Indholdsfortegnelse for November 2024 i Cycling Plus

I started on Cycling Plus in early 2021 amid Covid lockdowns. Nearly half a century of editions later and it’s been a tumultuous period for the cycling industry. The fun, empowerment and exhilaration that cycling brings hasn’t wavered, however, as evidenced in this issue’s features. We reveal how the greatest cyclist of the decade Tadej Pogačar did the 2024 Giro/Tour double, witness the joy and passion of the Brompton World Champs, and showcase the pure gravel escapism of the Rapha Pennine Rally. It’s a fine edition to finish on before I move to BBC Countryfile mag to eat pasties for a living. I’m proud to have been part of the UK’s best-selling cycling mag, but I’ll now leave you in the ace hands of John, Emma and the amazing art…

Every year when a rider’s doing well at the Tour de France, journalists say that these performances must mean doping. But until the contrary is proved, that is not true. What I can say is that the performances are physiologically possible. Of course, there will always be athletes who will look to take shortcuts. It’s human nature. We shouldn’t just give the dopers a green light, but learn from these positive cases. And we are doing this. Take Max Hauke, an Austrian skier who was caught up in the Aderlass scandal [an investigation in Austria and Germany into doping practices carried out by German physician Mark Schmidt that centred on cycling and cross-country skiing]. Hauke was caught red-handed by the Austrian police in the middle of a blood transfusion. One…

Ribble’s new Allroad design benefits from trickled down technology from their Ultra SLR aero bike and blends this with more relaxed, endurance bike-style geometry to help give all-day comfort on multiple surfaces, and year-round usability. The Allroad platform consists of three models: the Allroad SL (from £1,699), the electric Allroad SL R e (£3,999), and the Allroad SL R seen here, which costs from £2,999. 01 Cut-out and keep The range-topping Allroad SL R has a deep aero-shaped seat-tube with a rear-wheel cutout to give the SL R generous (for the road) 38mm tyre clearance. It’s topped with an aeroshaped seatpost, which looks like a scaled-down version of the deep aero shape found on the Ultra. 02 Turn up the volume The down-tube on the SL R is aerodynamically shaped…

Weight 9.55kg (L) Frame Ruut G2 Fly carbon Fork Twin tip carbon Gears SRAM Rival ETAP XPLR AXS (10-44t/42t) Brakes SRAM Rival AXS hydraulic, 160mm Wheels Rondo X Hunt Gravel X-Wide Aluminium Finishing kit Rondo Carbon 350 x 27.2 seatpost, Selle Italia Novus Super Boost saddle, Rondo ICR 90mm stem, Spank Wing 12 440mm handlebar, Vittoria Terreno Dry 700c x 40 tyres Rondo’s design and styling stands out with its radical tube shapes including a flat-fronted head-tube, kinked top-tube and super-low seatstays that seem to push the bottom of the seat-tube in front of the bottom bracket for a shock-absorbing, diamond-shaped back end. It’s configured in 1x set-ups, though you can run a 2x drivetrain with a front derailleur adaptor arm (available separately). Tyre clearances are 45mm for 700c wheels…

In 2024, Pogačar was relatively late to the altitude party, heading to Sierra Nevada in Southern Spain after destroying the opposition at the Volta a Catalunya in March. This compared to his Tour de France rivals Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quickstep), who had already spent time up Teide in Tenerife. After duly winning Liege–Bastogne–Liege and the Giro d’Italia, Pogačar then had some downtime at his home in Monaco before returning to altitude in the build-up to the Tour de France, this time at Isola 2000, where he’d later win a stage. In fact, former pro rider-turned-analyst Serge Pauwels has suggested altitude training was one of the reasons why Pogačar beat Marco Pantani’s tarnished climbing record of the Plateau de Beille in 1998…

