The first African to lead the Tour de France Femme deserves a special bike, and that's why Kim Le Court is riding a yellow Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL8

AG Insurance-Soudal's Kim Le Court-Pienaar might be a new name on the women's WorldTour, but she's no stranger to the African cycling community, having competed professionally both on the road and mountain bike in South Africa and Europe. While some of her best results have come off-road (she's won the Absa Cape Epic and Swiss Epic, two of the toughest races on the mountain bike marathon calendar), 2024 represented a breakout year with victories at the Giro d'Italia and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

The Mauritian has carried her form and hunger to perform at the highest level into 2025, winning stage 1 of the Tour of Britain, and now finds herself with three podium finishes in the first five stages of the Tour de France, the last of which was an emphatic win to regain the maillot jaune (yellow jersey) she wore on stage 3. As the first African to wear the yellow jersey and win a stage at the Tour de France Femme, she's riding a special bike to mark the occasion – a yellow Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL8.

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Like the checkered theme applied to the Tarmac SL8s of Florian Lipowitz and Lorena Wiebes, Le Court's bike was also painted by the Italian company Lumar Colors.

At 1.68m tall, Le Court rides a small frame. To differentiate her bike from those of her teammates, it's been painted in a yellow gradient hue with a checkered treatment that is globally symbolic of racing. The bright-yellow fade is the perfect backdrop for the maker's name and sponsor logos – here taking the form of Specialized, S-Works and Shimano wordmark logos. The front of the head tube is painted entirely black to reverse out the Specialized S symbol.

The frame is contrasted equisitely by the gloss-black surfaces of the componentry. As a sponsor of the team, the bike is outfitted in a Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset, which takes care of shifting and braking duties. Roval handles much of the ancillary kit, including the Rapide integrated handlebars and 63/58mm Rapide CLX III wrapped in Specialized Turbo Cotton TLR 28C tyres. Other notable additions include the personalised name sticker with Mauritian flag and the recycled inner tube on the right fork leg to house the timing transponder.

The balance of the build is a meld of functional yet complementary items such as the colour-coded Tacx Deva bottle cages, Supacaz bar tape, and anodised-red K-Edge Garmin computer mount. Another superb addition is the Specialized S-Works Power EVO with Mirror saddle, pictured here with new translucent 3D lattice complete with red base – this not only adds another layer of texture and depth to the bike but also matches the colour of the computer mount and CeramicSpeed bottom bracket cups.