Life as a Tour photographer • Factor’s new O2 VAM • Hard times on Hardknott

cyclist.co.uk

Epic climbs
of the Vuelta
Our Big Ride takes in a pair of the greatest
climbs to grace the Spanish Grand Tour

ISSUE 143
SEPT 2023

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THE BIG RIDE: SPAIN

54A Grande Day Out
Cyclist doesn’t do things by halves, which is why
we headed to the unassuming town of Pola de
Lena in Asturias, Spain, to tackle two of the many
monster climbs that lurk beyond its walls

INSIGHT: TOUR PHOTOGRAPHER

68Ready, Aim, Shoot!

Join snapper Pete Goding as he negotiates closed
roads, rowdy fans and a burning clutch in Bilbao –
just a normal day in the life of a Tour photographer

BIKE STORIES

78Trek Madone
Twenty years on from its launch, the Madone may
look different but it still has the same aim: speed

CLASSIC CLIMBS

84Hardknott Pass
11Gear+Tech
•Factor’s O2 VAM bulks up to slim down
•Gear from Pearson, Sram and Rapha
•How Chris Lord went from building
engines to crafting custom bikes
•Cycling sunnies for off the bike
•Why greater integration is a huge pain

Sept
2023
Issue 143

Please be upstanding for England’s toughest climb –
because you sure as hell won’t get up it sitting down

INSIGHT: SLEEP

94You Snooze, You Win!
What happens when your eyes are shut is the key
to health, happiness and cycling faster for longer

SPORTIVE: ISTRIA 300

100The Rest Is Istria
Cyclist takes on 300km of roads, 5,400m of ascent
and a brutal time cut in Croatia’s biggest sportive

35Pro+Racing
•The best photos from the latest races
•The Paralympic couple going for gold
•Felix’s grand plan for Ineos Grenadiers
•Remembering Elsy Jacobs, the first
women’s World Champion on the road

REVIEWS

111Bikes
47Train+Eat
•Why muscle inflammation after
exercise may not be so bad after all
•Protein-packed ratatouille
•The kitchen essentials that ensure you
always have the right nutrition to hand

4 September 2023

Tested this issue – the Spoon Customs Izoard
RR Disc, Colnago V4Rs and Landrace Tupelo
BACKMARKER

130Trevor Ward
How an obscure Burt Lancaster film about
swimming inspired Trevor Ward to go off-grid in
the 1990s – and why the arrival of gravel bikes
has inspired him to do it all again in the 2020s

cyclist.co.uk

Croatia’s Istria 300 sportive
takes in 5,400m of climbing
over – you guessed it –
300km. Thankfully the
scenery is like balm
for the legs

cyclist.co.uk

September 2023 5

Ed’s Letter

Photo Patrik Lundin

54

La Cubilla in northern Spain has
all the hallmarks of a classic
climb – without the crowds

ou’d think that the last thing an editor of a cycling
magazine would want to do on holiday is to go
cycling. After all, isn’t that what we do day in, day
out, in glamorous locations, on expensive bikes?
Sadly, the truth is more prosaic. The majority of
my time is spent sitting in front of a laptop, mostly
in my own kitchen, which is why, when the family
summer holiday rolls around, I can’t help building in
an opportunity to escape for a day on two wheels.
This year it was Italy. While sitting by Lake
Garda, I persuaded my family (all non-cyclists) that
it wouldn’t be too far out of our way to nip up to the
northern border of the country for a day so I could
have a crack at a climb that has been on my musttick list since, well… forever: the Stelvio Pass.
This is a climb steeped in the legends of the Giro
d’Italia; a climb of 24km in length with 1,832m of
ascent; a climb that topped the list of ‘Cyclist’s 100
Classic Climbs’. It is beautiful and brutal in equal
measure, and I was blessed with a blue-sky day
when I set out from the small town at its foot and
headed for its snow-speckled summit.
The only problem was, seemingly half of Italy
had had the same idea. Not just other cyclists, but
everyone in every form of transport had decided
that this day would be a good day to head up the

6 September 2023

Stelvio. Packs of leather-clad bikers roared past,
fighting for space with tourist buses and caravans
that got stuck on the tighter hairpins. An outing of a
Porsche-owners’ club snaked past, dozens of them
in a long line of noise. People on e-bikes cruised by,
trying not to catch the eyes of anyone sweating
upwards on leg power alone. It was heaving.
I still loved it, but it reminded me that there is
a wealth of amazing climbs out there that are still
mostly undiscovered by the hordes of col-baggers
and petrol heads. One of them is La Cubilla in
northern Spain, the destination for this month’s Big
Ride. Big numbers, great views, no crowds. Looks
like a Spanish holiday is on the cards for next year.

Pete Muir
Editor

LET’S TALK CYCLING
The Cyclist Magazine Podcast
is the place to go for all the best
in cycling talk. Perhaps you
want insight into racing from
top commentators such as Ned
Boulting, Orla Chennaoui and
Carlton Kirby. Or maybe you
want the inside line from pros
such as Lizzie Deignan, Greg
LeMond and Pippa York. Or
perhaps you want the latest
training advice from cycling’s
top sports scientists. It’s all on
the Cyclist Magazine Podcast.

cyclist.co.uk

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8 September 2023

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Photo Juan Trujillo Andrades

68

What does it take to capture moments
like this at the Tour de France?
Find out in our photographer’s diary

All the stuff that makes you glad to be a cyclist

Lightening
speed
Factor’s featherweight O2 VAM gets faster
Words SAM CHALLIS
Photography TAPESTRY

cyclist.co.uk

September 2023 11

Gear+Tech Factor O2 VAM

eleased in 2017, the O2 was the
first bike Factor produced after
owner Rob Gitelis bought the
company from bf1systems. In
creating a UCI-legal alternative
to the radical Vis Vires bike he inherited with the
company, Gitelis drew on a wealth of experience:
before starting Factor, he had worked as an OEM
contractor for more than 20 years, making bikes
and components for brands such as Trek, Enve
and Zipp in factories he ran in Asia.
‘I’d just finished working with Cervélo on its
latest R5 and I felt that the team had left some
performance on the table. They could have made
a better bike, so I made it as my first project at
Factor and called it the O2,’ Gitelis says.
Despite the platform being only six years old,
the O2 has been revised every other year along
the way. Consequently, the design this latest O2

R

12 September 2023

VAM replaces is still contemporary in looks and
performance terms, but it reportedly needed an
update, having fallen out of favour with Factorsponsored WorldTour team Israel-Premier Tech.
Their riders were increasingly choosing the Factor
Ostro VAM over the O2 VAM for its extra aero
efficiency, despite a slight weight penalty.
‘We wanted to offer a counterpoint to the Ostro,’
says Gitelis. ‘The Ostro is a lightweight aero bike,
whereas the O2 VAM is a climber’s bike with aero
touches. It gives our riders a fast option that is light
enough to sit right on the UCI weight limit of 6.8kg,
including pedals, transponder and race number.’
Curiously, the new O2 VAM frame actually gains
a little weight over the previous generation, but it
now includes an integrated seatpost, which helps
make the bike lighter overall.
‘We’ve gone to an integrated seatpost because
we wanted to make the top tube really thin where

cyclist.co.uk

New gear Gear+Tech
it joins the seat tube, to take advantage of the
new UCI rules that allow for thin tube crosssections,’ Gitelis adds. ‘We saw an opportunity to
improve compliance there because a flattened top
tube permits fore-aft movement at the saddle.
But that meant the tube profile was too thin to
accommodate any sort of seatpost binder, hence
going down the route of an integrated post.’
An integrated seatpost can limit users in
terms of saddle positions, so Factor will offer
four different seatpost masts to make up for it:
two lengths plus two different offsets.
Despite its still very light weight, Factor says
the new bike is 12 watts more efficient than its
predecessor at 48kmh, and is 35% stiffer courtesy
of changes to tube profiles and carbon layup.
‘Couched within the bounds of light weight
shapes, we use aggressively truncated aerofoil
profiles on areas such as the head tube, down tube
and seatstays, which manipulates the separation
and reattachment of airflow,’ says Graham Shrive,
Factor’s director of engineering. ‘We’ve been able
to refine how we manage airflow thanks to the
development of the Ostro VAM and Ostro Gravel.’
Adding to take away
Sans race trim, bikes weighing as little as 6.2kg (in
size 54cm) are said to be achievable thanks to the
O2 VAM’s new 730g frame, which is made possible
by novel fabrication techniques used in Factor’s
new purpose-built factory.
‘The development of the O2 VAM coincided with
substantial investment in Factor’s manufacturing
facilities, so we basically made a new factory for
this bike,’ says Gitelis.
‘Manufacturing facilities that Factor owns have
long been the R&D centre for the bike industry, but

‘It gives our riders a fast
option that is light enough
to sit right on the UCI
weight limit of 6.8kg’
Factor O2 VAM, £11,800,
factorbikes.com

cyclist.co.uk

I’ve found that the processes that we’ve developed
have often been duplicated elsewhere within a year
or two, so we’ve just built a new factory in Taiwan.’
This is in a bid to protect Factor’s intellectual
property, as well as to simplify the development
phase of each bike. The rate of prototype iteration,
for example, has moved from three weeks to one
day, something Gitelis says is unique to Factor.
Adding extra layers of vertical integration to the
manufacturer – which already does everything
from finite element analysis (FEA) to prototyping
to painting in-house – is something that Factor
believes is of huge benefit to the final product.
‘Case in point: we’ve developed a composite
compaction method, which is secret and
proprietary,’ says Shrive. ‘We’re not reinventing
the process, but just making each step that little
bit better. Approaches like this are what have
allowed us to produce the bike we have.’

Pearson
Adventure kit

Stowaway jersey £90, And Dream Of Sheep
T-shirt £55, Manoeuvre bibshorts £150,
On Your Toes socks £10, pearson1860.com
Summer is the time of year for a big day out or, considering
bikepacking’s rise in popularity, several consecutive big days
out. Those with such plans will appreciate British bike brand
Pearson’s latest kit collection, for they’ll know that storage
is important to the success of the trip.
Between them, the Stowaway jersey and Manoeuvre
bibshorts feature ten pockets. The jersey’s large ‘envelope’
pocket on the chest stands out, but the garment also has
stash pockets on each hip plus three across the lower back.
The bibshorts complement the jersey’s compartments with
a mesh cargo pocket on each leg and two at the rear.
With a sensible on-bike luggage setup, the rider could
even opt for the And Dream Of Sheep T-shirt instead of the
jersey. Pearson says this uses a relaxed cut and a merino wool
blend fabric to create an airy, light garment that won’t smell
in the mid-adventure pub pit-stop, thanks to merino’s natural
antimicrobial properties.

September 2023 13

AGREE C:62
SPEED PERFECTED

C:62 CARBON FRAME - SHIMANO 105 Di2
FULL INTERNAL CABLE ROUTING - UCI COMPLIANT

CUBEBIKESUK

CUBE-BIKES.CO.UK

New gear Gear+Tech

Rapha Pro

Team Lace
shoes

£245, rapha.cc

espite the speed and security of
dial-based closure systems on
cycling shoes, more traditional
lace closures remain a popular
alternative for certain riders who
prefer extra tunability. Laces generally use more
attachment points, which makes it easier to get
the shoe upper to hug the foot just so.
Rapha’s new Pro Team Lace design aims to
provide the best of both worlds by being the first
cycling shoe to use a Speed Lace system, which is
a common feature on high-end trail running and
snowsports footwear.
Instead of generating tension in the laces by
tying them into a bow, the system uses a one-way
slider that clamps down onto them. The action
is much quicker than tying a bow but Rapha says
the result is the same: all the foot-embracing
goodness of laces with the speed of a dial closure.
There is a quick-release mechanism on the clamp
too – just as there is on dials – so the rider can
release the lace tension immediately without
having to fight with a knot.
The new closure system is paired with Rapha’s
existing Powerweave woven upper. The brand says
the seamless material facilitates the even pressure
spread created by the laces across the whole foot.
The shoes are finished off with Rapha’s shapely
carbon composite sole. It promises girder-like
stiffness to ensure that while the shoes should
be plush to wear, comfort shouldn’t come at the
expense of efficiency.

D

The Pro Team
Lace shoes use a
clamp to make it
easy to tighten and
loosen the laces

Vinco Sola sunglasses
£199, vincoperformance.com

The oversize lenses of new eyewear brand
Vinco’s Sola glasses may grab the attention, but
it’s the frames that are especially clever. They’re
made from a material called Lignatura, which is a
proprietary, renewable bio-resin derived as a byproduct from paper production. Vinco says it is 98%
fir and beechwood fibre, obtained from certified
forests in Finland, and the frames are just as tough
and flexible as conventional plastics. On top of that,
they use stainless steel hinges and attachment
hardware that Vinco says will last a lifetime.

cyclist.co.uk

September 2023 15

Gear+Tech New gear

Apex XPLR AXS is
a little heavier than
Sram’s higher-tier
groupsets, but with
very little impact
on performance

Sram Apex XPLR

AXS groupset

From £1,262, sram.com

ince being first to market in 2015
with Red eTap, Sram has led
the way when it comes to fully
wireless shifting. Nearly ten years
on, the technology has trickled
down to its most accessible price point yet in the
form of the fourth-tier Apex AXS. Two wireless
variants are available – the gravel-focussed Apex
XPLR AXS and mountain bike-focussed Apex
Eagle AXS – but Sram hasn’t abandoned good
old-fashioned mechanical shifting. Instead, Apex
AXS co-launches with two 12-speed mechanical
groupsets, Apex XPLR and Apex Eagle.
While all Apex options are 1x-only, befitting
Sram’s AXS concept of cross-compatibility, parts of
Apex XPLR AXS work with Apex Eagle AXS, as well
as with AXS components higher up the food chain.
For example, Apex XPLR AXS’s drop-bar shifters

S

16 September 2023

work with Eagle AXS rear derailleurs
should riders desire more range than
Apex XPLR’s 10-44t cassette provides.
Generally, Apex XPLR AXS is very similar
to its higher-end Rival, Force and even Red
siblings. The servos, motors and batteries that
comprise all AXS systems are the same, and the
shape of the Apex shifters mirrors Rival and Force,
and likely (once it receives an overdue update)
Red too. The main difference is the Apex groups
use less premium materials and manufacturing
techniques in certain areas to keep costs down.
Apex’s less sophisticated construction results
in a marginally heavier weight (it’s around 100g
heavier than Rival in a similar setup), however in
both appearance and function Apex promises to
belie its pricetag. Wireless electronic groupsets
have never been cheaper.

cyclist.co.uk

C O M F O R T
H A S
N E V E R
B E E N
S O

F A S T

CASTELLI-CYCLING.COM

Bikes shown are for illustration purposes only.

New gear Gear+Tech

Abus

GameChanger
2.0 helmet

The Aeroblade
insert improves
either aerodynamics
or ventilation
depending on the
rider’s head position

£279.99, extrauk.co.uk

he new GameChanger 2.0 helmet
was used at the 2023 Tour de
France by Abus’s sponsored pro
teams, Alpecin-Deceuninck and
Movistar, and the occasionally
roasting temperatures at this year’s race made
it clear why a main goal in the redevelopment
of this aero helmet was to improve ventilation.
Taking inspiration from its airy Airbreaker
helmet, Abus incorporated new vents along the
brow. The brand says this increased airflow to the
area by 32%, which it supported by remodelling
the shell’s internal channelling and widening the
exhaust ports at the rear. As a result, Abus claims
20% more air flows through the helmet.
As well as increased ventilation, Abus says
2-5% extra speed has been found by widening
and lowering the rear of the helmet.
‘The new shape is better suited for higher
sprinting speeds, being optimised for 46-52kmh
riding,’ says product manager Lukasz Tamajka.
The top of the helmet also incorporates a natty
perforated plastic insert, dubbed an ‘aeroblade’,
which Tamajka says improves aerodynamics or
ventilation depending on the rider’s head position.
Most importantly, the GameChanger features
Abus’s QUIN crash detection system, which sends
a GPS location to emergency phone contacts via
SMS and email when a sudden deceleration is
detected. Helmets are about safety first, after all.

T

Teravail Telegraph tyres
£45 each, lyon.co.uk

Well known for its gnarly adventure tyres, Teravail
has just released its first set primarily designed
for road use. The Telegraphs are tubeless-ready
and will be offered in both tan and black sidewall
options, but in just a single 30mm width. They
have a slick centre tread for low rolling resistance
and staggered indentations at the edge for grip
through corners.
The tyres are made from a single-compound
rubber, which Teravail says provides both
compliance and grip. The supple 120tpi casing is
covered by an internal liner to improve air retention
in a tubeless setup, and for even more protection
the black sidewall version of the tyre is offered
with bulkier ‘durable’ construction versus the tan’s
‘light and supple’ build.

cyclist.co.uk

September 2023 19

Gear+Tech New gear

Reynolds Blacklabel

60 Pro wheels

£2,200, upgradebikes.co.uk

eynolds’ new Blacklabel 60 wheels may look like
a throwback to the early 2010s with their aggressive
V-shape rim profile, but the American manufacturer
says this latest version is anything but dated. ‘The idea
that a U-shape rim has better handling characteristics
by promoting stability is a misconception,’ says Todd Tanner, head of
Reynolds’ wheel development. ‘Our DET profile has led the way in
stability since its inception, and the DET2 used here has improved
the aerodynamics even more.’
DET stands for ‘dispersive effect termination’ and is the rim
profile’s defining feature, with a blunted V-shape based on aircraft
design. The updated DET2 rim bulges noticeably outwards from the
rim beads, reaching its widest point a few millimetres from the tyre,
before tapering pretty sharply to a V-shape at the nipple bed.
While Reynolds isn’t able to provide figures for speed gains or
watt savings, it claims the Blacklabel 60 consistently outperforms
competitors in stability terms despite similar aero credentials.
As the name suggests, the rims are 60mm deep. They’re also
tubeless-ready, with an internal width of 21mm and external width
of 34mm, which Reynolds says is optimised for use with 28mm tyres.
The wheels are available in three different builds, all using the same DET2
profile. The top-tier BL60 Pro uses a Reynolds hub shell with Industry
Nine internals and Sapim CX-Ray spokes, and weighs a claimed 1,500g.
A 46mm-deep version is also available weighing a claimed 1,397g.

R

20 September 2023

The V-shaped rim
profile is claimed
to offer improved
aerodynamics over
blunt-nosed profiles

cyclist.co.uk

Slide in,
drop out
Lord Cycles’ Chris Lord talks Jackson
Pollock paintjobs and sliding dropouts
Words PADDY MADDISON Photography MIKE MASSARO

ave you ever seen that
Royal Navy advert? The
one that says, ‘If you can
fix a bike then you can
learn to fix a Lynx Mk2
helicopter’? For Chris Lord, the same
logic applies, only in reverse.
‘I used to build aircraft engines,’
Lord tells Cyclist from his workshop
in Cardiff. ‘I did my apprenticeship in
it, but unfortunately I grew to hate it.
Doing the same thing day in, day out
– it was driving me insane. What I really
wanted was to be creative and work
with my hands.
‘I’ve always liked bikes. Gravel and
bikepacking are what I do the most of,
and I guess it was BMX that really got
me into it. So framebuilding was just
the perfect solution for me.’

H

In the beginning
Lord built his first frame sometime
around 2016, although he struggles to
remember exactly when. Since then he
has put his stamp on everything from
bikepacking rigs to road bikes, which
he’s been doing under his Lord Cycles
brand since just before lockdown.
He specialises in custom bikes,
working collaboratively with his
customers to create one-of-a-kind
machines that reflect their owners’
riding styles and personalities. It’s
an intimate process that yields some
intriguing results.
‘The paintwork, for example,’ says
Lord. ‘When I’m coming up with ideas
for the designs, I get the customer to
create a file of things they’re interested
in, things they’re inspired by, and then
from all of that imagery we just play
around with a load of different ideas

22 September 2023

and develop it into something that ties
everything together.’
Such is the case with the Jackson
Pollock-inspired bike you see here.
This is a customised version of Lord’s
Antur gravel bike, which is designed to
tackle all types of terrain. It was built for
a customer called James, who liked the
idea of having two bikes rolled into one.
‘He wanted a gravel bike to take the
place of his two existing bikes, both of
which were pretty similar and neither
of which really suited him all that well,’
says Lord. ‘He was after something that
fitted him like a glove and that would
be the only bike he’d need. The idea for
the project was to create an “n-1” bike
instead of the standard “n+1” bike.
‘He also wanted to be able to run the
bike single-speed. He grew up riding a
single-speed mountain bike and wanted
to give a nod to his roots. It gives the bike
another cool little playful element.’