Is Pogačar’s granular nutrition plan down to information gleaned from artificial intelligence? Perhaps, as earlier this season the team rolled out a press release that highlighted their link-up with AI outfit and Dubai-based Presight, who also work in Formula One. “Presight will work closely with UAE Team Emirates using Generative AI big data analytics to help enhance athlete performance, training methodologies and strategic decision-making throughout the season, which will also see a number of events and activations of the sponsorship around the world,” read the release pronouncing their collaboration. The minutiae of what that practically means is again the intellectual property of his team. However, UAE Team Emirates’ performance coordinator Jeroen Swart did reveal in early summer that “it’s likely to start identifying other variables or other patterns that we…

01 CamelBak Chase hydration vest, £100 The 4L backpack is lightweight enough that you forget you’re wearing it, and is an ideal spot to store any mid-ride maintenance essentials – reserving space for food and clothes in your bikepacking bags. Its 1.5L reservoir is also great for drinking on the go, and the pack sits above your jersey pockets. 02 Pirelli Cinturato tyres, £62.99 Road, mud, gravel, boulders… the Cinturato could handle it all, and the 650b x 45c option provided a plush and comfortable ride for a weighted bike. They lost minimal pressure throughout and the tubeless set-up remained puncture-free despite testing conditions on the sidewalls. 03 Apidura Expedition bikepacking bags, £38+ The Expedition range from London-based brand Apidura might not be its lightest, but the durability is worth…

CAT FERGUSON 18-year-old Cat rides for Hope Tech Factory Racing and is the 2024 World Junior champion on the track for the team pursuit and the omnium. She also won the junior national title at the British Cyclocross Championships in 2024 and scored silver at the 2024 UCI CX World Champs in both the women’s junior race and the team relay. EMMA FINUCANE Emma is a Welsh track cyclist. At the 2024 Olympics in Paris, she became the first British woman to win three medals in a single Games since Mary Rand in 1964. She also won gold at the European Track Championship in 2024 in the Sprint category and scored 2023 World Championship gold for the Sprint in Glasgow. DAISY BARNES Daisy rides for the Alba Development Road Team…

“This new Sutro S reduces the width for a more compact fit for smaller faces or those who prefer a flusher-fitting style” Oakley’s original Sutro drew its inspiration from the brand’s legendary Eyeshade design from 1984, but came with a contemporary twist in the form of modern materials and Oakley’s latest lens technology with its high-clarity Prizm lens. It fast became one of Oakley’s most popular designs with Lite, Sweep and Titanium frame options, drilled lenses and a myriad of collections all featuring takes on the large 58mm-deep shield lens. This new Sutro S reduces the width to 126mm (from 134mm) for a more compact fit for smaller faces or for those who prefer a flusher-fitting style with little overhang. For me, Oakley’s Prizm lens, which is found on the…

The Giant SLR 2 50 Disc wheelset is the Taiwanese giant’s entry-level all-round carbon wheelset. Unlike most wheels at this price point, it has hookless rims, with progressively wide dimensions. With hookless, you must use tubeless tyres (as opposed to clincher tyres), given the tighter tolerances between a straight rim wall and tyre bead. You can run inner tubes inside those tyres if you wish though. The 22.4mm inner rim width is progressive (at this price, it’s rare to see any wider than 21mm). It’s designed to increase compliance and tyre grip (presuming you adopt lower tyre pressures). Giant recommends the use of 700 x 25-32c tyres, although you could opt for much wider if you wanted according to ETRTO-recommended limits. Given the 30mm external width of the rims, the…

The Roval Rapide C 38 wheelset is made using well-regarded DT Swiss parts and is the cheapest road-going carbon wheelset the Specialized-owned brand makes. While it only just slides under the £1,000 mark (in a competitive market where many significantly undercut it on price), it feels well designed. The rims have a contemporary 21mm internal rim width, “optimised for wider road tyres”, and they’d also be suitable for light gravel duties. Externally, the rims measure 27.4mm across, and are 38mm deep. The brand’s more expensive Rapide CL II and Rapide CLX II wheelsets, by contrast, feature differing rim profiles (wider and shallower at the front, and narrower and deeper at the rear, in more progressive dimensions). This is said to optimise your on-bike aerodynamic and handling performance, although it’s fair…

