Innehållsförteckning för December 2019 från Cyclist

Can we go home yet?’ That was the constant refrain from my two daughters as they huddled beneath a single umbrella on a roadside in Harrogate at the end of September. Neither are cycling fans, but I had persuaded them to accompany me to watch the Road Race World Championships with the promise that it would be similar to the time we visited Yorkshire to see the Tour de France in 2014. Back then, we lounged in the sunshine, chatting with others in the crowd as we awaited the peloton. The kids gorged on ice cream and the adults sipped on cold beers while we watched the action on a big screen and topped up our tan lines. This year’s Worlds was nothing like that. The grassy verges of Harrogate…

£749.99, madison.co.uk Traditionally rollers were more than just a means to train indoors – they were a tool for improving pedalling technique. Only riders with souplesse could stay upright and ride smoothly (if you want a masterclass, watch Eddy Merckx train on his rollers in the film La Course en Tete). The virtues of honing an efficient pedalling stroke are just as relevant today, but the difference now is Elite’s latest Nero Smart rollers can do a lot more besides. Being ‘smart’ means the Nero rollers can pair with third-party training platforms such as Zwift, enabling the magnetic variable resistance to adjust automatically according to the in-game terrain or any pre-planned workouts. Nero can simulate gradients up to 6% and offers up to 1,350 watts of resistance, and thanks to…

From £139.99, madison.co.uk Let’s face it, Peter Sagan could make any glasses look cool but, given the countless hours he spends looking through his sunnies at the road, he ought to know what makes a good pair too. 100%’s Racetrap is the latest addition to its performance eyewear range, with the design informed by the man himself. The key feature is an almost frameless construction to expand the field of vision, which paired with its Hiper contrast-enhancing lens technology and hydrophobic (water repellent) and oleophobic (oil repellent) coatings, should make for a clear view, no matter what.…

Harry Tanfield Age 24 Nationality British Honours 2019 3rd, Mixed Relay Team Time-Trial, World Championships 2018 1st, Individual Pursuit, National Track Championships. 1st, Stage 1, Tour de Yorkshire 1st, Round 5and Round 6, Tour Series 2nd, Individual Time-Trial, Commonwealth Games 2nd, Individual Time-Trial, National Championships Cyclist: You won bronze in the inaugural Mixed Relay Team Time-Trial at the World Championships in Yorkshire. How was that considering the personal tragedy just weeks before the race? Harry Tanfield: My mum died four weeks before the Worlds but I was never going to turn down the chance to race a home Worlds in Yorkshire. Even after everything that happened, I just knew Icouldn’t let the guys down. I’d committed to them, they needed me and if I wasn’t there they wouldn’t have…

To download this route, go to cyclist.co.uk/94rhodes. From Masari join the main coast road to Lindos. Bear right to Lardos, then Laerma. Head to Agios Isidoros, then on towards Sianna and Monolithos. Bear left to Apolakkia along the coast road until a turn-off on your left signposted for the Skiadi Monastery. Here, the road continues on the other side of the car park to the summit. Bear left towards Mesanagros and descend via Lachania on to the coast road. Turn left for Rodos, then right for Lindos. Go up and around a headland before rejoining the main road back to Masari.…

A wooden rainbow shaped arch declares ‘Zoncolan’ as if you’re entering a theme park It’s not often that you associate smells with climbs, but a particular aroma has lodged itself in my memory bank under the letter Z. Alongside all the sights and painful feelings you might be reasonably expected to link inextricably with the Zoncolan is a sweet, slightly sickly but curiously not unpleasant stink. The smell is more prevalent towards the bottom of the climb; it comes in waves, lingering for a few laboured pedal strokes at a time as you pass through the miasma. You can tell when it’s coming, too, as it is preceded by the sight of a motor vehicle moving very cautiously, creeping around the corners, its driver combatting the severity of the descent…

1 SEE.SENSE ICON2 £149.99, seesense.cc Intelligent lights may sound about as necessary as smart fridges, but the ICON2 twin-light combo genuinely does offer a smarter way to lighten up your time on the bike. The lights flash brighter and faster when you’re approaching junctions or they detect car headlights, while the supporting app will alert you when the lights are running low on power. It can even notify you should it detect your bike has been disturbed in your absence, and notify a loved one in the event of a crash. 2 CYCLIQ FLY12 CE ANDFLY6CE £325 for both, freewheel.co.uk For an elegant power couple offering the best of lighting and video recording, look no further. The FLY12 front unit gives you high-quality illumination at 600 lumens on…

