The bikes that won each stage of the 2016 Tour de France - Cervelo S5 the most successful with five stage wins

The big bike brands sponsor the Tour de France teams to sell bikes. They use the Tour as a giant shop window to display their best and latest bikes and equipment, and a race win can generate a lot of sales - just look at how popular Pinarello are since Team Sky came about. People like success and success sells bikes.

Stage 1 - Mark Cavendish’s Cervelo S5. The Manx sprinter announced he was back to his sensational form with an emphatic stage win, and with it grabbed the yellow jersey for the first time in his career. It also marks his first Tour stage victory aboard the Cervelo S5 of his new team, Dimension Data after moving from Etixx - Quick-Step last year. That's his bike pictured at the top of this article.

Get all the details on Mark Cavendish's Cervelo S5 right here.

Stage 2 - Peter Sagan’s Specialized Venge. The Slovak superstar started the beginning of his campaign to win a fifth successive green jersey by out-sprinting Julian Alaphilippe into Cherbourg-en-Cotentin. Sagan started the 2015 Tour de France on the new Venge aero road bike but didn’t finish aboard the new bike. That changed this year, with Sagan riding the latest aero bike from Specialized for the entire race.

- Related: Read about Peter Sagan's Venge here 

Stage 3 - Cavendish punted his Cervelo S5 over the line ahead of Andre Greipel, in the first of several extremely close finishes that required examination of the photograph from the high-speed camera to determine the winner. Scroll to the top of this article to see his bike.

Stage 4 - Marcel Kittel pushed his custom painted Specialized Venge over the finish line with another photo finish, ahead of Bryan Coquard by millimetres. Kittel was riding the Venge aero bike which is the same as Sagan’s, even down to the Shimano Dura-Ace groupset and Roval CLX65 wheels. 

- Read about Marcel Kittel's bike here

Stage 5 - Greg van Avermaet and his BMC TeamMachine SLR01. The Belgian rider and his white BMC survived a solo breakaway on the first mountain stage of the race and swapped his red and black Team BMC jersey for the yellow jersey. The TeamMachine SLR01 has been a mainstay of the Swiss company’s range for several years now.

Stage 6 - Cavendish and his Cervelo S5. Again. Canadian bike brand Cervelo must be ecstatic with its decision to sponsor the MTN-Qhubeka team last year, as they are enjoying brilliant exposure in the race with Cavendish’s return to sprint domination. 

Stage 7 - Steve Cummings solos his Cervelo S5 to victory. Perhaps underlining the unexpected versatility of Cervelo’s S5 aero bike, Dimension Data’s Cummings rode essentially the same bike as Cavendish uses, albeit with a change to shallow section carbon wheels, to success on a mountain stage.

Stage 8 - Chris Froome conquers descent with his Pinarello Dogma F8X Light. Riding a lighter version of his Dogma F8, Froome proved that time can be gained on the way down a mountain as he sprinted away from his GC rivals on the descent of the Col de Peyresourde. A change to a bigger chainring played a pivotal part, as well as his dramatic aero position crouched on the top tube.

- Details and photos of Chris Froome's Pinarello Dogma F8, pictured above.

Stage 9 - Tom Dumoulin’s Giant TCR Advanced. The appalling weather didn’t deter Dutch rider Dumoulin from holding off the advances of a chasing peloton and finished the mountain top finish solo. The TCR Advanced is Giant’s go-to race bike and combines low weight and high frame stiffness to make it a versatile choice for the racers, ideal for breakaway and mountain climbing.

Stage 10 - Michael Matthews’ Scott Foil. Aero bikes were designed for sprinters and breakaway specialists, and Australian Matthews exploited the benefits of the Scott Foil, with its aero shaped frame, to win from a group containing Peter Sagan.

(We don't have a photo of his bike, but instead here is Simon Gerrans’ Scott Foil, which is virtually the same)

Stage 11 - Peter Sagan wins again on his Specialized Venge. A dramatic stage that gave us the rare image of the green and yellow jersey sprinting for the win after breaking away from the peloton on a windswept stage, Peter Sagan once clinched the win aboard his Venge.

