to go, many eyes were on Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5) with his elite descending ability. But the descent was not steep and technical enough and, when Schmid and Tejada broke clear, his challenge ultimately faded out.More to follow...

This week: rail operator bans non-folding e-bikes, Lime contract ended in Melbourne, a knock-on effect of NJ bike licensing, plus Segway update unlocks auto shifting

The 2026 Tour de France will take place from the 4th to the 26th of July. Throughout the21 stages, the peloton will be racing through the mountains, sprint stages, cobblestones, individual and team time trials, and even. We take a look at all stages, their official profiles, and preview the days -...

So its the magical time of year when were all transported to the French Alps. When we watch (or listen to) the Tour de France while we should be working. Where we dare to dream if a rider will emerge from the field that was waiting to prove his might against the favorites. Watching the riders overcome the most grueling and punishing elements that this new climate can throw at them. Last but not least, we ask, Is what Im watching naturally possible, or am I signing up to be let down by another super-human once-in-a-lifetime effort?(Photo by Spring Cycling Agency/UAE Team Emirates)Is The Tour de France Clean?The latter question has bubbled to the top more in recent years, especially as Tadej Pogaar looks all but clear for a 5th Tour de France victory. Anyone who lived (and believed) through the Lance Armstrong era knows the feeling, that cheated feeling. Who can we really ask about these kinda of things? Our buddy (and persistent thorn in cyclings doping side) Phil Gaimon decided to take a different approach to his yearlyare they doping?Tour de France talk. This time, Gaimon brings on Tom Danielson for a longer conversation about doping. If you know anything about Tom Danielson, this is a pretty big deal. You can check it out in the video below or in the linked podcast.This guest choice is not random. Danielson comes with his own history, including doping sanctions. It is a conversation between people who know the sports baggage. But still think the current peloton deserves more than blanket suspicion every time the racing gets hard to believe.Gaimon is not asking anyone to forget cyclings past; its impossible not to. Because theres a difference between healthy skepticism and just yelling doping at every result you do not understand.Ride fast, Do Drugs, Tell Lies oh, Lance! (Photo/BikeRumor)SoAre They All Doping?The conversation between Gaimon and Danleison delves into the uncomfortable aspects of being a cycling fan in 2026. We want fast racing, big attacks, and history-making performances. Unfortunately when they happen, half the internet decides they must be fake. That tension is not going away, especially at the Tour.But Gaimons conversation is worth hearing. Because the past matters, up-to-date drug testing matters, and transparency matters. So does giving current riders at least some room to race before dragging every old scandal back onto their shoulders.Doping talk will always be part of cycling. Maybe it should be. The sport earned that baggage the hard way. But this video is a better conversation than the usual comment-section sludge.Watch the video, hear the argument, then decide where you land.

The 2026 Tour de France classifications will shift across three weeks of racing, from the Grand Dpart in Barcelona on 4 July to the final stage in Paris on 26 July. Across time trials, sprint stages, breakaway opportunities and the high mountains, each day can alter the shape of the race for yellow...

Tom Pidcock put his chips on the breakaway during stage 13 of the Tour de France and it proved to be a successful plan. The Briton jumped into fourth place in the overall classification after taking the race by storm in the long stage that finished in Belfort. "I don't think it will be easy for any...

Despite just nine seconds separating Tom Pidcock from the Tour de France podium after stage 13, rival teams professed that they were not worried by his rise.After infiltrating the day's break, the Pinarello Q36.5 rider ended up gaining 7:34 on his general classification rivals, which moved him up to fourth. He's now seven seconds ahead of Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek), 20 seconds ahead of Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM), 29 seconds ahead of Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), and seven seconds behind Remco Evenepoel (also Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe). Tadej Pogaar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) remains far ahead in the lead, obviously, and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) is over 30 seconds ahead, but the GC has been shaken up. It could be enough to make other riders and teams uncomfortable. However, sports directors at both Red Bull and Lidl-Trek remained confident that giving up so much time to Pidcock, who finished third at the Vuelta a Espaa last year, would not hurt their chances overall. Asked if he was concerned, Red Bull's Patxi Villa said: "Not really. I mean, the effort of today will come tomorrow... What he did today was a move, you have to measure a bit what you do now. I believe that was a super ride, but I think there will be a cost, a bill will come. Not tomorrow, then sometime."Steven de Jongh, DS at Lidl-Trek, concurred. "That's not too worrying," he said. "The gap we gave to Pidcock is just minimal. I'm not underestimating him, but I think he had a different run-up to the Tour than he had to the Vuelta. Of course, you cannot exclude him, but I'm happy where we are now. It's a different picture, but for us it's still good."The key, according to both, is that both stages 14 and 15, plus the time trial on stage 16, will prove who the real podium contenders are. This weekend sees back-to-back mountain stages, with Saturday a battle in the Vosges, counting three category-one climbs, before the first hors catgorie summit finish of the race on Sunday, to the Plateau de Solaison. There follows the second rest day, after which there is a 26.1km individual time trial, potentially the weakest of Pidcock's suits."Tomorrow is a master stage, so to keep the team good, we just pulled when we had to," Villa explained. "When the gap goes a bit too much, it's too much... being together it's ok, but giving more time to a guy like Tom, that would not be comfortable. That's why we pulled the last 4km of the climb to the finish line. "It's a risk you take, but we wanted to keep the team together and as comfortable as possible, and we entered into the action when it was getting critical. Tomorrow will be a big fight, one of the biggest of the Tour probably. We are facing here one of the key moments of Tour. Tomorrow will give a pretty clear idea."De Jongh agreed: "The next two days are super hard, then the rest day and the TT, and things will change. Tomorrow is super hard, it's a full GC day, like Sunday is. It's a very hard stage, we reconned it and it's very hard."Pidcock's rivals might feel calm about their chances of overcoming the Pinarello rider in the rest of the race, but it does still seem like a mistake to give him this time that they will still have to fight to take back. The Tour moves on, and in 24 hours the top 10 could be changed again, but for now, the Briton's will feature more significantly in other teams' morning briefings.

Aero bikes, aero bikes everywhere This years scorchingly fast Tour de France is shaping up to be one of the quickest ever. But are bike brands struggling to keep pace with modern cyclings rapid racing revolution? We talked to Colnagos lead engineer about how the pelotons current crop is pushing their equipment to the limit

The Tour de France can be decided on the hardest days, but also on some that look less difficult. Although Tadej Pogacar didn't have to move and wasn't tested during today's 13th stage, the average speed of almost 50Km/h will in his opinion continue to build fatigue in everyone in the race, somethin...