Bob Parlee started his bike-building business 20 years ago with a maiden voyage aboard his own handbuilt carbon Z1 frame. It was a 30-mile ride from his workshop to his house, and the bike hadn’t previously been tested in real riding conditions. ‘By the time I got home, I really felt like I had done it,’ he recalls fondly. ‘The bike just felt phenomenal.’ Bob Parlee’s handbuilt approach to carbon set him apart from the crowd in luxury custom bikes, and the Parlee Z-Zero remains one of the most expensive and coveted frames on the market. ‘The only “real” material out there is carbon,’ Parlee said at the time, arguing that steel was not best for custom bikes, because only with carbon fibre could a builder customise each individual tube…

£184.99, extrauk.co.uk Evidence is growing to support the anatomical benefits of snub-nosed saddles, so it was always a question of when, rather than if, Fizik would produce its own version. The Italian brand is quick to point out that it hasn’t just chopped the front off an Arione or Antares, though. ‘The Argo is totally different in design,’ Fizik says. ‘Our traditional saddles encourage riders to shift their position frequently. Argo puts the rider in a more planted position, allowing them to sit further forward without placing undue pressure on sensitive tissues.’…

£749.99, zyrofisher.co.uk Do you prefer it hard or soft? When it comes to bike bags there are benefits to both. A hard case can take the knocks better, but a soft bag is usually lighter and easier to stash away when not in use. Evoc’s new Road Bike Bag Pro aims to be best of both worlds, with the company describing it as being ‘soft where possible and hard where necessary’. It uses an impact and pressure-resistant polycarbonate upper and lower section joined by a collapsible fabric middle section. The fabric sidewalls are held up with removable plastic rods, and are protected by a horizontal polycarbonate spacer to prevent the bike from being crushed laterally. The upper is shaped so the bike’s handlebars and seatpost don’t need to be removed…

In the modern era relatively few bikes bear the name of their actual maker, but for a long time Ernesto Colnago’s were at least some where the signature matched the handiwork. But then came exotic materials and the shift of production to Asia, spelling an end to the Italian tinkerer’s hands-on approach. However in 1994, before the exodus to Chinese factories, Ernesto made a brief sojourn to Russia. He went to see a gentleman named Vidmantas Zukauskas, or Vitas to his friends. An ex-professional, ex-Lithuanian national coach and now paid-up framebuilder, Vitas was in his own words ‘a bridge between the West and the East’ for the most exotic material of all: titanium. It made sense. Russia had the mills for making raw tubing and the expertise for working with…

1 LEZYNE TORQUE DRIVE £50, upgradebikes.co.uk Shout out to all those people who don’t know the opposite of in, and shout ‘Torque Drive’ to all those people who have expensive carbon parts but don’t own a torque wrench. With an array of bits, foldaway design and handy case, the Drive is a great piece of kit for torquing on the go, as well as in the luxury of your own shed. 2 ARUNDEL MEDIO & GORDO SADDLEBAGS £28 & £32, lyon.co.uk According toHorse Science News, a horse should carry no more than 20% of its body weight, meaning the average gee-gee should suffer no more than 110kg of rider and tack. Good job the same doesn’t go for bikes or we’d all need to weigh 1.5kg, and even…

Not long ago, it was only the most zealous riders, wrapped up in layers of winter kit and with full mudguards, who braved long rides in the grim, rainy months of autumn and winter. Today, modern fabrics mean you can stay dry and warm with a thin jacket and comfortable bibtights. With dhb’s Rain Defence range, you can take things a step further, by riding just as intensively as you do in the summer months while still being fully protected from the elements. ‘The Rain Defence jacket is made out of Polartec Power Shield Pro soft shell fabric, which offers wind and water resistance while also allowing heat and moisture out of the jacket,’ says dhb Senior Product Manager Richard Land. ‘On the tights we use fabrics from Schoeller, finished…

rArive for a group ride in winter without mudguards and you won’t make many friends. On rainy club runs it’s not uncommon to find members with unguarded wheels banished from the bunch and forced to ride alone. After all, who wants to accept a face full of spray from someone who is prepared to pay for an expensive bike, but is too stingy to cough up for a set of mudguards? ‘All anyone has to do is put themselves in the position of the person behind,’ says SKS brand manager Richard Samuels. ‘No one wants to be spitting out gravel for mile after mile.’ Rain can chill any rider’s performance – as we saw at the World Championships road race in Yorkshire, where only 46 of the 197 entrants completed…

FOR HIM Classic Long Sleeve Jersey II, £125, Classic Winter Tights With Pad, £200, rapha.cc The Classic Long Sleeve Jersey II is based on the design of Rapha’s much-loved original Classic Jersey, featuring the same signature contrast armband and range of understated colourways. The odour-resistant merino wool-based fabric of the jersey provides insulation, breathability and next-to-skin comfort to cover a whole host of riding conditions, making the jersey ideal for all but the depths of winter. The perfect partners to Rapha’s Classic Long Sleeve Jersey II are the brand’s Classic Winter Tights With Pad, which have been built to meet every demand in cold weather. The Thermoroubaix fabric provides warmth down the legs and extends up around the lower back and kidneys too. The fabric panels have been shaped so…

