Power is nothing without precision. Knowing when and where to make your move and how much effort to give. That’s why Dura-Ace Di2 and Team Sky are a perfect match and why Chris Froome has just won his second Tour de France. Congratulations!
It wasn’t all Team Sky though. From day one, Shimano-sponsored riders took the 2015 Tour de France by the horns and never let go. Australian Rohan Dennis of the BMC Racing Team snatched the opening stage and the yellow jersey in Utrecht, the Netherlands, clocking the fastest average speed in a Tour time trial ever. BMC struck again in the team time trial in the 9th stage as they pipped their fellow Shimano riders from Team Sky to the finish line by less than a second. |
Belgian rider Greg van Avermaet won BMC a third stage as he withstood the sweltering heat and a last-gasp challenge by Peter Sagan to put the 13th stage to his name. On a lesser note, BMC lost their front man Tejay Van Garderen to illness as he abandoned in the 17th stage, but overall this has been a Tour of resounding ups for BMC.
The big news, of course, is Froome’s second Tour win. He made his first move on the killer climb of Mur de Huy in stage 3, promptly conquering the yellow jersey and forcing the first real gap between himself and the rest of the Fab Four: his main rivals Nairo Quintana, Alberto Contador and Vincenzo Nibali. |
But the real body blow came in the 10th stage on Bastille Day. Froome ironically chose a day representing the end of the French monarchy to solidify his reign as king of the Tour. Storming up the final 6.5 km of the first mountain stage to La Pierre-Saint-Martin and over the finish line, Froome left his rivals gasping and tamed. Even with 7 tough mountain stages to come, the lead Froome carved out for himself on this day would prove insurmountable. |
So our first félicitations have to go to Chris Froome, for so quickly stamping his authority on what had been touted as one of the most contested Tours in years. He is one of the few riders to win both the yellow and polka dot jersey. Chris, your outstanding achievements are continually helping us to refine the performance of our components, and for that we thank you. In addition to the stage winners from the BMC Racing Team, we also congratulate Simon Geschke, who gave Team Giant-Alpecin a well-deserved stage win for the third year running. |
Shimano is proud to serve 7 World Tour teams, who produced three of this year’s top-ten finishers: Chris Froome of Team Sky, Robert Gesink of Team LottoNL-Jumbo and Bauke Mollema of Trek Factory Racing. We’re equally proud of the other 10 teams who race with our components too. And finally kudos from all of us at Shimano to all the unsung heroes riding Shimano, the Geraint Thomases who help the Froomes of this world onto their throne.
