June is when the cycling world truly comes out of hibernation. Yes, the Spring Classics have been and gone, the Giro d'Italia has just come to an end and we're already gearing up for the biggest bike race of them all – the Tour de France.
Last weekend, Simon von Bromley took us behind the scenes at Movistar's Giro d'Italia roadshow, with plenty of insight from the team staff, all illustrated by Simon's photography.
This week, the hotly anticipated Netflix series Tour de France: Unchained was released. I got a sneak preview ahead of the release and shared my thoughts.
It's not just road racing that's been in the headlines, however. Unbound brought a swathe of tech content to BikeRadar, where we spotted the new Shimano GRX groupset, the new Canyon Grail and plenty more tech underneath mud – lots of mud.
Our Bike of the Year reviews have continued to roll out, as well, with Alex Evans reviewing the Nukeproof Megawatt 297 RS and Warren Rossiter turning his eye to the Wilier Granturismo SLR.
We also updated our guide to the best women's road and gravel bikes with the Women's Bike of the Year winner and more.
There were two big releases in the world of mountain bikes. Giant updated its Glory downhill bike and we saw Öhlins unveil a new fork and shock.
It hasn't all been racing and new tech though. Oscar Huckle provided advice on how to make your bike components last longer and how to straighten a bent derailleur hanger. We also ran an explainer on internal gear hubs.
Finally, Apple has announced some major updates to its Apple Watch software, which will enable you to pair the watch with a power meter. Should the likes of Garmin and Wahoo be worried? Let us know what you think.
Café du Cycliste Victoire Bib Shorts and Angeline Jersey
Café du Cycliste creates some of the most eye-catching and out there cycling kit (remember those gravel shoes?).
But alongside jerseys printed with bold patterns and subtler designs that have a strong nod to France with Breton stripes and le Tricolore colour scheme, the brand also likes to emphasise its commitment to technical innovations.
These are two things encapsulated by the brand’s new Victoire Bib Shorts and Angeline Jersey.
Angeline Jersey
Café du Cycliste says its new Angeline Jersey has an “ultralight, race-inspired design”.
The cycling jersey has a close-to-body fit and uses an Italian-milled fabric, said to be soft and flexible to form to your body.
The fabric has high-wicking properties and UPF 15 sun protection, which would be particularly welcome cycling around Café du Cycliste’s home on the Cote d’Azur.
There are mesh side panels and a cut that is said to favour race-bike position, as well as sleeves tailored for aerodynamics.
As has become commonplace on cycling jerseys these days, the Angeline has a full-length zipper for ventilation.
At the bottom of the Angeline, there is a silicone gripper with Café du Cycliste’s branding.
On the rear, there are three pockets and a fourth zipped pocket.
Large Breton stripes (in the green or black pictured here, or a more familiar navy blue and white) decorate the jersey.
- £157/$208/€160/AU$278
Victoire Bib Shorts
Described as performance bib shorts, the Victoire Bib Shorts are designed for speed and comfort, according to Café du Cycliste.
The brand says it collaborated with Payen, a French fabric company, to develop the fabric used in these bib shorts.
Payen uses a manufacturing process said to create a woven fabric, which has a high multi-directional stretch. It's claimed to provide better muscle compression, moisture wicking, abrasion resistance and low weight.
Backing these claims up with stats, Café du Cycliste says the Victoire Bib Shorts have a compressive force 20 per cent greater than that of bib shorts that use standard knitted fabrics and they dry 30 per cent faster, too.
Café du Cycliste isn’t the first to make such claims around the benefits of woven fabrics in bib shorts. The Castelli Superleggera bib shorts also use a woven fabric to save weight, increase durability and lower sweat absorption.
Inside the Victoire bib shorts is an Elastic Interface chamois pad with an “elastic memory” to keep its shape through “thousands of hours and miles”.
The bib section of the shorts uses the same light mesh fabric as the Angeline Jersey.
The Victoire Bib Shorts come in black or navy.
- £274/$364/€280/AU$487
Cyclus Barbecue
Cyclus might be best known for its range of workshop-grade bicycle tools, but it also produces this miniature barbecue.
Cyclus says the barbecue is made from stainless steel for long-time use.
The grill area measures 24.5x19cm and heat is said to spread evenly over this surface area for energy efficiency and low charcoal consumption.
The barbecue has ‘Cyclus Tools’ written in the grill, so even your grill marks can be on brand.
- £69.99
Osabjörn Everyday Road Helmet
The Osabjörn Everyday Road Helmet is a new helmet launching on Kickstarter this summer.
The helmet is the creation of Ben Duggan. Osabjörn says Duggan fell in love with cycling and minimalist design when living in Denmark.
Looking for a new helmet, Duggan is said to have found the options on the market to be dated and too bulky, with loud branding.
The Everyday Road Helmet is framed as an antidote to this conundrum. It is said to be a road bike helmet and a helmet for commuting, with Osabjörn wanting to create a lid that prioritises function and unobtrusive looks.
Osabjörn says the helmet has a lightweight in-mould construction with 13 vents and is CPSC and EN1078 tested.
There is a dial-adjust fit system and removable wicking padding.
The helmet will be available in three solid colours: 'deep ruby', 'jade green' and grey
Osabjörn says it uses recycled plastic in the rear fin, fit system and straps.
Once the Kickstarter is live, there will be a limited number of helmets available to the first 100 backers at a lower price of £70.
- £90
Enervit C2:1 Pro energy products
Enervit’s new line of C2:1 Pro energy products is tailored to athletes who want maximum performance during endurance sports, which sounds like a lot of cyclists.
The new products use a formula based on a 2:1 ratio of glucose and fructose.
Enervit says the products can absorb over 90g of carbohydrates per hour during activity, optimising performance and minimising gastrointestinal distress.
The formula is available in a full sweep of options, enabling you to fuel up in whatever way suits you best.
The new range includes an energy bar, energy gel, chews, an isotonic drink formula and a jelly.
The energy gels come in lime or orange flavours and the energy bar comes in a brownie flavour or ‘no flavour’.
The Enervit Isocarb C2:1 Pro drink has a mild lemon flavour and also contains the carbohydrate maltodextrin DE1.
- Enervit Carbo Chews C2:1 Pro: €2.50
- Enervit Carbo Gel C2:1 Pro: €2.80
- Enervit Carbo Bar C2:1 Pro: €2.50
- Enervit Isocarb C2:1 Pro drink: €19.90