Reach The horizontal distance between the centre of the bottom bracket to the centre of the head-tube. A longer reach lowers your ride position while a shorter reach means you sit more upright. Stack The vertical distance between the top of the head-tube to the centre of the bottom bracket. Taller stack means a more upright ride position; lower stack means a lower (racier) position. Trail The trail figure is derived from a combination of head-tube angle and the fork offset. This measure shows the tyre’s contact point ‘trailing’ behind the steering axis. A small measure of trail makes for a fast-handling bike; more trail slows down the steering response. SRAM AXS XPLR SRAM’s wireless AXS groupsets combine hydraulic disc brakes with fully wireless gear shifting. In the XPLR iterations,…

Weight 8.9kg (L) Frame Gravel SL Carbon Fork Gravel SL Carbon Gears Shimano GRX Di2 11-speed (11-42t/40t) Brakes Shimano GRX hydraulic disc, 160mm Wheels Zipp 303 S Finishing kit Fizik Antares R5 saddle, Level Carbon 350mm seatpost, Level 5 Carbon Integrated bar/stem 42/50cm x 90mm, Goodyear Connect 40mm tubeless-ready 700x32/47 tyres The Gravel SL Pro features near-road-race-bike geometry and a short wheelbase, along with a low stack and aero-friendly integration. It shares a similar silhouette to their Endurance SL, with the signature horizontal junction to the seat-tube and integrated front end with a low stack and slender fork. Ribble offers two builds: the Enthusiast with SRAM Rival AXS and Mavic wheels and this Pro model. Using Ribble’s bike builder, you can also tweak the spec. This SL has the more…

In 2024, Pogačar and his teammates have used Colnago’s V4Rs race bike. The Slovenian won his first two Tour de France titles aboard the V3Rs but, says Colnago’s Tommaso Cervetti, as you’d expect, the latest incarnation has evolved. “There’s a more aerodynamic frame with more streamlined tubes,” the Italian tells us. “For example, the top-tube features a more flowing profile and thinner seatstays, while there’s also a stiffer and lighter fork steerer with round tube. Other features include a T47 bottom bracket, wider fork legs and the ability to fit up to 32mm tyres.” Pogačar, says Cervetti, was the first one to test the early prototype of V4Rs back in April 2022. “Subsequently, at December’s training camps it’s common to recheck and evaluate the positioning of every rider aboard the…

PRESENTED BY Your nominations are in and our panel have furiously debated so now we can reveal the nominees for our Rider of the Year 2024 awards, sponsored by Lezyne! These stellar cyclists, unsung heroes, activists and adventurers are all worthy of mighty acclaim, but there can only be one winner in each of our categories. That means whittling the 15 cyclists here down to just three overall winners. Your opinion counts, so scan the QR code below to vote in the Rider of the Year and Newcomer of the Year categories. The winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award will be decided by our expert panel. May the most deserving win! After the votes have been counted, all three category winners will be announced at our fun-filled evening ceremony with…

Weight 6.92kg (L) Frame Advanced SL-grade composite, integrated seatpost Fork Advanced SL-grade composite, full-composite OverDrive Aero steerer Gears Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 2x12 (11-30t, 36/52t) Brakes Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 Wheels CADEX 50 Ultra Disc WheelSystem Finishing kit Advanced SL-grade composite integrated-design-5/+15mm offset seatpost, Giant Fleet SLR saddle, Giant Contact SLR Aero 110mm stem, Giant Contact SLR Aero 44cm handlebar, CADEX Aero tubeless 700x25c (26.5mm) tyres Extras FC-9200P power meter, computer mount, bottle cages, factory tubeless set-up Until now, aero bikes have tended to be heavier than their race counterparts. This is fine when you’re barrelling along on the flat at 30mph+, but a bit more of a challenge when the road turns upwards. My size Large test bike of the flagship Propel Advanced SL 0 with the integrated seatpost (ISP) cut…

This recently updated wheelset has a wider, 22mm, internal width (it was 19mm). The hooked rims are compatible with clincher tyres as well as tubeless options and are optimised for tyres up to 35mm wide, but can be used with even wider tyres, say Hunt. The relatively wide inner width should produce a slightly squarer tyre shape, for small grip- and rolling-resistance benefits. The hubs have also been revamped, using Hunt’s take on a ratchet system, which gives a speedy 10° engagement angle for smooth pedalling, and also boosts reliability and durability, according to the brand. Hunt offers a lifetime crash replacement policy, with free parts and labour for wheel repairs, or a wheel replacement, but you need to buy this for £59.99 within 14 days of buying the wheels.…

This wheelset is the cheapest and lightest on test while the components and manufacturing quality seem on a par with competitors. The rims feature a modern 21mm-wide internal width, flaring out to 29mm wide externally. The brand’s ‘Hyperdrive X’ alloy hubs spin on stainless steel bearings, but these can be upgraded to ‘high speed’ steel bearings (£20 upcharge), or to ceramic bearings for a £100 premium. Velocite says it offers a crash replacement discount scheme (managed on a case-by-case basis), and sells accompanying maintenance packages for its wheels to UK residents. Set-up was as easy as could be expected. I was able to get my 700 x 28c test tyres over the rim with the final pry of a tyre lever. In fact, when setting one wheel up tubeless, I…

I recently had a surprisingly blunt exchange of views with one of my closest friends in the cycling world. He expressed a view that the men’s Tour de France finishing in Nice was a brilliant innovation, and that he was rather dreading the expected return to Paris. Obviously, I thought, the man has taken leave of his senses. It was awful. He is wrong, and I am very right. I accept that there were mitigating circumstances that led to us reaching such differing conclusions. It is worth conceding that, in the interests of transparency, that I actually never went to Nice this year. Instead, the entire ITV operation was held at arm’s length from the Promenade des Anglais. We stayed not in Nice, but in nearby Antibes (sounds fantastic, but…

Work of art Kit brand Stolen Goat has collaborated with Tate art galleries on a capsule collection celebrating the work of legendary pop artist Roy Lichtenstein. The clothing, out now, uses his eye-catching 1963 Whaam! work Truman show Rouleur Live, the UK’s biggest and best cycling trade show with a reputation for attracting top special guests, is back from 14-16 November at Truman Brewery, London. Tickets cost from £25 rouleur.cc Spring into action Already got your eye on the 2025 season? Sportive Breaks are organising weekender and weeklong trips to Calpe, Spain, next March, starting from £499 Outer limits In anthropologist Michael Crawley’s new book, To the Limit, he immerses himself in endurance culture around the world to find out what makes us voluntarily do exhausting things (Bloomsbury Sport, £18.99)…

Weight 10.22kg (L) Frame 6069 Aluminium Fork Kinesis Carbon all terrain Gears Shimano GRX (10-45t, 40t) Brakes Shimano GRX hydraulic disc, 160mm Wheels Stan’s No tubes ARCH M3 S2 alloy Finishing kit X-Fusion Manic Gravel 50mm dropper post, DMR OiOi saddle, Thomson Elite X4 80mm stem & alloy Dirt Drop 44cm 25° flare bar, Goodyear Connector Ultimate 50mm tyres Kinesis Tripster AT is the South Downs-based brand’s all-round gravel bike built for British conditions. With this new AT Plus, they’ve tweaked the geometry and boosted tyre clearances, keeping the road-going manners and endurance bike-like handling, while upping the go-anywhere potential. Kinesis don’t offer stock builds on the AT Plus just yet, seeing its versatility better suited to custom builds or shop builds tailored to customers, so we asked Kinesis’ owners…

Weight 8.01kg (L) Frame Grifn RS Carbon Fork Grifn RS Carbon Gears SRAM Force XPLR AXS 12-speed (10-44t/42t) Brakes SRAM Force XPLR AXS, 160mm Wheels DT Swiss GRC1400 Finishing kit Forza Carbon 350mm seatpost, Selle Italia SLR saddle, Forza Integrated Pro Kit flared bar/stem 42cm x 120mm, Vittoria Terreno Dry 35 TLR tyres The original Grifn was designed to be light and agile on the road but one that could cut it on dirt too. The new, lighter Grifn RS ups the ante, adding increased tyre clearance and reduced drag. The new shaping of the fork accelerates airflow past the down-tube, cutting drag by 5% more than the original Grifn at 36kph. A new seat-tube profile with a rear-wheel cutout is topped with an aero seatpost, again to cut drag.…

