Table of contents for July 2016 in Cyclist

Age: 38 Nationality: Spanish Honours: 2010 1st, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 3rd, Paris-Roubaix 2007 2nd, Paris-Roubaix 2005 3rd, Paris-Roubaix 2003 Stage win, Tour de France Cyclist : You’re working with Eurosport at the Giro this month. How does the race compare to the Tour? Juan Antonio Flecha: The big difference is the participation standard. The teams bring their best riders to the Tour as it’s the biggest event of the year. The Giro isn’t short of big names, but if a team brings nine riders to the Tour, all nine will be completely ready. At the Giro, maybe five or six will be ready – maybe nine, but there could be young riders too. The reason some riders say the Giro is harder is because it is purely the best…

It’s a hairpin just like the other 21 bends that comprise the climb up Alpe d’Huez, and like the others it has a numbered sign to commemorate the name of a rider and the years he ascended the mountain. But in this case the number is a ‘0’ and the rider’s name – Bas Mulder – is one few people will have heard of. Yet on the first Thursday of June each year since 2011, around 5,000 cyclists have honoured his name by riding up and down the Alpe as many times as they can in a day to raise funds for a Dutch cancer charity. Alpe d’Huez first came to prominence as a ski resort back in the 1930s and the road up to it was purpose-built to service…

1 AIRSMITH VOLLEY MULTITOOLS From £22, neoscycling.com ‘I could stay awake, just to use your torque key; watch your five-mill when you’re sleeping, while your Philips head is dreaming,’ sang Airsmith at the multitool wedding. Or something like that. At any rate, these tools are the perfect marriage of form and function – everything you need for a nimble bike service. 2 CADENCE VIK20 CAP/SOCKS £26/£14, candencecollection.co.uk If you’ve ever wondered where your missing socks go, they’re probably hanging out with your Tupperware lids. Hopefully, though, a matching cap might incentivise your next pair to stick around, which is one of the reasons Cadence is redefining head-to-toe with its colourfully matched ensembles. 3 PARK TOOL DH1 DUMMY HUB £19.99, madison.co.uk It’s a little known fact, but the original Dummy Hub…

‘We are looking for fat loss, not weight loss. Losing fat will favourably change your power-to-weight ratio, while simply losing weight won’t affect it at all’ Spending thousands of pounds upgrading your kit is certain to improve your performance on the bike – but it’s not the best way. For the majority of us, there are greater performance gains to be had by losing body weight, because while shedding weight from your equipment has the potential to save a few hundred grams, stripping unnecessary weight from your body gives you the scope to save thousands. The reason weight has such an impact on performance lies in its relationship with power. Accelerating a given weight or moving it uphill requires power, so it follows that cutting weight from an object will…

To download this route go to cyclist.co.uk/49alnwick . From Alnwick, take the B6341 towards Rothbury. After 5.5km, turn right down Lemmington Bank and continue to Sharperton. At the B6341 (45km), turn right to Elsdon, where you turn left up Gibbet Hill. After 67km turn left at the B6342 towards Rothbury before turning right to Pauperhaugh. Turn right onto the B6344 to Longframlington and take the B6345 to Old Swarland and into Felton. Head to Warkworth, then Alnmouth. Follow the coast road north to Longhoughton (B1339) and Craster. Follow signs for Alnwick, join the B1340 to Denwick, cross the A1 and turn right for Alnwick via The Peth.…

Top-end lights costing hundreds of pounds might not actually comply with lighting regulations Anyone can ride a bike. You don’t need to pass a test or register yourself as a bike owner, and bikes don’t come with a manual outlining correct riding procedure. This beautiful simplicity is part of what makes cycling so popular around the world, but of course as soon as you take to public roads you are bound by certain rules. Most of us like to believe that we understand and abide by those rules, but do we really know the facts? Are those lights on your bike legal? Are you really entitled to ride two abreast? Is that kid riding with the headphones breaking the law? At best, our hazy understanding of the rules governing road…