The original Domane redefined the endurance road sector. Trek’s innovative IsoSpeed concept – apivoting decoupler that isolates seat tube flex from the rest of the frame to offer more vertical compliance without impairing rigidity elsewhere – broke new ground on its release in 2012. The resulting marriage of outstanding comfort and race-level performance helped Fabian Cancellara win the punishing Strade Bianche race on the bike’s first professional outing. In 2016, Trek brought adjustability to the rear IsoSpeed and employed a similar ‘decoupling’ ideology to the head tube to temper impacts up front, too. Again it received high praise, including in my own review in issue 52. This third generation 2020 version, then, has a lot to live up to. New directions ‘We’ve really seen big changes in the way people…

Zoncolan Specialized Prevail II helmet, £200 specialized.com Oakley Radarlock Path sunglasses, £195 oakley.com Santini Redux jersey, £135 zyrofisher.co.uk Santini Redux bibshorts, £155 zyrofisher.co.uk Santini 365 Classe High socks, £13 zyrofisher.co.uk Specialized S-Works 7 shoes, £325 specialized.com Colossus Of Rhodes HJC Ibex helmet, £179.99 saddleback.co.uk Galibier Surveillance sunglasses, £42 galibier.cc Café du Cycliste Micheline Ultralight jersey, £131 cafeducycliste.com Café du Cycliste Cecilia base layer, £49 cafeducycliste.com Café du Cycliste Summer mitts, £47 cafeducycliste.com Café du Cycliste Marinette bibshorts, £184 cafeducycliste.com Café du Cycliste Skate stripe socks, £18 cafeducycliste.com Shimano RP9 shoes, £219.99 madison.co.uk Bella Italia Lazer Z1 helmet, £149.99 madison.co.uk Oakley EVZero Stride sunglasses, £140 oakley.com Café du Cycliste Mathilde bibshorts, £243 cafeducycliste.com Café du Cycliste socks, £18 cafeducycliste.com Suplest Edge/3 Pro shoes, £299 suplest.com Bikes TREK Giro Aether helmet, £259.99…

£870, scribecycling.co.uk Light, cheap or Keith Bontrager’s well-worn cliché about compromises in components… pick two. Or look towards Scribe, which is trying to rewrite the rulebook on what a sub-£1,000 wheelset can do. The Aero Wide+ wheels cost little more than a decent pair of alloy rim brake hoops yet have disc brake hubs, promise a 1,408g weight and have aero-profiled, 32mm deep, tubeless carbon rims. ‘Chemically enhanced resins have helped us lower weight – our 42mm deep versions of these wheels are just 1,471g –while offering a seriously responsive wheel,’ says Scribe founder Alan Graham. ‘That response is helped out by our exclusive Ratchet hub, which features 6.6° of engagement for super-fast pick-up.’ Market favourite Sapim’s CX-Ray bladed spokes lace hubs to rims, with the picture completed by a…

£169.99 (£189.99 with MIPS), madison.co.uk First it was all about weight. Then the trend in helmets veered towards increased ventilation. Then aero became king and helmets all started looking like bowling balls. Now it has come full circle with Lazer’s Genesis, officially the lightest road helmet it has ever produced. A size small comes in at aclaimed 189g, while a medium is just 199g, and the company hasn’t forgotten ventilation or aerodynamics either. The company boasts that the Genesis offers better cooling than wearing no helmet at all, and if you want to go faster, a clip-on Aeroshell (pictured) will turn it into the aforementioned bowling ball.…

With just under 20km of the 2003 Tour of Lombardy remaining, Michele Bartoli attacked, riding away from a leading group of 20 riders. Bartoli had signed for the Fassa Bortolo team in late 2001 after his contract with Mapei was rescinded. Bartoli and Mapei had been at odds over his non-selection for a number of races and relations had deteriorated to the point of no return. His move to Fassa Bortolo reunited him with sports director Giancarlo Ferretti, a man he had ridden for at MG Maglificio in the 1990s and under whose direction he had won the Tour of Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. ‘This solution will cost me a lot of money, but will give me the chance of taking part in a race within a few days with another…

