{"id":696850,"date":"2026-07-17T15:38:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T15:38:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/696850\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T15:38:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T15:38:53","slug":"the-bike-no-tour-de-france-pro-wants-to-ride-shimanos-neutral-service-bike-has-a-ten-year-old-frame-and-a-dropper-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/696850\/","title":{"rendered":"The bike no Tour de France pro wants to ride: Shimano’s neutral service bike has a ten-year-old frame and a dropper post"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s the bike that every competitor at the Tour de France hopes they won\u2019t have to ride. <\/p>\n

But Shimano’s neutral service bikes are ready for action when a rider has a mechanical problem that makes their own bike unrideable and their team car is too far away for a quick bike swap. It’s an essential service that keeps the race moving, even if riders will avoid jumping aboard one of the iconic blue bikes at all costs.<\/p>\n

In the event of an emergency situation, however, taking a neutral service bike from the Shimano car keeps a stricken rider pedalling towards the finish line until their team car can make contact and give them one of their own spare bikes. <\/p>\n

\"ShimanoThe bike no Tour de France pro wants to ride… Simon von Bromley \/ Our Media<\/p>\n

Even Tadej Poga\u010dar rode a blue Shimano neutral service bike<\/a> for around 5km at Paris-Roubaix this year before a swap to his spare Colnago Y1Rs<\/a> carried by his UAE Team Emirates XRG team car.<\/p>\n

We spotted a fleet of Shimano neutral service bikes at the Grand D\u00e9part of this year’s race in Barcelona and took the opportunity to get a closer look. And to put it on the scales.<\/p>\n

Hidden in plain sight
\n\"ShimanoAn iconic sight at pro races: the Shimano neutral service car. Getty Images<\/p>\n

As we reported at Paris-Roubaix, Canyon’s previous-generation Ultimate CF SLX is used as Shimano’s neutral service bike, painted in the Japanese brand’s blue livery.<\/p>\n

How do we know? Well, there are plenty of giveaways.<\/p>\n

\"\"The frame sticker shows the frame is a Canyon Ultimate from 2016. <\/p>\n

Firstly, it has a UCI homologation sticker, with the frame logged as CANY.RO49.RD. Plus, the stem is a Canyon V13 alloy number. <\/p>\n

And that’s before taking a look at the frame shape, which sports the Ultimate’s relatively simple tube profiles and flowing seatstays.<\/p>\n

\"\"The 120mm stem on the neutral service bikes also comes from Canyon. <\/p>\n

The Canyon Ultimate frameset<\/a> was approved by the UCI in February 2016, so it\u2019s now over ten years old, and was one of the first road bikes commercially available with disc brakes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ShimanoA two-part alloy cockpit in 2026? You bet! Simon von Bromley \/ Our Media<\/p>\n

Ready for rapid adjustment
\n\"\"The dropper post is pre-set to the height of a rider fancied to win the stage. <\/p>\n

Quick saddle-height adjustment<\/a> is key, so the neutral service bikes are fitted with a Pro dropper post, with the height adjustment lever mounted on the left drop of the Pro handlebars. <\/p>\n

The dropper cable feeds into the frame\u2019s down tube, along with the rear brake hose.<\/p>\n

\"\"But the dropper lever on the bars allows the saddle height to be adjusted to suit other riders. <\/p>\n

Even with the dropper post to alter saddle height, Shimano’s neutral service cars carry a range of frame sizes to fit the variety of rider heights.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While the dropper post may help a desperate Tour rider into a rideable position, there’s no doubt that hopping on a neutral service bike will feel very alien indeed. Professional cyclists spend hundreds of hours in the saddle every year, in a finely-tuned position, and anything other than their own bike will feel like going from a Formula One car to a Fiat Panda.<\/p>\n

\"\"The dropper cable and rear brake hose are taped together and feed into the down tube.
\nShimano Dura-Ace components and Continental tyres
\n\"\"There’s a 54\/40t Dura-Ace crankset fitted. <\/p>\n

As you\u2019d expect, the bike is kitted out with componentry from Shimano and its Pro brand. That includes a Dura-Ace groupset with a 54\/40t crankset and 11-34t cassette.<\/p>\n