To download this route go to cyclist.co.uk/49la. Pick up Highway 39 at the junction of West Sierra Madre Avenue in the northern suburb of Azusa, and follow it north for 48km to its highest point, where burritos and coffee await at the Crystal Lake Cafe. Retrace your route back down to the junction of East Fork Road, taking a left over the bridge at the northern end of the San Gabriel Reservoir. Follow this road for 8.5km until you come to a right-hand hairpin turn to join Glendora Mountain Road. After 9km take the left signposted for Mount Baldy, and follow Glendora Ridge Road for a further 20km until the short drop down into Mount Baldy village. From here, take a right turn and plummet down Mount Baldy Road back…

Search the internet using the term ‘stiffness’ and you won’t get far before seeing adverts peddling pharmaceutical solutions for gentlemen’s issues. Bicycles and bedrooms, it seems, share an unswerving paranoia about limp performance, which explains why the marketing bumph that accompanies every new bike is invariably peppered with claims about how the frame is now super-stiff, as well as being lighter and more comfortable. But, in theory at least, the three qualities are in conflict, and bike designers are continually trying to find the sweetspot between them by tinkering with tube dimensions and material science. Pedal to the carbon When engineers talk about frame stiffness, they’re really addressing two different areas of a bike’s performance. The first relates to having sufficient lateral stiffness to allow a rider’s pedalling input to…

THE SPEC Model Open UP (Unbeaten Path) Groupset Sram Force 1x Deviations None Wheels Hed Ardennes 650b Finishing kit Enve Compact Road handlebar, Enve Road stem, Enve inline seatpost, Fizik Antares R1 braided saddle Weight 7.9kg Price £2,230 frameset Contact  veloatelier.co.uk In the beginning there was the road, and there was the road bike, and the road was good. Then consumers wanted to ride on more exotic terrain, without venturing into mountain bike territory, and thus the ‘gravel bike’ was born. Gerard Vroomen, co-founder of Cervélo (alongside Phil White) has taken things further. His brand, Open Cycles, developed the UP (Unbeaten Path) to do away with categories: ‘People see in the UP whatever type of riding they like to do. That’s how it was conceived.’ Vroomen says the UP, despite…

THE DETAILS Weight 1,421g (656g front, 765g rear) Rim depth 35mm front, 45mm rear Rim width External: 26mm front, 24mm rear Internal: 18.5mm front, 16.5mm rear Spoke count 20 front, 24 rear Price £3,300 Contact saddleback.co.uk From its Utah base in the US, Enve has forged a solid reputation as a front-runner in aero wheels and components, especially since joining forces with ex-F1 wind-tunnel guru Simon Smart. The 3.4 SES (Smart Enve System) wheelset is not the company’s lightest offering – its 2.2 SES weighs 300g less a pair – nor is it the most aerodynamic, but it represents the sweet spot between weight and drag resistance, making it a true all-rounder. It’s what we’ve been waiting for – a carbon wheel that brakes like an alloy wheel New stuff…

Campagnolo Super Record you say? Well there’s a lovely groupset if ever there was one. Or Sram Red? My, that is light. Or Shimano Dura-Ace? One marvels at the sheer function. But wait one second, how much did you say your cassette weighs again? It doesn’t matter which of the big three you’ve gone with, chances are your cassette isn’t as light as the Recon Racing. True, if you’re a Campy-phile you might have spent £296 on that cluster of sprockets, if you’re Red you can admire those little elastomers that dampen drivetrain noise, and if you’re turning Dura-Ace you’ll be impressed by the intricate machining. However, all that pales into insignificance when you consider that this 11-23t Recon Racing Cassette barely moves the scales at 94g. That’s 57g lighter…

The Sarto Asola is the lightweight endurance offering from custom Italian brand Sarto, which builds bikes for other brands as well as under its own name. This one is part of Campagnolo’s test fleet, and was kindly lent to me for this ride. The frame is well balanced in terms of handling, comfort and stiffness, and its 700g frame weight was much appreciated on the steeper parts of the climb. Descending was a joy too, thanks to the Campagnolo Bora 35 clinchers and the excellent brakes. Campagnolo has filed down the resin around the braking surface to increase friction and braking performance, and it made a big difference when I was dragging the brakes down 20% inclines, with the rims coping admirably. The Campagnolo Super Record groupset is a great…

