Tour de France bikes ranked: cheapest to most expensive

The Tour de France isn’t only cycling’s biggest race, it’s also one of the largest sporting events in the world, attracting the best riders who battle it out for the famous yellow jersey.

Competing at the race requires incredible talent, but riders also rely on the best bikes and most cutting-edge technology currently available. Naturally these bikes come with hefty price tags - ones that can’t be easily justified to any sceptical spouses - but just how much would a Tour de France bike set you back?

Alex and Ollie decided to rank every team’s bike from cheapest to the most expensive. They’ve only picked the drop-bar bikes that teams will use for the majority of stages and provided estimates of the costs.

These will vary to what’s commercially available as teams often use customised set-ups, but we can let them off if their estimates are slightly off.

22: Uno-X | Dare VSRu | £5600 / $7115

Debutants Uno-X boast the cheapest bike in the Tour de France peloton, the Dare VSRu with Shimano’s Dura-Ace Di2 groupset.

Like the team, it’s a new brand to the Tour de France and probably one many may not have heard of, but the Taiwanese company has made inroads in the industry in recent years.

Velo Collection (Michael Steele) / Getty Images

Both Uno-X and Dare are making their Tour de France debuts.

21: Intermarché-Circus-Wanty | Cube Litening | £6543 / $8315

There’s a big jump from Uno-X to Intermarché-Circus-Wanty who ride Cube Litening bikes.

The team has an option of the Litening Aero or the lighter Litening Air. It combines these with Newmen wheels and Shimano components, plus fancy CeramicSpeed pulley wheels.

=19: Groupama-FDJ | Lapierre Xelius SL | £8000 / $10,150

We’re only three bikes in and we’ve already reached five figures in American dollars.

French team Groupama-FDJ has been partnered with Lapierre since 2002 and this season it's been riding the Xelius SL. That’s a long partnership in the world of cycling but the team has been using Shimano components for even longer, over 25 years. It’s the same again at the Tour de France with Shimano’s Dura-Ace groupset and wheels used across the bikes.

=19: Bahrain Victorious | Merida Reacto/Scultura Team | £8000 / $10,150

Next up is Bahrain Victorious who ride Merida Reacto and Scultura bikes along with Shimano components and Vision wheels.

Bahrain Victorious is a fairly new outfit, founded in 2017, and it's been partnered with Merida since its inception.

18: dsm-Firmenich | Scott Foil RC | £9199 / $11,750

dsm-Firmenich just breaches the £9000 barrier with its Scott Foil RC. Like many teams on this list, it uses Shimano components and wheels.

The French outfit first started riding Scott bikes in 2021 and since then its taken six Grand Tour stage wins, but none at the Tour de France. Will that change in 2023?

17: Alpecin-Deceuninck | Canyon Aeroad CFR | £9799 / $12,450

At the time of writing (on the first rest day), Alpecin-Deceuninck has been the most successful team at this year’s race, bagging a hat-trick of stage wins through sprinter Jasper Philipsen. Those victories came atop the Canyon Aeroad CFR which, once again, is specced with Shimano components and wheels.

© Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images

Philipsen and his Canyon bike have taken three stage wins (at the time of writing).

16: Movistar | Canyon Aeroad | £9999 / $12,750

Movistar similarly uses Canyon bikes but unlike Alpecin-Deceuninck, its are paired with SRAM’s RED eTap AXS groupset and Zipp wheels. That brings up the cost slightly, falling £1 short of the £10,000 mark.

15: Israel-Premier Tech | Factor Ostro VAM | £10,500 / $13,350

We’re not even halfway through but the £10,000 barrier has already been breached courtesy of Israel-Premier Tech’s Factor Ostro VAM.

Alongside the aero Ostro VAM, the team also rides the O2 VAM which was only recently released - and Factor says that it’s “the world’s fastest climbing bike”.

Factor

Factor says the new O2 VAM is "the world's fastest climbing bike".

14: Cofidis | Look 795 Blade RS | £10,600 / $13,500

It’s been a big Tour de France so far for French team Cofidis which picked up its first stage win at the race since 2008 after Victor Lafay triumphed on stage 2.

That victory came atop a Look bike who only partnered with Cofidis at the beginning of 2023, and it’s already proving to be a looky partnership.

