Innehållsförteckning för Issue 47 från Cyclist Australia

Far out, what a race. It may have arrived a couple of months later than expected, but the 2020 Tour de France was more than worth the wait. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and his last-ditch victory over compatriot Primož Roglič (Team Jumbo-Visma) have now taken their immediate place in Tour folklore. At just 22, Pogačar is the youngest Tour champion since Henri Cornet in 1904, and the second-youngest of all-time. All of this was just the tonic for cycling fans after months starved of pro action, and here at Cyclist it got us reminiscing about some of the craziest finishes in Tour history. We wrote about them on page 25. Like most things in 2020, the return of pro racing more broadly has seen sweeping changes to much of…

RRP $549.95, shimano.com.au Ridden to countless victories in the world’s highest-level bike races since entering the crowded shoe market, Shimano’s S-Phyre Road Competition racing shoe is for those who value performance over all else. Available in blue, black, white or red versions, the new 2021 version, the RC902, focuses on three areas of design – function-specific zones, power transfer optimisation and engineered fit – to provide you with a platform for your new PB. Notably, the shoe has already proven its credentials on the feet of Wout van Aert, multiple classics winner and 2020 Tour de France excitement machine.…

RRP $149.95, bontcycling.com Here’s something new from revered shoemaker, Bont. Delivering comfort, anatomical efficiency and improved usability, Bont’s new Motion is the perfect entry-level cycling shoe. The Australian company’s most accessible model yet, the Motion features a fully refined anatomical design, performance-level materials and improved construction method for a more versatile fit. Available in black or white, there’s a lightweight three-strap Velcro retention system, anti-stretch microfibre upper and improved bumper protection designed to withstand the rough and tumble of everyday cycling. Meanwhile, micro-mesh upper forefoot inserts combine with specifically placed ventilation ports for breathability no matter the season.…

In all the confusion and fear of the early weeks of the coronavirus crisis, one alarming revelation – at least from a cycling fan’s point of view – was that several WorldTour teams might not survive. ‘Pro cycling managers are worried that the coronavirus pandemic could spell financial ruin for teams across the sport,’ read one report, ‘as major sponsorship contracts could be annulled or ignored by the unprecedented strain placed on major companies by the virus.’ When racing resumed, we were told, it could be with a seriously depleted peloton, with some teams having simply disappeared. Which ones? That was less clear, but Mitchelton-Scott, Bahrain-McLaren and Lotto-Soudal were among those who reportedly introduced pay cuts. CCC confirmed that, whatever happened, they would pull out at the end of the…

Are you taking on enough sodium during your rides? Probably not, according to a study published in the Journal Of The International Society Of Sports Nutrition. In the study, a group of 15 athletes were given either a ‘prescription hydration plan’ (PHP) based on bodyweight, activity time, fluid loss and sodium loss, or ‘no hydration plan’ (NHP). Assessment of awareness, anaerobic power and heart rate recovery time was undertaken after a series of ‘moderate to hard’ training sessions. The results showed PHP athletes jumped an average of 11.5cm farther in a standing jump, tracked moving objects 0.36m/s faster and exhibited a faster heart rate recovery. So how do you determine if you’re consuming enough fluid and sodium? One way is to weigh yourself naked before and after an hour’s ride…

To download this route go to komoot.com/tour/173678770. This ride starts in the town of Lauro Müller in the south of Brazil. Head north out of town on the SC-390 and climb for the next 26km. Keep an eye out for the Bugio Da Serra at 16km, the last coffee stop and the place where the road really ramps up as the ‘Big Concrete’ begins, and the lookout deck at 20.5km, which presents a superb photo opportunity The crest of the climb is the road sign gantry around 22.5km, but just before this, take a left at signposted Cânion da Ronda. Continue down the gravel track to Mirante Cânion da Ronda and stop when you see the wooden structures, which you follow on foot to the lookout point. Reverse your route,…

Remember the days when bikes had skinny, rounded tubes and horizontal top tubes? The traditional frame shape of this 2019 SuperSix Evo already looks outdated in these days of razor-sharp aero bikes, yet the bike’s performance remains thoroughly up-to-the-minute. It’s light enough to be an efficient climber, solid enough to be a nimble and predictable descender, and just compliant enough to dampen the vibrations from some of Romania’s clunkier surfaces. In this no-frills package, the Shimano 105 groupset is as robust and reliable as an Aga cooker, and while the wheels are pretty workmanlike I can’t really complain when the whole package comes in at less than the paintjob on some top-end frames. I really couldn’t have asked for a more supportive companion on my ride over the Transalpina. Since…