Chris Lord quit building
aircraft engines to become
a framebuilder, and this
stunning version of his
Antur gravel bike proves
the aerospace industry’s
loss is cycling’s gain

cyclist.co.uk

Me and my bike Gear+Tech

cyclist.co.uk

September 2023 23

Gear+Tech Me and my bike

Builds from £4,600, up
to approx £7,000 for
the top spec. See
lordcycles.co.uk

‘I get the customer to create a file of things
they’re inspired by, and then from all of that
imagery we play around with a load of ideas’
Sliding dropouts
The bike can switch between singlespeed and a multi-speed groupset
thanks to a pair of sliding dropouts from
Paragon Machine Works in the USA.
‘They make it super-easy to convert
the bike to single-speed,’ says Lord.
‘Obviously you have to fit the new
wheel, but the brake mount, the hanger
and all of that stuff is attached to the
slider, so that all moves as one as you
adjust it. It means you don’t have to set
up the brakes or anything. It just comes
as one piece. Loosen the allen key bolt
and you’re able to adjust the tension
like that.’
As lovely as those dropouts are,
what really makes this frame pop is the
eye-catching paintjob. Lord does all the
design work himself, then partners with
a local painter to execute the messy side
of things.
‘The colours were all chosen to
match James’s frame bags,’ says Lord.
‘That was the main idea behind it. He
also wanted something that would

24 September 2023

tie in with his local riding, which often
involves quite dusty, sand-coloured
terrain. That was how the colour
scheme was born.’
As for the Jackson Pollock element,
that came from the mood board file that
James supplied when he commissioned
the build.
The paintwork may be deliberately
messy but the frame routing is designed
for minimal fuss and faff.
‘The internal routing is a fully lined
stainless steel tube, so it means you just
poke the hose in at the top and it will
feed nicely out the bottom. There’s no
fishing around for the hoses or anything
like that. Super-simple. Also, James
wanted the option to be able to run
dynamo lighting, so again that’s fully
internally routed.’
For those who like the idea of riding
around on a custom bike of their own,
Lord offers a number of build options
across road, gravel and adventure. Or
you can get in touch directly to discuss
ideas for your own custom project.

cyclist.co.uk

©Luke Michael James

Re-engineered with aggresive geometry,
sharp lines, and elegant design; aerodynamics
are the heart and soul of the Lapierre Aircode.
¤ĚēĚǶŠĚNjūƭƑŕĿŞĿƥƙɍlapierrebikes.co.uk

Featured bike: Aircode DRS 7.0

Find your flow

Gear+Tech Sunglasses

Shades of
fashion

Cycling sunglasses for off the bike
here are all sorts of ways to tell
people you’re a cyclist without
telling them you’re a cyclist.
Open your wine bottles with
Campagnolo’s Big Corkscrew, slice
pizzas with Park Tool’s PZT-2 pizza cutter, grill
sausages on Cyclus Tools’ mini-barbecue (don’t
forget to use the accompanying cone spanner
tongs). But there is a less ostentatious method:
sport casual sunnies made by a cycling brand.
The likes of Scicon, Rudy Project and Poc might
not be the first names to spring to mind when it
comes to choosing this summer’s shades, but
these brands employ all the technological nous
from their cycling glasses in their more relaxed
designs. Frames are made from the same tough,
lightweight plastic, and lenses receive the same
treatments to repel oil, water and dust. And as for
Oakley, its lifestyle designs have long been equal
to its sports models, especially with its visionenhancing Prizm lenses available across the board.
For the real cycling aficionados, however, there
are some under-the-radar options that ooze
elegance while still signalling your penchant for
shaved legs and Lycra. Long before injectionmoulded frames and polarised lenses, Italian brand
Persol was making Fausto Coppi’s eyewear of
choice, on and off the bike, while Bernard Hinault
raced for much of his career in Ray-Ban Aviators,
even choosing to wear gold versions in interviews.
If your aim is to blend performance and style, you
can’t argue with Il Campionissimo or the Badger.

T

Left to right, top to bottom: Scicon Protox £115, sciconsports.
com; Poc Avail £160, pocsports.com; Koo California £99.99,
velobrands.co.uk; 100% Legere £119.99, freewheel.co.uk;
Rudy Project Lightflow B £119.99, rudyproject.co.uk; Rapha
Classic £105, rapha.cc; Persol PO3309S £283, persol.com;
Ray-Ban Aviator Reverse £166, ray-ban.com; Oakley Actuator
£148, oakley.com; Sungod Tokas £70, sungod.co

26 September 2023

Gear+Tech Opinion

Integration has
gone too far
From handlebars to seatclamps, the obsession
with integration is wreaking havoc with bikes,
says Charlotte Head. And do we even need it?

Modern bikes have been smoothed
and slimmed down for aerodynamic
excellence. For riders it’s fantastic, but
for mechanics? It’s Pandora’s box made
carbon, as newer bikes are integrated to
within an inch of their lives in search of
aero (and indeed aesthetic) perfection.
What may once have been a fiveminute job can now take a mechanic
hours of struggle, and the idea of doing
repairs at home is relegated to a distant
memory. Need it be this way, though?
I’m not convinced.
One-piece bars
The industry can talk at length about
reducing a bike’s frontal area, and
slimming down the cockpit has
become a popular way to do so. In lieu of
the traditional separate handlebar and
stem, one-piece bars are constructed
for the most aerodynamic outcome.
Don’t get me wrong, this looks pretty,
but it is hell to work on. Minuscule
holes are left to slide hydraulic hoses
through – and cables if you’re running
mechanical – and God help you when
you’re trying to get them to come out
the other end. There are liners and tools
for this very purpose but anyone who’s
used these will know they are far from

seatpost clamps can seem innocuous
enough until you accidentally round
off a bolt in a moment of carelessness.
You must then either decide that
you’re happy with your now-permanent
saddle height or get a mechanic to
delicately and painstakingly destroy
said bolt while making sure no harm
comes to your beloved paintwork.
Maybe it doesn’t even get stuck, maybe
you just need to adjust it on the fly. I
don’t know if you’ve ever seen a Canyon
Aeroad seatpost clamp circa 2020,
but you have to remove the whole
rear wheel just to access it, which
I can say from experience is a wildly
frustrating piece of design.
Moving forward
I’m not a complete naysayer. I value
the performance and beauty of a
cleanly integrated bike, I just don’t
believe it needs to come at the cost of
all practicality. And if you think it’s an
us versus pros conundrum, it’s really
not – the UAE team specifically asked
Colnago to put sturdier bearings in
the new V4Rs because it took team
mechanics so much time to replace
the headset bearings given the bike’s
internal routing. Compromises are out

One-piece bars are constructed for the most
aerodynamic outcome. Don’t get me wrong,
this looks pretty, but it is hell to work on
perfect. I once sprained my thumb trying
to fit the tiny corner pieces to a set of
Specialized Aerofly bars.

used to be a humble
bike mechanic, and
I loved it. Taking
something that was
broken and repairing
it – solving the puzzle like a Rubik’s cube
until everything slotted into place – was
a wholly satisfying experience.
Sometimes builds would flow with
absurd ease, parts seemingly levitating
onto the bike and tuning themselves.
Sometimes, however, I’d cast my eye
over a quote and a sense of dread would
fill me. ‘Needs new headset bearings,’
the notes would read. ‘Also fit aero bars
provided.’ The bike in question: a Trek
Madone; maybe a Cervélo S5. And there
would go the rest of my day.

I

28 September 2023

Internal cabling
Bearings take a beating and are
decidedly unpleasant to ride with when
they’ve gone rough. In simpler times, to
replace a headset bearing you need only
whip off the stem, take out the rusty
remains and whack in some new ones
with fresh grease. Nowadays, hoses and
cables are often routed directly through
the middle of those bearings. If you’ve
also got integrated bars, that means
cutting the brake hoses just to replace
the bearings. Then you have to reroute
and fully bleed the whole system, a
process that takes a hefty amount of
time and skyrockets the labour costs.
Hidden seatclamps
Modern bike manufacturers are often
disciples at the altar of minimalism.
Elements such as hidden or recessed

there, including aero bars that run hoses
inside a recess rather than through the
inside of the bars, but unfortunately
they’re far from ubiquitous.
While it may seem like the dream to
have a bike you could draw in a single
outline, if you can’t afford to maintain
it, or don’t have the time to, it loses its
sparkle pretty quickly. So we must ask
ourselves, do we really need the world’s
slipperiest bike for day-to-day riding?
Is it not better to have something more
practical, more repairable, more simple
(asks the grease-covered mechanic
with two sprained thumbs and a brake
hose sticking out of her hair)?
Tech writer Charlotte
learned to build wheels
back when she viewed
gears as unnecessary,
favouring one brake
and some grippy tyres.
Since then she’s come
to accept that modern
bikes have their uses,
and her knees are
much happier for it.

cyclist.co.uk

Gear+Tech Must have

3

1
2

4

Pick ’n’
Mix
Words Will Strickson Photo Danny Bird

You don’t
just want it you need it

5

1 TORQ NAKED
FLAVOURLESS GEL
£29.25 (15-pack), torqfitness.co.uk
Torque is often referred to as the
moment of force, but you won’t
need to force yourself to consume
Torq gels, as the brand has created
these flavourless energy gels
to help keep legs and stomach
running smoothly. While they
sacrifice electrolytes to minimise
the flavour, each gel packs in
30g of carbohydrates with a 2:1
maltodextrin-to-fructose ratio.

2 THE ROAD BOOK 1989
£40, theroadbook.co.uk
Got the post-Tour blues? Well, the
first of a new Blue Books series

30 September 2023

is the antidote, giving the Road
Book treatment to one of cycling’s
greatest years. With contributions
from the likes of Sean Kelly, Edwig
Van Hooydonck, Pippa York and
Kathy LeMond, The Road Book
1989 provides statistics, essays
and first-hand insights of racing in
1989, including that Tour de France.

3 GREEN PEOPLE
SPORTS+ SPF30
FACIAL SUN CREAM
£28, greenpeople.co.uk
What do archers shoot when the
weather’s bad? Rainbows. When
the sun’s out, though, Green
People’s Sports+ is a facial sun
cream designed for outdoor

pursuits. Made with mostly
organic ingredients, the veganfriendly sun cream protects
against UVA and UVB rays and
Green People says it’s hydrating,
easy-absorbing and nonwhitening. The 50ml bottle fits
nicely in a bike bag too.

4 RESTRAP COFFEE
DRIPPER
£9.99, restrap.com
Some people don’t like coffee;
it’s just not their cup of tea. Lots of
cyclists do, however, so here’s the
perfect solution for bikepacking
coffee enthusiasts. The handmade
Coffee Dripper comprises three
pieces that lock together to hold a

V60 filter securely over a mug and
neatly packs away in a pouch
afterwards. Just add beans,
grinder, stove, water and mug.

5 CAFÉ DU CYCLISTE
TOP TUBE BAG
£74, cafeducycliste.com
Hospital waiting rooms are a real
test of patience. A rain-interrupted
bike ride is too, but thankfully Café
du Cyclist’s top tube bag is
waterproof, with heat-sealed
seams and AquaGuard zips to keep
everything inside protected from
the elements. Its 1.5-litre capacity
helps protect your most important
assets with enough space leftover
for a rain cape.

cyclist.co.uk

FOR YOUR RACK

FINALLY A BRILLIANT LIGHT

Property of knog INTERNATIONAL research & development labs Oceania 2023 + P

rty of knog INTERNATIONAL research & development labs Oceania 2023 + Prope

HUUB applies
world-leading tech
to must-have kit for
the aero-obsessed

UUB has long been at the
leading edge of aerodynamic
research and kit production,
but it’s only in recent years
that the Derby-based
company – best known
for its world-dominating
triathlon kit – has turned its attention
specifically to cycling.
Lessons learned in the pursuit of minimal
resistance – whether on land or in water –
have resulted in the creation of a range of
aerodynamic cycling kit that represents the
pinnacle of performance. But now it’s no
longer the preserve of the pro – HUUB can
make anyone quicker. ‘We are proud to see
that our years of R&D, used initially to support
the HUUB-Wattbike track team and RibbleWeldtite Pro Cycling team, has now been able
to filter into all our commercial products,’
says HUUB CEO Dean Jackson. ‘We’re making
world-leading, cutting-edge aero technology
available to everyone.’
Bridging the gap
HUUB’s cycling products deliver a huge
competitive advantage on any bike, across a
wide range of speeds and conditions – whether
it’s triathlon, track, road or time-trial. However,
the game-changer is the brand’s Aero-BridgeTM
Base Layer (£149.99), used in the decisive
mountain time-trial stage of the 2023 Giro
d’Italia and the most recent Olympics, where its
competitive advantage led to raised voices as
well as raised eyebrows.
The base layer, also available in a shortsleeved version (£129.99) that can be worn
underneath any smooth-sleeved cycle jersey,
road speed suit or tri suit, was developed at
the Silverstone Sports Engineering Hub and
the Derby Velodrome alongside some of the
world’s leading engineers and riders. Designed
to be worn beneath a skinsuit, Aero-BridgeTM
tech stretches the smooth fabric of the skinsuit
over the base layer’s ridged arm fabric to disrupt
airflow. Optimised for speeds of 45-55kmh,

HUUB’s cycling kit, including
its Aero-BridgeTM Base Layer
(above), was developed at
the Silverstone Sports
Engineering Hub and on the
track at the Derby Velodrome

HUUB / Promotion
HUUB provides kit to
the Embark Spirit BSS
British Cycling Elite
Development team

from the body to reduce fatigue and boost
overall performance. There’s even a Custom
Labs skinsuit option. Prices start at £999 for
team or club designs, with full custom sizing,
design, fabrics and aero consultancy available
from £2,500. Beyond suits, HUUB’s slipon, weather-proof Anemoi Aero Overshoe
(£39.99) promises aero gains for time-trials.
HUUB’s JK9 collection of jerseys, bibshorts
and speedsuit was created in partnership with
Britain’s most decorated Olympian, Jason
Kenny. ‘Pulling the data from our extensive
aero fabric matrix, formulated over three years
of wind-tunnel and fabric testing, we created
a collection that is second to none,’ says
Jackson. ‘We know speed matters for everyone,
and Jason insisted we delivered a gain that was
accessible at any speed.’
National treasure
The performance advantage of HUUB’s
products has been proven on the biggest
stages. Take Ollie Wood, for example. Left
without a team when AT85 Pro Cycling folded
earlier this year – and therefore with the
freedom to choose his own kit – the 27-yearold approached HUUB to help make him faster.
Wood won the 2023 Circuit Race National
Championships wearing his bespoke HUUB
Custom Labs Skin Suit for the first time. HUUB
Wattshop CC also had three riders in the top
10 of this year’s National TT Championships,
with John Archibald, Dan Bigham and Michael
Gill all using HUUB’s Aero-BridgeTM technology
to beat many WorldTour pros. On the track
meanwhile, HUUB-sponsored rider Neah Evans
also picked up a new title and multiple medals
at the National Championships.

‘We’re making
world-leading,
cutting-edge
technology
available to
everyone’

the kit has been supplied to national cycling
teams competing at the highest level over the
past two years.
Skin in the game
Given HUUB’s unparalleled success in triathlon,
it’s no surprise that skinsuits rank highly on its
cycling priorities. HUUB has worked with the
greatest minds in aero and engineering to drive
forward aero kit. More than 500 fabric tests
went into the creation of the new Aero Road
Speed Suit (£249.99) and, while working with
Nottingham Trent University, HUUB has also
better grasped how to regulate heat away

Fellowship of speed
Behind the success of HUUB’s phenomenally
effective aero-optimised kit is a group
affectionately referred to as the Fellowship of
Speed. Combining the brains of people such
as HUUB-Wattbike rider (and HUUB’s Head of
Cycling) Jacob Tipper and Nottingham Trent
University’s sports engineering and physiology
expert, Dr Steve Faulkner, this R&D team
delivers results.
‘A lot of effort, money and resource goes
into our research, and that often results in really
small tweaks to kit,’ says Dr Faulkner. ‘But it’s
those things that you don’t necessarily see that
often make you go faster.’
It’s always about marginal gains, right?
Find out more at www.huubdesign.com

Snapshot
Special moments from the past month’s pro
racing, as selected by the photographers
who captured them
cyclist.co.uk

September 2023 35

PREVIOUS PAGE
Race: Tour de France, 23rd July 2023
Photographer: Chris Auld
‘After almost a month on the road,
this is what it was all about: the final
podium of the 2023 Tour de France.
The race was won by Jonas Vingegaard
(Jumbo-Visma) ahead of Tadej Pogačar
and Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates).
Shooting the final stage is a bit of a
pain for my colleagues and I because
we have to drag our weary bones to
Paris – normally a huge drive from
the penultimate stage.
‘Covering this stage is always
challenging. There’s nothing a Parisian
gendarme likes more than manhandling
a photographer, especially when said
photographer doesn’t want to shoot in
the allocated space. The key is to loiter,
blend in, gradually move into position at
the decisive moment and try not to draw
attention to yourself. If you’re really
lucky, you might get away with it.’

36 September 2023

BELOW
Race: Giro d’Italia Donne, 5th July 2023
Photographer: Eloise Mavian/Tornanti
‘It’s Stage 6 of the Giro d’Italia Donne,
and Movistar’s Annemiek van Vleuten is
wearing the maglia rosa of race leader.
She’s at the bottom of the Calosso
climb, on her way to winning the stage
after a very hilly day with lots of little
climbs and three Gran Premio della
Montagna summits including the
uphill finish.
‘With 500m to go, she looks behind
to make sure that the gap is still good.
She will cross the line 20 seconds ahead
of the chasing group, with SD Worx’s
Lorena Wiebes and Movistar teammate
Liane Lippert taking the other podium
spots. Van Vleuten will go on to win the
whole race by almost four minutes from
her nearest rival, as well as winning the
points and mountains classifications.’

cyclist.co.uk

Snapshot Pro+Racing

ABOVE
Race: Giro d’Italia Donne, 9th July 2023
Photographer: Eloise Mavian/Tornanti
‘This year’s Giro d’Italia Donne moved
from the mainland to Sardinia for the
last two stages, and it was incredibly
hot. This photo was taken at the
finish line on the last day, with Chiara
Consonni (UAE Team ADQ) winning
the sprint against Marianne Vos
(Jumbo-Visma) and Ally Wollaston
(AG Insurance-Soudal-Quickstep).
‘I was initially focussed on Vos in
front but Consonni was so powerful in
the final few metres. As she crossed
the line, she started cheering with all
the strength she had left. You can see
the disappointed face of Vos and the
tiredness on the face of Canyon-Sram
rider Chloe Dygert in her US national
champion’s kit.’

cyclist.co.uk

September 2023 37

38 September 2023

cyclist.co.uk

Snapshot Pro+Racing

TOP LEFT
Race: Tour de France, 13th July 2023
Photographer: Harry Talbot
‘I took this photograph from inside a
beautiful house in the Beaujolais region
of France, which was filled with original
works of art by the owner. On Stage 12,
the owner’s friends and family had
gathered for lunch and wine to celebrate
the Tour travelling through their small
village, later adorning polka dots and
heading outside to cheer for the riders.
‘From inside the house, I could tell
when the peloton was about to arrive
by the escalation of noise from the fans
outside. I like this shot, as it shows that
you don’t always have to have riders in
an image to get a real sense of the Tour.’

cyclist.co.uk

BOTTOM LEFT
Race: Tour de France, 16th July 2023
Photographer: Zac Williams
‘It felt like the Tour de France was
on a knife edge on Stage 15. Jonas
Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Tadej
Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) were
separated by just ten seconds on the
general classification, and nothing could
split them on the final climb before the
second rest day. At this point, it was one
of the most exciting Tours in years.
‘Pogačar came tearing around
the corner with 100m to go, but then
Vingegaard shot out from his wheel
to finish centimetres ahead. It was for
nothing but bragging rights at this point,
as Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious) had
already won the stage and the bonus
seconds had already been taken, but
the Tour was on.’

