Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2026 i Cycling Plus

Happy new year! If, like many, you’ve resolved to make 2026 the year you get fitter, then our guide to indoor training on p22 will come in handy, telling you everything you need to know to put together a sorted home setup. Personally, I’d rather get out pedalling in the fresh air when possible, but there are definitely days when the rollers in my garage are a lot more appealing than the squall outside my front door. If you do plan to venture out on the grimmest days, then our mudguard-fitting tips could come in handy (p92), along with our test of the latest training tyres (p68). Here’s hoping the conditions aren’t so godawful that you have to call upon the ‘Make fear your friend’ advice in this issue’s Training…

COMING TO AMERICA At LA28, in an Olympics first, an equal number of qualification places will be available for male and female cyclists across all disciplines. ACE VENTURE? British Cycling have launched a new commercial entity, British Cycling Ventures, to “supercharge commercial growth” in the sport, and are seeking private equity. GIMME FIVE Twenty-two-year-old Mexican rising star Isaac del Toro is set to make his Tour de France debut in 2026, supporting Tadej Pogačar’s attempt at a record-equalling fifth win. BALLS-UP? The UK National Screening Committee have recommended not to make prostate cancer screening routinely available to the vast majority of UK men. SHOWDOWN How easy it’ll be to watch the Tour de France on TV in the UK is still uncertain, as US entertainment giant Paramount have launched a…

we’ve all been there. From rounding off a bolt to starting a task that’s deceptively complex, it’s all too easy for a simple workshop job to become an odyssey. So, to ease your maintenance woes, we’ve put together a list of 14 common maintenance mistakes so you can avoid any unnecessary (and embarrassing) trips to the bike shop. 01Reaching for the limit screws first when adjusting gears There are many variables to check when adjusting or indexing your gears. While it might be tempting to reach for the limit screws, this isn’t the best place to start. These screws prevent the rear derailleur from shifting the chain into the spokes or into the driveside chainstay. Provided they’ve been set up correctly and the derailleur hanger isn’t bent, in theory they…

01 Altura Progel Plus Cycling Bib Shorts £70 Weight 184g (size M) Colours Black Sizes S-3XL men’s, 8-16 women’s These shorter-length bibs come with a thick Altura-branded seat pad with gel inserts. All the seams are flatlock and there’s a mesh back panel and lay-flat straps for upper-body comfort. The silicone leg grippers are sewn into the shorts’ legs and include useful reflective detailing. The Progel Plus shorts are less compressive than the Van Rysel and DHBs on test, and this doesn’t just affect muscle support. I found the seat pad wasn’t held in place quite as well, and the shorts tended to need readjusting after I’d been standing and were a little less comfortable on longer rides. Stylewise, the Altura shorts are around 4cm shorter than the other options…

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NEW GEAR Latest products rated Garmin Edge 850 vs Wahoo Elemnt Roam 3, Oakley Meta smart glasses and more IN-DEPTH FEATURES Reasons to date a cyclist The perfect excuse to spend Valentine’s Day riding! Pogačar at his peak Daniel Benson asks how long Tadej’s reign will last Is racing’s future virtual? How AI and more could change the sport entirely TOP TRAINING ADVICE Boost your ride The latest scientific findings and expert advice ON SALE 12 February 2026…

Garmin’s latest pedals feature a fully sealed power measuring spindle and an internal rechargeable battery. Leaving no stone unturned, the brand have also refined the pedal bodies and made it easier than ever to swap between road and off-road options. But with the Rally RK210 road pedals costing £929.99 and the XC210 gravel/MTB option carrying an RRP of £999.99, the sticking point for many could be the price. We rated Garmin’s previous Rally pedals highly, but it’s little surprise that the brand have ditched the user-replaceable batteries of the 200 series. While these often allow for longer battery life, they bring challenges in terms of weather sealing and increased scope for user error. They also made the process of swapping pedal bodies more complicated, because riders had to remove the battery…

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Rapha’s CEO Fran Millar is on a mission to get the British brand back to the forefront of the sport. The company defined how cycling looked in the 2000s, ushering in a new era when riding kit was closer to fashion than sportswear. However, over the past decade, they’ve gone from being perhaps the only brand of their type to just one of many, with discerning cyclists able to choose their apparel from similarly stylish labels such as MAAP and Pas Normal Studios. With that competition, Rapha have lost some of their cachet and market share, and now Millar, who joined the brand as chief executive officer in September 2024, wants them to reclaim their former position. “We are the originals, we started this. We have a deep credibility and deep…

Your Experts Charlie Allenby Freelance writer Charlie helps you work out your ideal carbohydrate consumption on the bike Mark Bailey Freelance writer Mark delves into how to use those pre-race nerves to your advantage Jack Luke Digital editor Former mechanic Jack tells us the secrets to the perfect mudguard setup Ollie Smith Writer, presenter and racer Find out why Ollie’s tempted to use mountain bike tyres when racing on gravel…

Gravel races are massive – not just in distance or the scale of the challenge, but in the sheer number of riders. Unless you’re strong enough to be right at the front, visibility of the trail ahead of you is often non-existent. When the dust kicks up, rocks start flying and the elbows come out, it’s no longer a case of choosing your line – you take what you’re given. Not having the talent, ability or nous to get to the front of these bunches, I’m usually left clinging on to the coat-tails, desperately trying to stay in the draft for as long as possible, at the mercy of whatever the trail presents. Basically, I can’t see where I’m going until the race breaks up. I’m a big believer that ‘the…

A few years ago, we feared endurance bikes could disappear, subsumed by the onward march of gravel riding, but in fact they’re now in rude health, thanks to some excellent tweaks and updates. Take Cannondale’s latest Synapse for instance, which won our 2025 Bike of the Year test (issue 436). This machine shows just how far the category has come, with its aero touches taken from the brand’s SuperSix race bike. It also has clearance for wide 42mm tyres, frame storage and mudguard mounts, and some clever integrated tech. Arguably, the shoots of a resurgence started to emerge when Trek updated the Domane in 2022, turning it into the SLR 7. It dropped a lot of weight, lost the front IsoSpeed pseudo-suspension in favour of improved aerodynamics and simplicity, and gained…

The bike industry’s obsession with making freehubs ever louder is modern cycling tech’s most unfortunate trend, and I’m done with it. I’m not going to bore you with a misty-eyed paean to the blissful silence of a fixed-gear bike’s drivetrain. My complaints are far more straightforward – loud freehubs are, at best, annoying, and at worst, downright rude. I’ll admit I’ve helped spread the gospel of noisy hubs. At the 2024 Sea Otter Classic bike festival in California, I filmed a BikeRadar video ranking the best-sounding freehubs at the show. Unsurprisingly, the loudest hubs got the biggest nods of approval from my big square head. Looking back, I see the puerile errors of my ways. This realisation hit me hard when I borrowed an Enve Melee recently. This is a…

One of the hottest debates in professional road cycling in 2025 was about bike choice. Should riders opt for a lightweight climbing machine or an aero bike – and do the UCI need to change their stance on bike weight? Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard rode aero bikes for practically every stage of the men’s Tour de France, with the former winning the race on the Colnago Y1Rs and the latter coming second on the Cervélo S5. And this was after Simon Yates smashed the Colle delle Finestre record using Cervélo’s aero bike, to win the 2025 Giro d’Italia. Last season marked a turning point, with many aero bikes now being light enough that riders, such as Pogačar, Vingegaard and Yates, are choosing to ride them even in high mountain…