Foldable Bikes Party: August 2016

Wednesday 31 August 2016

2016 Tour of Alberta start list

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OneUp ISCG05 chain guide review

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Narrow/wide chainrings came with the promise of holding chain to chainring without a chain guide. They certainly do a far better job than a regular ring, but as anyone who rides aggressively, or slams through rocky, jarring terrain knows, they're far from infallible.

I've been riding narrow/wide chainrings for a few seasons on both my hardtail and full-suspension bikes and have thrown the chain on both bikes numerous times. Chain drops definitely get more frequent as the ring wears down, as well. Enter the new crop of mini chain guides. Instead of the usual chain guide that has guides top and bottom, OneUp’s ISCG05 guide only features a small top guide.

OneUp ISCG05 chain guide specs

Weight: 35g
Capacity: 26-38T
Chainline: 5.5mm adjustment
Mount: ISCG05
Color: Green and black top guides Included
Material: 7075 aluminum, top guide glass-reinforced thermoplastic
*Incompatible when used with Oval chainrings on the following frames: Santa Cruz Bronson 2 and 5010 2, Intense Tracer T275, Rocky Mountain Altitude 27.5 (out of spec ISCG tab placement)

OneUp ISCG05 chain guide installation

The installation video on OneUp's site is a mere 46 seconds long, but surprisingly manages to cover all the basics. Mounting the guide took more than 46 seconds, but honestly not much more. I did not have to remove my crankarm or even the chainring.

After setting the guide's chainring size, the backplate simply mounts to two out of three ISCG05 holes. (If you're unfamiliar, ISCG stands for international standard chain guide and, as you may have guessed, this 05 'standard' is an updated version.)

A quick check with the included spacer guide said add one spacer to the top guide and bolt it all together. It really was that simple and painless.

Does it actually work?

You can read more at BikeRadar.com

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Vuelta a Espana: Froome wins stage 11

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Chris Froome (Team Sky) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) continued to slug it out at the Vuelta a Espana, with the two attacking each other and distancing their rivals on the short but steep finish to Pena Cabarga overlooking the northern Cantabria coastline.

Froome managed to kick away and win the stage, just as he did in his break through season back in 2011 but Quintana kept the leader's red jersey and indicated that he is ready to take on Froome whenever the road heads into the mountains.

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) finished third, just six seconds back, with Leopold Konig (Team Sky) and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) in the same time. Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge), who tried to revive his overall chances with a solo attack in the final two kilometres, finished eighth at 19 seconds. Thanks to the time bonuses awarded at the finish, Froome moved up to just 54 seconds back on Quintana, with Valverde third overall at 1:05. Chaves is fourth at 2:34 and Contador is fifth at 3:06.

Froome punched the air as he crossed the finish line, happy to win again on the terrible Pena Cabarga climb and happy to be in contention to become only the third rider to win the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana in the same season after Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault.

"I've got some special memories from 2011 here. To add to that here is an incredible feeling," Froome said.

"Quintana is really strong at the moment. He has the leader's jersey and I'm just trying to do as much as I can day by day to get closer to him. I want as much time as I can get, he wants as much time as he can get and that makes the race exciting."

Watch Vuelta a Espana stage 11 highlights video

How it happened

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Tour des Fjords: Howard wins opener in Bryggen

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Leigh Howard (IAM Cycling) scored his second win of the 2016 season, taking out the rainy opening stage of Tour des Fjords in Bergen after the majority of the peloton was led off-course on the approach to the finish, leaving just three riders out front to contest the stage win.

Howard topped Jesper Asselman (Roompot) and August Jensen (Team Coop-Øster Hus) to take the race lead.

"I'm really not sure what to say about today, very happy to win the stage but disappointed it was under these circumstances," Howard said.

The stage was a preview of sorts for next year's UCI Road World Championships, and riders tackled 20km of the route. But rather than make a turn to stay on course, the peloton was led straight.

"There was a lot of confusion and some riders from the back of the bunch attacked," fourth-placed Damiano Caruso (BMC) said. "By the time we had an overview of the situation, it was too late to catch them. In the end, I did a good sprint and was able to get fourth place."