ABOVE
Race: Tour de France Femmes,
24th July 2023
Photographer: Honor Elliott
‘This photograph was taken at the
finish of Stage 2 of the Tour de France
Femmes. Here, Movistar’s Liane
Lippert looks shocked and amazed to
have won the uphill sprint ahead of the
favourite, SD Worx’s Lotte Kopecky,
who was wearing the maillot jaune.
I was waiting alongside the soigneurs
to do some filming work but grabbed
the opportunity to capture the sheer
disbelief and joy on Lippert’s face as she
rode past. It tells the story of the stage.’

September 2023 39

Q&A
Lora and Neil Fachie
Lora and Neil Fachie have won two Paralympic golds apiece plus
countless titles in tandem paracycling. Now, the Manchester-based
couple is aiming for further success at the Worlds in Glasgow
Words JAMES WITTS Photography ALEX WRIGHT

Cyclist: Which events will you be
aiming for at the UCI Cycling World
Championships in Glasgow (3rd-13th
August)?
Lora Fachie: I’m going for the kilometre
pursuit on the track plus the time-trial
and road race. In paracycling, we don’t
race anywhere near the same length
as able-bodied road racers so there’s
a crossover from the pursuit.
Neil Fachie: I’m a sprinter so just the
track. I’m aiming to defend my title
in the 1km time-trial and sprint, and
may also ride the team sprint but
that’s to be confirmed. I don’t have
the endurance to be anywhere near
competitive on the road.

years now. It’s important to get on with
the pilot as you must communicate and
work effectively. You don’t necessarily
need to like the person but it does make
the whole thing a lot more fun and
enjoyable if you do.
NF: My pilot is Matt Rotherham,
although it’s worth pointing out that
British Cycling decides who we ride
with, not us. But Matt’s great and we’ve
enjoyed a lot of success together. We
first got on the tandem around 2018.
Matt was on the British Cycling Sprint
Academy but didn’t quite make it onto
the Olympic programme. Over time,
that trust grows. Once you share rooms
with someone, you get to know them

LORA FACHIE
Age 34
Born Liverpool
Notable results
2021
1st, Road World
Championships,
Tandem B Time-Trial
2020
1st, Paralympic Games,
Individual Pursuit B

‘I had my funding cut and thought my
sporting career was done. Thankfully I
found cycling and it turns out that was the
sport I should have been doing all along’

2018
1st, Track World
Championships,
Tandem B Pursuit

Cyc: Tell us about your sight-loss
conditions.
LF: Mine’s a hereditary condition
that I’ve had since birth. My whole
family have it, so my mum and two
brothers. Now I have just perception,
but when I was born I had a little more
useful vision.
NF: Mine is also a hereditary
condition and I got it from my mum.
It’s degenerative so is worsening over
time. At some point, it looks like I’ll be
totally blind but I have usable sight at
this point, although not enough to race
a bike at speed by myself.

2014
1st, Road World
Championships,
Tandem B Road Race

Cyc: The relationship between
yourselves and your pilots must
be important?
LF: It is, although I’m just hoping my pilot
will be Corinne [Hall]. I’ve been riding
off and on with Corinne for around ten

40 September 2023

very well. Of course, it’s challenging
at times but that’s competitive sport.
Cyc: How often do you and your
respective pilots train together?
LF: I train six times a week but haven’t
trained with Corinne since the road race
at the Tokyo Paralympics, which didn’t
go well as we endured a mechanical.
She underwent knee surgery postTokyo and has been rehabbing from
that, while I had baby Fraser last year.
I’d liked to have trained with her sooner
but she’s been away racing with another
stoker [who rides behind the pilot].
I’m hoping to get back on the bike with
her in the next couple of weeks, which
makes it a tight turnaround for an
opportunity to qualify for Glasgow.
NF: I’m in the Manchester Velodrome
with Matt two or three times a week and
we also see each other in gym sessions.

2016
1st, Paralympic Games,
Individual Pursuit B

2013
1st, Road World
Championships,
Tandem B Time-Trial
NEIL FACHIE
Age 39
Born Aberdeen
Notable results
2020
1st, Paralympic Games,
Tandem B Kilo
2012
1st, Paralympic Games,
Tandem B Kilo
2009-2022
15 Track World
Championship titles
2014-2022
5 Commonwealth
Games gold medals

Cyc: Presumably you complement the
track work with indoor-trainer efforts?
NF: Yeah, we have smart trainers
that are hooked up to Zwift. During
lockdown we had our conservatory
converted into an indoor gym, featuring
turbos plus freestanding weights and
gym matting. Before that, I left a fair
few dents in the floor.
Cyc: How’s life balancing training and
parenthood?
NF: It’s been interesting. We have
to share when we train and when we
look after our wee lad. That has been
a challenge and the lack of sleep has
taken its toll. But it does make you
appreciate that some of the struggles
of training aren’t that bad.
LF: The first three months were very
tough, especially as I struggled to
breastfeed. I’m a determined person
and don’t give up easily, so tried
everything possible to breastfeed him
and ran myself into the ground. Looking
back, I struggled mentally post-birth
for a while, which I think impacted my
ability to breastfeed. He had a late
diagnosis of tongue tie, which didn’t
help either.
Cyc: This parental theme stretched to
making TV history, didn’t it?
LF: It did, because I was the first person
to read a CBeebies bedtime story in
braille. I read The Secret Code, a story
about a boy whose friends think he can
read in a secret code only to discover
it’s in braille.
It was special sitting in the chair
that some famous people had sat in,
especially as I was 38 weeks pregnant.
It was amazing how intense filming was.
To read a book that takes five minutes to
read took over three hours to film. We
think we’re picky about aerodynamics

cyclist.co.uk

Interview Pro+Racing

and power but it was interesting to see it
in other walks of life. Ultimately though,
I keep thinking I sat in the same seat as
Dave Grohl!
Cyc: What was your path to paracycling?
NF: I’m from near Aberdeen. My
mum took me along to sport camps in
swimming and fencing as she wanted
me to burn off energy. I found athletics
at ten and loved the simplicity of it. I
was a slow developer so pretty much
finished last in every race from 12 to 16.
But things started to click. I made it to
the 2008 Beijing Paralympics as a 100m
and 200m runner. I didn’t make the final,
had my funding cut and thought my
sporting career was done. Thankfully
I found cycling and it turns out that
was the sport I should have been
doing all along.
LF: I’m from a sporty family and first
entered sport when I was around eight
or nine and found my mum’s running
spikes in her wardrobe. I competed in
athletics through my teenage years
and it took until 21 before I really found
cycling, when someone suggested I get
on the back of a tandem. And here I am.
Cyc: How could prospective paracyclists
enter the sport?
NF: Get in touch with a development
squad and go along to a talent day.
Derby is particularly good for this and
has paracycling focus days where
experienced pilots take you on the track
on the tandem. Also, from a leisure point
of view your local cycling club usually
has someone who’ll be happy to go out
with you on a tandem. Someone at a
club always seems to have a tandem
sitting around in a garage.
Cyc: Finally, such has been your success
and dedication to paracycling that you
have both recently been awarded OBEs.
How was the Palace?
LF: We haven’t had a chance to collect
them yet. They’ve asked us twice
already to head to Windsor but Fraser
was too young, so it has been delayed
until the autumn. However, at separate
points we’ve both been awarded MBEs
and both visited Buckingham Palace.
Neil’s was in 2013 and he was awarded
an MBE by the Queen. I got mine four
years after, post-Rio. Prince Charles
gave me mine, but he’s gone onto bigger
and better things now.

cyclist.co.uk

September 2023 41

Pro+Racing Comment

My grand plan for
Ineos Grenadiers
For the world’s richest team, two stage wins and a top five is not enough at the
Tour. Ineos Grenadiers need a new plan, and Felix Lowe has just the thing…

W

42 September 2023

in domestique mode for Spain’s Carlos
Rodríguez, the team’s best placed rider in fifth.
Superb back-to-back stage wins for Michał
Kwiatkowski and Rodríguez put some gloss
on an otherwise lacklustre performance from
Ineos, who find themselves several pegs
behind the UAE Team Emirates and JumboVisma squads that have dominated recent
Tours through successive triumphs for Tadej
Pogačar and now Jonas Vingegaard.
Later this summer, Jumbo-Visma will head
to the Vuelta a España with the winners of the
past two Grand Tours in their ranks – Primož
Roglič and Vingegaard – and with the intention
of achieving something that eluded even Team
Sky in their pomp: pulling off the Grand Slam
in a single calendar year.
To stop them in Spain, Ineos will likely send
37-year-old Geraint Thomas and 22-year-old
Rodríguez, two riders who are out of contract
next season. Granted, Welsh veteran Thomas
came within 14 seconds of beating Roglič in the
Giro this May, while Rodríguez finished seventh
in his debut Vuelta last year and flirted with
the final spot on the podium this July. But with
Thomas getting no younger, Bernal showing
no signs of returning to his best and Rodríguez
tipped to join Movistar in 2024, the GC outlook
is bleak for Ineos going forward – especially if
you believe the rumours about Tao Geoghegan
Hart doing his shopping at Lidl.
After a tough couple of years following his
Giro win in 2020, Geoghegan Hart looked back
to his best this season before cruelly crashing
out of the Giro while in third place. Should the
28-year-old join Lidl-Trek or another rival
WorldTour team, Ineos would be left with
just Thymen Arensman and Tom Pidcock
in the GC department.
While the Dutchman took a solid sixth in
the Giro, Pidcock has yet to prove that he has
the consistency to be anything more than a
stage hunter in Grand Tours, the 23-year-old
slumping to 13th, almost 48 minutes behind the
untouchable Vingegaard over three weeks.
Pidcock, of course, has time on his side.
While Pogačar had already won the Tour twice
at Pidcock’s age, it wasn’t until Thomas hit
his thirties that he rode into Paris in yellow.

A multi-disciplinarian with huge potential to
grow and learn, Pidcock may yet develop into
the all-round package that his competitors
Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel already are.
But he may also just as easily decide that he’d
prefer to focus on stage wins, one-day races
and riding his mountain bike.
All this leaves Ineos in something of a
quandary, especially with Pavel Sivakov
tipped to be leaving too. Perhaps the only
viable solution lies in the aforementioned
reigning Vuelta champion. Evenepoel is under
contract at Soudal-QuickStep until 2026 but

With Thomas getting no
younger, Bernal showing
no signs of returning to
his best and Rodríguez
tipped to join Movistar,
the GC outlook is bleak
that hasn’t stopped the rumours of a potential
move to Ineos. The 23-year-old Belgian World
Champion wouldn’t come cheap but he would
be a ready-made solution for Ineos’s GC woes
and would have a stronger cadre around him
than he currently has at the Wolfpack.
The other option for Ineos is more of a bold,
short-term punt that would tide them over for
a year while forever associating the team with
a record that is likely to stand the test of time. So,
Sir Jim Ratcliffe, I urge you to get on the phone
and talk Mark Cavendish out of retirement. It
remains to be seen if Astana will entice the
Manx Missile to return for a second bite of the
cherry at the age of 39, but the prospect of
making history with Ineos must be something
that appeals to all parties.
With no top-tier GC rider to stifle and the
likes of Filippo Ganna, Luke Rowe, Elia Viviani
and Ethan Hayter available for lead-out duties,
Cavendish would surely stand a good chance
of sprinting to the elusive 35th stage win that
only a slipped chain denied him in Bordeaux
this July. Who knows, his old pal Thomas may
even sign on for another year if he could be
a part of that train.

cyclist.co.uk

Photo Danny Bird

holesale change is happening
at the top in pro cycling, but
Ineos Grenadiers are struggling
to keep up. The team that won
at least one Grand Tour every
year between 2011 and 2021 (except 2014 when
Chris Froome crashed out of the Tour de France)
has now failed to win any of the last seven.
Egan Bernal’s Giro d’Italia victory in 2021
marked the last time the British team stood
atop the final podium of a Grand Tour – the
same Bernal whose Tour victory two years
earlier was supposed to herald a new era of
domination. The Colombian made his longawaited return to the Tour this July after the
horrific training crash that kept him sidelined for
most of 2022, but in truth he cut a sorry, largely
innocuous figure in France as he rode primarily

A moment in time

Jacobs secures a
historic rainbow jersey
Sixty-five years ago the inaugural women’s World
Championships Road Race was held in Reims, France,
with Luxembourg’s Elsy Jacobs taking the title
Words GILES BELBIN Photography ALAMY

44 September 2023

cyclist.co.uk

Race history Pro+Racing

aturday, 30th August
1958. A host of the
world’s best female
riders lines up in front
of the grandstands of
the Reims-Gueux motor racing circuit.
Poised, they wait for the pistol crack
that will start the first women’s World
Championships Road Race.
Thirty riders have signed up across
eight countries: Britain, France, Belgium
and the Soviet Union have six riders
apiece, and they are joined by riders
from the Netherlands, Romania and
the German Democratic Republic.
Alongside them is a lone 25-yearold Luxembourger: Elsy Jacobs.
Jacobs was born in March 1933.
The youngest of nine children in a
family that lived in the small community
of Garnich, close to the Belgian border,
she grew up surrounded by cycling,
with elder brothers Roger, Edmond
and Raymond all racing bikes (Edmond
would start the 1956 Tour de France
though he would only complete the
first stage). Inspired by her brothers’
exploits, Jacobs started borrowing their
bikes for training rides. Soon she was
racing, regularly crossing the border
and searching out events in France,
such was the paucity of organised
competition at home. By 1958 she was
based in Paris, having become
a full-time cyclist the year before.
Ahead of Jacobs and her fellow riders
that day in Reims were three laps of a
circuit just shy of 20km, making for a
total race distance of 59.4km. From the

S

wasn’t able to stay at the front but her
move created a leading group over the
top of the circuit’s first major climb. Still,
there was more than half the race to go,
but Jacobs decided the time was right for
her move. On the second climb, the Côte
de Calvaire, she struck out alone.
The entire British team along with
three Soviet riders gave chase, but even
they couldn’t catch Jacobs. By the end of
the second lap she had nearly a whole
minute over her rivals; by the end of the
race her lead was unassailable.
All the way through, Jacobs was a
study in concentration and discipline,
never wavering, riding hell for leather in
the face of the logic that said she should
be caught. She was just too strong.

UCI to reply to direct negotiation, hereby
announce its intention to promote an
annual series of races to be known as:
The Women’s Cycle Racing Association,
World Championships.’
The statement confirmed that the
WCRA had the means to promote such
an event and intended to proceed ‘if
the present inequality for women
is persisted with by the UCI’.
Later, at the UCI’s congress in
Paris, a motion for a women’s World
Championships was again tabled,
and while a majority voted in favour, it
wasn’t by the required margin. Thus,
encouraged by the incumbent president
of the UCI, the WCRA went ahead
with its plan and in July organised its
International Weekend of track and road
races, with Yvonne Reynders and Jacobs
both securing titles.

A long road to Reims
‘The committee of the Women’s Cycle
Racing Association [WCRA] desire
to make known in greater detail its
intention as to World Championships for
Women.’ So begins a policy statement
published by the WCRA in early 1957.
Formed in Britain in 1949 as the
Women’s Track Racing Association
(before changing its name in 1956),
and under the guiding hand of Eileen
Gray – who in 1976 would be elected
president of British Cycling – the WCRA
had long been lobbying governing
bodies at home and abroad for an
increase in the quantity and quality
of women’s cycle races. By 1957 they
had successfully secured a British
National Championships as well as the
‘institution of World Records’ for women

There was more than half the race to go, but Jacobs
decided the time was right for her move. On the second
climb, the Côte de Calvaire, she struck out alone
start/finish straight of Reims-Gueux –
which used rural public roads – the route
took in an extended 12km loop into the
hills to the west of the village of Gueux,
offering up a couple of punchy climbs
before the route rejoined the race circuit.
Jacobs was no sprinter, and her race
tactics were well known: she would
attack early and look to break away
from distance. And so Jacobs focussed
on constructing her race around those
punchy hills – the perfect place to attack.
On the second lap, just as the
toughest part of the circuit approached,
Belgium’s Yvonne Reynders went,
prompting a flurry of activity. Reynders

cyclist.co.uk

cyclists. Now the association had eyes
on a World Championships programme.
By 1957 the WCRA was affiliated to
Britain’s National Cycling Union (NCU)
but, in the words of Gray, the NCU ‘had
little time for women’s affairs nor the
support of our campaign for World
Championships for Women.’ Thus the
association sent a policy statement
to every member state of the UCI
informing them that:
‘The association… acknowledges
the efforts made at the last congress of
the UCI to obtain World Championships
for women, but being mindful of that
failure, and the persistent refusal of the

Elsy Jacobs celebrates
becoming the first
women’s World
Champion on the road.
It had taken nearly a
decade of lobbying by
the Women’s Cycle
Racing Association
for the UCI to sanction
the championships

Trial by road
Fast forward eight months and yet
another motion was tabled, this time at
the UCI’s congress in Zurich, with even
more backing from member nations. But
still the UCI wasn’t wholly supportive,
with the resultant press release stating,
‘In principle the cycling officials are not
opposed to the establishment of World
Championships for women; how the
women’s events will be organised will
be elaborated on at a future session.
It is still to be considered as probable
that the program of a women’s World
Championships will include only a few
sprints. In any case, they will exclude
a road test.’
That future session, held in March
1958 at the Palais d’Orsay in Paris,
confirmed ‘the creating, on a trial basis,
of a female World Championship in three
disciplines (60km road, 3km pursuit,
500m sprint). France is responsible for
its organisation.’ Women at last had their
official World Championships, and it
would include a road race.
So it was that Elsy Jacobs won the
inaugural World Championships so many
years in the making by 2min 51secs.
Later she would pose on a balcony in
her new rainbow jersey, still wearing
mitts on the hands that had guided her
home. Jacobs had entered history as
road racing’s first official women’s World
Champion, and with that a new era of
women’s cycling had begun.
Giles Belbin is the author of Tour de
France Champions: An A To Z
(thehistorypress.co.uk)

September 2023 45

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Inflammatory
comments

Is muscular inflammation post-exercise such a bad thing after all?
o quote a study on inflammatory responses
published in the journal Oncotarget, ‘At the
tissue level, inflammation is characterised
by redness, swelling, heat, pain, and loss of
tissue function… [it] is the immune system’s
response to harmful stimuli… and acts by removing injurious
stimuli and initiating the healing process.’
It is, therefore, a defence mechanism in which white blood
cells flood an affected area to aid healing, whether for a
swollen ankle or inflammation resulting from exercise – the
kind associated with DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness).
So, should we really be looking to curb it with ibuprofen or
RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation)?
Probably not, says a paper entitled ‘Ibuprofen use,
endotoxemia, inflammation, and plasma cytokines during

Photo Danny Bird

T

cyclist.co.uk

ultramarathon competition’ published in Brain, Behaviour
And Immunity. The study looked at the effects of taking
ibuprofen pre and post an ultramarathon and concluded
that no big differences in tissue inflammation resulted from
ibuprofen use. In fact, the blood and urine markers indicating
tissue inflammation were actually elevated in those who
had taken ibuprofen. Similarly, Dr Gabe Mirkin, who coined
RICE back in the 1970s, now concedes in an essay entitled
‘Why Ice Delays Recovery’ that ‘applying ice to injured tissue
causes blood vessels to constrict and shut off the blood flow
that brings in the healing cells of inflammation’.
While these two studies are not linked, they are part
of a growing body of evidence that asserts the best way
to deal with muscular inflammation is just to let it happen
– it’s a very necessary part of the recovery process.

September 2023 47

Train+Eat Fit food

Stewpendous
A veggie feast packing a protein punch
ext year, Nice is scheduled to host
the finale of the Tour de France,
where fans will line the streets to
witness the first last-day time-trial
since LeMond v Fignon. Will it be
as memorable as 1989? Who knows. Will there
be ratatouille served up in the local restaurants?
You betcha. That’s because the star of this month’s
recipe emerged from Provence, created by farmers
as a means of not wasting overripe vegetables.
Cycling Chef Alan Murchison is a big fan, but
be warned: the key to this dish is to cook each
veg separately to avoid a mushy mess.
For those who like their numbers – be it power
meters or nutritional facts – the bell peppers here
provide 169% of the recommended daily intake
of vitamin C, key in maintaining a strong immune
system, while one courgette boasts 40% of the
RDI of vitamin A, which is associated with sharp
eyesight (sorry, carrots).
While we can’t say that adding those two
together will equate to a 17-watt advantage at
57kmh at 15° yaw (although if you’re facing a
last-day coastal time-trial, anything’s worth a go),
we can guarantee that as a standalone dish this is
incredibly nutritious, and if you need extra protein,
lean pork chops go very well.

