The 10 Best Bicycle Brands Based On World Tour Wins (2022)

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These are the best bicycle brands based on World Tour wins. No personal preference, just ranking based on raw data.

I put together the results of World Tour cycling teams since 2005 and calculated their number of victories in one-day races, monuments, and stage races.

Overall, I included more than 2500 WT races!

Although these brands are mostly known for road cycling, they also produce mountain bikes, hybrid, and gravel bikes. Some of them also produce electric bikes and kids’ bikes.

So, without further ado, let’s check out the best bike brands in the world!

Abbreviations used: WT – World Tour

The Best Bicycle Brands (Most WT Wins 2005-2022)

I decided to evaluate brands since 2005 because this was the year when UCI introduced the UCI ProTour series.

Four years later, UCI premiered the UCI World Tour series. In 2011, these two series merged.

As you can see, traditional Italian road bike brands like Bianchi or Wilier didn’t even make it to the top 10. However, this changed in the past years. More about them later.

Let me introduce the bike brands from the top 10 in more detail.

1. Specialized

Specialized is by many considered the best cycling brand out there. However, based on conversations with fellow cyclists, it is a brand that some people love and some people hate.

However, thanks to regular sponsorships of multiple pro cycling teams, Specialized has dominated the rankings for several years already, and no brand even came close.

They are known for their broad product portfolio. For example, you can buy Specialized road, MTB, hybrid, child, e-bikes, and other bike types, bike accessories like helmets, shoes, etc.

Specialized was pretty ‘lucky’ because 10 of 17 road world champions (between 2005 and 2022) rode on their bikes.

Until 2020, Specialized experienced an upward trend of wins per season. They peaked in 2019 with an incredible 66 WT wins.

Specialized is one of the few brands that sponsor at least two WT teams every season (except for 2005 and 2006). Between 2011 and 2016, they sponsored three WT teams.

Surprisingly, Specialized wins peaked between 2016 and 2019, when they sponsored two teams only (Tinkoff, later BORA – hansgrohe and Quick-Step).

Their 2020 season was the weakest for a long time, but it was also highly affected by many canceled races.

2. Pinarello

Pinarello is an Italian bicycle brand that belongs to one of the most premium brands. Pinarello bikes are bikes of Grand Tour winners (Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome, Geraint Thomas, Egan Bernal).

Pinarello is known for its continued sponsorship of the INEOS Grenadiers team (formerly Sky Procycling, Team Sky) that started in 2010 and the production of road bikes.

Their frames are made in Taiwan (Taiwanese are experts in carbon frame manufacturing) and finished in Italy.

Would you like to ride one of their Dogmas? Let me know in the comments.

Pinarello peaked in 2012 and 2013 thanks to sponsorships of two WT teams (Sky Procycling and Movistar team).

Riders like Bradley Wiggins, Mark Cavendish, Chris Froome (Sky), Alejandro Valverde, and Rui Costa (Movistar) collected the most wins in these two years.

Since 2014, Pinarello has sponsored only one team, so the number of wins per season has halved.

3. SCOTT

SCOTT is one of a few cycling brands that significantly overlap in other sectors (skiing, running, motorsport).

However, they are known for their road and mountain bikes. This US brand was fortunate enough to sponsor teams like Team Columbia – HTC, Orica GreenEDGE (later known as Mitchelton-Scott), and legendary XC mountain biker Nino Shurter.

Although SCOTT was established in 1958, the company started producing bikes in the 90s.

SCOTT’s wins peaked in 2009 during its sponsorship of Team Columbia – HTC. Sprinters like Mark Cavendish, André Greipel, and Edvald Boasson Hagen contributed the most with their wins.

They didn’t sponsor any WT team in 2011, so they had 0 wins. However, between 2012 and 2019, they collected 13 to 23 wins per season.

The most recent years, 2020-2022, were more modest in terms of wins.

However, if you are into mountain biking, you know that Scott Bikes was successful, thanks to Nino Shurter.

4. Cervélo

Established in 1995 by two engineers, Phil White and Gérard Vroomen, Cervélo is now an American cycling company (but it originates in Canada) with worldwide recognition.

They design and develop road, gravel, and TT bikes. MTB and other types of bikes are not on their offer.

With only two pauses of sponsorships of WT teams between 2005 and 2022, Cervélo sponsored teams like Garmin Shart, Team Dimension Data, Team Sunweb, and currently, Team Jumbo-Visma.

Cervélo has not sponsored any WT teams in 2009, 2010, and 2015. That’s why they had no victories in these years.

They experienced the most successful year in 2022, mainly thanks to the wins of Primož Roglič, Wout van Aert, and Jonas Vingegaard.

5. Giant

Giant is a Taiwanese bicycle brand that proudly represents its name. It is considered to be the largest bicycle manufacturer in the world. They also have multiple sub-brands, notably Liv – a women’s bicycle brand.

It is no surprise that Giant manufactures road, gravel, MTB, and most other types of bikes you can think of. Giant is also known for its good-value bikes.

They have been sponsoring multiple WT teams for the past decades. However, this series stopped in 2021. The CCC World Tour team they supported in 2019 and 2020 sold its WT license.

