Table of contents for February 2018 in Cyclist

£54.99, zyrofisher.co.uk In 2016 Vittoria launched its Corsa G+ tyres infused with graphene, a form of super-light, super-strong carbon. Now it has produced the Corsa Control. At £55 we’d hesitate to call it a ‘training tyre’, but it’s designed to offer a similarly supple road feel and grip to its race-level brethren, only with added durability and increased puncture protection. It’s available in 25mm and 28mm widths, and with either black or tan sidewalls. There are rumours of a tubeless version in the pipeline soon, too.…

£699, chickencyclekit.co.uk Deda is no stranger to integrated handlebars. In fact the Alanera bars – which in a particularly cool twist of Italian fate translates as ‘Blackwing’ – have been around for the best part of a decade. For a time their design remained largely unchanged, but for 2018 Deda has re-engineered the one-piece system to reflect the thirst for things lighter and more aero. As well as their wing-shaped profile, the Alanera bars aid aerodynamics with an integrated Garmin mount and junction box mount. Plus, at a claimed 350g (size 110mm x 42cm) they are impressively light.…

Canyon concluded that women of the same height as men are lighter, have shorter arms and narrower shoulders, and sit in smaller size ranges, and therefore warrant their own bikes Women are different to men. It’s not just about chromosome combinations and the ability to multitask –women tend to have differently shaped bodies to men. The question is whether those bodies are different enough to warrant a specific bicycle frame geometry designed just for women. It’s a question that has become particularly pertinent of late, as some of the biggest bike brands have recently changed their attitudes to women-specific bikes. Only a couple of years ago, Canyon had no specific offering for women (beyond adding women-friendly components to a standard frame), but now the German company has released a women-specific…

I think the world has to change,’ says Roman Arnold, founder and CEO of Canyon. ‘I have been a retailer and I have been a dealer. I know this sport and the industry very well, and I want to make cycling better for the consumer.’ Arnold is speaking about criticism that his company’s online-only model has hurt smaller retailers by cutting them out of the loop. Canyon, which has built a reputation for making WorldTour-standard bikes at competitive prices, may seem like any other bike brand, but there’s a crucial difference. It sells directly from the manufacturer to the consumer, bypassing the usual supply chain from manufacturer to distributor to retailer to customer. For consumers in the age of e-commerce, the difference between the two models could almost go…

Turbo trainers haven’t always been considered valuable training tools. The first stationary cycling devices appeared back in the 1880s, but the 1896 edition of the Badminton Library (a rather quirky series of sports books) concluded home trainers to be ‘odd contrivances’ whose value to racing cyclists was ‘practically nil’. Try telling that to Orica-Scott (soon to be Orica-Mitchelton) pro Mat Hayman, who returned from injury to win the 2016 edition of Paris-Roubaix after six weeks training exclusively on a turbo. A turbo may have turned around Hayman’s fortunes but they are still viewed with suspicion by some cyclists, who see them either as a cop-out for those too feeble to brave bad weather or as instruments of torture for lonely masochists. To win these people round, the industry is turning…

The sun feels warm on my face as I sip coffee and gaze upon central Boulder. I’ve got nothing else to do except watch the people of this Colorado city as they go about their business, and I can’t help noticing how healthy everyone looks. Tanned skin and sinewy limbs are everywhere, and not just because the Haute Route is in town. Climbers, hikers, runners, skiers and cyclists flock to this paradise in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Boulder sits at 1,665m, and its altitude is what draws so many pro riders to this region. Although the Rockies might lack the mythical feel of the Alps or Pyrenees, Boulder has shaped its fair share of champions: Andy Hampsten, Davis Phinney and his son Taylor, Tyler Hamilton and Tejay van…

THE SPEC Model Look 785 Huez RS Team Replica Groupset Sram Red eTap Deviations Look ZED 2 crankset Wheels Corima Winium+ MCC tubular Finishing kit Look LS1 Super Light carbon compact handlebar, Look LS1 alloy stem, Look LS1 carbon seatpost, Selle Italia SLR Flow saddle Weight 6.02kg (size M) Price £8,700 Contact  zyrofisher.co.uk Bikes have changed in many different and wonderful ways over the past decade. We’ve seen the emergence of suspension, aerodynamic integration and otherworldly material stiffness. For most people, though, it’s that giddy feeling achieved when lifting a bike off the ground that still makes all the difference. Everyone loves a light bike. It has taken a while for French brand Look to acknowledge that fact, but the 785 now fills that ultra-lightweight shaped hole. The 785 Huez…

£199.99, i-ride.co.uk The long-term ramifications of reduced blood flow and numbness to delicate areas is only beginning to be understood, but current research suggests snub-nosed saddles with cutouts may be more anatomically friendly than more traditional designs for both men and women. Enter Prologo’s new Dimension saddle, which is 35mm shorter than its other saddles, 9mm wider and has a huge central channel, all in the name of pressure relief on soft tissues. Your future children may thank you for it.…

