Concept is the new collection from the North American brand Velocio. It says, Zero compromises in pursuit of all-out performance and speed. Concept is designed for the sharpest end of the sport, with input from the fastest athletes in gravel.However, as far as I can make out, there is nothing particularly gravelly about the jerseys and shorts that make up the range, and in fact the performance aspects of the clothing, similar to many of the best cycling jerseys and the best bib shorts, are equally well suited to on-road use; most of the marketing rhetoric relates to speed, aerodynamics and even skinsuits, so think gravel racers with shaved legs, gels and a thousand-yard stare rather than wild beards, checked shirts and artisan IPAs.It's the jersey I'm reviewing here, so let's dig into the details...Design detailsThree different fabrics make up the Concept jersey, although precise details are a little thin on the ground. Had it been Assos, then Im sure each material would have had its own impressive-sounding name, but Velocio merely states 93% Polyester, 7% Elastane and leaves it at that. However, the front, shoulders and sides are made from a very light grid-pattern fabric and the back panel is equally light but lacks the grid construction - possibly to increase the protection from the sun? The pockets and two small side panels are made from a lightweight softshell-type material for strength and structure.Rear panel and pockets are different materials to the front fabric (Image credit: Andy Jones)On that note, the three pockets are a decent size, but even after extensive searching, the claimed fourth pocket for valuables failed to materialise, although a hidden silicone lip inside each of the pockets should help keep the contents in place. On the plus side, it was nice to see good reinforcement at the pockets, where they were stitched into the lightweight back panel.Three pockets in a supportive woven fabric, but no security pocket (Image credit: .Andy Jones)The entire bottom hem has a silicone gripper, although there isnt one on the sleeves, which are, slightly anachronistically, not raw-cut. The collar is low and rather minimalist, taking design cues from the aforementioned skinsuits, no doubt.A full-length placket behind the zip prevents chest hair from getting caught, and it wraps around the zip top and bottom, acting as a zip garage, while the zip itself is a small YKK number that locks in position. I also like Velocios habit of attaching the scratchy care label to the garment with a soft fabric tab, so that when its cut out there isnt a sharp stub remaining.There is a full length placket and zip guards at the top and bottom (Image credit: Future)The Persimmon colour of the test jersey is definitely the brightest option, but there is also Zephyr Blue, Moss Gray and Black available for both sexes, with sizes from XS to XXXL for men and XXS to XXXL for women.PerformanceAs is usual with Velocio, the jersey arrived in a non-plastic, compostable bag, which is always nice to see.Size-wise, the medium was certainly correct for me, and in line with other brands like Castelli, Santini and Assos. It was a snug performance fit, but the fabrics used were so light and airy that it never felt claustrophobic or restrictive. Body and sleeve length were good, with the pockets sitting at an accessible height, even with my inflexible shoulders, and the softshell material of them helped phone and food slip in easily. I never did find the zipped pocket mentioned on the website, though.The weight of the grid fabric meant that this was a warm-weather jersey, with Velocio suggesting 18C to 26C as its ideal operating window. Fortunately, a brief period of British summer weather in spring just about crept within those parameters, and I was also able to use it in its more usual habitat, Mallorca, where the temperatures were lovely and warm.Fabric is light enough to see the bib straps (Image credit: Andy Jones)Although I wore the Concept jersey on- and off-road, for me it (and the matching bib shorts) is really road wear. On my gravel bike, I am less bothered about compression and aerodynamics than I am about durability, and I suspect that even without the occasional tumble, trailside vegetation, tight gates and gritty mud would soon make short work of the lightweight fabrics. Of course, others who ride and race much faster than I do off-road would benefit from its fit and features, but I preferred to use it mostly on my road bike.Great for warm weather rides on any surface (Image credit: Andy Jones)And as such, it performed very well. Leaving aside the AWOL security pocket, it did everything that you could expect of a high-end jersey. The close fit felt great and didnt flap in the wind, yet it still had enough give to accommodate a base layer, and the silicone grippers kept it firmly in place. In 30C Balearic heat, sweat seemed to evaporate as soon as it formed, whether climbing the newly surfaced Col dHonor or the lengthy Puig Mayor.In cooler weather, the very low collar and thin fabrics didnt provide much warmth, and my gilet stayed on a little longer than usual, but that isnt really a criticism; try the Velocio Luxe Merino if you want a jersey with some extra insulation.Value Perhaps it should come as no surprise that a jersey called Concept and billed as zero compromise is not going to be cheap. At 181/ $249, it is certainly at the premium end of the market, although nowhere near its zenith.Fast-feeling and nicely cut, but not cheap (Image credit: Andy Jones)Some comfort can be taken from the fact that Velocio is part of the 1% for the Planet scheme and that they offer an unconditional 30-day trial period, and more from the quality of the jerseys fit, feel and fabrics. Still, we havent reached the point where Im going to say that spending 181/ $249 on one jersey is great value, but it is about par for the course for high-end kit. For comparison, Castelli's high-end Premio Evo Jersey retails for 215/ $300.If this price range feels reasonable to you for a quality cycling top, then you won't be disappointed by the Concept jersey.Tech specPrice:181/ $249Pockets: ThreeFit:RaceType:Short sleeveColours:Persimmon (tested), Zephyr Blue, Black, Moss GraySizes:XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL, XXL, XXXL

