2016 Pro Team Bikes

Here is the list of who is riding what in 2016. You’ll find all the pro team bikes for the 18 World Tour teams and the 23 Pro Continental teams. As usual it’s a mixed story with many top teams using the mix-and-match approach to parts in order to accommodate more paying sponsors.

Team Frame Components Wheels
Ag2r La Mondiale Focus SRAM Zipp
Astana Specialized Campagnolo Corima
BMC Racing BMC Shimano Shimano
Dimension Data Cervélo Rotor Enve
FDJ Lapierre Shimano Shimano
Cannondale Cannondale FSA/Shimano* Mavic
Etixx-Quick Step Specialized FSA/Shimano* Roval, HED
Giant-Alpecin Giant Shimano Shimano
IAM Cycling Scott Shimano* DT Swiss
Katusha Canyon SRAM Zipp
Lampre-Merida Merida Rotor/Shimano* Fulcrum
Lotto-Soudal Ridley Campagnolo Campagnolo
Movistar Canyon Campagnolo Campagnolo
Orica-Greenedge Scott Shimano Shimano
Team Lotto NL-Jumbo Bianchi Shimano Shimano
Team Sky Pinarello Shimano Shimano
Tinkoff Specialized FSA/Shimano* HED
Trek Factory Racing Trek Shimano Bontrager

What’s new?

  • Shimano dominates ahead of Campagnolo and SRAM but only has seven officially sponsored teams, those above without the asterisks
  • In 2011 SRAM were the largest supplier of groupsets to the World Tour with eight teams but by last year they were down to one in Ag2r La Mondiale, now it’s two after Katusha pick up a deal with the US firm
  • There’s a new group in town with Dimension Data apparently set to use the Rotor’s Uno groupset with its hydraulics
  • Cervélo return to the World Tour with Dimension Data and their parent company Pon Holdings also supplies Focus to Ag2r La Mondiale
  • Only the principal parts are listed but note the wider sponsorship from power meter manufacturers. SRM, Quarq, Stages, Pioneer and Power2Max are there as the choice widens
  • Movistar will now ride a full Campagnolo groupset, the Italian manufacturer didn’t make a Direct Mount brake caliper meaning the team sneakily used a Shimano front brake last year until the model emerged.

Mix and Match: * asterisks above denote the use of components without sponsorship. Cannondale-Garmin, Etixx-Quick Step, IAM Cycling and Lampre-Merida are all using Shimano components but there’s no mention of the Japanese firm as a sponsor, partner or technical supplier on their websites. It might seem odd but several teams buy their own components, although it doesn’t mean ordering 80 groupsets online. They get trade prices or better from their local importer or distributor. This happens because the likes of Shimano only have so much money to spend on sponsorship and once they’ve covered seven teams they don’t need many more. Meanwhile other manufacturers keen on visibility in the pro peloton are willing to pay for this. Lampre-Merida presumably earn more from sponsorship by Rotor chainsets, Fulcrum wheels and FSA components compared to taking Shimano’s offer; the same with Dimension Data taking Speedplay pedals, KMC chains, Rotor chainsets and more. By contrast official sponsorship by Shimano, Campagnolo or SRAM often means taking the whole package from shifters and brakes to wheels and other components, all three produce wheels now, SRAM use the Zipp brand, and increasingly aim to supply every component on the bike. In short what you see on the bike is a usually financial decision which makes sense given many if not most parts are of a high quality today.

What’s old?
The still invisible FSA electronic groupset. The Taiwanese firm showed some prototype parts at the Tour de France but it’s yet to appear as an everyday item so some teams are still using Shimano components. Another missing product is disc brakes, Campagnolo are said to be working on them but there’s no visible product yet however the rush could be off given several top riders, like BMC Racing’s Greg Van Avermaet, have said they won’t use discs in the spring classics meaning the lack of product from the Italian manufacturer won’t be so obvious.