Velo Collection (Michael Steele) / Getty Images

Lafay ended Cofidis' long 15-year drought without a Tour de France win.

13: Lotto Dstny | Ridley Noah Fast/Helium | £10,700 / $13,650

Lotto Dstny is one of the oldest teams in the pro peloton, dating back to 1985. It's endured a difficult couple of years and was relegated from the UCI WorldTour at the end of 2022. As a result, it had to rely on an invite from the organisers but it received one and it's at the race riding Ridley bikes.

12: Arkéa-Samsic | Bianchi Oltre | £11,928 / $15,150

Arkéa-Samsic just misses out on the top 10 with its Bianchi Oltre.

Shimano is proving to be a popular option in this list so far and it's back again here too, with Arkéa-Samsic’s bikes specced with Shimano components and wheels.

11: Team Jayco AlUla | Giant Propel | £11,999 / $15,250

The eleventh most expensive bike falls agonisingly close to the £12,000 mark, clocking in at £11,999. That’s for Jayco AlUla’s Giant Propels which are fitted with - you guessed it - Shimano groupsets plus CADEX wheels and tyres.

10: Ineos-Grenadiers | Pinarello Dogma F | £12,400 / $15,750

When we’ve previously compared the cost of pro bikes, Ineos Grenadiers’ Pinarellos have always ranked much higher. This time the Pinarello Dogma F is only tenth on the list, although it still costs an eye-watering £12,400/$15,750.

© Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images

Ineos Grenadiers has won seven Tours de France since partnering with Pinarello in 2010.

9: Astana Qazaqstan | Wilier 0 SLR | £12,480 / $15,860

Next up is Astana Qazaqstan which is unique from everyone on the list so far as it has two wheel sponsors, Corima and HED. These are used on the Wilier 0 SLR which, in Ollie’s opinion, has one of the coolest paint jobs at this year’s race.

=7: EF Education-EasyPost | Cannondale SuperSix EVO LAB71 /SystemSix | £12,500 / $15,885

EF Education-EasyPost has ridden Cannondale bikes since 2015 and that will continue for the foreseeable future after it agreed a new sponsorship deal on the first rest day of the Tour de France - although it strangely doesn’t have an end date.

The team currently has a choice of either Cannondale’s SuperSix EVO LAB71 or its aero offering, the SystemSix.

=7: Jumbo-Visma | Cervélo S5 | £12,500 / $15,885

Defending Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard and his Jumbo-Visma teammates ride Cervélo bikes, including the aero S5.

Simon Richardson managed to get his hands on Vingegaard’s bike ahead of the race and there were some interesting features.

=4: BORA-hansgrohe, TotalEnergies and Soudal Quick-Step | Specialized S-Works Tarmac | £13,000 / $16,520

The £13,000 barrier is breached by three teams who all use Specialized bikes along with Shimano groupsets.

They’re all also finished with Specialized finishing kit and componentry meaning that they all clock in at the same price of £13,000.

3: AG2R Citroën | BMC Teammachine | £13,800 / $17,540

AG2R Citroën claims the bottom spot on the podium with their BMC Teammachine. It's one of the rare teams on the list that also uses Campagnolo groupsets.

Alongside the Teammachine, the team’s riders are also using an unreleased prototype BMC. Not much is known about it but we managed to get our hands on Ben O’Connor’s bike during the opening weekend of the race.

2: UAE Team Emirates | Colnago V4Rs | £14,000 / $17,800

Tadej Pogačar is hoping to reclaim the Tour de France title he lost in 2022 and he’s doing it atop a Colnago V4Rs. There are lots of cool features and components on the UAE Team Emirates bikes and Pogačar’s specifically is heavily customised.

1: Lidl-Trek | Trek Madone SLR 7 Gen 7 | £14,500 / $18,450

The most expensive bike at the 2023 Tour de France, according to our calculations, is Lidl-Trek’s Trek Madone SLR 7 Gen 7.

The bike caught plenty of attention when it was released last year thanks to its unique seat tube which contains a hole at the top.

Other notable features include custom paint jobs with each rider getting to create their own design as a part of Trek’s Project One. The results are seriously cool as we found out when we encountered Mads Pedersen’s bike.