Tabla de contenidos para Summer 2016 en Cyclist

Looking at the futuristic aesthetics of Rapha’s new Pro Team Flyweight glasses, you wouldn’t think they are actually inspired by 1920s aviator goggles. ‘From that stimulus we tuned and retuned the lens shape and size – there were many prototypes,’ says Miles Gibbons, co-designer of the glasses. ‘We wanted to design a pair of cycling glasses that performed just as well as any of the big players in the market in terms of safety, coverage and fit, but to present those in Rapha’s refined style.’ Like the more traditional-looking Classic glasses, the new Pro Teams use Carl Zeiss lenses. ‘They are of the highest optical quality,’ says Gibbons. ‘This time we have opted for a polycarbonate lens, as this material exhibits the qualities we wanted in the glasses: brilliant impact…

Age: 38 Nationality: Australian Honours: 2016 1st, Paris-Roubaix 2013 3rd, Dwars door Vlaanderen 2012 8th, Paris-Roubaix 2011 1st, Paris-Bourges, 3rd, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, 10th, Paris-Roubaix 2009 4th, Gent-Wevelgem 2006 1st, Commonwealth Games Road Race champion Cyclist: You won Paris-Roubaix – your favourite race – at the 15th attempt in April. Did you think your chances of victory had faded? Mathew Hayman: I’ve had a fair amount of success in the Classics with top 10s and podiums but every now and again Roubaix throws up a winner who’s not the favourite. That kept me believing I’d have a chance one day. I really like the Classics style of racing but Roubaix has always been special. It’s taken a while to sink in and days go by when I don’t think…

‘One of our main goals is to develop riders and be an aspiring team to help sustain the future of female cycle sport’ Cycling is the epitome of a team sport. It may not look that way to the casual observer – after all, only one rider crosses the finish line with their arms aloft; only one rider gets to stand on the top step of the podium and wear the leader’s jersey – but to get there, that rider needs the support of every other member of the team, even the ones who aren’t out racing on the road. New to the British domestic race scene this year is Team Ford EcoBoost, a women’s squad headed by two-time national circuit race champion Nikki Juniper, who has had the task…

1 MARS AND SNICKERS PROTEIN BARS £2.19, snickersandmars proteinbars.co.uk When mankind finally relinquishes its feeble grip on Mother Earth and aliens examine the wreckage, a document will be discovered, and on it will be a list of our greatest achievements. It will read, in this order: language, the bicycle, central heating, fitted bed sheets and these, Mars and Snickers bars that are actually good for you, packing nearly 20g protein per bar. 2 PONGO SOCKS £13, pongolondon.cc Contrary to popular belief, army soldiers aren’t called ‘pongos’ because where the wind blows the pong goes, but rather because of the Bornean orangutan, Pongo pygmaeus, an ape adept at digging trenches. Likewise, these wickedly patterned socks aren’t called Pongos because they go on your feet, but rather because they represent ‘Passion ON…

The approach to The Burway is like a delayed hangover that gets steadily worse Telford is an interesting place. No, really. Not because it is one of 32 new towns built in the UK between 1948 and 1970, and not because it has an endless network of roundabouts that appear to serve no other function than to make you dizzy. Not even because its siblings include the universally derided Basildon, Crawley, Hemel Hempstead and Milton Keynes. Telford is an interesting place because just a few miles beyond the modernist housing estates, bleak architecture and roundabouts, are hills, valleys and rolling roads perfect for cycling. A pleasant surprise A Tesco car park is not an inspiring place to start a ride – and I have no intention of doing so today.…

The invention of the bike computer gave us everything we needed to train efficiently. We could measure speed, cadence, heart rate and even altitude gain all at once. It was ample data to track our progress on the bike. Then it all changed. In 1986 the SRM arrived – it measured mechanical power being applied to the chainset with the use of multiple strain gauges, answering many of the great unanswerables in coaching and training. Since those early days, the sort of serious data that a power meter provides has gone from being the preserve of professional coaches with expensive software to something that simply pops up on Strava or Garmin Connect, begging to be over-analysed. Today there are dozens of products on the market where once there were only…

With a frame weight of 950g, the Ridley Helium is light enough to tackle even the toughest climbs. But weight is nothing if it is not backed up by the stiffness required to ensure all your pedalling forces are being transmitted efficiently to the road. Thanks to its intelligent carbon fibre lay-up, the Helium is stiff enough to provide blistering accelerations of the kind that helped Lotto Soudal rider Tim Wellens to sprint away from the pack to take a solo win on Stage 6 of this year’s Giro d’Italia. And this is no ordinary Ridley Helium. The lucky winner will receive this limited edition model, specced with full Shimano Dura-Ace groupset and resplendent in a classy retro blue colourway. For your chance of winning this bike, go to the…