N

Ratatouille ‘Murch-style’
with lean pork chops
INGREDIENTS
750g pork loin chops (allow 2 chops
per person, about 150g each)
2 courgettes
1 large red onion, peeled
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 green pepper
1 large aubergine
400g chopped tomatoes
75g good-quality pitted black olives
4 garlic cloves
2tbsp olive oil (for vegetables)
1tsp olive oil (for meat)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

48 September 2023

Makes 4 portions
NUTRITION PER SERVING
Energy 710kcal
Total carbohydrate 13g
(of which sugars 12g)
Fat 54g (of which
saturates 17g)
Fibre 6.6g
Protein 39g
Salt 0.71g

Method
• First, dice all the vegetables evenly into medium
chunks so they are roughly the same size. Keep
separate, apart from the peppers, which can be
mixed together. Peel and finely slice the garlic.
• Take one tablespoon of the olive oil and coat the
aubergine in it, season well and set aside. Add a
touch of the remaining oil to each of the vegetables
to coat. Cook each of the vegetables and the garlic
in a large saucepan and set aside (you can use the
same pan, there’s no need to wash it between
vegetables). Cooking times are as follows:
Courgettes over a medium heat for 2 minutes.
Onions and garlic over a high heat for 3-4 minutes.
Peppers over a medium heat for 5 minutes.
Aubergine over a medium heat for 5-6 minutes.
• Once the vegetables are all cooked, season well
and return to the pan. Stir in the chopped tomatoes
and olives. Simmer for no more than 5 minutes.
• Meanwhile, preheat the grill to medium. Brush the
pork chops with olive oil and season well. Grill for
2-3 minutes each side. Serve with the ratatouille.

This recipe is taken
from The Cycling Chef:
Recipes For Getting
Lean And Fuelling
The Machine by
Alan Murchison,
Bloomsbury Publishing,
bloomsbury.com

cyclist.co.uk

Cycling
staples
Ten ingredients every cyclist should
have in their kitchen cupboard
Words MICHAEL DONLEVY Photography TAPESTRY

BEETROOT
‘It comes in many forms – juice,
shots, pickled or fresh – but
they’re all equally nutritious.
Beetroot is packed full of nitrates
and polyphenols, which give it
the bright colour that stains
everything it touches,’ says
Ranchordas.
Nitrates are broken down by
your saliva to nitric oxide, which
helps transport oxygen around
the body to fuel the muscles. They
also reduce perceived effort and
heart rate, and have been shown
to increase the force of involuntary
muscle contraction – all of which
adds up to improved performance.

50 September 2023

GARLIC
‘Lots of people add garlic for
taste, but it’s packed with the
polyphenol allicin, and that’s good
for your immune system, which
can be weakened by regular hard
exercise,’ says Ranchordas. ‘Plus
it’s low in calories so adding it for
taste is still a great idea because
you can use it to jazz up your
meals without resorting to highcalorie sauces.
‘These days there is so much
focus on macronutrients – protein,
carbs and fats – that people tend
to forget about the micronutrients
from herbs and spices that are so
important for health and fitness.’

Kitchen cupboards are often where foods go to die. One day you go on a
superfood health kick, the next that jar of fenugreek at the back of what
passes for a larder is three years out of date and gathering dust.
That’s a waste of cupboard space, because as busy cyclists we should
be stocking up on staples that are tasty and versatile as well as healthy.
‘Cyclists like to spend a lot of time on the bike rather than in the kitchen,
but riding a bike causes muscle damage, especially if you’ve done a
race or high-intensity session,’ says Mayur Ranchordas, performance
nutrition consultant and Professor of Applied Human Nutrition for Sport
and Exercise at Sheffield Hallam University. ‘There are plenty of staple
foods you can keep in stock that help not just with recovery but with
things like immunity and bone health.’
Here are some examples of those staples that will stop your
cupboards, and your body, from feeling neglected.

OATS
It turns out porridge is not just for
breakfast – it can be turned into
a meal before any ride, and also
serves as a great sponge for many
of the other ingredients in your
cupboards.
‘Porridge is nutritionally
complete,’ says Ranchordas. ‘It
contains carbohydrates, a range of
healthy fats and protein. It’s also
high in soluble fibre, which is good
for digestion and your gut. And
it’s low on the Glycemic Index, so
it provides slow-release energy
over a sustained period, making
it perfect for having an hour or
so before a ride.’

TURMERIC
‘Turmeric is well known for its
anti-inflammation properties and
goes well with rice or curry, but
you can add it to most meals, and
it goes really well with chicken,’
says Ranchordas. ‘Spices get
neglected and can be a forgotten
ingredient for some people,
but they’re so nutritious – for
example, cinnamon helps regulate
blood sugar, cloves are full of
polyphenols – and, as with garlic,
marinating food with spices means
you don’t have to reach for an
unhealthy jar of sauce.’
Turmeric also has antioxidant
properties and is good for the brain.

cyclist.co.uk

Fast foods Train+Eat
KEFIR
It might be new to many cyclists,
but kefir is full of health benefits.
This fermented drink is made
by adding kefir grains – a mix of
bacteria and yeast cultures – to
milk. The fermentation process
metabolises the lactose to produce
an array of beneficial compounds.
‘Cyclists will be drawn to kefir’s
bioactive compounds, such as
kefiran and peptides, which have
anti-inflammatory properties
to help muscles recover,’ says
Ranchordas. ‘It’s also a good
source of probiotics, which help
with the absorption of nutrients
and boost immunity.’

FLAXSEEDS
‘They’re not something you
necessarily think to buy when
you’re in the supermarket but
they’re so versatile, because you
can add them to anything from
cereals and yoghurts to meat and
salads,’ says Ranchordas.
‘They’re high in fibre so good
for digestive health, and they
reduce inflammation. Even one or
two tablespoons a day will help,
as one spoon contains 2-3g of
fibre. Flaxseeds also reduce blood
pressure, and because they’re
high in soluble fibre they’ll keep
you feeling fuller for longer, so you
won’t be so tempted to snack.’

cyclist.co.uk

TINNED TUNA
‘I’ve always proposed a “food
first” approach – getting nutrients
from fresh food rather than
supplements whenever possible,
but when you’re cycling a lot
you need meals or snacks that
are quick and convenient,’ says
Ranchordas. ‘Tinned tuna is a great
source of protein and easy to add
to pasta, salad, a sandwich or a
wrap, so it can form the basis of a
quick yet nutritious meal.
‘It depends slightly on your
weight, but most adults need 3040g of protein for recovery. One tin
will give you most or all of that.’

GINGER
Ginger – whether fresh or in the
form of ginger shots – is great for
boosting your immune function,
which is crucial because the
healthier you are, the more time
you can spend on the bike.
‘It’s also good for the digestive
system and can relieve symptoms
of irritable bowel syndrome,’ says
Ranchordas. ‘You might shrug
that off as irrelevant if you don’t
suffer from IBS, but energy gels
and drinks are concentrated and
very acidic so can leave you feeling
bloated. If you’re using these
on long rides, ginger can help
alleviate the bloating.’

GREEK YOGURT
This might be better in the
fridge, which is also effectively
a cupboard so long as you don’t
forget that refridgerated foods
typically don’t keep as long.
‘Greek yogurt provides big hits
of both protein and calcium, and
again it’s versatile in that you can
have it for breakfast or dessert,
or add it to a post-ride smoothie,’
says Ranchordas. ‘Calcium is
important because although
cycling is a non-weight-bearing
sport, strong bones are still
essential. A lot of athletes neglect
calcium, but one tub of yogurt is
around 50% of your RDA.’

FROZEN BERRIES
Did we mention the freezer?
That’s also a cupboard, just a really
cold one. ‘Frozen berries are just
as nutritious as fresh, and they
have high polyphenol content
to help enhance recovery,’ says
Ranchordas. ‘Berries are high in
antioxidants, which help neutralise
harmful free radicals in the body
and reduce inflammation.
‘The vibrant colours come from
compounds such as anthocyanins,
flavonoids and polyphenols,
which are potent antioxidants.
Anthocyanins in particular
have been linked to improved
cardiovascular health.’

September 2023 51

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On the southern edge of Asturias in northern Spain
sits a small town surrounded by big climbs…
Words WILL STRICKSON Photography PATRIK LUNDIN

54 September 2023

cyclist.co.uk

Spain / Big Ride

cyclist.co.uk

September 2023 55

eliocentrism, the
idea that the Sun
is at the centre
of the Universe,
only became
the accepted
scientific belief
after Nicolaus
Copernicus’s
mathematical
model was published in 1543. Arguably, it
kicked off the Scientific Revolution, which saw
major breakthroughs and the development of
most fields of science we use today, including
medicine and mechanics.
As I peer up at the road sign beside an
unassuming roundabout in northern Spain, I’m
beginning to understand how Copernicus must
have felt, or at least would have felt if he hadn’t
died shortly after his book’s publication. I’m
in Pola de Lena, a small town in the Asturias
region and the centre of its own cycling-specific
universe. The sign I’m looking at offers directions
for cyclists to ten big climbs, each within riding
distance (see p58). Some of the climbs I’ve heard
of, some I haven’t. Some I’ll be riding today.
I skim over the sign, find La Cubilla and get
rolling through the town. Riding with me today
is Diego Méntrida, a triathlete from Madrid who
works for local guide and coaching company Ezz
Baily. Diego had a taste of fame a couple of years
ago when he gave up his place on a podium to a

H

rival who was ahead of him near the finish of the
race but accidentally went the wrong way. This
act of sportsmanship was enough to compel a
pre-slap Will Smith to post about him on social
media, taking it viral. That then caused a flood
of international media requests as well as an
interview with Smith, who surprised Diego with
a load of cycling kit, including a new Specialized
Shiv, which he can no longer ride because of
team sponsor commitments.
I’m hoping Diego will be equally kind to me
today, though I can’t promise virality in return.
Astur luego
The road to our first climb of the day, La Cubilla,
takes us southbound out of town. According to
the sign, the climb begins 7.1km from Pola de
Lena – call that 7km once we’ve ridden through
it – and we take the road that runs parallel to the
A66 motorway, which means it’s light on traffic.
As the industrial part of town fades away, to our
right begins a vast expanse of green that covers
most of the region. The area that stretches from

It feels like we could be
in the UK. Thankfully
the sun’s out and we’re
ticking along nicely
Above: The Asturian
microclimate makes the
local landscape look
thoroughly British (apart
from the mountains)
Right: The Puerto de
la Cubilla’s opening
gradients get the legs
warmed up before the
real test starts
Left: Cyclist emerges
from the tree-covered
valley after just over
10km of climbing

56 September 2023

cyclist.co.uk

Spain / Big Ride

the northwest coast to the western edge of the
Pyrenees is actually known as ‘Green Spain’
thanks to its oceanic microclimate that gives
Asturias, Galicia, Cantabria and the Basque
Country far more rainfall than the rest of the
country. Here, right in the heart of it, it feels like
we could be in the UK. Thankfully the sun’s out
this morning and we’re ticking along nicely.
It doesn’t take long before the road begins to
rise, the valley forms to our left and the mountains
loom in the distance. La Cubilla officially starts
in Campumanes and it’s officially 27.5km long,
but the first ten official kilometres make me a
little nervous; shallow gradients that aren’t far
off false flat make it obvious that the 4.8% overall
average hides La Cubilla’s true colours.
As we enter the village of Telledo, the climb
begins to show itself. We stop to make the most
of roadside water, with a tap conveniently placed
next to the sign for ‘Alto de La Cubilla’. A picture
of Jakob Fuglsang winning the summit finish on
the climb’s only Vuelta a España appearance in
2019 sits alongside the profile of what’s to come:
17.8km with a consistent 6.2% average.

cyclist.co.uk

September 2023 57

More the merrier
Other climbs to tackle from Pola de Lena

Puerto de San Lorenzo
Featured in the 2021 Vuelta, the ascent starts just under
40km from Pola de Lena in San Martín and is 10.9km at
an average of 8.1%, but be careful, as it’s backloaded.
Alto de L’Angliru
One of the most feared climbs in cycling – 12.3km with
a 10.3% average and savage 24% maximum.
El Cordal
Also known as Altu la Segá, El Cordal is 5.6km long
with a 9% average but maxes out at 17.1%.
Puerto de Pajares
From Campumanes, the road to Pajares is 19.5km
at 5.1% average with a 15.5% maximum.
Cuitu Negru
Cuitu Negru is an extra road from the top of Puerto de
Pajares and was only paved in 2012 for the Vuelta. It’s
about 3km extra and has a maximum gradient of 28%,
claimed to be the steepest in Spain.

58 September 2023

cyclist.co.uk

Spain / Big Ride
Gamoniteiro
Pola de Lena

AS-230

S PA I N
AS-375

Campumanes

LN-8

Distance 102km
Total ascent 3,140m

Puerto de la Cubilla

Double trouble

Follow Cyclist’s out-and-back-and-out-and-back-again route
Above: There’s only
one road up La Cubilla
and its later slopes
loom as Cyclist
gains elevation
Left: There’s not even
a single road up Alto
del Gamoniteiro – only
a cycle path goes
to the summit

To download this route go to cyclist.co.uk/143asturias or scan the QR code. Our route starts in Pola
de Lena, about 25km south of Oviedo in northern Spain. Head south on the Calle de los Hermanos
Granda (AS-375) until you reach Campumanes, and take a right onto the LN-8, signposted to Puerto
de la Cubilla. Continue on this road for 28km up the climb until the gate at the top, and then retrace
your steps all the way back to Pola de Lena. From the centre of town, find signposts to Bárzana and
follow the AS-230 for 9km until a right turn with a sign for Alto del Gamoniteiro. Continue upwards
for another 6.5km to the radio tower before returning to Pola de Lena the way you came.

2000
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September 2023 59

We’ve entered the Parque Natural de Las
Ubiñas-La Mesa, one of three adjacent ‘natural
parks’ and one of more than 50 protected areas
in Asturias. It’s home to the region’s second
biggest mountain range, the Peña Ubiña Massif,
which is what we’re climbing now. It’s a while
before we’re treated to any views other than
trees, but even when the scenery is revealed it’s
yet more green; we’re surrounded by farms left,
right, down and up.
Traffic is non-existent, as motor vehicles
go through tunnels to the east. With little to
distract, we see the upper slopes of the mountain
from a long way out, the summit’s comparative
lack of green conspicuous in the landscape.
With such a consistent gradient and no real rush,
there’s plenty of opportunity to drink it in. We
pass through the final village and now it feels
like we’re in the mountains, with grey cliffs
directly to our right and a drop to our left.

60 September 2023

Now it feels like we’re in the
mountains, with grey cliffs to
our right and a drop to our left
Asturias is known for two things: cider and
cheese – add that to the list of things it shares
with the UK. It has apparently been coined as
‘the land of 40 cheeses’ but I’m reliably informed
that there are actually hundreds of varieties
of Asturian cheese, with four given the same
protected status as Champagne and Cognac.
I don’t have time to think about lunch now,
though. I’m more concerned about the cows
that cover these mountains, and particularly the
one that’s currently edging its way onto the road
ahead. It doesn’t help that this particular variety
are horned. We make it past, but it won’t be the

cyclist.co.uk

Spain / Big Ride

Right: The altitude of
Gamoniteiro’s upper
slopes finally put an
end to the greenery
Below right: Horses and
cows are free to roam
the mountains; their
presence means
roadside tap water
doesn’t come off the
mountain, but it’s fresh
and drinkable
Left: Gamoniteiro
doesn’t deal in hairpins.
Instead its winding path
keeps the gradient high

last bovine interruption we encounter today.
At least it’s good interval training.
High peaks, low visibility
La Cubilla is often compared to the Col du
Galibier for its length and scenery, the latter
more so higher up once the rocks begin to take
over from the trees. We seem to wind through
farmland for ages before we get there, and I soon
find out the peak we’ve been riding towards is
the Peña Ubiña’s highest, with our road winding
left to a more accessible altitude. We’re onto
the final section now, and find ourselves among
those Alpine-looking peaks. The view directly
down the valley shows there are no signs of
civilisation around for miles except the cows
and the farmer’s old banger that’s parked up.
A short descent increases our pace onto the
final, more barren section. A couple of notquite-hairpins lead us onto the final stretch
and into the fog. For the final 100m visibility
is low, but thankfully we can see the top and
the cattle grid that crosses the regional border.
We’re not leaving, though. A quick drink and
a bite to eat and we don our raincoats for the
descent back the way we came. We’re returning
to our start point because we’ve only done half
our day’s climbing.
It doesn’t take long to get out of the fog
and back to Pola de Lena via the same road we
climbed, passing a few cyclists on the way down
but fewer cars. The shallow yet steady gradient at
the bottom means it’s easy to maintain speed all
the way to the edge of town, and once back in we
seek out the most traditional Asturian restaurant
we can for lunch.

cyclist.co.uk

September 2023 61

62 September 2023

cyclist.co.uk

Spain / Big Ride

cyclist.co.uk

September 2023 63

The rider’s ride
Canyon Ultimate CF SLX 8, £6,199,
canyon.com

This second-tier, Ultegra Di2-equipped 2022 Ultimate
is all the road bike you could want if you’re not racing.
It shares its geometry, hidden cables, 32mm tyre
clearance and one-piece bar/stem with its aero sister,
the Aeroad, only the tube profiles are more slender.
It may not be the top-end CFR model ridden to
victory on Asturian climbs in the Vuelta, but this
CF SLX 8 is £3,000 cheaper thanks to a change
from Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 to Ultegra Di2 with a 4iiii
Precision 3 power meter, and from DT Swiss Mon
Chasseral climbing wheels (24mm deep, 1,266g
claimed) to the heavier but more aero DT Swiss ARC
1400s (50mm deep, 1,458g claimed). And it’s still only
just above the UCI minimum weight at 7.3kg for a large.
In this spec the Ultimate is a real all-rounder - light,
stiff, with aero overtones - and thanks to the 28mm
Schwalbe Pro Ones it’s even quite comfy.