Do you remember the upward trend of Specialized? Well, Giant has been experiencing the opposite trend.

The number of WT wins per season decreased except for a few years. Giant has sponsored only one team since 2005.

The years 2019 and 2020 were the worst in terms of wins. Giant sponsored CCC Team that managed to get 3 WT wins only.

After many years, Giant didn’t sponsor any WT team in 2021. They returned back to World Tour in 2022 by sponsoring Team BikeExchange – Jayco.

6. Ridley

Ridley is one of the few well-known Belgium bicycle brands (the other is Eddy Merckx Cycles).

They are mainly known for their road, gravel, and CX bikes, but they also manufacture MTB and e-bikes.

Ridley was always tightly tied with sponsoring the Belgian team Lotto Soudal.

Ridley is one of the most consistent cycling brands regarding WT wins per season.

The number of their wins fluctuates around eight wins per season.

Ridley has also sponsored only one WT team per season since 2005, mainly Lotto Soudal.

7. Canyon

Canyon is one of the most well-known German cycling brands. However, it differs from other brands with the direct-to-consumer business model. It allows them to offer quality products at lower prices.

Canyon all types of bikes you can think of – road, gravel, MTB, hybrid, etc. – and bike accessories.

They sponsored multiple WT teams in recent years, most notably Movistar Team. They are also known for their relatively tight bond with Mathieu van der Poel.

Canyon got some traction in 2010 when they sponsored Omega Pharma-Lotto (today’s Quickstep).

Between 2012 and 2014, Canyon sponsored only one team (Team Katusha). However, between 2015 and 2019, they sponsored two teams (Team Katusha Alpecin and Movistar Team).

Since 2020, they have sponsored Movistar Team only, which was not exactly successful.

You might also be interested in the best titanium bike brands.

8. Colnago

Colnago is another traditional Italian bicycle brand. Ernesto Colnago established it in Cambiago in 1952.

Until recently, their bikes were known for unique rounded tubes, but they changed their design language in recent years.

They stopped sponsoring WT teams between 2009 and 2016. They started sponsoring the UAE Team Emirates.

Thanks to talented Tadej Pogačar, they accumulated victories in the most prestigious races, including the Tour de France.

The question is, will Colnago rise to prominence again?

You might also be interested in these best Chinese bicycle brands.

9. BMC

Switzerland is home to a few cycling brands, including BMC.

Did you know that it is the abbreviation of Bicycle Manufacturing Company?

They mainly produce road and mountain bikes but also offer gravel, hybrid, and e-bikes.

Between 2005 and 2020, they always sponsored only one WT team. However, in 2021, they sponsored two teams, AG2R Citroën Team and Team Qhubeka ASSOS. They returned back to one team in 2022.

BMC peaked in 2017, which was the penultimate year of existence of their BMC Racing Team.

This team operated between 2011 and 2018. The number of wins had an upward trend.

10. Trek

The US’s biggest bicycle manufacturer, Trek, was founded in 1975. Since then, it has become a worldwide-known bicycle brand that its owners are proud of.

Trek Bikes designs and produces all kinds of bicycles, from road and gravel, through MTB, to hybrid and e-bikes.

Trek was always a part of pro cycling. For example, Lance Armstrong rode their bikes but was later stripped of his Tour de France titles.

However, Trek kept its reputation and has a traditional WT team Trek – Segafredo.

Trek is another brand (like Giant) experiencing a long-term downward trend.

The number of wins peaked during the Discovery Channel and Astana era (when Lance Armstrong was still riding).

Except for 2011, when Trek sponsored two teams (RadioShack and Leopard Trek), Trek always sponsored only one team, most notably Trek – Segafredo.

You may have heard about Electra and Townie. These two brands are Trek-owned.

TIP: Check out the best Trek bikes for under $500 or the best Trek bikes for under $1000.

The Best Bicycle Brands (Most WT Wins 2010-2022)

The top ten didn’t change in the first three places. However, Giant fell from 5th place to 8th place, and Canyon improved by 3 places. Bianchi and Merida are new in the top 10.

BMC improved its position by two places. Trek and Colnago completely dropped out of the top 10.

The Best Bicycle Brands (Most WT Wins 2015-2022)

The most recent years (2015-2022) changed the situation the most in the top 10:

Colnago returned to the top ten, and BMC improved its rankings. Cervélo, Ridley, and Merida fell by one place.

Colnago experienced the most significant jump (from 13th place to 8th place). They didn’t sponsor any WT teams between 2009 and 2016.

In 2017, they started sponsoring the UAE-Team Emirates with super talented Tadej Pogačar, who won the most races for them.

Giant dropped out of the top 10.

Bicycle Brands FAQ

Summary

I hope you liked this approach to evaluating bicycle brands. Although it has its limitations, it provides us with interesting insights.

Are you as curious as me about how the wins will develop in the following years?

I think Colnago will continue improving its rankings thanks to Tadej Pogačar and the UAE-Team Emirates. But only time will tell.

Which bicycle brands in the world are your favorite? Let me know in the comments below.

Sources