Traditionalists look away now. You’ll find no round tubes on display this month – the bikes from Scott, Boardman and Condor all offer up a smorgasbord of kamm tailed, wind-cheating goodness. Yet despite being united in aerodynamics, they are divided in furniture. On display is good old mechanical shifting from Campagnolo, electrical wires from Shimano Di2 and the even more mystical wireless eTap from Sram. Regardless of the method of transmission, however, this is one slippery triumvirate. It’s time to choose your speed weapon.…

THE SPEC Model Boardman Air 9.9 Groupset Sram Red eTap Deviations TRP brakes Wheels Zipp 404 Firecrest Carbon Finishing kit Zipp Service Course bar and stem, Prologo Nero 2 saddle Weight 8.14kg Price £6,499 Contact boardmanbikes.com Like Chris Boardman’s carefully honed time-trial position, Boardman the brand has been tweaking and tuning its bikes for nearly a decade now. Having earned its place alongside the big players, though, Boardman has shed its long-established skin, with new owners, a new logo and this, an aero road bike aimed at the very top of the market. While Boardman has never been afraid of R&D, the brand claims to have seriously stepped things up in creating the 9.9. ‘We’re really excited about our wind-tunnel,’ says marketing manager Jamie Mitchell. ‘I never thought…

THE DETAILS   Weight 1,636g (747g front, 889g rear) Rim depth 41mm Rim width External: 28mm Internal: 21.6mm Spoke count 24 front, 28 rear Price £1,550 Contact paligap.cc Not so long ago, just having rims made of carbon fibre was enough to ensure a performance advantage, but things have moved on. Weight saving is now only part of the equation, and aerodynamic gains have taken over as the main focus, with skinny V-sections being ousted by more bulbous U-shapes. Further to the external rim shaping, there have also been big changes to the internal dimensions of the rim bed, which can affect the tyre profile, especially in the wake of wider tyres becoming more popular. Throw disc brakes into the mix, which negate the need for a braking surface on…

DMT’s new R1 shoes play an important role beyond sitting on your feet – they are spearheading the Italian company’s current rebranding campaign. ‘In recent years the brand had fallen by the wayside a little, so DMT realised it needed to reinvent itself with clean designs and bright colours,’ says Jack Edwards, brand manager at Paligap, DMT’s UK distributor. The R1 is DMT’s race performance model. Fastening is via Boa dials, which have been chosen so as to work with a skeleton structure in the tongue of the upper for a more even and secure fit. ‘What we are most excited about, however, is the sole,’ says Edwards. ‘DMT has invested a huge amount of effort to perfect it. It has worked with ex-professional riders to fine-tune the shape, and…

Catlike is a company that has always trumpeted the excellent ventilation of its helmets, but recent trends have seen a move to more ‘closed’ aerodynamic designs, and the Cloud 352 is Catlike’s answer to this shift. ‘The head is the body’s main temperature sensor so we were aiming for aerodynamic performance without sacrificing ventilation,’ says Catlike’s Diega Tosatto. The top part of the helmet is dominated by a large panel that’s full of small holes like a cheese grater. Catlike calls this the ‘Breathable Reticulated Shell’ and it aims to offer a versatile mix of aerodynamics and ventilation for hot days. The aero qualities of the helmet can be enhanced by attaching a smooth, solid panel dubbed the ‘VeloDrom Shell’. ‘We worked with the University of Granada, testing in a…

These understated offerings from Bontrager complete the Shut Up Legs apparel collection, a range developed in collaboration with charismatic former Trek rider Jens Voigt. ‘It seemed natural for us that when we decided to work together we should base the range around his most famous one-liner,’ says Tom Kuefler, product manager for Bontrager shoes. Voigt used chrome XXX shoes in his successful Hour record attempt in 2014, and although they might look like a novelty, their performance is anything but. ‘These shoes are our flagship road model and weigh just 220g per shoe. Despite this, they’re the stiffest we’ve ever built,’ says Kuefler. Production is limited, though, so you’ll need to ride fast to secure a pair.…