ANDREW FEATHER Bath solicitor Andrew Feather is a four-time National Hill Climb champion and won the title again on the infamous Struggle ascent in the Lake District in October 2023. He became the first rider to win the championships using disc brakes, on a sub-6kg Cannondale SuperSix. SIRAJ BALUBAID Siraj Balubaid is a Yemeni refugee, bike mechanic, ride leader and bike library coordinator at the Govan Community Project. He lives in Glasgow and has been involved with Bikes for Refugees for over three years. JACO VAN GASS Jaco van Gass MBE is a South African-born cyclist who competes in para-cycling track events for Great Britain. He won the Omnium C3 at the 2024 Para-Cycling Track World Champs and two gold medals at the 2024 Paralympics in Paris in the Individual…

Trusted content Here at Cycling Plus, we take our testing seriously, sending highly experienced cyclists onto the roads and trails to see how each and every item stands up to their scrutiny. The result is independent and honest reviews to help make your next purchases easier. Your Experts Ashley Quinlan Technical editor, Bikeradar Carbon wheel-tester Ash covers all things road and gravel for our Bikeradar.com Warren Rossiter Senior technical editor Woz rates the new Giant Propel Advanced, Oakley’s Sutra S shades & the Orbea Diem ebike Stephen Roche Bike builder Stephen takes us through the process of having a custom bike built…

Weight 23.9kg (XL) Frame Aluminium Fork Carbon Gears Shimano 5-speed Inter-5 Nexus hub Brakes Shimano MT201 hydraulic Wheels Orbea alloy, tubeless E-system Shimano EP600 mid motor, Orbea 630Wh battery Finishing kit Orbea Urban bar, OC Control dropper post, Selle Royal Vivo Ergo saddle, Vittoria E-Randonneur 50-622 tyres *£4,477 as built Orbea’s Diem incorporates a patented Diamond Glide frame design. The diamond-shaped rear triangle extends beyond the bottom bracket, effectively suspending the saddle above the parallelogram shape. Orbea says this cranks up comfort without the need for costly suspension components that also require maintenance. It does so while maintaining the solidity required for housing a Shimano EP600 mid-motor along with a down-tube-mounted battery. Upfront, a carbon fork absorbs vibrations and cuts weight, while the frame’s made from hydroformed aluminium. The sloped…

This modern all-round carbon wheelset is the brand’s least-expensive offering. It’s designed primarily for the road, but with one eye on light gravel use. A 21mm internal rim width is designed to support tyres up to 57mm wide, say the brand, although it recommends 700 x 26-30c rubber for best overall performance. Its 45mm-deep rims were chosen to offer a blend of aerodynamic efficiency and stability in crosswinds, while vibration damping and absorption are touted as their main strengths. The hubs spin on sealed SKF steel bearings (which can be upgraded to ceramic bearings), and these wheels have the speediest pick-up on test. They are also the second-heaviest though. Setting up the Ere Research Omnia CLR45 wheels with tubeless tyres was trouble free – the 28mm-wide test tyres slipped over…

The Parcours Paniagua is a competent all-round road bike wheelset with a fairly shallow 42.1mm-deep rim profile. Rim design is up to date, though: a 21mm internal width is married to a 29mm external width. The hooked rims are said to be optimised for 700 x 28-30c tyres. EZO steel bearings are specced as standard, although an upgrade to Parcours-branded ceramic bearings (as tested here) is available for £220 extra. If you have your eye on a Classified Powershift drivetrain, you can opt for a Powershift-ready rear hub, although this doesn’t include the drivetrain’s hardware. The hub shells can also be customised with laser engraving (£50), a Cerakote ceramic coating offering a wide selection of colours (£100), or a custom package which combines engraving, colour coating and the ceramic bearing…