64 September 2023

Above: Small
crenelations are the
only protection off the
edge of La Cubilla…
Top right: …and
Gamoniteiro
Right: Thankfully, no
protection is needed
in Pola de Lena
Previous pages: One
horsepower is 746
watts, so Cyclist has to
save some energy in
case of emergency

cyclist.co.uk

Spain / Big Ride

The problem with the
Gamoniteiro is that the
steepest section is the
final bit, so I try to enjoy
the 10% while it lasts

By the
numbers

Stats you can count on

102

Kilometres ridden

3,140
Metres climbed

9.7

Average gradient (in %) of
Alto del Gamoniteiro

15

Maximum gradient (in %)
of Alto del Gamoniteiro

10

Other big climbs within
range of Pola de Lena

42

Official types of cheese
produced in Asturias (in
reality there are over 300)

1

Correct way to pour sidra

cyclist.co.uk

September 2023 65

At Restaurante Filanguiri, just off the main
square, the traditional cider – sidra – is drunk in
mouthfuls rather than full glasses, so we have
one for the culture then move onto the softer
stuff, ie, a plate of local cheeses. The headline act
is cachopo, a huge breaded and battered slab of
veal, ham and cheese served with patatas fritas.
We double down on our carbs and finish off with
rice pudding before crawling back onto the road.
Ding, ding, round two
Our next climb begins as soon as we take the
road west out of Pola de Lena. I say ‘climb’, but
we’re actually almost riding two. The main aim
and our ultimate destination is the Alto del
Gamoniteiro, which debuted in the Vuelta in
2021 with Miguel Ángel López taking the victory
through the fog, but the first 9km of its 15.1km
total is all but the finishing plateau of the Alto de
la Cobertoria, which has been a Vuelta regular.
There’s no false flat this way – the easiest it
gets is the first few hundred metres, before it
ramps up significantly to around 11% for most
of the Cobertoria section of the climb.
Just as I get into a rhythm, the heavens open.
We make a quick decision to shelter next to a

How we did it
TRAVEL
Asturias airport is in the centre of the region near
its capital, Oviedo, with direct flights available from
the UK. The drive to Pola de Lena is around an hour.
It’s also possible to catch a ferry from Portsmouth
or Plymouth to Santander. It takes around 33 hours,
but allows you to take your own car. The drive from
Santander to Pola de Lena is around two hours.
ACCOMMODATION
We stayed at Artiem Asturias (artiemhotels.com), ten
minutes from the coastal city of Gijón and some of
Asturias’s best beaches. The hotel has a swimming
pool, spa, gym, padel court, yoga and Pilates classes,
and is cycling-friendly with a secure lock-up, repair
shop, washing station, rollers and discounts on
massages, yoga and personal training. It’s a 60km
ride from Gijón to Pola de Lena but the C1 train is
a direct line and runs every 30 minutes.
THANKS
Many thanks to Turismo Asturias for helping to
organise our trip (turismoasturias.es). Thanks also
to Javi from local coaching and guide company Ezz
Baily for guiding and driving us around, finding lunch
and providing extra motivation on the bike, and to his
protégé Diego for joining us for the ride.
CLOTHING
Lazer Vento KinetiCore helmet, £249.99, freewheel.
co.uk, SunGod Airas sunglasses, £130, sungod.co,
Altura Icon jersey, £130, altura.co.uk, Altura
Endurance bibshorts, £90, altura.co.uk, Altura Icon
socks, £15, altura.co.uk, Fizik Vento Infinito Carbon 2
shoes, £349.99, fizik.com

66 September 2023

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Spain / Big Ride

When we do get a glimpse through
the clouds, the view over the side
shows just how high we’ve climbed

Left: When getting
dropped, moos
resemble boos
Top right: The radio
tower at the top of
Gamoniteiro signals the
end of the road and the
lack of visibility means
there’s little reason for
Cyclist to hang around

cyclist.co.uk

house in Palaciós and wait for it to die down.
The downpour gets lighter but doesn’t stop, so
we plough on. Cobertoria is the main road up
this way, cutting between the mountain peaks
at about 1,200m, but we don’t see many cars.
It’s a wide, meandering road, its biting gradient
making it feel twice as long, but the road surface
is the smoothest we’ve had and we keep pushing
in hope of escaping the rain. The hampered
scenery turns progress into a slog, and I’m
relieved when we take the right turn off the
road onto Gamoniteiro proper.
It’s a stark contrast to the Cobertoria, partly
because the rain has thankfully stopped but
mostly because we’ve turned off a main road
onto what is essentially a cycle path. We’re
riding in the clouds now and can’t see off the
mountain; around us is an increasingly barren
shelf of land that is soon dominated by grey
rocks. The cattle grid suggests we’re not alone,
however, and sure enough we ride past a herd
of horses grazing on what’s left of the grass.
When we do get a glimpse through the clouds,
the view over the side shows just how high
we’ve climbed and brings some validation for
the afternoon’s effort so far. The problem with
the Gamoniteiro, however, is that the steepest
section is the final bit (I’ve done my research),
so I try to enjoy the 10% while it lasts.

More cows appear a bit further up the
climb, and this lot includes a bull. Thankfully
my orange jersey is covered by a raincoat and
his glare is soon in my rear view. Now we’re
approaching the business end of the climb. The
rain returns, light at first but soon becoming
ferocious, and Diego is keen to get to the top
so we can start our return. He presses on but
I’m content to grind my way up what is now an
inconsistent 15%, flirting with 20% in places.
Where La Cubilla is the region’s Galibier,
Gamoniteiro is its Mont Ventoux, largely because
of the radio tower that sits at the top, which just
about pokes through the thick fog to tell me I’ve
made it. With no fanfare, just a prohibido sign
and an all-white view, there’s no need to stick
around. The narrow and wet descent back to the
main road won’t be fast and we need to get out
of the rain. Thankfully by the time we eventually
make it down, the sun is back and the tarmac is
dry, so we return to Pola de Lena in no time.
As I gently steam in the heat, I think maybe I
feel less like Copernicus and more like his Italian
contemporaries, Christopher Columbus and
Amerigo Vespucci. I’ve discovered my own ‘New
World’. I don’t care if it’s already inhabited,
I conquered it. Now what should I call it?
Will Strickson is deputy web editor of Cyclist,
and also emperor of New Strickland

September 2023 67

68 September 2023

cyclist.co.uk

Tour de France photographer / Insight

Closed roads, rowdy crowds,
stroppy officials, burning clutches…
and it’s only Stage 1. This is a day in the
life of a Tour de France photographer
Words and pictures PETE GODING

cyclist.co.uk

September 2023 69

7:30AM

My alarm screeches from the
bedside table. Today is the first
stage of the 2023 Tour de France. In a groggy panic, I curse,
jump up and stub my toe on my wheelie bag – the pitfalls
of being in an unfamiliar hotel room. Having got my
bearings, I decide I can afford another ten minutes
of rest and hit the snooze button.

7:40AM

Stumble to the shower. I have a few
hours to spare as the start in Bilbao
isn’t until 12.30pm and it’s only a ten-minute drive away.
As I head down to the breakfast buffet, the voice of the
automated lift announcement reminds me that we are
in the Spanish heartland of cycle racing.
Or are we? As my fellow photographer (now retired)
Graham Watson was keen to point out to me, I am actually
in the autonomous community of the Basque Country,
with its own language, gastronomy and culture. I’m pretty
certain I’m still in Spain, though.

9:30AM

Leaving the underground parking, I
bump into one of the unsung heroes
of the Tour – one of the team of organisers, who has been
up since 4am setting up the village and the enclosures. He
guides me to the parking area, avoiding the road closures.
Fans are already out in force and I realise that it could be
a challenging day getting around the course.
Usually I’d be on the back of a moto, but my driver
doesn’t arrive for a few days so today I’ll be driving myself,
which adds an extra level of stress because I’ll have to
navigate between the best spots to catch the action and
I won’t be able to shoot on the fly.

10:30AM

The caravan enters the town and
the fiesta begins.

Left and top right: Mark
Cavenish and his Astana
team are presented to
the crowd. Little did we
know his Tour would
end in heartbreak just
seven days later
Right: The riders roll out
of Bilbao as the show
gets on the road
Previous pages: Pete
with his Jeep, which
somehow manages
to look nervous; Adam
Yates leads teammate
Tadej Pogaĉar – and
this time it will be the
Brit who goes for glory

70 September 2023

cyclist.co.uk

Tour de France photographer / Insight

Today I’ll be driving
myself, which adds
an extra level of stress
because I’ll have to navigate
between the best spots

cyclist.co.uk

September 2023 71

Left: Edvald Boasson
Hagen (TotalEnergies)
is studiously ignored by
the Lidl-Trek team car
Right: It’s not easy
getting ahead of the
action when roads are
either closed or full of
cyclists, motos and fans
Below right: Pete
endures a worrying
moment as roadside
fans begin thumping his
already beleaguered
Jeep on a Cat 3 climb

10:45AM

Go to the start village and get a
coffee. I’m getting that familiar
feeling, slipping back into the routine of Tour shoot days,
which invariably start with coffee and a bit of a chat with
my fellow photographers as we wait for the teams to arrive.

11:05AM

Check my watch and decide
to go to the team buses before
heading to the podium to begin shooting the riders as
they are presented to the crowd. With each click of the
shutter, my images are sent automatically to my trusty
editor in the Pyrenees who keywords the pictures and
sends them to agencies in France and the UK to distribute
worldwide. Within a matter of seconds they’ll be sent out
to media channels. Gone are the days of spending hours in
the press room keywording hundreds of photos from the
day, missing dinner and getting to bed in the early hours.
Thank goodness for technology.

12:22PM

Time to get moving. But where’s
the car? I’ve forgotten where I
parked it, so try to retrace my steps at a steady jog. There’s
a mild sense of panic, because I don’t want to be turned
away from entering the course on the first day.
I find the car and am ushered to the entrance. I wait
patiently while a father and son draped in flags dawdle
in front of my car. The organisers are about to shut the
on-course entrance, so a burly security official gestures
to me to use my horn to clear a path. There’s no time for
niceties – I hit the horn, causing the dad to jump a few
inches in the air. Sorry, but there’s no time to lose.
This is the Tour de France.

12:30PM
72 September 2023

It’s the rollout. The riders drift out
of Bilbao and head for the coast.

My poor little Jeep isn’t used
to this, and it begins to protest,
with smoke flooding from the
bonnet. The smell of burning
clutch fills the air
cyclist.co.uk

Tour de France photographer / Insight

1:47PM

I’m up a rock face, leaning
precariously over the edge to catch
the peloton as it rumbles along the coast. Another
photographer has already had a similar idea, and I shuffle
in beside him to look down over the quaint bay and click
away as a long line of riders slips past below me. The other
photographer is a local, and he looks fairly nonplussed
by the shot. He knows there are better places to get his
images, which spurs me to get a move on and catch up
with the race.
I take out my phone to check the route. Should I try
to overtake the race and get to a new vantage point, or
stay along the route, wait for the broom wagon and slip
in behind the race? Decisions, decisions. I choose the
latter option and go.

2:35PM

I’m on a mountain, the second Cat 3
climb of the stage. The fans are out
in force and I reckon there are some good shots to be had
capturing the carnival atmosphere. The volume of people

cyclist.co.uk

September 2023 73

forces me to slow to a crawl, and as I squeeze through the
melee, people start banging on my windscreen. My poor
little Jeep isn’t used to this, and it begins to protest, with
smoke flooding from the bonnet. The smell of burning
clutch fills the air, which only seems to delight the crowd
even more. I’m gagging on the smoke, while my ears are
filled with cheers and rhythmic thumping as the fans treat
the car like a tom-tom.
Things get worse. My clutch now seems to be stuck to
the floor, and if I don’t keep the revs up I will start slipping
backwards into the revellers amassed behind me. I have
seen many an abandoned press car that couldn’t take the
relentless punishment of driving on the Tour’s mountains,
and I have visions of being hoisted onto the back of a tow
truck while drunken fans jeer at me.
With a stamp, the clutch releases and I make a hasty
escape, narrowly avoiding becoming an impromptu
roadblock. As I cross the summit I increase my speed
and emerge from the smoky haze into clear air again.

74 September 2023

cyclist.co.uk

Tour de France photographer / Insight

3:03PM

I need to get to the finish. I’m on
celebration ‘pool’ duty. To prevent
overcrowding only one photographer can take the shots
of the post-race celebrations, and they then have to share
it with the other agencies. I wouldn’t be popular if I missed
it – nothing like a bit more pressure on the first day – so
now I’m on a mission to get to the arrivé.
I can still taste the smoke in the back of my throat and
my car’s purr has turned into a guttural growl, but at least
it’s still functioning.
I hear over race radio that a five-man break has been
caught with 50km to go.

3:57PM

Arrive in Bilbao with time to spare.
Phew. I park the car and head to
the finish line, scanning the surroundings, trying to
imagine what the riders will do as they cross the line
so I can gauge where the best spot is to stand.
There’s always a bottleneck as the riders pass the
finish line photographers. The slight incline today
will slow them down, so I don’t need to be too far back.
I position myself strategically behind the line of blackbibbed photographers, ready to capture the ensuing
tears and adulation.
What if the winner just keeps going and rides right past
me, forcing me to sprint alongside him? I’ll just have to
deal with it when it happens.

I’m poised. On the giant screens
I see the Yates brothers sparring
in the final kilometres of the race.
The tension rises as we wait

Above: Pete readies
himself for celebration
‘pool’ duties – for Stage 1,
he is the only snapper
allowed near the
winning rider…
Left: …who just happens
to be Adam Yates,
leading home twin
Simon after an epic
battle over the final
kilometres. Thankfully
there are no hard
feelings (right)

cyclist.co.uk

September 2023 75

I’m stranded. I can’t get
to where Adam is with his
teammates. Oh hell, they’re
celebrating… without me

76 September 2023

cyclist.co.uk

Tour de France photographer / Insight

Adam Yates celebrates
with his UAE Team
Emirates teammates
(left) before donning
the yellow jersey for
the first time (right)

The police form a secure line beside us, ready to push
back anyone who gets too close to the cars or riders.
Organisation staff remove unwanted individuals, ushering
them away to the stands. I’m poised. On the giant screens
I see the Yates brothers sparring in the final kilometres of
the race. The tension rises as we wait.
Adam Yates is too strong for his brother, Simon. He
crosses the line triumphant – I grab the action over the
finish with my 400mm telephoto, then switch to my
24mm as the brothers draw closer. They embrace, and I’m
in the perfect position. But now they are led over to the
opposite side of the track; the rest of the riders come past
and I’m stranded, I can’t get to where Adam is with his
teammates. Oh hell, they’re celebrating… without me!
I spot an opening in the throng and leap through it. I’m
back in position, and in seconds it’s over. I’ve got the shot.

5.50PM

I log onto my server and upload
my pictures through my phone,
doing a bit of quality control along the way: sharpness,
composition, smiles, tears, laughter… check, check, check.
I highlight the images and off they go into the ether for
my keyworder to pass on to the agencies. I take a moment
to breathe.

7PM

Back to the hotel. Shower, change and meet a
friend. Eat Spanish food, drink Spanish wine,
examine the road book for tomorrow, talk about cycling.

12.01AM
cyclist.co.uk

Bed. Sleep. Only 20 more stages
to go. Vive le Tour!

September 2023 77

Bike history

The Trek Madone celebrates its 20th
anniversary this year. Despite changing
unrecognisably over that time, its
purpose has stayed exactly the same
Words SAM CHALLIS Photography TAPESTRY

f someone wanted to encapsulate the shifting
trends of race bikes over the past 20 years, there
is no better example than the Trek Madone.
‘While the Madone has changed dramatically
over the course of its lifespan, fundamentally
we’ve always been trying to do the same thing,
which is make the perfect race bike,’ says Jordan
Roessingh, Trek’s director of road bikes.
Even the bike’s name hints at its racing roots:
the Col de la Madone is a climb that sits just
outside Nice on the French Riviera and is well known as
a proving ground for pros to test their legs. Arguably the
climb’s most (in)famous patron was Lance Armstrong.
It was his use of the climb for training, combined with
his relationship with Trek, that prompted the genesis of
the bike. The Texan had won the first few of his Tours de
France aboard various versions of Trek’s 5000-series bikes
but, by introducing an approach that Trek still employs
today, the brand used feedback from its sponsored pros
to develop a successor, and the Madone was born.
‘The Madone was properly introduced in 2003 and
represented a big change over the 5000-series bikes, as it
was our first to consider aerodynamics,’ says Roessingh.
‘Although all that really amounted to was a fin on the seat
tube, which seems quaint these days.’
Trek tasted success immediately with the Madone
when Armstrong won the 2003 Tour using it. While that
victory has since been struck from the record books, such
a performance still proved that Trek was onto something.
That said, in 2007 it gave the Madone a complete revamp.

78 September 2023

Trek Madone / Bike history

The horizontal top tube was replaced by a sloping top tube in
the same vein as the compact Giant TCR, which along with
other design innovations saw the new Madone drop 250g.
‘Our design team would say the second-generation
Madone was an engineering marvel,’ says Roessingh.
‘It was the first Trek to use a tapered head tube and the
BB90 bottom bracket standard, and all bearing bores in
the frameset were moulded carbon surfaces rather than
bonded-in aluminium ones. This Madone also pioneered
our seatmast design, which we still use today. Integrating
the seatpost makes the frame better structurally, but by
using a mast we retained the adjustability of a conventional
seatpost, in contrast to other designs at that time.’
Fittingly, Trek introduced its Project One custom
programme during this Madone’s life cycle, where bikes
were built to order and users could spec custom paint.
‘Even today, most of our Madones are sold through
Project One,’ says Roessingh. ‘Their graphic design is as
much a part of their story as their performance features.’
Evolution then revolution
In contrast to the previous update, 2009’s third-generation
Madone was a little more iterative. Further advancements
in Trek’s OCLV (optimum compaction low void) carbon
fibre fabrication technique produced an 890g frame.

‘The main goal was to optimise 2007’s design,’ says
Roessingh. ‘The bike used many of the same features but
was more structurally efficient thanks to a huge amount of
FEA [finite element analysis]. Race bikes at this time had to
be light and stiff above all else. Internally, this is one of our
favourite Madones because it was the inspiration for what
would become the Émonda a few years later.’
In an excellent illustration of the capriciousness of bike
tech trends, three years later the Madone had come full
circle, as aerodynamics were back in vogue.
‘By 2012 we had this super-light and stiff bike, but we
wanted to reintroduce aerodynamic efficiency so it could
be fast too,’ says Roessingh. ‘The fourth generation brought
in kamm-tail tube sections and a rear brake mounted
under the bottom bracket. This Madone was the first bike
in the industry to use direct-mount brakes. We worked in
partnership with Shimano to develop the new standard,
which other brands then adopted.’
Trek says Madone number four was 25 watts more
efficient than the previous bike at 40kmh, despite it still
retaining somewhat of an all-rounder focus. However,
after officially launching the lightweight Émonda and
splitting its race offering into two options, Trek was freed
to pursue a more singular focus when it came to designing
the fifth generation of the Madone.

‘One of the reasons we hadn’t fully stepped
into the aero bike realm before 2015 was
that other aero bikes rode like crap’
It was 20 years ago today…
The Madone’s best moments

2003

2007

First-generation
Madone launches as
Trek’s first bike with
aero considerations.

Riding the new Madone,
Alberto Contador
(Discovery Channel) wins
his first Tour de France.

2007

2008

Second generation
adopts a compact
frame design and an
integrated seatpost
as well as pioneering
Trek’s BB90 bottom
bracket standard.

At the Giro d’Italia,
Contador wins another
Grand Tour on the
second-generation
Madone.

80 September 2023

cyclist.co.uk

Trek Madone / Bike history
The Madone’s
cables have been
hidden since the
fifth generation,
which focussed on
aerodynamics and
integration when it
launched in 2015

Facts and
figures
The Madone has been used
on the WorldTour for 20
consecutive years
Those 20 years encompass
seven bike generations
Current generation is officially
Trek’s fastest ever Madone and
its lightest disc design
30min 47sec: Lance Armstrong’s
fastest ascent of the Madone,
on the Madone

2008

2009

On the same bike,
Contador follows his
Giro win with victory at
the Vuelta a España.

Alberto Contador again
proves the design, winning
his second Tour de France
aboard the third Madone.

2009

2009

The Madone’s third
generation takes the
existing model and
makes it stiffer and
lighter, serving as the
inspiration for Trek’s
Émonda design.

Damien Hirst’s ‘Butterfly’
Madone, used by Lance
Armstrong (Astana)
at that year’s Tour
de France, is sold for
$500,000 at auction.

cyclist.co.uk

September 2023 81

Bike history / Trek Madone

2012

2018

Trek adds
kamm-tail
tube sections
and directmount brakes
to reintroduce
aerodynamic
performance.

Disc brakes are
added to the
bike, along with
an adjustable
IsoSpeed design
and a two-piece
bar/stem.

2015

2019

The Madone’s aerodynamic
attributes are maximised in
the bike’s fifth-generation
overhaul. Comfort is improved
thanks to the inclusion of the
IsoSpeed decoupler.

Danish rider Mads
Pedersen wins the
World Championships
Road Race aboard
the Madone.

Pro talk
The riders who helped
develop the Madone

Lance Armstrong
‘He had a big influence on the
bike’s genesis, that’s for sure,’
says Jordan Roessingh, Trek’s
director of road bikes. ‘Part
of the Madone’s legacy is the
pros’ role in its development,
and this is where it started.’

Fabian Cancellara
‘He helped us a lot. He
had high expectations and
strong opinions. Pros like him
challenge us, but that’s what
drives us to improve.’

Lizzie Deignan
‘She was instrumental in the
development of the latest
Émonda, which then fed into
the latest Madone too.’

Jens Voigt
‘We originally thought he’d
be great; he’d ridden a ton of
different bikes so had lots of
experience. But in his words:
“They’re all fine. Just give me
a bike, I’ll ride it, I don’t care.”’

82 September 2023

Trek’s IsoFlow was
introduced in 2022, and
is a simplified version
of the IsoSpeed system
employed previously.
IsoFlow cantilevers the
integrated seatpost,
creating flex without
the complication or
weight of IsoSpeed

2022

2023

Elisa Balsamo
(Trek-Segafredo)
notches up one of
the sixth generation
Madone’s last wins,
at Gent-Wevelgem.

Mads Pedersen
(Lidl-Trek) wins
Stage 8 of the Tour
de France aboard
seventh-generation
Madone.