Pav Bryan, cycling coach at Cyclism, oversaw Cyclist’s weight-loss programme and the results were monitored by Phil Chant at BodyScan UK. Chant says, ‘I’d recommend testing composition every three to four months if you’re on a committed intervention. This gives a good balance between being long enough to see meaningful changes but soon enough to establish trends and refine your programme.’ In the one month I followed the programme my weight dropped by a kilo, and thanks to DEXA’s detailed analysis it can be seen that the weight was fat mass – muscle mass stayed level. Thanks to this loss of non-functional bodyweight and my 20-minute power output improving by 5 watts, my functional threshold power (the amount of power I can put out for an hour) improved from 3.35…

The top pros don’t make do with any old shoe – they have theirs specially created on a last moulded to the exact shape of their foot. A glance at the Sidi ‘shelf of fame’ reveals a who’s who of cycling past and present. Alberto Contador’s feet are stacked neatly next to moulds for Peter Sagan, Sammy Sanchez, Tony Martin and Marcel Kittel. The list goes on and on: Bartoli, Basso, Voigt, Indurain, Cipollini… The older lasts – the ones from riders long since retired – have labels tatty and worn, soiled by hard-working hands, suggesting they’ve been used many, many times. It begs the question, how many pairs of shoes does a pro get given? ‘It depends on the pro,’ says Rosella Signori, head of Sidi Sport. If you…

The SLR8 sits in the middle of Trek’s superlight Émonda range, and was built for days like these. My model had a measured weight of just 6.25kg (without pedals) and featured Trek’s ‘H2’ endurance geometry, with a slightly taller head tube than the more aggressive ‘H1’ version. This meant that a long day in the San Gabriel Mountains was dispatched in as much comfort as possible, while the Émonda frame was still stiff enough to ensure precise handling on the fast descents. A Dura-Ace 50/34 compact chainset with 11-28 cassette meant I could cope with any gradient (albeit slowly at times). Although Trek’s top-of-the-range Émonda SLR10 will set you back £11,000, I couldn’t imagine needing anything more than the SLR8 for even the longest ascents.…

How do you measure a bike’s stiffness? Sadly we don’t have a lab to do the flex testing, but we know a place that does. Our friends at German cycling magazine Tour are renowned for their scientific approach to bike testing, which includes subjecting each bare frame to a rigorous battery of bench tests to ascertain stiffness values. An equation based on the stiffness score that frame achieves at the head tube (measured in Nm/°), divided by the frame’s overall mass (in kg), provides a stiffness-to-weight index that gives Tour its leaderboard for the stiffest frames……

It is said by some that road bikes are all starting to become a bit too alike, and that the industry is running out of new ideas or materials to explore. But this issue’s trio would suggest otherwise. In fact, it would firmly slap that statement in the face. Here are three very different bikes, all new and each with its own merits that would appeal to three very different customers.…

THE SPEC Model De Rosa SK Pininfarina Groupset Campagnolo Super Record EPS Deviations De Rosa direct mount callipers by TRP Wheels Fulcrum Racing Quattro Carbon Finishing Kit 3T Ergonova bars, 3T Arx II Pro stem, De Rosa carbon seatpost, Prologo Nago Evo CPC saddle Weight 7.35kg Price £3,000 frameset, £7,500 as tested Contact i-ride.co.uk What do a tractor, an infinite pencil and the Eurostar have in common? They were all designed by Pininfarina. The Italian design house has been a cornerstone of flashy creations since 1930, and although the Czech-made Zetor tractor, the Forever Cambiano pencil (the nib of which is made from an alloy that oxidises paper) and the Eurostar E320 train are undoubtedly objects of class and beauty, it is probably Pininfarina’s long-standing relationship with the automotive industry…

Secret Switzerland p72 RIDER RIGHT Giro Aeon helmet, £149.99 zyro.co.uk Oakley Racing Jacket sunglasses, £190 uk.oakley.com Le Col HC jersey, £150 lecol.net Le Col Pro bibshorts, £150 lecol.net Castelli Rosso Corsa 6 socks, £14 saddleback.co.uk Shimano R321 shoes, £249.99 madison.co.uk Remote Access p110 Poc Octal Raceday helmet, £190 2pure.co.uk Oakley Racing Jacket sunglasses, £190 uk.oakley.com Endura FS260-Pro SL II jersey, £64.99 endura.co.uk Lizard Skins La Sal 1.0 gloves, £29.99 2pure.co.uk Skins bibshorts, £125 skins.net X-Bionic Biking Silver socks, £18 x-bionic.co.uk Sidi Genius 5 Millennium shoes, £150 saddleback.co.uk Ride Of Angels p144 RIDER LEFT Specialized S-Works Prevail helmet, £160 specialized.com Oakley Jawbreaker sunglasses, £160 uk.oakley.com dhb Aeron Superlight jacket, £40 wiggle.co.uk Sportful BodyFit Pro Race…