\"\"It’s paired with a Dura-Ace 11-34t cassette and Dura-Ace derailleur. <\/p>\n

The Dura-Ace C50 wheels are fitted with 28c Continental Grand Prix 5000 S TR tyres.<\/p>\n

\"\"Dura-Ace C50 wheels are fitted with 28c Conti GP 5000 S TR tyres. <\/p>\n

As well as the bars and dropper post, Pro supplies the alloy-railed Stealth saddle and composite bottle cages.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Pro Stealth saddle has previous-generation graphics.
\n\"ShimanoThe bottle cages come from Pro, too. Simon von Bromley \/ Our Media
\nRun, Froomey, run…
\n\"ChrisChris Froome failed to get going on a Mavic neutral service bike in 2016, eventually opting to run up Mont Ventoux until he was caught by his team car. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Back in 2016, Chris Froome tried but failed to ride a neutral service bike<\/a> on Mont Ventoux, before resorting to running up that mountain. <\/p>\n

Mavic was in charge of neutral service at the Tour at the time, and the bike Froome tried to use was fitted with the wrong pedal system for Froome, highlighting one of the issues with providing one bike for all riders.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The bike we checked had Shimano Dura-Ace pedals fitted, but the neutral service cars also carry bikes fitted with Look, Time and Speedplay pedals. <\/p>\n

Incompatible pedals can be an issue even within teams, as Mathieu van der Poel found when he tried to ride Jasper Philipsen\u2019s bike<\/a> at Paris-Roubaix this year. <\/p>\n

The Shimano bike we checked had Shimano Dura-Ace pedals fitted, but neutral service will have other bikes on their cars\u2019 roofs fitted with Look, Speedplay and Time pedals, to avoid the problem.\u00a0<\/p>\n

How much does a neutral service bike weigh?
\n\"\"The 8.03kg weight isn’t bad. <\/p>\n

The size M bike we checked was 8.03kg \u2013 not bad for a bike with a two-piece alloy stem and bar, and a dropper post fitted.<\/p>\n

How does that compare to the current crop of Tour de France bikes<\/a>?<\/p>\n

\"ShimanoSimon weighed a variety of bikes at the Tour de France. Simon von Bromley \/ Our Media<\/p>\n

We weighed seven bikes, from seven different riders, at the Grand D\u00e9part, and the average weight came out at 7.063kg.<\/p>\n

Jumping aboard a neutral service bike may not carry much of a weight penalty, but we can guarantee one thing \u2013 any rider who does need to take a blue bike will be frantically looking for their team car, ready to be reunited with their own steed at the earliest opportunity.<\/p>\n

What else do you need to know?
\n\"\"Selecting the right bike in the heat of battle is hard, so neutral service places a bike of the right size pre-set for a stage favourite at the outside edge of the car’s rack. <\/p>\n

With a forest of bikes on the cars, neutral service racks the bikes with consideration for the stage and race favourites.<\/p>\n

They’ll place a bike in that rider\u2019s size nearest to the side of the car so it\u2019s easy to get to and with the dropper set to the rider\u2019s preferred saddle height.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, the neutral service car will stop for any rider, of course \u2013 regardless of their status in the race.<\/p>\n

\"\"Neutral service cars carry an array of bikes in different sizes and with different pedals fitted. Shimano<\/p>\n

Neutral service will also choose a tyre pressure that\u2019s an average of that preferred by riders, as this varies significantly between individuals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alongside their blue cars, Shimano also runs neutral service motorbikes, with a driver and a mechanic aboard, who can try to sort more minor problems and get riders going again. <\/p>\n

\"TadejNeutral service also runs a fleet of motorbikes at the Tour to help riders. Tadej Poga\u010dar benefitted from the ‘man in blue’ at the 2025 race. TNT Sports<\/p>\n

A neutral service official assisted Poga\u010dar<\/a>\u00a0when he crashed on stage 11 at the 2025 Tour de France, giving him a hefty push to help him rejoin the race.<\/p>\n

On some mountain stages, the neutral service motorbikes will carry spare wheels, if four-wheeled access to the course is difficult.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s the bike that every competitor at the Tour de France hopes they won\u2019t have to ride. But…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":696851,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-696850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=696850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/696851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}