Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2021 i Cyclist

I can barely contain my excitement. The 17th May deadline for easing travel restrictions is just around the corner (or has just passed, depending on when you get this magazine), so it’s time to pack my bike bag. Then it’s simply a case of double-checking the Government website for any last-minute changes to the rules, assessing which countries are on the green list to avoid quarantine on return to the UK, cross-referencing them with countries that are actually accepting tourists, learning the specific Covid restrictions of those countries, having a Covid test, working out which Covid tests – lateral flow or PCR – are required before the return journey and again on re-entering the UK, arranging those Covid tests, finding somewhere to stay that hasn’t been booked solid until 2023,…

Sussex-based wheel brand Hunt has released the 60 Limitless Aero, the deepest rims yet in its premium road range. While the 60mm deep section aids straightline speed, the company says it spent a lot of time in the wind-tunnel to ensure that the wheel handles like a much shallower rim to provide ‘consistent and predictable bike handling during varying side wind conditions’. The secret, according to Hunt, lies in the interface between the rim and tyre, which is why the 60 Limitless boasts a wide 21mm internal rim width and 34mm external width. When combined with a 25mm or 28mm tyre the resulting shape aims to minimise the turbulence that comes when deep rims meet side winds. This is designed to allow the rider to maintain an aerodynamic body position…

Specialized’s Vent line of products are essentially airier versions of the company’s regular top-tier products. So, just like the S-Works Vent shoes aim to offer more ventilation than the regular S-Works 7 shoes, the Prevail II Vent helmet promises better airflow than the regular Prevail II. It achieves this by incorporating ‘robotically spun aramid ropes’ in place of seven EPS foam bridges in the helmet’s shell. The reduction in surface area effectively turns what were 10 regular vents into three huge ones that run the length of the helmet. According to Specialized, this allows air to move 18% faster across the rider’s head, removing heat more effectively. Elsewhere the helmet is broadly similar to the regular Prevail II. The Vent has the same Mips SL technology and is near enough…

It was Shimano that popularised the concept of non-round chainrings back in the 1980s with its BioPace chainsets, but patents have existed for similar designs since 1894. There’s a very good reason why. ‘It’s a well-documented fact that humans are unable to exert even force on the pedals throughout the pedal stroke, resulting in relatively poor pedalling effectiveness,’ says Marcin Golec, founder of AbsoluteBlack. ‘This simple fact has inspired many inventors for more than a century in their efforts to optimise that force delivery during the pedal stroke.’ Shimano’s BioPace rings used a curious shape officially described as a ‘point symmetric egg curve’. ‘The shape delivered weird pedalling motion, and for some users even knee pain,’ says Golec. ‘The non-round concept has always showed promise but its development was hindered…

Johan Museeuw Age 55 Nationality Belgian Honours include… World Road Race Championships 1996 UCI Road World Cup 1995, 1996 National Road Race Championships 1992, 1996 Tour of Flanders 1993, 1995, 1998 Paris-Roubaix 1996, 2000, 2002 Cyclist: Can you remember the day you were first crowned the Lion of Flanders? Johan Museeuw: Yes I can. After I won the Tour of Flanders in 1995, the Belgian commentator Michel Wuyts christened me the ‘Lion of Flanders’ live on the television and it stuck ever since. Even now if I get a text from my old boss Patrick Lefevere, he will still call me ‘Lion’. I have to thank Michel for giving me that nickname on that day because I do like being called a lion. Cyc: Along with the nickname came enormous…

Wednesday 14th July 1948, Carlton Hotel Cannes. It’s the third rest day of the Tour and Gino Bartali is in his room relaxing. Two weeks ago he started the race in fine form, winning the first stage. His spell at the top of the General Classification proved to be short-lived though, and despite picking up another couple of stage wins in the Pyrenees, as the sun rises in Cannes he is more than 21 minutes behind race leader Louison Bobet. Bartali is not even the topranked Italian on GC – that honour belongs to Aldo Ronconi, riding for Italy’s B team. After a lie-in Bartali hosts some journalists in his room – a regular occurrence. Many have been critical of his performance and ask if the soon-to-be-34-year-old has too many…