It was an idea that had been floating around the Cyclist office for some time. What if, instead of going to a cycle show where you can only look at the bikes on a stand, you could actually take the bikes and ride them on the road? How good would that be? So it was that on a bright and fresh day in April, the first ever Cyclist Track Day took place at the purpose-built road racing track outside the Lee Valley Velodrome – the venue for the London Olympics in 2012. Now we might be biased, but we’re delighted to report that the event was a resounding success, with around 150 riders spending the day testing and comparing (or just plain enjoying) some of the finest road bikes on…

There are few places on Earth where you’ll see a 3D-printed titanium road bike rubbing tyres with a three-seater tandem, next to a chap making catapults out of sawn-off bike forks, but the Bespoked UK Handmade Bicycle Show is one them. More than 6,000 people flocked to Brunel’s Old Station in Bristol this year to see 107 framebuilders, component makers and even a bicycle-themed jeweller showcase their wares in a celebration of all that is great and good in the world of artisanal bikes. Exhibitors came from as far afield as Australia and Japan, packing the vaulted ceilings to the rafters with all manner of exceptional bicycles. Better still, each builder was on hand to explain their creations and their craft, holding forth on everything from the difference in ride…

The sun has yet to hit us, but it is throwing a warm light over the mountains to our right. Andrea has promised it will be worth the early start Andrea Zamboni has just come into view though the haze of the early morning light. He is sitting patiently on his bike at the side of the road, with one leg clipped in and the other resting on a dry-stone wall. Like some permanent fixture of the landscape, he barely moves, his eyes focused on the peak ahead. I worry that he may have been sitting there for hours. Andrea asked to meet at the break of dawn in Prato-Sornico, a village part way up the climb to Lago del Naret, our ultimate objective for today. That involved me setting…

Cyclist: Is modelling a full time job for you? Andrea Zamboni: No it’s not. I am manager of a pharmacy in Locarno. It’s nice work but at the end of the day what I really like to do is ride my bike. Cyc: A lot of people see your picture and assume you’re not a cyclist. Are you ever insulted by that? AZ: Sometimes. A blog called ‘FatCyclist’ had a piece about me that was very negative. It had about 250 comments, many of which said I didn’t look like a cyclist. At the bottom somebody wrote, ‘Just go to the Ironman results list and check his name.’ Cyc: What was your best result in Ironman? AZ: I won my age group at the Ironman World Championships…

The molten evening sun is beginning to dissolve behind the Teide volcano – a stark 3,718m snow-covered cone on the island of Tenerife – and with the temperature plummeting and the daylight dwindling, Fabio Aru is safely ensconced at the Parador de las Canadas del Teide, an isolated mountain lodge nestled in the vast sunken caldera that surrounds the volcano. Perched at an altitude of 2,140m, deep in the Teide national park – where twisted pinnacles of red rock, fields of pumice gravel and solidified black rivers of lava fill the alien landscape – this is the hotel the world’s best cyclists, including Alberto Contador, Vincenzo Nibali and Chris Froome, use as a base when completing gruelling bouts of altitude training. Aru, already a Grand Tour winner after his gutsy…

Hurtling across the River Aln after a dizzying descent, we pass under the impassive gaze of a stone lion standing guard over the bridge. According to local folklore, the lion will wag its tail when the last Scotsman leaves England. And maybe one day it will, but today there’s not the slightest twitch. The leonine legend is just one of many clues to the battles and bitter rivalries that are deeply woven into the long history of Northumberland, England’s northernmost county. At the top of the nearest hill is Alnwick Castle, backdrop to many of those battles – and more recently the celluloid quidditch conquests in the Harry Potter films. It’s also the site of a monument to King Malcolm III of Scotland, who was slain here in 1093 after…

