Publisher - What's Cool In Road Cycling

Trek-Segafredo continues to build a promising young roster despite failing to fill their massive grand tour GC contender deficit, and Bahrain-Victorious has struggled to replace a significant exodus of talent and is now potentially closer to worrying about staying out of the dreaded ‘relegation zone’.

Dec 8, 2022: Catch up with all the news in EUROTRASH Thursday: The end of the road for B&B Hotels-KTM. Froome to TDU and Pidcock's cross program. Contract news: Sinkeldam, Koretzky, Mozzato and Rolland. Team news from Plantur-Pura, Savio and Team Novo Nordisk and L39ION rosters. Race news: Plus: Zdenek Stybar and the Tro Bro Leon poster.

TRAVEL: The 2023 Tour de France visits the southwest wine region of France with a stage 7 finish in the city of Bordeaux and a stage 8 start nearby in Libourne. Combining a stay in a nearby castle, riding the local roads and getting up close to Le Tour makes for a solid holiday combo - so I talked with Allan Reeves of France From Inside vacations about how to feel like royalty and see The Tour at his family's chateau.

Ercole Baldini died on December 1st at the age of 89: Olympic Road Race, two world hour records, World Amateur Pursuit Championship, two World Professional Pursuit Championship medals, World Professional Road Race, Giro, GP des Nations and four Trofeo Baracchi. Ed Hood looks back on the life of the great champion.

The world of indoor cycling training is filled with competition from apps like Zwift, Rouvy, Wahoo and more. One alternative worth a look is Open Road, an attractive proposition that simply aims to replicate the real life experience of cycling in beautiful surroundings.

Here's some gear we've actually used, and we think would make really good gifts - either given - or received: Sportful Supergiara Layer vest, Fizik Artica Tempo GTX winter shoe, Rapha Pro Team training bib tight, Klatre SL1 bone conduction headphones, Repente Artax saddle and GCN’s “The Complete Fan’s Guide to Pro Cycling” book.

There's a lot of debate about the science and benefits of oval chainrings, but PEZ's Chuck Peña is a "non-round" convert.  It's maybe not bad company to keep - as 3 x Tour winner Chris Froome likes 'em too. Chuck's been riding a pre-production version of the Spreng Reng 2.0 "quasi-heagonal" chainring and offer PEZ readers his first impressions.

A range of 'Black Friday' deals for a special 'Gift Guide'. A fine offer for indoor training from Rouvy, a selection of clothing from KANSEPT1 and Q36.5. Saddles from Selle Italia and Selle Royal. Shoes from Northwave. Bikes and wheels from e11even, Factor, Detroit Bikes and HED. Big discounts from Wahoo, GCN and Tifosi. Plus The Cycle Show and Rapha – World Bicycle Relief.

At just over 3 years old, the Wahoo ELEMNT ROAM is "old" by tech standards. And when Wahoo dropped the updated BOLT with a 64-color high-contrast screen last year, the ROAM's little brother raised the bar. So the question was: When would Wahoo do the same for the ROAM? When is now with the updated ROAM 2.0. PEZ's Chuck Peña helps answer the enduring Shakespearian question: To ROAM or not to ROAM.

There are some bikes that just have "the look." No pun intended, but the LOOK 795 Blade RS Proteam White is one of those bikes. It draws admiring stares and elicits "oohs" and "aahs" -- even from non-cyclists at coffee stops. The term that comes to mind is: dead sexy.