Tom Boonen, Classics demi-god and all-round Belgian superstar, is at Specialized's California HQ, and he's not a happy man. It's 2006 and the Paris-Roubaix/Tour of Flanders double defending champ is at the height of his powers. He needs a stiffer bike, though. The Specialized Tarmac SL isn't cutting it."It was quite an uncomfortable situation," recounts Specialized's leader of brand voice Ben Capron. "We had done every test we knew of stiffness and weight, and we'd tested the Time bike they had [been riding before]. [When Boonen saw] the stiffness data with his own eyes, he waved it away and said, 'I don't care about that'. He was standing there [on the bike], and said, 'When I'm in the saddle and I'm winding up for a sprint,' and he wiggled his butt the bike flexes like this. It's too flexible. I can't wind up for my sprint."It was a salient lesson for the team at Specialized, who managed to develop a brand new test and a brand new rear end to satisfy Boonen's rear end. They called it the SL2, and it changed Boonen's mind comprehensively. "This is the best bike I've ever ridden," he told Capron, who remembers: "That season, he won everything. It was a great testimony."(Image credit: Getty Images)The Tarmac is now on its 10th iteration nine SL models, plus the original 2003 offering, fashioned from the brand's E5 aluminium. That original bike was, by all accounts, a harsh machine to ride. While Specialized's own history books call the first carbon SL "a blank canvas that we could begin to channel our design ideas into," they hail the SL2 as the first Tarmac that was both comfortable to ride and formidable to race.'We literally sat in a room and said, "should we just get out of the road business altogether?"'It was a watershed moment for the Tarmac. A coming of age. But it hadn't been so long before that it was just a twinkle in a Specialized designer's eye. In fact it nearly didn't happen at all."At a certain point in the mid to late-Nineties, the road business was single-digit for us," Capron says. We literally sat in a room, and said, Should we just get out of the road business altogether? We contemplated that question, and then a teammate who's not with us anymore slammed his fist on the table and said, 'No, we're going to go all-in, and one day we're going to win the Tour de France'. And it was so ridiculous that we all laughed out loud. And then the room got really quiet, and you could just feel the commitment in the room."The pro peloton beckonsSpecialized's first road goal, even before the Tarmac was officially launched, was to enter the pro peloton. The brands mountain bike image could have held it back, but in 2000 it was taken on by the Festina team, who weren't exactly flavour of the month following a major dope scandal 18 months previously. "We sponsored Festina because other teams, frankly, didn't want to touch a mountain bike brand," Capron says. "But Festina had a bit of a black eye, as you know. So we were able to get into the peloton that way."(Image credit: Getty Images)The team's German sprinter Marcel Wst got things up and running with a Tour de France stage victory that July. Initially its riders used M4 aluminium bikes, though, and it wasn't until 2003 that the first Tarmacs appeared. Specialized began sponsoring Quick-StepInnergetic at the end of 2005, which was when things really took off for the Tarmac helped by Boonen's theatrics. It was, says Capron, "an exponential leap."Incredibly, for a company that was barely scratching the surface with road bikes a decade before, Specialized appeared to have fulfilled its boardroom dream in 2010, when Alberto Contador won the Tour on the SL3, the successor to Tom Boonens stiffened-up special (he was subsequently stripped of the title). The real thing came in 2014, when Vincenzo Nibali won on the Tarmac, and then it became the first bike to win three consecutive World Championships under Peter Sagan in 2015-2017, plus Anna van der Breggen the following year. 'You've got that flow'Over the years the bike has become not just a favourite with WorldTour pros, but with riders of all levels. Multiple UK hill-climb champion Andrew Feather is one rider who has chosen the bike for his campaign this year. He calls it "the bees knees". It's fast and light, he says, but that's almost a given; what really makes it stand out over previous rides is the comfort factor. "It's really comfortable to ride, and a big aspect [of its success] is that comfort," Feather says. "You're not bouncing along, instead you've just got that flow." The way the Tarmac is built has also allowed Feather to size down, which has helped him "to feel closer and more connected to the road. It just feels really nice, he adds. That's what this bike had over different brands.