Inhoudsopgave van May 2023 - Cyclist

One of the early takeaways of the season is how unrecognisable Patrick Lefevere’s QuickStep look. It’s not just their new lead sponsor in Soudal, or the darker blue kit, or even the apparent disappearance of Julian Alaphilippe’s majesty along with his rainbow bands. It’s their inability to stamp their previous authority on one-day races coupled with their rising menace in one-week stage races – no longer simply in the sprints but for the general classification. In short, the team’s torch for the Classics has seemingly been doused by the burning desire to build on Remco Evenepoel’s Vuelta success last autumn. The so-called Opening Weekend usually presents Belgium’s premier outfit with an occasion to dominate the early cobbled Classics playing out in their own backyard. Yes, there have been occasions in…

Might one’s pronunciation of scone be linked to one’s poshness? Well, according to a team of academics at Cambridge University, the answer is no. Rather, how you pronounce scone says much more about your regional origins. In northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, scone rhymes with ‘gone’, while in Ireland, Cornwall and the Midlands it rhymes with ‘cone’. The rest of the UK is pretty mixed, all except the town of Scone in Scotland, which pronounces scone ‘skoon’. Thanks pal. In this recipe, The Cycling Chef Alan Murchison gets back to his own Scottish roots with ‘one of my Granny’s classics, tattie scones, but with an added Indian twist’. That means these delicious potato-based scones get pepped up with turmeric, which is a well-known anti-inflammatory, and curry powder, which is…

2006 Joins Liquigas in his second year as a pro and wins his first races, a stage of Settimana Coppi e Bartali and the GP Plouay. 2009 Finishes sixth on his Tour de France debut. 2010 Vuelta a España victory is the pick of the lot. Wins his first Giro stage, soloing away down Monte Grappa on the way to third overall. 2012 Takes a second Tirreno-Adriatico title; gets pipped by Maxim Iglinskiy to Liège-Bastogne-Liège; finishes third at the Tour de France. 2013 Joins Astana. Caps Giro win by taking victory in the falling snow on Tre Cime di Lavaredo. Chris Horner pips him to Vuelta victory by 37 seconds. 2014 A dominant Tour de France with four stage wins and the biggest winning margin of the 21st century; wins…

As a child James spent most evenings taking his bike apart in his parents’ hallway for no other reason than to put it back together again. The result was a lot of leftover bolts, which presumably weren’t that important as the brakes rarely failed. I came to road cycling from mountain biking, with a peak on my helmet and zero knowledge. Yet somehow I had heard of Eddy Merckx, so when I saw this frame on eBay I knew I had to have it. I mean, it had a carbon fork, so who cared if the rear triangle was welded by a bloke desperate to get to his own leaving drinks, or if the frame was already six years old? I bid as high as my student loan would allow…

I’m all for product innovation. In fact, I’d like to think I’m more open to embracing new technology and ideas than most: I like 1x drivetrains, wide tyres, narrow bars and see the merit in hookless rims too. Back in issue 126, I even wrote the column that kicked off this series about why I’d like to see more prevalent use of dropper posts in drop-bar bikes (shout-out Matej Mohorič: I will forever regard his descent of the Poggio as one of the most impressively mental things I have seen done on a road bike). But I have to draw the line somewhere, and suspension is where I’ve chosen. The emergence of gravel bikes has created a stepping stone from the often fully suspended world of mountain bikes and given…

Race: Women’s Tour Down Under, Australia, 15th January 2023 Photographer: Zac Williams ‘I captured this shot just moments after Human Powered Health’s Daria Pikulik triumphed on Stage 1 of this year’s Women’s Tour Down Under. It was a sunny 110.4km day in the saddle from Glenelg to Aldinga that ended perfectly for Pikulik, sprinting to her first WorldTour win in her first WorldTour race. It also resulted in the Polish rider wearing the ochre general classification jersey for Stage 2. ‘The raw emotion she was expressing in the direct aftermath was amazing to witness. I was so pleased to capture such a clean picture of the scene and the huge smile on her face. You can really tell just how much it means.’ Race: Men’s Elite UCI Cyclocross World Championships,…

