It's no surprise that cyclists in the Tour de France race on the very best bikes available. One of the perks of being a professional cyclist is getting to ride the best road bikes in the world and have them maintained to perfection by pro mechanics.
Tour de France bikes cost a lot these days, but just how expensive are they?
While we dive into a few specific team examples here, if you want to see a full rundown of each team's equipment for the 2026 race, we'll have a Tour de France bikes guide later this week.
If you want to know more about the teams in general, check out our Tour de France teams guide, where we discuss leaders, domestiques and more.
Some teams ride off-the-shelf bikes and componentry that, stock-dependent, you could add to an online shopping basket and order tomorrow. This may be a dangerous proposition if you are fired up after an afternoon of racing and feel like treating yourself!
Then there's the prototype and pro-only componentry issued to some teams, such as the unlaunched Specialised time-trial bike we spotted in Barcelona. That's where things get a little trickier to work out.
But all products used in the Tour de France must be made available to the public within 12 months, so there'll never be a bike you can't ride yourself. However, no rules are stopping a brand from making it so insanely expensive that nobody in their right mind would actually buy it.
Within the 2026 Tour de France, there are 20 different bike brands, and each will have a slightly different pricing structure for its range of bikes.
There are also three brands that supply two teams each. Those brands are Canyon, which sponsors Movistar and Alpecin-Premier Tech; Pinarello, which has Netcompany-Ineos and Pinarello-Q36.5; and Specialized, which supplies Soudal-QuickStep and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe.
If you're after a ballpark figure for the bikes being raced in the Tour, the cost of a team road race bike is in the region of £9,000 - £14,000 / €10k - €15k / $11k - $16k / AU$17k - $22k. Time trial bikes are in general significantly more expensive, as they're sold frameset-only and kitted out with custom-fitted 3D-printed extensions and fancy wheels.
But let's take a deeper dive into the cost of some specific Tour de France bikes, including the super-expensive time trial bike class. We'll also look at who exactly pays for the bikes, whether riders get to keep their own bike, and how many bikes a team will take to the race.
Tour de France bike cost breakdown
Firstly, it's important to recognise that a bike is made up of various components. Starting with the frame and fork, there is then a groupset (aka the gear and brake system), wheels, tyres, cockpit components such as the handlebar and stem, and the finishing kit such as the saddle, bar tape and pedals. There are then the small parts such as the bolts, bearings, inner tubes or tubeless sealant, lubricants, and even the paint. Plus, bikes are sold without pedals - you'll need them. To quantify the cost of the bike as a whole, you need to calculate the sum of its parts.
Depending on the terrain of the stage ahead, riders will often ride different frames or use different components to improve the bike's suitability to the course. Lighter wheels might be swapped in for mountainous stages; more aerodynamic wheels will be used for flatter days, and tyres might be changed if there are cobbled roads or poor road surfaces during a particular stage. Some teams will have a lightweight climbing bike and a faster, more aero bike and swap between them.
To calculate the true retail cost of a Tour de France bike, we've picked a few bikes being used this year and broken down the cost of each. We've looked at some of the most well-known and popular bikes in the race, as well as a bike which, to a degree, bucks the hyper-expensive trend.
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe's Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL9
Two teams are rolling out the latest S-Works Tarmac SL9: Soudal-QuickStep and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. Remco Evenepoel is the star rider on the latter team this year, having transferred from Soudal-QuickStep at the beginning of 2026.
It's easy to work out the teams' bike costs as a lot of the components come from Specialized itself or its subsidiary wheel and parts brand Roval, and are easily available to purchase online and in stores.
Specialized claims that the new Tarmac SL9 is four watts more aero than its predecessor and a similar weight, although the bike can be built up to weigh 6.5kg thanks to lighter components. This is less than the UCI's 6.8kg minimum weight limit, but add pedals and bottle cages and the bike is likely to sit pretty much on the 6.8kg figure.
The 'S-Works' name refers to Specialised's top-spec frames, if you want to ride the same bike as the pros, which is made of flashier, lighter carbon fibre and carries a price tag to match.
See also
► How to watch the Tour de France 2026
The S-Works Tarmac SL9 can be ordered from the brand's website for £12,000 / $14,000 / €14,000 / AU$21,500 with the same SRAM Red AXS groupset, Roval Rapide carbon fibre integrated handlebar, seatpost and tyres the team normally use, as well as the Roval Rapide CLX III wheels used by Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe.
