Team INEOS’ Egan Bernal’s Tour winning 'new weapons' are on sale to YOU

Geraint Thomas, Chris Froome and Sir David Brailsford reveal their Yellow Jersey clinching gear, from Garmin and KICKR to this year's Pinarello

Team INEOS Tour de France tech
(Image credit: Team INEOS/Russ Ellis)
Duncan Bell
By Duncan Bell
published

The Tour de France is all over, after one of the most surprise-packed Tours ever, one thing has been quite un-surprising; Team INEOS (formerly Team Sky) won yet again. Want to get a slice of the glory? These days practically all Grand Tour equipment HAS to be on sale to the public. 

For those who like to ride like to ride like the elite, here's the inside track on the gear used by the world's biggest cycling team: INEOS, home to the current maillot jaune holder (well, up until the start of this year‘s Race anyway) Geraint Thomas, and the rider who’s about to take it home in 2019: Egan Bernal.

They've revealed their favourite gear, with comments from Sir David Brailsford, Geraint Thomas and other key members of the team. Frankly if that's not a strong endorsement, we don't know what is…

Gear up: it's Team INEOS' Tour de Tech

Pinarello Dogma F12

Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome says: “The new F12 looks special and feels it too. As riders we have complete faith in Pinarello. We know we will be able to compete for the biggest races in the world on the F12, as we have on all of their bikes since the team’s inception."

Carsten Jeppesen, Team INEOS Head of Technical Operations and Commercial,  says: “The Dogma F12 is the culmination of 10 years’ worth of continuous, cutting-edge development with Pinarello. It’s the latest in a long line of Pinarello bikes that have powered the team to every major success, including all eight Grand Tour victories. It’s a privilege for us to be riding on the latest model as we enter a new and exciting era as Team INEOS.”

Team INEOS Tour de France

(Image credit: Pinarello)

The result of nearly 2 years of research and development at PinaLab, the DOGMA F12 is Team INEOS' bike of choice for the Tour de France – 'the new weapon for World Tour races,' indeed. 

Pinarello has always been synonymous with innovation and performance, and in recent years has created two of the most successful bicycles in the history of cycling. It drew on the very broad technical know-how gleaned from those achievements to develop this new bike. The Dogma F12 is the result of a complex study that merges Pinarello’s leading structural and aerodynamic knowledge with an accurate investigation of the riders' needs, to enhance their riding experience.

Key features include internal cable routing, an integrated handlebar providing 5 per cent less drag than the previous F10 model, refined fork and frame to reduce drag by 7.3 per cent compared to F10 and a BB and Chainstay reinforced to increase stiffness by 10 per cent compared to the F10. Phew! 

Find out more about Pinarello Dogma F12

Buy Pinarello Dogma F12 at Sigma Sports for £12,000

Wahoo KICKR Smart Trainer

Sir David Brailsford, Team INEOS Principal, says: "The physical requirements and adaptations have got to be as specific as possible to the needs of the actual performance. With the Wahoo KICKR and CLIMB, we can optimise our athletes’ indoor training to perfectly match the terrain they will encounter in races. If you can really relate what you're feeling and mentally experiencing to the physical components of what you're doing, then I think you create a greater belief in what you're doing, and a greater physical adaptation."

Geraint Thomas, 2018 Tour de France winner, says: “Warming up and training on the KICKR for the last several years has helped me to prepare for lots of races - especially the Tour. With this year’s focus on winning the Tour again, finding every advantage is more important than ever, and I’m glad to have the Wahoo Ecosystem to help me get into Tour-winning form.”

Team INEOS Tour de France

(Image credit: Team INEOS/Russ Ellis)

Building on the proven success of Wahoo’s line of KICKR Smart Trainers, the latest (2018) edition delivers a way quieter experience, with a specially engineered, heavier flywheel providing you with incredibly realistic inertia, to recreate the feeling of riding outdoors. 

The KICKR continues to provide best-in-class indoor smart trainer design, with a carbon steel body for tremendous durability. Its unmatched compatibility expands to include the new indoor-grade simulator, the WahooKICKR CLIMB, and a Bluetooth and ANT+ powered fan, the KICKR HEADWIND. The KICKR includes an 11-speed cassette for easy setup and an RPM cadence sensor.

Find out more about Wahoo KICKR Smart Trainer

• Read our Wahoo KICKR review

• Best turbo trainer

Garmin Edge 830 GPS computer

Team INEOS rider Wout Poels says: “The Edge is really useful, it’s important to always track my power output and keep an eye on distance too. I always like to have the GPX file on my Garmin. It’s also really useful on downhills so you can see the corners coming.”

Team INEOS rider Michal Kwiatkowski says: “Garmin’s products are benchmarks for all the other companies, and I know there are probably a lot of jealous teams and riders out there.”

