The WorldTour has begun with the usual flurry of fresh kits and bikes filling the interwebs. Here, we round up who’s riding what for the 2024 women’s WorldTour season ahead.
Recent years have seen the Tour Down Under become the first chance to see the new team bikes of the season, but this year, many teams are still on the same bikes as last season. In some cases their new bikes are waiting for use in Europe, while other teams suggest new bikes are still a few months away in anticipation of updated models.
The women’s edition of the Tour Down Under is a WorldTour race, but attendance is not compulsory. As a result, six of the 15 WorldTour teams were absent. We’ll aim to fill the gaps of these missing team bikes with dedicated photos soon.
AG Insurance-Soudal
Freshly upgraded to the WorldTour, AG Insurance–Soudal opened its account by winning two of the three Tour Down Under stages and clinching the general classification. Sponsored by Specialized and under the same management as the men’s Soudal Quick-Step outfit, the team exclusively rides the S-Works Tarmac SL8 for road events.
The team bikes feature a lovely metallic fade paint built with much of Specialized’s top-tier of components including cockpits, saddles, tyres, cages, and Roval wheels. Shimano is not an official sponsor but CeramicSpeed is, so the Dura-Ace Di2 groupsets are modified with OSPW pulley cages and matching bottom brackets. One unique element amongst the WorldTour is the Garmin Rally RS200 power meter pedals.
Pictured is the winning bike of the Tour Down Under, belonging to Australian Sarah Gigante. Follow the link to see Gigante’s Tarmac SL8 is far greater detail.
FDJ-Suez
The French outfit FDJ-Suez will continue on Lapierre bikes for 2024. Worthy of note, the men’s FDJ team may share a headline sponsor but is otherwise entirely separate and, after 22 years, is no longer on Lapierre bikes (now Willier).
Here, the team were riding the same bikes as revealed last year, with a classy metallic blue that fades to a dark navy. Shimano continues as an official supplier of groupsets, wheels, pedals, and components through its Pro Bike Gear brand. The team were all riding Continental GP5000 S TR tyres and Prologo saddles. One unique feature of these bikes is the quick-release thru-axles that use a semi-open dropout for fast wheel removal.
This Xelius SL, the lighter option from Lapierre, belongs to the always joyful Dane, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig. Uttrup Ludwig rode this bike to victory on the second stage of this year’s Tour Down Under. Some other team riders were also seen using the company’s more aero Aircode DRS bike.
Lidl-Trek
With a new colourful supermarket sponsor on board, it was surprising to find both the women’s and men’s Lidl-Trek squads onboard previously seen red bikes. Some of the bikes are fresh, while others have stickers hiding an old coffee sponsor. Rumour has it that the team will switch to differently painted bikes later in the season.
Pictured is the bike of former Australian champion Brodie Chapman. Across the three days of racing, Chapman jumped between the lighter-weight Trek Emonda SLR and the more aero-focussed Madone SLR. Both bikes were built with the usual SRAM Red AXS groupset, Bontrager touch points and Aeolus wheels, Pirelli tubeless tyres, and Time pedals.
Liv AlUla Jayco
Love it or hate it, there’s simply no missing the new 2024 team bikes of Liv AlUla Jayco. Beneath the impressively rich colour palette sits the Liv EnvieLiv Advanced SL frame, a women’s-specific equivalent of the Giant Propel Advanced SL. The carbon layup and aero features are much the same as the lightweight Giant, while the Liv gets different geometry and a sliding aero seatpost.
Pictured is the bike of Australian rider Alexandra Manly. Liv, Giant, and sibling brand Cadex supply everything but the Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset while the tubeless tyres are from Vittoria in a 28 mm width (no more Giant-branded tyres like seen in years past). Get a closer look at the new team bike through our feature on Ruby Roseman-Gannon’s new Australian champ’s bike.
Human Powered Health
With a fresh new look, Human Powered Health starts 2024 with a bolstered athlete roster and a few changes in sponsors. Most notably, the American-registered team has switched from Felt to Factor, with most riders expected to use the well-rounded Ostro VAM throughout the season.
Pictured is the soon-to-be race bike of new signing and WorldTour returnee Ruth Edwards (formerly Winder). As already covered in great detail, the bike shown is so new that the team raced the Tour Down Under on the current Ostro in a simple black paint. Meanwhile, this new team edition is expected to roll out once the updated Ostro VAM hiding beneath the colourful paint fade becomes official.
