{"id":711807,"date":"2026-07-26T10:04:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T10:04:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/711807\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T10:04:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T10:04:36","slug":"raw-carbon-frames-and-weight-weenie-hacks-9-ways-tour-de-france-riders-make-their-bikes-lighter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/711807\/","title":{"rendered":"Raw carbon frames and weight-weenie hacks: 9 ways Tour de France riders make their bikes lighter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pros are always weight weenies, even if they\u2019re consistently told by the engineers who spend countless hours pouring over their bikes\u2019 designs that aero trumps low weight on all but the toughest climbs.<\/p>\n

With the Tour de France delivering the toughest climbs in abundance, it\u2019s not surprising that pros (or, rather, mechanics) go to great lengths to reduce the weight of their bikes.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve spotted nine ways in which pros are cutting weight from their bikes, from swapping to lighter wheels and tyres to riding raw carbon bikes to dispense with paint that\u2019s simply too heavy for a big climbing day.<\/p>\n

More Tour de France tech<\/p>\n

Lighter wheels
\n\"\"Pros are dialling down their wheel depths for the Alps. Dario Belingheri\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

While deep-section wheels are typically used on less hilly stages, a shallower wheel is often chosen once the Tour hits the serious mountain stages.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Visma-Lease a Bike\u2019s Reserve wheels come in a 34|37 SL TA version<\/a> on Tune hubs, with a claimed 1,140g weight, versus the aero 57|64 SL TA at 1,470g, a saving of 330g.<\/p>\n

Enve\u2019s shallowest SES 2.3 wheelset has a 1,248g weight, versus the SES 4.5 Pro<\/a> at 1,295g. It\u2019s only 50g, but Poga\u010dar and the UAE Team Emirates-XRG team may take it.<\/p>\n

Time trial tyres\u00a0
\n\"MatejPros choose time trial tyres even on flat stages to save weight and rolling resistance. Simon von Bromley \/ Our Media<\/p>\n

There\u2019s more weight and inertia to be saved by using time trial tyres<\/a>, rather than standard road tyres. It\u2019s a swap that pros often make for the whole Tour, not just the mountain stages.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

A 28c Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT TR tyre weighs a claimed 245g versus the S TR at 280g, so a pair are 70g lighter. The lighter casing and tread are claimed by Conti to reduce rolling resistance as well.<\/p>\n

They do make the tyres more fragile though, so there\u2019s a greater risk of a flat, particularly on mountain roads, which may be less well maintained. That said, their surfaces are usually in tip-top condition for the Tour. They\u2019ll wear more quickly too, but that\u2019s not likely to be a concern to the pros.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lightweight paint jobs or no paint
\n\"\"Ben O’Connor has been riding a black Giant Propel rather than a team colour purple frame at the Tour. Anne-Christine Poujoulat\/ AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Reduced paint should save a few grams from the bike weight. It\u2019s why you\u2019ll often see black bikes chosen by pros who expect to be in contention in the mountains.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Look says that swapping from the Iconic Prism colour scheme to the black 795 Blade RS 3<\/a> will save Cofidis riders 80g. <\/p>\n

Poga\u010dar swapped from a white Colnago Y1Rs to a black one for the stage 15\u00a0uphill time trial and the stage 16 finish on Mont Ventoux at the 2025 Tour and Colnago now sells a Dark Series Y1Rs<\/a> devoid of paint that mimics Poga\u010dar\u2018s bike.<\/p>\n

Skinny bottle cages
\n\"LukeLuke Plapp saves around 46g by fitting Elite Leggero Carbon cages to his Giant Propel Advanced SL, even if it does come with paint. Our Media<\/p>\n

Another example of lightweight parts being chosen instead of aero is bottle cages. While aero bottle cages are often designed to improve a bike\u2019s aerodynamics, that doesn\u2019t mean that they won\u2019t be swapped for something lighter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Several Tour de France bikes<\/a> are normally sold with aero bottle cages, including the BMC Teammachine, Wilier Filante SLR ID2 and Trek Madone.<\/p>\n

The Giant Propel too has its own aero bottle cages, but when we checked Luke Plapp\u2019s Propel Advanced SL<\/a> ahead of the Tour\u2019s start, the aero cages had been swapped out for a pair of 13g apiece Elite Leggero Carbon cages. Giant quotes a 36g weight for a Propel aero cage, so Plapp is saving 46g.<\/p>\n

Exotic parts\u00a0
\n\"TadejEven the jockey wheel bolts on Tadej Poga\u010dar’s unpainted Colnago Y1Rs are lightweight. Simon von Bromley \/ Our Media<\/p>\n

Run-of-the-mill parts may be swapped out for lower weight components from specialist brands. UAE Team Emirates-XRG does this more than anyone, with its Dura-Ace groupsets fitted with carbon chainrings from Carbon-Ti, which also supplies lightweight thru-axles and even the bolts for water bottle cages and derailleur jockey wheels.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We spotted a Darimo seatpost on Poga\u010dar\u2018s Colnago TT1 time trial bike<\/a> at the 2025 Tour and the brand is a popular choice with other pros for lightweight swap-out parts.<\/p>\n

3D-printed parts
\n\"Luke3D-printed small parts can save a little weight. Our Media<\/p>\n

Pros often have 3D-printed parts on their bikes in place of stock components. We\u2019ve spotted 3D-printed composite computer mounts on pros\u2019 bikes, as well as more than one 3D-printed titanium saddle clamp. These seem to be particularly popular on time trial bikes<\/a>, but spill over into road bikes too.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ditching a bottle for the final climb
\n\"RemcoSpecialized designed the Tarmac SL9’s aerodynamics around an empty seat tube bottle cage. Our Media<\/p>\n

While pros go through prodigious numbers<\/a> of water bottles, they often just pour the contents over their heads and discard the bottle without mounting it on their bike. It\u2019s not that the bottles are heavy \u2013 Elite designed the pro-popular Fly to weigh just 50g \u2013 but the contents of a full bottle adds 500g to the bike weight.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s so common for pros to ditch their seat tube bottle on a climb that Specialized designed the Tarmac SL9<\/a>\u2019s aerodynamics around this behaviour, adding a ‘Win Fin’ behind the seat tube.<\/p>\n

Using smaller frames with long stems
\n\"\"A smaller frame with a long stem and seatpost can save weight. Daniel Benson\/Future Publishing<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not so common now, but in the past pros would size down their bike frame and add an extra long seatpost and stem to bring their bike back to the dimensions that fit them. The smaller frame size is lighter and the swap puts the rider in the classic head-down pro riding position.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Swapping to lightweight bikes
\n\"\"Swapping to a lightweight bike can still save weight over an aero bike. Dario Belingheri\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Finally, pros may switch from their sponsor\u2019s aero bike to a lightweight bike for hilly stages. Uno-X team leader Tobias Johannessen, for example, has switched between the Ridley Noah Fast aero bike and an unreleased 6.9kg Ridley lightweight bike<\/a> at the Tour. <\/p>\n

\"\"And Uno-X team leader Tobias Johannessen has been riding a black Noah Fast on other stages. Dario Belingheri\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

He\u2019s gone over to the dark side too on some stages, riding an unpainted Noah Fast rather than the bike in full red team colour warpaint. We weighed his Noah Fast at the 2025 Tour<\/a> at 8.3kg, so there’s potentially a chunk of weight to be saved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pros are always weight weenies, even if they\u2019re consistently told by the engineers who spend countless hours pouring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":711808,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-711807","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\/711807","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=711807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/711808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}