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TECH NEWS
Shimano PRO bar tape yellow - TDF2017- roosenboom2139.jpgShimano dominates the 2017 Tour de France - winning every stage and jersey
It’s been another successful Tour de France for Shimano, the Japanese company winning the race outright with Team Sky’s Chris Froome, but it went a step further this year and bagged every single stage and jersey in the race. That’s quite some feat and we’re pretty certain it’s the first time Shimano has managed it.
- The winning bikes of the 2017 Tour de France - which bike brand has won the most stages?
Shimano’s domination was helped by the fact it sponsors and supplies groupsets to more of the teams than Campagnolo and SRAM combined. Of the 22 teams racing in this year’s race, 17 were using Dura-Ace Di2 - Campagnolo had three teams and SRAM just two.
Shimano doesn’t sponsor all of those teams, some choose to buy Shimano, but the company offers support to any team using its equipment. It officially sponsors Francaise Des Jeux, Trek-Segafredo, LottoNL-Jumbo, Team Sunweb, Orica-Scott, BMC, Bora-Hansgrohe and Team Sky – between them accounting for 11 stage wins.
Shimano’s new Dura-Ace R9150 Di2 is the groupset of choice, with the exception of Marcel Kittel who won five stage with Shimano’s Dura-Ace R9170 hydraulic disc brakes.
“Disc brakes are a great step forward in the technology developments that we have ahead of us. Especially in the wet, it helps riders brake better,” commented Kittel on his use of disc brakes.
Chris Froome meanwhile used R9150 Di2 and, as we’ve seen over the years with Shimano pushing its own wheels and components, his Pinarello Dogma F10 was also equipped with Dura-Ace wheels and PRO Stealth handlebar and bar tape.
Shimano has developed a power meter - its first - as part of the new Dura-Ace groupset. Warren Barguil of Team Sunweb was riding the power meter on his way to winning the polka dot jersey
“My first impressions of the Shimano power meter are very good. The data is consistent, it’s very easy to use and there’s almost no extra weight. Magnifique!” says Barguil.
The rise of Shimano's domination
It wasn’t always this way. There was a time before Shimano got into the road cycling market when the only serious choice was Campagnolo. The Italian company pretty much dominated the professional peloton in the way that Shimano has this year. But Campagnolo’s once strong position has been gradually eroded by Shimano’s fiercely competitive innovation.
It all changed in 1973 when Shimano launched its first Dura-Ace groupset. It slowly muscled its way into the professional peloton by producing extremely well-engineered products and some smart sponsorship choices. Not only was it starting to dominate the pro peloton, it was also wrapping up the consumer market with competitively priced components both in the original equipment market and aftermarket.
Shimano’s philosophy has always been: “each part should function together and integrate into a whole system that improves the overall performance of the bicycle,” and that is still true with its latest groupsets, which are designed as a complete system.
When road.cc first started rounding up all the WorldTour race bikes in one article back in 2010, the professional peloton was evenly split between the three main groupset suppliers, Shimano, SRAM and Campagnolo.
SRAM had joined the party in about 2006 when it first entered the road market, having previously focused on mountain biking, and rapidly made inroads to the conservative world of pro racing - in 2010 SRAM had six teams using its groupset, in 2010 it was up to eight teams. In 2017, it has just two teams and only one WorldTour outfit.
While SRAM was a big player in 2010, it was also the year that marked the introduction of Dura-Ace Di2, Shimano's first electronic groupset. Despite initial scepticism, electronic gears have completely replaced mechanical groupsets in the pro peloton.
In 2012 the tide was turning in Shimano's favour. It was supplying ten teams and over the years its dominance would grow, to the point that this year when it managed the incredible statistic of winning every stage and jersey in the Tour de France with more teams riding its Dura-Ace Di2 than Campagnolo Super Record EPS or SRAM Red eTap.
There's little to suggest Shimano won't utterly dominate the professional peloton for the foreseeable future, but as with SRAM's short-lived reign as the dominant groupset, nothing is guaranteed in the world of cycling.
David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes.
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23 comments
Spares availability is actually very good for Campagnolo - the problem is that retailers are not getting the message. The main Campagnolo wholesalers in the UK, and we, as the main technical centre, place very regular (between us, probably almost daily) Express Orders with the factory, which are available on 24h DHL delivery - so long as the factory has a spare on Monday, the retailer can have it by Thursday or Friday in very many cases ... sooner if the wholesaler has it in stock.
This impression trickles down to end-customers because shops are constantly telling them ... "no, we can't get that" when actually, yes, they can.
That fishing rod division must be bankrolling all those sponsorships
Typical insecure Shimano riders; always having to prove themselves.
As already mentioned, this is about market share, and nothing about rider preference or the functional effectiveness of the different manufacturers.
It costs a lot of money, and I mean a lot, to sponsor a world tour team. Shimano can afford to spend that money, neither Sram or Campag can. Thats 11 teams accounted for.
Then you have teams with names bike sponsors in the team name. For those manufacturers, the component manufacturer can really take the pressure off running costs by providing equipment.
Aligned to this, as the biggest OEM provider out there, Shimano is far more likely to be the component manufacturer for sponsoring bike manufacturers... hence why they are found on a further 6 teams bikes.
The teams using campag and Sram are likely to be smaller teams (with the exception of Movistar), as they are the ones commanding less cash for sponsorship... so its a compounding situation.