Stage 12 - Thomas de Gendt’s Ridley Helium SL. A stage that will live on in history after Froome is forced to run up Mont Ventoux, it mustn’t be forgotten that ahead of the drama Thomas de Gendt was riding his lightweight Ridley Helium SL to stage victory. The following day the Belgian bike brand would deliver a special polka dot frame to match his new jersey for the best climber.

Stage 13 - Tom Dumoulin wins time trial on a Giant Trinity Advanced Pro TT bike. The aero time trial bike has been developed with input from the Giant-Alpecin team and boasts such features as an AeroDrive TT composite base bar and SpeedControl SL brakes. 

Stage 14 - Another sprint victory for Cavendish and his Cervelo S5. A career 30th Tour stage for Cav. He’s ridden a handful of bike brands over the years, from Scott to Specialized and Pinarello, but his latest, and arguably greatest wins will also be remembered for the Cervelo S5 he used this year.

Stage 15 - Jarlinson Pantano’s Scott Addict. The IAM Cycling rider could have opted to race Scott’s Foil aero road bike, but it’s the lighter and more comfortable Addict that is his preference. It does benefit from aero shaped tubes so it might have helped in his battle with Rafal Majka and his Specialized Tarmac, which doesn’t have any aero refinements.

(No photos of Pantano's bike, but here is Sondre Holst Enger's Foil, a team mate of the Columbuan stage winner.

Stage 16 - Peter Sagan and his Specialized Venge. With a bike throw, it could have been a Canyon Aeroad and Alexander Kristoff winning this stage, but it was Peter Sagan’s day and another stage for the Specialized Venge. We expect Specialized dealers to be inundated with interest in this bike following the Tour. 

Stage 17 - Ilnur Zakarin wins mountain stage on Canyon Ultimate CF SLX. Most of the Katusha team opts for the slippery Canyon Aeroad, but Ilnur Zakarin put the updated Ultimate CF SLX (the same model raced by Nairo Quintana) to good use in his solo win on stage 17. This latest version os Canyon’s go-to race bike features slightly aero shaped tube profiles to reduce drag. It was also the first win in this year’s Tour for SRAM’s wireless eTap groupset.

Stage 18 - Chris Froome’s Pinarello Bolide. The Team Sky rider made the right equipment choices on this challenging uphill time trial, deciding to go full aero with a Pinarello Bolide time trial bike and disc rear wheel, with his rivals opted for combinations of shallow rims and road bikes with clip-on aero bars. The Bolide has been developed from its first unveiling and is apparently lighter and stiffer than the previous version, and the integrated brakes have been improved.

Check out all the details of Chris Froome's TT bike.

Stage 19 - Romain Bardet solos to win on his Focus Izalco. The first French winner of this year’s Tour was the young Bardet, and he was riding a Focus Izalco, the German bike brand supplying his AG2R team with bikes. It also marks another win for SRAM’s eTAP wireless groupset, after the US company worked extensively with the French team last year to develop and refine the new groupset. Check out his bike in detail here.

Stage 20 - Jon Izaguirre’s Canyon Ultimate CF SLX. Another win for the German direct-sales bike brand, this time from the other team it sponsors. Like Ilnur Zakarin, Jon Izaguirre opts for the lighter Ultimate CF SLX over the Aeroad CF SLX in his support of Tour contender Nairo Quintana, but on this stage, he showed incredible descending skills to escape to a solo win.

Stage 21 - Andre Greipel’s Ridley Noah SL. And so to Paris, and German sprinter Andre Greipel conquered the final sprint of the Tour on this Noah SL. It’s the Belgian bike company’s aero road bike and the SL refers to the fact it has been put on a diet while retaining the key aero features of the original, such as the vertical slots in the fork to reduce drag. Read about his bike  here.

And the most successful bike of the Tour de France?

It’s the Cervelo S5 with five wins, four to Cavendish and one to Cummings, showing the versatility of the bike, winning sprints and solo mountain stages. Here’s the full list of all the stage winning bikes

• Cervelo S5 - 5
• Specialized Venge - 4
• Canyon Ultimate CF SLX - 2
• BMC TeamMachine SLR01 - 1
• Ridley Helium SL - 1
• Giant TCR Advanced - 1
• Giant Trinity TT - 1
• Scott Foil - 1
• Scott Addict - 1
• Pinarello Dogma F8 - 1
• Pinarello Bolide - 1
• Ridley Noah SL - 1
• Focus Izalco - 1