The bikes of the leaders of the Tour de France teams are easy to spot. 

One of the perks for the riders contesting the GC for each of the various teams is having their machine on the right hand side, outer edge of the team car’s roof rack, making it easier for the mechanics to reach.

We snapped a few of the machines expected to be ridden to top 10 positions on GC before stage eleven from Albertville to Les Sybelles; machines that within half-an-hour would be ridden along the brutal inclines of the Col de la Madeleine.

Here’s a selection.

The rainbow stripes of Cadel Evans’ BMC TeamMachine SLR01 are just visible beneath the clamp of the bike rack

Vincenzo Nibali and Ivan Basso’s machines are both held on the outside of the team car: Nibali’s at the rear, and Basso’s at the front

Nicholas Roche’s Kuota KOM Evo was one of the few machines of the Ag2r team to sport Reynolds RZR wheels. Reynolds’ R32 was the more popular choice for the mountain stage ahead

Michele Scarponi is one of just two riders on the Lampre-ISD team equipped with Wilier’s flagship Zero 7.  The other, joint team leader Damiano Cunego, is not contesting the Tour

Perhaps the easiest machine of all to identify: the yellow Pinarello Dogma 2 of race leader, Bradley Wiggins