Bikes of the 2016 WorldTour

The 2016 WorldTour season is now upon us and it’s the first time we’ve seen all of the new ProTeam bikes lining up against one another. Here’s what’s new and interesting in 2016.

Bikes

There aren’t any huge shake-ups this season with teams changing bike sponsors. Specialized still has the most teams riding its bikes: three with Astana, Etixx-QuickStep, and Tinkoff. With two Grand tour teams and one Classics team we’ll surely see Specialized on the podium again this season. Two teams — Movistar and Katusha — ride Canyon while Scott also supplies two teams (IAM and Orica-GreenEdge).

Cervelo is now back in the WorldTour with Dimension Data (not that it hurt them last season). There’s no change for Merida, Trek and Cannondale who all have joint title sponsorship of teams, and for BMC who has a title sponsorship. Rounding out the WorldTour teams, like last year, are Giant, Bianchi, Lapierre, Ridley and Pinarello, all with one team.

Groupsets

Back in 2011 SRAM sponsored eight teams; last year they sponsored one (Ag2r La Mondiale). In 2016 they’re back up to two teams with Katusha switching to SRAM eTAP from Campagnolo.

Shimano still supplies the most teams with seven sponsorships in 2016 while Campagnolo supplies three.

We’ve seen prototypes of Rotor’s hydraulic groupset and FSA’s electronic groupset, but there’s no sign on any of the team bikes at the Tour Down Under. When these groupsets do show up at the races, we’ll likely see FSA on Etixx-Quickstep (as we did last year) and Rotor on Lampre-Merida or Dimension Data.

There’s very little or no mechanical shifting to speak of in WorldTour peloton now. A few of the top climbers such as Alberto Contador and Vincenzo Nibali were seen using the mechanical versions of their sponsored groupsets — Dura Ace for Contador and Super Record for Nibali — but we will have to wait to see if they’ll stick to that for this season.

Wheels

Katusha has switched from Mavic to Zipp wheels this season and Tinkoff has switched from Roval (Specialized) to HED, but only for the time trials. HED seems to be the go-to wheel brand for teams that are able to pick and choose their own components.

Other than that there are no differences in 2016. Shimano still tops the charts with six teams using its range of carbon wheels, everything from the C35s through to C50s and the C80s for fast, flat days. Shimano’s sub-brand Pro also supplies these teams with its range of Disk and tri-spoke wheels.

Click here for 2014 WorldTour Bikes (part 1, part 2) and here for 2015 WorldTour Bikes.

: There’s no change at Team Sky in 2016. Pinarello supplies the frames with a full Shimano Dura Ace Di2 groupset. The team also uses the Japanese company’s range of wheels. Shimano’s partnership doesn’t end there as the team uses Pro bars and stems. Fizik is still the saddle brand of choice.

: IAM riders are again on Scott in 2016, in this instance the new Addict. Keeping the bikes and the team as Swiss as possible are wheels from DT-Swiss. Groupsets are the ever-popular Dura Ace Di2 with the exception of the rear calliper on the Addict. Scott’s in-house brand Syncros supplies the contact points: bars, stem, seatpost and saddle. The only major change here is that they’ve moved from Schwable to Continental as their tyre sponsor.

: Team Trek had a fleet of custom painted bikes on show for many of the riders on the team at the TDU. But the rest of the team will be using this red colourway. Trek’s Bontrager saddles, bars and stems are the contact points of choice. The in-house brand also supplies its range of carbon wheels. Shimano Dura Ace Di2 is the running kit.

: Lampre-Merida has no major changes in equipment sponsors for 2016. Campagnolo’s sister brand Fulcrum has Lampre as its only WorldTour pro team. Rotor chainset are the only mix-up in the full Dura Ace Di2 groupset.

: Scott has two teams in the WorldTour. The Orica-GreenEdge guys were racing on last year’s bikes in the People’s Choice Classic criterium. The only major change in sponsorship from last year are the saddles which are now from Fizik (instead of Prologo). You can see that the old logo has been painted over on the seatstay. Shimano is the wheel and groupset supplier with bars and stem coming from Pro. Tyres are from the popular Continental brand.

: Though it’s had a name change, Team Dimension Data hasn’t changed too much when it comes to equipment suppliers. Cervelo again supplies the team with a range of frames (being used here was the S5, perfect for the People’s Choice criterium). Last year the team was using 3T components but for 2016 high-end carbon manufacturer Enve has bumped them out of the cockpit and will be supplying bars and stems on top of their wheels. Spanish brand Rotor is back supplying the chainsets. KMC chains and Shimano Dura Ace Di2 make the rest of the drive setup. Fizik replace Selle Italia in keeping the riders comfy.