It’s the day before the start of the 1954 Tour de France and Amsterdam is in party mode. The Tour circus is in town. Funfairs have sprung up all over the city and thousands of people are on the streets. Squares are full of market stalls and organ music. Cars displaying the exotic names of French newspapers, television and radio stations are on the roads. The city’s youth are crowded around the advertising trucks of large French companies. In the words of the Dutch daily Het Vrije Volk, today Amsterdam has ‘a somewhat Latin atmosphere’. Tonight the shops and bars and cafes will do a roaring trade as they stay open until the small hours. ‘We haven’t seen Amsterdam like this since the coronation days of 1948,’ the newspaper will…

How does our emotional state distort or complicate our relationship with training? And is this likely to be different for men and women? Firstly, let’s simplify a quite complex piece of human anatomy. We each have an autonomic nervous system (ANS), which controls some of our critical biological functions without us having to think about them, such as breathing, heart rate and digestion. The ANS has two main balancing mechanisms: the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS). There is an inherent tension between them in that we are largely in one state or the other at any given time. The PSNS is sometimes called ‘rest and digest’ – we are calm, relaxed and happy. In our PSNS state our minds readily turn to eating, sleeping and…

…his nickname ‘It came from a good friend in Sicily when I did the Under-23 World Championships in Verona. He was at the race with this big banner saying “The Shark of the Messina Strait”. [News channel] RAI did a piece on TV with the fans and captured it. Ever since then, it’s stuck. I like it.’ …learning English ‘That period with Trek-Segafredo was important for me; it’s a very international team where I learned a lot. The first year, where I was speaking it a bit in interviews was pretty knackering. I’m doing Duolingo – my daughter sometimes asks for my phone to use it.’ …his least favourite climbs ‘Alpe di Pampeago and the Marmolada. They’re a bit similar – wide, straight roads where there are only hairpins in…

Tech editor Sam gets the opportunity to test-ride almost all of the latest and greatest bikes, which has helped him pin down exactly what features and attributes he does and doesn’t want in his own machines. I’m a fan of Open. I enjoyed riding its MIN.D road bike when I tested it back in issue 109, and I like the brand’s original design, the UP, for its pioneering approach to gravel bike design. My UPPER is the same shape as the UP, but Open has used some slightly posher materials to lower the weight by about 200g. Otherwise, the two framesets share a remit: to be a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to drop-bar riding. I really like that – my UPPER can be a fast road bike with some deep…

1889 Charles Idoux and Lucien Chanel form Mavic and focus on spare parts. 1934 Mavic creates the Dura tube rim, the first bicycle rim constructed from aluminium alloy, which weighs 750g. 1973 The brand starts focussing on wheels and launches its neutral support service. 1975 Mavic designs the double-hook-bridge rim to seat a high-pressure tyre, developed alongside Michelin. 1985 The Comete carbon fibre disc wheel is launched, marking a new era of aerodynamics and lightweight construction. 1994 Mavic becomes part of the Salomon Group and is no longer French-owned. 1997 Introduction of the 3G wheel with three profiled carbon spokes. 1999 Mavic launches the first wireless electronic groupset, the Mektronic. 2005 Amer Sports Group buys the Salomon Group, including Mavic. 2008 Mavic launches its range of cycling clothing, shoes and…

Still fast, less money Many of the flagship features from the Signature Plus are retained in the £3,150 Venturi STC 105 Di2, including the same aerodynamic frameset. It’s slightly weightier but the ride experience is similar. Less speed, more comfort At £5,099.99, the Orro Gold STC Force AXS lends itself to big days out. It uses a similar carbon layup to the Venturi but has a more traditional frame shape, regular cabling and a two-piece cockpit for easier adjustment.…

Unsurprisingly for a brand named after its aim to keep core body temperature at 36.5°C, this cold-weather kit is packed with technical details through a host of proprietary fabrics. The Bat jacket is split into four sections. The chest and arms have the waterproof and windproof UF 2L – ‘unique fabric, two layers’ – outside and the UF Air Insulation thermal inner. The stomach has a treated exterior for waterproofing, with fleece on the inside for warmth. The back features the ‘superconductive’ Graphene Yarn to vent excess heat, while the sides are ventilated and made with a combination of UF Air Insulation and the UF Hybrid Shell Plus that also forms the bulk of the Termica L1 X bibtights. This fabric, says CEO and head of R&D Luigi Bergamo, ‘mimics…

