My Top 5 Tour de France Race Bikes of the 21st Century

My 5 favourite Tour de France race bikes from the last 25 years, from the Cannondale SuperSix Evo to the Pinarello Dogma F8.

Content
00:00 Intro
00:47 25 years of tech development
1:52 Trek 5500
3:15 Specialized Tarmac SL2
4:38 Pinarello Dogma F8
6:06 Cervelo R3
7:39 Cannondale SuperSix Evo

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Over the past 25 years, taller France race bikes have changed so much. And looking back over the years, it’s incredible to see just how far we’ve come. From aluminium frames and nine-speed group sets to today’s fully integrated Arrow superbikes with carbon everything and electronic wireless shifting. This video isn’t a history lesson. It’s a reminder that race wins still sell bikes. Whether you like it or not, Tour France victory do continue to shape what many of us ride and the bikes we buy. So today I’m looking back at my pick of the most iconic Tour France race bikes of the past 25 years. Now before we dive in, a quick reminder of some of the key tech developments that have shaped and transformed bikes this century. In the early 2000s, we saw a shift from aluminium and magnesium for the frame material to carbon fiber. Shimano Dit launched in 2009, the surround follow of the EAP, and mechanical shifting was phased out in favor of electronic and wireless shifting. Aerodynamics also arrived in the 2010s as well and totally shaped how bikes now look. And carbon fiber wheels became the norm, too. Handlebars changed from round profile two-piece to aerial cockpits. And handlebars got narrow. But while they got narrow, tires got wide from 21 to 23 25 years ago to 28 30 and wider. And those tires are now tubeless with sealant inside. And no more tubular tires are glued to the rims. This brakes also arrived. Well, perhaps the most controversial development in the past 25 years. And despite the UCI introducing a weight limit of 6.8 kilos, bikes today aren’t really lighter than they were 25 years ago. So, let’s dive in and go back precisely 25 years to the Trek 5500, the precursor to Mone. This was the first carbon fiber bike to win the tour of France and it set a tone for the future. The bike was made in the USA using Tre’s own ov carbon fiber layout. A big leap forward in manufacturing at the time. The frame weighed around, 1250 g, which heavy by today’s standards, but a revolution at the time. Now, 25 years ago, carbon fiber was a new material and TX OLV was a technique that allowed the company to tightly compact the carbon layers with minimal resin, increasing strength while reducing weight. And it was a massive step for production carbon frame at the time, but the process is one that’s pretty common place in the carbon manufacturing world these days. The bike was equipped with Shiman’s latest and greatest durace 7700, a N-speed group set with traditional handlebars and aluminium wheels. Arrow wasn’t part of the conversation yet. That would come many, many years later after the Mone was introduced in 2003. Names are better than numbers, right? and would eventually spawn the MA and then go full circle to MOME being the only race bike for Tre. One of my favorite tour France race bikes of all time has to be the Specialized Tarmac SLT. Launched in 2008, it took Specialized quite a while to figure out how to build a truly competitive race bike, but the SLT was the company’s first real success. It was raced with distinction by riders like Tom Bonan and was among the stiffer bikes of its era. It also looked fantastic in my opinion and still does and a bike I wish I still owned. And back then you could build a complete bike weighing just over 6 kg for around $5,000. Oh, how things have changed and prices have gone up since then. The SL series evolved significantly over the years, eventually being phased out with the SL6. So that SL2 really went a long way with the SO3, SO4, SO5, then the SO6 usher in a more aero profile because the SL2 wasn’t about arrow about weight and stiffness. It was a sharp, aggressive, and super stiff race bike. Everything you want from a bike to compete in a taller France. Although it wasn’t until 2010 that Tomat finally won the tour of France under Andy Schle after Alberta Commodore was disqualified. But the first proper win was Fenzo Nibbley in 2014. And then the award for the bike that won the most tour of France victories is unsurprisingly the Pinerelloo Dogma thanks largely to dominance of Team Sky now Inos Grenadier. Back in 2006, and you might not believe this, the