: Ritchie Porte is the only change at the BMC team this year as the team has stuck with the same equipment suppliers as last year. The BMC SLR01 frameset is decked out in a full Dura- ce Di2 groupset, 3T bars and stem, Shimano C50 wheels while Fizik provides the perch.

: Tinkoff for 2015 has a whole new paint scheme. The black is out and the light blue/grey is in. In the flesh it looks stunning. The team has announced it is using HED wheels in the time trials for 2016 but will stick with Specialized’s Roval range for the road. A full Dura Ace Di2 groupset is a slight change to last year where they used an FSA chainset instead. FSA do still supply the bars, stem and seatpost. Tyres are the Specialized Turbo. Prologo is back again as saddle and bartape sponsor.

: This bike was worth a post on it’s own. While most of the Tinkoff riders are on the Tarmac, new guy to the squad Adam Blythe was on the latest Venge VIAS. The setup and equipment is exactly the same as the rest of the team.

: Lotto Soudal has a new paint job on its bikes for 2016, or at least the Helium SL models do. The only major change from last year is that the team has moved from Selle San Marco to Selle Italia saddles. Groupset is Campagnolo’s Super Record EPS. Bars, stem and saddle come from Italian supplier Deda. Bars are wrapped in a very neat looking Lizard Skin mottled tape. Wheels are also from Campagnolo in conjunction with Continental tubulars.

: There’s been a huge change-up at Katusha this year, and not just in jersey design. The team has switched from Shimano as groupset supplier to SRAM. They are now the American brand’s second WorldTour team on the new Etap electronic wireless groupset. Mavic is out as wheel sponsor and Zipp is in. Continental replaces Mavic as tyre sponsor too. Selle Italia is saddle sponsor and the Canyons feature their own proprietary bar and stem.

: Bianchi stays on as LottoNL-Jumbo’s frame supplier. The Oltre is the frame of choice for many on the team. Dura Ace is the groupset with Shimano’s matching wheelset. FSA bars and stem are in use and the team has stuck with Pioneer as power meter supplier.

: Ag2r La Mondiale is back on Focus frames for 2016. The prototype stickers have been removed on the SRAM groupsets that several of the riders have been testing over the past few seasons and all the team now run the Etap electronic wireless set up from SRAM. Bars, stem and an interesting seatpost come from Zipp. Wheels are aso from Zipp and keeping them comfy in the saddle is Fizik.

: Astana and Specialized are again in partnership. And like many teams it’s a bike that’s pretty much unchanged from 2015. Our guess is all the efforts in development at the bike manufactures are going into the disc brake versions that we will see later on in the year. French company Corima supply the wheels shod and rolling on Specialized rubber. Campagnolo Super Record EPS takes care of the shifting. FSA is the bar, stem and seatpost sponsor with saddles from Specialized.

: It’s no change at Giant-Alpecin. Riders will be using the Taiwanese firm’s TCR, Propel and Defy models through this season as well as some expected disc brake bikes. A full Shimano running kit is used including wheels, and the company’s component brand Pro is bar and stem of choice.

: Cannondale riders are on the same bikes as 2015. They won’t get their new ones till they return to Europe. As we write this they are arriving in Girona waiting to be built. It’s a standard Shimano Dura Ace Di2 setup with the slight alteration on a Cannondale SISL chainset. Fizik supplies the saddle and Mavic supplies the wheels and tyres.

: FDJ riders are on their long-standing sponsor bikes from Lapierre. Shimano Dura Ace Di2 groupsets and Shimano wheels are in use with Pro as bar, stem and seatpost sponsor.

: Along with Katusha, Canyon sponsors Movistar with framesets. Campagnolo Super Record EPS is the running groupset of choice with a Power2max powermeter chainset. Wheels also come from Campagnolo too. Tyres are the trusty Continental.

Tyron Anton

It’s the Scott Foil, not Addict I believe. I don’t mean to be the dick head here but why isn’t it in the big ring? You post articles about the best cycling shot but when photographing pro bikes you forget bike photos 101. Other than that great article, I love this sort of stuff.
- Wade Wallace
  
  We spend two solid days begging and pleading with the mechanics to let us get all these photos and all you can do is complain about the IAM Foil not being in the big ring? We’ll try to do better next time.
  - philipmcvey
    
    Worth every bit of begging, pleading and whatever else you had to do Wade – this is fantastic.
- Simon
  
  And let’s not forget the Tinkoff bike also in the small ring! Gee the standard is slipping -:)
  The snake is very aero, with not a cable in sight.
- Dave
  
  IAM team car last night had a mix of Foils and Addicts.
  