UCI Pro Continental teams

Team Frame Components Wheels
Androni Giocattoli Kuota Shimano Deda Elementi
Bardiani-CSF Cipollini Campagnolo Campagnolo
Bora-Argon 18 Argon 18 FSA/Shimano Vision
Caja Rural-Seguros RGA Fuji Rotor/Shimano Reynolds
CCC Sprandi-Polkowice Guerciotti Shimano Ursus
Cofidis Orbea FSA/Shimano Vision
Delko Marseille Provence KTM KTM SRAM Corima
Direct Energie BH FSA Vision
Drapac Professional Cycling Swift SRAM Zipp
Fortuneo-Vital Concept Look Shimano American Classic
Gazprom-Rusvelo Colnago Campagnolo Campagnolo
Nippo-Fantini De Rosa Campagnolo Campagnolo
ONE Pro Cycling Factor Shimano* Black
Roompot Isaac SRAM FFWD
Southeast-Venezuela Wilier Campagnolo Ursus
Team Novo Nordisk Colnago Shimano Shimano
Team Roth Corratec Shimano Fulcrum
Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise Merckx Shimano FFWD
United Healthcare Wilier Triestina Shimano Shimano
Verva-Active Jet Trek Shimano Bontrager
Wanty-Groupe Gobert Cube Shimano Fulcrum
Funvic Soul Cycles-Carrefour ** Soul Shimano Shimano
Stölting Service Group ** Rose SRAM DT Swiss

The ** asterisks are for two teams announced as UCI Pro Conti but oddly missing from the UCI website.

These might be second tier teams but there are some premium bikes here. Colnago remain in the sport with Gazprom- Rusvelo. Once they supplied the Mapei team, the super team of its day, now it’s a team you’re unlikely to see on television.

The list above is provisional and based on a mix of enquiries and trawling websites, Twitter and Facebook in the last few days and the info’s hard to compile, some teams have yet to update their websites for 2016 at all, let alone stage their publicity launch and announce their bikes. Suggestions for updates and corrections are welcome.

95 thoughts on “2016 Pro Team Bikes”

    • The team is “Cannondale” this year and there’s no mention of Garmin on the 2016 kit either. But they could remain as a small sponsor supplying devices. Perhaps they think their job is done given the almost universal uptake of Garmin devices in the GPS bike computer market?

      • I recall the idea behind Garmin being as a way to market to TomTom auto application customers, not necessarily more bike computers because bike computers is a small market relative to autos.

        • Yes the auto is still the biggest market so presumably the biggest target, also with the Europe auto market Tomtom had a nice headstart ahead of Garmin. Now the tide has definitely turned. And the name recognition certainly doesnt hurt their marine, and sports application.
          I definitely bought my bike computer and satnav from garmin because they sponsored a team.

        • DJ- Roval has plenty to offer in their own lineup, especially once discs happen, no need to rebadge. HED for TT wheels sure, but HED being able to fully support two world tour teams would be a huge step. Good on em if that’s the case. Specialized do have an OEM relationship with Hed for their fatbike, so communication must be open. Most curveball thing I see above.

    • There was a dispute after Rolland reportedly criticised them for not funding wind tunnel sessions for him to improve his TT position and then further stories of Colnago withholding sponsorship cash as a result. But whether this is causal isn’t obvious, the Italian company could have said no to Rolland because they were planning on pulling out already.

    • I know that I will be crucified by all of the Colnago/Campagnolo apologists out there for saying this but Colango has been on the slide as a serious cutting edge bike company for a long time. I remember reading an interview back in the 90’s with a pro who had ridden for Rabobank saying that he had come from another team where the bike supplier had made custom carbon frames for all of the riders, taken a scientific approach to bike fitting all of the athletes, etc. When he arrived at Rabobank Colnago refused all this and insisted he ride a certain (unsuitable) stock geo “because we have been making bikes for all the past champions and we know what works and what fits” etc. (not a direct quote). Clearly lost in the stone age.

      They started to lose me when they made wild assertions about the performance gains from their clover-leaf profiled “gilco” tubing on the Master and well and truly lost me with the double downtube bikes Tony Rominger had to suffer through in the 90’s. Oh yes, and the chainstays with the diamond-shaped look-through window? Anyone? Colango aren’t alone of course in overselling performance gimmicks on their bikes but in my view they are a company mired in the past and mostly rely on their paint-jobs and 80’s/90s cycling nostalgia.

      As side-by-side comparison of the Trek and Colango R&D departments would be an interesting study.