Bikes are typically not sold with pedals, and the team uses Shimano Dura-Ace pedals, which are popular even with teams not equipped with Shimano Dura-Ace groupsets. They retail for £250 / $280 / €240 / AU$370.
Approx total cost: £12,500 / €14,500 / $14,500 / AU$22,000.
What is the cheapest Tour de France bike?
Until recently, the cheapest bike in the Tour de France would have been the Cube Litening Aero C:68 aero bike ridden by Team Total Energies; a top-spec Shimano Dura-Ace or SRAM Red-equipped model with Newmen carbon wheels would cost you £7,499 or around $10,000.
However, the team is now racing on a new prototype model that hasn't been officially released; we spotted that bike at the Tour-Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, and the team are using it at the Tour. You can't currently buy this bike, and as it's the main model for the team now, we will look to the next cheapest option.
Van Rysel can now lay claim to having the most affordable bike on the race in the shape of the RCR-R Pro, which you can pick up in the SRAM Red AXS-equipped version the team uses, albeit with slightly different wheels, for £9,000 / $11,599
If it's a dedicated aero bike you want, the team's other model, the RCR-F, can be bought with a full Shimano Dura-Ace groupset for $11,599.
We also spotted a prototype Van Rysel recently, and Paul Seixas is currently riding this bike at the Tour, though like the Cube, you can't buy it yet either.
Tadej Pogačar's Colnago Y1Rs
Tadej Pogačar is the hot favourite again going into the 2026 edition, after dominating again in 2025, having a storming Spring campaign, and winning the recent five-stage Tour de Suisse by 6'32". He almost always rides the crazy-looking Y1Rs aero bike, even in the uphill time trial in last year's race.
It isn't possible to purchase Pogačar's bike spec off the shelf, which means we have to get the calculator out to work out the cost.
You could buy the individual parts that make up the team's bike, and get close to the same build the team uses, even including the black paint job he rides, but there are a few things that mark Pogačar's bike as different.
On the Colnago website's bike builder, the closest you can get to the Slovenian ace's build comes out at £14,778 / €16,438 / $15,784.
This features the same frame, rainbow paintwork, and Dura-Ace electronic groupset. It comes with Enve's SES 4.5 wheels rather than the SES 4.5 Pro that will likely be used on this bike and which cost around $1,000 more. You would also need to switch to the Continental GP5000 TT time trial-specific tyres that the world champion likes to race on.
It lacks the power meter as well, and Pogacar runs different tyres, chainrings, disc rotors, derailleur hanger, bottom bracket, and a custom saddle.
At retail price, the cost difference for a Dura-Ace power meter chainset is approximately £600. The tyre cost difference is negligible. He's using CarbonTi chainrings with his own 'TP' logo printed into them - so that's another €435.
Finally, there's the 3D printed, custom-moulded saddle, which at £499 per saddle, is an upcharge of £300 compared to the stock option.
There's also the additional cost of bar tape, 3d printed computer mount, bottle cages, Dura-Ace pedals and the £300 Bikone aero ceramic bottom bracket to add on. We'll estimate an approximate cost of around £800 for all that.
Adding all that together, with some currency conversion and rounding, gets us an approx total cost of £18,000 / $19,000 / €19,500 / AU$35,000.
The most expensive Tour de France bike? Ineos Grenadiers' Pinarello Bolide F
There's no greater arms race in cycling than in the world of time trialling, and it's here that the money really starts to stack up. Nowadays, we have a deep understanding of aerodynamics, rolling resistance and drivetrain efficiency, and how they all affect the speed at which a rider will travel for a set power. Therefore, the time and research going into developing time trial bikes, components, and clothing is growing exponentially as the available gains get smaller and smaller. The result is the cost of the products that are created is pretty damn high.
One such bike is the Pinarello Bolide F, launched in 2024 as a road-going version of the track bike that Filippo Ganna used to break the World Hour Record. As the track bike has to be made available commercially under UCI rules, Pinarello offers the track frame for €12,500 plus VAT for a frame alone or a staggering €28,750 plus VAT with custom-printed time trial extensions (which Ganna will certainly have). And that's with one fixed gear, although the higher number here does include Campagnolo carbon track wheels.
Netcompany Ineos is riding on Scope wheels this season, with the Artech 8.T priced at £2,000 and the Artech Disc at £2,500. There's also a tri-spoke front wheel available priced at £3,000, so the team's wheels cost between £4,500 and £5,500.
