In article ,
A Muzi wrote:

-snip frames- John Forrest Tomlinson wrote:
You think team sponsors who are going nuts spending money to get
their name into the most televised and photographed bike race in
the world wouldnt' care if some "lower-level" rider is riding
something different? Wow.

Long history of that, actually. Especially in climbs and TT.

Indeed, this has been the case for decades and probably less now. There
were frame builders who made a good living building bikes for riders,
who then sent them to be painted in the team colors. Pegoretti is one
such example, allegedly having built frames for Lemond, Indurain,
Chiappucci, etc. which were then painted in team colors. Andy Hampsten
won at Alpe-d'Huez on a Landshark painted in Merckx Motolora colors, and
Lance won the 1993 world champs on a Lightspeed painted to look like a
Merckx. Lemond had his frames built by Roland Della Santa for years and
painted in the team colors. Sean Kelly stated that he almost always
ride Vitus 979 frames which were painted in the team colors; many pros
did the same in the 1980s.