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French road bikes on test
It's not easy for the French cycling nation. Even in the 110th edition of the Tour de France, no Frenchman was in contention for overall victory from the outset. The French riders' drought has thus grown to 38 years. That's how long it's been since Bernard Hinault was the last French rider to wear the yellow jersey in Paris. Pardon, la France!
For the proud nation, by far the most successful in the Tour and with the most teams at the start of the Grand Depart in Bilbao, this does not even begin to reflect its own self-image. Gone are the days when riders and teams from France dominated the headlines during the three-week spectacle.
A development that can also be seen in the equipment used by the professionals: Not only is the tricolour now absent from the winners' lists, but French manufacturers have also been overtaken in terms of sponsored professional bikes. Although Lapierre (Groupama-FDJ) and Look (Cofidis) are the first French brands to supply bikes this year since 2017, most of the teams are chasing to Paris on racing equipment from the USA (5), Italy (4) or Germany (3).
French racing bikes on test - First carbon frame from TVT
At the turn of the millennium, the picture was quite the opposite (see graphic below). Almost half of the drivers sat on "Manufacture en France" cars. These included traditional brands such as Cyfac and Gitane, which are only known to nostalgics in the 21st century. Even Peugeot, the most successful brand in the Tour of France after Pinarello, has long since disappeared from the Tour map and is focussing on motorised bicycles.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the French road bike industry was still playing a pioneering role: TVT presented the first production carbon frame in 1983, manufacturers such as Look and Vitus - still French-owned at the time - quickly followed suit and bonded tubes made of the composite material into aluminium lugs. From then on, Look not only made a name for itself with revolutionary clipless pedals, but also produced the first Tour-winning bike made from the carbon-aluminium mix, the KG 86 ridden by Greg LeMond - also the last triumph of a French manufacturer in the Grand Loop.
Shortly afterwards, the company, founded in 1951, astounded the cycling world with the KG 196, which was manufactured in monocoque construction for the first time and became an icon with its aero-optimised frame. This heralded the switch from aluminium to carbon frames in the peloton.
Innovation driver
At the start of the first carbon racing bikes, another brand was created alongside Look, Time, which also had its beginnings in the pedal business and distinguished itself in the 1990s with its pioneering spirit in frame construction. With a special manufacturing process that is still used today, the manufacturer, founded in 1987, succeeds in producing carbon frames of a high, consistent quality. However, as the process is time-consuming - including the use of negative moulds produced in-house - and because framesets from the Far East are gradually becoming better and cheaper, the Lyon-based company loses out in the noughties.
As a result, Time has been a spectator at the most important material show in France for more than ten years. With a new carbon factory in the USA, the company, whose bike and pedal division is owned by the US, now wants to get back on the world cycling map.
Look was not hit quite so hard. Since the turn of the millennium, the brand from Nevers, which was taken over by French investor Activa Capital in 2016 and has production facilities in Taiwan and Tunisia, has been able to present its top racers at the Tour with few exceptions.
More recently, however, Lapierre has emerged as a constant among French manufacturers. The company, which now belongs to the Accell Group from the Netherlands, has been equipping the Groupama-FDJ team and its predecessor teams with bikes since 2002. Despite its more than 75-year history, Lapierre was relatively late to focus on bikes with narrow tyres. While the competition experimented with the first carbon fibre frames, the company participated in the MTB boom and matured into one of the largest manufacturers of off-road bikes. The first bike with a carbon fibre frame did not leave the factory in Dijon until 2003.
Decathlon in the pro peloton?
Van Rysel's company history is even younger - and its rise has perhaps been even steeper. The own brand of Decathlon, the world's largest sporting goods retailer, was only launched in 2018. However, it attracted attention with a product offensive in the spring and fuelled speculation that it could "return" to the Tour de France next year. Although the young company based in Lille has yet to equip a professional team, the parent company Decathlon was active in the World Tour between 2000 and 2007 as a bike sponsor for AG2R and Cofidis.
According to French media reports, AG2R will switch from BMC to Van Rysel next season. When asked, Decathlon did not want to comment specifically on this. "As a bike brand, you naturally want to be at the most important races. And when we return, we want to compete for victories," said a company spokesperson. The company has met with several teams, but nothing more has been finalised yet.
In any case, our test shows that Van Rysel wouldn't need to hide in the peloton with the brand new competition bike. Representing the once glorious bike industry from France, we also put an aero bike from Look, the current pro model from Lapierre and a gravel bike from Time through our TOUR test.
Number of professional teams on racing bikes from French manufacturers
French road bikes in the test - The individual tests
Julian Schultz
Editor
