Cofidis

A French team created in 1997, Cofidis have yo-yoed up and down the WorldTour and ProConti ranks for over two decades. The team was created by legendary directeur sportif Cyrille Guimard, who earned his reputation managing Bernard Hinault, Greg LeMond and Laurent Fignon at the Renault team in the 1980s. 

They’ve nabbed 12 Tour de France stage wins in their history through the breakaway handiwork of David Millar, Sylvain Chavanel and David Moncoutié. However, only one of their riders has ever finished on a Grand Tour podium - Bobby Julich at the 1998 Tour de France. And only one of their riders has ever won a Monument - Frank Vandenbroucke at the 1999 Liége-Bastogne-Liége. 

That said, after a successful 2022 season which saw them win 19 races and bag a stage victory at the Vuelta a España, courtesy of the evergreen Jesús Herrada, the team looks as though they may be turning a corner. A lot of pressure will be heaped on the young Frenchman Alex Zingle’s shoulders in 2023, as well as those of the team’s more experienced riders, like Ion Izagirre, Simon Geschke and Guillaume Martin.

Guillaume Martin

Bryan Coquard

Axel Zingle

Ion Izagirre

Simone Consonni

Jesus Herrada

Alexandre Delettre

Victor Lafay

Rémy Rochas

Davide Cimolai

Max Walscheid

Alexis Renard

Axel Mariault

Piet Allegaert

Jonathan Lastra

Ruben Fernandez

Anthony Perez

Benjamin Thomas

Pierre-Luc Périchon

François Bidard

Joshua Gudnitz

Simon Geschke

Eddy Finé

Oliver Knight

André Carvalho

Thomas Champion

Wesley Kreder

Jelle Wallays

Harrison Wood

Hugo Toumire

Ilan Larmet

Jose Herrada

Christophe Noppe

Tech

Features

Tech Features

2024 Men's WorldTour bikes: A guide to the bikes, groupsets, and tech of the top-tier teams

 is set to deliver another year of unforgettable racing.

Like at the beginning of every season, there will be a short period of familiarisation as teams emerge from their winter hibernations with new riders, kit and, for some, names – It will take us a while, for example, to get used to 

Luckily, there is much more consistency in the realms of 

, where teams only tend to make major changes every few seasons when their current brand partnerships come to an end. 2024 is no different, with most teams riding the same bikes, groupsets and wheels as the previous season, although there are some notable changes.

Here’s a complete guide to all of the bikes, groupsets, wheels and tyres that every team at Men’s WorldTour level will use during the 2024 season.

Tech partnerships can change at any time, so we’ll keep this guide updated as and when any more new partnerships are announced.

Best men's WorldTour bikes of 2023: Which brand won the most races?

WorldTour bike sponsorship changes for 2024

, the bike brand transfer merry-go-round isn’t quite as intense, so there’s always a degree of stability and familiarity. Most teams sign multi-year deals with their selected brands, so the opportunity to swap to a different one only comes around every few seasons - unless a team is willing to break a partnership off early, but that can lead to some public spats, as Lotto Dstny found out in 2023.

Ridley hits back at Lotto Dstny ‘disloyalty’ over early ending of partnership

Luckily, there doesn’t appear to be any such animosity between 

 called an end to their 22-year partnership ahead of the 2024 season

, which also sponsors fellow WorldTour team Astana Qazaqstan. Groupama-FDJ are one of only two men’s WorldTour that swapped bike sponsors for 2024.

 joined them on this list after switching to Decathlon-owned Van Rysel bikes from BMC. AG2R have been partnered with 

 since 2021 and the Swiss brand has been an ever-present in the WorldTour peloton for over a decade.

Lapierre and Groupama-FDJ split after 22 years of collaboration

Elsewhere, there are no changes. That means that the two most successful teams, UAE Team Emirates and Visma-Lease a Bike, will continue to ride 

 bikes, respectively. Ineos Grenadiers’ long-standing partnership with 

 have been joined by Wilier in the list of brands which sponsor more than one team. Canyon is partnered with Alpecin-Deceuninck and Movistar, while Specialized is a long-term partner of Soudal Quick-Step and Bora-Hansgrohe.

Shimano dominance continues, Campagnolo clings to WorldTour status

While Canyon and Specialized win the popularity stakes for bikes, 

 completely eclipses it on the groupset front. The Japanese manufacturer has dominated the WorldTour peloton for a number of years now and it only appears to be getting stronger.

