Cycling Plus

Cycling Plus is the manual for the modern road cyclist. Whether you're cycling weekly, an occasional new rider or a Tour de France fan you’ll find everything you need. Each issue is packed with buying advice and tests of essential cycling gear - everything from bikes to bags! Cycling Plus is the place to find training advice, nutrition secrets and practical tips guaranteed to improve your bicycling. It's also full of inspirational rides, real-life cycling stories and entertaining riding-related features.

WELCOME…

The Big Picture

What’s on • The best media, entertainment and events from the cycling world

Enhanced shame • The proposed Enhanced Games, ‘free’ from drug testing, is ethically dubious and dangerous, says antidoping expert Raphaël Faiss

FTP • The go-to fitness test for cyclists around the world has left many of us in a sweaty heap

Golden at last? • Laura meets new Transport Secretary Louise Haigh and is bowled over by her ambitions for cycling

Ribble Allroad SL R • From £2,999 New three-bike range from the Brits inspired by their Ultra SLR aero road bike

Alpe d’Huez

The route

EUROVISION bike CONTEST • We see if four new Euro-designed gravel machines could be a threat to the more-established American brands

Need to know • Find out how European gravel bikes differ from their United States counterparts

Bike tech explained • Your quickfire guide to bike jargon

Bikes on test

Kinesis Tripster AT Plus • £3,416.91 as built, £900 frameset Big tyre clearances and a quality alloy frame

Rondo Ruut CF1 G2 • £4,599 Soft-tail back end and reimagined gravel geometry

Ribble Gravel SL Pro GRX Di2 • £4,959 Lancashire-designed-and-built graveller with a racy edge

Ridley Grifn RS • £6,714.77 A new, faster version of the all-road, race-ready Grifn

Rondo Ruut CF1 G2 • The adjustable fork gives you two bikes for the price of one

BACK IN THE FOLD • The Brompton World Championships returns from hiatus to Coal Drops Yard, in London’s King’s Cross for more small-wheeled mayhem

TADEJ, TOMORROW • BY THE START OF 2024, 25-YEAR-OLD TADEJ POGAČAR HAD ALREADY WON PRETTY MUCH EVERY RACE HE REALISTICALLY COULD. BUT TO WIN THE GIRO-TOUR DOUBLE, UNPRECEDENTED THIS CENTURY, HE’D NEED TO MAKE CHANGES TO HIS TRAINING, ON AND OFF THE BIKE. JAMES WITTS INVESTIGATES HOW THE SLOVENIAN SCULPTED ONE OF THE GREAT CYCLING SEASONS…

Dig out your Sola: The impact of Pogačar’s new coach Javier Sola

Hitting the heights: Prolonged spells at altitude have boosted Pogačar

In the frame: How Pogačar has played around with his position

Fuel to the fire: How hyper-tailored nutrition entered the peloton

AI at UAE: Artificial intelligence’s unlocking of performance gains

Hot heat: Training to perform as the mercury rises

RALLYING CALL • Rapha’s Pennine Rally positions itself as an inclusive, accessible, multi-day bikepacking adventure, tasking participants with a lumpy 520km comprising bridleways, singletrack, drover roads and quietways between Edinburgh and Manchester. Charlie Allenby joins the three-day Express edition of the ultra-event

Multi-day must-haves • Charlie tells us his top five essential items for conquering long off-road routes

CYCLING PLUS RIDER OF THE YEAR' 24 • IT’S TIME TO VOTE FOR THE CYCLISTS WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED THE MOST TO THE SPORT IN 2024

VOTE FOR YOUR RIDER OF THE YEAR 2024 • We’re looking for the cyclist who has made a significant impact in 2024. This can be through competing at an amateur or semi-pro level, taking part in an event or adventure, leading a group, or another contribution to the sport of cycling

VOTE FOR YOUR NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR...