With just over a week until the Tour de France 2026 departs from Barcelona, Gear Break has a TdF warmup for you this week. Chuck tested and reviewed Formula 100’s drip wax. MAAP has dropped their TdF swap outs for the Jayco-AlUla squads, men and women. Ritchey has rebranded their top end components into a […]

OK PEZzers: time for some rankings — always certain to produce spirited debates. How would you rank the last ten Tours de France? Mike shares his take, and invites you to share yours. Speaking of controversy, Remco Evenepoel may be barred from starting the Tour de France (but don’t bet on it), while Urška Žigart’s frightening […]

If you’re considering a cycling vacation in Italy, Hotel Dory should be at the top of your list. PEZ Capo Richard has previously reviewed Hotel Dory and there really isn’t much more I can say that he hasn’t already. So this isn’t intended as a review of Hotel Dory per se, but rather more of […]

If you’ve got a small kid in daycare, you already know how this story goes. They come home on Monday afternoon with a runny nose. By Thursday, you’re the one sniffling on the couch with a tissue box, watching your carefully-planned training week fall apart. The Saturday long ride? Cancelled. Sunday’s group ride? Also cancelled. […]

Wait — isn’t there supposed to be a calm before the Tour de France storm? This has to be my biggest EuroTrash yet: Tadej Pogačar strolled through a shortened Tour de Suisse, raising as many questions about the race’s future as it answered about his form. The women’s edition, by contrast, was a five-day fight, […]

Bianchi Specialissima A new flagship On the heels of their Infinito, an all-road focused all-rounder featured right here just three months ago, Bianchi is following up with a new flagship tarmac oriented all-arounder: the Specialissima. Having undergone a complete redesign, Bianchi’s Reparto Corse has pushed the Specialissima further than ever before. They have evolved it […]

Professional road cyclists spend roughly half the year away from active competition, and the sports filling those hours tell a revealing story. According to research published in the journal PLOS ONE, endurance athletes build a deep and lasting identity around sport participation. That lasting athletic identity may help explain why some competitors remain drawn to […]

Castelli ‘Hot Weather’ Kit: Just when our man in Spain, Alastair Hamilton thought he had reviewed his final bike kit for the 2026 summer, Castelli sent him their A/C Collection for ‘Hot Weather’ cycling. We don’t hear him complaining about getting out on the bike in the sun. Cool design and cool to wear Alastair […]

With an emphatic win at stage one of the Tour de Suisse, simply riding away from the field with apparent ease, Tadej Pogačar has set the stage for the Tour de France. Then, from the sublime to the sorrowful: Wout van Aert was ruled out of the Tour de France after a septic elbow injury, […]

Stage 14 of the 2024 Tour de France ran from Pau to Saint-Lary-Soulan – summiting the 2,115 meter high Col du Tourmalet as the first of three hard climbs that shook up the g.c. leader board. Various members of the PEZ-Crew have visited the mythic climb over the past 2 decades, and my own date […]

It should be no surprise to anyone by now that endurance performance is impaired in hot conditions. While heat affects everyone, it doesn’t affect everyone equally. Can we predict who might be more or less affected by heat? Summer has definitely arrived in the Northern Hemisphere. May saw me in my final month of my […]

This is one packed EuroTrash! We lead off with a look at the youngsters who just tore through the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, and then turn to the weekend’s races: Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) sprinted to victory at the Muur Classic Geraardsbergen fresh off three Giro stage wins; Paula Blasi (UAE Team ADQ) added a fifth 2026 […]

The first printed books were meant to emulate hand-written manuscripts and since the days of Gutenberg we continue to admire fine publications. The Rizzoli company is noted for its quality works and has not disappointed with “Japanese Steel”, a celebration of “bike boom” two-wheelers that features superb presentation along with exquisite photos of bicycles you […]

Travel:  Stage 11 of the 2022 Tour de France climbed the mighty Col du Galibier at 2645 meters altitude, in the middle of a brutal first day in the Alps and enroute to a summit finish atop the Col du Granon.  I “rode” the Telegraphe / Galibier duo back in 2017 – maybe better to […]

It’s almost the middle of June, and calendar summer is almost here, but meteorological summer is in full swing. Gear Break has all the info you need to get dressed up for the hot weather as the mercury rises. Chuck reviews a few pieces from the new Pearl Izumi Red collection. Assos has dropped a […]

As the glow of the Giro d’Italia Women fades and cycling turns toward the Tour de France, the sport enters its strange June intermission – a month defined by altitude camps, tune-up races and shifting priorities. This week’s AIRmail looks at Demi Vollering’s dramatic Women’s Giro victory, the changing role of the Dauphiné and Tour […]

As a sports dietitian, I spend most of my year helping athletes fuel races from afar. But one week each year is different: Unbound Gravel. For the last several seasons, I’ve joined the Rocket Revolution Coaching Unbound Gravel camp to cook breakfast, lunch and dinner for dozens of riders preparing for one of the toughest […]

SUMMARY TOP STORY RACE NEWS TEAM, RIDER AND CYCLING NEWS MIKE’S RIDE OF THE WEEK VIDEO   General Classification Top Ten, 37th Giro d’Italia Women, courtesy of Pro Cycling Stats   RACE NEWS TEAM, RIDER AND CYCLING NEWS   MIKE’S RIDE OF THE WEEK: MCKENZIE PASS A few weeks ago I shared a ROTW from […]

Some climbs are hard. Some climbs are legendary. Then there’s the Colle della Finestre. First introduced to the Giro d’Italia in 2005, the famed gravel giant in Piemonte has become the launchpad for some of cycling’s greatest Grand Tour attacks – from Chris Froome‘s unforgettable raid to Simon Yates heroics in 2025. But long before […]

Check it out, y’all: Demi Vollering delivered one of women’s cycling’s great final-day reversals, and I, for one, am happy to have followed along. But that epic win isn’t all that’s in store in this Monday EuroTrash: Alex Baudin rode a solo masterclass to win the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes opener, while Ben Oliver and Modern Adventure […]

There has been much discussion about the remarkable speeds now being attained in endurance sports, whether running, cycling or triathlon.  Unquestionably huge advances have been made in training knowledge over the last three decades.  Those gains have not been limited to professional athletes alone but these gains and the new technology making them possible are […]

We are marking D-Day 2026 at Gear Break with an invasion of digital wonders and increased safety (and comfort). We have radar, helmets, and new features to keep you safe, cool, and protected. First up, we’ve got Andy’s test and review of the Garmin Varia RearVue 820 review followed by his first impressions of the […]

REVIEW: The North American cycling market has until now lacked a viable alternative to replace the traditional bottle and cage system for securely carrying on-bike hydration. The Fidlock Twist system, as tested in the mid-size Twist Bottle 590, with antibacterial FIDGUARD Technology, aims to change that. The Fidlock Twist system isn’t new, it’s just new […]

Is this a first — a PEZ EuroTrash led with a women’s cycling article? You ask me (and Jonathan Milan; see below), the women’s Giro is worth leading off with – far more competitive than the men’s Giro. But this edition of EuroTrash serves up plenty of men’s racing news, kicking off with a reader poll about […]

PEZ-Fans – when I put out the call last summer looking for help from the mighty PEZ readership, one of the first guys to raise his hand was Andy Rohrer.  It’s been almost a year and Andy has tucked in nicely as part of the PEZ crew – editing our weekly Gear Break column and […]