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We’ve had Cannondale, we’ve had Van Rysel, and in today’s episode of Team Bike Face Off (yeah, that’s the name we’ll stick with for this series), it’s the turn of French manufacturer Look.

Look, as you may know, has a long and storied history in cycling. Originally a company that formed to produce ski binding in 1950, it wasn’t until it was acquired by the French businessman Bernard Tapie in 1983 that it ventured into the cycling industry, producing the first clipless pedal — and to promote the product Bernard Tapie created the equally iconic team La vie Clair.

If you know your history, you’ll agree that it’s safe to say the team turned out to be just a little bit more than a place to showcase Look’s new pedals and frameset that came along in 1986, the Look KG 86. With Hinault and LeMond on their roster wrapped in the iconic Mondrian-inspired jersey, the team goes down in history as one of the true powerhouses of our sport. OK, back to the bikes. In the intervening 39 years since that first carbon frame, Look has had its ups and downs; it’s changed hands, and it’s had its hits and misses. It’s stayed strong in track cycling, but in road cycling, it has innovated on occasions but also on occasions missed the mark.

But from checking out the Look 795 Blade RS bikes that both the WorldTour team, Cofidis and UCI Continental team CIC-U-Nantes are using this season, it seems to me that Look certainly is back on track.

And it’s these two teams, Cofidis and CIC-U-Nantes, that I’ll be delving into in this video and article. Two teams that sit at either end of the UCI professional categories, and two teams that have been around for decades, Cofidis seeing their 28th season and CIC-U-Nantes rolling into their 18th as a pro team but have been around much longer as a leading French Amateur Club (one that I remember racing against back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, yes I’m that old).

CIC-U-Nantes uses the same frame as Cofidis but the build is very different.
The Bikes

OK, as always, let’s delve in and see the equipment differences between the WorldTour and Continental teams on Look bikes.

For starters, both squads are supplied with the same frameset, the Look 795 Blade RS, a bike Look described as “The ultimate competition bike, the fastest work of art ever to come out of our workshops.” And I’d agree with the “work of art” claim, it’s a handsome machine, especially in the Iconic Platinum White version that Cofidis has issued.

Over at CIC-U-Nantes, they’re on the same frame but with a paint scheme that I’m gonna go out on a limb and say will be a touch lighter due to not being as flamboyant, but also a paint scheme that isn’t available in the 2025 catalog. Chatting with the mechanics at CIC-U-Nantes, I was informed that each rider was issued with two bikes, a race bike and a training bike, plus a time trial bike. Over at Cofidis, the mechanics were more guarded, but each rider starts the season with at least three road frames and a TT bike.

Cofidis on a very retro inspired Look Blade 795 RS.

Look has been known for some wild innovations over the years, and for the 795 Blade RS things have been kept nice and simple, or as simple as most high-end race bikes are today. There’s no wild one-piece Zed 3 chainset here that Look used to offer with its framesets; those days are long gone. But like every bike in this category, there is a proprietary bar and stem, the Aero Combo. Though on first inspection, you may presume the bar and stem are one piece, it is, in fact, two pieces,; it’s a slick design that allows the riders to choose both bar width and stem length; what was surprising to see was that one of the Cofidis riders was actually on a 140mm stem, that’s proper Pro.

Grouspets is where the bikes massively differ. Cofidis this year is the only pro team on Campagnolo; after a year out of sponsoring a pro team, the Italian drivetrain manufacturer got back and had the whole team on its new Super Record Wireless groupset. The spare bikes had a few deviations, with the odd older version of the Super Record EPS chainset on show.

Unlike some teams who have to go out and either buy groupsets at a reduced price from the manufacturers (usually Shimano) or have the bike sponsors supply them as part of their sponsorship agreement, Campagnolo is actually officially a sponsor at Cofidis; it’s a partnership that has an initial contract of four years. And I, for one, am glad to see the Italian manufacturer back in the pro peloton. The only question now is, will we have a similar debacle as the team had last year when Guillaume Martin complained that his bike was too heavy? I’m sure not, as according to one Cofidis mechanic, bike weight for a medium is somewhere in the 7.3kg ballpark (including pedals).

It was the Continental team with the interesting custom chainrings.

Over at CIC-U-Nantes, it’s surprising that the whole team is running on Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 for a continental-level team. Usually, for a team of this level, you’ll see downgrades on components; budgets are tight at this level. A few little touches deviate from it being a full Shimano groupset, though, and that would be the chainrings, which is yet another surprise, as it’s an extra outlay. Out go the standard Shimano rings for some riders, which are instead fitted with Custom The Machanic-Parts chain rings in various sizes. The Mechainc-Parts is a small Dutch manufacturer that seems to be slowly gaining some ground in the pro peloton when riders want abnormal chaining sizes (for us, mere mortals).

Corima wheels wrapped in Micehlin Power Cup tubulars, very French.

Wheels are another area where the two teams differ. Up until last year, Look owned French wheel manufacturer Corima; they’ve now gone their separate ways. It was why on Look bikes you’d often find Corima wheels, and it’s probably why you still see CIC-U-Nantes on the wheels this year, I’m sure the two brands work closely together, even though in 2024 the team used neither brand, racing on French bike brand, Adris, with Mavic wheels. As for the rubber wrapping them wheels, well, they’re keeping this as French as they can, with Michelin supplying Power Cup Tubeless Ready line, but even though, as the name suggests, they’re tubeless-ready, the team was running them with tubes. Tire sizes were either 28mm or 30m.

It’s Bora WTO for all at Cofidis.

Cofidis, though, has moved on; last year, the team was kicked out with Corima wheels, but bringing on Campagnolo as a group sponsor for 2025 also means they’ll be racing on Campagnolo wheels, too. For the most part, they’ll be using the Bora Ultra WTO 60s and 45mm depth wheels. And let us be honest, they’re some of the most lust-worthy wheels out there. Along with a change of wheels, the team has swapped tire sponsors; Michelin is out and in come the ever-popular (in the pro ranks) Vittoria Corsa Pros in either 28 or 30mm. And yes, they are running them tubeless.

Selle Italia supplies saddles for each team, and once again like our two previous Team vs Team videos where we’ve seen plenty of 3D-printed perches gaining ground, on both teams in this video, there’s a few 3D options. Many are using the new SLR Boost 3D and the SLR Boost Pro Team Kit Carbonio Superflow. I can hear you are asking what makes it a Pro Team issue, pretty much just the big, bold graphics splashed across it.

Oh, and finally, how can I forget pedals? Of course, both these teams are using Look pedals. I think that goes without saying. It would seem both teams had been issued the latest Keo Blade Power meter pedals.

OK, I think we’ve covered it all. Checking these two bikes out for me was a little bit of a pleasure. It was surprising to see a Continental-level team using such high-quality components with zero downgrades, and it was great to see Campagnolo hanging off a WorldTour bike again; it’s a brand I want to see succeed as over the past few years they certainly seemed to have looked a little rudderless.

The Look Blade 795 RS is a pretty bike in person.

Stay tuned for future team vs team vids, maybe it will be bikes or maybe I’ll just get riders to duke it out over a game of KerPlunk, who knows.

Cheers,
Dave