The 2026 Tour de France kicks off with an unusual take on the team time trial, in which times are taken individually for each rider. The yellow jersey is on the line for the fastest rider over the 19.6km course, and that means riders are here in Barcelona with their time trial bikes optimised to the Nth degree.
We’ve already seen that Remco Evenepoel has a brand new Specialized Shiv TT time trial bike, and no time trial is complete without a mention of his name in the running, but what of the two hot favourites for the GC by the time we get to Paris in three weeks, Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard?
The Cyclingnews tech team are here in Barcelona for the Grand Départ, and in our tour of the team hotel car parks over the past two days, we were able to spend time with both of their ‘number one’ time trial bikes; i.e. the bike they will respectively roll down the start ramp aboard.
So here in this article, we’ll pit the duo head-to-head. Who has the biggest chainring? Are they running one-by or two-by groupsets? Who has the deepest front wheel? And who’s bike is coolest?
The bikes themselves
First up, we’ll look at the bikes themselves. Pogačar is using a Colnago TT2 time trial machine, the newly launched time trial bike that Colnago brought out recently. The headline for this bike is that it saves around 500 grams over the previous TT1 bike he used last year, whilst still being just about as aero.
Vingegaard is riding the Cervelo P5, which, as far as we know, has remained the same for a while. This bike has a raw carbon finish, whilst a lot of the other team bikes had full, glossy black and yellow team paint.
The machines above were the riders’ number 1 time trial bikes, and we believe the bikes they will ride on Saturday and later in the race.
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Handlebars
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Both bikes were fitted with carbon fibre, custom time trial bars, and whilst we didn’t have time to measure every dimension, we got a good look at them.
Both riders use grip tape on the base bars, and we were struck by just how low Vingegaard’s base bar was; it felt extreme.
It also had a weight sticker underneath, which you can see below.
Both riders had Shimano and SRAM shifters at the ends of the extensions, and both riders had shifters glued onto the insides of their base bars.
They had their computers tucked neatly in between the extensions, but one key difference is the Visma ‘mono’ extension riser versus the dual risers on Pogačar’s machine.
Interestingly Vingegaard is opting to use an older Garmin computer, likely due to the smaller size.
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Drivetrain and gearing
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Despite running different groupset brands, Vingegaard and Pogačar will be using similar drivetrain configurations. This includes the same size front chainring of 64 teeth, and both are on 160mm cranks.
Vingegaard had 160mm carbon fibre SRAM Red cranks, with a 64-tooth aero chainring. I wasn’t able to get a max tooth count on the cassette, but it looks like a 10-36.
His bike was also fitted with a chain catcher from Wolf Tooth, and I know from recently speaking to Jenco Drost, the team’s head of performance, that the team regularly hot waxes its chains.
I understand each bike has a freshly waxed chain for every race; they have also experimented with the optimum amount of run-in kilometres for a race chain so it’s as fast as possible.
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Pogačar is using Shimano equipment with some aftermarket parts, and Vingegaard is using SRAM.
The Colnago TT2 had Dura-Ace cranks in a 160mm length, paired with a monster 64-tooth Carbon-Ti 1x chainring, whilst an 11-30 Dura-Ace cassette was fitted at the rear, though of course this could change come Saturday.
Pogačar’s bike had a K-Edge chain catcher fitted, and an ‘aero’ Bikone bottom bracket with a smooth threaded left-hand cup.
Wax- or lube-wise, Pogačar has been said to use Absolute Black chain lube, but I also saw a mechanic applying Silca Synergetic to a different team bike. It looked like a wax-based product had been applied, but the chain didn’t look fresh out of an immersive wax.
Wheels and tyres
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Wheels-wise, both riders are using disc wheels and deep section front wheels; at least we assume they will on race day.
Vingegaard is using a Reserve Infinity disc, with an inner width of 24.5mm, paired with a Reserve 77mm deep front wheel.
The biggest difference is in tyre sizes; Vingegaard’s bike was fitted with 30mm Vittoria Corsa Pro Speed, which were set up tubeless.
Pogačar’s wheels were fitted with 25mm Continental GP5000 TT tyres; a 25mm tyre is something we haven’t seen in quite a while. The tyres may size up a little larger on the new Enve wheels, but the team may have decided the narrower, and likely aerodynamically faster, 25mm.
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Saddles, seatposts and extras
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Both riders are using time trial or triathlon-specific saddles from their team sponsors.
Pogačar is using the Fizik Transiro Aeris 3D-printed model, which weighs in at a claimed 190 grams.
Vingegaard is using a more extreme-looking Prologo TGale TT model, which weighs a claimed 252 grams for the carbon-railed model.
In terms of extras, both bikes had minimal paint; Vingegaard’s frame looked pretty raw, Pogačar’s had a slightly more normal finish.
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Both bikes looked fast standing still, and in a few days we will see which one of cycling’s Grand Tour titans draws first blood.