Sportful Aqua Pro Jacket review

The Sportful Aqua Pro jacket performs brilliantly as a breathable waterproof, blending two Gore-Tex fabrics into a figure-hugging shell.

The cut is very slim and racy, making it a qualified purchase.

However, the fact that it doesn’t allow jersey pocket access and it’s so expensive means it misses a spot among the very best waterproof jackets.

Sportful Aqua Pro jacket details and specifications

The Sportful Aqua Pro jacket features an aggressive cut, and is designed for high-tempo riding and racing.

The main panels are made using Gore-Tex Active fabric, while the adjoining sections are constructed from stretchier waffle-textured fabric, called Gore-Tex Topo.

This gives the jacket the ability to stretch around the body’s articulating points more effectively, creating a more aerodynamic cut free of excess (flapping) fabric.

The neckline is elasticated, as is the waistband, to seal out the elements.

At the wrist, Sportful has taken a different approach from most of its rivals, incorporating a zip with a long-sleeve jersey-like cuff.

The full-length zip features a draught guard underneath and is relatively chunky for a jacket of this type.

The Aqua Pro Jacket doesn’t have any pockets, or holes through which to reach a jersey pocket.

It can be bought in six sizes (XS-3XL), but only in black.

Sportful Aqua Pro jacket performance

The Aqua Pro jacket’s fabrics perform excellently. Its mix of Gore-Tex Active and Topo fabrics are very waterproof and breathable.

The cut will be limiting for some, but as the name suggests, the Aqua Pro is designed for more aggressive, pro-like positions on a bike.

I found it fitted very well when hunkered down on the bars, minimising my frontal area, but less well when I sat in my go-to on-the-tops position.

The drop tail offers ample extra coverage, while the short-cut front means there’s little bunching of the fabric and zip.

The very racy cut is eased slightly by the use of stretchy Topo panels in key areas (I benefited from this given my relatively broad shoulders), but overall it remains very ‘cocooning’.

The arms are especially slim, which helps reduce any flapping in the wind, I daresay making it more aerodynamically efficient.

The Topo fabric sections offer some extra stretch in the fit, which in turn (alongside the cut) might make it a little more aero too. However, for the vast majority of riders, this shouldn’t be a main concern.

Undoing the zips is necessary to fit your hands through the cuffs. This isn’t a huge issue, but if you want to remove the jacket on the move, it’s a bit more of a task than it otherwise would be.

Once on and zipped up, the cuffs are very comfortable and, because they sit on the skin, seal out draughts well.

Once they were wet, though, I got unpleasantly cold wrists on my coolest ride.

The main zip, while sealed and backed to prevent draughts, proved relatively stiff to pull up or down.

It’s the kind of jacket that I’d sport for a 90-minute hard tempo ride or a wet race (if I raced).

Any longer, and I’d probably want to reach for an energy bar or gel at some point, but that’s impossible given there isn’t a pocket or hole to access a jersey pocket through.

It’s fine if you get handed things from a team car, but how many of us get that kind of service?

There is, of course, the price to contend with too. The Sportful Aqua Pro jacket is eye-wateringly expensive, at £425 / $400 / €399.90.

This will fundamentally place it out of reach of the vast majority of people, while you can buy excellent jackets with similar Gore-Tex Active fabric performance for £229.99 (Gore Torrent) or £250 (Rapha Men’s Pro Team Gore-Tex Jacket).

If you have such a tall budget, Gore-Tex Shakedry-equipped jackets – widely seen as a standard-setter fabric, albeit one soon to be consigned to the history books – are available for up to £100 less.

Sportful Aqua Pro jacket bottom line

The Sportful Aqua Pro jacket is a top-performing cycling rain jacket.

That said, it is a very focused garment. Only the slimmest, raciest cyclists should consider it and they’ll need very deep pockets too.

This means there are better waterproof jackets out there for most riders, the vast majority of which will cost less money.