The TCR is a piece of cycling history. In 1997 it was the first to adopt the concept of the ‘compact’ frame – the brainchild of British engineer Mike Burrows – with a sloped top tube that increased stiffness, improved aerodynamics and reduced weight. Now the majority of race bikes have compact frames, and the competition is, literally, stiffer than ever. Lining up against the likes of the Trek Émonda, Specialized S-Works Tarmac and Cannondale SuperSix, the latest TCR needs to boast some impressive numbers, and Giant doesn’t disappoint. It claims that the new TCR is more aerodynamic, more rigid and lighter than all but one of the competition. In wind-tunnel tests, Giant claims to have outperformed its major rivals when tested at yaw angles of-15° to +15° at 40kmh…

We no longer have to make a choice between having the fastest bike or the lightest bike, says Specialized. We can now have both. ‘Our sponsored pros used to have to choose on race day whether to ride the aero race bike [Venge] or the lighter climber’s bike [Tarmac], but with the new Tarmac SL7 it is now possible to deliver the fastest bike in the peloton right at the UCI minimum weight limit,’ says road product manager Cameron Piper. Die hard with a Venge The Tarmac began life in 2002 and in the 18 years that followed it has been first across the finish line in multiple World Championships, one-day Classics, Grand Tour stages and even Olympic road races, making it the ‘winningest’ road bike of the modern era.…

RRP $89.95, lustyindustries.com Think Maxxis is purely a mountain bike brand? Think again. Its newest road tyre, the High Road SL, is used by Israel Start-Up Nation, Chris Froome’s team for 2021. According to Maxxis, the all-new High Road SL was created with one purpose in mind: giving riders a blisteringly fast pro-level time trial tyre. The tyre makes no apologies for its limited puncture protection; the lightweight design is ‘to go fast, not to last’ and is suitable for racing time trials, on the velodrome, or any situation where a rider wants the lightest set-up possible. The High Road SL’s fine 170 TPI casing ensures a smooth and sticky ride, suitable for cornering at top speed. Maxxis is using brand-new tech on this tyre, called the HYPR-S. It sounds…

$39, premax.co/au Premax began 12 years ago in the physio treatment rooms of the Australian Winter Olympic Team and Hawthorn Football Club. Founder Randall Cooper, a physio by trade, noticed that athletes were complaining that the massage oils and warm-up creams used at the time left their skin feeling greasy and uncomfortable, which affected their performance. Premax Chamois Cream, which comes in versions for both men and women, features anti-bacterial protection and helps prevents saddles sores for cyclists in a skinconditioning, PH-balanced formula.…

TRAVEL We flew to Florianopolis (with stops in Santiago and São Paulo) followed by a three-hour drive to get to the Serra do Rio do Rastro. Travel in Brazil’s shoulder season – September to November – and not only will you find good weather and fewer people but also reasonably priced flights, assuming the world returns to normal at some stage in the not-too-distant future. We flew with South American airline LATAM. ACCOMMODATION The Serra do Rio do Rastro is in the middle of farm country and has some charmingly rustic hotels to boot. We stayed at the Alpine-feeling Hotel Fazenda Rota dos Cânions, boasting seasonal food, rooms replete with guest-operated wood burners, and very trusting staff. Prices are around $89pn. See hotelfazendarotadoscanions.com.br for more details. THANKS We’re nothing without…

There’s a philosophical quandary attributed to 18th century thinker George Berkeley that asks, ‘If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?’ Similarly, if a rider crosses a finish line that they don’t realise they’re crossing, is it actually a finish line? And if there is no stage winner then did the stage even take place? These and many other questions arose on Stage 19 of the 2019 Tour de France, when the Col de l’Iseran became the summit finish that nobody knew was a summit finish. This col is the highest pass in the Alps (despite some protestations from those who live near the Col de la Bonette), soaring to 2,764m above sea level – or 2,770m if…

VAMPIRE WEEKEND Poenari Castle is the former residence of 15th century ruler Vlad the Impaler, the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula. The castle’s remains sit on a cliff above the Transfăgărășan Pass, about 75km to the east of the Transalpina, which is another must. CASTLES GALORE Bran Castle in Transylvania is commonly known as Dracula’s Castle. It certainly looks the part, with its turrets and position high on a hill, but it actually has no connections to the book. It’s still worth a visit, and the region boasts a fabulous array of fortified churches spread around six Saxon Villages of UNESCO World Heritage Site status. IN THE CITY Renowned for its gastronomy and architecture, the colourful city of Sibiu is about a 45-minute drive from Sebeş and was named…