If a cyclist rides 10km on the flat followed by 10km uphill, then obviously the uphill section will take longer,’ says Marco Arkesteijn, lecturer in sport and exercise biomechanics at Aberystwyth University. ‘Now let’s say [arbitrarily] that the deep section aerodynamic wheels give you a 10% increase in speed over shallower rims on the flat but, due to their extra weight, a similar decrease in speed on the uphill. It stands to reason that you should choose the shallow rims because you’ll spend more time on the ascent so that’s where you want to save the time.’ Ah, but it’s not that simple. Over to Kevin Quan, director of engineering at Knight Wheels: ‘My ex-colleagues at Cervélo did a lot of testing and calculations to answer this question. They discovered…

Should my wife ever ask how my ride was, which admittedly is as likely as me asking her which denier of hosiery she prefers, there are two ways I could go about answering. Option one: ‘It was beautiful, a bit windy on the way back, but the views were stunning from the top of the Cairn. My legs felt great and I stopped for a haggis panini on the way home.’ Or I could say: ‘I beat my personal best up the Cairn, averaged 300 watts. My average speed was 30kmh at a cadence of 92rpm. And I kept my HR average to 80%. How was Saturday Kitchen?’ Both answers contain data, it’s just that the data in the first is more qualitative than quantitative. Data is great, but for…

At last, a top-end road bike built for speed that isn’t vaunting its aero qualities. My preference is for hilly and mountainous rides, so my hands spend most of their time on the hoods or either side of the stem, and obsessively chasing every wind-cheating gain is less of a priority than simply having a bike that applies whatever power I can generate to the road without shaking the fillings from my teeth. In this respect the Émonda truly excels. It’s light, smooth, climbs brilliantly and holds the road far beyond the limits of my descending skills, while Trek’s H2 geometry is sporty without being spine-challenging. A complete Ultegra groupset is great to see – if any brakes can withstand the relentless march of discs, it’s surely these – and…

The route was more varied and interesting than in 2015. As a result, just 69 seconds separated the top five at the halfway point In the end the 99th Giro d’Italia was won by the favourite, Vincenzo Nibali. Yet with just three days to go, his Giro was in tatters. Burdened by the expectations of the tifosi and having faded to a distant fourth after a nightmare couple of stages in the Dolomites, there was talk that the home favourite might not even finish the race. Nibali’s ultimate triumph was lauded in his home country as one of the greatest sporting comebacks in history and, for once, maybe the excitable Italian press hasn’t overdone it. His victory was the final great act in what was an absorbing three weeks of…

The grim aftermath of the high-speed crash was captured on the GoPro of a team mechanic. It wasn’t merely the sight of dazed riders writhing in pain alongside a heap of twisted carbon that made the scene so grotesque. It was the sounds of their moaning amid a confused medley of shouts, car horns and the helicopters overhead. That and the smell of burning rubber, apparently. Caused when Frenchman William Bonnet touched a wheel in a peloton rampaging along at high speed, the bomb blast of a crash that marred Stage 3 of last year’s Tour de France was so severe that the commissaires took the rare step of neutralising the race. A wise move, given that the Tour’s four ambulances and two medical cars were all tending to the…

The Italians love their cycling. The fervour of the support from the tifosi is legendary, but it’s usually reserved for the pro elite at big races such as the Giro d’Italia. Which is why I find it a bit strange that on an amateur event like the Granfondo Torino I’m receiving such a rapturous response from the crowd that lines the road. As I tap through the town of Cinaglio, people wave flags and cheer enthusiastically. Some even run alongside me, yelling encouragement. Up to this point, I’ve had 70km of comparatively quiet, if hard, riding and so I’m a little overawed by my newfound celebrity. I respond with smiles and a few muttered ‘ciaos’ and ‘grazies’, but as the celebration continues around me I experience a rising sense of…

THE SPEC Model Scott Foil Team Issue Groupset Shimano Dura-Ace 9000 Deviations Shimano Dura-Ace Direct Mount front, Ultegra Direct Mount rear callipers Wheels Zipp 60 carbon/alloy clinchers Finishing kit Syncros Aero RR1.0 integrated handlebar/stem, Syncros Foil Aero Carbon seatpost, Prologo Zero II Titanium saddle Weight 7.26kg (56cm) Price £5,999 Contact scott-sports.com Aero bikes shouldn’t be winning Paris-Roubaix. It’s long, it’s cobbled and it’s uncomfortable, so much so that even team cars have to be adapted to cope. Suspension gets raised, tyres changed, steel wheels replace alloys and metal plates get bolted under the chassis. So, to see Mathew Hayman cross the finish line in the Velodrome Andre Petrieux first was probably just as surprising to bike geeks as it was to the Australian himself. Hands aloft just inches…