Fourteen of the 18 men's WorldTour teams used the Dura-Ace groupset in 2023 and that number hasn't budged in 2024, although its line-up has changed with Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale hopping aboard from Campagnolo while Bora-Hansgrohe have headed to SRAM.

Mechanical Shimano 105 goes 12-speed and is disc-brake only

 sponsored three teams in 2023 but that is up to four with the addition of Bora. Among the other SRAM-sponsored teams are Visma-Lease a Bike, Lidl-Trek and Movistar. Despite its inferior numbers, SRAM boasts a flawless Grand Tour record in 2023, teaming up with Jumbo-Visma to win the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España.

’s stay at WorldTour level came to an end after AG2R made the switch to Shimano as a part of its partnership with Van Rysel. The historic Italian brand is also absent from the 

Why will Campagnolo be absent from WorldTour level in 2024? GCN Tech Show

Canyon’s bikes have topped the podium at multiple Monuments and Grand Tours over the last few seasons, usually at the hands of either 

. Last year’s palmarès included wins at both Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix, before Philipsen topped off a four-stage haul with the green jersey at the Tour de France.

All of those victories came atop the aero-focussed Aeroad, but the team also uses the lightweight Ultimate for climbing stages.

Ollie Bridgewood’s new Canyon Aeroad CFR in Alpecin-Deceuninck team colours

Few bike brands have as much pedigree within the sport as 

. Its Celeste colourway has become a fan favourite but, beyond the looks, the Italian brand’s bikes have teamed up with some of the biggest names in cycling’s history, including Fausto Coppi.

After Jayco-AlUla jumped to Giant for 2022, Bianchi was briefly left without a home in the WorldTour, but it made a comeback with 

Bianchi launches updated 6.6kg Specialissima road bike

 will be hoping that the Manx Missile can make history by breaking the record for Tour de France stages win in 2024. He’ll attempt to do it atop a 

 bike. Italian brand Wilier and the Kazakh team have been working together since 2020. 

Last season there was some confusion over the team's wheel sponsor with both Corima and HED wheelsets making an appearance, but this year the team has switched to Vision.

Mark Cavendish's Wilier Filante SLR: New pedals, saddle, and wheels for 2024

 since the team’s inception in 2017 and it doesn’t look like that will change anytime soon. The pair extended the partnership into 2022 to an undisclosed time, only stating that it is a “multi-year partnership”. As a minimum, the team will race Merida bikes during the 2024 season, when it will be hoping to build on its 12 WorldTour wins in 2023.

 who added another achievement to the Merida palmarès late in the season when he won the Gravel World Championships atop a then-unreleased 

Bahrain Victorious pro bike: Jack Haig’s Merida Reacto

headlines in late 2023 when they signed Primož Roglič from Jumbo-Visma

. The Slovenian will head up their GC ambitions at the Tour de France where he’ll hope to depose former teammate Jonas Vingegaard.

With a new team comes a new bike in the form of the 

. Released in August of 2023, it’s the latest version of Specialized’s do-it-all superbike. Unlike other brands, Specialized doesn’t offer dedicated climbing and aero bikes, instead packing everything into one machine.

The team also stole the tech headlines over the winter through their 

, which may have been influenced by the arrival of Roglič, who has been using the American brand's groupsets over the last few seasons.

Sam Welsford’s Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL8

’ long, 15-year wait for a Tour de France victory to an end in 2023. He delivered the victory atop the 

 795 Blade RS which only broke cover at Eurobike in June, although the team had been riding it since swapping over from De Rosa at the beginning of the season.

Having only linked up for the 2023 season, it appears that it’s already been a 

 partnership for Cofidis, but can it propel them to more victories in 2024?

Bryan Coquard's Look 795 Blade RS: Cofidis’ Do-It-All Superbike

AG2R Citroën is one of the rare teams to switch bike brands for 2024 after Decathlon jumped on-board as co-title sponsors, bringing 

. The team previously rode Decathlon bikes between 2000 and 2007.

That move brought to an end the team's three-year partnership with BMC who will be absent from WorldTour level for the first time in over a decade. The team's switch to Shimano also means that Campagnolo is without a WorldTour team for 2024.

