Follow Stage 16 of the 2026 Vuelta a Espana live as the peloton tackles a 181-kilometre route from Cortegana to La Rbida. The final week begins with a surprisingly flat stage, although the many small climbs in the opening half could encourage a strong breakaway to form. The final 95 kilometres are...

For our latest Collective Reward, were giving away a handlebar-mounted WholeGrain Cycles CLIFF Bag Hanger and a matching CARRIE Cradle from the makers of JACK the Rack. Find details on this duo and become a Bikepacking Collective member to help power our work hereThe post Collective Reward #252: WholeGrain Cycles CLIFF and CARRIE appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com.

Matthew Brennan looked untouchable as he romped to a fourth victory in this year's Vuelta a Espaa, on stage 16.After a final five kilometres that looked calmer than any sprint finale has any right to do, Brennan's win almost looked like a formality, as Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Wout van Aert guided him towards the finish line with a deluxe lead out that pulled the Briton out of the front of the bunch..More to follow...

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 preview...

The latest episode of Tailfin's Overnighters series showcases a mid-winter bikepacking getaway with someone who had almost no prior experience. In episode four, host Boru McCullagh takes Jake100, a wheelie aficionado and bikepacking novice, into the wilderness for his first trip. Check out the full, funny adventure below...The post Tailfin Overnighters: River Crossings & Bothy Burgers with Jake100 (Video) appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com.

Crashes, illness and injuries can quickly reduce the Vuelta a Espana peloton, with some riders abandoning during a stage and others only ruled out after further assessment once the racing has finished. This live 2026 Vuelta a Espaa Medical Reports and Withdrawals hub will be updated throughout the...