Around 50-90% of vitamin D is absorbed through skin via sunlight, which likely explains why it’s estimated around one billion people worldwide are deficient in the vitamin responsible for healthy bones. Many countries are cold and dark, and many people exist mostly indoors, which is why in the 1930s milk was fortified with vitamin D in a significant step to eradicating rickets. Yet while it’s well documented that vitamin D aids absorption of the calcium, magnesium and phosphate responsible for healthy bones, a recent study has revealed that vitamin D supplements might increase performance. A group of active males, aged 21 on average, was subjected to a blind study where one group (SUP) was given 6,000IU of vitamin D daily, the other a placebo (PLA). VO2 max measurements bookended the…

Jack is about two-footsix, weighs 75kg, has short grey hair and while not precisely the owner of the cafe is very much its front-of-house face. He bounds between tables, gait like a lazy horse, barely able to see from under the droop of his brow. He poses with customers for photos. He’s the most famous Great Dane in Franschhoek – so famous that the Big Dog Cafe is named after him. In turn, the Big Dog Cafe is a famous spot with local cyclists: safe racking for bikes, a cool canteen-hacienda vibe for patrons and an excellent meeting point for rolling out of town and up the Franschhoek Pass. Across the table from me sits Kyle, our support car driver, and Jamie, an English ex-pat who married a South African…

Between 1966 and 1976, such was the supremacy of Eddy Merckx that any number of cyclists could be offered as the Belgian’s greatest rival. Felice Gimondi, perhaps, or Roger De Vlaeminck. But Merckx himself thought his most dangerous rival was Spain’s Luis Ocaña. One of their first professional encounters was at the 1968 Giro. Merckx was in the process of winning his first Grand Tour and even though Ocaña wouldn’t break into the top 30, he still caught the Belgian’s eye. Ocaña, for his part, was obsessed with Merckx. He named his Alsatian dog after the Belgian so he could order ‘Merckx’ around and call him to heel. The rivalry, fuelled by the press, was at its most intense between 1971 and 1973 when the two men barely uttered a…

‘Once again, he was the rider to beat, the most talented and credible challenger in the peloton.’ So writes Lance Armstrong of Jan Ullrich in his book, Every Second Counts. Again, it was the differences between the two that rendered their rivalry so fascinating. Armstrong, the man who had beaten cancer, was as driven as any athlete has ever been, eyes firmly set on securing the top prize in cycling year after year. Ullrich was supremely gifted but too easily distracted, prone to offseason weight gain and controversy. It was in 2003 that the German got closest to toppling Armstrong. Ullrich had entered the Tour that year looking lean and healthy but then struggled with a fever during the first half of the race. He roared back into contention with…

Mason Cycles occupies a rare space in the bicycle industry. Its boutique approach to bikes, operating from a converted barn in a tranquil corner of Sussex, is indisputably artisanal, yet it remains far enough removed from the ‘one man and his dog’ framebuilding model that you won’t have to wait two years to own one. The bikes combine the warm dependability of the local builder with the exotic flair of Italian craftsmanship, and this Columbus steel Resolution is a case in point. Like the illegitimate child of a Pegoretti and a Surly, it’s a thing of beauty, and it exudes durability and versatility. The Resolution was conceived in Britain by Mason, but built in Italy in a small-scale Tuscan workshop where, we’re assured, the focus is on quality not quantity.…

The Quasar is the cheapest road saddle from the boutique Italian brand (its top-end Aleena saddle comes in at nearer £285) and is the first in the range to use steel rails instead of carbon. Despite this, there is little to suggest that the Quasar is a budget product. At 170g it is still competitively light, and the hull is made from a polymer reinforced with ‘long carbon fibre’ technology. Repente says that rather than use shorter carbon swatches, it adds long lengths of the fibre into the polymer resin, which ensures the saddle will not lose its rigidity and shape over time.…

