Indholdsfortegnelse for November 20, 2025 i Cycling Weekly

Last week, there was no surprise in the most popular article on our website; the most read piece was about proposed reforms to the Cycle to Work scheme. If you’d like to know more about Rachel Reeves’s Budget plans, turn to page 10, but the short version is that some kind of financial cap appears to be coming in for Cycle to Work. This, frankly, would be a mistake. The Treasury probably sees the tax it misses out on bikes as a loss that needs to be stopped, but this is the classic short-term thinking that brought you cuts to HS2. The benefits from encouraging people to cycle, and to buy bikes, far outweigh the costs of the tax the exchequer doesn’t get. The original £1,000 limit was abolished in…

It was a clean sweep for the Welsh at the British Team Pursuit Champs over the weekend, as they won both the men’s and women’s titles on home turf in Newport. In the men’s event, the squad of Rhys Britton, Sam Fisher, Rory Gravelle, Will Roberts and Will Salter beat the University of Derby Cycling Club in their final. The winning women’s squad, who edged out Team Jadan, counted teenagers Aelwen Davies, Anna Lloyd, Mabli Phillips, Seren Thomas and 36-year-old Ciara Oliva, who has returned to elite racing this year having been part of Team GB’s 2016 Olympics squad. The Team Pursuit Championships were previously held as part of February’s National Track Championships, but were moved this year to the second round of the Lloyds National Track Series, the Black…

“Voulez-vous le filet de bœuf ou l’agneau?” asked Léa, our smartly dressed cheffe de rang in the dining room of the Hôtel de France in Mende. Choosing between beef and lamb would end up being one of the few decisions I’d have to make all fortnight. It was late June, and I was sitting, dazed from exhaustion, in the loveliest of restaurants with the best of company – my brothers Trevor and Chris – halfway through a fully supported 1,600km (1,000-mile) epic from the Atlantic coast to the French Riviera. The three of us dining like this, basking in the woozy afterglow of an active day, made me nostalgic for our family holidays of the 1970s. Simpler times, when our parents would march or cycle us across large tracts of…

Vittoria has launched an update to the Terreno PRO Gravel Range, featuring four tread patterns available in sizes from 35mm to 45mm. The brand claims this new range is 5% faster, provides 19% more grip, and offers 18% more puncture resistance, all while enhancing comfort. This summer, racing fans will have easily spotted these tyres due to their unique natural casing colour. They have already been seen in use by professionals such as Tom Pidcock, Alison Jackson and Lachlan Morton. The shift away from black is due to a new material composition made from 92% renewable and recycled materials. The tyres incorporate an organic cotton casing – known for its performance on Vittoria’s road tyres – to deliver what the company describes as an unmatched ride feel. The casing is…

This year’s National Trophy Series looks set to be dominated by Thomas Mein and Ffion Drake, as the pair powered to victories for a fourth consecutive round at Sandwell Valley Country Park in the West Midlands on Sunday. Mein (Hope Factory Racing) crossed the line over five minutes clear of Toby Barnes, while his brother and Spectra Racing team-mate Daniel Barnes was another minute and a half off the pace in third place. Meanwhile, Ffion Drake (Wold Top Pactimo) proved fastest female once again, but had a tougher battle on her hands with Alderney Baker (Team Empella) just 2.6 seconds back in second and Elena Day (Spectra Racing) another 25 seconds back in third. Similarly, Drake’s husband Giles won the over-40 race on Saturday for the fourth consecutive time, strengthening…

In the wider public consciousness, Beryl Burton cuts a lonely figure in the pantheon of great cyclists of the 20th century; her peers – Merckx, Hinault, Coppi, Bartali, Simpson et al – are all male. This is a distortion, fuelled at best by misguided cultural conditioning, at worst, by misogyny. Burton was exceptional, but she wasn’t the exception. Many women cyclists deserve recognition, few more than Eileen Sheridan. At 4ft 11in, ‘the Mighty Atom’ dominated women’s cycling during the 1940s and early ’50s, winning many National Championships and breaking all 21 of the Women’s Road Records Association records. Among her numerous achievements, always ridden with her signature smile, was setting a national record of 237.6 miles during the 1949 Yorkshire Cycling Federation 12-hour race, along with a 1954 LEJOG record…

Watts on The female finalists at the UCI Esports World Championships in Abu Dhabi power on under the glare of stage lights. Kate McCarthy, the New Zealander at the far end, defended her title. Bottoms up Lucinda Brand sips from a large glass of Super 8 Flandrien, a Belgian blond ale, after winning the X2O Badkamers Trofee Flandriencross on Sunday. At 6.4%, it’s unlikely she finished it all. Desert track The world’s first aluminum velodrome, which opened in Tucson, Arizona, last week, is an arresting sight to behold in the Sonoran Desert. Its metal construction means it can be used all year round. A short hop Graham Craggs of Hemel Hempstead CC prepares to run over an obstacle at round eight of the Central Cyclo-Cross League at the Buckinghamshire Railway…

The prospect of a budget cap being put on the Cycle to Work scheme has been described as “another attack on small businesses”. Last week, it was reported that the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is expected to limit how much someone could spend on a bike through Cycle to Work in the upcoming Budget. Originally set at £1,000 upon the scheme’s launch in 1999, the cap was removed in 2019 as it was seen as restrictive, particularly for those who wanted to buy e-bikes or e-cargo bikes. The new limit is yet to be revealed, but it has not gone down well with businesses or consumers. A Treasury source told the Financial Times: “Cycle to Work should be about helping ordinary commuters switch to greener travel, not giving tax breaks to…

