Author’s note: This article which was first written in 2010 has been continuously updated throughout the years.

After swapping my Cannondale 3.0‘s hodgepodge of Campagnolo components for Shimano Dura-Ace 7700s, the bike weighs in at 19.0 pounds. In this day and age of ultra-light (and über-expensive) vélos bedecked with enough carbon fiber to embarrass a B2 Stealth Bomber, this seems a bit portly and admittedly, she could easily lose another 1.5 lbs. if I cared to spend a few hundred dollars for a lighter wheelset, saddle and handlebar.

But can you believe that my C’dale (with its 19-year-old aluminum frame) actually weighs less than the bicycles that Miguel Indurain, Jan Ullrich and Bjarne Riis rode to Tour de France victory in the mid- to late 90s? And every winning Tour bike before that!

Below are some of the bikes ridden to glory in the modern Tour de France era. Bike weights hovered between 18 and 22 pounds from 1968 to 1998, after which they plummeted especially with Lance Armstrong demanding every technological advantage. In 2004, Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) imposed a minimum weight requirement of 15.0 pounds (6.8 kilograms) for bicycles raced in international events under their jurisdiction—including the Tour de France—so the lightest bike ever ridden to overall Tour victory was Armstrong’s Trek 5900 SL, weighing 14.5 pounds in 2003. (That win was later nullified.)

Some other observations are below. [ : Items below that are struck out are due to disqualifications of once-declared victors like Lance Armstrong implicated in doping scandals.]

In the last 40 years, a handful of bicycle manufacturers have dominated the race for the yellow jersey: Pinarello (15 as of August 2019), Gitane (with 9 or 12 victories), Peugeot (10), and Trek (9) . Read this post for a detailed analysis and controversies regarding which bike company has won the most.

. Read this post for a detailed analysis and controversies regarding which bike company has won the most. TVT (of France) claims to have at least 5 victories spanning from 1986-1991. Their bikes were frequently rebadged as other marques.

1994 was the last time the Tour was won a steel bike—a TIG-welded Pinarello-badged beauty ridden by Miguel Indurain.

Indurain and Bjarne Riis rode TIG-welded metal-matrix frames to victory in 1995 and 1996, respectively.

Aluminum bicycles were ridden to glory by Jan Ullrich and Marco Pantani in 1997 and 1998, respectively.

In 1999, Lance Armstrong’s time-trial bike was a Trek-badged titanium Litespeed Blade. I think this is the only titanium bicycle that was ever used by a Tour de France winner (later nullified).

Ever since Lance Armstrong lead the Tour on a stock Trek OCLV in 1999, every winning bike has been made completely out of carbon fiber except for Oscar Pereiro’s Pinarello Dogma, which had main tubes made out of an AK61 magnesium alloy and rear triangle made out of carbon fiber.

Shimano also finally had a win in the Tour starting in 1999 2007.

2007. For the climbing stages in all seven of Lance Armstrong’s TdF overall first-place finishes, he used a downtube front shift lever to save weight (about 2-3 ounces). Nowadays, combination brake/shift levers (such as SRAM Red) are just as light as a separate downtube and brake lever—and bicycle manufacturers don’t even put braze-ons for downtube levers on their frames anymore—so 2005 will likely go down in history as the last year that downtube levers were used by a Tour de France winner.

Alberto Contador’s Trek Madone 5.2 in 2007 was the first Tour-winning bike with a mountain bike-like sloping top tube. Now almost all modern race bikes have “compact” frames, with the main holdouts being Cannondale and Pinarello.

SRAM had its first victory in 2010 despite Andy Schleck’s infamous chain-skipping incident. (He was later awarded TdF victory after Alberto Contador tested positive for clenbuterol.)

Cadel Evan was the first TdF winner using electronic shifting (Shimano Di2 on a BMC Teammachine SLR01) in 2011.

Around 2018, more and more bicycle manufacturers were adopting “dropped” seatstays. Supposedly they are more aerodynamic and allow more compliance than traditional seatstays that meet at the junction of the top tube and seat tube.

With the UCI limit of 6.8 kilos being so easy to achieve nowadays for sponsor-backed professionals, what will be the latest innovations we will see in the next decade of Tour de Frances? More widespread adoption of electronic shifting and aerodynamic tubing are a near certainty. Eventually, Shimano and SRAM will come out with 11-speed shifting to catch up with Campagnolo. [ : Done.]

I’ll go ahead and predict that by 2020 some sort of disc brake system for road bikes will be introduced and that electronic equipment (e.g., sensors, meters and communication devices) will be more integrated into the frames. [ : I made these predictions in 2010 and by now they already seem fait accompli.] Any one else with predictions?