Being my first test with Sram’s new wireless eTap, I must admit I was a little apprehensive. I’ve never really got on with Sram’s groupsets, but eTap has truly turned me. The system worked without fault and I enjoyed the versatility of the small batteries, which can be switched back and forth between rear and front derailleur if one runs short of power. The battery life was shorter than Di2 or EPS, but enough for even a lengthy training camp without the need to recharge. The shifting speed has been criticised as slow, but in all honesty I found it to be ideal – often Di2 is almost too quick and powerful, creating a harsh and almost aggressive shift. For an aero bike like this, eTap opens up altogether new…

The Pilgrimage Giro Aeon helmet, £149.99 zyro.co.uk Adidas Evil Eye Half Rim Pro sunglasses, £175 adidas.com Pearl Izumi Elite jersey, £69.99 madison.co.uk Lizard Skins La Sal 1.0 gloves, £29.99 2pure.co.uk Pearl Izumi bibshorts, £109.99 madison.co.uk Pearl Izumi socks, £14.99 madison.co.uk Sidi Ergo 3 Carbon Vernice shoes, £260 saddleback.co.uk Iron In The Soul RIDER CENTRE Poc Octal Raceday helmet, £190 2pure.co.uk Adidas Evil Eye Half Rim Pro sunglasses, £175 adidas.com Alé PRR Barbados jersey, £90 paligap.cc Rapha arm screens, £35 rapha.cc Alé PRR Barbados bibshorts, £95 paligap.cc Rapha Souplesse socks, £15 rapha.cc Pearl Izumi Pro Leader II shoes, £229.99 madison.co.uk Power Games Stages Carbon GXP crank, £599 saddleback.co.uk Verve Infocrank chainset, £1,149 vervecycling.com Stages Shimano…

Castelli’s venerable Body Paint bibshorts have been around since 2009 so the Italian company feels the time is right for something new. Its new Mondiale bibshorts use a ‘Cinquanta’ fabric, which is only available to the general public – yes, you can own pro-level kit that the pros can’t have. ‘The fabric can’t be sublimated so sponsors’ logos can’t be printed on it, which is why we have gone for subtle detailing adhered to the lower leg of the shorts,’ says Rich Mardle, Castelli brand manager at UK distributor Saddleback. ‘For once it will be the pros that will eventually benefit from trickle-down technology.’ The new fabric feels noticeably substantial, the reason being a 50% Lycra content that aims to better support muscles by offering a mild compressive effect. Castelli…

Kickstarter success story Cycliq has got all your angles covered with the launch of the Fly12 front light/camera combo to accompany its Fly6 rear. Now you can record what’s going on in front of you as well as behind – handy for both safety in the city and capturing your blistering descents in the mountains. The weatherproof unit weighs 244g and houses a 400-lumen front light alongside a 1080p HD camera. You can even overlay real-time Strava metrics to illustrate a ride’s every detail.…

First, Rotor aimed to boost power by introducing its ovalised chainrings. Now it’s looking to measure that power with its 2inPower 3D+ crankset. Rotor’s first foray into the world of power meters came in 2013 with a slightly abortive dabble into crank-based systems akin to Stages, called the Rotor LT, which measured from a single leg. The company quickly changed tack, instead opting to put strain gauges in the axle with a similarly single-sided system called InPower. Now, with a masterful fusion of the two, we have the two-sided 2inPower. The new set-up means power, which is measured 200 times per second, can be isolated between each leg to identify imbalances and pedalling issues. The meter can generate metrics such as torque effectiveness, pedal smoothness and can also model the…

If Paul Weller is King of the Mods, Cinelli is King of the Punks. Bike punks. From radical designs such as the aerodynamic Lazer frame to the attitude-driven Mash bikes at the centre of the fixie revolution, Cinelli has flicked two fingers at convention on many occasions. Yet arguably it’s bars and stems that have made it famous. The 1960s and 70s were elegant decades, with a series of quill stems kicked off by the iconic 1A and the pros’ favourite, the Giro d’Italia 64 bars. But the 80s and 90s saw Cinelli turn it up a notch. First there were the Spinaci mini clip-on aero bars, released to acclaim then banned amid controversy over safety, followed by the Alter incident. ‘We provided the Alter stem with pin-up girl picture…