2022
IsoFlow frame
structure replaces
IsoSpeed device to
drop weight while
preserving comfort.

‘Maybe more so than others, the latest Madone
was the direct result of us going to our teams
and saying, “How can we make it better?”’
‘The most radical change came in 2015. We committed
to aerodynamics and went all-in on integration,’ says
Roessingh. ‘It was the first bike we’d done that had fully
hidden cables. We even designed our own brakes.’
The new Madone also included a version of IsoSpeed to
improve compliance: ‘One of the reasons we hadn’t fully
stepped into the aero bike realm before 2015 was that other
aero bikes rode like crap,’ says Roessingh.
Trek’s IsoSpeed system has been deployed on the
Domane endurance bike since 2012, and works by
effectively decoupling the seat tube from the top tube,
allowing it to flex along its entire length.
‘For the Madone, though, we made a tube-in-tube
version,’ says Roessingh. ‘We had a skinny internal seat
tube for 20mm of compliance at the saddle, and the
external seat tube connected to the rest of the frame to
essentially provide a fairing for the internal structure,
although we didn’t tell the UCI that’s what it was.’
If the bike fits
The next Madone in 2018 was similar in nature to the move
from second to third – refining a bold design. Disc brakes
arrived, as did adjustability: the IsoSpeed device became
tunable and the one-piece cockpit became separate bars
and stem – an aero bike isn’t very fast if the rider doesn’t fit
comfortably onto it. That Madone was the predecessor to
the one being raced today, which was introduced in 2022.

cyclist.co.uk

‘Maybe more so than others, the latest Madone was the
direct result of us going to our teams and saying, “How can
we make it better?”’ says Roessingh. ‘The feedback was to
keep as much as we can, but make it lighter.’
So just as it had been more than ten years ago, weight
was again a key driver, although that shift in focus had to
be reincorporated alongside the gains made previously in
stiffness, aerodynamics and comfort.
‘That meant going back to a one-piece cockpit, but one
with altered ergonomics and plenty of options so as not
to hinder fit, plus replacing IsoSpeed with IsoFlow,’ says
Roessingh. Crudely speaking, IsoFlow is a hole just under
the seat tube cluster. It creates a cantilevered seatpost,
recreating IsoSpeed’s flex to a degree despite being much
simpler and lighter.
‘IsoFlow helps aerodynamics too by funnelling air into
the low-pressure wake behind the rider,’ says Roessingh.
‘The switch to IsoFlow and a one-piece cockpit helped us
save 300g over the old Madone module. It’s always really
telling – we watch our pro riders’ bias when we launch a
new Émonda or Madone. There was an Émonda bias prior
to this one, but now a lot more riders are on the Madone a
lot more frequently. To us, at least, that’s a clear indicator
that after all this time the Madone recipe is still pretty
damn successful.’
Sam Challis is the second generation of tech editor at
Cyclist, and still going strong

September 2023 83

84 September 2023

cyclist.co.uk

Hardknott Pass / Classic Climbs

The hardest climb in England
Words PADDY MADDISON Photography ANDREW GRANT

cyclist.co.uk

September 2023 85

Above: The famous
(and, if we’re honest,
fading) phone box
marks the start of
the Harknott ascent

The map Hardknott Pass

Right: Cyclist grinds
through the final
hairpins, where the
gradient tops 33%
Previous pages: The
final stretch to the top
features spikes above
12%, which is a relief
after those brutal
hairpins

River
Esk

Hard
Knott
fell

Country UK
Area Lake District
Start Esk Valley
Finish Hardknott
Pass

86 September 2023

cyclist.co.uk

Hardknott Pass / Classic Climbs

here are precious few
scenarios in which a cyclist
can expect a round of
applause from the driver
stuck behind, but an ascent
of Hardknott Pass is one of
them. Make no mistake, this
is an absurd climb. Tackling
the stabbing 33% hairpins is testing enough in
a car, so grinding up on two wheels (or possibly
just one if sufficient weight is not kept on the
bars) definitely warrants some acclaim from
any onlookers, even if their clutch is about to
burst into flames.
One has to admire the audacity of the
Romans, who at some point in history looked
up at the rocky crags disappearing into the
thick grey clouds above and decided this would
be a perfectly sensible place for a road. Built
circa 100AD, the original pass crumbled into

disrepair long ago, but its successor follows a
similar course through the wild and windswept
Lakeland landscape. Still, it’s hard not to
curse them and their piece of gravity-defying
infrastructure while fumbling with the shifters,
hoping that somehow an additional sprocket
has magically manifested itself.
During the Second World War, Hardknott
was used for tank training, its already weatherbeaten surface pummelled to pieces by steel
caterpillar tracks and heavy artillery. Despite
having been resurfaced, the ground here is
still a far cry from the silky smooth tarmac of
your average Alpine climb. Potholes aplenty
must be swerved and dodged to be in with a
chance of reaching the summit. It’s just one
more quirk that has earned Hardknott Pass
a place in the running for toughest climb in
the UK, vying for top spot with Bealach na Bà
in the Highlands of Scotland.

This short section of road leaves even
the most iconic climbs of the Tour
and the Giro looking pancake-ŰDW

cyclist.co.uk

September 2023 87

Left: The 1km stretch
before the trio of
hairpins is flat(ish)
– but it’s all relative
Below: Notice the
scenery? You won’t
when you’re in the
saddle because the
road tilts up at 20%
right from the start

88 September 2023

cyclist.co.uk

Hardknott Pass / Classic Climbs

Making the grade
Contrary to popular belief, Hardknott Pass
is not the steepest road in the UK. That is an
honour it must share with Rosedale Chimney
Bank in the North York Moors. It is, however,
the most outrageous. This is not an official
title, but it’s one few would argue with.
Cyclists from the Continent will no doubt
scoff when informed that England’s most
difficult climb is a measly 2.2km in length.
But get them pedalling up it and they won’t be
laughing for long. With an average gradient of
13%, including a series of impossibly tight bends
that touch 33% in places, this relatively short
section of mountain road leaves even the most
iconic climbs of the Tour and the Giro looking
and feeling pancake-flat.
Snaking through the Esk Valley, between
Eskdale and Little Langdale, Hardknott Pass
and neighbouring Wrynose Pass provide the
most direct route from the Central Lakes to the
Western Lakes. Poetically described by former
National Hill Climb Champion Tejvan Pettinger
as ‘the king and queen of UK climbs’, both are
often taken on in one go. Such is the case in the
Fred Whitton Challenge, where plucky riders
must overcome them after having ridden 150km
and 154km respectively. It is understandably the
bit that participants fear most.

cyclist.co.uk

For cyclists, Hardknott is most commonly
climbed from west to east, towards Wrynose
Pass. Tackling it from the east makes for a
shorter but similarly leg-sapping experience
with only slightly less savage gradients.
Savouring the last bit of flat ground on the
approach from Eskdale is made difficult by the
unavoidable presence of the pass looming on the
horizon, and once past the famous red phone
box on the left there’s no turning back.
The ascent starts abruptly at 20%, with a
cattle grid thrown in just to add extra spice,
like a ghost chilli garnish on top of a vindaloo.
After rattling over that and out of the trees, the
gradient remains consistently steep for another
500m as the road twists and turns through a
series of nasty bends. They’re tough on the
legs by any standards, but even they pale in
comparison to what lies ahead.
From here, the road ‘mellows out’ for a
kilometre. The gradients are still in double
figures, but the ride feels almost flat relative to
the previous section. This presents a momentary
opportunity to look away from the worryingly
purple elevation profile displayed on your head
unit to focus on the scenery.
The road flows through the valley like a
black river in suspended animation. Towering
green and golden fells flank it on either side,

The summit
is in sight, but
the almost
verticallooking
switchbacks
make it feel
a very long
way off

September 2023 89

90 September 2023

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Hardknott Pass / Classic Climbs

cyclist.co.uk

September 2023 91

The stats Hardknott Pass
Summit height 393m
Altitude gain 298m
Length 2.2km
Average gradient 13%
Maximum gradient 33%
Current best Strava time
(west to east)
KoM Andrew Feather,
England, 8:41
QoM Illi Gardner,
Wales, 12:39

400

300

200

100

0m
0km

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2

2.2

Previous pages:
The final hairpins are
so steep and tight it’s
a challenge to keep
the front wheel on the
ground and the rear
wheel from spinning
Above: Hard Knott fell
(but Cyclist didn’t)
Left: The top is the
ideal place for you and
your bike to spend
some time apart

Hairpin madness over, the road
straightens out once more and the
gradient lets up, but only slightly
92 September 2023

cyclist.co.uk

Hardknott Pass / Classic Climbs

interrupted only by scattered rocky outcrops
and the occasional free-range sheep (watch
out for those on the way down).
As the road straightens out, the real challenge
comes into sharp focus. Snaking its way up
the side of the eponymous Hard Knott fell, the
pass proper is revealed in all its ominous glory.
The summit is in sight, but the almost verticallooking switchbacks preceding it make it feel
a very long way off.
Don’t stop now
The next kilometre is a serious test for even the
most hardened cyclist. There are three aggressive
hairpins that start the moment the elevation
ramps back up. Each one is steeper than the last,
with no room to breathe in between them. These
are the corners for which Hardknott has become
infamous. To dismount here is to admit defeat,
as generating the forward momentum necessary
to clip back in is almost impossible.
Climbing through the twists is a delicate
balancing act in more ways than one. First, there
has to be sufficient speed to keep the bike from

cyclist.co.uk

toppling over sideways. Then there’s the matter
of keeping the front wheel on the ground. If your
weight is too far back, it will begin to lift up in
an unintentional wheelie. If the weight is too far
forward, the rear wheel will lose traction and
slip with each pedal stroke.
There’s no spinning here. Even with a real bin
lid of a sprocket it’s still a case of getting out of
the saddle and grinding. If you can get up this,
you can get up anything.
Hairpin madness over, the road straightens
out once more and the gradient lets up, but only
slightly. It’s all too easy to fall into the trap of
thinking that’s it, but the reality is there’s still
a 500m stretch to go with sections over 12%.
The words ‘A Good Effort’ (understatement
of the year) are written on the tarmac as the
top appears. One final push and the road levels
out. There are a few metres of flat from which
to savour the moment before lurching into the
bone-rattling descent down the east face.
Right, onwards to Wrynose.
Paddy Maddison is a freelance writer who
suffers for his art

September 2023 93

94 September 2023

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Sleep / Performance

eam Sky popularised the idea
of sleep as the greatest recovery
tool a rider possesses. A week
in July wouldn’t pass without
tales of a van pulling up outside a
French Ibis and some poor driver
offloading a team’s worth of
bespoke mattresses and toppers so that Bradley
Wiggins and Chris Froome could have the same
sleep setup as they had at home, which would
hopefully result in a rapid ride the next day. Fastforward to 2023 and the whole peloton is at it.
Mattress company Dorelan supports –
literally – Mads Pedersen and the crew at
Lidl-Trek; Latexco sponsors Soudal-QuickStep,
while Jumbo-Visma aim even higher thanks to
Australian company Box Altitude’s rarefiedair sleep systems. With a sprinkling of irony,
Team Sky (now Ineos Grenadiers) awoke the
competition to the benefits of greater shut-eye,
and in the process inspired sports scientist
Dr Sarah Gilchrist to dig deeper into the
recuperative powers of sleep.
‘You mention Team Sky,’ she says when
speaking to Cyclist. ‘My doctorate specialised
in sleep and athletic performance so I was
interested in what they were doing, but they
really focussed on the practical side of sleeping.
There was no data I could find on “athletic
sleep”. I was working with British Rowing
in the lead-up to the 2012 London Olympics
and we were worried about recovery with the
expected increase in media requests. We’d seen
an increase in media demand in 2011 and we
realised we didn’t have objective data on sleep.’

Master the four stages of
sleep and it can lead to a
stronger, faster, happier you
Words JAMES WITTS Illustrations GUS SCOTT

cyclist.co.uk

The gold standard
Dr Gilchrist has spent over 20 years working in
the high-performance sport industry, latterly as
technical lead for the English Institute of Sport
and senior physiologist with British Rowing,
and now runs her own consultancy Gilchrist
Performance. But the frenzy of a home Games
arguably proved one of the most fertile periods
of her career, with napping one of the key
interventions she introduced (see ‘Siesta for
speed’ boxout for more on napping). It clearly
worked, with Great Britain picking up nine
rowing medals, four of which were gold.
‘We also looked at chronotypes of elite
athletes to see if “larks” [morning people] were
predisposed to being rowers, swimmers or
canoeists because those sports demand an early
start. As it transpired, you simply couldn’t draw
conclusions because so many factors come into
play with elite performance. But what’s clear
for all levels of athlete, including recreational
cyclists, is that there are myriad health and
performance benefits of sufficient sleep.’

September 2023 95

There’s much unknown about sleep, but
psychological, emotional and physiological
health will improve if you do it right.
‘You’ll enjoy better cognitive function for a
start,’ says Gilchrist. ‘That includes memory
consolidation. If you’re not sleeping well,
you’re more likely to be moody, irritable,
anxious and depressed. There’s a pretty
strong link between mental health and sleep.
Long-term, if you sleep well your immune
function is strengthened, so you’re less likely
to suffer from cardiovascular disease,
dementia and certain cancers.’
When it comes to performance, a series of
sleepless nights affects reaction times – not
ideal if you’re descending a twisty Alpine
mountain. You’re more likely to fight off
common cyclists’ ailments such as upper
respiratory infections if you sleep well too.
Conversely, you’ll raise the spectre of injury if
sleep time gives way to other commitments.
‘Now I’m freelance, I work with a lot more
weekend warriors,’ says Gilchrist. ‘They’ll be

Siesta for speed
Having a nap is proven to improve
performance and health. And now
with many of us hybrid-working, there’s
no one to stop you
‘If you’ve got the motivation and the opportunity
to nap, go for it, and ideally between two and four
in the afternoon,’ says performance consultant
Dr Sarah Gilchrist. ‘If you can manage 20 to 30
minutes that’s good because you’ll be in the first
two stages of sleep. If you want more than that,
aim for 90 minutes because that’s the length of the
full sleep cycle. Wake up in the deep-sleep stage –
in-between these times – and you’ll feel awful.’
But don’t force it, warns Gilchrist. ‘I used to say
to the rowers, you don’t need to sleep but as long as
at some point in the day your feet are at the same
level as your head and you’re in a rested state, it will
be beneficial for the subsequent training session,
whether it’s later in the day or the next day.’
Studies show that a ten-minute nap can
result in immediate improvements in cognitive
performance, energy and reduced feelings of
fatigue and sleepiness, with benefits maintained
for around two and a half hours. And a 20-minute
nap improves endurance performance (in terms
of longer time to exhaustion and lower rating of
perceived exertion) in athletes who slept at night
for less than seven hours.
Studies have also looked into the effect of
mixing coffee with a nap, known by some as a
‘napuccino’. Caffeine takes around 30 minutes
to peak in the bloodstream, so the idea is you
knock back a caffeinated beverage (a brewed cup
or espresso typically contains around 90mg), enjoy
a 20-minute nap and when you rise from your brief
slumber, you’ll be more alert and ready to go.
Just be careful not to indulge in a napuccino too
late in the day, as the caffeine kick, combined with
the extra snooze time, could have a detrimental
effect on your overnight sleep, thereby cancelling
out the benefits.

96 September 2023

Sleep myths busted
Your parents were fibbing all along
‘Cheese gives you nightmares’
There is no evidence for this
(unless, of course, you enter
the annual and very dangerous
Cheese Rolling contest at
Cooper’s Hill, Gloucestershire,
and knock yourself out chasing
the wheel of Double Gloucester
down the vertiginous grass
slopes). One theory suggests
the amino acid tyramine
triggers the release of the
neurotransmitter noradrenaline
in an area of the brain linked to
dreams. It’s found in cheese but
in chocolate too, and chocolate’s
not tarred with the same brush.
‘Never wake a sleepwalker’
Apparently, at least 40% of us

have sleepwalked in our lifetime,
although it’s rarer as you age.
Incredible sleepwalking tales
abound, including the case of
a 15-year-old girl who in 2005
was found curled up asleep
at the top of a 130ft crane. But
would it have led to her death if
you’d woken her? In short, no.
A study at Niguarda Hospital in
Milan examined the brainwaves
of people prone to sleepwalking
and found that some parts of the
brain are awake, while others
are sound asleep, suggesting
sleepwalking is caused by an
imbalance between these two
states. This mixed state can
cause shock if woken but won’t
lead to a heart attack. Ideally,

lead them gently back to bed
where they can do no harm.
‘Counting sheep helps you
fall asleep’
According to a study from the
University of California, the
opposite is true – focussing
on counting sheep actually
stimulates your mind. Where
the strategy came from isn’t
certain, but some suggest it
originated centuries ago with
sheep herders, who couldn’t
sleep until they’d counted all
their sheep to ensure none were
missing. Better advice, says that
California study, is to visualise
a relaxing walk you do often
(ideally in the countryside).

‘If you’re not sleeping well,
you’re more likely to be moody,
irritable, anxious and depressed’
training 20 hours a week, have a demanding
job and then have a baby. They try to do what
they did before but it’s just not possible. They
sleep badly, their immune system plummets
and they become frustrated. We teach them
that they have to train, and recover, smarter.’
Gilchrist points out that sleep deficiency
can affect metabolism, as hormones that
regulate appetite, such as ghrelin and lectin,
become erratic, meaning you make poor food
choices and pile on the pounds. Your aerobic
system and power output suffers as well.
Delaying the downfall
These physiological parameters of cycling
performance were of interest to a group of
researchers led by Jose Antonio RodriguezMarroyo, who tested seven Continental-level
riders before and after the Vuelta a España to
see just how much fatigue hurt performance.
The distance covered each stage averaged
155.5km at altitudes up to 2,257m for a total
of 3,265km. On average, VO2 max dropped
9% from 81.8ml/kg/min to 74.4; functional
threshold fell 10.3% from 437.8W to 391.5W
and maximum heart rate dipped by 6.7%
from 191 to 179bpm. Overall, the seven
riders endured a 10% physiological drop
due to difficulty in maintaining muscle
glycogen levels, reduced cardiac output and
muscle damage. Although the scientists
didn’t directly study sleep, all three of these
decrements are improvable by sleep.

Welcome to
snoozeville
Dr Sarah Gilchrist on creating
the right environment for a
good night’s sleep

1

The perfect temperature is 1820°C. Make sure your duvet’s the
right tog for the season and use cool
cotton sheets in summer.

2

Darkness is good. Photo
receptors in your eyes pick up
whether it’s light or dark and send
messages to the brain to release
(or not to release) melatonin, which
helps you sleep.

3

Your body likes to be in a balanced
state, so get into a sleep routine,
rising and hitting the pillow at roughly
the same time each day.

4

Avoid large meals for at least two
hours before bedtime. This wakes
your body instead of calming it down.

5
6

Keep technology and screentime
out of the bedroom.

If you’re training late, go to bed
an hour later. Your adrenaline
and cortisol levels will be up from
the exercise so better to spend
that hour chilling on the sofa than
struggling to sleep.

cyclist.co.uk

Sleep / Performance

cyclist.co.uk

September 2023 97

98 September 2023

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Sleep / Performance

Sleep like a pro
Manchester company Levitex helps
Mathieu van der Poel and his teammates
sleep better at Alpecin-Deceuninck
What’s your involvement with the Belgian
WorldTour team?
We provide the Alpecin team with sleep
consultations to better understand the riders’
specific needs, as each one will be different.
From this, we’re able to provide solutions in
terms of sleep hygiene, sleeping position and
sleep surface. Some riders have mattresses and
pillows in their own home; some have pillows
that travel with them during the race season.
What makes a good pillow?
Our specialist foam pillows come in four sizes.
We match the athlete with a pillow based on their
individual shape and size, taking into account the
position they tend to sleep in most (back or side).
For any athlete we work with who sleeps on their
front, we give them the tools to transition to a
more optimal lying position. Sleeping on your
front is a major no-no; it’s bad for your spine
health and affects your overall sleep quality.
Are there any posture issues that commonly
affect cyclists that sleep can help?
We’ve found a prevalence of sacroiliac joint pain
across most of the athletes we work with. In
cycling, so much focus is applied to aerodynamics
and leaning over. That’s why it’s even more
important to address night-time posture. It’s also
why we recommend you check hotel mattresses
and pillows you’re sleeping on ahead of your
trip. One of the Alpecin riders was flown home
from Flanders with back spasms. Following three
clinical assessments it was established that the
cause of his debilitating lower back pain was
a hotel mattress ‘made from cotton wool’.

