Tour Tech 2016: Saddle secrets of the stars… High tech, low tech, custom and quirky

We've visited the teams competing in the Tour de France over the past few days and here are some of the most interesting saddles we've spotted. 

This (main pic and above) is one of Alberto Contador’s saddles, his name printed very small at both the front and rear. It’s a custom Prologo Nago Evo. The pink, yellow and red stripes represent the leader’s jerseys in the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana respectively. Contador has won each of the Grand Tours more than once.

This saddle (above) is from Contador’s spare bike. You can see that the cover features  CPC (Connect Performance Control), a super-grippy polymer that Prologo has using for a few years now.

It’s arranged differently from normal, though, in a hexagonal, honeycomb pattern not yet available to the public.

Here it is again on a Lampre-Merida bike.

Fabian Cancellara goes for an old Bontrager Team Issue saddle. It isn’t as cushioned as usual. In fact, it’s pretty damn hard.

Check out our review of the Bontrager Team Issue saddle. 

In contrast, Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas goes for a Fizik Arione that’s unusually deeply cushioned. When we visited the team’s Service Course earlier in the year, we were told that a couple of riders had these made for the Classics and stuck with them. 

Those two lines on the top are measuring points for the mechanics to make sure that all of a rider’s bikes are set up in exactly the same way. 

Race favourite Chris Froome just goes for a standard Fizik Antares R1.

Orica-BikeExchange’s Simon Gerrans does too, although his has team green showing through the slits in the cover.

Etixx-Quick-Step sprinter Marcel Kittel uses a Specialized S-Works Romin Evo in a custom finish. 

Teammate Dan Martin goes off message with a Fizik saddle on his time trial bike

Sprinter Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) has stripes on his Selle Italia saddle that echo those of the Norwegian national flag. 

Vincenzo Nibali rides for Astana, a team which is sponsored by Specialized, but that’s a Fizik Antares saddle minus the decals. Nibali used Fizik saddles when he was at former team Liquigas, and he has stuck with them.

This is Peter Sagan’s Prologo Scratch 2. The stage two winner and race leader has his name printed on there in a few places along with an angular logo created from his initials. 

Purito is the nickname of Team Katusha’s Joaquim Rodriguez, which is the Spanish name for a little cigar, hence the picture on the far side of his Selle Italia saddle.

Check out our saddle reviews here.