Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling

Marta Lach

Cédrine Kerbaol

Martina Fidanza

Kathrin Schweinberger

Mylene de Zoete

Arianna Fidanza

Nina Berton

Alice Maria Arzuffi

Sandra Alonso

Lea Lin Teutenberg

Nadine Michaela Gill

Laura Asencio

Franziska Brauße

Hanna Nilsson

Katie Archibald

Lana Eberle

Tech

Features

Tech Features

2024 Women’s WorldTour bikes, wheels and groupsets: A complete guide

With 28 events spread across 82 days of racing, the 

 is set to deliver another blockbuster year of racing in 2024. 

As is usual when a new season begins, there will be a period of acclimatisation as fans get used to the changes in kits, riders and, in some instances, bikes too. While most teams are tied into long-term partnerships with their brands and will be sticking with the same bikes for 2024, there are a few who will be sporting new equipment.

To help, we've pulled together this complete guide to the bikes, groupsets, wheels and tyres every Women’s WorldTour team will be using during the 2024 season. 

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

Factor on the move, Specialized here to stay

The start of a new season can be a confusing time for fans. There are new names and kits to get used to, not to mention all of the rider transfers to remember. There will also be new teams on the WorldTour roster in 2024, with 

 being awarded the two free WorldTour licences. Those spots became free following the closure of the EF Education-TIBCO-SVB team and the merger between Jayco-AlUla and Liv Racing TeqFind to form 

Things are much simpler in the world of bike tech where, barring the odd change, most things stay the same season-to-season. 2024 is no different and the majority of teams will be using the same bikes and equipment as they did in 2023.

 whose all-conquering exploits in 2023 bagged them an incredible 40 WorldTour wins. At the end of the season they topped the UCI rankings, finishing over 10,000 points clear of second-placed Lidl-Trek. Those victories and points were delivered atop 

 bikes and they’ll be linking up for plenty more wins over the coming season, having extended their partnership with the American brand until the end of 2028.

Only two team has swapped bike brands for the 2024 season, with 

Human Powered Health agreeing a three-year deal with Factor

, bringing to an end their five-year partnership with Felt. Roland Cycling, meanwhile, will step off their 

, which marks a historic moment as the Italian brand is used by a Women's WorldTeam 

Elsewhere, Liv will only sponsor one team after Jayco-AlUla and Liv Racing TeqFind - both of whom it sponsored in 2023 - merged to form Liv AlUla Jayco.

 is the most popular brand in the Women’s WorldTour, used by three different teams: Canyon-SRAM, Fenix-Deceuninck and Movistar. Specialized follows closely behind with two teams, along with the aforementioned Factor. 

 is a new addition to the list for 2024 following Ceratizit-WNT's step up to the highest tier.

Which bikes won the most races in the 2023 Women’s WorldTour?

Shimano edges SRAM, Campagnolo absent from Women’s WorldTour

 dominates the men’s WorldTour, but in the women’s peloton there’s a slightly more even split with 

, although the Japanese brand still enjoys the slight upper hand.

It currently sponsors nine of the 15 Women's WorldTour teams, while SRAM lays claim to the remaining six. 

 will once again be absent from the Women’s WorldTour in 2024. That’s indicative of its wider woes in elite cycling and the historic Italian brand will also be absent from the men's WorldTour peloton after 

While it loses out on the numbers stake, SRAM currently sponsors SD Worx who won virtually everything in 2023. That’s a slight exaggeration as Movistar halted that progress at two of the three Grand Tours, but the Spanish outfit also uses SRAM components, as do Lidl-Trek who finished second in the UCI rankings in 2023.

UAE Team Emirates and SD Worx top UCI world rankings

Fresh off the back of their most successful season to date, 

 are stepping up to WorldTour level in 2024. The team’s tally of seven wins in 2023, or 10 if you include National Championships, were taken atop the Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL7 and S-Works Shiv TT bikes. Since they last triumphed in June, the team has moved over to the new Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL8 which they’ll hope will propel their star riders, including 

Stiffer, lighter, more aerodynamic – Specialized launches new Tarmac SL8

Canyon-SRAM and - no points for guessing this one - their Canyon bikes teamed up to claim three WorldTour wins in 2023. Two of those were stage wins at Grand Tours, but their biggest victory arguably came after the road season when 

 was crowned the gravel world champion atop the then-unreleased 

. Just as unsurprisingly, the team uses the SRAM Red groupset along with 

All-new Canyon Grail gains in-frame storage and seamless bar integration

 wasn’t present in the Women’s WorldTour in 2023 but that will change in 2024 with 

 making the jump from the Continental ranks.