1 Giant TCR Advanced SL 0 Disc p118 The original TCR changed the way bikes were made as far back as 1997. The new model has impressive stats, but a lot to live up to on the road. 2 Cervélo Caledonia-5 p122 A fresh bike in Cervélo’s line-up designed for those who might want to race, ride on a wide variety of surfaces, and definitely want comfort. 3 Merida Scultura Endurance 7000-E p126 Taiwanese brand Merida has released this ‘leisure-focused’ alternative to its lightweight Scultura racing bike, built for riding both on and off-road.…

When Cervélo created a bike for racing the cobbled Spring Classics in 2011, little did it know it was designing the bike of the future. Garmin-Cervélo’s Johan Vansummeren rode to victory at Paris-Roubaix that year on board what Cervélo called the R3 ‘Mud’. It was essentially a version of the company’s thoroughbred racer, customised to provide extra clearance for wide tyres and with geometry tweaked to have more stability and comfort at speed on the cobbles. If you’ve never heard of it, that’s because the bike was never successful commercially. Back then there simply wasn’t a market for it – why would we need wide clearance when we were all zipping around on 23mm tyres pumped up to 120psi? And slack geometry was for shopping bikes, right? How times change.…

BMC Teammachine SLR01 au-en.bmc-switzerland.com Not everyone knows this, but BMC stands for Bicycle Manufacturing Company. Luckily, what the company lacks in imaginative brand names it more than makes up for in R&D. BMC has been close to Australian hearts since Cadel’s Tour win in 2011, and its new Teammachine – a perfect balance of performance and aesthetics – is an absolute cracker. Liv Brava Advanced Pro liv-cycling.com/au Giant's sister brand continues to release forward-thinking and on-trend designs, and its latest CX/gravel bike does not disappoint. The Brava Advanced Pro is an agile CX race bike that offers exceptional handling and acceleration. It features a carbon frame and fork, Overdrive 2 steer, and a unique downtube design that keeps it easy to carry over any barrier. Merida Reacto merida-bikes.com/en-au The Merida…

RRP $699.95, fizik.com Wow, it’s pricy, but it sure is pretty. The evolution of 3D digital printing has allowed Fizik to develop a new saddle without the constraints or limitations of traditional production methods and materials. The Adaptive saddle padding is crafted with Digital Light Synthesis technology (DLS), an additive manufacturing process that uses digital ultraviolet light projection, oxygen permeable optics and programmable liquid resins to produce parts with excellent mechanical properties, resolution and surface finish. There are multiple functional zones within the saddle, each engineered with a distinctive cushioning and mechanical response and joined together in the same padding. It sounds scientific and complex, but it looks great – and if it’s anything like other Fizik saddles, you know it’ll be comfy.…

Goodyear recently launched its expanded range of Ultra High-Performance and High-Performance road tyres and has offered up three sets to give away to three lucky Cyclist readers! See the bottom of this page for more information on what, and how, you can win. Equipped with cutting-edge technology, the Goodyear Eagle F1, Eagle F1 SuperSport and Vector 4Seasons have the single mission of performance at the highest level. Goodyear’s new range includes the following road tyres: Eagle F1 The Eagle F1 keeps speed front of mind, but also understands the importance of reliability in all conditions. Eagle F1 Supersport As the name suggests, the Eagle F1 Supersport is optimised for low rolling resistance and reduced weight for road races and time trials at the highest level. Vector 4Seasons This model caters…

A season delayed but with few cancellations means there is a lot of bike racing from August to November. As always, there’s a large contingent of Australians taking on the world’s best on the men’s and women’s circuit. The latest from the men Australia was represented by only two riders at this year’s Tour de France, the fewest since 2001. Despite this, Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) and Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) made a huge impact on the race. We roared for Richie as he finished third in the general classification, the first podium finish for the 35-year-old Tasmanian and only the second Australian to achieve the feat. The result was even more special as his wife, Gemma, delivered their second child in the first week of the race. Australia was represented by…