Year Winning Racer Bicycle Manufacturer Weight, lbs. (kg) Notes 1962 Jacques Anquetil Helyett 22.4 (10.2) (1) 1965 Felice Gimondi Magni 24.2 (11) (1) 1967 Roger Pingeon Peugeot 22.9 (10.4) (1) 1968 Jan Janssen Lejeune 19.1 (8.7) (1) 1972 Eddy Merckx Eddy Merckx (Colnago) 21.1 (9.6) (1) 1973 Luis Ocaña Motobecane 18.7 (8.5) (1) 1976 Lucien Van Impe Gitane 18.3 (8.3) (1) 1977 Bernard Thévenet Peugeot 22.0 (10.0) (1) 1980 Joop Zoetemelk Raleigh 22.4 (10.2) (1) 1985 Bernard Hinault Hinault 21.1 (9.6) (1); time-trial bike? 1987 Stephen Roche Battaglin 21.1 (9.6) (1) 1988 Pedro Delgado Pinarello (built by TVT) 21.6 (9.8) (1),(17) 1989 Greg LeMond Bottechia (built by TVT) ? (17) 1990 Greg LeMond LeMond 20.0 (9.1) (1); time-trial bike 1993 Miguel Indurain Pinarello 22.7 (10.3) (1) 1993-1994 Miguel Indurain Pinarello-badged (Dario Pegoretti) 19.8 (9.0) (16) 1995 Miguel Indurain Pinarello Espada 17.8 (8.1) (1); time-trial bike 1996 Bjarne Riis Pinarello 19.8 (9.0) (1) 1997 Jan Ullrich Pinarello 19.8 (9.0) (1) 1998 Marco Pantani Bianchi 17.8 (8.1) (1) 1999 Lance Armstrong Trek 5500 ? (2); Frameset: 3.9 lbs. (1.75 kg). 1″ head tube, threaded chromoly steerer, 9-speed Dura-Ace 2000 Lance Armstrong Trek 5900 ? (2); frameset: 2.8+.9=3.7 lbs. (1.25+.42=1.67 kg), 1-1/8″ head tube, threadless aluminum steerer, 9-speed Dura-Ace 2000 Lance Armstrong Trek 5900 SL <15.0 (<6.8) (2),(5),(6); Frame: 2.2 lbs. (1.0 kg), for mountain stages 2001 Lance Armstrong Trek 5900 ? (2) frameset: 2.5+.9=3.5 lbs. (1.15+.42=1.57 kg), 9-speed Dura-Ace, still used downtube front shifter for mountains 2002 Lance Armstrong Trek 5900 18.0 (8.2) (1) 2003 Lance Armstrong Trek Madone 5.9 15.8 (7.2) (1),(14); road stages 2003 Lance Armstrong Trek 5900 SL 14.5 (6.6) (2),(14); frame: 2.2 lbs. (.98 kg), mountain stages 2004 Lance Armstrong Trek Madone SL 15.0 (6.8) (2),(3),(4),(13),(14); frameset: 2.4+.7=3.2 lbs. (1.10+.34=1.44 kg) 2005 Lance Armstrong Trek Madone SSLx 15.0 (6.8) (3) 2006 Oscar Pereiro Pinarello Dogma-FPX 15.0 (6.8) (3),(8); Magnesium AK61 Superlight 2007 Alberto Contador Trek Madone 5.2 15.0 (6.8) (3),(10),(12); First official win by a Shimano-equipped bicycle. 2008 Carlos Sastre Cervélo R3-SL 15.0 (6.8) (3),(9); Rotor Q-Ring elliptical chainrings mounted on FSA crankarms 2009 Alberto Contador Trek Madone 6-Series 15.0 (6.8) (3),(11) 2010 Alberto Contador Andy Schleck Specialized Tarmac SL3 15.0 (6.8) (3),(7); First win by a SRAM-equipped bike? 2011 Cadel Evans BMC Teammachine SLR01 15.0 (6.8) (3),(15); first TdF winner using electronic shifting (Shimano Dura-Ace Di2) 2012 Bradley Wiggins Pinarello Dogma 65.1 Think 2 15.0 (6.8) (3) 2013 Chris Froome Pinarello Dogma 65.1 Think 2 15.0 (6.8) (3); 126mm stem, 40cm bars, 172.5mm Dura-Ace cranks, and 23mm Veloflex tubulars 2014 Vincenzo Nibali Specialized Tarmac / Specialized Roubaix (for cobbles) / Specialized Shiv (TT) 15.0 (6.8) for Tarmac (3); Tarmac: Campagnolo Super Record mechanical groupset; FSA carbon fiber handlebars, stem and seatpost; Veloflex Carbon 700X23c tubulars 2015 Chris Froome Pinarello Dogma F8 15.0 (6.8) (3); Shimano Dura-Ace Di2, O.Symetric chainrings 2016 Chris Froome Pinarello Dogma F8 XLight 15.0 (6.8) (3); Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 9070, O.Symetric chainrings, Stages power meter 2017 Chris Froome Pinarello Dogma F10 15.0 (6.8) (3); Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 9100 with custom bar-tops switch, O.Symetric chainrings 2018 Geraint Thomas Pinarello Dogma F10 XLight 15.0 (6.8) (3) 2019 Egan Bernal Pinarello Dogma F12 15.0 (6.8) (3)

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