Willing to buck common trends, the Spanish brand 

launched its latest Orca climbing bike in 2023

. Purely built to be lightweight, it wasn’t accompanied by any aero claims - a rarity in modern cycling. It made its racing debut at the Tour de France Femmes where Ceratizit-WNT’s 

 won the best young rider’s white jersey.

Pro bike: Kathrin Schweinberger’s Orbea Orca

 to SD Worx, who claimed the majority of their wins in 2022. If that left question marks over the team’s winning potential, they were quickly answered by 

 Foil to devastating effect. By the end of the season, the flying Dutchwoman had 13 wins and she’ll be hoping to take many more in 2024, once again atop Scott’s bikes.

In the world of cycling tech, the biggest surprise of the off-season came when

 and Groupama-FDJ ended their 22-year collaboration. That doesn’t extend to the 

 who are also supported by FDJ, as they will continue to use the French brand’s bikes in 2024. Their riders will use the Xelius SL, which will be paired with Shimano’s Dura-Ace groupset and wheels.

Lapierre and Groupama-FDJ split after 22 years of collaboration

’s upwards trajectory continued in 2023 as the team made the step up to WorldTour level, along with their Canyon bikes. 

’s stage victory at the Tour de France Femmes was the pinnacle of the team’s year on the road, but it was an equally seismic moment for Canyon who shared a clean sweep of stage wins at the French Grand Tour with Specialized. By the end of the race, both brands had four stage wins apiece, although Specialized also claimed the overall yellow jersey through Demi Vollering.

Fenix-Deceuninck Team Talk: Few wins but promising signs for WorldTour debutants

It’s was a hectic year in 2023 for the 

 umbrella whose men’s team folded. Things are more stable for the women’s team which continues in 2024, although they've done so atop Factor bikes having ended their long five-year partnership with 

. The American outfit will get to choose between the 

released in 2023 with claims that it’s “the world’s lightest climbing bike”

. The team will also make the switch to Black Inc wheels for 2024.

Human Powered Health switch to Factor bikes for 2024

With one of the strongest rosters in the WorldTour, 

 are a powerhouse of women’s cycling, although they struggled to convert that into WorldTour wins in 2023 against the might of SD Worx. Their six WorldTour wins isn’t too shabby, but they’ll hope to take more in 2024 atop their 

 and Madone which have both been around for a while, although they’ve adapted over the years. Most recently the Madone has undergone a makeover, leading to a hole in its seat tube that helps it to stand out from the WorldTour crowd. 

Pro bike: Elisa Longo Borghini’s Trek Émonda SLR

Mergers between teams can be chaotic, especially when there are conflicting brands to accommodate. Of course, a team can only have one bike sponsor, so one brand usually loses out. Things were much simpler in the merger between Jayco AlUla and Liv Racing TeqFind who both rode 

 bikes in 2023, and the Giant-owned brand will continue to serve the newly merged Liv AlUla Jayco outfit.

Liv is the only women-specific bike brand in the pro peloton, with the team choosing between the Langma Advanced and EnviLiv advanced bikes for road stages, and the Avow Advanced for time trials.

 Liv Langma Advanced and EnviLiv Advanced

Tour de France tech takeaways: The era of the do-it-all superbike

A round-up of the key cycling tech at the Tour de France.

Tour de France tech takeaways

 has concluded in Paris and the yellow jersey has been awarded, it’s a good time for some technology-based reflection from the most important event on the calendar.

Cycling’s biggest race is always a hotbed for cool tech and this year was no different, with everything from new lightweight bikes to 1x setups on show.

The tech world moves fast so we’ve pulled together a list of the top trends we spotted at the race to judge which will flourish, and which will fade into the background.

Just as the Tour de France was winding to a close last Thursday, 

It didn’t taste any action at the race, instead making its race debut with 

 this week, but its release garnered plenty of attention.

In a complete rejection of everything the industry currently holds dear, Orbea has gone off-piste, ignoring aerodynamics completely to take the Orca solely down a lightweight route. There are no aero-optimised tube shapes, or claims that it’s a certain number of watts faster on flat roads. It’s purely designed to be as lightweight as possible, because Orbea believes that weight still trumps aerodynamics in the climbing stakes.