Team Visma | Lease a Bike go into the Vuelta a Espaa with several riders capable of winning stages and also aiming for the overall classification. Sepp Kuss fits himself in both categories, although he admits that in his third Grand Tour of the season, he prefers the latter. "I feel very good. I a...

The 2026 Vuelta a Espaa will start on Saturday with a 9.4-kilometre individual time trial through the streets of Monaco. Its a very different opening from the norm: short, urban, and highly technical, demanding total focus from the first metre. The test will also begin to shape the first gaps in t...

The2026 Vuelta a Espaawill be the third and final Grand Tour of the men's calendar and will take place from the 22nd of August to the 13th of September. Starting in Monaco, the World Tour peloton will travel through the eastern and southern half of Spain for a mountain-packed edition. We take a l...

The MADE bike show has returned for its fourth year, commencing one of the most anticipated weekends in the custom framebuilding world and the surrounding community. The event opens to the public today, and were launching into our coverage with a roundup of seven stunning bikes from Rare Earth, SimWorks, Woodpecker Cycle Co., and Kyoot. Check the first batch of many to come below...The post Bikes and Builders of MADE 2026 (Part 1) appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com.

If you want to save a click, Pogaar.The RouteA mountainous Vuelta is hardly news but the race ratchets up every year and this edition has 58,000m of vertical gain, more than the Giro and Tour. Much of this achieved on a daily basis rather than set-piece high mountain stages.There are time bonuses of 10-6-4 seconds at the stage finishes. Plus 6-4-2 seconds at the intermediate sprint and also for several mountain passes marked B for bonus on the stage profiles.The ContendersTadej Pogaar (UAE) is the obvious favourite to the point where the GC race feels as if it will have all the thrill of tracking a parcel delivery online. Well see if Pogaar can take the lead by Andorra and then watch the logistics of the red jersey as it travels around Spain before the scheduled delivery in Granada on 13 September. Theres always the possibility of the package being dropped or lost en ruta but its hard to find weakness in Pogaar here. One concern is his lack of preparation, since 1995 and the Vueltas switch to the end of summer, the Tour-Vuelta double has only been won once (Froome, 2017). Plenty in the peloton will hope he comes in hot and quickly takes a dominant lead, the better to ensure he can back off in the third week to aim for the Worlds and this leaves opportunities for everyone else. This includes his team mates with last years runner-up Joo Almeida, last years mountains winner Jay Vine and 20 year old Pablo Torres. As easy as it sounds for him, theres a touch of pressure as hell want to tick off this win in order to ensure he doesnt have to come back again.The harder part is picking among the other podium contenders. Primo Rogli (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) has the record of four Vuelta wins but his record of results in recent races suggests the 36 year old is fizzling out, hed surely sign today for a podium finish and a stage win along the way, this is a lot to ask for but he can pull it off. His team bring sprinter Jordi Meeus and also puncheur Finn Fisher-Black, with first-year pro Luke Tuckwell worth watching after his impressive Romandie and Aura Tour rides.Richard Carapaz (EF) is suited to the race but his team are downplaying