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

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Boels Dolmans win team time trial at Boels Rental Ladies Tour

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Scott Law wins Tour of Gippsland opener

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Tour of Britain 2016 start list

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Gilbert: Sometimes I've won two stages at the Vuelta a Espana and sometimes I've won nothing

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Philippe Gilbert (BMC) is holding out hope that he can pull off the stage win he has been hunting at this year's Vuelta a Espana. As the race enters its second half, the Belgian champion says there are possibly two more chances for him to post a victory salute and one of those will be on Thursday's stage 12 from Los Corrales de Buelna to Bilbao.

"The goal was to win a stage, and it is still to win a stage, so we're still trying to make this happen," Gilbert told Cyclingnews in a phone interview on the first rest day.

"It's possible that I could do well in stage 12. I think it will be a breakaway. We have to figure out how to control this day, and I have to be there to join that group and make it happen. But it's always hard."

Stage 12 presents a 193.2km race with four climbs; Puerto de Las Alisas, Alto la Escria and two final climbs over Alto El Vivero, which is 4.2km climb and has an 8.5% grade topping out just 13km from the finish line.

Gilbert said that with the exception of the overall contenders, almost every other rider in the peloton is also be hunting a stage win and so making that happen for himself will be the biggest challenge.

"Yes, I was looking at all the stages coming into this last half of the race, and much of it favours the climbers and the really light guys. It will be really hard for me but there are one or maybe two stages that are a possibility for me.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

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2017 World Championships elite men's time trial to finish on a mountain

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Organisers of the 2017 UCI Road World Championships in Bergen, Norway have announced today that a 3.4km-long 9 per cent climb has been added to the tail end of the elite men's individual time trial course, adding a unique challenge for the peloton.

The head of the road department at the UCI, Matthew Knight, presented the course today during the Tour des Fjords, which used part of the road circuit in today's stage 1 finale.

"We are really happy that we can present this today," Knight said. "It will be one of the most scenic and spectacular finishes of a time trial event in the UCI Road World Championships."

The ascent of Mount Fløyen climbs 300m from Bergen, and will open up the rainbow jersey to climbers in addition to the time trial specialists, and will provide spectacular viewing for the television audience.

"The view from the top is breathtaking, and we are really proud to be able to share this with the international cycling fans. Fløyen is the biggest tourist attraction in Bergen," said Harald Tiedemann Hansen, the president of the local organising committee Bergen 2017. "This will be Bergen’s equivalent to the famous Alpe d'Huez climb."

The elite men will take on two laps of the 20.9km circuit around Bergen, and then divert to climb Mount Fløyen to the finish.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

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Armitstead confident in Boels Dolmans' strength for Worlds team time trial

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Lizzie Armitstead is confident that her Boels Dolmans team can put together a winning performance in the team time trial at the upcoming World Championships in Doha, Qatar, after their powerful display to win stage 2 at the Boels Rental Ladies Tour on Wednesday.

The current road world champion was part of a strong team that included Chantal Blaak, Ellen Van Dijk, Karol-Ann Canuel, Christine Majerus and Amalie Dideriksen.

The team won the 26.4km stage in Gennep with a time of 30:58, beating teams Canyon-SRAM by 33 seconds and Rabo Liv by 1:05. Dideriksen, who won the opening stage in Tiel maintained her lead in the overall classification.

Boels Dolmans also won the team time trial at the Crescent Vargarda Women's WorldTour event two weeks ago, showing they are on good form to target a world title in Qatar.

Last year, Velocio-SRAM won the world title in the discipline leaving Boels Dolmans to settle for second at only seven seconds back, while Rabo Liv was third.

The women's team time trial at the World Championships in Qatar will be held on October 9 along a 40km course.

— Lizzie Armitstead (@L_ArmiTstead) August 31, 2016

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

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Chaves misses out on Vuelta a Espana stage win despite brave attack

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A gutsy mid-climb attack by Esteban Chaves (Orica-BikeExchange) on the Vuelta a Espana's stage 11 ascent of the Peña Cabarga finally failed to net the Colombian the stage win as he was reeled in by race leader Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Chris Froome (Team Sky).