Despite never having offered a shoe before, Café du Cycliste has jumped into the game at the deep end by releasing two designs at once. The Road shoes come in white, with a crisp, clean, lace-up design, while the Outlands gravel shoes have multi-tonal tan colours reminiscent of the sandy shores of the brand’s hometown of Nice in southern France. ‘It was the only piece of the puzzle missing to have a full Café du Cycliste look when on the bike,’ says Café du Cycliste’s Hugo Sharp. ‘We had everything from hats and jerseys to bibs and socks but never shoes, so they’ve been an important development for us to introduce for a while now.’ Both the road and gravel shoes use stiff carbon sole plates and Fishgrid heel technology,…

You’ve heard of aero bikes, aero wheels, aero skinsuits – but how about aero sunglasses? It seems extreme but as an extrapolation of the idea that ‘aero is everything’, guiding airflow with lens shape makes sense. The Propel glasses have spent time in the wind-tunnel but were primarily designed using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). ‘The area involved is small,’ says Poc’s Damian Phillips. ‘This means the ability to be precise is much higher using CFD than in a wind-tunnel.’ Sunglasses alone can’t make you aero but, as with many new bikes, the Propels claim to work with the rider as a system, which led to the distinctive lens curvature. ‘We made several iterations of the trailing edge to find the exact length and size that would allow the airflow to…

Cyclist: How did you get into ultracycling? Emily Chappell: It was quite unconventional. I started out as a commuter in London and then took the big step to being a bike messenger. That was when I got used to being on the bike all the time. You don’t really think about whether or not to do it because it’s your job. I went on to do some long-distance tours, starting at 60 miles a day and the distance just got bigger and bigger. Racing was the next logical step. Cyc: But recently you’ve been struggling with your health. EC: I was part of a group following the Tour de France Femmes, and we were making a film about it for Canyon. Before that, I’d been leading a group doing the…

Nuts of all kinds have long been superfoods. Brazil nuts for your brain, peanuts for your protein, cashews for your mood. And now a new study published in Frontiers In Nutrition has highlighted some potential benefits in almonds. The study took 64 non-obese adults not engaging in regular resistance training (ie, less than three times per week) and gave them an acute 90-minute exercise protocol designed to induce muscle damage, specifically to bring on DOMS – delayed onset muscle soreness. The group was split in two, then in the four weeks leading up to the protocol, one half was given 57g of almonds per day along with a regular controlled diet, the other the equivalent calories in a cereal bar. Various biological markers were recorded after the 90 minutes of…

To download this route go to cyclist.co.uk/138flandersroubaix or scan the QR code. It would be futile to attempt to describe this route in detail, so be sure to download the route map. Starting from the Flemish town of Oudenaarde, it takes in several classic Flanders bergs including the Koppenberg, Steenbeekdries, Taaienberg, Kruisberg, Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg. The route then winds southwest across the Flemish and Walloon countryside, past the town of Tournai, before crossing the French border near Camphin-en-Pévèle. Almost immediately you hit the five-star cobbled secteur of Carrefour de l’Arbre. This is followed by the less brutal secteurs of Gruson, Willems à Hem and Roubaix, before finishing at the iconic Roubaix velodrome. If you need to return to Oudenaarde, it’s a reasonably flat 39km ride to get back. For…

‘I’ve always thought that the hardest thing is not winning, it’s doing it again,’ says Vincenzo Nibali. As he talks about the void left in Italian stage racing by his retirement, he inadvertently strikes upon a key part of what made him so special: ‘It’s hard because everyone knows you’re strong so you get marked. You think the same preparation might be right again, but it never is, so you have to come up with something new. ‘It’s like in Formula 1 – the engine is different every year and preparation changes too. If you do training that works one year and repeat it, it won’t go as well because your body remembers it. You have to change it to get the best out of it.’ Nibali was a master…

