There are still four hours to go before the peloton sets off. But in Ennezat, a town of 2,700 people in the Puy-de-Dôme department, the starting point of the tenth stage, you already get the feeling that Tadej Pogačar & Co. are getting on their race bikes every minute. The third smallest starting point of this year's Tour de France is bursting at the seams and resembles a huge public festival. Rows of spectators crowd around the barriers to get as close as possible to the cycling heroes. Here, on the Rue de la République, the starting signal for the French National Day stage is given at around midday. A not exactly small proportion of the spectators are also likely to have come to get their hands on at least one of the tens of thousands of gifts that the "caravane publicitaire" distributes before each stage.
The caravan of adverts jerks across the country at a snail's pace, constantly churning out bric-a-brac. A never-ending rain of printed sun hats, small drinks cans and pre-packed mini salamis pours over the spectators and into their pockets. Some have even arrived with landing nets or homemade fishing baskets. The race (Giro winner Simon Yates will win the first mountain stage in Le Mont-Dore hours later) is not yet playing a major role. In the tranquil village not far from the legendary Puy de Dôme, it becomes clear that the Tour de France is also a huge promotional event, apart from the sporting dramas on the road. A marketing vehicle, as the Grande Boucle was once called into being by the predecessor title of today's "L'Équipe".
In addition to the official sponsors of the Tour de France - Continental is represented by a company from Germany - the biggest annual sporting event is naturally also used as a stage by the equipment suppliers of the professional teams. Around 10 million fans along the route, TV broadcasts in 190 countries and almost 15 million followers on social networks: Nowhere else can manufacturers get more attention for their brands and equipment. As the world's biggest bike show, Eurobike can only dream of a comparable level of interest. For exciting new products, trends and innovations from the sporty sector, the Tour of France is the much more attractive address.
Reporters exceptionally welcome
This was also the case for Cervélo. The overseas bike manufacturer presented two new products for the Grand Départ. The aerodynamically optimised S5, Jonas Vingegaard's main workhorse, and the lightweight R5 both received an update. This is nothing unusual per se, as the competition has also launched new equipment in time for the most important Grand Tour in recent years. However, during our visit to the team hotel, the Canadians led by Global Brand Manager Sarah Taylor surprised us by providing detailed insights into the technical innovations. TOUR was even able to weigh the bikes of Vingegaard and his noble assistant Matteo Jorgensen. In view of the usual secrecy in the industry, this was a welcome and rare exception. No wonder that both bikes were among the hottest technology news during the tour, attracting more international attention than at a trade fair stand in Frankfurt.
In addition to Cervélo, Factor also scored an advertising coup during the three-week tour. The sponsor of Israel - Premier Tech made a name for itself in France with one of the most spectacular concepts of the recent past. The unnamed and unpainted prototype, ridden by German sprinter Pascal Ackermann among others, was probably one of the most talked-about innovations, and not just among the racers. The reason for this is that the fork blades are extremely wide and evoke associations with the track bike of the British national team, for whose fork the car manufacturer Lotus is responsible.
In contrast to Cervélo, Factor actually exhibited the "spaceship" at Eurobike just a few days before the Tour de France. However, not much is really known about the bike. When asked several times by the team, the British-Taiwanese manufacturer merely stated that it did not want to give any details about weight, aerodynamics or geometry for the time being. Before the first stage, there was even talk that the prototype would not be used in France and that Ackermann & Co. would mainly ride the versatile Ostro VAM. One possible explanation for the secrecy could be the announcement from the UCI, the world cycling organisation, which reached the racing bike industry shortly before the Tour - and startled it. According to this, the technical regulations will once again be adjusted for the coming season; among other things, the inner width of the fork may not exceed 115 millimetres from 1 January 2026. So is the new factor possibly in breach of future UCI rules? In the absence of measured values, we can only speculate, but in purely visual terms, the futuristic fork is likely to be at least at the limit of what is permitted.
No information
A much more conventional presentation a new generation of the Merida Reactowhich got its first taste of racing air at Bahrain - Victorious. However, no reliable information was available on the Taiwanese manufacturer's new racing all-rounder.
For Van Rysel, the racing bike brand of the sporting goods discounter Decathlon, the route of this year's Tour de France had a special punch line in store. As the tour started not far from the company's headquarters in Lille, the company generously opened its doors to the public. Although the supplier of the Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale team did not present any new bikes, a look behind the scenes of the huge company gave the impression that, thanks to its enormous technical and human resources, a competitor is maturing here that could give established manufacturers a run for their money.
In addition to the bicycle manufacturers, the "open-air fair" in France is of course also attended by component and accessory manufacturers. At Soudal Quick-Step with Remco Evenepoel, for example, new mono chainrings could be seen on the time trial bikes, which could not be attributed to any manufacturer. The Alpecin-Deceuninck team also rode a (still) not available new wheelset from Shimano. According to a team mechanic, this is supposed to be a new model of the Dura-Ace C50 with a wider carbon rim. It's a shame that the many wheel, component and parts sponsors of the teams aren't also part of the advertising caravan, throwing nice little things from their ranges into the audience ...
Julian Schultz
Editor