his chances saying they dont have much of a squad to support him but the likes of James Shaw, Markel Beloki and Georg Steinhauser can play big roles here with the latter hired in part by UAE for next season to do this role.Felix Gall (Decathlon-CMA CGM) got a podium in the Giro, gifted with a stratospheric Vo2 Max hes improved his race craft to become a less volatile rider able to and will aim to do his race again but as good as the Giro was it showed his limits and two time trial stages are a challenge. Matthew Riccitello and Lo Bisiaux ride in support and with Gall set to leave, well see the two younger climbers given opportunities too.Oscar Onley (Netcompany-Ineos) got a win in the Vuelta a Burgos, a triumph after crashing out of the Aura Tour in July and he could still improve in form since. The challenge for him is the big set-piece mountain stages with longer summit finishes but in-between then hes a handy rider for sharper summit finishes. Carlos Rodriguez is worth watching too, if only to hope he can find form after seeming to fade over the last two seasons.Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) was his teams best rider at the Tour despite losing time on the opening day and working for Ayuso so some consistency and he could do well but backing up after the Tour is hard, especially as his team is built more around Mads Pedersen and Thibaut Nys.Enric Mas (Movistar) has never finished lower than sixth in his last six Vueltas so would you bet on him finishing inside the top seven this time? He achieves this by riding his own race to the point where it looked like he forgot how to win during the last Giro so he surely wont trouble Pogaar. Cian Uijtdebroeks starts with a need to reach Granada just for the short-term goal of finishing a grand tour for the first time since 2023s Vuelta, but also the longer game of building for 2027 by finishing the season.PogaarCarapaz, OnleyGall, Rogli, AlmeidaVuelta a porvenirIf the names above must feel stoic about their chances of the win against Pogaar, they at least can crowd out the rest of the field. The Vuelta has long been used to give neo-pros the experience of a first grand tour but the hard route compounded by UAEs pace-setting makes it a tough introduction, there are few obvious rest days where the bunch will trundle towards a bunch sprint.To add to names above like Torres, Tuckwell and Bisiaux, look out for former Avenir winner and youngest rider in the race Jakob Omrzel (Bahrain), Jarno Widar (Lotto-Intermarch), Jrgen Nordhagen (Visma-LAB), Juan Guillermo Martinez (Picnic-PostNL), Darren van Bekkum (XDS-Astana) and new neo-pro Juan Felipe Rodriguez (EF). In a field where a third of the field are eligible for the white jersey there are plenty more names.Tapas cyclingIf the peloton might complain about the relentless route, TV viewers on their sofas have it better. Plenty of stages look lively, many have a climb in the final 30 minutes to spice up the finish so theres often something to watch to the point where instead of suggesting several stages as must-watch days like a Tour or Giro preview features, it can pay to tune into most days but do this by nibbling on the days finish rather than feasting on hours of live.TV broadcastIts on RTVE/tdp for locals and VPN users, Eurosport across much of Europe, Peacock in the US, Flo in Canada, SBS in Australia and the race website lists more broadcasters here. The opening and final stage finish around 7.30pm CEST, all the other days are forecast for 5.20pm CEST.The post Vuelta a Espaa Preview first appeared on The Inner Ring.

