Tour de France: The bikes from the neutral equipment van and their special features

A man in a blue overall almost became famous at the Tour de France 2025: after Tadej Pogacar crashed in the finale of the eleventh stage, the helper rushed over, helped the superstar with his broken chain and gave him a big push. The "Blue Angel" was a member of the neutral service at the Tour de France. For the past five years, the component giant Shimano has been responsible for this, until then Mavic took care of it.

Canyon racing bikes on a neutral equipment cart

As Shimano doesn't have any complete bikes in its range, the Japanese are using Canyon bikes. Old models of the Ultimate CFR are on the neutral race service support vehicles. Why not the current version, which the Koblenz-based company presented three years ago? "The old generation still has a round seatpost. We need it so that we can use a dropper post," explains Shimano mechanic Daan Martin. Thanks to the retractable post, practically every professional should be able to adjust their seat height. The Pro model, a Shimano own brand, is operated via a lever in the handlebar arch.

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Meanwhile, the neutral service has prepared bikes for the stars of the scene. As Martin revealed to TOUR, all Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard have to do in an emergency is sit on a blue-painted Canyon. The seat height is preset and the appropriate pedal system is also fitted. The Shimano crew also had suitable equipment on the roof of the car for Mathieu van der Poel and Remco Evenepoel - but the duo had to leave early.

Cheat sheet helps mechanics

In order to be able to react as quickly as possible in the event of a defect, Martin has a small cheat sheet on board. The respective gear groups, diameters of the front disc brakes, tool sizes for changing wheels and pedal systems of all 23 teams are noted on it. "We really do have all the parts with us so that we can help the guys quickly," says the mechanic.

In addition to the support cars, there are also motorbikes in the peloton that can help out with wheels in the event of a defect. However, the neutral service is not really needed very often at the Tour de France. On the one hand, this is due to the teams themselves, who have spare material on or in their own vehicles. On the other hand, the course is not very material-intensive, especially this year. "We don't have any gravel sections this year, for example," says Adam.