Having previously worked with the now Jayco-AlUla team, 

 in 2021 and the partnership was extended by an extra two years at the beginning of 2023. Along with its Foil, Addict and Plasma bikes, the team also uses finishing kit from Scott’s in-house Syncros brand, including saddles and cockpits. 

This was extended to include time-trial wheels

 in 2023 after Syncros released its Capital SL wheelset.

Tech throwback: Remembering the Decathlon pro bikes of the 2000s

Decathlon’s entry into the pro peloton in 2024

 generated a great deal of interest last week, as the sports retailer known for its budget-friendly bikes prepares to sponsor and supply a 

However, this is merely a return to the pro peloton, with Decathlon bikes having been ridden by two separate French teams in the early 2000s.

It was AG2R, in fact, who first used them in 2000, kicking off an eight-year spell in which Decathlon was a co-sponsor and later rolled out its Btwin brand. In 2003, AG2R were joined by French rivals 

 for two seasons, which saw a number of big wins across both squads.

The bikes of the noughties are a far cry from the new machines unveiled at the AG2R launch on Monday. Van Rysel, which was launched as Decathlon’s high-performance cycling brand in 2019, has recently developed a new range of race bikes, with Decathlon-AG2R set to use the RCR as the all-rounder road bike for all road stages, and the XCR time trial bike against the clock.

A closer look at the Van Rysel bikes Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale will ride in 2024

Wind the clock back nearly a quarter of a century, and the team saw in the new millennium aboard the Decathlon Replica Pro. This was an aluminium alloy bike, with 7003 series tubing from Dedaccia that had undergone Kinetic Energy Treatment. The frame was paired with a fork from Time that itself was a composite of carbon fibre and Vectran.

The bikes came fitted with Shimano’s Dura-Ace 7700 groupset, with a 9-speed cassette that looks tiny by today’s standards. The wheels were the Vector Pros from Rolf, and the clincher tyres came from Michelin. The stem and bar were from Deda, and the saddle from 

According to what we can gather from the depths of the internet, the bike as sold in stores – with a few component differences to the team-issue bike – retailed for in the region of 20,000 French Francs, which is around £2,500 pounds (before two decades of inflation).

Decathlon also produced a time trial version with adapted tube profiling and an extended aero seat tube, but it wasn’t the sort of radically different design seen nowadays. In any case, there wasn’t much time to devote to a TT bike, given there wasn’t even much time to get a pro-level road bike off the ground.

The deal with AG2R was struck in the summer of 1999 and the cycling engineers were given barely three months to design a bike from scratch and bring 20 or so of them to a team training camp in November.

“Never has the Mark Twain phrase – ‘They did not know it was impossible so they did it’ – been so apt,” recalls one of the engineers, Andrew Lorenzi, in an old Decathlon brochure.

After three days in “the war room”, long conversations with Dedaccia and another frame partner Carlesso, they had a first draft. They also developed the Decathlon Ergonomie Système from a fellow engineer’s university thesis, and made use of computer-aided design to hone their concept before production.

And so they rocked up to the training camp and handed one of the bikes over to the team’s star Jan Kirsipuu, who’d reportedly been scathing of the 1999 Time bikes. The Estonian took it around the block, handed it back, and simply said "good bike".

“We’d done it,” Lorenzi recalls. “We went from supermarket bike brand to top-level technical partner… in the space of three months.”

The bike made an instant impact, as Giles Maignan won the season-opening Tour Down Under, and AG2R went on to win 20 races that year, 13 coming from Kirsipuu, plus a Tour de France stage win from Christophe Angolutto. The following year, that rose to 25, with Kirsipuu’s own return rising to 17.

In 2002, Decathlon updated its flagship bike, which became the Penta Pro. There was no significant change to the frame, which remained painted in blue and yellow, but the components received an overhaul.

There was a switch from Shimano to Campagnolo and the Italian brand’s Record 10 groupset. More parts also came under Decathlon branding, notably the Penta wheels, which came from a collaboration with DT Swiss - a partnership that has been revived for 2024. Likewise, the bar and stem came in from ITM.

In 2003, Cofidis came along and hopped on the same bike, albeit with a different paint job that had more white and a touch of red. They also came with Campagnolo Record, and in addition used the Italian brand’s Bora wheelset, while the bar and stem was still ITM.

