Check out the 2023 Scott Foil RC Ultimate that Romain Bardet is riding in the Tour de France

Atop the mountainous finishes of Stage 11 and 12 of this year's Tour de France, most riders have been trundling across the line on dedicated climbing bikes; not Romain Bardet though, he's stayed loyal to his brand new Scott Foil and it doesn't seem to be slowing him down!

The new Scott Foil had a timely launch just a week before the start of the Tour de France and maybe the claims of it being lighter, comfier and faster are running true with it making the Addict RC climbing bike – the previous favourite of the DSM team – almost redundant.

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The new frame weighs just 915g which is extremely competitive for an aero bike. It's 9% lighter than the previous generation and now just 140g heavier than the Addict RC HMX SL frame that the DSM team were racing on hilly stages up until last week. There are also claims that the third-generation bike will save you 1 minute 18 seconds over the previous version on a 40km time trial, but they don't have to do many of those in the Tour...

> Scott Foil gets lighter, comfier and faster with the release of third-generation road bike

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Aero bikes getting lighter has been a theme over the last few years. Romain Bardet has his kitted out with a Shimano Dura-Ace R9200 groupset and also uses Shimano wheels. On Stages 11 and 12 Bardet used the 38mm Dura-Ace R38 wheels as these are the lightest that Shimano offer. However, on Stage seven he was pictured (above) using this rather odd combination of a C38 at the front and a C60 at the rear.

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The handlebar/stem comes from Scott's in-house brand Syncros, as does the seat post which has a large cut-out at the rear. Scott makes a light that can fit in the slot but Romain Bardet didn't have that fitted for obvious reasons.​

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Bardet's bike is kitted out with Vittoria Corsa tyres in what appears to be a 28mm width. For many stages, he's been running them tubeless.

 

 

 

 

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Bardet has been climbing well so far and has once again marked himself as France's best chance at troubling the general classification podium.

Are you a fan of Bardet's Foil? Or would you be using the Addict for climbing stages if you were him? Let us know in the comments section below...