1 YOGURT NEST BALEAL BABY £35, yogurtnest.co.uk Top tip: turn a regular sofa into a bed by forgetting your partner’s birthday. And turn milk into yogurt with the ingenious Yogurt Nest. Simply heat milk to 50°C, pour into an old jar, add a spoonful of yogurt (ideally from the lot you made last time), tighten the lid then stow in this cork-insulated Nest. Leave for six hours, then, hey presto: yogurt! It also works for non-dairy too. 2 PARK TOOL DAG-3 AND QTH-1 £119.99/£64.99, freewheel.co.uk What has four letters, always has six letters, but never has five. Park Tool tools have a lot of letters too, and here they stand for Derailleur Alignment Tool and Quick Change Bit T-Handle (obvs). You may be able to guess what they do: the…

Since founder Michel Leclercq opened its first store in Lille 45 years ago, Decathlon has become a worldwide hacienda for lovers of the outdoors. Through a series of subsidary brands such as Quechua and Kipsta, it is a one-stop shop for everything from kettlebells to fishing reels, camping stoves to archery sets. All great quality, all outstanding value. It has also long been the perfect place to buy yourself a bike. Predominantly through its B’Twin range, Decathlon has been mass producing road bikes around the globe for decades and is regarded as one of the leading manufacturers for entry-level cyclists. However, it had yet to really crack the high-end performance road bike market. That is why in 2018, Van Rysel was born. Yet another in-house brand from Decathlon, this time…

Next time you’re out for a ride, tip your cap to Andreas Marggraf, the German chemist who first isolated the simple sugar glucose in raisins in 1747. These days glucose is the vital ingredient in gels, bars and drinks, promising peak performance and sustained endurance. But what exactly is it and how can it be manipulated to benefit performance? The ABC of ATP Like an engine, muscles convert chemical energy into kinetic energy. They achieve this via three energy systems – two anaerobic, one aerobic – the duration and intensity of cycling dictating which one dominates. For each, the power to contract the muscle comes from adenosine triphosphate, or ATP. The first system uses creatine phosphate to produce enough energy for around 10 seconds of really hard effort and utilises…

The best rivalries are those between riders who are both successful but fundamentally different in outlook. One may be daring and adventurous, the other prosaic and calculating. Those differences split public opinion and affection, and if the riders happen to ride on the same team, so much the better. Step forward Bernard Hinault and Greg LeMond, the old-school Frenchman with a fearsome reputation and the American upstart intent on shaking up the cycling world – ‘a Huck Finn with steel thighs’ as Sports Illustrated described LeMond. LeMond joined Hinault’s Renault team in 1981 and performed well despite being only 19. Hinault left to join the new La Vie Claire team in 1984 and LeMond followed him a year later. That’s when the rivalry really got going. In 1985 Hinault was…

This is the rivalry that is getting the cycling world talking about rivalries again. Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel have been riding head-tohead on the international stage for the best part of decade, starting in cyclocross as juniors. Van der Poel drew first blood in the international arena, winning the 2012 Junior Cyclocross World Championships in Belgium. Van Aert would get his revenge two years later, winning the Under-23 title in the Netherlands. Both riders made the move to elite level the following year. Since 2015 they have shared Cyclocross World Championships between them, Van der Poel winning four titles, Van Aert three. But it is their battles on the road during the one-day Classics that have taken the rivalry to the next level. Both already have…

I never used to be concerned with the data side of cycling. For me it was all about the simple joy of being on two wheels. That was then, this is now, and the science and data elements have become a big part of my cycling experience. I first used the Garmin Vector 3 power pedals for an Everesting ride last year, relying on their instant feedback to ensure I wasn’t burning too many matches too early in the ride. Now on any ride I am thankful for the ability to measure my efforts and ensure I’m riding efficiently. Perhaps the best thing is that they look like standard pedals and fit standard Look Keo cleats, so they’re as user-friendly as a power meter can get. If you want to…