How often do you get to see professional cyclists tearing around the streets of central London, Olympians lining up against local heroes and riders taking their post-race ‘shower’ in a bucket of water in the shadow of St Paul’s Cathedral? Not often, which is what makes the Mr Porter London Nocturne such a unique event. On 4th June the 10th edition of the Nocturne was held in Cheapside, City of London, less than half a mile from its previous venue, Smithfield Market. The new course was a welcome change for the organisers, but 11 years ago, when they were planning the new event, things weren’t quite so easy. Shutting down London ‘I think the original idea to hold a nighttime criterium around Smithfield Market was between Rapha’s Simon Mottram and…

Down below the river churns fast and dirty, a clue to the menacing conditions higher up In a layby on the flanks of the Col du Tourmalet, a banner brandishes the simple statement ‘la volonté est la seule drogue que je connaisse’, which roughly translates as ‘willpower is the only drug I know’. As a message to all the blood-doping, EPO-infused pro riders who have raced to the summit of the highest pass in the French Pyrenees, it couldn’t be more pointed if it were delivered in a syringe. The quotation is credited to Eugène Christophe, who famously refused to abandon the 1913 Tour de France when he snapped his forks on the descent of the Tourmalet, instead running 10km down the mountain with his bike over his shoulder to…

Over six weeks, I undertook three functional threshold power (FTP) tests on a Wattbike at Fitness First ( fitnessfirst.co.uk ), comprising 20-minute power and maximum minute power tests. I also did a daily Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT) to measure reaction times in milliseconds over two minutes (go to sleepdisordersflorida. com/pvt1.html  to have a go), and kept a sleep diary with data logged via a Fitbit Blaze activity tracker (£159.99, fitbit.com). Here are the results.…

It’s a little known fact, but according to article 24 of the European Customs Code, ‘goods whose production involved more than one country shall be deemed to originate in the country where they underwent their last substantial, economically justified processing or working’. In other words, labels like ‘Made in Italy’ don’t always mean what you might think. Take a shoe. The sole could have come from Thailand and the leather upper from Mexico, but if they’ve been stitched together in a workshop in Florence, technically it has been ‘made’ in Italy. Or in the case of a bike, maybe that frame was made in Taiwan and those components came from Japan, but so long as it’s been painted and assembled within the borders of Europe’s most shapely leg, that bicycle…

Few sights in cycling – or bike racing, at least – are quite as hallowed as that of a red-and-white-striped mast crowning a mountain that rises high towards the heavens. Mont Ventoux inspires, delights, frightens and punishes in equal measure. It is a climb that few would disagree is one of the two top potential challenges Tour de France organisers have at their disposal when planning each year’s route. The other is Alpe d’Huez, and you can argue among yourselves as to which one is ‘better’. But while Alpe d’Huez, with its famous 21 hairpin bends (or is it 22? See Issue 49), provides a stern challenge in itself, it is surrounded by its Alpine siblings – some taller, some shorter. The Ventoux, by contrast, towers above the surrounding countryside.…

Integrated bar and stem combos are all the rage these days on aero bikes, and with good reason – the front end accounts for around 40% of a (riderless) bike’s overall drag, so shaping the bars and stem to slice wind is an easy win for engineers. Here, that ensemble is T-shaped, and while stack height can be adjusted, bar angle cannot – a common drawback with such set-ups. Scott offers a variety of size and angle combinations that can be swapped at source, however if you deviate from the stock steerer length and spacer arrangement, it takes some careful measuring and sawing or a visit to a Scott dealer to get the headset correctly preloaded and the top cap flush. As it was, Cyclist found…

THE SPEC Model Condor Leggero Groupset Campagnolo Chorus Deviations Campagnolo Record chainset Wheels Mavic Cosmic Carbone 40 Elite Finishing kit Fizik Cyrano R3 bars, Fizik Cyrano R1 stem, Fizik Arione R3 K:ium saddle Weight 7.41kg Price £2,500 (frame, fork, seatpost, headset); approx £5,500 as tested Contact condorcycles.com What do you get if you cross a London bicycle company, whose near 70-year heritage includes having made bikes for the likes of Tom Simpson and Bradley Wiggins, with a highly-respected Italian bespoke carbon framebuilder? Answer – the new Condor Leggero. It’s the latest carbon model in Condor’s stable, with an aero focus, created in direct collaboration with carbon masters Sarto in Venice. ‘Condor’s relationship with Sarto is built on trust and understanding from working closely together for around 12 years,’…