(Image credit: Getty Images)The Tarmac's most recent iteration is the SL9, which has already earned its wings at the highest level ridden to World Championship victory in Montreal by Demi Vollering. All the more appropriate given she was the rider that inspired its design, after she lost the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in 2024 by just four seconds. We realised we were developing our bikes in the wind tunnel with two bottles on," says global programme manager Koes De Boer. "Whereas in these breakaway moments, these riders actually race with one bottle. So we looked into what we need to change in the shape of the frame to actually make her faster."Always innovatingThe resulting bike was the S-Works Tarmac SL9, released this summer to great fanfare. It is, says Specialized, "the fastest road bike ever made", with a tweaked, more aerodynamic front end which, presumably, is fastest with a single bottle. Not that the Tarmac story is likely to end there. As De Boer says, "We are always thinking about the next new product. So if people ask, are you busy with the SL10? I say, if we weren't, it would be a shame, because it would mean we were not innovating anymore." The question is, who will be the next pro rider whose performance demands the bike take its next big step?Evolution: from E5 to SL92003: The first Tarmac, the E5, launches with an aluminium main triangle, carbon seatstays and a carbon fork. Its fast, but harsh.2006: The Tarmac SL arrives as Specializeds first full-carbon frame.2008: Spurred on by Tom Boonens complaints about flex, Specialized develops a new stiffness test and creates the SL2, the first Tarmac that is both comfortable and race-ready.2010: The SL3 wins the Tour on its debut with Alberto Contador, who is later stripped of the title.2011: The SL4 follows just a year after the SL3.(Image credit: Future)2014: A new Tarmac, later known as the SL5, introduces Rider-First Engineered, with each frame size engineered independently. It also brings the first disc-brake Tarmac. Vincenzo Nibali wins the Tour on it.2017: The SL6 brings a dedicated disc-brake frame.2020: With the SL7, the aero Venge is dropped and the Tarmac becomes Specializeds one race bike.2023: The SL8 refines the aero shaping further.2026: Specialized launches the SL9, calling it the fastest road bike ever made. Demi Vollering wins the Worlds on it in Montreal.The owner's view: Mike Hughes(Image credit: Mike Hughes)Londoner Mike Hughes, 40, has been a dedicated Specialized Tarmac owner for almost his entire five-year road riding journey.As a mountain-biking youngster, Specialized was the brand Mike Hughes always lusted after, but it wasn't until he switched to skinny tyres that he actually owned one. He traded in a cheaper bike after just three months on the road. "I ended up with a Tarmac, though it was far too expensive to justify. But the idea was that it would be the last bike I needed."That bike was an SL7, and his Strava feed tells the story of that bike switch, says Hughes, with his time on the bike quickly ramping up, "because I enjoyed it more and more". "The Tarmac just feels incredible. It just gives you loads of confidence. It's nice and nimble, but also there's the aesthetic side of it as well. It's a pride-and-joy piece, and you enjoy riding it because it looks nice," he adds.Hughes graduated to an SL8 after his SL7 was damaged, and says he felt the newer bike had a stiffer front end and BB, with more comfort at the rear. He has done numerous big rides abroad on his Tarmacs, including the Mallorca 312 not without risk, as he recently discovered when his SL8 was damaged on a flight. Guess what he's replacing it with? "I've been looking at the SL9, and [considering] paying a little bit more," he says. "I just can't think of another bike that fits the bill so well. With the Tarmac you don't worry that you've bought the wrong bike or made the wrong compromises because it does everything well."'Specialized did well across the board with this one': the mechanic's viewWe spoke to mechanic Kyle Imisson at Guildford's Bike Bros store, who has worked on a range of Tarmacs, from base model bikes to building up SL8 framesets.What's the Tarmac like to work on?They're pretty simple, to be honest. Obviously a lot of them are running [Shimano] Di2 or [SRAM] AXS, so the gear cabling is not even there. But the brake cables are really nicely run through the frame. They're really nice to work on.Are there any fast-wearing parts, or those that are difficult to find?Theres nothing that really wears faster or thats difficult to source. Specialized did well across the board with this one to some extent, it does depend on the rider, though.Would you buy one yourself?Id love to say yes, but Im not actually a roadie. If I was, Id definitely eye them up, theyre a really nice bike.What's the best-value Tarmac?Thats a tough one. I think you do pay a bit more for the Specialized name in general, but I think all the Tarmacs are pretty good for the money. In terms of groupsets alone, the Shimano 105 Di2 is great value youve got pretty much everything that Ultegra and Dura-Ace offers.If you were buying used, which version would you go for?If money was no object, itd have to be the SL8. Its such a nice-looking bike.