Chaves' advantage rose to 15 seconds at one point, and apart from Quintana and Froome he was the only top overall contender to make a serious move on the climb. But Chaves, fifth in last year's Vuelta and a double stage winner, gently brushed off suggestions that his double-digit lead might have been a good enough gap to hold on for the win.

"Today there were no big differences, 15 seconds, it wasn't a big gap, it's as far as that bus over there," Chaves said, pointing at the next team vehicle in the line in a grimy industrial estate that was waiting for its riders to descend from the nearby Peña Cabarga ascent and head off for the hotel.

Chaves said that when Quintana passed him on the Peña Cabarga, "I didn't think much, all you feel is pain. You can only start thinking five or ten minutes after the line."

When Chaves finally crossed the line, he was eighth on the stage, 19 seconds back. Overall he remains in fourth, 2:34 down. His overall ambitions remain very much intact, but his ambition to take a stage win was palpable in his answers after Wednesday's defeat.

"If you finish seventh or eighth on GC it's good, but if you finish tenth and win a stage it's better. It's important to keep trying, keep believing as Mathew Hayman keeps telling me," Chaves said.

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Vuelta a Espana: Quintana takes it steady after losing mountain duel

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Vuelta a España leader Nairo Quintana (Movistar) said that despite losing against Chris Froome (Sky) on the Peña Cabarga ascent he remains fully optimistic about his chances in the longer term battle.

Quintana and Movistar made much of the running on the early part of the ascent, and when Quintana loped away, passing and catching Esteban Chaves (Orica-BikeExchange), Froome was determinedly sticking close.

Then on the final sweeping left hand bend, Froome first quickly passed the Colombian then powered ahead for a stage win, a time bonus, and what must represent a big boost to his morale.

Having lost six seconds to Froome in the Vuelta on the other short, ultra-steep ascent to Ezaro on stage three but then gained time on the Briton on the longer Camperona and Lagos de Covadonga climbs, Quintana was his usual phlegmatic self when discussing his first direct mountain top defeat by Froome in this year's Spanish Grand Tour.

"It was a very fast climb and we realised that Froome was going very strongly," Quintana said later. "We will have to watch him closely. "

"I'm good, we have arrived together with Froome. He won the stage because he was faster than me at the end. I still think he's strong."

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Vuelta a Espana stage 11 highlights - Video

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Stage 11 at the Vuelta a Espana brought an exciting finale as the two main favourites for the overall; Chris Froome (Team Sky) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) sprinted to the finish line in a two-man battle for the day's glory. In the end, it was Froome who got the better of Quintana to take the stage win in Pena Cabarga.

Quintana continues to lead the overall classification as Froome moved up into second place 54 seconds back. Quintana's teammate Alejandro Valverde is sitting in third place at 1:05 back.

Esteban Chaves (Orica-BikeExchange) tried to make a move on the final ascent but he was no match for the likes of Froome and Quintana. He finished 19 seconds down in eighth place and sits in fourth overall at 2:34.

Watch how the race unfolded in the Vuelta a Espana stage 11 highlights video.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

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Froome repeats history with Vuelta a Espana stage win

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For the second time in five years, Chris Froome has triumphed in the ascent to Peña Cabarga in the Vuelta a España, with a victory that once again saw the Briton beat the overall leader into second place in a thrilling uphill duel.

In 2011, victory on the four kilometre climb represented a breakthrough triumph for Froome, and confirmed his position on the Vuelta's final podium behind then-leader Juan Jose Cobo in Madrid. This time it was Nairo Quintana who could not hold Froome's wheel as the finish line approached.

"Of course I've got some special memories from 2011 at the Vuelta against Cobo at that time, it was my first victory as a professional, ever, so it's definitely special for me," Froome said. "Today is another day and I can add to that now."

