The overnight controls that woke Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard during the Tour de France were designed to deny riders a predictable window in which micro-dosed EPO could disappear before testers arrived. UCI president David Lappartient has backed the International Testing Agency after Vingegaar...

Andrew Straw July 15, 2024 #-->

Fabio Jakobsen was being discussed as a rider who might soon retire. Weeks later, the former Tour de France stage winner is reportedly close to joining Team Visma | Lease a Bike. That reversal has left TV 2 Sport cycling analyst Emil Axelgaard stunned. During the Tour de France, the Dane had suggest...

The bikes used in the Tour de France Femmes typically cost between 12,000 and 13,000, based on retail pricing.However, that eye-watering headline figure comes with a bidon-full of salt. Most teams do not buy their bikes in the usual sense. Instead, they are supplied by sponsors as part of commercial agreements.Cycling tech is central to the sport and the Tour de France Femmes is one of its biggest shop windows. Getting a bike under a winning rider delivers global exposure, so brands provide equipment accordingly. Racing provides a high-profile showcase for bike brands. A.S.O./Thomas Maheux There are, of course, exceptions. Some teams will source specific components themselves where they feel theres a performance benefit to doing so. It is also worth noting that while the UCI has tightened its rules around prototype and unreleased equipment, naughty pro-only parts still appear in the peloton from time to time.With those caveats out of the way onto another. We would stress that the figures here are estimates based on publicly available retail prices at the time of writing. Using RRPs provides a consistent point of comparison, even if it does not reflect what you would pay on the street.Caveated to the hilt, lets take a closer look at the bike used by the winner of the 2025 Tour de France Femmes. Pauline Ferrand-Prvot rides a Cervlo S5 for Team Visma-Lease a Bike. Pauline Ferrand-Prvot's Cervlo S5 would cost around 12,400 to build. Ashley Quinlan / Our Media We photographed Ferrand-Prvot's bike ahead of the 2026 edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes (where she finished third). Narrower tyres and a switch to 2x gearing for most stages aside, her Tour setup wont deviate hugely from this.Based on standard retail pricing, a typical build costs 5,000 for the frameset, 3,850 for the SRAM Red AXS groupset, 2,399 for the Reserve 42|49 wheelset, 180 for a pair of Vittoria Corsa Pro tyres, 240 for the Speedplay Aero pedals and roughly 225 for the Prologo NDR Nack saddle. That brings the total to roughly 12,400.Of course, few of us build bikes up entirely from individual components, but that total aligns broadly with complete-bike pricing. A 2026 S5 with a near-identical spec, including the Visma-Lease a Bike paintjob, is listed at 11,999 RRP (minus pedals).Note the figures above do not include accessories such as a bike computer, mounts, bottles or cages, which can add 1,000-plus. Shoes, helmets and clothing will push the total package far beyond 13,000, depending on spec.

Naomi Lindfield July 10, 2023 #-->

Good morning and welcome to the liveblog of the Tour de France Femmes. Stage 3 sees the peloton cross into France after two days of racing on Swiss roads. On paper, this could be a day for the breakaway, with the organisers having designed a demanding route. However, the sprinters' teams may still b...

Good morning and welcome to the liveblog of the Tour de France Femmes. Stage 3 sees the peloton cross into France after two days of racing on Swiss roads. On paper, this could be a day for the breakaway, with the organisers having designed a demanding route. However, the sprinters' teams may still b...

Today's Weekend Snapshot is bursting with reminders of the simple beauty of traveling by bicycle. In it, we share a captivating mix of scenes from rides around Lithuania, Wyoming, and the Faroe Islands. Browse the latest installment and share something from one of your recent trips here...The post Weekend Snapshot appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com.