Aike Visbeek may have never broken through as a cyclist, but his career at staff level has more than made up for that dream. After over a decade working behind the scenes at Team Sunweb, Intermarch-Wanty and most recently Lotto-Intermarch, the Dutch tactician will bring his know-how to Unibet Rose...

What is it about a free-flowing stretch of water that taps so seamlessly into the soul? Is it the silence? The mystery? The streams reluctance to share its secrets? Is it the languid shrug of the current the sense of quiet, ceaseless movement? Or perhaps, on a more personal level, is it the time I fell into a river during my youth and emerged from its murky depths with a mouthful of Canadian pondweed and a great-crested newt down my underpants.Yes, rivers have always been a source of awe and exploration for me, and as long as they continue to shield their secrets and flow steadily towards the sea, they will remain so. Far from discouraged by the newt-in-pants episode, I have since spent much of my free time on the riverbank: from the Loire in France, the Danube in Romania and the Mekong in Southeast Asia, I have strode and rode beside some of the worlds greatest waterways. However, our encounters have been fleeting a few miles of companionable silence is usually all we share before I peel away and leave the river to continue its course alone.So what if, instead, I followed a river in its entirety from source to sea? By bike, it offers something rare: a natural line to trace, a journey with a clear beginning and end, and the chance to see a landscape slowly unfold. The River Wye, winding 127 miles from mid-Wales to Chepstow, presented the perfect challenge. Long enough to immerse myself, but manageable in a day and, perhaps, to better understand the pull of the water along the way. It was time to set the controls for, well, where exactly?(Image credit: Richard Butcher)Countless kitesSo much for being an authority on rivers. In truth, Id never stood at the source of one and finding the Wyes proved less straightforward than expected. It was a bright day in late April, albeit chilly enough flor a light jacket, as we made our way into the Cambrian Mountains. What looked like an innocuous gravel track soon deteriorated into sodden ground and wheel-swallowing bog, slowing down our start. At a certain point, with shoes soaked, CWs photographer fearing for his equipment, and my bike barely rideable, the precise location of the source felt almost beside the point. Somewhere up here, in this wet and unremarkable patch of Welsh hillside, the Wye begins its journey. We were close enough. It was time to turn downhill and start following it properly.Wet, dirty and slightly vexed, I rolled down from the elusive source to pick up National Cycle Network Route 8 and, at last, the ride began in earnest. Over the early miles, as the route clung to the young Wye, the road occasionally lifted sharply before dropping back towards the water, keeping me guessing. I didnt mind at all; unpredictability was part of the appeal of the original idea. The Wye wound quietly through a beautiful landscape not exactly dramatic, but deeply satisfying a patchwork of woodland and open fields. Coming here to enjoy this waterway has a long history: the Wye Tour, a boat trip down the river, is cited as Britains first organised package holiday, running from roughly 1760 to the 1830s. Today, though, it was the riding that mattered and the road ahead.Around 20 miles in, I rolled into Rhayader, a small town with a surprising hum of life. As I rode through its bunting-lined streets, a red kite drifted overhead a reminder of one of Britains quieter conservation successes, the species having been brought back from near-extinction in the late 20th century. Then another appeared, and another until, to my amazement, the sky was full of them. Dozens, then hundreds, were circling a patch of land just outside town. It turned out to be feeding time at nearby Gigrin Farm, where daily feeds have helped sustain and grow the local population since the 1990s. The birds gather with clockwork precision, swooping and calling in a spectacle thats equal parts eerie and mesmerising.The NCN route continued to bob and weave, cunningly incorporating occasional lengths of gravel into proceedings. By now Id settled into the rhythm of the day. Effort, recovery, repeat. The Wye was rarely out of sight for long, sometimes just a glimpse through trees, often close enough that the sound of water was audible above the buzz of my tyres. The miles came without much ceremony: small climbs, quick descents, the occasional gateway interruption. I was content to take it all in, and such was the steady accumulation that only when I stopped did I realise how far Id travelled since the mornings boggy start. Being out in the countryside, surrounded by nature, the river a constant presence to my left, the reward here was patience rather than pace: short, sharp rises followed by quick descents back towards the water. By the time I approached Hay-on-Wye, the sense of travelling with the river rather than simply alongside it had begun to take hold.(Image credit: Richard Butcher)Hill-climb hubrisHay-on-Wye has long drawn budding bards to its banks. Perched on the English-Welsh border, it became famous as the town of books after local bookseller Richard Booth declared it an independent kingdom in 1977 nominating himself as king. Today, its literary festival attracts tens of thousands each year. The river has always been central to the towns appeal, both as a natural boundary and a route through the landscape. It was here that I left its banks for the first time, as I headed towards the Black Mountains.A smooth ribbon of asphalt climbed towards Hay Bluff. The 9.2km ascent is relatively tame, at an average of 3.2%, but theres something about a long, gradual slope that triggers a kind of primeval instinct in me. Before I could ask myself why, I was indulging in 10 minutes of Zone 5 tomfoolery. Minutes later, I paid for it as the road reared up to 18% in places, and my quads were screaming by the time I ground my way towards the 677m summit. Theres little to be said for being an overweight 50-year-old with a dodgy knee, but it does at least encourage you to look around. About halfway up, the view opened out as the road meandered almost river-like were it not still going uphill with the Black Mountains closing in on all sides. It was no day for concerning myself with Strava segments; what was called for now was a humble pause to take it all in.It was only when a skinny young upstart tore past that I was shaken from my reverie. Briefly, I attempted to respond, rising from the saddle, tapping up a couple of cogs and kidding myself that I could lift the pace high enough to catch him. The effort quickly proved futile, and I consoled myself with the fantasy that I had just had a close encounter with Waless next Grand Tour superstar. It was time to seek a more realistic solace back down by the river.Freehub screaming, I dropped off the mountain once again, riverbank-bound. Returning to lower altitude felt like re-entering a different world. The chill was gone, the wind eased, and the soundscape shifted the high-velocity blast of the descent giving way to the more serene pace of the riverside. After the exposure of the high ground, the valley felt strangely cosseting, as though the Wye had pulled everything back into its orbit. The coast was drawing closer now, with just the Wye Valley and the Forest of Dean to cross before the sea would open out in front of me. The valley earns its Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty status by dint of its dramatic limestone gorges, while the Forest of Dean one of Englands largest ancient woodlands is home to all manner of fauna and flora, even, apparently, a thriving population of wild boar.A chance encounter with a large, temperamental pig wasnt high on the to-do list, but the odds had shifted and it wasnt impossible. Wild boar re-established themselves in the Forest of Dean in the late 1990s after centuries of absence, and there are now thought to be between 600 and 1,000 living here. They tend to keep their distance, but in spring with piglets about they are best treated with caution.With the river now on my right, I crossed into England and left the tarmac for a narrow ribbon of singletrack that cut through the forest for the next mile or so. The ground was rough, the gradient pitching up to 25% in places, and progress slowed to a grinding crawl. Any thoughts of wildlife-spotting quickly gave way to the more immediate task of keeping the bike moving forward. By the time I rejoined the road near Upper Lydbrook, legs burning and breath ragged, the forest had made its point this was the domain of hardier creatures than me.(Image credit: Richard Butcher)The journey's end Trundling down the southern edge of the forest, I emerged from wild boar country unscathed and slipped back alongside the Wye, continuing south towards Chepstow. The valley tightened as the river broadened and slowed, and Tintern Abbey came into view. Founded in 1131, it later inspired William Wordsworths 1798 poem Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, in which the Wye becomes a source of comfort and restoration for the poet. As he remembers lost loved ones thou art with me here upon the banks/Of this fair river the landscape helps hold them dear. More than two centuries on, the scenes calming charm remains, and I was half-tempted to pen a few lines of my own until I remembered I still had six miles left to ride.Beyond Tintern, the