      • Indeed.

        As an aside to the Rolland wind-tunnel spat: Bardet apparently paid for his own time in an English wind-tunnel. The difference in approach speaks volumes.

      • One fairly consistent theme with pros is whatever they’re riding this season is the “greatest bike ever, much better than the piece of s__t we had to use last year!” no matter the brand. With all the expensive molds required for modern frames, how many pros get made-to-measure bikes these days? I think you could count ’em on your fingers and have digits left over. You see plenty of overly long stems, jacked up seatposts with “interesting” offsets all over the peloton while the same maker in Taiwan produces the vast majority of both Colnago and Trek branded frames that are sold to the punters, so your comments about Colnago must be taken with a grain of salt. Any argument that any bike made a serious effect on a rider’s results (provided it didn’t just simply break) is (thank gawd) little more than marketing hype anyway.

      • I feel the same about Colnago, the Italian apple of my eye in the late 2000’s. Then i realized that they were still using tube to tube constructions on their top bikes, which i was assuming to be a lesser technology because others now had monocoque, and then marketing the cloverleaf section tubes as the stiffest and strongest because cloverleaf. It felt like al bundy telling me about how he had 7 touchdowns in one game back in polk high.
        Also, im not cleaning the nooks and crannies that a lugged and cloverleaf sectioned tube bike has.

        • One turnoff for Me, regarding the Italian bikes, occurred about 10 years ago when dealers were forcing, adamant and militant that the Italian bikes were the best. Pretty much using an insistent approach that I found distasteful. Especially with the surrounding facts that among other things they were heavy.

          Italian bikes are still heavy, in comparison, aren’t they?

          As a cyclist, spending most of the time climbing, a light bike is always one important consideration.

          -0-

          And those gimmicks! They’re the greatest but gone soon after! Pinarello is straightening up too!

  9. interesting that Mavic wheels are only used once, by Cannondale… do they spend their marketing bucks on providing the neutral service instead?… without knowing the cost they get pretty good exposure for that – any colour (yellow!) on that contract at all?

    • Mavic used to be everywhere but we’ve seen the component manufacturers move into this space with Shimano, SRAM and Campagnolo all offering full range of wheels while Mavic has gone into new areas like clothing and shoes. As for the yellow cars, they’re visible but saying “we provide spares in an emergency” might not be a convincing marketing message?

      • Likely that the component companies force the teams to use their wheels. No loss as the products are good as well.

        I can’t comment here without saying that Nippon’s De Rosa with Campagnolo is the best bike ever. 🙂

      • Actually, it probably is a great message for mass marketing. Almost every time you turn on the TV to see the scenery in France while five skinny riders go by in a break, there are yellow Mavic cars in the shot.

        With that, you might both remember the name Mavic when you go in to buy a new wheel for your $3000 bike. You might even think that if the million euro per year riders will rely on Mavic in an emergency, you can as well.

        Seems to me that if I had a million euros to spend on advertising, putting wheels on a bike would be good. Putting my name in clear view behind almost every break in the Tour would be even better.

        What could be a better marketing investment? There is only one – a 3 month sponsorship of Inner Ring.

      • All depends on how much they’re investing, of course, but I’ve always felt that Mavic get great publicity from the Tour. They’re mentioned regularly by commentators, highly visible, plus there is associated prestige.

        • Just because they are everywhere doesnt mean they have a good association. They need to keep marketing their brand as a producer of quality if not excellent cycling products. I fear they are taking the path of American motor companies took in the 90’s. They had the market share, but aside from a few people with too few teeth, they weren’t looked upon as the best, but rather below the Germans and Japanese.

  11. Thx for the list, great reading as always.

    Any chance of getting some true/anonymous feedback from the riders as an article here about equipment they use? For example interesting to see ZIPP as ‘the fastest wheels’ being reduced among the pro teams. Katusha and ag2r only?

  13. Thanks for putting this together. I enjoy seeing who is using what while knowing (thank gawd) it makes little difference as (so far) it’s still the primacy of man over machine in the sport, though the industry attacks the idea on every front. I must admit to agreeing somewhat with Uli, if “free pro team bikes” were on offer I’d take one from lower-tier Nippo or Bardiani most likely over a WT machine.