Quintana attempted to drop Froome, but finally was unable to stop the Briton from taking his first individual stage win in the Vuelta since his 2011 victory on Peña Cabarga. It will be a big boost to Froome's confidence and his team's collective morale.

Froome and Quintana look set to be locked into battle for another 10 days. Whether Froome's clearly rising form will be enough to topple Quintana remains to be seen, although the margins are now just 54 seconds between the two on the general classification.

The victory continues Sky's unbroken run of triumphs on the Peña Cabarga, after Froome won in 2011, Vasil Kiryenka in 2013 and now Froome again in 2016.

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Colombians mourn death of U23 racer Diego Suta

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Katusha's Jhonatan Restrepo started stage 11 of the Vuelta a España with a black arm band in remembrance of his compatriot Diego Suta, 22, who was killed in a crash on a descent during the Vuelta de la Juventud U23 race in Colombia yesterday.

Suta, who was competing in the race for the first time, was descending the Alto de Daza just 12km into the 162km stage 2 on Tuesday when he crashed on a turn and suffered fatal head injuries.

Jarlinson Pantano (IAM Cycling) sent his condolences via Twitter yesterday, writing "Sad news of our fellow cyclist Diego Suta in the Vuelta de la Juventud, God bless and much strength your family."

The race will continue and a moment's silence was held at the start of today's stage 3.

Today @JhonatanRVal in #LV2016 with black ribbon around arm after accident Diego Suta. #CiclismoDeLuto http://pic.twitter.com/2SXqOoCprS
— Team KATUSHA (@katushacycling) August 31, 2016

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The Colnago Concept: a fresh slice of Italian aero

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This article first appeared on BikeRadar.

Legendary Italian bike maker Colnago has announced its first proper aero bike and it’s called the Concept. In the appropriately grand setting of a German castle in a small town just up the road from the Eurobike trade show, Ernesto Colnago himself unveiled the new machine, which joins the C60 and the V1-r to complete the brand’s range of top-end race bikes.

The new bike’s name harks back to the original 1986 Colnago Concept, the company’s first carbon bike which was the result of a collaboration with Ferrari. But while the eighties Concept was a showcase for innovation, the 2017 version is a full-production, monocoque carbon aero bike with all the features you’d expect of a modern racer.
According to Colnago, the aim of the new Concept is the same as with every other bike it produces: it’s “to make cyclists faster”.

Aero design

You can’t design an aero bike without going to the wind tunnel these days, and that’s exactly what Colnago did, working through 41 variations of the Concept frameset to come up with the finished product. The result is a bike that bears some resemblance to other mainstream aero offerings, but which differs in the finer details.
Claimed frame weight is 990g without paint, plus 400g for the fork. As with the V1-r, the framesets are manufactured in Taiwan and finished in Italy.

According to Colnago’s own numbers, the Concept offers stiffness numbers that are within a few percentage points of the C60 and V1-r, but quite a bit less vertical compliance. The flipside is that a medium sized rider at a zero-degree yaw angle will save approximately 20 watts at 50 km/h against the C60, and 4 watts against the V1-r. Small beans? That’s up to you to decide.

Interestingly, Colnago made a point of saying that the Concept offers aero benefits for every one of its eight sizes, something some bike manufacturers don’t really talk about. The most visible manifestation of this is at the seat stays where the larger sizes have a slightly different seat tube profile near the tube junction and allow air to flow between the stays.

Colnago Concept fork

Colnago Concept downtube and bottom bracket

Colnago Concept brakes

Colnago Concept pricing and availability

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

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Tour of Britain: Dennis and Phinney to lead BMC

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The BMC team has confirmed its six-rider team for the Tour of Britain, with Australia’s Rohan Dennis and the USA’s Taylor Phinney leading a young squad that will chase stage victories before considering a shot at overall success.

The Tour of Britain starts in Glasgow on Sunday September 4 and ends a week later in London on September 11. The race includes several rolling stages that traditionally suit breakaways, with six-rider squads making it difficult for one team to control the peloton. New for 2016 is a split stage on the penultimate day, with a 15km time trial and technical circuit race in Bristol that should prove critical for the overall winner. The time trial will suit both Dennis and Phinney but they face serious competition from Bradley Wiggins and Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin).