The team won 24 races that year, the pick of the bunch being David Millar’s victory in the stage 19 time trial at the Tour de France, on board the Crono version of the bike.

However, It would appear Millar wasn’t overly enthused, as he rode a debranded black British Cycling bike en route to the world title a couple of months later – a title that was later stripped due to doping violations.

A major update came along in 2004, as the Penta Pro went part-carbon. The main triangle was still alloy but the seat stays and chain stays were made using carbon fibre for the first time for Decathlon.

There was also greater flexibility in frame production, with Decathlon making efforts to tailor frames to riders’ profiles, with Kirsipuu at Paris-Roubaix choosing a heavier, stronger version of the standard frame on which he’d win a stage of the Tour that year. 

There was even an aesthetic change for that model, with more white on the frames for both AG2R and Cofidis, and prominent ‘Racing’ branding on the down tube.

Kirsipuu was one of two AG2R riders to triumph at the Tour, along with two from Cofidis, and so subsequent marketing for the Penta Pro touting this as a bike ‘designed to win four stages of the Tour de France’ as it was put on sale for €3,499.

The next major evolution in the Decathlon story came in 2006, as the brand burst onto the scene with a new name, a striking new design, and some very ostentatious carbon fibre.

This is when Btwin came along, which was launched as Decathlon’s standalone in-house bike brand. It has since been usurped by Van Rysel and, on the more budget end of the road bike market, Triban, but Btwin does live on, mainly in the form of kids bikes, while Decathlon’s cycling HQ in Lille, where the new Decathlon AG2R team was launched, is called the Btwin Village.

The first Btwin pro bike was the FC700, FC standing for full composite and the 700 for the T700-modulus carbon used. Decathlon and the team seemed keen to shout about joining the carbon party, with the frame first presented in a raw carbon weave that will either make your heart sing or make you wince.

They were making a statement with the frame design and shaping too. It was as if Decathlon were desperate to shake off their tag as ‘supermarket bike brand’ and twist it into something more cutting-edge. Gone were the modest rounded alloy tubes, replaced with hard-edges and a futuristic seatpost-toptube-seatstay junction.

This was the standout feature, with the toptube flowing into the stays and up into an extended almost-integrated seatpost in a bid to add support and a touch of compliance.

The claimed weight of the frame was 1.07kg in a size 55. The fork was still made by Time and the stem by ITM, but the Penta wheels were soon retired and switched out for Campagnolo, whose Record groups had steadily gained flashes of carbon of its own.

“From the blank sheet to finished product, having gone through all the testing, took us six months,” said Lorenzi, indicating once again that the switch to carbon was a race against time.

It didn’t take long for a new version of the bike to appear, as 2007 saw the gradual introduction of the FC900, which used a higher-modulus carbon that was lighter and stiffer.

There was no significant change in the frame design but there was a new fork, with a higher taper, which was made without the help of Time and brought in-house with Btwin FC branding. The carbon weave was also dialled back in favour of splashes of white paint, while Deda were welcomed back in for the bars and stem.

During these Btwin years, the team rode time trials on what looked much more like the old Penta line. 

The AG2R team had a steady stream of victories on their Btwin bikes, with Simon Gerrans getting his career off the ground in 2006 and Christophe Moreau winning the Dauphiné and French road race title in 2007.

However, that was to be the end of the road for Decathlon’s involvement in the pro peloton, or rather, the start of a 16-year pause. They did supply clothing under the Btwin brand to teams including FDJ, but as far as getting their performance road bike range off the ground, it was job done.

“The technical credibility the partnership brought was a real sales-booster,” said Lorenzi. “In fact, we didn’t have to sell them; they flew off the shelves all by themselves.”

Having identified cycling as a cornerstone of their global growth strategy, Decathlon will be hoping for more of the same in 2024 and beyond.

Racing

News

Race News

Decathlon unveiled as new title sponsor and bike supplier of AG2R La Mondiale team

The AG2R team will have a change of sponsor, name, and equipment in 2024, with Decathlon replacing Citroën as title sponsor, and the French sports retailer supplying bikes, helmets and glasses to the riders.

The French WorldTour team, known as AG2R Citroën Team for the past three years, will be named Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale from January. The riders will compete at the Tour de France and all other races on the calendar using Van Rysel bikes, Decathlon’s in-house bike brand.

