For the 252nd time in her career, the legendary Marianne Vos crossed the line with her arms aloft in victory on Tuesday afternoon on stage 3 of La Vuelta Femenina 2024.I am of course very happy, reflected the Team Visma | Lease a Bike star in her post-stage interview, delighted to bounce back well...

Marianne Vos has emerged victorious on stage 3 of the 2024 La Vuelta Femenina after a powerful bunch sprint finale inTeruel, taking victory ahead of Charlotte Kool by a bike length at the line.With Mireia Benito forming a one-woman breakaway out front the peloton allowed the Spanish rider ofAG Ins...

I only had the chance to ride the Fara F/Gravel bike for just under two weeks before it was whisked away to another reviewer/press day but in that time I pretty much covered all the local trails that I regularly ride on my own gravel bike which I thought would be a good comparison.Fara Cycles is based in Norway so they have plenty of rugged off road riding there to be able to design a great riding bicycle. Fara say their F/Gravel bike is our go anywhere, ride anything, adventure bike. Ultimately, it can handle nearly any type of off-road riding you feel comfortable throwing at it. It has nimble handling and 50mm tyre clearance, meaning you can cover rough terrain with confidence and in relative comfort. Wide tire clearance and a rugged carbon frame empowers you to tackle the roughest terrain. Ready to take you to incredible places. Shred ready, Both lightweight and responsive, the F/Gravels geometry is oriented towards the fun side of gravel riding with a shorter wheelbase and sporty handlingThe frameset is carbon, the frame has a claimed weight of 1300g, not superlight these days but certainly lighter than any of my own bikes. With a stock Sram Apex AXS XPLR 112 build with a Fulcrum Rapid Red 900 DB wheelset, ritchey Butano bars (42cm) and stem (100mm) and a Fara carbon 2 flex 27.2 seatpost the bike weighed in around 24LBs (10.8k approx) so not exactly heavy!The frame has internal cabling from the bars that go through the headset and because of it being wireless shifting this means only the brake hoses making the bike look very clean indeed (until I rode it in the UK weather!) there are triple fork mounts on each fork leg, three sets of bottle cage mounts and a top tube bag mount and eyelets for mudguards if required. there are also mounts under the tip tube to enable strapless fitting of Faras frame bag, a very neat touch. the frame bag costs 88 as an optional extra.The clearance for tyres on this bike is a claimed 50mm and with the 43mm gravel kings that came fitted to the wheels there was acres of room both in the fork and the frame. There didnt seem to be provision to fit a dropper post. The bottom bracket is a thread in T47 unit, no pressfit bearings in this frame Im delighted to say. both axles are bolt through as youd expect.So how does it ride? well first of all just scroll back up to the bold text where I quoted Faras mission statement for the bike. shred ready, Adventure, Go anywhere, Confidence and comfort this is great, just what probably 90% of the riders buyibg a gravel bike want but here I have a problem, well two problems reallyThe first is easy to fix and totally understandable. The gravel king tyres (old style not just launched version) just do not work in UK winter/spring or autumn, they clog up with mud, dont clear and do not inspire confidence on wet terrain, that sort of terrain you might encounter on an adventure say, while you are going anywhere etcetc, you see my point. Well, as I said its understandable, Fara cant specify tyres for each country they seel bikes too. GK tyres are probably perfect for California or a desert country so I can forgive them that. What I dont get is the narrow aero profile handlebars, 42mm on a bike designed for someone tall enough to fit a 56cm bike is just too narrow. There is no flare and the reach is fairly long. If you pitch a bike for adventures and laden bike packing you need to spec a wider, more confidence inspiring bar, especially if that rider is tired and doesnt know what trail obstacle is around the next corner. Plus if you are bike packing you are only getting a tiny bar bag inbetween those drops. Now you can, if not buying the off the peg bike but are using the bike builder portion of Faras website choose a different bar and stem but even then the bars are only 2cm wider and the stem 20mm shorter if you follow their recommendation. This obviously adds to the price though.the camera makes the bar look flared, it isnt!Well, sorry if that came across as a bit of a rant, it wasnt meant to be but that bar did annoy me and that is because THE FRAME AND FORK IS VERY VERY GOOD! Its responsive, push on the pedals and all the power goes to the rear wheel but the rear end doesnt feel stiff, that carbon seatpost absorbs a lot of trail chatter. the head angle is just in the sweet spot of great handling without being ponderous on the tarmac and despite Fara saying the bike has a short wheelbase there was absolutely no toe overlap. this is a great frameset just let down but a simple bit of specification. Pop a shorter stem and a 440-446cm bar with some generous flare and a short reach, something like a Ritchey Corralitos bar and this bike would absolutely fly!I should say something about the AXS groupset, but theres not a lot to say, it performed faultlessly and silently throughout the test in both mud and dry..as long as you remember to charge the battery!So the Fara F/Gravel bike. its got an outstanding frame and fork, the geometry is sorted for what Fara have designed the bike for, its just failed at the final fence by speccing it with a bar more suited to road racing or gravel racing. Something that I hope Fara will notice if they read this review.clearanceId have a Fara F/Gravel in an instant, but the next instant Id be replacing the bars whith something to really make it into the ultimate gravel bike.you can find more details on the Fara Cycles Website Check out my ride review on YouTube