£399, scott-sports.com Is you’d expect for shoes costing such a tidy sum, the RC SLs are the most advanced road shoes Scott has crafted to date. Tested and developed with Orica-Scott (soon to be known as Mitchelton-Scott) pro riders, the sole is constructed from the same HMX unidirectional carbon fibre Scott puts to good use in its top-end road and mountainbike frames, creating a super-stiff and lightweight chassis – these size 44s weigh just 264g a shoe. The minimalist upper also uses the high-tensile strength of carbon fibre in a fabric called Carbitex, which Scott says wraps the foot for even pressure distribution and maximum support. The latest IP-1 Boa dials (adjustable in 1mm increments) allow precise tuning of the fit. In Scott’s own words, these range-topping shoes are for…

Cyclist: Since retiring from racing you’ve started a clothing brand with Chpt.III, had bike collaborations with Factor and Brompton, and taken up commentating. How’s it all going? David Millar: In some ways commentary is the easiest job of them all, because I’m co-commentator so I get to just say what I see. It’s also good, because I distanced myself from racing when I kind of lost the flame, but I still get to stay in the scene by watching more bike racing than I’ve ever watched in my life. It can be brutal! Cyc : What can be done to make watching some races less brutal? DM: The organisations are trying. There’s Velon with the Hammer Series, and the latest Tour de France route is really trying to mix…

To escape the peloton is one of the toughest challenges in professional sport, requiring strength, resolve and a gambler’s nerve T he peloton is a living, dynamic organism, with its own rules, etiquette and hierarchy. It adapts not only to external forces such as terrain and weather, but also to the whims of its member parts. It offers shelter and camaraderie, support and sustenance. And yet a certain breed of rider can’t wait to get away from it as quickly as possible. Until recently, ‘the day’s breakaway’ was always firmly established by the time live TV coverage started. The high-speed to-ing and fro-ing between the gravitational pull of the peloton and its maverick satellites remained a mystery until broadcasters started showing Grand Tour stages from start to finish. And then…

Vast. For a short word, it describes so much. Vast are the oceans, vast are the mountains, vast are the skies. And here, vast, so incredibly vast, is the Negev desert. Quite how the cloud has managed to mask the Negev all this time is a mystery, but as our aeroplane cuts through the last wisps of cirrus, it seems impossible that there is anything more to Israel than the golden sands of the desert below. And yet there is. To Israel’s north lie mountains, snow-capped in winter and covered in swathes of wild flowers come spring. To the west are beaches famed for surf and white sands; to the east a land mass stretching all the way to China and, in its heart, a sprawling patchwork of vineyards, groves…

THE SPEC Model Kinesis Aithein Evo Groupset Shimano Ultegra R8000 Deviations None Wheels Reynolds Assault Finishing kit Ritchey WCS Evocurve handlebar, Ritchey WCS Alloy stem, Ritchey WCS Alloy seatpost, Ritchey WCS Skyline saddle Weight 7.92kg (56cm) Price £730 frame, fork, headset, approx £3,000 as tested Contact  kinesisbikes.co.uk Ican’t help coming over all nostalgic whenever I think of aluminium road bikes. My mind goes back to the mid-1990s when instead of meeting girls and getting drunk on cheap booze I was becoming more devoted to racing. Mario Cipollini and the Saeco team were dominant on their oversized alloy Cannondales and my teenage self would have killed for one of those back then. I did eventually blow a good chunk of a student loan on one, which means I’m probably still paying…

The Lowest Road On Earth Lazer Z1 helmet, £149.99 madison.co.uk Oakley Radarlock XL sunglasses, £195 uk.oakley.com Etxeondo Mendi jersey, £115 etxeondo.com Etxeondo Mendi mitts, £40 etxeondo.com Etxeondo Orhi bibshorts, £145 etxeondo.com Etxeondo Argi socks, £13 etxeondo.com Sidi Ergo 4 shoes, £275 saddleback.co.uk Reality Check Sportful Giara bibshorts, £75 c3products.com Sportful Giara socks, £17 c3products.com Specialized S-Works 6 shoes, £310 specialized.com American Flyers Giro Synthe helmet, £224.99 zyrofisher.co.uk Oakley Radar EV sunglasses, £155 uk.oakley.com Alé PRR 2.0 Speed Fondo jersey, £100 paligap.cc Alé Termico armwarmers, £20 paligap.cc Alé Chrono gloves, £30 paligap.cc Alé PRR bibshorts, £105 paligap.cc Alé Team socks, £15 paligap.cc Shimano S-Phyre shoes, £320 madison.co.uk Bikes LOOK Giro Aeon helmet, £169.99…

Part of what kicked everything off for Allied was buying Guru [a now defunct but once highly regarded Canadian bike brand],’ says Sam Pickman, director of product engineering at Allied Cycleworks. ‘Our MD, Tony Kirklins – who set up Orbea USA – went to Canada and won an auction for all of Guru’s assets. We moved everything down to Arkansas – the heat presses, the ovens, CNC cutting machines – and started making bikes. I started designing this one as soon as I got there in April 2016.’ The bike in question is this, the Allied Alfa, a performance race bike that’s made entirely in the USA, not just as a point of pride, but as a point of engineering and fiscal judgement. ‘I was a research and development manager…

