Watch any WorldTour highway race and each member of a professional staff shall be carrying the identical package and driving the identical bike, or at the very least a small collection of high spec fashions from the identical model.
On the Paris Olympics, you’ll be capable to spot cyclists from the identical nation by their an identical clothes; Castelli is a long-time accomplice of the Italian biking staff, for instance, and Czech model Kalas provides British Biking’s staff clothes.
On the monitor, the British Biking team-issue package extends to the Hope x Lotus monitor bike. All members of the monitor staff, no matter self-discipline, will experience the identical bike, with variations in handlebars to cater for the wants of the totally different occasions.
Street riders use their commerce staff bikes within the Olympic highway race and time trial
(Picture credit score: Getty Photographs)
So why, after they line up in the beginning of the highway race and the time trial, will UK riders be on a hotch-potch of bikes in numerous colours and from totally different manufacturers, with totally different wheels, tyres, groupsets and different elements? Their helmets and footwear will differ too.
“The Olympic laws enable riders to experience totally different manufacturers of motorbike,” says Ellie Stott, communications supervisor for the Nice Britain Biking Crew.
All of the riders on the staff are skilled athletes, who spend the vast majority of their 12 months driving for his or her commerce staff. They’ll have lined hundreds of miles on their bikes in coaching and WorldTour competitors and know them inside out. Professional riders are notoriously choosy about their bikes’ set-up too.
Swapping to a special bike for one occasion, which falls within the center – or at the very least in direction of the tail finish – of the skilled race season could be problematic, because the riders wouldn’t have time to coach and develop accustomed to a special machine.
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There could be extra questions to deal with as nicely: would a uniform Olympic bike be geared up with the identical groupset for all riders, for instance? Once more, there’d be a studying curve if that’s the case. Likewise saddle, tyres and the host of different small elements that make up a race bike – elements that riders are comfy with and for which they know the boundaries.
“So it is sensible for riders to experience their very own bikes. Likewise, they’ll use the identical helmet as they’d use when driving for his or her commerce staff, simply with out the staff branding,” says Stott.
Tom Pidcock was carrying a Lazer helmet, quite than Kask, when he received gold within the XC MTB occasion
(Picture credit score: Getty Photographs)
That will not be true throughout all disciplines although. On the Paris Olympics, Tom Pidcock was carrying a Lazer helmet when he received the XC MTB competitors, quite than one from Kask, which sponsors the Ineos Grenadiers highway staff.
On the excessive finish, Kask’s emphasis is on highway helmets (aside from the $600 full-face Defender). Pidcock seems to be to have a non-exclusive deal for highway driving solely and we might count on him to revert to a Kask helmet for the Olympic highway race. Usually in XC MTB and cyclocross competitions, he wears a Pink Bull helmet, which is a branded Lazer lid.
Once more, with footwear, a rider could have a pair provided by their staff sponsor that they’re comfy driving in; usually shoe manufacturers could have a novel customized final for footwear to suit a single sponsored professional rider.
What logos will be displayed by Crew GB riders and different Olympic athletes is ruled by Rule 40. It is fairly advanced and covers every little thing from sponsor logos to tweets, however is designed to make sure that the British Olympic Affiliation captures income to fund its grassroots actions.
Spot the Spesh – Specialised offered its riders with vibrant yellow bikes on the Rio Olympics in 2016
(Picture credit score: Future)
Bike manufacturers see the chance to advertise their bikes too. On the Rio Olympics in 2016, all of the riders on Specialised bikes, no matter their nation, have been driving vibrant yellow Tarmacs. Different manufacturers have offered their sponsored riders with colourful bikes too, though on the similar time some riders have been on bikes of their normal staff colours.
Van der Poel rode his Canyon Aeroad to 2023 World Championships victory in Glasgow
(Picture credit score: Getty Photographs)
It’s not simply on the Olympics that riders experience their commerce staff bikes when competing for his or her nation both. Mathieu van der Poel received the world highway race championships in 2023 driving a Canyon Aeroad, the identical bike as he rides within the WorldTour.
Once more, different members of the Dutch nationwide staff have been driving bikes from quite a lot of different manufacturers, matching the tools they’d experience with their commerce groups.
Alternative on the monitor too
Crew GB will all experience the Hope x Lotus monitor bike in Paris, however this is not obligatory
(Picture credit score: Alex Whitehead/SWpix)
We talked about above that every one the members of the British Biking monitor staff could be driving the identical Hope x Lotus monitor bike. Stott factors out that right here too there’s room for various bikes for use.
“All of our monitor riders will use the Hope-Lotus Paris bike however that’s not obligatory within the regs. We’ve had riders utilizing different bikes at earlier Video games,” she says.
Another nations whose monitor groups aren’t resourced in addition to Crew GB will see a spread of various bikes utilized by their groups.
However provided that the Hope x Lotus monitor bike is taken into account state-of-the-art in a contest the place margins are razor skinny and there’s a continuous tech arms race, it is sensible for riders to choose to experience it over alternate options.
The Japanese V-IZU monitor bike retails for over £100,000
(Picture credit score: Future (Andy Jones))
There’s additionally the little matter of the price of Olympic-level monitor bikes. The Hope x Lotus carbon bike will be purchased for £25,000. Crew GB can be debuting the 3D printed UKSI-BC1, which is priced at £55,000 plus VAT.
Different Olympic monitor bikes are equally costly. You should buy the Japanese staff’s V-Izu TCM-2 for a bit of over £100,000, for instance. That’s quite a lot of money for a person rider to pony up for a shot at a medal.