Pinera Dogma FPX featured a blend of magnesium and carbon fiber in the frame. But for me, it was the launch of the Dogma F8 developed in partnership with Jaguar, the car company that marked a big leap forward for the Dogma platform. For me, it’s still one of the most iconic bikes of the modern era. And it looked incredible at the time, distinctive, aggressive, and ahead of its time. It combined arrow shaping and low weight in a true allrounder years before Specialized follow suit with a tarmac SO7 which merge a tarmac and avenge into one platform. And while the dogma has evolved over the years, the fundamental design ethos of the F8 remains visible in the current Dogma F. It’s been refined, tweaked, and improved, but unmistakably a dogma. A key design theme and a hint of marketing perhaps in the F8 that it introduced was the asymmetric frame designed to balance the forces going through the bike when you’re stamping on the pedals and the frame also brought in air features without compromising the ride quality as well setting a new benchmark for the all round race bike. See might be a familiar site on the tour of France podium these days thanks to a very successful team but they’ve been a consistent presence in the proton for the entire century. Their first tour of France victory actually came in 2008 with Carlos Sastra winning on the R3 SL a bike that pushed carbon technology to the limit. It featured a sub 1 kilogram frame at a time when most were much heavier with an impressive stiffness to weight ratio that made it a favorite among climbers and classic riders alike. And who can forget the trademark squal down tube and pencil thin rear stays for a few years. A white R3 was the bike to have. I love testing it back then and I still wish I had one in my collection. I’m actually looking for one on eBay and Facebook marketplace. So if you own one and you’re selling it, let me know. Drop a comment down below. So the R3’s tour France win helped cement in the world tour. From the tour winning CSC team through to the iconic CEO test team and now team Vizma lease a bike, they are a pretty common site on tour front pelon. Even though the original founders are no longer involved and not really a Canadian company anymore, it remains a strong innovative brand. But for me personally, it was Fabian Canelara’s two parubet wins aboard an R3 that made it truly iconic. That blend of lightness, stiffness, and comfort was unmatched at the time and made the R3 one of the most desirable bikes of its era. And finally, one of my favorite and easily one of the most iconic for me Tour France race bikes that never actually won the Blooming Race is the Candal Super Six Evo High mod. What a bike. Candell’s history at all is a fascinating one. While Tre was pioneering carbon fiber 25 years ago, Candell was still producing high-end aluminium frames. They were slow to the carbon fiber party. frames like the CAD 4 which were raced in the 2000 tour while track was winning with its OCLV carbon bike followed by the iconic CAD 8 all legends in their own right the company’s first steps in carbon fiber came slowly with the 613 which combined a carbon top tube down tube and seat tube with an aluminium rear triangle so as you can see they were reluctant to give up their aluminium heritage but that bike eventually led to their first full carbon frame the super 6 launched in 2007 7. But for me, it was the Super 6 Evo launched in 2012 that really marked a massive leap forward, not just for the brand, but for carbon fiber bikes in general. It remains one of the lightest frames ever made. Far lighter than today’s disc brake equipped bikes and offer phenomenal stiffness to weight and sharp intuitive handling and a comfort for a time for a race was just phenomenal. It quickly earned a cult following. I still own one and while the latest era version is better on paper, for me it doesn’t have the same X factor as the original EVO. That original high mod used high mod carbon fiber in key areas of the frame to achieve a crazy low weight of 695 g with paint and lighter if you strip the paint off and amazing stiffness to weight ratio. Fantastic comfort, handling, and looks. So that’s my take on some of the most iconic tour France race bikes of the last 25 years. Each of these bike defying their time, not because of race wins, but for the technology they brought to the Pelaton. And if you want to see how a modern race bike from 2025 compares to a 2015 bike from a Specialized Tarmac S4 to the SL8, then watch the video right up here.