‘That makes sense,’ says Dr Kevin
Sprouse, head of medicine at EF EducationEasyPost. ‘Some guys seem to get fresher as
a Grand Tour rolls on. At the start of the first
week, they’re labouring down to breakfast
and gagging for a coffee. By the end of the
second week, they’re the first ones down.’
EF has a sponsorship deal with tech
company Whoop, one of the more popular
wearables on the market. While Dr Gilchrist
has her reservations about the accuracy of
wearables (see ‘Are wearables worth it?’ for
more), Sprouse says they have benefits.
‘One of the things Whoop has opened
my eyes to is that often the guys adapting to
the race are the ones who are sleeping very
well. Left unchecked, many riders will lose
valuable sleep time by watching films or
reading. They’ll average six-and-a-half to
seven hours’ sleep a night. But show them
Whoop and how long others are sleeping and
their performance score encourages them to
have better control over their sleep, which
can nudge them up to eight to nine hours.’

cyclist.co.uk

Are
wearables
worth it?
Your smartwatch can monitor
your sleep, but how much
should you rely on it?
‘I refer to them as “wearables,
nearables and unbearables”,’ says Dr
Sarah Gilchrist. ‘The gold standard is
polysomnography [PSG], which is in
the sleep lab with all the electrodes
hooked to your head. Most of the
gadgets and gizmos out there
haven’t been validated against PSG.
‘What I would say is that they are
useful to monitor change. So if you
want to increase your sleep time by
ten minutes a night over the next two
weeks, they’re good to monitor that.
But in terms of the data they give you
on your sleep architecture – your
non-REM and REM sleep – I would
take it with a pinch of salt and would
focus more on how you feel when
you wake up.
‘If you’re waking up with your
alarm and feeling a little groggy,
that’s pretty normal. But if you’re
drinking caffeine straight away and
still feel exhausted, chances are you
need to address your sleep hygiene.’

Which raises the question: how much
is enough? Back to Dr Gilchrist. ‘I need to
work back to answer that. Basically, you
have what’s called a 90-minute sleep cycle
comprising four stages. Your first two stages
are light sleep. That’s up to around 30
minutes. You’re kind of twitchy, jerky, but
you can be woken up quite easily and that’s
why this is good for a nap.
‘You then hit stage three, or slow-wave
sleep. Your brainwaves are low-frequency;
your heart rate, blood pressure and breathing
rate drops; your body’s in a really deep stage
of sleep. If you’re in a heavy endurance
training programme, this is where many of
your adaptions take place as you’ll release
growth hormone and repair muscle damage.
‘And then you go into stage four sleep,
which is when you dream. This is REM [rapid
eye movement] sleep and is important for
emotional stability. Then you transition out
of that and start another 90-minute cycle.’
So, when it comes to what is optimum,
it’s more about ticking off full cycles than
total time slept. In theory, the more cycles
you can work through, the more rejuvenated
you’ll feel. So five 90-minute cycles equates
to seven-and-a-half hours’ sleep; six cycles
equals nine hours. ‘But again, everyone’s
individual,’ says Gilchrist.
This individualism is influenced by many
factors including puberty, the menopause
and pregnancy. But one thing unites all
cyclists: put the same effort into sleep as into
your hill repeats and you’ll ride stronger and
be healthier. Happy snoozing.
James Witts is a writer who is so good at
sleeping he can do it with his eyes closed

‘Left unchecked, many pro riders
will lose valuable sleep time by
watching films or reading’
Booze is bad news
Caffeine and alcohol are off the menu when it comes to sleep
Coffee and cycling have a rich history, but, says Dr Sarah Gilchrist, avoid them after
lunchtime or you’ll struggle to sleep.
‘That’s very much general advice though, because we all metabolise caffeine at
different rates,’ she adds. ‘But on the whole, try to taper off and drink something else like
decaffeinated coffee or herbal tea.’
Why caffeine is so dream-dentingly bad is down to inhibiting the ‘flip-flop switch’ that
sends you from being awake to asleep. ‘This switch is triggered by a chemical build-up
throughout the day, but caffeine blocks the receptors so that your waking state takes over
for longer and your sleep is compromised,’ says Gilchrist.
As for alcohol – which let’s not forget pro cyclists used to quaff freely at the Tour de
France until Tom Simpson died with a mix of alcohol and amphetamine in his blood in 1967
– there’s more bad news: ‘We know that it prevents you getting your REM sleep, the part of
your sleep cycle that’s linked to your emotion. Unfortunately, even just a couple of glasses
affects your sleep quite significantly.’

September 2023 99

Not even 300km of riding and 5,400m of climbing can diminish
the beauty of the Istrian peninsula at Croatia’s biggest sportive
Words MARCUS LEACH
Photography GAVIN KAPS/OSPREY IMAGERY

100 September 2023

cyclist.co.uk

Istria 300 / Sportive

cyclist.co.uk

September 2023 101

102 September 2023

cyclist.co.uk

Istria 300 / Sportive

eft or right?
Left or right?
Left or right? The
question circles
my mind like a
roulette ball as
I race down the
descent towards
a fork in the road.
Which option
will my mental ball land on? There’s no prize,
only the difference in distance that I will have
remaining before I get to the finish line. Going
left leaves me with 90km, right with 155km.
The sane choice seems obvious, especially
given that I’ve already amassed 145km, not
to mention the fact that the string of riders
ahead of me are all heading left. Yet as I reach
the junction moments later, something inside
compels me to turn right, reasoning that I’ve
already gambled once today, so I may as well
go all-in now for the full route of Croatia’s
premier sportive, the Istria 300.
The first gamble was my bike choice. Some
might say I’m foolish to be taking on a 300km
road race on a gravel bike, even more so when
the route contains over 5,000m of climbing and
a strict 12-hour time limit, but I figured that

such a long time on a bike requires the priority
of comfort over speed. Besides, I feel like I’m
in decent shape, I’ve got aero-ish wheels, and
when I lined up at the start in the small Croatian
town of Poreč, I was convinced that my gravel
bike would prove to be the smart choice, despite
the pitying looks of my fellow participants.
Best laid plans
It’s still dark when the gun goes off for the start
of the Istria 300. The first part of the sportive
is neutralised as we roll slowly through the old
town, but as soon as the race organiser’s car
pulls to one side there’s a cacophony of gear
changes and a group of riders shoots past me
in a blur of carbon and brightly coloured Lycra.
Not to worry; I tell myself that these are
obviously the elite riders duking it out for overall
victory, an argument bolstered by the fact
former Paris-Roubaix winner Sonny Colbrelli
and his Bahrain Victorious teammate Fran
Miholjević are among their ranks.
A minute later and another wave of riders
comes past me. Suddenly my choice of bike
doesn’t seem so cunning. I’m painfully aware
that I’m already putting out more watts than
I’d like at this early stage in proceedings, and
I’m still being dropped like a bad smell. The

I’m painfully aware that I’m already
putting out more watts than I’d like
at this early stage in the proceedings

Far left: The pace is
already high as the sun
rises over the Istria 300
peloton on the road to
Sveti Lovreĉ, around
25km into the day
Right: With the Rasa
Gulf in the background,
the riders head towards
Brovinje at the most
southern tip of the route
Above: The hilltop
village of Motovun.
The descent from here
leads to the final climb
of a gruelling day

cyclist.co.uk

September 2023 103

tail rider of the group bids me good luck before
heading up the road and out of sight.
After the frantic start the pace eventually
settles, mercifully allowing me to attach myself
to the back of a small pack spearheaded by four
efficient-looking Austrians intent on tapping
out a steady rhythm. The opening 30km rises
gradually upwards past little villages yet to
shake off the chill dawn air, the road picking its
way through immaculately tended vineyards
and olive groves packed with gnarled trees.
In cafes, a few locals sit drinking their earlymorning espressos, almost all of them puffing
on cigarettes, the smoke lingering in the air as
we glide past.
Soon the road drops away on a fast, sweeping
descent around a series of lazy switchbacks,
revealing a swathe of green as we head away
from the coast and into the forested interior.
The sun peeks over the horizon and brings a
welcome warmth to the morning, which also

104 September 2023

serves to make sweat appear on my brow as we
hit yet another short climb. It’s hard to imagine
that a route whose highest point is only 460m
above sea level can contain so much climbing,
but I’m beginning to understand that there will
be no killer blow on today’s ride. It will be death
by a thousand cuts.
Of dragons and pigs
Our hitherto organised little group quickly
splinters as gradients reach double digits, each
of us grinding to the top at our own pace, quickly
forgetting the camaraderie that saw us through
the previous kilometres. There’s little respite
before the next climb, which features struggling
cyclists scattered over a long straight road that
rears up to the skyline. Thankfully I still feel
strong, and slowly, methodically, I begin to make
my way past riders I recognise from earlier in the
morning. I will admit that I allow myself a small
sense of vindication.

cyclist.co.uk

Istria 300 / Sportive

I begin to make
my way past
riders I recognise
from earlier. I’ll
admit that I
allow myself
a small sense
of vindication

Oprtalj

Dolenja Vas

Lake Butoniga

Motovun

Sveti Lovreĉ

Poreĉ

Ravni
C R OAT I A

Left: Cyclist goes it
alone, and begins to
question the wisdom
of taking on the longer
300km route
Above left: From the
most southerly tip of
the route, the road
heads north and
descends to Ravni
with the Rijeka Gulf
as the backdrop

cyclist.co.uk

Brovinje

The details
Sign up for a big day out

What Istria 300
Where Poreč, Istria, Croatia
How far 300km/235km/255km
Elevation 5,400m/3,600m/2,200m
Next one 7th October 2023
Price From €90 (£75)
More info istria300.com

September 2023 105

The road narrows and the trees lining it
become denser, their upper branches reaching
out to create the feeling that I’m being drawn
into a tunnel. When the road finally emerges
through the foliage it does so in dramatic
fashion, opening out onto views across the
Adriatic Sea, sunlight sparkling off its surface.
A series of islands rises up from the water like
the tail of a slumbering sea dragon.
Such is the nature of the route that for every
savage incline comes an equally treacherous
descent, none more so than the one leading
down to Ravni at the southeastern tip of the
route. The shrill squeal of disc brakes up
ahead makes it feel like I’m chasing a pack of
over-excited pigs down the hill, and the smell
of burning pads perfumes the air. I gingerly
negotiate the steep tarmac that twists its way
through a jumble of rocks and trees, spitting
me out onto a coastal road that conspires to
suck all momentum from my legs.
I slot in behind the gladiatorial frame of
Wolfgang, a man seemingly carved from granite,
as he makes light work of the steady incline,
his square jaw carving a path through the brisk
headwind. He leads us to a much-needed feed
station where cyclists descend greedily on tables
full of sandwiches, energy bars and fresh fruit.
The pigs have found their trough.
Getting harder all the time
Buoyed by a flood of sugary energy, I join the
back of a small group descending towards the
junction that allows riders to pick their route:
long or even longer. It’s here I take my second
gamble. In going for the full route I cut away the
safety net of riding in a group; it’s now me and
the lonely road ahead. A series of calculations
runs through my head, all aimed at answering
one question. Will I make the time cut?
For long periods I never doubt it, my average
speed still on the right side of 25kmh. What
those calculations fail to include is the nature of
the road ahead, one that very quickly turns from
benign to sadistic. It was foolish of me to think
that the additional 2,000m of ascent contained
in the full route would come easily. The climbing
that came earlier in the day pales against the
inclines that I now face, the road rising sharply
in a series of unrelenting ramps.
Recent rains have done little to help the
quality of minor country lanes that are littered
with debris and dirt. Now I am genuinely
thankful for being on a gravel bike, especially
when I sail past two riders pushing their bikes
through a particularly treacherous section of
rutted road buried under a thick layer of mud.
They quickly catch back up and the three of
us form a trio for a short time: a Welshman,

106 September 2023

cyclist.co.uk

Istria 300 / Sportive

Left: Cyclist is tempted
to swap the bike for
something with a little
extra horsepower as
the 5,400m of
elevation bites
Below left: The high
road past Lake Butoniga
Below middle: Passing
through the village of
Livade before the final
climb up to Oprtalj
Below right: The route
snakes under the main
road near Dolenja Vas
on the northeastern
tip of the route

a Portuguese and a German. It should be the
setup for a politically incorrect joke, but there’s
not much smiling going on.
Instead it’s another climb, another energysapping effort to zigzag up steep gradients.
The old, fortified town of Motovun comes into
view, its whitewashed buildings perched atop
a hill, and I know that once we’re past it the
subsequent descent will bring us to the foot of
the final big climb of the day.
It’s a climb I rode earlier in the week to test it
out, and I remember thinking that it wasn’t too
bad – a steady 5km effort – but now, with 235km
in my legs, I’m dreading it.
I haul myself upwards from the valley
floor through a forest famed for its truffles,
the delicacy that forms a part of the pasta feed
station at the top of the climb.
Sadly there’s no such luxury for me, as my
latest calculations put me behind the time cut,
a fact confirmed by the ominous arrival of the
broom wagon. I’m given the choice of getting in
but I’m not prepared to accept defeat so easily.
I grab a handful of gels from a table and set off
in search of the finish.

My latest calculations
put me behind the time
FXWDIDFWFRQůUPHGE\
WKHRPLQRXVDUULYDORI
WKHEURRPZDJRQ

cyclist.co.uk

September 2023 107

108 September 2023

cyclist.co.uk

Istria 300 / Sportive

I hadn’t ever imagined
still being on the course
so late in the day and had
set off without lights
Racing the darkness
It’s now not only a race to beat the time cut, but
the impending darkness. When I started the ride
– 11 and a half hours ago – I hadn’t ever imagined
still being on the course so late in the day and
had set off without lights, another little gamble
that’s now coming back to haunt me. Eventually
I accept I’m not going to make up the time and
won’t make it before the 12-hour time cut.
On one hand I’m disappointed after exerting
so much effort; on the other I’m relieved I can
back off the pace and enjoy the final kilometres
of a route that has left me both cursing at its
savagery and in awe of its beauty. It might lack
the big climbs of many of Europe’s leading
events, but it makes up for it with the charm
and character of a region made for cycling.
I eventually cross the finish line half an hour
outside the time-cut under a veil of darkness.
My various gambles may not have paid off, but
where’s the fun if you don’t occasionally take
a few risks?
Marcus Leach is a freelance writer who takes
a perverse pleasure in hurting himself

cyclist.co.uk

Do it yourself

Left: Grinding to
the top of one of the
day’s hardest climbs
above Lake Butoniga
Above: The sun is
about to set on both
the day and Cyclist’s
hopes of making it
home before the
time cut

Travel
The nearest airport to Poreč is Pula
at the southern tip of the Istrian
peninsula. There are direct flights
from the UK with the major airlines,
although some (Ryanair) don’t fly
there in October, and others (British
Airways) don’t go direct once the
summer season ends. Easyjet still
flies direct during October. From
the airport, it’s a 45-minute drive
to Poreč, or around 2.5 hours by
public transport.

Accommodation
The Istria 300 is partnered with
hotel chain Valamar (valamar.com),
which offers discounts for entrants
to the event. Valamar has a number
of hotels, resorts and campsites in
the region, and its Diamant Hotel &
Residence (where Cyclist stayed –
very nice it was too) has bike storage
and servicing facilities, is a 10-minute
walk to the centre of Poreč, and will
provide an early breakfast on the day
of the ride.

September 2023 109

SUPER RECORD
WIRELESS
SHIFT INTO NEW DIMENSIONS

The Super Record Wireless
uses an innovative
combination of features to
take your performance to new
dimensions. Our user-centric
technology facilitates a dynamic
riding experience, enhanced
by class-leading braking
components, and superior
shifting precision to guarantee
you the perfect cadence – no
matter the tempo you ride.

Spoon Customs Izoard p112
Designed in England, made in
Italy, the Izoard is something special:
a thoroughly modern lightweight and
aggressive race bike… made from steel.

Colnago V4Rs p118

Landrace Tupelo p124
You’d expect a bike from Cyclefit
gurus Phil Cavell and Julian Wall to be
comfortable, but is there more to this
titanium bike than just great fit?

Photos Mike Massaro, Lizzie Crabb, Joseph Branston

This month’s best new bikes
get put through their paces

Tadej Pogaĉar’s double Tourwinning V3Rs gets an update, and
while the bike still has its quirks it
is better – and faster – than ever.

cyclist.co.uk

September 2023 111

Bikes Spoon Customs

Words JAMES SPENDER

Customs Izoard RR Disc
Light, aggressive, steel. Pick three

E

very day’s a school day, and this month
I’ve learned that a manufacturer only
has to include two Columbus mainframe
tubes in a bike frame to legitimately label
it ‘made from Columbus X’. The rest can be
anything: hi-tensile, mild steel, 1950s tent
poles (presumably).
I learned this from the founder of Spoon
Customs, Andy Carr, and as you might have
guessed, his Izoard RR Disc is made entirely
from Columbus Spirit HSS. Well, nearly.
‘It’s all Spirit HSS, except for the bottom
bracket shell, which we have made for us in
stainless steel then threaded for a T47 BB.’
But does this matter? Surely once you’ve got
the coveted Columbus dove badge and some nice
paint, steel’s steel, isn’t it? Carr thinks not, and
his designed-in-the-UK, made-in-Italy racer
presents a compelling case.
Specced up
As builds go, this is a dream. The groupset is
Shimano’s latest Dura-Ace Di2 with updated
Servowave disc brakes that are the best I’ve
yet ridden (I say ‘yet’ as Campagnolo has just
released new Super Record, and its last brakes
were excellent). Fork, bars and seatpost come

112 September 2023

from Enve, so too the fabulously light SES 2.3
wheels – a claimed 1,091g – and the Selle Italia
saddle is similarly light at a claimed 136g.
If I already sound hung up on weight, that’s
because I am – total build here is just 7.3kg (size
56cm). Yes the spec helps massively (frames are
in the region of 1.6kg) but this is seriously light
for a disc brake steel bike. Yet the Izoard is much
more than fancy parts and laudable numbers,
it’s a lesson in detail and craft.
The head tube has stainless steel reinforcement
rings brazed around its top and bottom, designed
to allow tube walls to be thin while still coping
with the stresses of the headset. The seatstays
have a mild S-bend to aid compliance; brake
hoses travel through brazed-in sleeves so there’s
no fishing around when threading them; the
tubes are all phosphate-coated inside to prevent
rust. Then there’s the rear calliper mount, which
is brazed on the inside of the chainstay in two
pieces, instead of the usual chunk of metal brazed
into the chainstay or an extended, machined
dropout. This helps reduce weight, but also aids
feel, says Carr, removing the ‘dead spot’ in the
stay where a hollow tube meets solid metal.
There’s an argument to say no rider will ever
feel these things beyond a few grams saved, but

The spec
Model Spoon Customs Izoard RR Disc
Price £3,420 frameset only;
£11,780 as tested
Weight 7.3kg (56cm)
Groupset Shimano Dura-Ace
Di2 9270
Wheels Enve SES 2.3
Finishing kit Enve Aero handlebar,
Spoon Customs stem, Enve SES Road
seatpost, Selle Italia SLR Boost Kit
Carbonio saddle, Pirelli P Zero Race
TLR 28mm tyres
Contact spooncustoms.com

Highlights
The Columbus Spirit HSS
tubeset is about as light
and stiff as steel gets
The wide T47 bottom
bracket shell allows space
for chunky chainstays and
clearance for up to 32mm tyres
Enve SES 2.3 wheels are
tubeless, 25mm deep,
21mm internal width and weigh
a claimed 1,091g

cyclist.co.uk

© 2023 Sam Needham

P ZERO™ RACE TLR
WORLD TOUR
PROVEN PERFORMANCE

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the P ZERO™ Race TLR Tubeless-Ready tyres.
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range of P ZERO™ Race TLR tyres to feature the new
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Spoon Customs Bikes
they speak to Carr’s forensic design approach
and his fabricators’ expertise – Carr designs
everything in Surrey but a well-known family
of Italian framebuilders executes the builds.
That said, there is one thing I’d like to see
for a future Izoard RR – internally routed
hoses, the lot of them. Since testing the Moots
Vamoots CRD in issue 141, running hoses inside
metal frames using the new Chris King AeroSet
headset is eminently possible. Just a suggestion.
Aggressively classy
The standout feature on my first ride was just
how light the Izoard felt. In this it owes a huge
debt to its wheels, but regardless, the front of the
bike felt as deft and feathery as any super-light
racer. This is helped by an incredibly short trail
of 52mm, which sees the front end flick about
with minimal steering input, and a stiff spine
– the 42mm Columbus down tube is the widest,
stiffest out there, while the T47 shell leaves
plenty of space for stiff, chunky chainstays.