Team INEOS Tour de France

(Image credit: Team INEOS/Russ Ellis)

A high performance GPS cycling computer with mapping and touchscreen, Garmin's Edge 830 offers dynamic performance monitoring, providing insights on your VO2 max, recovery, training load focus, heat and altitude acclimation, nutrition, hydration and more.

Cycling safety features include a new bike alarm, group messaging and tracking, incident detection. Compatibility with Garmin's Varia rearview radar and lights means you can see and be seen.

There's also the routable Garmin Cycle Map with popularity routing, which helps you ride like a local. As well as on-device route creation there's off-course recalculation and a 'back to start' function. The mountain biking model has integrated Trailforks data, including trail difficulty ratings.

Customisable with free apps, widgets and data fields from the Connect IQ Store, the Edge 830 offers battery life of up to 20 hours with GPS on. Add the optional Garmin Charge power pack or use battery save mode and you can extend that up to a whopping 40 hours.

Find out more about Garmin Edge 830

• Best GPS bike computer

• Buy Garmin Edge 830 from Wiggle

Today's Plan training platform

Tim Kerrison, Head of Athlete Performance, says: “Today’s Plan understand that every rider is different and each race and each training session is carefully planned with a specific goal in mind. This is why need to have a robust training data platform, both in terms of planning and analysis. Of course, this is sport, and so we also need a platform which is adaptable and a partner who can adapt to our changing needs. That is what Today’s Plan provides for Team INEOS.”

Team INEOS Tour de France

(Image credit: Team INEOS/Russ Ellis)

Today’s Plan is an online training and analytics platform that is suitable for coaches and athletes of all levels, from beginners to pros. Its range of powerful online training tools let you enjoy the quantifiable benefits of structured training.

Today’s Plan has worked closely with Team INEOS to build an advanced analytics and training system to be used by sport directors, team doctors, nutritionists, coaches and riders. The platform supports not just on-bike and on-body sensor data, but also integrates in external data such as weather, nutrition and wellness data from a range of fitness systems, allowing extensive data correlation for enhanced decision making. And you can use it too…

Find out more about Today's Plan

Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 group set

Team INEOS Tour de France

(Image credit: Team INEOS/Russ Ellis)

Shimano is the world’s leading manufacturer of bike components, turning out top-notch products and technologies used by professional athletes and keen amateurs. Nothing shows off their expertise better than the Dura-Ace Di2 group set, with electronic shifting.

The new DURA-ACE R9150 variant of the Di2 is the result of a mission to examine and improve every component to optimise the input and maximise its output, and minimise the energy lost between the pedal and the wheels, working at maximum effectiveness with every other component in the system.

Team INEOS Tour de France

(Image credit: Team INEOS/Russ Ellis)

The R9150 Di2 is an adaptation of a system first developed for mountain biking, and allows riders to control both derailleurs with the touch of just one shift button. There's also an integrated power meter option, hydraulic disc brake options for enhanced stopping power. All-new wheel profiles provide a heightened level of wheel performance.

Finally, Shimano's new E-TUBE app allows you to download user profiles to multiple Di2-equipped bikes and optimise shifting preferences from smart phones and tablets, via Bluetooth.

Find out more about Shimano Dura-Ace R9100 Di2 group set

Buy Shimano Dura-Ace R9100 Di2 at for £ xx

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Duncan Bell
Duncan Bell

Duncan is the former lifestyle editor of T3 and has been writing about tech for almost 15 years. He has covered everything from smartphones to headphones, TV to AC and air fryers to the movies of James Bond and obscure anime. His current brief is everything to do with the home and kitchen, which is good because he is an excellent cook, if he says so himself. He also covers cycling and ebikes – like over-using italics, this is another passion of his. In his long and varied lifestyle-tech career he is one of the few people to have been a fitness editor despite being unfit and a cars editor for not one but two websites, despite being unable to drive. He also has about 400 vacuum cleaners, and is possibly the UK's leading expert on cordless vacuum cleaners, despite being decidedly messy. A cricket fan for over 30 years, he also recently become T3's cricket editor, writing about how to stream obscure T20 tournaments, and turning out some typically no-nonsense opinions on the world's top teams and players.

Before T3, Duncan was a music and film reviewer, worked for a magazine about gambling that employed a surprisingly large number of convicted criminals, and then a magazine called Bizarre that was essentially like a cross between Reddit and DeviantArt, before the invention of the internet. There was also a lengthy period where he essentially wrote all of T3 magazine every month for about 3 years. 

A broadcaster, raconteur and public speaker, Duncan used to be on telly loads, but an unfortunate incident put a stop to that, so he now largely contents himself with telling people, "I used to be on the TV, you know."


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