{"id":2075939,"date":"2026-08-03T17:55:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T14:55:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2075939"},"modified":"2026-08-03T17:55:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T14:55:02","slug":"womens-pro-cycling-teams-are-finally-getting-the-gear-they-deserve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2075939","title":{"rendered":"Women’s Pro Cycling Teams Are Finally Getting the Gear They Deserve"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mpe-factor.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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David Everett<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Published August 3, 2026 11:55AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

While at the men\u2019s version of the Tour de France Femmes (see what I did there), we took a look, with the help of the Lotto-Intermarch\u00e9 team, at how much equipment goes into preparing for three weeks of racing around France. (Spoiler, it\u2019s a lot).<\/p>\n

Fast-forward a few weeks and now we\u2019re here at the Tour de France Femmes and we have the same question on our minds.<\/p>\n

When we spoke to Lotto-Intermarch\u00e9 at the Tour de France, they told us they\u2019d go through 200 bidons a day. Well, it\u2019s no different for the peloton of the Tour de France Femmes.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We dashed around the pits in Lausanne and Aigle over the past few days to find out not just the quantity of kit that had had to be packed into either fancy mechanics trucks (if you\u2019re a Visma or FDJ-sized team) or the back of a couple of Ford Transit long-wheelbase vans if you\u2019re one of the smaller teams. We want to explore whether there is still a significant gap in equipment quantity and quality not just between the men\u2019s and women\u2019s peloton but also between the super-teams, mid-tier teams, and the new-kid-on-the-block teams, such as the first-year team and the wildcard entry to the race, Ma Petite Entreprise.<\/p>\n

Even the smaller teams seem to have seriously upped their equipment. No more Force or Ultegra are seen on \u201cbike no. 1\u201d in the peloton, though there were a few Ultegra-equipped bikes sitting on the smaller teams\u2019 bike roof racks as backups.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And without ruining the video, it\u2019s been enlightening as well as surprisingly uplifting. Equipment sponsors have definitely upped their game, not just in the past few years but since this time last year. The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift has, by all accounts, helped elevate the stature of smaller teams when it comes to negotiating for bikes, wheels, and other equipment.<\/p>\n

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ADVERTISEMENT<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

No longer do we see a large helping of lower-tier components on race bikes that are competing in the premier women\u2019s race on the UCI calendar. Don\u2019t get me wrong, there\u2019s still a smattering on spare bikes, but a fraction of what was visible even last year.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re World Champ, you understandably get looked after by your sponsors\u2026to the smallest of details.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But as I said, I won\u2019t ruin the video for you. All I\u2019ll do is encourage you to hit play and see what is now being used in the Peloton. And expect more; we\u2019ve got plenty more tech videos coming from the race over the next week.<\/p>\n

Cheers,
\nDave<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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David Everett<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Published August 3, 2026 11:55AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/tour-de-france-femmes\/bikes-gear-womens-pro-cycling-teams\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mpe-factor.jpg”] David Everett Published August 3, 2026 11:55AM While at the men\u2019s version of the Tour de France Femmes (see what I did there), we took a look, with the help of the Lotto-Intermarch\u00e9 team, at how much equipment goes into preparing for three weeks of racing around France. (Spoiler, it\u2019s a lot). […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-2075939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2075939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2075939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2075939\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2075939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2075939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2075939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}