Pick of the kit
Le Col Pro kit,
from £145, lecol.cc

Le Col’s Pro II bibshorts (£185)
use a slightly heavier weave
than a lot of ‘pro’ kit, but it
translates to a supportive,
compressive fit and a plush
feel. The Pro II jersey (£145)
is similar, high-stretch and
figure-hugging without being
tight, and it hits a sweet spot
between race performance
and comfort. Then the Pro
All Weather Gilet (£150) is a
long-term favourite made from
Gabba-style softshell material
that’s shower proof and warm
even when wet – a bit like a
very thin wetsuit. Shame they
discontinued the orange
colourway though.

Mix it all together and here is a bike that
felt much more of a handful than a lot of
racers out there. But that’s a good thing

cyclist.co.uk

September 2023 115

Bikes Spoon Customs

In the southwest there is what’s locally
called ‘the Mur de Southpool’, and up its
13% average slopes I took consecutive PBs

Above: The 42mm
Columbus down tube is
wide and the chainstays
chunky, which give the
Izoard a stiffness that
translates to incredibly
reactive handling

116 September 2023

This light, reactive feeling is exaggerated
by the 980mm wheelbase, which is sixpenceswivelling short. Mix it all together and here is
a bike that felt much more of a handful than a lot
of racers out there. But that’s a good thing. The
Izoard was engaging and alive – that is, ready
to react – and in that it felt thrilling to ride. But
don’t take my word for it, take Strava’s.
It has been a while since I’ve set any personal
bests, but where I’ve been testing this bike in the
southwest there is what’s locally called ‘the Mur
de Southpool’, and up its 13% average slopes I
took consecutive PBs. In such instances there’s
always a range of variables at play, but I couldn’t
help but have this feeling when I went out on the
Izoard that ‘today was my day’. This extended to
a couple of technical descents too (a nod here
to the Dura-Ace brakes) although notably there
wasn’t much to show for the flats – but this isn’t
an aero bike, nor are these aero wheels.
Mind you, this all better be the case for nighon £12,000 – a figure that in today’s climate I
just can’t ignore. But equally I’ll just park that
there – I don’t make the prices. Instead, I’ll just
end on one simple fact: the Izoard is brilliant.

Clothing
stockists
Limar Air Pro Mips helmet
£254.99, chickencyclekit.co.uk
Maap x 100% Glendale glasses
£195, freewheel.co.uk
Le Col Pro Jersey II
£145, lecol.cc
Le Col Pro All Weather Gilet
£150, lecol.cc
Le Col Pro Bib Shorts II
£185, lecol.cc
Sportful Fiandre Booties
£95, saddleback.co.uk

cyclist.co.uk

Bikes Colnago

Words SAM CHALLIS

V4Rs
Built for pros, but with plenty to offer everyone

C

olnago has been popping up in Cyclist a
lot recently, which is a reflection of just
how busy the Italian brand has been
over the last year or so. Its C-Series has
not only received an update (see last issue) but
sprouted two new models, and the brand has
just revised its racy V-Series too.
UAE Team Emirates’ Tadej Pogačar rode
the previous model, the V3Rs, to victory at two
Tours de France, but Colnago says changes in the
composite fabrication mean the V4Rs is even
stiffer, stronger, faster and a touch lighter too.
In comparison to the C-Series’ distinctive
modular construction, V-Series bikes are more
conventional, being made in monocoque fashion,
where the frame is fabricated in a mould as one
piece. ‘With monocoque we can achieve the best
stiffness-to-weight ratio,’ says head of research
and development Davide Fumagalli. ‘The V4Rs
is designed primarily for pro riders.’
That doesn’t mean only pros will appreciate it,
however. My experience of the V4Rs convinced
me the bike has a lot to offer everyday riders too.

If you have to ask...
Bikes with five-figure pricetags are becoming
scarily familiar, and a convergence of design

118 September 2023

and looks means that the differences between
bikes at the top end are becoming harder to spot.
Now more than ever, the devil is in the detail,
so I’ll admit to being a little let down by some of
the V4Rs’s finer touches. The brushed chrome
decals look slick, but are merely stickers. At this
rarefied level of the market, they should be part
of the paintjob. The seatpost clamp cover, rather
than nestling flush against the top tube, sits
awkwardly and isn’t easy to remove. The thruaxle nuts are workmanlike too; Cannondale’s
new SuperSix and several BMCs use captive
threads, which give the driveside fork tip and
rear dropout much cleaner finishes.
It’s a shame because in other areas the V4Rs
displays plenty of finesse: the down tube bottle
cage sits in a recess that shrouds it from the
wind; the top headset bearing is CeramicSpeed’s
SLT design, so its promise of a dramatically
extended service life is a boon given the brake
hoses are routed through it; the front derailleur
hanger is made from 3D printed titanium,
providing a solid but light anchor from which to
shift; and although the CC.01 integrated cockpit
is excellent (being stiff but nicely shaped), the
fork steerer is round, so switching to a normal
two-piece front end would be simple.

The spec
Model Colnago V4Rs
Price £11,000
Weight 7.2kg (size 530)
Groupset Shimano Dura-Ace Di2
Wheels Fulcrum Wind 40 DB
Finishing kit Colnago CC.01 bar/
stem, Colnago V4Rs Carbon
seatpost, Prologo Scratch M5
Nack saddle, Pirelli P Zero Race
28mm tyres
Contact windwave.co.uk

Highlights
The D-shaped seatpost
is chunky by modern
standards but still comfortable
The headset top cap
hides a multitool housed
in an aluminium sleeve inside
the steerer. It’s neat, but the
usefulness of the tiny tool
is up for debate
The CC.01 bars have a long
reach, which adds to the
frame’s already lengthy reach
for a stretched-out ride position

cyclist.co.uk

Colnago Bikes

Colnago has taken the more traditional
route of tuning things holistically. There
are no wacky frame shapes here
Despite my nitpicking, I must admit the
more general performance characteristics are
resoundingly successful. The light weight and
stiffness of the bike’s monocoque construction
lets it hustle up climbs, while assured handling
means going down the other side of those climbs
is a stable, confident joy. The bike retains some
idiosyncratic features from its forebear, such as
a longer than average trail figure inspired by its
C-Series sibling, but Colnago has taken other
parts of the V3Rs and given them a tweak.
The back end of the V4Rs is tighter by a few
millimetres, the seat tube steeper and the reach
longer, which pushes the rider’s weight further
forward. Cyclist’s recent review of the C68
suggested it was suited to long, fast mountain
descents, and I would say it’s the same story
with the V4Rs.
All that is balanced with a perfectly pitched
level of comfort. Different brands adopt different
strategies when it comes to balancing the need for
stiffness and aerodynamics with the desire for

cyclist.co.uk

Pick of the kit

Poc Ne-plus Ultra
VDPS bibshorts,
£220, pocsports.com
I think bibshorts like this are the
future for recreational riders,
as they offer utility while being
sleek enough to not look out
of place on fast road rides.
The main material is wind and
water-resistant, but still feels
light and comfortable. The
sturdy mesh pockets have
envelope closures to secure
accessories, but are nearly
unnoticeable when not in use.
The chamois is shorter than
usual to match the trend for
short-nosed saddles. The result
is a pair of bibshorts I’d happily
use for three seasons, on and
off the road.

September 2023 121

Bikes Colnago

Colnago got UAE Team Emirates to
actually race on five different prototipos
to decide on the final carbon layup

Clothing
stockists
Met Trenta 3K Carbon helmet
£290, met-helmets.com
100% S3 sunglasses
£179.99, freewheel.co.uk
Poc Essential Road jersey
£110, pocsports.com
Poc Ne-plus Ultra VDPS bibshorts
£220, pocsports.com
Poc Ultra socks
£25, pocsports.com
Sidi Wire 2 Air shoes
£390, saddleback.co.uk

122 September 2023

compliance, with the likes of the Trek Madone
(see p68) and Factor O2 VAM (see p11) employing
extreme frame architecture to add flex. Others,
such as Scott’s Foil or the Ventum NS1 tested
last issue, almost disregard achieving it in the
frameset, relying on flexible bars and seatposts.
Colnago has taken the more traditional
route of tuning things holistically. There are
no wacky frame shapes here, the cockpit isn’t
noticeably flexible and the seatpost doesn’t use
a slim cross-section. Nothing in particular is
responsible for the V4Rs’s ability to filter out
the road’s imperfections, but rather all parts
of the design play a small part, which become
significant when taken together. The polished
ride quality just seems to come from good oldfashioned composite engineering.
It exemplifies Colnago’s experience and
validates the brand’s unusual final development
stage for this bike, where it got UAE Team
Emirates to actually race on five different
prototipos to decide on the final carbon layup.
It goes to show that, despite Colnago’s heritage,
it isn’t afraid to try something new to keep
making better bikes.

Above left: The rear of
the V4Rs is tighter, the
seat tube steeper and
the reach longer than
previously, pushing the
rider’s weight further
forward for a more
aggressive position

cyclist.co.uk

Get there

getthere.schwalbe.com

The all-season road bike tyre
Replaces training and commuting tyre Durano DD

The flat-less road bike tyre
Successor of the Durano Plus

Bikes Landrace

Words LAURENCE KILPATRICK

Tupelo
Almost bespoke all-road racer
that’s deeply satisfying to ride

L

andrace is the brainchild of Phil Cavell
and Julian Wall, two bike-fit pioneers
who founded bike-fit studio Cyclefit back in
the mid-1990s. In their 50-plus cumulative
years of experience, the pair have performed fits
for everyday amateurs through to Fabian
Cancellera, Tom Pidcock and the EF EducationEasyPost team, and it’s this knowledge that has
led them to develop the all-road Tupelo.
As you might imagine, correct fit is at the
heart of the Tupelo’s mission, so every customer
is offered an extensive bike-fit at Cyclefit’s
London studio, along with options for pretty
much any component imaginable to dial in
said fit. So while frame sizes are stock, the
Tupelo has a real sense of the custom about it.
Strength and weight
The Tupelo is built around a 3/2.5 titanium
tubeset that combines double-butted and plaingauge tubes, the idea being that while doublebutted tubes are lighter, plain-gauge tubes add
strength in certain areas such as the chainstays.
‘Pushing titanium to the very brink of what
is possible in terms of weight has its risks,’ says
Cavell. ‘We wanted a frame that would perform
everywhere, for a long time.’

124 September 2023

Landrace lets fit and personal preference
govern component choices, so while this test
bike has the semi-wireless bells and whistles,
a Shimano 105 mechanical Tupelo can be had
for £4,850 – which is very reasonable in the
titanium market.
As per most metal bikes, cabling isn’t fully
hidden, but that does make for easy front-end
adjustability and maintenance. Tyre clearance
fits the ‘all-road’ billing, with the frameset
accepting up to 38mm tyres, and practical
touches include mudguard mounts and an
extra set of bottle bosses under the down tube.
Custom build also means custom Landrace
wheels, which are handbuilt at Cyclefit and are
offered with a variety of hub and carbon rim
options. These wheels are designed for road
– 35mm deep rims, 21mm internal width and
laced to Hope Pro 5 hubs – but gravel versions
are also available (38mm deep and 25mm wide).
Geometry is a predefined affair, if not
without a few custom-esque quirks. Cyclefit
advocates low bottom brackets, which allow
riders to sit ‘deeper’ into the bike for greater
confidence when descending and cornering.
Thus, while classic road bikes might have a
68mm BB drop, and endurance road bikes

The spec
Model Landrace Tupelo
Price £6,999 (£2,795 frameset only)
Weight 8.7kg (large)
Groupset Shimano Ultegra Di2
Wheels Landrace RDEE 35 Hope
Pro 5 hubs
Finishing kit Deda Zero1 bars, Deda
Zero2 stem, USE Ultimate Duro
Titanium seatpost, Specialized
S-Works Power Mirror saddle, Pirelli
P-Zero Race TLR 30mm tyres
Contact cyclefit.co.uk

Highlights
Wheels are handbuilt
by Cyclefit, which offers
carbon gravel or road rims laced
to Hope or DT Swiss hubs
All-road capability comes
from stable geometry,
relaxed rider position and
38mm tyre clearance
Externally routed brake
hoses may seem outdated
but they make maintenance and
adjustment easy

cyclist.co.uk

Landrace Bikes

Pick of the kit

Lake MX 238
Gravel shoes, £295,
lakecycling.com
Lake specialises in exact fitting
– every shoe comes in half-EU
sizes and a variety of widths –
so pick carefully. Once I’d found
my size, a process that involved
tracing each foot then referring
the measurements to Lake’s
online ‘foot matrix’, the result
was an extremely comfortable
set of shoes. The Lycra-lined
heel cup does an excellent job
of anchoring the foot, while
the rubber-overlaid carbon
sole provides a stiff pedalling
platform and good hike-a-bike
grip. The suede Ecco Fullgrain
upper feels great too and is
easy to clean when dry.

around 73mm, the Tupelo’s is 80mm – more
akin to a gravel bike. This lowers the rider’s
centre of gravity, which increases stability.
Complementing this is a 63mm trail, which
means the Tupelo sits at the well-mannered end
of the handling spectrum on road or towards the
sharper end off-road. Chainstays are 425mm,
which is fairly long in one sense yet quite short
given full-length mudguards can be fitted (this
setup sees max tyre size drop to 32mm).
Stack is 605mm and reach 380mm (for
reference this size large has a 56cm top tube),
which produces a more upright position than
some racier riders might like, albeit Cyclefit will
argue sizing is purpose-dictated and based on
fit data from thousands of clients.
Island life
I spent a lot of time aboard the Tupelo on a
recent trip to Gran Canaria. Given the amount
of climbing the island serves up, I expected
to eventually bemoan the extra weight the

The Tupelo sits at the well-mannered
end of the handling spectrum on road
or towards the sharper end off-road

cyclist.co.uk

September 2023 127

Bikes Landrace

Below: Our test bike
was semi-wireless but
the option to spec a
mechanical groupset
gives the Tupelo extra
versatility in terms
of both components
and price

Tupelo carries over the carbon bikes that were
ubiquitous on the island, but no such moment
occurred. Instead, I found a rich smoothness in
the ride quality, barely any noticeable road buzz
– no doubt helped by the 30mm Pirellis and
the delightful Specialized saddle – and a kind
of glove-like comfort I really wasn’t expecting.
The frame was responsive and nimble enough,
and although I wasn’t setting any records up the
climbs, I glided around in near-total comfort.
Given this, the Tupelo was enjoyable to ride
if not always exciting. Out-of-the-saddle sprints
accented the stiffness of the frame without being
overtly explosive, but it was a different story
when descending. Cavell warned me that such a
low bottom bracket ‘often has a profound effect
on a taller rider’s descending’, and he was right:
I’ve never known my tyres to feel more stuck to
the road. Then there’s the position, which was
comfortable but did leave me noticeably upright
and stuck out in the wind.
But to say any of this is an outright criticism
is to miss the Tupelo’s point. This is the kind of
bike designed to make you feel utterly at home
from the first pedal stroke, and it does.

I found a rich smoothness in the Tupelo’s
ride quality and a kind of glove-like
comfort I really wasn’t expecting

128 September 2023

Clothing
stockists
Giro Aries Spherical helmet
£289.99, giro.co.uk
Poc Propel sunglasses
£230, pocsports.com
Ciovita Tinta jersey
€95 (approx £80), ciovita.com
Ciovita Supremo bibshorts
€185 (approx £160), ciovita.com
Ciovita Crew socks
€15 (approx £12), ciovita.com
Lake MX 238 Gravel shoes
£295, lakecycling.com

cyclist.co.uk

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Backmarker / Trevor Ward

Taking the
direct route

A cult Hollywood film provides an unlikely lesson in logistical
planning for riders looking to avoid roads

I

n the 1968 film The Swimmer, Burt
Lancaster plays Ned Merrill, who realises
it is possible to ‘swim’ home from the
suburban pool party he is attending using other
friends’ back garden swimming pools as ‘a
river’. After announcing his plan, he dives into
the pool, gets out the other end, disappears
over the fence and starts what becomes an
increasingly eventful journey.
The film made such an impression on my
housemate and I when we watched it in the
1990s that he was inspired to write a play
based on it, which he performed at the local
swimming baths. Sadly, the run ended abruptly
as he hadn’t taken into account just how bad the
acoustics were at the Victorian-era Guinea Gap
baths in Wallasey.
I was fascinated by the idea of using an
alternative infrastructure – which in Ned Merrill’s
day would have been considered countercultural but for the number of middle-class
swimming pools involved – to get from A to B.

130 September 2023

Already a commuting cyclist, I now
pondered alternative routes that could get me
from home to work avoiding the regular roads
and their incessant traffic. While Ned achieves
his objective in just a pair of swimming trunks,
I had to factor in waterproofs and a rucksack as
I followed my Ordnance Survey map’s dotted
lines across golf courses, parks and wasteland
under threatening Merseyside skies.
It was an experiment with mixed results.
I was never sure of the legality of riding across
a golf course and so was continually bracing
myself to be on the receiving end of either a
mis-hit tee shot or a greenkeeper’s ire. The
short stretches of vacant land were fraught
with the risks of punctures or encounters with
unsavoury characters, and I had my fair share
of dead-ends and unrideable (on skinny road
tyres, at least) surfaces.
And whereas Ned Merrill had regular
flirtatious encounters with attractive female
neighbours, I had to dodge pompous golfers,

Fun on the farm
I also now live in Scotland, where cyclists are
allowed on footpaths and the country’s ‘Right to
Roam’ makes even the faintest indentation on
the land a potential right of way. I have enjoyed
plotting routes between key places and mixing
up well-established footpaths and coastal trails
with little-known, overgrown shortcuts and
forgotten farm tracks.
For someone who finds mountain-biking
a tad too technical, these gravel routes,
pioneered in the comforting cradle of my drop
handlebars, have provided a taste of what The
Guardian would probably term ‘wild cycling’
while also furnishing an escape from the
tyranny of tarmac.
I’ve successfully plotted a 20km off-road
loop from my front door that provides access to
the nearest town (although admittedly I often
take the direct road route home depending
how much precious cargo of wine I’ve bought
from the local Co-op). A friend who lives in
Lewisham, south London, has linked together
a series of parks to safely deliver him to the
North Downs, while another in Glasgow uses
canal towpaths and a short-cut through a
cemetery to get to work. And we’re not the
only ones going off-grid to avoid the pollution
and hazards of roads.
Kieran Foster is the off-road advisor for
Cycling UK, and has plotted gravel routes
including the Great North Trail from Yorkshire
to Edinburgh, and King Alfred’s Way, a 350km
loop in southern England. Of new gravel
converts, he says, ‘They reach a certain age
and find they have families and mortgages and
decide that roads are just too dangerous. I can’t
offer these riders a new piece of segregated
tarmac that will cost £1 million a mile. However,
I can give them a route that may be occasionally
muddy or rutted but will keep them safe.’
Despite a dark existential cloud looming
over it, Ned Merrill’s aquatic odyssey is a
logistical triumph (and, incidentally, a great
advert for 52-year-old Burt Lancaster’s
personal trainer). All bike riders can take
inspiration from such ambition and planning.
Swimming trunks are optional.

cyclist.co.uk

Illustration Sean O’Brien

angry dog walkers or dead-eyed ghouls
seeking their next fix.
Nearly 30 years later I no longer have a
daily commute. I do, however, regularly have
to make utilitarian journeys by bike – whether
shopping, leading beginners’ group rides or
visiting schools to teach Bikeability. This has
prompted me to revisit my ambition to use
routes and infrastructure away from the
prescriptive network of roads and roundabouts.
And it’s the gravel bike – a concept that wasn’t
around in the 1990s – that has made this mission
a much more enjoyable and achievable goal.

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The new Camino is smoother, stabler, faster and more responsive
over the bumps, lumps and loose stuff than ever before. The perfect
gravel bike whether shredding your backyard byways or setting
up for global races. The Camino is ready for deep forests, multiday tours, sand and grit and everything on the way there.
Spread the cost over 12 and 24 months with Klarna finance.
Available to purchase with cycle to work scheme.

sonderbikes.com

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