The Tour de France has an estimated audience of 3.5 billion people – it’s the second-most-watched sporting event after the football World Cup – which makes it a huge reason for the bike brands to do something special. It’s a global shop window like no other, so that’s why each year we see special-edition paint schemes and artist collaborations that showcase the top models from the top bike companies.
Some brands but not all have launched unique Tour de France-edition team bikes – here's our pick of the best.
Lidl-Trek Trek Madone Couler
Lidl-Trek have unveiled a Matisse-inspired Madone, which the entire team will be riding. The scheme is called ‘Couler’ (French for 'to flow', not to be confused with ‘couleur’). There's a bit of Jackson Pollock flung in there too – according to Trek it is a "visual rhythm, abstract, unexpected and completely unrestrained".
Lidl-Trek’s official photographer Sean Hardy – who is also a Rouleur regular – shot the bike at the Musée Henri Matisse in Le Cateau-Cambrésis. We’d say it’s the very definition of a work of art.
Israel-Premier Tech Factor Ostro VAM Watercolour
This is a special-edition Factor Ostro VAM Watercolour celebrating the Factor’s renewed partnership with the Israel-Premier Tech team. According to Factor, the graphic is painstakingly painted by hand. Because of this process, no two framesets are the same. "The electric pink combines with IPT’s signature blue to create a visually striking clash of colours, while the broken grid and distorted pattern embody the idea of disruption and a refusal to settle for the status quo." The team will race in a matching jersey, designed by Élie Desgreniers of Premier Tech.
Cofidis Look 795 Blade RS Iconic Black Radial
Cofidis and Look will debut a new paint scheme called 'Iconic Black Radial' at the Grand Départ in Lille. It is, according to the French bike brand, "a celebration of France’s natural beauty and symmetrical architecture, from the formal gardens of Versailles to the winding roads of the Alps."
The Look 795 Blade RS aero bike will be adorned with deep blacks, refined lines and the famous Mondrian-coloured accents associated with Look since the days of Bernard Hinault and the La Vie Claire team of the 1980s. Now equipped with the latest Campagnolo Super Record 13 groupset and Bora Ultra WTO wheels, this is sure to be one of the peloton's standout bikes.
Groupama-FDJ Wilier Filante SLR Fragments de Métamorphose
‘Fragments de Métamorphose’ is the special colorway designed for the Groupama-FDJ team for the 2025 Tour. The description supplied is one of the most stirringly poetic we’ve had yet (either that or ChatGPT has gone above and beyond). Here is is in full: “It all begins with a glint: a subtle, pure silver, like the first frost at dawn. The surface is still motionless, but something stirs beneath. Invisible. Inevitable. It’s the beginning of a transformation. A natural process, never identical, revealing signs like growing crystals – fragments of change etched onto the frame, tracing a living map of evolution. This is not just about aesthetics: it’s about movement, tension, vision. In that moment, the bicycle ceases to be a tool and becomes a symbol. A manifesto in motion.
“Wilier Triestina created this livery for one stage only, the most iconic of all: the Tour de France. A tribute to speed, to matter in transformation, to the beauty born from fracture. Each layer is a phase. Each color, a revelation. Fragments de Métamorphose does not cover: it reveals. It does not interrupt but composes. It is a new guise, a one-of-a-kind creation, coming to life only once. Now.”
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe S-Works Tarmac SL8
This is the S-Works Tarmac SL8 Primož Roglič and the Red Bull team will race as they chase yellow across France in a brand-new team-exclusive colourway. Specialized describes it as a "deep blue wrapped in the unmistakable tone-on-tone sticker slap graphic that defines this team’s bold energy. This is not a replica. This is the bike." Only 500 of these bikes will ever be made, says the US brand.
