It’s that time of year again, as the pro cycling season draws to a Chinese whimper, we’ve started to look back on and assess the year that was, that means bringing back this little exercise that we do each year totting up the Grand Tour success each team’s bike and tech providers have seen.
As we’ll see there is a key to success, but it doesn’t come cheap, and even having the best rider in the world riding your bike doesn’t necessarily guarantee you get top billing. Though yes, generally the return on investment for each brand is still probably greater in men’s races than women’s and is definitely still greater at the Tour de France, we’re treating each Grand Tour and each stage equally to reward across success over value for sponsors.
Before we get stuck in, if you need a reminder of which teams are using what kit, see our full list here, and if you need reminding of last year’s result, click here.
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Best bike brands of the 2025 Grand Tours
Unipublic/Naike Ereñozaga
1. Specialized (AG Insurance-Soudal, FDJ-Suez, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, SD Worx-Protime, Soudal-QuickStep), 17 stage wins, 1 overall
With five WorldTour teams on its roster and all five tasting Grand Tour success in 2025, it shouldn’t really come as a surprise that Specialized has defended its title as the most successful bike brand of the year (note to Specialized, we won’t be using the word ‘winningest’).
It wasn’t the best season on the whole for Soudal-QuickStep and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, with Soudal having a good Tour but missing the mark elsewhere and Red Bull winning a stage in Italy and a stage in Spain – albeit they had a promising year on GC with breakthroughs for Florian Lipowitz and Giulio Pellizzari. However the strength of SD Worx-Protime, particularly Lorena Wiebes, a fantastic season for AG Insurance-Soudal, and the addition of FDJ-Suez to their roster thanks to Demi Vollering, means that they totalled just enough stage wins to take this crown.
2. Colnago (UAE Team Emirates XRG, UAE Team ADQ), 16 stage wins, 2 overall
Probably your first guess as to who’d won this, especially given UAE Team Emirates XRG’s historic tally of wins across the year, but Specialized sheer number of teams was too much of a handicap to overcome for Tadej Pogačar and co., and both Specialized and Colnago actually ended up with the same number of stage wins as 2024.
It was a good Tour de France for the UAE Team ADQ women’s team, with Maeva Squiban taking back-to-back stage wins and Dominika Włodarczyk just missed the overall podium in fourth, but the most impressive display for Colnago (outside of what Pogačar is doing) was mopping up almost half of the stages at themen’s Vuelta, including taking four in a row.
This was a big year for Colnago, with the launch of the eye-catching Y1Rs aero bike that meant the V5Rs was out of action from July onwards, even in the mountains. Maybe that explains the men’s team’s meagre two stage wins at the Giro.
3. Cervélo (Visma-Lease a Bike), 13 stage wins, 3 overall
The biggest change on this ranking comes at the bottom of the podium, with Cervélo leapfrogging Canyon – who dropped to fifth – to third place and taking the top spot in general classification wins courtesy of Simon Yates, Jonas Vingegaard and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot.
Cervélo had a complete refresh on its racing bike line-up in 2025, bringing out a new S5 and new R5, so this is a promising result, especially in a down year for Wout van Aert. With hopefully a return to form for the Belgian as well as a step into Grand Tour racing for Matt Brennan, Cervélo will be looking to move up the leaderboard once again in 2026.
Most successful bike brands
1. Specialized, 17 stages
2. Colnago, 16 stages
3. Cervélo, 13 stages
4. Trek, 11 stages
5. Canyon, 10 stages
6. Pinarello, 6 stages
7. Giant, 3 stages
8. Cannondale, 3 stages
9. Lapierre, Ridley, Van Rysel, Wilier, X-Lab, 1 stage
Best groupsets of the 2025 Grand Tours
Matthew Loveridge / Cyclist
1. Shimano, 50 wins, 3 overall
This battle seems to be getting closer every year, with Shimano losing 12 wins on 2024. The Japanese brand will be looking over its metaphorical shoulder as SRAM keeps pushing on, it’s always worth keeping an eye on any team sponsorship changes come the new year, as Shimano’s slice of the pie keeps gradually getting smaller.
The big win for Shimano is that they’ve locked UAE Team Emirates down, joining them as an official sponsor as the start of this year, so it will be hoping Pogačar’s reign continues in the face of the SRAM-sponsored Jonas Vingegaard.
2. SRAM, 35 wins, 3 overall
It was a ten-win improvement for SRAM this year, but it’s not all roses. With Demi Vollering’s move to FDJ-Suez she’s switched from SRAM to Shimano, so the GC playing field has levelled between the two groupset giants and a good chunk of stage wins have gone too, although SRAM was fortunate that Ferrand-Prévot got the business done at the Tour.
3. Campagnolo, 0 wins
Despite making its return to the WorldTour in 2025 and completely redesigning its wireless groupset, Campagnolo wasn’t ridden to any Grand Tour wins this year, because Cofidis haven’t been very good.
Best wheels of the 2025 Grand Tours
Xavier Pereyron
1. Roval (AG Insurance-Soudal, FDJ-Suez, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, SD Worx-Protime, Soudal-QuickStep), 17 stage wins, 1 overall
2024 was a dead heat between Roval, Shimano and Enve, but the smaller number of teams actually able to win races there is daylight this time around, and it just so happens that it mirrors exactly the bike sponsor standings, with Specialized-owned Roval and Cervélo sister brand Reserve getting the obvious lifts.
2. Enve (UAE Team Emirates XRG, UAE Team ADQ), 16 stage wins, 2 overall
Enve are down one win on 2024, and you can pinpoint that on TotalEnergies winning a Tour de France stage last year.
3. Reserve (Visma-Lease a Bike), 13 stage wins, 3 overall
Reserve has benefitted from a lack of success for Shimano teams this time around, with Ineos sticking to Princeton CarbonWorks and Canyon not getting as many wins as they’d hoped after Jasper Philipsen’s early departure from the Tour.
Most successful wheel brands
1. Roval, 17 wins
2. Enve, 16 wins
3. Reserve, 13 wins
4. Bontrager, 11 wins
5. Shimano, 7 wins
6. Princeton CarbonWorks, 6 wins
7. Cadex, Vision, 4 wins
9. Zipp, 3 wins
10. DT Swiss, Miche, Ursus, 1 win