  It’s pretty rare these days to find a team where all the guys are using the same bike, even for the flyaway races early in the year where the teams take a smaller inventory with them.
- Albert
  
  On a related topic – how odd that Orica-Greenedge are left with old Foils? Given that model first came out years ago it looks positively ancient compared to IAM’s Foils.
  - Il_falcone
    
    I agree, the old Foil does look better than the new one. It’s one of the few real beauties in that gallery.
Cam

Beautiful bikes, much better than my recollection of the same images from 2015. As much as I think the Venge VIAS is a little on the ugly side, the setup of the Adam Blythe bike, particularly with the wheel and tyre combination is pretty awesome.
- Legstrong
  
  I’m not sure if Spez mandated CT (since they’re one of the sponsors here) or any cycling news outlet to shoot the Venge from the drive side only. I hope not. It has an ugly rear brake cable running from the BB to the brake. The cable could potentially rub the rear tire if the length is slightly off. IMO, it’s like an after-thought design.
  
  For the-no-cable-insight design, IMO, Trek won this.
  - Wade Wallace
    
    Nobody mandated anything. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not like there’s a Specialized marketing rep guarding these things and trying to direct the content we create. They’re actually one of the best at not trying to direct anything we say and let the product speak for itself.
    - Tim Ashton
      
      Legstrong…you’ll probably notice every bike in this gallery is shot from drive side. And I would say about 98% of all bike photos on the internet are shot from drive side.
    - Legstrong
      
      Good to know that. To be clear, I wasn’t trying to be a tough audience. I’m 100% in agreement that drive-side shots are the best. Just wanted to point out the fact that it was there. As my original post said, “I hope not” that they mandated anything. It was a speculation. No drama.
      - Wade Wallace
        
        No worries! BTW, the non-drive side shot that you posted above was taken by me at the Venge launch and published here on this site. There was no mention from Specialized to try to hide this whatesoever.
        
        Dave
        
        And as I recall, the topic of that cable routing was discussed on here without any interference back in June/July.
        
        That being said, the reputation that $pecialized have built up over the last couple of years is well-deserved, and they should probably consider getting a new PR executive.
- Superpilot
  
  Yeah, like if they shit pics of all bikes from non-driveside, people would complain they can’t see the drivetrains? Sheesh, tough crowd.
  - Superpilot
    
    *shot
MadBlack

How clean do the SRAM eTap bikes look!!!!! It has got to be the way forward without the pesky wiring harness. Love your work SRAM!
- Simon
  
  I agree. Looking at these bikes I feel we are at a junction in bike development pre disc. The aero bikes make the traditional road bike with exposed cables et al look almost passe’.
  - MadBlack
    
    Yeah but wait for the disc which will boast internal hydraulic brake cables as well. Cannot wait!!!
  - Legstrong
    
    Or the wireless brake setup! Can’t wait! ;P
    - Dave
      
      They’ll all be wireless brakes soon – with hoses instead!
- winkybiker
  
  To be fair, manufacturers have put zero effort into tidying up the look of the other electronic systems, with J-boxes zap-strapped to stems and wires sticking out everywhere. It doesn’t need to be this way. But with the electronics for wireless systems now trivially cheap, I think this is what we will be seeing. The couple of dollars for the wireless chipsets will be more than made up for in assembly cost savings.
spartacus

Awesome galley CT! As Wade said, it’s seriously hard yards getting all these shots together. A few questions for the eagle-eyed detail gurus:

1. Pete Kennaugh’s bike – what’s the tape covering on the saddle? Not a logo because it’s a Fizik …
2. No powermeters on the Sky bike and no evidence of SRM head-units or mounts – are they still “using” Stages?
3. A few of the bikes – Merida, Ridley, Focus – have quite a downwards forward tilt on the saddle – sore nuts for sure, but is it UCI legal?
- Neil
  
  Can’t help with 1 and 2, but I’m pretty sure the UCI changed the law regarding 3. Something about a few teams (maybe Sky, maybe British Cycling) presented some biomechanical evidence to say the old rule was causing medical problems. Can’t be bothered googling to find the story, but it seemed quite sensible at the time.
- Neil
  
  Completely agree, awesome gallery
- Steve
  
  Answer to Q2 – yes, they announced and extension in the winter.
- xander bennito
  
  Q1, that’s not tape, its part of the saddle, it goes all the way round with a gap for the fizik logo.
Andrew

And Quick Step using the 4iiii power meter!
- The Wannabe Racer
  
  Would have liked to see their bikes to try and pick out the 4iii. Real surprise that a small Canadian company is supplying the power meters for one of the biggest teams in the world. Especially since its an inexpensive pod that you glue onto your crank yourself and calibrate yourself.
  - david__g
    