The deal will last for an initial five years, running through to 2028. It is, in fact, the resurrection of a former partnership, with Decathlon sponsoring the team between 2000 and 2007, when the riders used Decathlon bikes - being the Penta range at that time.

“This is a new chapter in our history, with a lot of pride and emotion,” said long-standing team manager Vincent Lavenu at a special presentation in Lille. “This five years will take us to real success and objectives."

Decathlon’s CEO, Barbara Coppola, added: “It’s a partnership in every sense of the word.

“We will be with the riders on every step. We are co-creating, we are working hand in hand, on the bikes, helmets, glasses to meet their performance need at the highest level. These products will then be available to the public.”

AG2R Citroën and BMC to part ways after three-year partnership

The French team has been running since the early 1990s, starting out as Chazal before insurance firm AG2R La Mondiale arrived in 1998 to start one of the longest-running sponsorships in professional cycling. Decathlon was on board when the team was known as AG2R Prevoyance from 2000 to 2007 and, after a long period known simply as AG2R La Mondiale, Citroën joined as co-title sponsor from 2021 in a deal that was supposed to last through to 2025 but has now been cut short.

Coming in to the lead title sponsor slot is Decathlon, which was founded in 1976 and has grown in recent years to become the world’s largest sports retailer.

“Did you know, the first product Decathlon offered to the world was a bike – 37 years ago,” noted Coppola, claiming that they’ve become one of the top three bike designers and distributors globally.

“Bikes have played important role in the growth journey of Decathlon. There are millions of children who learn to ride their first bike with Decathlon, and millions of adults using Decathlon bikes for everyday commuting or to do sport.”

Coppola repeatedly outlined Decathlon’s mission to ‘democratise’ sport, and sees the AG2R partnership as an opportunity to expand its presence in the cycling market.

“Professional cycling is only becoming more and more popular with time, and cycling is also becoming a far bigger part of our lives and culture across the world. The timing is perfect and the match between us couldn’t be better.

“Decathlon is aiming at democratising sport, and therefore elevating cycling all over the world. The team will be a symbol.”

A closer look at the Van Rysel bikes Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale will ride in 2024

After unveiling the Decathlon partnership, the team unveiled their new colours and new faces for 2024.

The team had kept a silence surrounding all transfer activity, and used Monday’s announcement to reveal its new signings and full roster for the season ahead.

, the Irish sprinter who won the green jersey at the 2020 Tour de France but has had a disappointing couple of seasons on returning to 

. He has joined on a two-year contract, as has 

 who won a stage of this year’s Tour de France and courted interest from a number of teams, including Ineos Grenadiers.

Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale have also added all-round domestique 

 from French rivals Groupama-FDJ and former Belgian national champion 

 from Alpecin-Deceuninck. Two more Belgians are arriving in 25-year-old 

 from the Sport Vlaanderen Baloise team and the 21-year-old Omloop Het Nieuwsblad U23 winner 

, who has been poached from Lotto Dstny’s development set-up.

, they will have a 28-rider roster, made up of eight nationalities, in 2024.

The team leaders, along with Bennett in the sprints, will be 

, who will likely lead the line at the Tour de France, 

, who’ll target the hilly Classics along with Lafay, and 

 was a breakthrough climber in 2023 and should step up into a leadership role next year, while Aurélien Paret-Peintre and Geoffrey Bouchard are important members of the team.

The riders will wear a new kit that carries on the diagonal format of the Citroën days. The jersey is split into sky blue and white, cut diagonally across the chest, with Decathlon’s logo on the top and AG2R’s on the bottom.

The AG2R logo appears in the company’s trademark brown, although the days of brown shorts – which earned the team a fair bit of ridicule – are now a thing of the past, replaced by black.

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Name	Age	UCI Career Wins	UCI Points
Guillaume Martin	30	13	1452
Bryan Coquard	32	52	1085
Axel Zingle	25	7	1061
Ion Izagirre	35	18	1015
Simone Consonni	29	6	557

Cofidis

Cofidis

The Team

Top Cofidis Stories

2024 Men's WorldTour bikes: A guide to the bikes, groupsets, and tech of the top-tier teams

Tech throwback: Remembering the Decathlon pro bikes of the 2000s

Decathlon unveiled as new title sponsor and bike supplier of AG2R La Mondiale team

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