As the third stage of the 1924 Tour de France was about to get under way, Albert Londres, who was covering the race for the French daily Le Petit Parisien, decided to drive ahead of the peloton. The riders were due to leave Cherbourg at 2am, bound for Brest some 405km away, so Londres scanned the list of control points and the predicted timetable. His eyes fell on Granville, 105km into the stage. It seemed as good a place as any for a first stop to watch the riders pass: roughly one quarter distance; 30km after the preceding control point at Coutances; riders due at 6am. Perfect. So it was that Londres got in his car and drove to Granville. Among the riders cheered on by the crowd that had…

Brazil is big. Today it is also cold. Really, really frost-on-grass-tips cold. Condensation on the bikes, which we left outside overnight, has turned to a coating of miniature stalagmites, crystallised by temperatures that have brought snow to parts of Santa Catarina. Touching down upstate in Florianopolis yesterday, the temperature was a balmy 25°C; this morning it is -2°C. The country’s size makes it a land of extremes. To put ‘size’ into perspective, Brazil is the fifth-biggest country in the world, ranked only behind Russia, Canada, China, and the United States. Many are surprised to learn its even bigger than Oz – we’re sixth, for the record. Despite a population of 210 million, each inhabitant has an average of 40,000m2 to themselves. So not only does the country appear massive on…

As race bikes go this is up there with the best, but for all the RaceVox’s mean aero-looks, the initial feel of the bike is one of ‘cruisiness’ – smooth and comfortable but not specifically punchy. As I discovered, however, putting the power down elicits the desired response, confirming the frame is plenty stiff, and at speed the bike really felt like it was fighting the wind on my behalf. Nowhere is the RaceVox’s character so noticeable as when descending; Swift’s low, racy geometry underpins the already sharp steering with excellent stability. I rode the bike on some pretty ropey surfaces and it coped well enough; so too it hauled my backside up this long and gruelling climb in a way that wasn’t half bad for a 7.6kg machine. I…

Watching the first WorldTour race since March, you’d be forgiven for thinking that all the masks were protection from the dust, and the lack of roadside fans a reflection on the fierce Italian heat. In reality, these idiosyncrasies of a unique 14th edition of Strade Bianche were signs of the new normal as the sport bounced back from the COVID-19 crisis. ‘After five months of being at home it was definitely a shock to the system,’ says Hannah Troop, communications director at EF Pro Cycling. ‘The one thing that really struck me about this year’s Strade Bianche was walking into the Piazza del Campo in Siena. It was so strange to not see it full of fans like last year, almost a bit eerie. But obviously we understand why it’s…

At 90kg I’m a long way from the ideal build for climbing, let alone so much in such a condensed manner, so thank heavens for this dream machine. The Factor O2 VAM is the quintessential climbing bike – its name even comes from the climber’s favourite metric (before power meters came along, of course), Vertical Ascent in Metres, or ‘vertical metres per hour’. It’s also the weapon of choice for the Israel Start-Up Nation pro squad in 2020. I didn’t get a chance to weigh this bike, but I know the disc brake version in this spec comes in at a very light 6.6kg, so I would fully expect this rim brake setup to be even lighter. Factor says the weight is achieved using special additives in the carbon composite…

TRAVEL Pre-COVID, Cyclist made its merry way to London with Qantas and then flew with Hungarian airline WizzAir from Luton to Bucharest Otopeni for £165 (approx. $300) return (although our luggage went on a separate ride to Skopje and Hannover – cheers for that, WizzAir). From there it’s about a 3.5-hour drive to Novaci or 4.5 hours to Sebeş, the towns at either end of the Transalpina Highway. Cheaper but less regular flights go to the pretty medieval walled city of Sibiu – one-way from £40 (approx. $73), which is a 45-minute drive from Sebeş. ACCOMMODATION We stayed in the four-star Zan Hotel (zanhotel.ro) on the banks of the river Lotru in Voineasa, a 50-minute drive from the start of our ride at Obârşia Lotrului. Double rooms cost around €55…

Until about three years ago, Merida’s drop bar road bikes fell under three product lines: the Reacto (aero race), Scultura (lightweight race), and Ride (endurance). The brand then discontinued the Ride series bikes around the launch of the Silex gravel bike, leaving a hole in the brand’s line-up for those who were after something between and road bike and a gravel bike. In the interim, Merida launched the Mission Road, essentially a rebadged version of the brand’s Mission CX bike, with a slightly slacker head tube angle and an extra 20mm of chainstay length depending on size. Technically this filled the hole in the brand’s line-up, but it rode like a cross bike with slick tyres, and the aggressively low stack height wasn’t conducive to an upright and comfortable riding…