They'll also need a groupset, and it makes sense that they'll use the same Dura-Ace R9200 range as found on their road bikes. When factoring in a power meter, that'll cost in the region of £4,200, albeit with small differences based on the time-trial-specific brake levers and shifters. They'll also almost certainly swap the 2x chainset and front derailleur in favour of a single aero-optimised chainring. We calculate this to be around £200 cheaper than a 2x setup, so will deduct this from the total.
Beyond these main components, there are other 'finishing' components to add on. Continental GP5000 TT tyres will cost just under £200 for a pair. We'll add another £50 as a rough estimate for bar tape, chain lube or wax, tubeless conversion, and there's a saddle and pedals to account for.
We also acknowledge there may be new or secret prototype parts that we don't even know about yet, but this is a good estimation. It makes the latest Colnago TT2 frameset, which will be used by Tadej Pogačar look like good value; it starts at £6,500 / $7,500 / €7,000.
Approx total cost: £43,000 / $57,500 / €50,000 / AU$83,000
Cost of Tour de France jersey or skinsuit
If you look at a rider front-on, the biggest part of the picture is not the bike, but the rider. This is important in the field of aerodynamics because it means the wind is actually hitting the rider more than the bike. The bike only accounts for around 20-30% of the puzzle.
Therefore, just as much - if not more - attention is paid to the clothing riders wear to minimise drag, and as such, the cost of a skinsuit worn by a rider in the Tour de France is equally eyewatering.
Some extreme examples we've covered in the past include a skinsuit worn by Mathieu van der Poel in 2022, which had a retail price of £2,750. Assos released a $7,000 skinsuit ahead of the Paris Olympics, and Mark Cavendish wore £1,000 aero socks, called the 'Project 35', ahead of his tilt at a 35th stage win.
The kit worn by most of the peloton on normal road stages is less ridiculous, but still quite pricey. Let's look at a few key names and run some sums.
Tadej Pogačar
I'll start with the race favourite. His skinsuit is certainly custom-tailored to ensure the perfect fit, but in order to get a price more reflective of the average Tour rider, let's assume he gets an off-the-peg size.
Looking at his kit sponsor Pissei's website, they sell a replica short-sleeved skinsuit, complete with UAE Team Emirates-XRG design and rainbow colours, at £300. This isn't the exact design he has used recently, but it's a good ballpark comparison. Add to this £40 for his aero socks, and you're looking at £340 for his clothing. His Met Trenta 3K helmet is another £300, plus another £440 for his DMT Pogi's Superlight shoes, and he's rolling round in a smidge over £1000 worth of clothing. We understand he won't wear the special edition $1,000,000 Richard Mille watch he's recently been modelling, due to 'personal safety concerns', so we'll leave that out.
Total cost: £1,100 (Conversion: $1,500 / €1,300 / AU$2,100)
Jasper Philipsen
Next up, let's look at sprint sensation Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech). Sponsored by Czech clothing brand Kalas, the Belgian will wear one of two skinsuits, depending on the day. On hotter days, or on days where he's unlikely to sprint for the win, he'll wear the Kalas 'Passion Short Sleeve Brios' road race suit, priced at £239 off the shelf, or the similarly-priced 'Verano' suit.
We know this because last year we took a load of Kalas kit to the wind tunnel to see whether expensive kit makes you faster.
On sprint stages, where he's fighting for the win, he's likely to wear the fastest suit Kalas makes, the 'Project RR' designed in conjunction with Vorteq. This is priced at £449 off the shelf (and climbs into the thousands if you get it custom fitted, which is the case for pro riders).
In addition, he tends to wear aero socks from AeroCyclingGear, which are actually quite well priced at £36. Then there's his Abus Gamechanger 2.0 helmet, priced at £225, and his Shimano S-Phyre RC903 shoes are priced at £349.
Total cost: £849 - £1,059 (Conversion: $1,150-$1,400 / €1,000-€1,250 / AU$1,650-$2,000)
Can you buy a Tour de France bike?
The sport's governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), has a rule that means any product used in competition must be made available for public sale. Article 1.3.006 of the UCI Technical Regulations states:
"Equipment shall be of a type that is sold for use by anyone practising cycling as a sport. Any equipment in development phase and not yet available for sale (prototype) must be subject of an authorization request to the UCI Equipment Unit before its use. Authorization will be granted only for equipment which is in the final stage of development and for which commercialization will take place no later than 12 months after the first use in competition."
To simplify, this means teams can only use technology that is available to the public or prototypes of items that are planned to be made available for sale within 12 months. Therefore, you can indeed ride the same bikes as the WorldTour pros… just know you'll need deep pockets.