Barring any accident, injury or illness, Tadej Pogacar is widely expected to dominate the Maglia Rosa fight at the upcoming Giro d'Italia. Some have shared concerns that this could lead to boring racing, however, Philippe Gilbert completely disagrees.I think even if he has dominance he is still att...

Was this unusual groupset ahead of its time or was it always destined for obscurity? Take a look at some of the most unusual components of the past decade

Ben O'Connor had his big breakthrough in 2020, winning a stage of the Giro d'Italia. In 2021 he discovered his talent for contesting Grand Tours and he now finally returns to the Corsa Rosa in 2024 in search of his first Grand Tour podium.Decathlon AG2R have been having a tremendously strong season...

Cofidis is arguably one of the teams that sets to the start of the Giro d'Italia with one of the most modest lineups; they will be chasing stage wins from the breakaways with a lineup that features Simon Geschke and Benjamin Thomas as the leaders.The two riders stand chances of winning a stage, mos...

After using the bonus seconds available on stage 2 to launch herself into the overall race lead of the La Vuelta Femenina 2024, Blanka Kata Vas ensured the Red Jersey will stay on her shoulders a little longer by successfully navigating stage 3 without incident.That wasn't to say it was an easy day...

Visma-Lease-a-Bike has launched a new documentary Road to Resilience: Inside the Beehive about the teams classics season. Though that spring period brought wins in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne and Dwars door Vlaanderen, it also brought some major set-backs for the team. Wout van Aert crashed hard in Dwars door Vlaanderen, where he suffered multiple broken []The post New 30-min doc on Vismas dramatic spring campaign | Video appeared first on Sticky Bottle.

Fingal County Council is seeking residents to nominate their street, if there are issues such as rat-running, for a new quiet streets programme that will trial measures such as filtered permeability.The criteria include that the street is in a town or village in Fingal, its a fully residential street (no schools or businesses), theres currently an issue with rat-running or other road safety issues, it is not a main thoroughfare. The council is also looking for streets where a majority of residents are interested in participating in the programme and that they understand that trial will last for 6 months.On its website, the council said: Not long ago, it was common for people to walk, linger or play in residential streets. Most homes had fewer cars and there was less traffic near to where people lived. With higher car ownership and more people living at home into adulthood, as well as more multi-generational family homes, this has changed. Our cars also tend to be larger and more powerful than they used to be.It continued: As a result, fewer people feel safe walking or cycling near their home, and fewer children feel safe playing in the streets where they live. Wed like to reverse some of those negative changes, so that everyone can enjoy a feeling of comfort and safety at home. The quiet streets programme doesnt prevent people living in an area from driving to or from their home. Instead, it reduces through traffic.