Julian Alaphilippe snakes across the road and skids his back wheel to a halt. He has just won the individual time trial at the 2019 Tour de France, and the people of Pau are in a frenzy. Not for 30 years have they seen a Frenchman win in the yellow jersey at the race. Alaphilippe, their golden prince, has not only kept hold of his overall lead on a day he was meant to lose it hes grown it by 14 seconds. The crowds cheer as if celebrating a cup final-winning goal. Alaphilippe springs out of his saddle and plants himself upright under the sun in the Place de Verdun. It looks for a moment as if he might bow. In the swell of excitement, and the outpouring of love around him, it feels as if he should. This is a once in a generation showman. The fans have witnessed a performance for the ages. Seven years on, those same admirers might have fallen to their knees on hearing reports of Alaphilippes retirement on Thursday night. According to Lquipe, the 34-year-old has decided to end his career with immediate effect. He still has a year left on his contract at Tudor Pro Cycling, but the news is that he has already crossed his last finish line. Theres nothing official, but dont expect to see me again, Alaphilippe had said at the summit of Alpe dHuez, on the penultimate day of last months Tour his final race. There were no tears then, just a face wearied by 13 years as a pro. Having only committed to cycling after tossing a coin with becoming a drummer, he leaves the sport as a two-time world champion, six-time Tour de France stage winner, but most importantly, the darling of the French public, the goateed swashbuckler who showed that, win or lose, charm never goes away. Alaphilippe's time trial win in 2019 is among his most impressive performances. (Image credit: Getty Images)Theres a parallel universe somewhere in which Alaphilippe won that Tour de France in 2019. He wore the yellow jersey for 14 days, including in the time trial, and only surrendered his lead after times were taken prematurely on stage 19 due to a hailstorm and landslide, at a point when he was trailing Egan Bernal by two minutes on a climb. Might he have closed the gap on the downhill? He was probably the best descender in the race. But there was no bitterness later that evening. I said whatever the result, I wouldn't have any regrets, and today I don't have any regrets. I have everything, he said. Alaphilippe went on to finish fifth in Paris that year, head held high as the man who helped the home fans believe. Youre not supposed to have favourites as a journalist, but that Tour instilled something in me, too. I was there in Pau when he won, and ever since, I am yet to hear a crowds roar pierce like that at a bike race. Its that Tour that will form a large part of the Frenchman's legacy, as well as the back-to-back rainbow jerseys that followed in 2020 and 2021. In those years, he was the best rider in the world; a versatile talent capable of winning Flche Wallonne or Strade Bianche with a fierce kick, but also more tactical duels like Milan-San Remo and De Brabantse Pijl. Alaphilippe collected 45 victories throughout his career. It bears reminding that he was neither a dominant sprinter, time triallist, nor climber; instead, he had to outmanoeuvre his rivals, beating them each time with power and panache. That doesnt mean he didnt get it wrong. Over the years, he became a star of the Fdration Franaise de la Lose (FFL), a collective that celebrates its countrys sporting shortcomings. Alaphilippe who the FFL warmly nicknamed Alain Philippe, and refer to simply as Alain made headlines twice: when he celebrated early at Lige-Bastogne-Lige in 2020, letting Primo Rogli dip under his outstretched arm and beat him; and on stage 15 of the 2025 Tour, when his celebration was late rather than premature, a fist in the air for what turned out to be third place. Like an idiot I went for the sprint, he laughed afterwards in Carcassonne, blaming the confusion on a broken radio. I have to see it in a funny way. Alaphilippe's premature celebration at Lige-Bastogne-Lige in 2020 came a week after he won his first world title. (Image credit: Getty Images)That sense of humour only made Alaphilippes allure stronger. If Romain Bardet was the intellectual, Thibaut Pinot the dogged soul, then Alaphillipe was the playful sprite, the musketeer who sparred with his rivals, and then grinned cheekily to the onlookers. To spread cheer during the Covid lockdowns, he posted a one-minute video of himself dancing around his living room dressed as the Easter Bunny. In 2018, he matched his green leaders jersey with a pointed hat to make a Robin Hood costume when the Tour of Britain visited Nottinghamshire. The following year, during his two-week stint in yellow at the Tour, he became an online meme after he looked down the TV camera, smirked, and twitched his eyebrows, in the presence of French president Emmanuel Macron behind the podium gantry. And then, of course, there were the heartfelt moments, the emotions that show us this is more than just bike racing. Alaphilippe cried as he dedicated his Tour stage win in 2020 to his late father, Jacques, who died two months before. It was from him that he had inherited his love of music, brought up as the son of an orchestra conductor, who he honoured by taking the yellow jersey.Five years later, Alaphilippe had fans dancing to his tune at the GP de Qubec, where he earned what now stands as his final career victory. Im here to try to win. Im not here to make the show, he said in his post-race interview. In the end, he did both. The Frenchman received a Montmartre send-off at the Tour de France. (Image credit: Getty Images)As sudden as reports of his retirement may seem, it's fitting that Alaphilippes last hurrah came at the race that made his career. Last month, flanked by thousands of adoring cries in Montmartre on the final day of the Tour, he wafted his arms to gee up the crowds, then clapped along with their ovation. For the past few years, Ive felt that Im getting closer to the end, he had said the day before. As far as cycling goes, Im not exactly young anymore. But in life, 34 is still young All I really want is to hold my son in my arms.The time has now come for Alaphilippe to wave goodbye to the peloton. The hall of fame will welcome him as one of the greats. Thanks for all the panache.

Johan Bruyneel believes Tadej Pogacar could effectively decide the 2026 Vuelta a Espana before the end of its opening week, with the former team director predicting the Slovenians rivals may already be fighting for second place after the explosive mountain stage in Andorra. Despite a field includin...

Kerry Ashberry August 21, 2026 #-->

Kim Le Court-Pienaar stormed to victory on the Great Orme to take the overall lead at the 2026 Tour of Britain Women, ending Lorena Wiebes run of consecutive stage wins with a decisive attack on the final climb. The AG Insurance-Soudal rider accelerated with approximately 2.6km remaining and crosse...