Now in his eighties, Dino Signori is no longer officially in charge at Sidi. ‘Rosella is the real boss these days,’ he says, with a gesture towards his daughter and heir, who is currently translating his Italian into English for my benefit. However, there’s a hint of a wink when he says it that tells me he’s still very much the one in command. He certainly looks a picture of health despite his advanced years, and there’s an unmistakable gravitas about him that suggests he’s not ready to retire to his easy chair just yet. I’m told he is still the first to arrive every morning and often the one locking up at night, even working on Saturdays during busy times. There are few moments when Signori’s hands are still.…

The climb of Plateau de Beille had only been used five times previously by the Tour de France when, in 2015, Spain’s Joaquim Rodriguez joined the short list of names to have triumphed atop the mountain. In truly biblical weather, a soaked-through Rodriguez emerged from among the gloom-busting headlights of the Tour vehicles accompanying him on his ascent to take the second of his two stage wins at last year’s Tour, well over a minute clear of chaser Jakob Fuglsang and third-placed Romain Bardet. Indeed, every time Plateau de Beille has featured at the Tour, it has been employed as a summit finish, mainly owing to the fact that there is only one decent road up it, but also thanks to its ski-resort car park being big enough to cram…

The day before leaving the UK for Los Angeles, I compiled my Californian playlist. Alongside contemporary favourites like Katy Perry, Snoop Dogg and NWA are such classics as Albert Hammond’s 1970s folk hit ‘It Never Rains in California’ and Roy Orbison’s ‘California Sunshine Girl’. Now, as I clip in to my pedals at the intersection of Highway 39 in the northern suburb of Azusa, my choice of music comes back to haunt me in spectacular fashion as the cloud that has been obscuring the foothills all morning finally breaks. Rain spots turn to showers, which turn to downpours as Alex, an LA-dwelling ex-pat Brit, and I push on quickly through the dips and ramps of the initial nursery slopes. The smooth road surface quickly transforms into a polished mirror, raindrops…

The mountainous roads to the north-east of LA are one of the world’s best-kept cycling secrets, and in part have even prompted their own sarcastic hashtag – #LAsucksforcycling – in response to anyone who thinks riding in this part of SoCal is a nerve-shredding, traffic-dodging crashfest. Beyond being locally famous, they’re also the roads on which the Tour of California has been decided, with Mount Baldy being used as a summit finish to the queen stage three times. The most recent was last May, when the stage parcours incorporated Glendora Mountain Road (known locally as GMR), Glendora Ridge Road, East Fork, and a final climb to the Baldy ski lifts. On Stage 7 of the 2015 Tour, Julian Alaphilippe of Etixx-Quick-Step stamped his authority on the race, won the stage…

With rain jackets stuffed into our pockets, our group is soon a dishevelled peloton of zigzagging zombies Several days ago, at a location 2,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean and thousands of metres high in the troposphere, a big chunk of warm, tropical air collided with a big slab of cold polar air. The ensuing barometric carnage resulted in a weather system that hooked itself onto the southerly trajectory of the jet stream and headed straight for the leading edge of western Europe just in time to drop large volumes of water all over me while I attempt to conquer the Sky Road Gran Fondo Aldeias do Xisto in Portugal. Although the rain, mist and cold have a lot to do with my discomfort right now, there’s another more subtle…

THE SPEC Model Specialized Tarmac S-Works Disc Di2 Groupset Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 Deviations S-Works Fact carbon chainset, Shimano BR-R785 hydraulic disc brakes Wheels Roval Rapide CLX 40 Disc Finishing Kit S-Works SL carbon bars and stem, S-Works Fact carbon seatpost, S-Works Toupe carbon saddle Weight 7.2kg Price £7,000 Contact  specialized.com To say the Tarmac has had a pretty good run of it would be something of an understatement. First introduced to Specialized’s range in 2003, it has been a stalwart of the pro peloton in each of its various iterations ever since. It’s one of very few bikes that can lay claim to having been ridden to victory in all three Grand Tours, plus the cobbled Classics. Of course, all of those winning bikes were set up with calliper brakes,…