river was now clearly tidal, its pace easing as it mosied towards the Bristol Channel. The final miles into Chepstow passed quickly, helped by the knowledge that the journey was nearly done. Following the Wye from its indistinct, boggy source to this wide, estuarine mouth brought a new appreciation of its scale no longer just a ribbon on a map, but a long, memorable adventure across varied, changing terrain. In Chepstow, at a pub called the Two Rivers named for the nearby meeting of the Wye and the Severn I watched another kind of current flow, from tap to glass. It felt like a fitting place to raise a toast to the river wed traced from source to sea.Wye oh why: source to sea in stats204km: Total distance (127 miles) from source to sea 4: Number of counties passed through Powys, Herefordshire, Monmouthshire, Gloucestershire6: Key settlements along the way Rhayader, Builth Wells, Hay-on-Wye, Hereford, Ross-on-Wye, Chepstow677m: Height of highest climb, Hay Bluff1971: Year the Wye Valley was designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB)1: ... of the UKs least industrialised riversides which explains why the Wye still feels gloriously unspoiledClick here for more routes ridden and rated by Cycling Weekly.Key travel informationWhere to stayThe town nearest the source of the Wye is Llanidloes, on the southern edge of the Cambrian Mountains. Plas Blwch is a B&B (bandbwales.co.uk) offers comfortable rooms and a hot and hearty cooked breakfast. The owners are very friendly and knowledgeable about the surrounding landscapes. Prices start at 50 per room per night. The Unicorn Hotel in Llanidloes offers twin rooms from around 122 per night (unicornhotelllanidloes.co.uk).Eating and drinkingPre-fuelling came in the form of an Indian meal at Llanidloess Raj Mahal, where the jalfrezi was delicious, made with sizzling veg and tender slices of lamb. Halfway downriver in Hay-on-Wye, the Swan Hotel (swanathay.co.uk) has hosted a feast of famous faces.Other things to see and doThe red kite feeding station at Gigrin Farm (gigrin.co.uk) was a trip highlight. The Hay Festival (hayfestival.com) takes place in mid to late May.Local bike shopsDrover Cycles (drovercycles.co.uk) in Hay-on-Wye is neatly positioned at halfway for any fettling or repair needs.This article was first published in the 14 May 2026 print edition of Cycling Weekly magazine available to buy on the newsstand every Thursday (UK only) while digital versions are available on Apple News and Readly. Subscriptions through Magazine's Direct.

Jonas Vingegaard is the defending champion of the Giro d'Italia. According to Rben Silva and Gavin Quinn, who discussed the Corsa Rosa's route on this week's CyclingUpToDate Podcast, the Dane should return to aim for a second pink jersey in a route that fits his abilities. "I think Vingegaard shou...

Team Jayco AlUla will enter its 16th season in professional peloton. The team which was previously known as Orica GreenEDGE or Mitchelton-Scott has come a long way since, including Simon Yates' Grand Tour victory in 2018. Over that period, one thing never changed - the project's pride in development...

University College Dublin researchers are expected to release data soon from a project examining the use of workplace Bike Libraries at Diageo Ireland and five other companies that have made a range of bicycles available to let people try before you buy.Ahead of that and after a year of running a Bike Library at St Jamess Gate, Diageo Ireland said: One year on from launching Irelands first workplace Bike Library, its fantastic to see the impact this initiative is having at St Jamess Gate.Created in partnership with University College Dublin and Bleeper, and supported by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), the programme was designed to help colleagues experience the benefits of active travel through a try before you buy approach, the company said in a post on LinkedIn.The company said: Over the past 12 months, our employees have embraced the opportunity, travelling more than 30,000km by bike and helping to avoid 3.4 tonnes of CO emissions through their daily commutes.Diageo said the programmes success has led it to add 10 extra e-bikes to its Bike Library fleet, which it said will create even more opportunities for colleagues to choose active and sustainable travel options.Were incredibly proud of what has been achieved so far. More importantly, it demonstrates how collaboration between business, academia and government can help drive meaningful behaviour change and make sustainable commuting more accessible, the drinks company said.Diageo added: A huge thank you to everyone who has taken part over the past year. We look forward to building on this momentum and seeing even more colleagues get involved in the year ahead.