Lightweight carbon wheels may all the buzz these days, but when you simply want a reliable no-nonsense setup, DT Swiss updated 1800-series of road & gravel wheels are hard to argue with. Lightweight & now wider discipline-specific low-profile aluminum rims, premium 370 hubs with proven Ratchet engagement, aero DT spokes, even a dynamo hub option for the adventure curious, plus of course, hooked tubeless-ready out of the box.These new DT Swiss A1800, E1800 & G1800 are the perfect choice if you want performance wheels that you wont have to worry about once you stick them on your bike.DT Swiss A/E/G 1800 aluminum wheels for dropbar bikes(All photos/DT Swiss)DT Swiss has 4 new affordable aluminum performance wheelsets in their dropbar 1800-series, all selling for the same 400 pricetag. And, a new dynamo upgrade option for the gravel wheels for just a hundred euros more. Plus, you can also pick up the new endurance road & gravel rims separately if you want to build your own custom wheels.So, whats new?Wider, more angular, lighter & more options1800s have been around for years as DTs affordable performance line. Popular for a more affordable upgrade from OEM wheels, a low-profile look better suited for traditional steel, aluminum, or titanium frame styles, or just as a second wheelset for your all-rounder allroad or gravel bike. Now, Aero road, Endurance road & Gravel road wheels get built around two millimeter wider, weight-optimized hooked-tubeless rims.Aero road grows to 22mm internal. Endurance rims to 24mm. And gravel rims to 26mm internal.While the 30mm deep Aero rim stays, well aerodynamic in shape, the 20mm deep Endurance and Gravel rims move to a more angular cross section. The newly flatter sides create visible bulges between the sidewall & spoke bed, with DT explaining that this helped significantly reduce wheel weight while enhancing durability when the terrain becomes more demanding.The new wider E1800 wheels are 137g lighter than their predecessor now just 1627g with the 24mm internal width. And the new wider G1800 wheels are 154g lighter than their predecessor now just 1681g with the 26mm internal width.And for more options, the G1800 wheelset now offers a Shutter Precision dynamo front hub option in both the Spline (aero straight pull) and Classic (medium J-bend flange) hub options. Its the same SP-made PL-7 dynamo generator tech weve seen in 350 series hubs to power your wired-in (and StVZO-compliant) lighting for a year and a half. Just now, in an additional complete wheelset option.Tech detailsAero road: A 1800 Spline DB wheelset30mm deep aero aluminum rim with sleeved joint22mm hooked tubeless internal widthDT 370 straight pull hubs with 36T Ratchet LN engagementShimano HG or SRAM XDR freehubs standard (all others available aftermarket)12mm thru-axles & centerlock disc brake only24 DT Aero Comp Wide bladed spokes laced 2x front & rear, with Pro Lock alloy nipplesASTM 2 rated, max 130kg rider+bike system weight1824g wheelset weight (claimed)Endurance road: E 1800 Spline DB wheelset20mm deep angular aluminum rim with sleeved joint24mm hooked tubeless internal widthDT 370 straight pull hubs with 36T Ratchet LN engagementShimano HG or SRAM XDR freehubs standard (all others available aftermarket)12mm thru-axles & centerlock disc brake only24 DT Aero Comp Wide bladed spokes laced 2x front & rear, with Pro Lock alloy nipplesASTM 2 rated, max 120kg rider+bike system weight1627g wheelset weight (claimed)new E 470 aluminum endurance all-road rim20mm deep angular aluminum rim with sleeved joint24mm hooked tubeless internal widthavailable in 24-, 28- & 32-hole drilling469g claimed rim weightGravel road: G 1800 Spline or Classic DB wheelset20mm deep angular aluminum rim with sleeved joint26mm hooked tubeless internal widthDT 370 straight pull hubs with 36T Ratchet LN engagement, ORDT 370 Classic flange hubs with 36T Ratchet LN engagementShimano HG, MicroSpline Road, or SRAM XDR freehubs standard (all others available aftermarket)optional DT x SP PL-7 dynamo generator 350 front hub in either straight pull or Classic J-bend configuration12mm thru-axles & centerlock disc brake only24 DT Aero Comp Wide bladed spokes laced 2x front & rear, with Pro Lock alloy nipplesSpline wheels are ASTM 2 rated, max 130kg rider+bike system weight1681g Spline wheelset weight (claimed, without dynamo)Classic wheels are ASTM 2 rated, max 150kg rider+bike system weight1858g Classic wheelset weight (claimed, without dynamo)new G 500 aluminum gravel rim20mm deep angular aluminum rim with sleeved joint26mm hooked tubeless internal widthavailable in 24-, 28- & 32-hole drilling496g claimed rim weightDT Swiss 1800-series alloy drop bar wheels Pricing, options & availabilityA 1800 SplineE 1800 SplineG 1800 SplineG 1800 Classic DynamoEach of the four new DT Swiss aluminum 1800 wheelsets sells for the same $609 / 400 starting price tag. The dynamo option for the two G1800 variants adds just $105 / 54, making this a surprisingly affordable way to start setting up an adventure-ready bike with built-in lighting that never needs recharging $714 / 454 for a pair with a dynamo. All of the new 1800-series aluminum wheelsets come pre-taped for tubeless, and include tubeless valves. The dynamo wheels include a dynamo wiring connector.E470 & G500 rimsBoth of the new sleeved aluminum rims sell for $79 / 45.And all are available now through DT retailers and bike shops.DTSwiss.com

