After nine days of racing, it is fair to say it has been a pretty brutal start to the 2023 Tour de France. This year's race has already covered two out of France's five mountain ranges in the shape of the Pyrenees and the Massif Central, which has led to some explosive racing - particularly between the two race favorites, Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard.
Though bike racing is at least 90% about the rider, it is still interesting to see which bike brands are finding themselves at the top of the podium. To gauge this more easily, we have devised a straightforward system to rank bike brand performance at this year's Tour de France so far.
Scoring is simple: for each stage victory, a bike brand receives three points. For second-place finishes, two points are awarded, and one for third. Though this doesn't take into account jersey classifications, after an opening week with such varied terrain, it isn't a bad measure of performance.
1st place - Canyon
Despite the success of Tadej Pogačar and Adam Yates in the opening week, it is Canyon that takes the top spot on our list, with the Canyon Aeroad CFR proving the most successful bike so far. The range-topping aero bike from the German bike brand has been ridden to an impressive three stage victories and one second place so far, racking up a total of 11 points.
All points scored are from the results of Jasper Philipsen, who has shown himself to be the strongest sprinter in this year's Tour. It isn't all down to him though - teammate Mathieu van der Poel is probably the strongest leadout man you could possibly hope for, and has delivered Philipsen to prime position on a number of occasions.
Team Alpecin-Decuininck's bikes are clad top to bottom with Shimano's latest and greatest components, with Dura-Ace R9200 in use for the groupset, and Dura-Ace c60 wheels helping keep the team moving.
As the current leader of the points classification, Philipsen is currently using a special edition green Canyon Aeroad CFR. He will be hoping to keep this custom livery all the way to Paris, but there are a fair few mountains to contend with in the meantime.
2nd place - Colnago
Colnago is up next, with its flagship race bike, the Colnago V4RS. Colnago scored a total of 8 points, which is made up of two stage wins (Yates stage 1, and Pogačar stage 6), and two third places (Pogačar stages 1 and 2).
The whole of team UAE Emirates are riding bling bikes, but Pogačar's machine in particular is oozing with custom tech to make his bike as light as possible. The Slovenian climbing sensation apparently has six bikes to choose from at the Tour, fitted with Carbon-ti components, a prototype ENVE one piece bar and stem, and even a custom-made lightweight seatpost to fit his V4RS frame.
It may not be the top of our list after 9 stages, but there's a good chance this could be the bike that gets a yellow paint job rolling into Paris.
3rd place - Cervelo
If we were making this list in 2022, Cervelo would probably have won the contest in the first week - but 2023 has been a different story. Despite the efforts of Jonas Vingegaard and Wout Van Aert, Jumbo-Visma is yet to win a stage, scoring five points with two second-place finishes ( Van Aert stage 2 and Vingegaard stage 6) and a third place (Van Aert stage 8).
Vingegaard sits in yellow after the first rest day, but that didn't stop Wout Van Aert from describing this year's race as the 'Tour of not quite' venting his frustration at his lack of victory thus far.
The Jumbo-Visma riders have had the choice between Cervelo's aero bike, the S5, for faster days, and the R5 for the climbing days. The team has also been experimenting with the use of 1x Sram drivetrains for some stages, presumably in the name of weight saving.
Besides the 1x affairs, Jumbo-Visma's bikes also feature a custom paint job, and Reserve carbon wheelsets.
Cervelo may well climb up this list, with favorite Jonas Vingegaard still in yellow, and Wout Van Aert hungry for stage-win success.
4th place - Trek
It seems surprising that we have to wait until 4th place for one of the American bike giants to make this list, but here we are with Lidl-Trek. They scored 5 points made up of Mads Pedersen's stage 8 victory, and Gullio Ciccone's 2nd place on stage 5.
Trek may not be at the top of our list for stage success, but they undoubtedly have some of the prettiest bikes in this year's Tour de France peloton.
The Lidl-Trek riders have the choice between the Madone, Trek's aero road bike, and the Emonda, which the likes of Gullio Ciccone will be using in the high mountains.
Mads Pedersen's Trek Madone SLR sports an iridescent custom project one paint job and even includes a custom gold Sram Red AXS drivetrain, which is reserved only for world champions (present and former). The bikes are finished off with Bontrager wheels and Bontrager finishing kit.
5th place - Merida
A second and a third place finish from German sprinter Phil Bauhaus coupled with Matej Mohorič's impressive climbing performance on stage 9 which led to 3rd place warrant the final place in our top five for Merida.
Although Bahrain-Victorious riders have access to both the Merida Reacto and Merida Scultura (the brand's climbing bike), the team's successes so far have been thanks to Merida's aero bike, the Reacto.
The team's bikes are fully built with Shimano's Dura-Ace R9200 12-speed groupset and also feature Vision wheels and finishing kit throughout.
Bahrain-Victorious is also sporting a custom livery for this year's Tour de France. The white and pearl-inspired design is said to pay homage to the team's heritage, as Bahrain has a history of dealing the precious stones.