    IIRC they do it for you (for now). It was initially going to be a user-installed thing but they changed it.
James

Love the photos CT. I stare at these and then go stare at my own bike and imagine all the upgrades!
There’s a typo I think, unless i missed a year: “Cannondale riders are on their old bikes from 2016”
- Dave
  
  The race to be the first brand releasing the following model year is really heating up now!
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- Matt de Neef
  
  Thanks, fixed!
Lee Turner

That Sram electronic rear derailur is so horrible. Big, bulky and ugly.
- Neil
  
  Completely disagree. Love it. Whole setup looks great.
  - Dave
    
    I do think it looks a bit first generation (but not hideous) and needs some attention from a design house. Considering that form (i.e. not having enough metal strings for a guitar strapped to your bike) is a big part of the product’s rationale, it’s of almost equal important to function.
    
    I don’t really get the point of going to that effort and then putting it on a bike with an old school external rear brake cable though.
Jim

What happened to the “invisible bike stand” did you loose it ?
- Wade Wallace
  
  Forgot to bring it this year! Plus, bikes have a habit of falling over when the wind picks up. Sorry about that Kennaugh…
  - George Darroch
    
    Looks great, appreciate it Wade and CT team!
Larry @CycleItalia

Nice job guys! What’s it cost to sponsor a team these days? A million bucks + a couple hundred bikes since they break ’em pretty regularly? Gone are the days when someone who actually MADE all (or most) of their bikes could sponsor a team. Nowadays the massive profit margins gained by Asian production + huge price tags = bags of cash needed to have your brand name on the downtube, even if the guys might be riding frames secretly produced elsewhere….perhaps in Italy?
- xander bennito
  
  Look at feather cycles racing, its not world tour but its something.
JasonM

Whats with the jockey wheels on half of the Dura-Ace rear derailleur being replaced with something custom?
- Dave
  
  Teh marginal gainz, of course.
  
  Or at least the perception of marginal gains. From memory, it was either Contador or Cancellara (both riders well known for their obsessive-compulsive behaviour) who started that trend with some dubious claims about chain performance.
  
  I reckon it’s more likely to be psychological gains than actual mechanical performance gains, but at that level you have to take whatever you can get.
- The Wannabe Racer
  
  I know Dimension Data has been using the Ceramic Speed ones, something about bigger jockey wheels being better, etc. etc. Will have to look into their claims.
  - jules
    
    the larger the radius around which the chain is made to curl, the lower the losses is the theory. I can’t see it making a whole heap of difference on the low tension side of the chain path but at a minimum they look bling
- George Darroch
  
  Ceramic Speed claim that their system is worth 8 watts. Even if it was worth one third of that, it would still be worthwhile.
  
  Mind you, half the peloton throw away multiples of that number with badly fitting jerseys and non-optimal helmet choices.
Patrick Murphy

Quality article, amazing gallery.
The Wannabe Racer

Any idea if Orica has the same thing going as Cannondale that they wont get their new bikes until they’re back in Europe? Seems unfair that IAM gets the new Foil but Orica has to wait just because IAM is Swiss.
- Dave
  
  It’s down to the choice of the teams – Orica like to lighten the load they have to drag back to Europe by having Australian riders leave ex-race bikes here for training, and selling off the rest to Australian-based friends and family of team riders/staff after the summer season here is finished.
  
  If Scott (and more importantly, Scott dealers) had their way, Orica would have all the new gear in Australia to make the most of the marketing advantage they have here compared to IAM.
Rob Parkin

Anyone else notice that the Katusha eTAP cranks have the axle pressed into the driveside as opposed to non-driveside which has been standard for Red cranks, including the eTAP ones listed on the Sram website? Minor but intriguing non the less!
- Il_falcone
  
  Yes, Robin, I noticed that. But as Canyon has no PF30 bb they will use the GXP type of the RED crank. And with GXP the spindle is always attached to the drive side crank.
david__g

I’ll have one of each. Don’t wrap them I’ll eat them here.
david__g

I wonder if Focus and Cannondale will ever jump on the aero bandwagon? Funny how…old fashioned their bikes look (not necessarily a bad thing, of course)
- George Darroch
  
  That Focus, particularly. I’m surprised however that even the teams that have access to aero frames are riding a mixture of aero and non-aero. Since the UCI weight limit equalizes everything, and stiffness is pretty much dialled…
  
  That said, I expect a bunch of new frames and forks later this year as the manufacturers introduce discs.
  - Dave
    
