The best women’s mountain bike shorts combine comfort, style and practicality, allowing for long days in the saddle with easy access to pockets and fasteners.

We’re officially in the age of tubeless systems, which have many benefits but also some drawbacks. One benefit of tubeless tires is that they don’t flat as easily as tires with tubes and smaller punctures can usually heal themselves using the sealant inside the tire.

When it comes to plugging a puncture, speed is your friend. The faster you get it done, the less air and sealant you lose.

Similar to last year's Serenissima Gravel race, I'm told the gravel is not very technical and the parcours is almost completely flat, so we can expect a big bunch for most of the race, with very few major obstacles other than positioning and your standard challenges of racing on gravel without a support vehicle. 

Altura Esker Trail Shorts

The letter from Lappartient is the latest sign of the evident backlash against the government’s insistence that Russian and Belarusian athletes and support staff must sign a separate written declaration that they do not, and will not, support the war in Ukraine or the Russian and Belarusian regimes.

• Bianchi (Arkéa Pro Cycling Team)
• Cannondale (EF Education-Tibco-SVB, St Michel-Mavic-Auber93)
• Canyon (Canyon//SRAM Racing, Fenix-Deceuninck, Movistar Team)
• Cervélo (Team Jumbo-Visma)
• Colnago (UAE Team ADQ)
• Dare (Uno-X Pro Cycling)
• Felt (Human Powered Health)

The Altura Esker Trail Shorts are a high-quality, well-tailored, hard-wearing pair of all-year-round mountain bike shorts. They feature two zippered front pockets and have an extended back panel with a soft lining.

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What’s cool is that riders won’t know the progress of their competitors, nor if they’re winning, or even hours behind. It’s got elements of randomness, but without looking at a compass. 

That number comprises the 15 Women’s WorldTour teams and seven invited teams from the second tier of women’s pro racing. The penultimate stage finishes atop the Col du Tourmalet. All eyes will be on Annemiek van Vleuten of Movistar to see if she can achieve her aim of completing the Vuelta-Giro-Tour treble in 2023, prior to her retirement later this year.