This anti-aero, all-out lightweight approach is rare in modern cycling, including at the Tour where 

) climbed to stage 9 victory atop the Puy de Dôme (13.3km at 7.7%) on the Factor Ostro VAM aero bike.

The Canadian could have used the O2 VAM, which was available to the team despite not being officially released until a day after his victory. It certainly had the credentials for the job, 

with Factor billing it as the “world’s fastest climbing bike”.

 So why did Woods opt for Factor’s aero option instead?

Beyond the familiarity of having raced it before, the team presumably believed that the performance difference between the two bikes on the climb would only be minimal.

That makes sense as the benefits of pure climbing bikes is their weight, but that weight has its limits - 6.8kg to be precise. Teams can’t go below that because of the UCI’s regulations. With many all-round superbikes and even some pure aero bikes - like the Factor Ostro VAM - knocking on that limit, pure climbing bikes that are solely focussed on being lightweight lose their edge.

That’s why more and more brands are giving their climbing bikes aero makeovers. Very few are fighting the aero tide, Orbea being a rare case, and we don’t expect that to change anytime soon.

If climbing bikes are unlikely to make a comeback, does that mean that we’re firmly in the era of the all-round superbike? Based on the stage-winning bikes at this year’s race, it certainly looks that way.

Only seven stages were won on dedicated aero bikes. Four of those were taken by 

) in sprints. The majority of the rest of the victories were taken on do-it-all superbikes.

Many teams now favour a one-bike solution like the 

 V4Rs which they use on every stage of the race, barring time trials. All of these bikes blend a low weight and aero features into one package.

It’s hard to see that pattern changing anytime soon as most brands can add aero features to their bikes while still hitting the UCI’s 6.8kg limit.

Like climbing bikes, dedicated aero bikes could soon disappear in favour of the more rounded superbike, with the death knell already sounded for some models, including Specialized’s very popular Venge back in 2020.

At this point in 2023 the use of a 1x set-up in a race is hardly noteworthy. 

) used the set-up as early as Milan-San Remo in March.

) at the Giro d’Italia, using a 1x setup with gravel gearing to overcome his rival in the stage 20 individual time trial.

 (Jumbo-Visma) joined the 1x train at the Critérium du Dauphiné, before we spotted his 

 S5 once again specced with 1x ahead of the Grand Départ in Spain.

After a few years in the wilderness, 1x set-ups are snowballing into prominence, but despite grabbing some headlines, Jumbo-Visma only used the set-up sparingly at the Tour, still favouring 2x on most stages. The fact that the biggest team in the world is exploring 1x is still sure to catch the attention of other teams, though.

However, unless those other teams are sponsored by 

, there isn’t much they can do. The American brand is the only major groupset manufacturer (we’re including 

 and Campagnolo in this three-brand list) who has a 1x option for its performance road groupsets.

Anyone using Shimano or Campagnolo is stuck with 2x for the time being, although there’s still a lot of development required before 1x becomes a regular, viable option, even for SRAM-sponsored teams.

In the world of marginal gains, where the smallest aero advantage can decide a stage, every brand is always on the hunt for any tech advantage they can find. This leads to constant tweaking of tube shapes.

Of the bikes at the Tour de France, the aforementioned Factor O2 VAM caught our eye. Its top tube is incredibly thin - the narrowest we’ve seen - tapering to only 10mm in height near the junction with the seat tube.

Specialized also appears to be trying new shapes with the yet-to-be-confirmed Tarmac SL8. 

Images purporting to be the bike were recently leaked

 during the Tour, and if real, the new bike has a noticeably bulbous head tube.

’s latest Madone which, to the untrained eye, has a large hole in the seat tube with the seatpost seemingly floating above it.

Brands always play around with tube shapes and it’s constantly leading to intriguing new designs, so we’ll be interested to see where that leads to by the time the 2024 Tour arrives.

Pro Bikes

Best bike tech and designs at the Tour de France Femmes

All eyes are on the roads of France this week as the best riders in the women’s peloton battle it out in the second edition of the 

Only the strongest riders will be in with a chance of winning the famous yellow jersey, but they’ll also be relying on the hottest and best new bike tech.

We sent Manon Lloyd over to France to check out the bikes that will help power the world’s best riders over the eight days of racing.

