are tour de france teams really discarding their high priced components after just two uses?

In top-tier WorldTour-level road cycling races, the bikes used by riders can cost tens of thousands of yuan, with some exceeding a hundred thousand yuan. Many people believe that since team sponsors provide such expensive racing equipment, they must also frequently replace them, allowing riders to always use brand-new bikes or parts, similar to how many NBA stars wear a new pair of shoes for each game. Is this really the case?

Are these removed parts simply thrown away?

During the recent Gree-Tour of Guangxi road cycling WorldTour race, Codoon visited the team's maintenance area after one of the stages and chatted with the mechanics of the Katusha-Alpecin team, who also participated in this year's Tour de France. This issue was mentioned, and the response I received was as follows:

A Katusha-Alpecin team mechanic performing post-race checks and maintenance on a bike.

"The parts on the riders' race bikes are not frequently replaced. New parts are provided only when there is damage or during the team's annual update to new parts. After each stage, team mechanics thoroughly inspect each bike and maintain the parts to extend their lifespan. If no issues are found during the inspection, these parts will continue to be used in races until the next annual update to new parts."

Expensive wheelsets require spoke adjustments and lubrication at the crossing points after the race to extend their lifespan.

"For example, in this Tour of Guangxi, Katusha-Alpecin had 7 riders participating. Besides the main race bikes, we provided each rider with a backup bike and an additional 1-2 sets of wheelsets with different rim heights for different stages. Although the team carries many tires, cassettes, chains, and other easily worn or aged parts, they are not necessarily replaced after each stage. Whether to replace them is determined by the results of our thorough inspections," the mechanic explained.

A Bahrain-Merida team mechanic performing maintenance on Chinese rider Wang Meiyin's bike.

Of course, these top international professional cycling teams are not overly stingy. If the wear and tear on parts exceed the team's specified limits, they must be replaced without hesitation to avoid affecting the riders' performance or causing potential dangers in future races.

A Trek-Segafredo team mechanic carefully checking the wear on parts with a caliper.

Therefore, top cycling teams do not "burn" through parts by frequently replacing them when they are still functional and barely used. Instead, they adopt a very rational and rigorous approach to updating and discarding parts. Only when new parts are released by various brands do the teams collectively replace the old parts.