Last summer, for unhappy reasons, I became the custodian of a bicycle by Richard Sachs, who is (say it with me now) the Karl Farbman of Bicycles:While over that time I have made some changes to it (seatpost and stem for fit, wheels because of wheel stuff), Ive refrained from making more substantive alterationsnot because Im trying to maintain it as some kind of memorial, but more because everything has been working really nicely and Ive been enjoying it very much as is. Also, when you start tinkering theres always the danger youll be tempted to acquire new stuff, and while Id never completely forswear the acquisition of new bicycles and components, Ive been doing my best to take on new stuff simply to augment the perfectly good bikes I already have.However, if you suffer from The Illness, no matter how good the bike youre riding may be, you cant hep thinking about ways to make even it betterand in the case of the Farbman, my thoughts have turned repeatedly to that single-ring drivetrain. What I like about it is its simplicity; it works reliably and well, and if I were using this bike to race cyclocross it would be perfect. However, I am not using this bike to race cyclocross, and at this point in my life I can pretty much guarantee I never will again. Instead, I am using the Farbman as what people these days might term an all-road or (egads) gravel bike, and in that capacity I do miss having more than one chainring, since on the road having to toggle your way though a bunch of gears rather than just make a front shift can feel a little pointless, like taking several baby-sized steps instead of one big grown-up step.Another issue with the drivetrain has been that the range is a bit narrow for general road riding. It could use a little more on both the high end and the low end, and with a single ring drivetrain like this you can have either/or, but you cant have both. Thanks to gravity, adding lower gears is more of a priority than adding higher ones, and the derailleur can handle a larger cassette than whats on there, so a simple solution would be to change the cassette. However, I dont have such a cassette on hand, Im trying not to get new stuff, and ultimately a few more teeth arent going to make that much of a difference anyway.Then theres the SRAM shifter. I certainly dont hate it, and I do get why some people prefer SRAM over the others. (When SRAM road shifters first came out my friend changed all his bikes to them and never looked back.) However, of the Big Three integrated road bike shifters of this era, mechanically and ergonomically SRAM are my least favorite. (As for Shimano versus Campagnolo, for me its too close to call.) The oddest thing to me about SRAM shifters is that, because of the whole double-tap thing, if youre in your lowest gear and you accidentally try to downshift (as you sometimes do when youre on a very steep climb and youre under duress), the system will actually upshift instead, which is the last thing you want when youre on a very steep climb and under duress. My friend was one of those preternaturally smooth riders who rarely made technical mistakes on the bike, so for him it was most likely a total non-issue, and even an ungainly rider such as myself only makes this mistake maybe every 10 rides or something. So while I could certainly keep using the SRAM shifter indefinitely and be perfectly happy, when youve got bins full of other types of shifters as I do you cant help thinking about changing them.However, until now I have not changed the drivetrain to address any of the above, and thats for want of one simple part:See, the Farbman has top tube cable routing, and in order to use your standard issue bottom-pull derailleur you simply bolt one of these things to the seat tube (theres a mounting point already there for it and everything), loop the cable around it, and thats it.But I dont happen to have the part.So why not just spend the measly $8.99 for the part and change the drivetrain? Because I have The Illness, and Ive made a weird commitment not to buy new stuff for my current bikes whenever possible, all so I can pretend Im not being wasteful and therefore justify the future acquisition of a new bicycle. So without this part, which would be the literal lynchpin for a double- or even triple-ring conversion of the Farbman bike, I have refrained from doing so until now.Then, this past weekend, I realized that, while I may not have the pulley thingy, I do have a top-pull derailleur. (When I was clearing out my friends bike stuff, I sold or donated almost all of it, though I still have a few odds and endsincluding, as it turns out, one or two top-pull derailleurs.) So 14 months after becoming the Farbmans caretaker, I figured Id finally reconfigure the drivetrain.With the front shifting issue potentially solved, the problem wasnt a lack of parts; it was a surfeit of them. Ive got all sorts of shifters and cranks and derailleurs, so I started pulling stuff out and mixing and matching. How should I approach this logic problem? Did I want friction bar-end shifting? Integrated shifting? Should I just move the Campy drivetrain over wholesale from the Bargain Basement Bike? Since the top-pull derailleur was technically for a mountain bike system it might not work perfectly with an integrated Shimano shifter on a double crank, so either the Campy or at least a front friction shifter seemed like the best option. Maybe Id even go triple and do a front bar-end and rear STI thing. I even weighed a Dura Ace STI lever and a brake lever/bar end combo to see what the weight difference wasnot because it matters, but because I was curious:Turns out the difference is negligible:Finally, after considering all the various permutations, I narrowed it down to front and rear bar-end shifters, a Silver3 crank set up as a triple, and two low-normal rear derailleurs (low-normal pairs very well with bar-end shifters):Ultimately I chose the OM-1, not only because it matched the crank, but also because its chain wrap capacity would be a perfect match with the cassette and crank and even let me keep using the same chain:I budgeted about two hours to do all this work and it ended up taking at least six, but despite my best efforts to screw up everything went together very smoothly, and I was even able to re-use the bar tape:Thats a Silver derailleur, and a Silver crank, but as much as I liked the idea of a Farbman with an all-Rivendell drivetrain those are not Silver shifters. Instead I used these:These are special, because theyre 10-speed Dura-Ace shifters with a friction mode, which few people realize ever existed:Of course the OM-1 derailleur is meant to be used with friction shifters, so Im obviously using the Shimano shifters in friction mode, right? Wrong! Rivendell dont tout this, but unofficially the OM-1 works with indexed shifters too:And yes, thats the chain after I cleaned it. What can I say? I was serious about not getting any new stuff.Anyway, its only been one ride so far, but everything is running smoothly and the new configuration feels like a major improvement:With the function of the controls distributed evenly across bar I now feel like Im sitting behind a proper workstation::The bike was a pleasure to ride before, but its really too nice a bike not to have All The Gears:Maybe one day it will finally stop raining and I can ride it again