Not all of you will have heard of Scope Cycling, the Netherlands-based wheel brand, but it produces a range of premium-priced, high-quality wheels with lots of technical innovations intended to increase speed and lower weight, a goal most of the best road bikes wheels seek to achieve.Scope offers three distinct road wheel ranges: Sport, Race and Artech in a variety of depths, with Artech being the most technologically advanced. Scope also makes all-road, gravel and triathlon wheels.Ineos Grenadiers used Scope wheels in the 2026 Tour de France (Image credit: Tim Russon)Its worth noting that Ineos Grenadiers, a team not known to take their equipment choices lightly, use Scope Artech wheels on their Pinarello bikes in the WorldTour, lending further cachet to the brand and its products.Design detailsAs youd imagine for a set of professionally endorsed wheels, there is a lot to talk about with the Artechs. The first thing that caught my eye on spec sheet was the rider weight limit, or the lack of it. Most high-end wheels I can think of have a system weight limit somewhere around 110-130kg, and super lightweight wheels are often less than this; for example Hunts 963g Hill Climb SL Disc wheelset is limited to 95kg (and is for tubular tyres), yet the Artech 2.0s have no weight limit at all and are tubeless-ready with hooked rims. Impressive.Even more impressive is the wheelset's claimed weight of 965g; the test set tipped the scales at 981g including rim tape, so the 965g claim is totally believable. The Artech range all feature a very distinctive 3D 'fish scale' pattern on the rims, said to increase aerodynamic efficiency and reduce drag, although with only 22mm of rim depth to play with Id imagine the effect on the Artech 2s is minimal. The blunt rims have an internal width of 23mm, and look almost semi-circular in shape, with their 28.8mm external width. Scope says that they are optimised for 28mm tyres.Carbon spokes, recessed nipples and fish scale design all help reduce drag and weight (Image credit: Tim Russon)Straight-pull, bladed Carbonlite Aerospokes lace the rims to the hubs, with 18 at the front and 24 at the rear. These are laced in a radial pattern on the non-disc side at the front and crossed elsewhere and the nipples are hidden in the rim.The hubs have a unique, almost organic look, with soft, curved spoke structures that reminded me of coral. Made from Scalmalloy, a high-strength aluminium-magnesium-scandium alloy, using 3D printing, the outer surface is textured rather than smooth. Internally, a 36T ratchet system provides the drive, with titanium parts to keep the weight down. Thirty-six teeth on the ratchet seems a bit miserly, though at this price, when rival wheelsets offer 54 teeth or more for quicker engagement, and if you want CeramicSpeed bearings, then youll have to dig a little deeper in your wallet to the tune of another 500.Organic-looking Scalmalloy hubs and lightweight freehub (Image credit: Tim Russon)The wheels come with padded bags and a pouch containing cleaning products, a spoke/nipple key, and a 5.5mm wrench. All standard freehub options are available, and you can choose black or white decals.For the same price and just a 30g penalty, the Artech 2.A (for All-road) wheels offer 3mm more inner rim width, designed for 30mm+ tyres.PerformanceA headline figure of 965g is obviously impressive on paper, but the reality of lifting the wheels out of the box was still incredible. Im not a particularly heavy guy at 73kg, but it was hard to believe that these wheels would support me and my bike. They felt unbelievably light while still exuding quality, which eased most of my irrational trepidation.A dream trip to France to ride a bunch of big cols and watch the Tour de France race up Alpe dHuez twice was the ideal testing ground for the wheels, and while I was never going to trouble any KOM leaderboards, I hoped that the lightweight Artech wheels would offset a lack of fitness and training. As a comparison, I also took a set of still-light Oquo RP50LTD CS wheels, which, at just over 1,300g, still gave away almost 400g to the Scopes.Perfect for the Col du Galibier (Image credit: Steve Leyland)With 28mm Pirelli Race RS tyres, TPU tubes and a 34T cassette fitted, the Aretchs dropped the weight of the Handsling A1R0evoS to a UCI-bothering, Alp-flattening 6.45kg! I was less taken with the aesthetic effect on my bike, though; skinny wheels on an aero-tubed carbon bike look a bit wrong and unbalanced, but hey, you cant see the wheels when youre riding it.If I had to describe riding the Artechs in one word, it would be lively. Uphill, there is no substitute for carrying as little weight as possible, and with the Artechs, every pedal stroke, in or out of the saddle, caused a discernible acceleration; the steeper the road, the more noticeable the effect. Velocity changes were instant, even with my meagre power, and the rewarding feeling of each watt heading straight onto the tarmac was addictive, and even encouraged me to vacate my saddle and stand up just to enjoy the sensation further. The wheels didnt make the Col de la Loze, the Galiber or Alpe dHuez any shorter, but they certainly made them slightly less painful and more enjoyable. Even I was encouraged out of the saddle by the Artechs (Image credit: Steve Leyland)The wheels were slightly less enjoyable when descending, as the liveliness continued. This isnt Scopes fault, but that of physics: a very light wheel provides less gyroscopic stability than a heavier one, and this was noticeable when riding downhill. Small inputs affected the bike more than they did with the deeper, heavier wheelset. The handling never became problematic, but the difference was tangible, and I preferred the feel of the heavier wheels when heading down; these arent wheels that carve or flow easily downhill. Of course, the 22mm rims dont catch the wind, though, so there is a potential handling benefit there to offset the lack of mass.Riding downhill took a little more concentration due to the low weight (Image credit: Tim Russon)While the wheelsets stiffness helped on climbs, it was also a bit less compliant than I expected. With a shallow rim and long spokes, youd expect lots of comfort, but the carbon rim/carbon spoke combo of the Artech 2s proved to be pretty stiff, especially combined with the 28mm tyres. I think if I were buying these (or any of the Artech range), then Id look at the All-road versions for the extra rim width and consequent tyre volume in order to better combat modern road surfaces. This would allow for all the performance inherent in a structurally stiff wheel but add in some extra compliance for comfort on poor roads Andy Turner tried the deeper, 1,200g Scope Artech 4.A wheels with the extra width and found them to offer plenty of comfort.(Image credit: Kim Russon)For such a light object, the rear wheel doesnt half make a racket. The freehub is, without doubt, the loudest Ive encountered, knocking Chris King, Hope, DT Swiss and Scribe into a cocked hat. While riding, the choice was clear: freewheel or chat; you couldn't do both. Ineos Grenadiers group training rides must be deafening! As well as riding them in the high Alps, I also managed to fit in a quick test on the more prosaic hills of the Peak District on my usual Tuesday night group ride. Here, the wheels continued to impress with their responsiveness and ease of acceleration on steeper gradients, but the poor UK road surfaces emphasised their relative lack of compliance, and there were a few comments about the volume of the freehub. Value Riding the Artech 2s in their natural home was amazing and underlined the tangible difference between light and really light wheels. When climbing, the instant response each pedal stroke elicited was amazing, and when descending, the extra friskiness was exhilarating but not necessarily relaxing. (Image credit: Kim Russon)While I doubt the small area of fish scales afforded by the shallow rims benefited me much, the innovative design and construction of the hubs help explain the 3,500/ $4,398 asking price. Add in the incredibly low weight and lack of rider weight limit, and the Artechs are undoubtedly an impressive set of wheels. At this price, value is almost irrelevant, but for the record, Princeton CarbonWorks, Lightweight, and Enve all make more expensive wheels. I suspect that if you are considering spending the price of a decent bike on a set of fairly specialised wheels, then you are well aware of their value to you, but the Scope Artech 2s are clearly well made, super light and very strong with some interesting tech. Necessary? No, but lovely nevertheless.Tech specPrice:3,500/ $4,398Weight:981g (actual, w/ rim tape)Hubset:Artech 3D printedFreehub options:Shimano HG11/12, SRAM XDR, CampagnoloRim depth:22mm front/rearRim width:23mm internalSpoke count:18/24 front/rearRim:Hooked