The weight differences between groups is marginal. At the top level, all provide great gear changes, and superb braking... performance will not be a factor.
But, as we are here.
I think eTap is a great solution. Really great. when that trickles down to Force, they are going to mop up market share like idiots.
Shimano's 9100 is a stunning electronic group. Fabulous polishing of the margins to produce something that is functioning at the very top.
Campagnolo are due a major new release soon. This is the third year of their current iterations, so they should be releasing something in the next 12 months. I believe they may go wireless, as Shimano have said they won't. Its what I'd do. However, even now... that rear eps mech is an amazing piece of design, which is unfortunately not mirrored in the front mech!
My front EPS works extremely well, thank you, as does the rear. However Campag probably does need to revamp the EPS mechs, not because they don't work, just for keeping up with the Jones's. Their attention lately will have been on producing their hydraulic groups - which look great but haven't really hit the shops yet.
Shimano's market domination is depressing. Have bike product managers got really lazy? In the Cycling Plus bike of the year edition, I made it that out of 50 bikes, 49 were Shimano.
Imagine if Shimano had a wireless version of Di2? Forget the rest.
I think the other interesting point is that Shimano, with the exception of the initial release of 9150, is generally cheaper than Sram and Campagnolo in their respective top of the line offerings. It is more available and sold on most websites in comparison with Campagnolo and SRAM.
That would get a LOT of people onto electronic shifting, no doubt at all. Mind you, would leave riders vulnerable to some kind of portable EMP device cunningly hidden on the bikes ridden by mechanically shifting riders
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Yup - my 14 year old and his mates would have a field day staring out of the window with a home made box of tricks making everyone jump to 53x11 at the bottom of the hill ouside the house...
This is more about balance sheet than quality of equipment....Campagnolo Turnover (2015) = USD 126m. Shimano's (2013) was USD 2.57bn. Income figures were USD8.1m and USD 342m respectively. So.... Shimano has approximately 20x the balance sheet of Campagnolo and 40x the Net Income. I still wouldn't put Shimano on my Colnago, however, and neither should you
Shimano for function, campag for looking pretty. Function over form
That'll be be buyers bias. There is nothing wrong with either. However there is a simple difference between a Campag (don't know electric by the way) and Snimano. It is the down shift i.e. to harder gears.
Shimano - inner paddle, swing release wait change once
Campag button - press and either click once, twice or three times for absolutely instant gear change.
Also whilst Shinano have definitely improved the design of their hoods so Dura Ace is now pretty good, It was pathetic and uncomfortable compared to Campag. I run both and it is Campag function that wins over Shimano any day. If you ignore the bling of Record/SuperRecord you get exactly the same function with Chorus which matches Dura Ace on price but with better function.
Where Campag becomes difficult is parts. Price and availability are not where Shimano is, but hey Shimano are a mega business doing well, very well. Campag a head in the clouds engineering company.
So if I was running teams or a business I would not risk the choice of Campag over the sheer availability and variety of Shimano. For function on my best bikes it is Campag all the way.
A friend, who was also NZ professional Road champ multiple times, was sponsored to ride Sram (red.) He couldn't wait to get off it and back on to shimano because Shimano worked so much better. He had a particular issue with Sram's TT gear levers. They broke twice during important TTs. I don't think Sram is well loved in the pro peloton. Maybe Shimano just offers better back up (for professional teams) than Campag?
Is cycling big in Japan? Where are all the Japanese cyclists in the Pro Peloton? It is still dominated by Europeans, British Commonwealth and an odd Columbian.
Well, there are 3 (pro riders in the peloton) but yes, cycling is huge in Japan. The Keirin circuit has hundreds of professional riders, the best of whom make really good money.
Cycling in Japan is huge, was over there 2 years ago.....cyles everywhere, they might not be racing bikes, but its big business
And that's what makes the difference. Shimano is utterly dominant in the lower levels of the market with the huge volumes that afford it enormous economies of scale and contribute much of its revenue.
Of the three big players it's the least strong feature in my fleet with only a chainset and two front mechs on my primarily SRAM equipped commuters.
All of my "fun" bikes, be they modern or vintage, are Campag equipped... And that won't be changing anytime soon.
I have to admit though... Even though I own the new style Campag 11 speed chainset, the Dura Ace one beats it on looks. Something I'd never dreamt of saying a couple of years ago!
Now that I've said that, I'll probably burst into flames next time I sit on a bike.
Still won't be changing from Campagnolo.
eTap would be the only thing to pry me away from Campag. EPS just looks a hot mess.
Yes, Shimano's dominance of France matches Harrows' reign at Lakeside, where they won the darts world championships five times to next-best competitor Datadart's two during the 1980s. I forget who threw which brand, but that's unimportant.
Or Michelin at Le Man's since 90s.
Is it that SRAM and Campag don't have the budget or won't sponsor more teams, or are the teams really that uninterested in riding them?
Who knows, but the result is the result. The core of the issue is Shimano made better business decisions or had more favourable conditions in the 80s whereas Campagnolo, Suntour, Sachs (now SRAM), Mavic and the rest didn't.
I would think that since Shimano have more or less cornered the OEM market, they have a) more budget that SRAM or Campy and b) more clout, for putting pressure on the manufacturers and teams.