1 CanyonGrizlp128 This new arrival means Canyon now has two gravel bikes in its stable. If the Grail was made for going off-road, then the Grizl is for off-off-off-road 2 MasonResolutionp132 When a boutique British bike builder produces a steel machine out of Italy, you know it’s going to look pretty special – but how does it ride? 3 PassoniCicloprato p138 This month’s next work of art is a titanium frame from an artisan Italian marque. The big question is whether it can justify an eye-watering pricetag…

The city of Florence is a destination that everyone should see at some point in their lives. But it does have its downsides. It’s expensive, the food is touristy and the queue to see Michelangelo’s David takes ages. So if you do visit and all the culture becomes a bit overwhelming, try jumping on a train for the 20-minute ride to nearby Prato. It has just the right mix of local bustle, cobbled streets and footstepechoing walks home after one too many spritzes. Fiorenzo Magni – he of the broken-collarbonechewing-on-an-inner-tube-strapped-to-hishandlebars fame – hails from Prato. Which leads us in a meandering way to the Passoni Cicloprato. ‘Prato’ comes from the Latin for ‘meadow’, and as such a translation of Passoni’s new gravel bike is ‘meadow bike’. I think this is…

Sceptics were quick to say wireless electronic shifting would never be reliable when Sram first launched eTap back in August 2015, but any misgivings over its dependability have long since been put to bed. The platform has proven itself beyond doubt, such that Sram introduced two updated 12-speed eTap AXS groupsets at both its flagship Red and second-tier Force level in 2019. Now this recently released third-tier Rival eTap AXS offering means that wireless electronic shifting is no longer the preserve of superbikes and pros. We could see this technology on carbon road bikes costing as little as £2,500. What’s more, we could potentially see power meters as standard on bikes priced at less than £3,000, as Sram is also releasing a lowcost, low-weight (40g) Quarq crank spindle-based option as…

What were you doing when you were aged 11? Probably starting secondary school, playing with friends, maybe even running through fields of wheat. When Lee Prescott was 11 he was building his first bike. ‘I had it all planned out from an early age. One of my first Christmas presents was a drawing board with a little parallelogram. It’s pretty much all I’ve ever wanted to do. My dad is a motorbike designer and fabricator so during the summer holidays I was taken to the scrap yard, told to pick some stuff out and dumped in the corner of a workshop for six weeks.’ After a youth spent building makeshift mountain bikes, Prescott went on to create BMXs as lead designer at Pashley. A decade ago he partnered with his…

On Stage 17 of the Giro d’Italia, AG2R La Mondiale’s Nans Peters soloed across the finish line in Anterselva. A year later, he did the same on Stage 8 of the Tour de France into Loudenvielle. On both occasions, he rode to victory in a set of Van Rysel Sport cycling shoes. ‘Nans Peters winning a Tour stage in our shoes was very important,’ explains Van Rysel product manager Yann Le Fraillec. ‘It proved that you could race Van Rysel products at the highest level and win. This year, we now have five professional riders using our shoes. This is a big step for us as our aim at Van Rysel is to become a brand where the customer can buy all products for cycling, not just the bike, whether…

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Times change and this Diverge has since been superseded by the 2021 version, which is racier – tighter rear end, shorter trail – and it has a down tube big enough to house your sandwiches, thanks to its in-built cubbyhole ‘Swat box’. But this outgoing model is still a venerable steed, and features the same Future Shock 2.0 damping system underneath the stem, offering 20mm of travel. And it works. The front end smoothes out much of the chatter of hard-pack gravel, although you’ll still feel big hits and this certainly isn’t a suspension unit designed to let you stop cushioning off-road riding with your arms and legs. But that’s a good thing because, together with a compliant carbon layup and the CG-R seatpost (designed in that Z-shape to increase…

Dense forests of pine and junipers shield the wary cyclist from the enormity of the task ahead The American passion for the motor car is reflected in the country’s roads. Even when the landscape is wild, the altitude suffocating and the destination a dead end, the road will be wide, smooth and inviting. There are no half measures here. Once it has been decided that a gravel track is no longer sufficient, the Americans will build a thoroughfare that can be cruised in comfort by Cadillacs, Chevrolets and SUVs wider than the average British terraced house. Not for them the narrow tarmac strip so often found snaking up the side of mountains in Europe – in America, even above 4,000m you’ll find a road where two buses could pass each…