  14. I was reading about the Factor bikes that ONE Pro will be riding the other day

    http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/article/factor-bikes-launches-factor-one-and-factor-o2-45889/

    Among many claims about how good the bike is (as you would expect in a promo piece) was that as owner Gitelis owns his own factory, the team can give feedback easily and make changes to the bike. How much input can a team have on their bikes or are they just getting something that except a good bike fit is standard from the factory?

    Sky made a lot of Jaguar’s input last year but how different from a standard Pinarello was it? I don’t suppose it meant that all the riders got bespoke bikes or even that there was constant updates based on feedback.

    • There’s a lot of marketing here of course. Feedback can be given, eg where it flexes or feels to harsh or mechanical issues like the seat collar snapping too often in a crash or a bolt that’s a pain to adjust or in the wrong place for the roof rack etc.

      The new Pinarello is more aero and benefited from windtunnel work with Jaguar but also followed a trend to more profiled tubes too. As for bespoke bikes, they exist with Lapierre adding more carbon to the FDJ bikes last year to make them stiffer while the normal factory bikes didn’t have this.

      • And on that note, I reckon a fair few of the top pros could be on custom rigs. I ride a Merckx from Quick-Step 2011 ridden by Maes that is so. He is the same size as Boonen who apparently wanted custom geo. The expense is probably one reason Merckx pulled out (that and obvious financial woes). I also know that Specialized beef up the Roubaix for Etixx Quick-Step so I see no reason why other manufacturers wouldn’t…

  15. Really cool to see so much variation in the Pro Conti rigs

    I can’t say that seeing X manufacturer on a pro team has swayed a buying decision of mine. And I recall a quote from Alex Dowsett in Rouluer where he aluded to pros not always being happy with their sponsored gear

      • I’d also say the same of Rapha, perhaps other countries also have a bias towards their team’s sponsored gear? I’m UK based so can’t comment

        • Rapha have had a sizable boost I’d say. Which makes me keen to see where they’ll go after the Sky deal ends this year. That recent Canyon/Sram women’s kit is lovely, mind you.

        • For sure Yanks bought plenty of Treks under the impression they were made in the USA despite the fact that only a very few of the top line models are/were produced in Wisconsin, USA. Same goes for Rapha – based on what I’ve seen most of the stuff with their brand name on it is produced by others, same as Giant producing most of the Trek-branded stuff. Clever marketing is Rapha’s deal, to me it seems they sat down one day and decided to compete with ASSOS but just made up the whole history/heritage/experience part while having the clothing produced by whoever could meet their quality/cost requirements.

      • The impact can work in the other direction too: after buying a Ridley bike last summer and just loving it I started paying more attention to Lotto-Soudal’s results and have become somewhat of a fan of the team.

        • If I was in the new market, Ridley Helium / Helium SL would be on the short list. The retro paint looks nice, that yellow jersey retro yellow bike paint job a couple ago was especially so.

  17. Bonjour!

    Kind of off topic but does anyone know what bikes the ex pro’s generally ride? Once the contract obligations are over, is there a frame manufacturer of choice? If so, is there any reason or are they susceptible to the same marketing forces we are?

    Ciao!

    • A fair number of the retired pros still have really good contacts, and get pro deals and free equipment. It is a nice thing for a ‘local’ company to be able to say that the ex-pro down the road is on their bike. It is not team sponsorship (although many of the retired guys are associated with teams) as much as a local quid-pro-quo. And yes that is a pun.

      Different marketing forces than most consumers would get!

    • There’s a good story of Miguel Indurain walking into his local bike shop and being shocked at the prices of machines which he’d never had to pay for during his career. From memory the shop sold Cannondale so he went out with one of these. Today he’d be an ambassador in the way BMC keep the likes of Evans and Hushovd, Trek and Voigt etc on the payroll and be able to pick his sponsors.

        • We were recently asked to source an Campagnolo 80th Anni group, with some very specifically-sized (and not normally produced) cranks, for a retiring pro to hang on his “I always wanted …” bike. It was to build onto a Colnago frame, I believe a C60.

