Originally Posted by
txags92
Something else that isn't talked about, but happens all the time is for a rider to get a piece of gear they like and put their sponsor's badge on it to keep the sponsor happy. I read somewhere recently about riders having frames hand built by their preferred maker and then badged to look like the bike their team sponsor was promoting. I don't think it is widespread, but it apparently happens. So I would imagine that Kittel can get anything he wants out of his new bike, or will get them to hand make one for him. I also agree that Cavendish's fewer wins have been mostly related to his team's composition and goals rather than his bike.
From what I've read, that was a more common occurrence back when the predominant frames were round steel/Al tubes, but that it's harder to get away with that with modern monocoque CF frames. A Madone or a Venge or a Dogma has certain features that make it distinctive and any sharp eye would notice if a high profile rider like Cav or Contador or Froome won on a bike that didn't have the same seatstay/rear brake/BB/downtube config as the rest of his team.
And I don't think Contador quite has a "whatever" attitude to his equipment. He seems to have worked a lot with SRAM on his equipment, including on the development of WiFli, for one. When he and Lance were going to be on the same team, there obviously had to be a bit of compromise; Lance had to switch from Dura-Ace SPD-SL to Look Keos with Radioshack because the rest of the team preferred them.