It was a struggle for a nation’s affections when Jacques Anquetil and Raymond Poulidor faced off on the roads of France in the 1960s. And while the usual result was an Anquetil victory, it was Poulidor who usually won the hearts of the French public. Poulidor was a talented rider but nowhere near the level of Anquetil. The disparity was best illustrated by French cartoonist Pellos in 1963. Anquetil, no stranger to fine living, is shown at a dining table having gorged on a feast, his distended cycling jersey emblazoned with the victories he has devoured that season: Criterium National, Paris-Nice, Dauphiné Libéré, Vuelta a España and Tour de France. Meanwhile Poulidor scrabbles under the table, looking for scraps. Their famous battle at the 1964 Tour, where the two clashed…

It is one of the most notable rivalries in women’s road cycling. For six years during the 1980s France’s Jeannie Longo and Italy’s Maria Canins went head-to-head at all of the world’s most important races. Both had a background in winter sports – Longo was an Alpine ski champion, Canins a cross-country skier – but both switched to cycling at the beginning of the 1980s. Women’s cycling took a step forward in 1984 when the women’s road race was added to the Olympics, and a women’s version of the Tour de France was launched, although frustratingly the events were so close together on the calendar it was virtually impossible to participate in both. At the Olympics, Longo and Canins were in the final group of six that seemed destined to…

I awake before my alarm, my body now long since adjusted to the rigours of rising before the rest of the world. For a few blissful moments I lie there in silence. Silence. That means it’s not raining, unless of course I have drifted back to sleep and my mind is playing a cruel trick on me. I pull the curtain back to check, half expecting to see fat droplets of rain sliding down the window. Instead, much to my delight, a divine light cocoons the little patch of forest visible from my lookout. With that realisation I hurry to get out of bed, keen to get on with the day, only to be reminded the moment that my feet touch the floor that I have cycled more than 1,000km…

The Grizl led me on a merry dance of emotions as I got to know it. At first there was the anticipation of a totally new bike from Canyon. Anticipation turned to excitement when I learned it was a bang-on-trend gravel bike built for exploring. Better still, unlike the Grail CF, it was a Canyon gravel bike that didn’t use the brand’s doubledecker Hoverbar cockpit design, which is a component I’ve never really got on with. The Grizl was winning praise for both practicality and performance from the off. Excitement turned to delight when I saw it. Despite it having more mounting points than I could ever imagine needing, bikes with the Grizl’s adventurous remit seldom look this elegant. The bike shares more in appearance with Canyon’s Endurace road bike…

Into The Wild p66 Lazer Z1 helmet, £149.99 freewheel.co.uk 100% Speedcraft sunglasses, £149.99 freewheel.co.uk Café du Cycliste Micheline jersey, £135 cafeducycliste.com Rapha Pro Team base layer, £45 rapha.cc Café du Cycliste Mathilde bibshorts, £245 cafeducycliste.com Café du Cycliste socks, £19 cafeducycliste.com Rapha Explore shoes, £220 rapha.cc Welcome To Wales p114 Giro Aether Spherical helmet, £269.99 zyrofisher.co.uk SunGod Vulcans TF sunglasses, £125 sungod.co Castelli Idro 2 jacket, £260 saddleback.co.uk Castelli Perfetto RoS vest, £130 saddleback.co.uk Castelli Fuori jersey, £90 saddleback.co.uk Castelli Nano Flex 3G armwarmers, £40 saddleback.co.uk Castelli Free Aero Race 4 bibshorts, £150 saddleback.co.uk Castelli Giro 13 socks, £17 saddleback.co.uk Specialized S-Works Recon shoes, £350 specialized.com Bikes p127 CANYON Kask Protone helmet, £225 velobrands.co.uk 100% Speedcraft sunglasses, £139.99 freewheel.co.uk Sportful Fiandre Pro Medium jacket, £185 saddleback.co.uk Sportful Fiandre NoRain Pro…