Achange in training focus has seen Britain’s Cameron Mason (Seven Racing) in the form of his life as he leads the British charge into this year’s “super tactical, wide-open” UCI Cyclo-Cross World Cup series. The Scot is aiming for a first podium placing in an individual round this season – something he came close to at Hulst last year – having since added several kilos of muscle in the gym. The 12-round series kicks off this weekend at Tábor in Czechia and while it is centred on Belgium, the series ranges Europe-wide over the coming months, with rounds in France, Italy and Spain. It finally finishes on 25 January at Hoogerheide, in the Netherlands. Mason is set to head up the British charge, alongside riders including Thomas Mein, Anna Kay…

They need to remove all the tax perks linked to company cars, too. Steven Jones As a keen cyclist, I do think this is fair. Of course, encouraging more cycling is a good thing for society, but we all know people who have more than just one usable bike. The ability to cycle to work, reduce congestion and improve health is not reliant on having several choices of expensive bikes. Melanie Mack Glad I bought my bike already last year with this scheme. Patrick Marshall Rachel Reeves should check the RRPs of “entry-level” bikes first. Jo Wong I wish that the scheme existed for retired cyclists. Perhaps then I might be able to afford a Pinarello. Howard Lowe The bike I commute to work with cost four grand. I genuinely…

The uptake of road e-bikes has been rather slow. It’s the hardware that’s mostly been the problem, given that when you hit the limit, the motor stops assisting, and when not working for you, it essentially works against you. You can feel both the excess weight in the system and resistance from the system itself, defeating the object somewhat. Bizarrely, the lower-powered system from TQ featured here in what otherwise looks like a pretty standard Canyon Endurace, promises to deliver a push when you need it, but less drag when you don’t. The marketing material refers to it as a ‘tailwind’ system rather than a driving motor that takes over, and that’s exactly what e-bikes promised roadies all those years ago, but failed to truly deliver. If the Canyon Endurace…

Olivier Mangham’s Trek Madone Gen 8 looks the business in its Lidl-Trek colourway. He uses it for National A road races and crits, among other things and is a big fan. “It’s great, it feels alive underneath me when rolling fast,” he says. “It kicks well uphill, and the position is great around corners and on descents.” The bike is fitted with Shimano Ultegra Di2, and Mangham has fitted a Ceramic Speed rear mech. Wheels are Zipp 303, shod with Continental GP5000 tyres. Want us to feature your race bike? Send a pic and information to cycling@futurenet.com…

Britain’s top-ranked men’s elite racing team, SRCT, announced last week it will close down after five years. The decision came after the owners were unsuccessful in finding sponsors for 2026. The squad competed as Muc-Off-SRCT-Storck this season and won both the National Road Series team and individual titles – the top honours in British domestic racing. Cycling Weekly understands it had plans to step up to UCI Continental level in 2026. In a statement issued on Instagram, co-owner and manager Adam Ellis said it has become “increasingly difficult” to sustain a cycling team in today’s “uncertain financial arena”. According to The British Continental, SRCT operated this year on a budget of just £8,000. Its seven-rider squad was hugely successful in spite of this, placing eighth among WorldTour company at the…

Mariah Carey is already beginning her annual stint on the radio, and for me, that can only mean one thing: it’s my favourite time of the year, that blissful period when I’m fit enough to enjoy the long rides again, and can slowly build up my training. Even the ‘first week back’ illness has come and gone, right on schedule. I genuinely love this stretch of the calendar – base season. The weather is turning cold, but the sun still shows up more often than not, and daily hot chocolates are once again socially acceptable. And starting training early in November means there’s a long period before racing kicks off in February, making it a time of relaxed structure: steady miles, group rides, cafe stops and a gradual return to…

Temperatures can fluctuate in the cooler months from the mid-teens to downright bitter. And then there’s the rain. So just what sort of clothing should we be looking to wear for these temperamental conditions? The key basics As the temperatures drop we can add some lightweight pieces to the foundational jersey and bibshorts. Arm and leg-warmers are useful given they can be stripped off and shoved in a pocket if you start cool and the ride heats up. A mesh base layer can also help maintain temperature when it gets cooler but also warmer. Given that autumn typically comes with a healthy dose of rain, a packable waterproof or showerproof jacket is a sensible choice. We lose body heat via evaporation of water off the skin, usually sweat, but in…

The Castelli Gabba used to be the ultimate do-it-all jersey for cooler temperatures. But as of 2024 it was reinvented as the ultimate aero waterproof with the release of the Gabba R. No longer insulating, it’s designed solely for use in wet weather conditions and left something of a void in Castelli’s line-up. So the Italian brand decided to focus on making the best possible kit for cooler weather when it isn’t raining. Enter the Do.Di.Ci. It’s named because the adapted Ristretto fabric used is apparently 12 times (dodici means 12 in Italian) more breathable than the GoreTex Windstopper fabric used in previous garments, and twice as breathable as the version of Ristretto used in the Castelli Espresso Air Jacket. It doesn’t feature any water-resistant elements, but it is windproof…

A1940s schoolgirl searches in vain for power and heart-rate readouts as she tries out an early prototype of Watopia… it’s a nice idea, but, of course, this has nothing to do with Zwift – the girl in question is, in fact, trying out Mr Care’s Cyclist Tester at the Schoolboys’ Exhibition in Westminster, 1949, as a police sergeant (and some of her presumably jealous peers) looks on, ready with advice. Whether or not the screen is displaying any kind of animation is difficult to ascertain, and whether their experiences with Mr Care left young riders fully prepped for the open road is doubtful, but it looks as though it was a rather novel and fun activity all the same.…