Learn About our Blue Motorbikes and Cars with These Facts and Figures

In this article:

• Learn about the Shimano Neutral Service and all their work for the biggest events of the year. 
• Did you know the Neutral Service is active at 450 race days every year? 
• Here’s a Neutral Service fact: last year, we gave out more than 6,000 bidons to help keep riders hydrated! 

You’ve seen them. The cool blue cars in the convoy, gliding up beside a struggling rider to swap a wheel or offer a bottle with all the calm of a seasoned maître d’. But there’s a lot more to Shimano Neutral Service than slick pit stops and well-timed handoffs. This is one of the sport’s most consistent, reliable, and unsung support systems—an operation that has become as much a part of the peloton as the jerseys and the flags.

In 2025 alone, Shimano Neutral Service will  operate across 450 race days. That includes the likes of Paris-Roubaix , the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia , the Vuelta, the one-day Monuments and dozens of races where riders might not have access to the depth of team support WorldTour squads enjoy. For many racers—especially breakaways, lone riders—Shimano Neutral Service is their only lifeline when something goes wrong.

And that’s kind of the point.

Neutral Service is a balancing act: be everywhere without getting in the way. Be fast, but never reckless. Be invisible, but indispensable.

In 2025, Shimano’s fleet includes 29 cars, 6 motorbikes, and 9 dedicated material vehicles—the trucks packed with everything needed to keep riders moving. That means 165 spare bikes across five frame sizes (XS through XL), compatible with every pedal system used in the pro peloton. Every bike is built to standard geometry and tuned to cover the widest possible range of fits and riding styles.

Then there’s the wheel arsenal—600 of them, built to accommodate all drivetrain types (11s and 12s), every brake format (rim and disc, 140mm and 160mm), and the patchwork of freehub standards and cassettes in modern racing.

It’s drivetrain-agnostic support, backed by fast hands and practiced calm.

At Paris-Roubaix Femmes 2025, Shimano Neutral Service was on the front line when a mechanical threatened to derail a top contender’s shot at the cobbled crown.  On one of the sectors just outside Orchies, a rider flatted at the worst possible time—no team car in sight. Within seconds, a Shimano mechanic was off the bike, wheel in hand, executing a seamless front-wheel swap. The rider was back on the cobbles and finished in the top ten. And think of Stefan Bissegger, who received a new front wheel after a puncture and was able to ride to seventh place in the men’s Paris-Roubaix.

With roughly a hundred kilometers to go, Hugo de la Calle was in a fierce battle during Tro Bro Leon 2025. Rain hammered down into the mud-swept track. And due to a mechanical, Neutral Service provided De la Calle with a new bike—with which he won the sprint classification and the award for the most combative rider of the day.

These are the moments fans rarely see. But riders remember. 

It’s easy to get lost in numbers, but this is a people-first operation. In 2025, the Shimano Neutral Service team is made up of 52 drivers, 59 mechanics, and 5 local team coordinators, all working under a single European Neutral Service Manager.

These are seasoned race-day professionals—often with backgrounds in pro teams, mechanical workshops, or even ex-racers themselves—trained not just in technical precision but in the calm, steady demeanor required when adrenaline is high, and everything is on the line.

It’s not all bikes and wheels. On a hot day, a hand reaching out of the Shimano car might offer a bidon—part of the 6,000 bottles stocked across the season. Or it might be one of the 1,000 energy gels and bars that the Neutral Service supplies over the course of the year, passed to a bonking rider who’s hanging by a thread.

At the Tour of Flanders, during an unseasonably warm April, Shimano vehicles were often first in line handing out extra bottles on the Paterberg when team soigneurs were blocked by the dense caravan. It’s a little thing, but in a race like Flanders, hydration can make or break a cobbled classic.

Shimano Neutral Service has been active since 2001, and in those 20+ years, the sport has changed dramatically. Disc brakes, tubeless tires, 12-speed drivetrains, electronic shifting—each of these developments demanded rapid adaptation. In 2025, the Neutral Service’s tech readiness is sharper than ever, with compatibility across every drivetrain, brake system, and pedal platform in the peloton.

The Neutral Service spans both men’s and women’s calendars, from major one-days to multi-stage epics, with parity in coverage, staff training, and equipment. Whether it’s the Women’s Tour de Suisse or the men’s Strade Bianche, the blue cars and motorbikes roll the same way.

In a sport where milliseconds matter, where even the best-laid plans can fall apart with a flat tire or a broken derailleur, Shimano Neutral Service is the line between disaster and a second chance.

You won’t see them on the podium. You won’t hear their names called from the commentary box. But if you’ve ever watched a rider get back in the game after a crash or a bike change, it may well have been Neutral Service that lended a heling hand.

And next time you see that flash of blue in the convoy—maybe in the dust of Roubaix, the mist of the Dolomites, or the sunflower fields of July—you’ll know what it means.

It means someone’s still racing. Still rolling. Because the Neutral Service was ready.