If you want to go a step further and ride a bike that has literally been ridden in the Tour de France, then this is possible too. Websites like Bike Room sell off teams' old bikes at the end of the season once they've finished with them, and some teams offer ex-team bikes on their own sites.
You can also buy team clothing, with MatchWornShirts having recently auctioned Jonas Vingegaard's Giro d'Italia Stage 21 podium jersey for £1,657. Expect more kit to appear on the site after the Tour.
Tadej Pogačar's crash-damaged skinsuit in which he won Milan-San Remo in the spring sold for €95,100 at auction, with the proceeds going to the Tadej Pogačar Foundation charity.
How many bikes do teams have at the Tour de France?
Most Tour de France riders will have two bikes available to them on any given day, with key riders having even more. Some teams will also have two different types of bike - one that is lighter in weight for the climbing days, and another that is more aerodynamic for the flatter, faster days. They will also have one or two time trial bikes per rider for the time trial stages.
If you extrapolate that out to eight riders per team and take into account bikes that have been crashed out, it's not uncommon for teams to have 60 framesets and over 100 wheelsets at a race (and hundreds more back at the team's service course ready to be deployed in the event of an emergency).
As a real-world example, wheel brand Hunt previously confirmed to Cyclingnews that it supplied 115 wheelsets to Qhubeka Assos for the 2021 Giro d'Italia.
As part of its motor-doping preventative measures, the UCI's rules state that every frameset and wheel used at the Tour de France must have been pre-registered, then checked and approved by a commissaire prior to the race. This creates a lot of admin and paperwork for both teams and the UCI, but theoretically prevents teams from sneaking in a prototype bike (or one fitted with a motor!) midway through the race without the commissaires' knowledge.
What do Tour de France teams pay for their bikes?
This depends on the sponsorship deal the team managed to strike with manufacturers of the frames and components, but for the most part, teams will not pay a single cent for their bikes.
Understandably, we're not privy to the ins and outs of these commercial negotiations, but the rough details are no big secret. The bike industry is rife with brands vying for attention, and there's no bigger stage than the Tour de France. Be they bike brands, kit manufacturers or shoe suppliers, they all want to put their products in front of a worldwide audience, and they all have something to offer that the team needs.
Moreover, rather than paying for the bikes, most bike sponsorship deals will actually involve a cash injection alongside the provision of equipment, meaning these teams are given bikes and money. Hands up anyone who's ever left a bike shop richer than when they entered...? No, nor us.
Factor Bikes' founder, Rob Gitelis, once told me that the bike sponsor is usually the second-biggest financial sponsor to the team behind the 'title sponsor' (TotalEnergies, Movistar, Red Bull, and so on).
The types of sponsorship agreements vary greatly by team, usually dependent on the team's success, or likelihood thereof. A winning team is better publicity, after all.
Some deals will be for the frameset alone, meaning the team needs to head elsewhere for a supply of wheels, groupsets and everything else, which again might be provided for free by the sponsors. Others will get complete bikes supplied by the brand.
In addition, some sponsorship agreements are a simple handover of product (and cash) in return for the publicity it will generate, while others are fully integrated technical partnerships where the two parties work together to innovate, develop and market their products. A good example of the latter is Specialized at Soudal-QuickStep, whereby Specialized's staff will join the team at training camps and races, and riders like Kasper Asgreen (now at EF Education First) will guide the development of race bikes, and Remco Evenepoel (now at Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) will develop his own very expensive shoes.
Do pro cyclists get to keep their bikes?
Usually not, no. In almost all cases, the bikes are provided to the team by a brand by way of sponsorship. The brand will supply enough bikes to last for the season, and then at the end of the season, or contract period, which often spans a few years, the bikes will be returned.
Exceptions are sometimes made for key riders upon retirement, or bikes that are ridden to special victories, but in most cases, the bikes are returned to the brand and then sold, gifted, or, in some cases, even discarded. Bike colour schemes typically change each year, and a raw frame will be painted up in the new colours, while a bike that may have been ridden thousands of kilometres is probably ripe for retirement.
It's a serious sponsorship faux-pas for a rider to be seen in an old sponsor's kit or on an old sponsor's bike, especially in races, but also on training rides at home. The current sponsor will be rightly upset, as it can be inferred that the rider actively dislikes their equipment. It can get the rider and the team into a lot of trouble, and as such, it's often easier for the rider to return all equipment to avoid embarrassment.