Also in the six rider squad are 22 year-old stagiaire Taylor Eisenhart of the USA, Amaël Moinard, Loïc Vliegen and Rick Zabel.

"We are lining up at the Aviva Tour of Britain with stage victories in mind and will see how the general classification develops from there. We have a motivated and talented team racing in Britain and, as we have been doing all season, we will try and be active in the breaks and will be looking for success daily," directeur sportif Jackson Stewart said wen the team was revealed.

Phinney and Dennis both return to racing at the Tour of Britain after taking a break after the Rio Olympic Games. The 26 year-old Australian finished fifth in the time trial won by Fabian Cancellara. He missed out on the chance for a medal after his handlebars snapped during his ride.

"I'm feeling good at the moment. I had some time off after Rio and the first four days back on the bike felt like I belonged in a junior category but since then things have been back on track and I'm looking forward to testing the legs out in a race like the Tour of Britain," Dennis said.

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Unzue: Three Grand Tours in a season is not possible for Quintana yet

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Movistar team manager, Eusebio Unzue has said that Vuelta a Espana leader Nairo Quintana’s speculation that he may one day do all three Grand Tours in the same year is not practical, at least in the short term.

During his rest day press conference, the Colombian said that the idea of doing Giro, Tour and Vuelta in the same year, as his team-mate Alejandro Valverde is in the process of doing this season, had caught his attention. While not totally pouring cold water on the idea, Unzue has argued that Quintana would have to wait for some time before really considering it as an option.

“I don’t see it as being possible at the moment,” Unzue cautiously told Cyclingnews. “Bear in mind that Nairo is 26, which is a still a little young to be fully mature for Grand Tours.”

Unzue argued that team-mate Alejandro Valverde’s series of Grand Tour results are “more a demonstration of what an exceptional rider he is than anything else.”

Valverde finished third in the Giro d’Italia, sixth in the Tour de France and is currently in second place overall at the Vuelta a Espana after the first rest day.

“If we look at Alejandro, either he’s going to convince us that he’s a one-of-a-kind as a rider, or he’ll show us that if you handle the calendar carefully, racing all three Grand Tours is possible.”

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Bouet to ride for Fortuneo Vital Concept in 2017 - Transfer shorts

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Bouet to ride for Fortuneo Vital Concept in 2017

Maxime Bouet has penned a two-year deal with the Fortuneo-Vital Concept as he follows Etixx-QuickStep teammate Gianni Meersman in switching to the French team for the 2017 season.

On Tuesday morning, Bouet told his Twitter followers that he had signed a new deal but kept it quiet as to where he was headed. “Signed this morning, 2 years with???” he wrote.

The official announcement came a day later, confirming that the 30-year-old would ride for the French squad. At the team, Bouet will reunite with his former Agritubel team manager, Emmanuel Hubert, who provided him with his first professional contract in 2008.

"Emmanuel Hubert found me when I was an amateur, it's a great story to sign for his team 10 years later,” Bouet said. “After my experience at AG2R-La Mondiale, I wanted to discover a foreign team. There was good and less good but I learned a lot, I have no regrets. Today, I feel, for the first time in my career that I want to try and race for myself. The sports management believes me capable of doing good things. I'll give my all. I often had regrets passing the line, but I want to do the job 100 per cent in these two years.”

Maxime Bouet (Etixx-Quick Step)

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Van Avermaet: Reducing team sizes will make racing more attractive

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Newly crowned Olympic Champion Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) is keen to see organisers reduce the number of riders per teams in races. Speaking to a small group of journalists, Van Avermaet said that the new, much larger, WorldTour calendar necessitates the change but that a move to smaller teams will also make racing much more interesting to watch.