The team uses handlebars/stems, seatposts, and wheels from Factor’s sibling company, Black Inc. Goodyear is onboard as a tyre sponsor, while Supacaz and Specialized provide the bar tape and saddles, respectively. Pedals are from Wahoo Speedplay, and complete SRAM Red AXS groupsets handle the braking, shifting, and power measurement duties.
Canyon-SRAM
The always colourful Canyon-SRAM squad has now revealed its new kits, but the bikes currently remain the same as used in 2023. As the team name indicates, the riders use a mixture of Canyon’s Aeroad (full aero) and Ultimate (lighter aero) bikes in the lightest CFR-level of carbon lay-up. These bikes are built with the full suite of SRAM products including a SRAM Red AXS groupset, Zipp wheels (tubeless), Time pedals, and Quarq power meters.
As seen on the Canyon Aeroad CFR of Australian rider Neve Bradbury, the only other parts not supplied by either Canyon or SRAM are seen with the Schwalbe tubeless tyres, Elite bottles cages, and with the saddles and bar tape supplied by German brand Ergon (established by the brother of Canyon’s founder).
Visma-Lease a Bike
Another team that shares resources between its men’s and women’s squads, Visma-Lease a Bike continues with Cervelo, Reserve wheels (same parent company as Cervelo), and SRAM for 2024. The team will race on a combination of the lightweight R5 and obviously aero S5 (pictured).
The bike pictured here belongs to Koen Bowman of the men’s squad, however, the team mechanics assured us that the men’s and women’s bikes are identical (except for frame size and model preferences). Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR (setup tubeless) tyres shod the Reserve wheels (rolling on DT Swiss 240 EXP hubs). Fizik supplies the saddles, Tacx holds bottles, and shoes are clipped into Wahoo Speedplay pedals. An interesting tech find is the waxed chain, which, while not all that unusual, remains an extremely rare sight outside of major races. Perhaps Visma has joined #teamcrockpot.
UAE Team ADQ
The Italian-registered UAE Team ADQ is another squad to start the season with bikes we’ve seen before. However, that’s hardly a bad thing, given the lovely colourful fade applied to the fork, seatpost, and bar tape of the Colnago V4Rs team bikes. It’s a team-issue aesthetic flourish that’s incredibly financially savvy on Colnago’s part as it means the team races on standard black frames.
The team uses a parts specification that’s closely matched to that of the men’s UAE Team Emirates. Here, the Colnagos are equipped with a full Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset, Enve tubeless wheels (SES 3.4 shown), Continental GP5000 TR tyres, Prologo saddle, Look pedals, Elite bottle cages, and a few sneaky CeramicSpeed bearings (the branded headset top cap is the bit that gives it away).
Pictured is the bike belonging to Latvia’s Anastasia Carbonari. One interesting tech tidbit related to this team is that the tyres measure close to an actual 31 mm in width, which Escape’s Ronan Mc Laughlin discovered at last year’s Tour.
DSM-Firmenich PostNL
Another team with undetectably different bikes between its men’s and women’s squads, DSM-Firmenich PostNL, remains on Scott Bikes for 2024. As is a trend of this article, those Scott Bikes also carry over from the 2023 season (albeit with a new sticker for Firmenich PostNL) with all riders seen on the aero-optimised Foil model.
The team is another officially sponsored by Shimano which means a full Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset and matching C50 tubeless wheels. Scott’s in-house componentry brand Syncros provides the saddle, cockpit, bar tape, while Vittoria (tyres), Elite (bottle cages), and Wahoo (head units) fill the gaps.
The WorldTour teams below were missing from the 2024 Tour Down Under. We’ll aim to complete this gallery with their bikes at the next opportunity.
– Fenix-Deceuninck (Canyon bikes, Shimano components and wheels)
– Ceratizit-WNT (Orbea, remainder to be confirmed)
– Movistar (Canyon bikes, SRAM components, Zipp wheels, Time pedals)
– Roland (Pinarello bikes, remainder to be confirmed)
– Uno-X Mobility (Dare bikes, Shimano drivetrain, FSA cranks, DT Swiss wheels)
– SD Worx-Protime (Specialized bikes, Specialized components and tyres, Roval wheels, SRAM groupsets, Time pedals)
Want more race tech? See the bikes of the 2024 men’s WorldTour part one, and part two.
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