As the man who dreamed up Cyclist and launched the magazine as editor ten years ago, Pete has long been a champion of cycling innovation – so long as innovation involves making bikes more comfortable for his ageing body parts. Have you noticed how much uglier and more annoying other people’s kids are compared to your own? Where other kids’ cries for attention are rude, your children’s demands are somehow charming. Other kids’ artworks are primitive daubs, whereas your kid’s painting of a snowman is evidence of a budding Michelangelo. The very fact that a child is born of your loins, the result of a miraculous creative process, elevates them far above all those other ordinary children who are just a mass of noise and snot. And it’s much the…

Mavic’s latest wheelset is among the lightest in its class at 1,255g, but the company insists the Cosmic Ultimate 45 Disc is more than just a number on a set of scales. ‘The new Ultimate doesn’t favour extreme light weight above all else,’ says Maxime Brunard, head of product management. ‘Instead we chose to balance inertia against lateral stiffness to ensure the wheel provides excellent all-round performance.’ By modern trends, the wheel could be said to be conservative, with its hooked rim walls and 19mm internal width. Many brands are now opting for hookless rims and ever-wider internal dimensions to better suit wide tubeless tyres, but again Brunard suggests the Ultimate is aimed at what consumers actually want. ‘We don’t believe that all customers are ready to be limited by…

According to independent test lab Virginia Tech, this is safest bicycle helmet it has ever tested, and that includes open-face mountain bike helmets. The crux is the two dual-density EPS hemispheres – a shell within a shell – where each can move independently of the other in a crash, thereby maximising rotational-impact protection over regular Mips (Spherical is ‘by’ Mips, you see). Nearly £300 is huge money for a helmet of course, but you can’t put a price on a good human head, plus the fit and styling are superb.…

If, like Band of Climbers, you’re always climbing, you might not need much leg insulation for the ascents, but what about the bitter descents? The Vertex thermal bibtights include insulated fleecing and claim to keep you toasty down to -2°C. The silicone ankle grippers are tight, but the four-way stretch fit and network of seams make the bibtights delightfully snug. Plus, the cuff bagginess that often arrives after a few washes has been eradicated. Add in a comfy Elastic Interface chamois and you’ve got a cosy companion that works equally as well on the flats.…

The bike that Sram sent me to test the new Force AXS groupset came equipped with Zipp’s 404 Firecrest wheels. They’ve been out for almost two years now, and I was reminded how good they are to use. They are built around Zipp’s ‘Total System Efficiency’ concept, which attempts to find a compromise between different attributes to achieve best net performance, rather than outright aerodynamic efficiency. They’re competitively light (a claimed 1,540g) despite their 58mm depth, and their 23mm internal dimension pairs nicely with wide road tyres to reduce rolling resistance. As a result, they ride really well, feeling quick to accelerate and slippery through the wind at high speeds. They’re comparatively well priced too.…

Clash of the Titans p58 Bontrager Velocis Mips helmet, £159.99 trekbikes.com Oakley Jawbreaker sunglasses, £192 oakley.com Peloton de Paris Atlas 2in1 Puffy jacket, €234.95 (approx £210) pelotondeparis.cc Peloton de Paris Winter gloves, €36 (approx £30) pelotondeparis.cc Peloton de Paris Atlas bibtights, €219.95 (approx £200) pelotondeparis.cc Peloton de Paris Neoprene shoe covers, €64.95 (approx £60) pelotondeparis.cc Mont Cenis p90 Met Trenta Mips helmet, £220 met-helmets.com Bollé C-Shifter sunglasses, £135 bolle.com Le Col Sport jersey, £105 lecol.cc Le Col Pro bibshorts, £185 lecol.cc Le Col Cycling socks, £17 lecol.cc Sidi Wire 2 Air Carbon shoes, £390 saddleback.co.uk Bikes p119 CERVÉLO Giro Aries Spherical helmet, £289.99 giro.co.uk Oakley Sutro Lite Sweep sunglasses, £152 oakley.com Assos Equipe RS Johdah S9 Targa jacket, £610 assos.com Assos Winter Evo gloves, £80 assos.com Assos Equipe RS S9…