          He’d spent most of his career on Pina & Shimano but the fact this was *not* the bike of his dreams didn’t appear to slow him down, any …

          • But when it came time to spend his own loot he chose something much different than the team-issue machines he’d finished his career on? That would strike me as a pretty strong endorsement of Colnago and Campagnolo though being horribly biased when it comes to pretty much anything Italian, I know that won’t mean much to a lot of others.
            On another bike note, just today I heard from a source who must remain anonymous that the star riders of a certain team supplied by the Big – S company will in fact be riding carbon-fiber machines made by an Italian “supplier of trust” (but reportedly not Sarto) in 2016. I realize that’s pretty vague but if I reveal any more my source(a) might be outed, sorry.

    • Easily the nicest ex-pro bike I’ve seen is Andy Hampsten’s S&S coupled titanium bike. It’s much more elegant and lovely than any of today’s pig-ugly bikes, which look more like they are built by scaffolders than frame builders. Lots of links to photos of the bike and components:

      In addition to his Tuscany holiday business, Hampsten sells bikes under his name, including an identical such gravel/dirt bike.

  18. The K8 Pinarello pictured above looks like it has a shock absorbing joint between the downtube and chainstays. Is this race-legal as per UCI rules for a road bike? Also, is it just for show, or does it really work? I ask because of the Specialized Roubaix’s chainstay dampeners, which were more for show. Looks like that’s the new trend–the Trek Madone’s got these rubber dampers in the main frame’s triangle too.

  19. Just went to the Nippo Fantini website to check out the cool bikes and noted there’s no mention there whatsoever – as far as I could see – of Campagnolo as a sponsor.

  21. Clearly the Pro-Conti list has a much more intriguing array of frame equipment. Interestingly only one of the Pro-Conti teams uses the same as any WT outfit. I don’t know about de Rosa but I agree with Larry T about Bardiani’s choice: if you are building up a Cipollini frame it is obvious how good the QC has been- the frames are as clean on the inside as they are on the outside –no tag ends of carbon, sharp edges- the finish is beautiful, top-notch. Although the frame geometry can be aggressive and Cipollini frames are not so lightweight, (not as light as your wallet would be), I would mark that marque very highly right now.

  23. My vote for the most exotic-eclectic combo goes to Di-data: cervelo/rotor/enve… And topped off with speedplay pedals… A combo that would take a few piggy-bank raids to replicate in the real world!

  24. I’ve been a fan of Look frames for years. Nice to see them still in the peloton, but do wish they were in the WT, or at least under a bigger team.

    Not sure if the team they’re with now will make it to the Tour or not – is it a French team?

  27. To be honest, I don’t care what the pros ride. The bikes make so little difference anyway compared to the skills of the rider. And between all the top bikes there is hardly anything different. The only thing that really counts is how well the bike fits the rider.
    If bike sponsorship was forbidden, and pro racers would have to finish every GT on the exact same bike they started, then I would start getting interested in what they choose to ride.

  29. I’ve met a few recent ex-pro’s in the last couple of years who, upon retirement and sale of their team issue bike(s) drifted towards more ferrous fare. One very specifically said “if it were up to me we’d all have been on titanium, my career would have lasted 2 more years at the least”. He purchased his Ti frame at full retail, though got the group set at a discounted rate. Another was riding a lovely custom steel frame from a US builder.

    Then you’ve got guys like Ted King who get gifted with farewell custom bikes, I can only imagine that Cannondale will hold on to him in some type of ambassador role.

    And doesn’t Cadel ride a custom Baum quite a bit, outside his BMC committments?

    I can’t remember which magazine it was in but Jens V. has a MASSIVE bike collection, several hundred if I remember correctly?

    Some of those guys aren’t just athletes, they love bike porn just like the rest of us. Though conversely, many of them can afford it!

  30. Anyone know what computers they all use? Everyone i know uses a Garmin but i don’t see them so often on TV. Was curious as to whether there was some pro level gear sending real time power data back to the team car? Particularly for TT stages.

    • Real time power back to the car is unlikely given that they use low power transmissions. It’s quite a stretch to think that they boosted their signal enough to send more than a couple of meters away and still have enough battery for a whole stage. And because they can’t carry mobile phones like we do they can’t hook up a computer to a phone to relay that info back to the car.

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