Mavic’s iconic yellow neutral service vehicles no longer to support Tour de France riders

After 44 years, the traditional yellow Mavic neutral service vehicles will no longer be supporting riders at the Tour de France. ASO, the Tour de France organizer, announced that Mavic, a French wheel builder, will not longer be providing the neutral support at its races, with Japanese component giant Shimano taking over the role.

? @ShimanoROAD for neutral support at Tour de France ! ?

? @ShimanoROAD will adorn the neutral support cars in all A.S.O. races, offering all riders assistance to get back on the road as quickly as possible in the event of a crash or mechanical issue.#RideShimano #TDF2021 pic.twitter.com/wrJEupw71P

— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) January 19, 2021

Shimano will be providing the neutral service for the Tour de France, Paris-Roubaix, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Paris-Nice and the Vuelta a España, among other races.

Mavic, an acronym for Manufacture d’Articles Vélocipédiques Idoux et Chanel, was founded in the late 1800s by Mssrs. Idoux and Chanel. The company started doing neutral support at races in 1973 and became part of the Tour de France in 1977, whipping wheels and bikes off its fleet of cars and motorcycles for unfortunate riders who were distanced from their own team cars.

Shimano will be assuming the role, and by its Twitter post regarding the switch it won’t be changing its colours from hues of blue to yellow.

We finally join the biggest race in the World and we’re not even there to win it. Proud to help out all teams and riders in all @amaurysport men’s and women’s races which now includes @LeTour, prestigious classics such as @Paris_Roubaix, @LiegeBastogneL, and events as Roc d’Azur pic.twitter.com/dr6mC0ppmE

— ShimanoROAD (@ShimanoROAD) January 19, 2021

The 2021 Tour de France is scheduled from June 26 to July 18 so as not to clash with the Tokyo Olympic Games.