    The reason that teams have less aero bikes available to the riders is that the aero losses are easily outweighed by the psychological performance gains of the rider being happy on their bike.
awesometown

It’s funny how out of date and overstyled the campy groups look these days. Oddly clunky looking electronic groupsets.
Il_falcone

What is the ugliest bike of those? My favorite for this lanterne rouge is the Lapierre, but the Trek Madone comes close.
- jules
  
  the bikes look good this year. very nice. thanks CT. also how slammed are all those stems? probably the same every year but I just noticed. boys have been busy doing their core exercises :)
Simplicityofjoy

Can I just say thanks?! Great job CT! My favourite gotta be the Tarmacs, classic looking bike in a class of its own (and I ride a Giant TCR that I more than adore).
George Darroch

Whose is that red Trek in the group line-up? Massive drop on that stem.

Great work CT.
- H.E. Pennypacker
  
  Go check out the Trek gallery posted here a few days ago. The setup on that red bike makes adam hansen’s look relaxed. It’s not just the drop, it’s also the reach and angle of the hoods. Crazy. https://cyclingtips.com/2016/01/tdu-trek-project-one-special-edition/#image-24
- Wade Wallace
  
  That one is Hesjedal’s
Nitro

(a) Awesome photos – great to have the “full catalogue” of pro bikes in one place…

(b) Anything that we should (or shouldn’t) read into the fact that there no sign of anything that resembles a disc brake ?
- Dave
  
  (a) roughly half of them – most of the teams will have a selection of at least two different models. Trek have some guys riding the Emonda and some on the Madone, Orica have some on the Foil and some on the Addict.
  
  (b) Most of the teams take a fairly limited inventory with them to the early season flyaway races, and often the previous year’s bikes if they aren’t changing suppliers. We’ll see them once the European season starts.
Wookie

Hurts me to say this, as I ride one myself, but – Jaysus! That Cannonade is one. ugly. bike.
In fact I’ll shamelessly use this opportunity to segue into one of my pet rants; Regarding bikes and kit, the peloton has been showing an utterly abysmal lack of taste, imagination, and graphic design smarts for a little while now, like at least last 2-3 years. Did *professionals* come up with some of these pro kits and bike colour schemes.
*Effie voice*: How frustration! :)
- Dave
  
  As it turns out, all but one of the team was riding a much nicer green one than that fugly one in the photo.
- Dave
  
  As it turns out, all but one of the team was riding a much nicer green one than that fugly one in the photo.
Tim Ashton

i’ll probably be told I am wrong for this, but I think Lampre’s Merida bike looks great. Probably my favourite from the gallery. The tarmacs are very nice too.

Great work getting such quality photos of all the bikes in the bunch.
Javier Herrera

Sad to see (not see) any teams on the beautiful and amazing Colnago this year….
- Dave
  
  They are already well represented in Adelaide this week though, as they supply Wiggle-High5 which is the number one ranked women’s team in the world.
  - Javier Herrera
    
    That’s right I remember that! Thank God!
    - Dave
      
      Giorgia Bronzini had one of the Ferrari bikes when she did the WTDU with Wiggle-Honda last year, which I haven’t seen any of them on this year with their less international lineup of only Aussies and Brits. The attention to detail on those bikes is absolutely unrivalled, as I was fortunate to see up close.
- awesometown
  
  Lol, the world has moved on from the lusting over airbrushed lugged carbon frames. Taiwan FTW!
Charlie

No body noticed the fact Canyon are still using Shimano DA direct mount brakes with the SRAM Etap?
Guess there are very few others on the market?
Phol

Great article! Some beautiful bikes this season.

One minor thing – Katusha were on Shimano last year, not Campagnolo.
Princess

I would ride any of these bikes!
John Brown

The order in which i’d steal them:
1) Pinarello
2) Trek
3) Cervelo (mmmmm Enve shinny things)
Brett Smith

I’m sure it’s been answered before (and apologise if it has), but what’s the difference between the two types of Shimano chainrings used between different teams (Sky/ Giant-Alpecin/ LottoNL-Jumbo Vs the rest)?
- Il_falcone
  
  The chain rings are the same but the cranksets are different. Sky, Giant and LottoNL use Shimano Dura Ace FC-9000 cranksets with either Stages or Pioneer powermeters whereas Trek, Tinkoff and BMC still use SRM powermeters. And SRM has their own cranksets. Their shape is still based on the design of the pre-predecessor, the Dura Ace FC-7800 crankset, but they have adapted the styling in the meantime and have replaced the spider in order to make sure that the newer chain rings fit.
  - Brett Smith
    
    Ah! Thankyou for clearing that up for me. Much appreciated :)

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