Gore Bike Wear Alp X III Thermo jacket review

Gore’s Alp X III Thermo is a stylish and feature-laden winter jacket/jersey. Despite its light weight, it’s impressively warm.

It scores particularly highly for pockets – as well as a zipped chest pocket, you’ll find five pouches on the back. There are the traditional open ones on either side, a pair inboard with vertical zips, and a unique narrow sleeve in the middle that’s designed to hold a pump.

The jersey’s cut is on the racy side, to the extent that the front might not be long enough – it’ll work best if you like to adopt a fairly long and low riding position. The fabric is thin, although Gore have cleverly used slightly thicker material on the chest to boost warmth in this core area.

Combined with a baffle behind the full-length zip, you won’t be troubled by draughts. The only niggle is that the zip pull is tricky to manipulate with gloves. We like the attention to detail with the silicone shoulder print that stops hydration packs sliding.