Matthew Brennan is in his Grand Tour debut, but has already won on four different occasions at the ongoing Vuelta a Espaa. The Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider is the strongest sprinter in the race, and has declared his goal to race at next year's Tour de France. Stage 16 presented another opportun...

Previously sold-out event moved to a larger venue to allow for demand.Canadian Tom Flood will give his planned talk in Dublin later this month to a larger venue. This means tickets are now available again for the event that had been sold out. The talk is still happening on September 22nd and still on the Trinity College Dublin main campus, but with a new venue of the Dargan Auditorium at the Trinity Business School.The event will run from 7-9pm, with the talk lasting around 45 minutes and a Q&A session following. It is free, but booking is required viaeventbrite.ie.The event is being co-organised by the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, Irish Cycling Campaign, Doctors for the Environment, I Bike Dublin, Dublin Commuter Coalition, and Trinity College Dublin.The Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice said: We are absolutely delighted to say that, due to the incredible demand for this lecture, we secured a bigger venue in Trinity College to host this public lecture by Tom Flood. It will now take place in the Dargan Theatre in Trinity Business School.The talk will take place as part of EU Mobility Week 2026 and will mark the first time the Canadian communications expert and active travel advocate speaks in Ireland.While sustainable transport campaign groups often couch their words, Flood unapologetically uses the directness seen in advertising messaging to try to disrupt the dominant car-focused narrative. Often using quotes, phrases and concepts over and over again like advertising does to get through to people.Floods work includes social media posts, posters and T-shirts with the messages: bicycles deliver the freedom that auto ads promise (for which theres an Irish translation, see below), and that We ask everybody outside of the car to be safe so that drivers can be dangerous.Humour plays a large part of his work, for example, the idea that 15 Minute Cities are no big conspiracy rather just lazy because advocates dont want to walk far for stuff, and an image of a retro vintage striped sunset background with driver holding a phone with the text They came out of nowhere a phrase which is widely given as an excuse when motorists hit somebody that they were not looking for.The events organisers explain Floods background as follows: Tom worked in advertising for many years, with a wide range of clients, including automotive manufacturers. His direction changed after taking his kids to school on their bikes and seeing the imbalance on our streets. He now develops strategy and creative for clients through Rovlo Creative and gives talks around framing and communications as it applies to road safety, road violence and active transportation.IMAGES: The bicycles deliver the freedom that auto ads promise image and the Irish translation: Tugann rothair an tsaoirse a gheallann fgra gluaistein.

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. Below, you...