All WorldTour teams must participate in all WorldTour events, entering teams of nine for the three Grand Tours and teams of eight for all other events. Earlier this month, the UCI announced the new-look WorldTour calendar which will see the number of races grow from 27 to 37. To incorporate the increase, there are a number of clashes on the calendar, with Clasica San Sebastian, the Tour de Pologne and RideLondon-Surrey Classic all on the same weekend. WorldTour teams will be able to opt out of some of the new WorldTour races but the exact rules remain nebulous.

Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme has already indicated his desire to cut down on the size of teams. Van Avermaet believes that there are plenty of races where they could trial it first.

“If you see the WorldTour calendar, which will be so big next year, it might be good for all the teams because some of the teams only have 25 riders. It would be difficult to cover the whole programme with the WorldTour races. Maybe to split it up would not be a bad idea,” Van Avermaet said in response to a question from Cyclingnews. “For sure we have to try it once, and there are some opportunities in other races. Maybe not directly in the Tour de France but we can try in the Dauphine, Paris-Nice or Tirreno-Adriatico."

“It would be nice to see how the peloton reacts and how the teams react to less numbers. Then you can make a conclusion after this.”

When Prudhomme spoke to L’Équipe in July, he stated the need to cut the number of riders in a Grand Tour line-up from nine to eight. However, Van Avermaet believes that this could come down a little further again, with one-week stage races taking the lead from events such as the Tour of Britain and entering only six.

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Clarke out of the Vuelta a Espana due to fractured shoulder

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Simon Clarke (Cannondale-Drapac) will not start Wednesday’s stage of the Vuelta a Espana after further medical checks and an MRI scan confirmed that he suffered a fractured scapula and a series of other shoulder injuries during his high-speed crash on stage 10 on Monday.

Clarke got back up to finish the stage, riding up the final climb to Lagos de Covadonga using just one arm. He vowed to try to stay in the race but headed home while his Cannondale-Drapac teammates prepared for the second half of the race and Wednesday’s stage from Colunga to Pena Cabarga.

The Australian tweeted his long list of injuries: “Diagnosis: Dislocated shoulder & Grade 1-2 separation of AC joint. Chances of continuing are slim but will make a decision Wed AM. #LaVuelta.”

On Tuesday evening he wrote: “Diagnosis #2: Now I know why I was in so much pain. MRI = Fractured scapula, Bankart lesion, Hill-Sachs lesion, SLAP Tear 5, & Hemarthosis.”

A Bankart lesion is an injury to the cartilage in the shoulder socket, a Hill-Sachs lesion is caused by the dislocation of the shoulder, while a SLAP Tear 5 is a muscle tear in the shoulder. It is not clear if Clarke will undergo surgery to help his recovery or if he will be able to race again this season.

The Cannondale-Drapac team confirmed that Clarke wouldn’t start before heading to the start of the stage. He is the first rider from the US team to quit this year’s Vuelta a Espana. The team hopes Andrew Talansky can fight for a top ten place in the overall classification with Joe Dombrowski and Pierre Rolland expected to target the remaining mountain stages.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

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Tour of Britain 2016: 5 riders to watch

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The Tour of Britain gets underway in Glasgow on Sunday and, as ever, an open eight days of racing are in prospect before the overall winner is crowned in London the following weekend.

At this point in the season, riders have varying levels of form and motivation, but the Tour of Britain is a race with something for everyone and its position in the build-up to the World Championships means that it attracts a quality field. Cyclingnews casts an eye over some of the riders who are likely to hit the headlines over the week-long race.

Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin)

Having peaked at the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and then the Olympic Games, Tom Dumoulin begins the next phase of his season at the Tour of Britain. The Dutch time triallist will have one eye on the World Championships in October but the 15-kilometre test on stage 7a perfectly suits his characteristics, even if it is on the short side. In terms of the overall classification, much will depend on Dumoulin’s motivation. The roads and terrain at the Tour of Britain can be unforgiving and concentration is as much of a factor as form. Given the fact that Dumoulin is building up his condition after a short break, one can foresee him pinpointing the time trial and the summit finish to Haytor, with a more ‘day-by-day’ approach towards the rest of the race.

Previous form: This is Dumoulin’s first appearance at the race.

Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data)

Like Dumoulin, the Manxman will be using the Tour of Britain to hone his condition with the World Championships part of his later season ambitions. However, unlike the Giant-Alpecin rider, Cavendish will be under the microscope from the get-go, the glory of his Olympic silver medal pushed into the annals of history with expectancy and pressure to deliver at least one stage win on home roads. In his favour are a number of factors, not least his ability to flip from track to road so successfully this year. Add to that his impressive race craft in messy field sprints and he starts as the man to beat in the bunch kicks. The problem is that so many of the stages in the race contain relentlessly difficult terrain, and as a marked man, Cavendish and Dimension Data will be expected to work harder than most in order to set up opportunities.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

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Does your closet look like ours?

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From charity rides to gran fondos, you have a jersey for every occasion. We approve. Share a photo of your own jersey collection for your chance to win a free RIDE membership!

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Froome into second in Vuelta after stage 11 win

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Britain's Chris Froome wins stage 11 of the Vuelta to move into second place, trailing Nairo Quintana by 54 seconds.

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De Rosa adds a splash of luxury to the SK Pininfarina range

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When a bike actually has the word 'luxury' in its name you know there's got to be something worth taking a closer look at, even if the price tag is beyond most cyclists — and the De Rosa SK Pininfarina Luxury is one such bike.

Family-owned and run company De Rosa has been working with renowned Italian car design company Pininfarina to create two new additions to the De Rosa line: the SK Pininfarina Disc and the SK Pininfarina Luxury.

If you're unfamiliar with the name Pininfarina, chances are you are aware of their work because the company has designed cars for Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Maserati amongst others. Their relationship with De Rosa began in 2015 and the first year of the partnership clearly proved successful enough for it to continue.

De Rosa SK Pininfarina Luxury

Coming in right at the top of the range is the new SK Pininfarina Luxury. It's clearly a bike upon which no expense has been spared.

The bike features triple layer paint, non-slip textured handlebar and saddle, and a drivetrain created with "zero friction technology". In case you weren't already aware that this was a luxury product, the three colours the bike is available in give a further clue; Pininfarina Blue, Black Caviar and Diamond Silver.

Luxury accessories for a Luxury bike

De Rosa hasn't just stopped at making the bike. Oh no. They've also worked with Castelli to create luxury accessories for use with the super-car inspired steed. The Body-Bike Suitcase is designed to carry your De Rosa SK in safety and style, it is "sewn with the same single needle stitching found in the highest quality tailored clothing", according to the brand.

De Rosa SK Pininfarina Disc

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Northwave aims to make pressure points "a thing of the past" with new road shoe

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Italian shoe brand Northwave has shown off its new range of shoes, including the Extreme RR and Outcross ranges, at Eurobike 2016, telling BikeRadar that it has placed an emphasis on comfort.

The Extreme RR, the new range-topping road shoe from Northwave, has been developed by the design team to create an upper that uses a wire and dial system that completely eliminates any friction or pressure points. The X-Frame technology used in the upper balances and tensions for a seriously snug fit and one that in fact works best with just one SLW2 dial to operate.

Northwave founder Gianni Piva explains: "Pressure points on your feet are something every rider has experienced in his life on the saddle. So we have been working on the XFrame technology for so long, designing carefully every angle of the cable and choosing the softest materials ever for our shoes, and the result is a very innovative solution, providing by far the snuggest and most even fit on a road shoe. We feel very proud of this evolution, whose performance is immediately perceivable and makes pressure points a thing of the past."

The upper is constructed with a super-soft and super-thin (0.5mm) fabric that’s also very elastic and therefore comfortable. This material is reinforced with a mesh system for strength and this is controlled by a complex series of ribbed material reinforcements which also become the loops for the dial's cable. The positioning of this X-frame reinforcement ensures the uniform tightening and pressure point free fit. The cable is constructed with Dyneema (a light weight material that’s as strong as a steel cable but far more flexible, yet resistant to elongated stretching).

New Northwave off-roader aims to be your go-to-shoe

You can read more at BikeRadar.com

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