Red for heart health ‘Different colours represent different vitamins and minerals, and each colour has specific health-giving antioxidants,’ says Mayur Ranchordas, performance nutrition consultant and reader in nutrition and exercise metabolism at Sheffield Hallam University. ‘Red foods contain lycopene, which helps protect against cardiovascular disease and can reduce blood pressure.’ This is key as you age, when heart disease can develop without you even knowing it. ‘Lycopene can also protect against certain cancers, notably of the prostate, breast and kidneys, and it’s good for cyclists because it can protect against skin cancer.’ Tomatoes are agreat source of lycopene. Try pomegranates for fibre and vitamins A, B and C, as well as calcium, potassium and iron. Chillies are also rich in vitamins, although you’re unlikely to eat too many of them…

It will be something of - an anti climax when we end up in the car park of a nightclub on a busy main road We are approaching the most fearsome section of the climb to one of the highest villages on the Greek island of Rhodes: six steep hairpins packed into a corkscrew of tarmac barely a kilometre long. ‘It’s the island’s Alpe d’Huez,’ says my co-rider, Dave Richardson. The olive groves and soaring cypress trees dotting the roadside lend the scene a benign air. Above them, however, looms the imposing bulk of Ataviros, the highest mountain on the island at 1,200m and a reminder that the services of all available sprockets will soon be required. There will be no shortage of challenging climbs on today’s ride. We shall…

There are more than 100 people in professional cycling who could do Dave Brailsford’s job and do it equally as well. If you can buy all the talent, the rest of it becomes an exercise in administration.’ Jonathan Vaughters seems tired. Stage 12 of this year’s Tour de France has not long finished in Bagnères-de-Bigorre, and Vaughters and Cyclist are at the team’s pitstop for the evening, Le Rex Hotel in Tarbes, southwest France. The Colorado-born manager of the distinctively pink-clad EF Education First pro team has been on the publicity trail for his new autobiography, One Way Ticket: Nine Lives On Two Wheels. We’ve discussed a number of topics during which he has been relaxed and eloquent, but when we get onto the subject of how professional cycling is…

‘Cycle race “complete disaster” for businesses,’ read the BBC headline six days after Mads Pedersen crossed the Harrogate finish line to be crowned men’s Road Race World Champion. At a meeting of local businesses organised by the Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce and Harrogate’s Business Improvement District team that same week, cries of ‘hear, hear’ echoed after one local businessman proclaimed that the town ‘does not want any more cycling events’. Some shops reported figures that saw them 70% down year-on-year, having ordered extra stock in anticipation of higher footfall that never materialised. Others didn’t even bother opening throughout the week, such was the ‘message of fear’ relayed prior to the Championships. When the curtains closed on the World Championships, the immediate reaction was that it had failed. The critics’…

ir Dave Brailsford is struggling. ‘I’ve walked 18km today,’ he says somewhat surprisingly outside the Team Ineos bus on an overcast and warm Wednesday at the Tour of Britain. Normally the Ineos boss would be in one of the team cars. Or even at the Vuelta. ‘I had surgery for prostate cancer just over two weeks ago,’ Brailsford adds after a moment’s pause. ‘I can’t ride a bike or fly. It’s been a tough time.’ Cyclist is in the Wirral with Team Ineos. We’re here to see if the mid-season transformation from Sky to Ineos has extended beyond a change of livery and name, and to discover where Chris Froome stands on his path to recovery. Brailsford’s confession is therefore unexpected and shocking. Until now, the 55-year-old has been keeping…

There will be other brands that raise their hands, but to my mind this is the bike that wrote – or at least, cemented – the rulebook for the modern race frame: dropped seatstays, semi-aero tube profiles, short wheelbase. With fast handling at low speeds and absolute poise at the top end, the Tarmac is just about perfect for the chalky roads and rolling hills of Tuscany. However, I did swap out the tyres from Specialized’s Turbo Cotton open tubulars – fast and supple but not exactly robust –to Continental’s latest GP5000s. I’d have preferred the tubeless versions, but as things turned out I had no punctures and the tread still looked new 108km later, so I can’t complain. This bike might be a little longer in the tooth than…

If you’re into titanium bikes, the Octane 64 is a headline grabber, made almost exclusively from seamless 6Al/4V titanium tubes. If not, just know the Octane 64 will be one of the better titanium frames you’ll ever ride, and almost certainly the most rewarding. The ‘Al’ in 6Al/4V refers to the aluminium content, the ‘V’ to vanadium, and the numbers are the percentage of each in the titanium alloy. Traditionally, titanium bikes are made from the slightly ‘softer’ 3Al/2.5V alloy, with 6/4 reserved for features such as BBs, dropouts and head tubes. I am no metallurgist, but Vaaru founder James Beresford assures me that ‘6Al/4V is about 10% stiffer and 10% lighter than 3Al/2.5V, which helps handling and sprinting but makes for a frame weight around 1.4kg.’ Hence it is…