1 ASHMEI DOMESTIQUE GIN WITH STEEL BIDON £45, ashmei.com On Stage 13 of the 1950 Tour de France, Algerian rider Abdel-Kader Zaaf was looking good for the podium when he decided to stop for a drink. Moments later he was seen weaving about the road before falling asleep under a tree, reawakening only to ride off in the opposite direction. Whether his drink was spiked or he knowingly ordered a midday tipple nobody knows, but the point remains: it’s unlikely this rather fine gin from Ashmei and Puddingstone Distillery will help you win the Tour, but it will make damn fine cocktails. 2 MUCOFF GREASE GUN KIT £24.99, muc-off.com They say bicycles can’t stand on their own because they’re two tyred, but that the only thing holding them back when…

The path ahead of me is lit solely by the beam from my headtorch. I try to thread my front wheel through the maze of rocks and logs that litter the farm track, but I struggle to stay upright. It’s almost midnight and I’m somewhere between the Slovak border and the city of Miskolc in northern Hungary in the closing stages of an 18-hour stint in the saddle. I had to abandon my planned route after spotting a ‘No Cycling’ sign, and now I’m navigating through 20km of wilderness to get back on track without a time penalty while trying to rid myself of the frustration caused by a double puncture suffered a few minutes ago. Eventually I rejoin the road network and continue on for a few kilometres to…

It’s the details that count. There are plenty of riding holidays that offer guiding, but will they surreptitiously refill your bidons while you’re having a mid-ride espresso at a hilltop cafe? Will your bike be cleaned overnight and the next day’s route be uploaded to your GPS device? Do you get a Rapha jersey? Is there a never-ending supply of jellybeans? Will a sumptuous picnic magically appear halfway through your ride? Is a professional photographer on hand to capture images for a feature in the world’s biggest road cycling magazine? That’s what you get on a Cyclist/ Rapha Travel riding holiday. Many of the roads aren’t marked on Google Maps but fortunately we have local guides on hand Eat, drink, ride It’s surprisingly warm for October in northern Italy, meaning…

FAN When you ride outside airflow plays a huge part in keeping you cool, so a fan is a critical inclusion in your training room to prevent you from overheating. ‘As essential as it is, I think it is an unusual gap in the market,’ says Elite’s Peter Lago. ‘Everyone uses a fan but no brands really produce one. Maybe it’s something that Elite will look into.’ BASE LAYER ‘Additional layers might seem counterintuitive but a base layer absorbs sweat and helps regulate body temperature by wicking moisture away from the skin,’ says Team Sky’s Conor Taylor. ELECTROLYTES During a turbo session you sweat a lot more than you would riding outside. ‘Adding effervescent hydration tablets to your water bottle is a good move,’ says Sky’s Taylor. ‘It helps replace…

‘You could buy a car for that!’ will never get old. But what about changing it up to, ‘you could buy two bikes for that?’ Because this month you can, as the combined cost of the Ribble SL and the Kinesis Aithein Evo is less than the price of Look’s latest superbike, the 785 Huez RS. So is the Look twice the bike? It’s certainly got an incredible spec, yet so have the other two, which raises interesting questions: how much of a bike’s soul is the frame? To what extent is the whole more than the sum of the parts? And how good an indicator is price when it comes to performance? Let’s find out……

THE SPEC Model Ribble SL Groupset Shimano Dura-Ace R9150 Di2 Deviations None Wheels Mavic Ksyrium Elite Finishing kit Deda Superzero carbon aero bars, Deda Superleggero stem, Ribble carbon seatpost, Selle Italia Flite saddle Weight 7.0kg (size L) Price £4,109 as built Contact  ribblecycles.co.uk It’s a question you could apply to Trigger’s broom or the Sugababes: at what point and after how many changes does an item cease to be the original and morph into something new? It’s a question that can also reasonably be applied to bikes. For example, years ago I bought a Fuji Roubaix 3.0 road bike with a Shimano Sora groupset and cheapo training wheels. I’ve still got it, but over time nearly all the components have been upgraded, so that it now sports an Ultegra groupset…

As this magazine goes to press, my magic goggles are misting up slightly. Usually they give me a clear view of the upcoming season but no matter how much I fiddle with the controls, aspects of next year’s highlights are still decidely foggy. Will the 2018 Giro d’Italia depart from the city of Jerusalem? My future goggles can just make out a lot of crowds and something fluttering in the air, but is it pink confetti or the remains of a burnt American flag? Is that Chris Froome I can see through the haze? He’s dressed in pink, but it’s hard to tell whether that’s the maglia rosa or it could be Michelle’s dressing gown he’s wearing while he sits out the Giro after failing to explain how he came…