Where else could we start than defending Tour de France champion 

 rider has been untouchable at recent Grand Tours, winning the last six in a row, and will be hoping to extend that to an unbelievable seventh victory.

For some of the stages, she’ll be joined in her efforts by the 

 Aeroad CFR, the German brand’s flagship aero bike. It’s one of the fastest bikes in the pro peloton and Van Vleuten’s also happens to have one of the coolest designs thanks to the rainbow colourway on the forks and top tube, a nod to the Dutchwoman’s World Championship success last season. Striking a nice balance, the rest of the bike is matte black, so it isn’t too bling.

Of course, a cool design won’t be enough to secure success out on the road, and for that Van Vleuten can rely on premium components, including 

’s 353 NSW wheelset, their lightest tubeless offering.

If it’s as fast as it looks - and it looks seriously fast - Van Vleuten will be flying along the roads of France. Not that she needs any help.

From a pure aero machine to the purest climbing bike in the peloton, next up is 

, turning plenty of heads in the process.

What makes it so special? Orbea has ignored the rest of the cycling industry to create a bike without any aerodynamic credentials. You heard that right. In a cycling world where every bike is more aero than ever before, Orbea has gone in the complete opposite direction, instead going more lightweight.

The Spanish brand wanted to create the best climbing bike possible and, according to its research, lightweight still trumps aerodynamics. It believes that adding extra aerodynamic features would be detrimental to the bike’s climbing performance, so it hasn’t.

We can’t wait to see the bike in action in the mountains.

Canyon-SRAM unveiled a new kit especially for the Tour de France Femmes

, and their bikes have a new colourway to go with it.

The team have never been afraid to stand out from the crowd and they’ll certainly do that with their eye-catching orange, pink and yellow bikes. They’re also a commentator’s dream - it won’t be hard to spot the team’s riders - and we’re big fans too.

, sponsors of both the team and the race, and every part of the look is taken care of, including some very fancy on-theme 

 have always led the way in the fashion stakes, and they may once again have the coolest bikes in the peloton.

We may have stuck our necks out too soon, as the 

 bike is also seriously cool, sporting a striking pink and blue colourway. It’s so good that it may even rival Canyon-SRAM’s offering.

Like their rivals, they also have a new team kit especially for the race as a part of their ‘#EmbraceEveryMoment’ campaign, which “aims to inspire the next generation of female riders and cycling fans”.

The team has also adopted the Lifeplus Foundation as their lead charity for the race, adding the charity’s logo to the new jersey. Through its work, the Lifeplus Foundation raises money to improve the living conditions and provide clean water for the Bishop Sulumeti Girls Secondary School in Western Kenya.

Okay, we’re going to have to backtrack again, as 

 surely win the battle for the coolest bikes in the pro peloton.

The team have taken on new co-sponsors, Lidl, and that’s led to a completely new look throughout the whole team. The kits, cars and even their trucks have all been revamped. None of them compare to the team’s custom-painted bikes, though.

As a part of Trek’s ‘Project One’ initiative, each rider had the opportunity to customise their bike’s design, and the results are seriously cool. Our favourite is 

’s, which we’re reliably informed is inspired by unicorns.

 has opted for a mirror effect and it’s so good that you can actually see your reflection. We’re sure there will be plenty of riders looking at their own reflection as they enviously glance at Longo Borghini’s bike.

’s bike ahead of the men’s Tour de France to learn a little more about Project One, and you can check that out below.

New SRAM Red AXS Groupset - Detailed & Demoed!

Tubeless Inserts, Short Cranks & Track Tyres | GCN Tech Clinic

Dumb and Painful Things We’ve Done As Cyclists! | GCN Show Ep. 592

Not Checking These Simple Things Can Ruin Your Event

Is The New Cannibal Getting Greedy At The Giro? | GCN Racing News Show

Name	Age	UCI Career Wins	UCI Points
Marta Lach	26	10	1348
Cédrine Kerbaol	22	5	745
Martina Fidanza	24	2	611
Kathrin Schweinberger	27	3	551
Mylene de Zoete	25	1	515

Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling

Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling

The Team

Top Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling Stories

2024 Women’s WorldTour bikes, wheels and groupsets: A complete guide

Tour de France tech takeaways: The era of the do-it-all superbike

Best bike tech and designs at the Tour de France Femmes

Subscribe to the GCN Newsletter