Magazine

What's inside the 2012 Velo Ultimate Ride Guide

The international racing season is underway and the April issue of Velo magazine is chock-full of the biggest stories of 2012.

The March issue of Velo magazine, the Nations Issue, is unlike anything Velo has done before. From tip-to-tail, we profile the changing currents in global cycling, just in time for the London Olympic Games.

In this special issue we bring you a baker’s dozen of the most compelling personalities in cycling

Preview the January 2012 issue of Velo Magazine. Velo’s 2011 Awards Issue takes a step behind the scenes of all these stories and more, honoring cycling’s most incredible men and women and the feats that set them apart.

Also in the issue: Sitting In with Alberto Contador, and Ryan Trebon’s return to center stage, both by Brian Holcombe; the popular Ask a Pro column, by Kenda-5-Hour Energy rider Phil Gaimon; and At the Back, by new, popular contributor Dan Wuori of Livestream Diaries fame.

For Velo’s first-ever Hardman Issue, we couldn’t choose anyone but Leopard-Trek's charismatic German Jens Voigt to grace our cover. The sport is filled with characters that are as tough as nails, but none exemplifies the true meaning of “hardman” as does Voigt.

What’s inside the September issue of Velo Magazine

200+ hours of bike testing, in-depth analysis and the best photography in the business

Following up on the popular success of the first bike test issue in April, the VN Bike Lab returns with four endurance bikes tested head to head. For this review, we lab tested bikes for torsional stiffness and vibration damping, and then we took them to Europe to ride and race in the cyclosportifs of the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. We then ranked the bikes in eight categories. Subscribe today!

On the cover: Alberto Contador has overcome many things over the span of his short career. Grand tour season begins May 7 in Torino, Italy. VeloNews reporter Brian Holcombe and photographer Brad Kaminski were in Italy to cover Tirreno-Adriatico. In a nine-page season preview, we rank the top teams, riders and races to watch on local roads. This year’s Amgen Tour of California has not one, but three stages that offer definitive changes on the general classification. And, in our award-winning Tech section, Lennard Zinn tests four brands’ aluminum handlebars against their carbon-fiber counterparts. Subscribe today!

For some, a trip across the Atlantic to ride the most hallowed roads of professional racing is a far-off fantasy. For others it’s a reality — a dream that has either been actualized or is in the works. As with many things, the difference between fantasy and reality is simply making it happen. Subscribe today!

How much faster is one aero road bike than another? How much do they vary in torsional stiffness - and how does that affect the ride quality? And which bike do we like best? These are but a few of the questions answered in the April issue. Subscribe today!

Who do you think will win Paris-Roubaix this year? Is Andy Schleck guaranteed the top spot at the Tour de France with Alberto Contador sidelined? VeloNews walks you through the full season ahead, listing our podium picks for every major race plus highlighting the riders and the factors that will shape the year ahead. Plus: we test six carbon clinchers on steep mountain roads, reveal the power output needed to ride at the world-class level, and take you inside the complete meltdown of Australia's greatest team that never was. Subscribe today!

The Cyclocross Issue, with detailed analysis of both the European and American ’cross circuits. Editor at Large John Wilcockson examines how the ambitious new Project Luxembourg team stole top riders Andy Schleck and Fabian Cancellara from Saxo Bank manager Bjarne Riis. In Tech, we review eight top bib shorts, and present a selection of winter cycling gear to get you through the coldest months of the year. Subscribe today!

Handmade by robots, the BMC Impec shatters the mold. Plus 92 hot new bikes for road and mountain. Subscribe today!

From winning the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix to riding for his teammates at the Tour de France while wearing the yellow jersey, Fabian Cancellara was incredible in 2010. For that, we gave him the International Cyclist of the Year Award (and a jersey, and a few bottles of champagne….). Subscribe today!

Thor Hushovd was nowhere to be seen in the key moves of the world championship road race — until he blasted first across the line. VeloNews breaks down exactly how he did it. Now is the time for clubs to buy custom clothing (delivery takes 4-12 weeks). VeloNews presents a comprehensive selection of your options, with pricing, minimum orders, manufacturing location and other key information listed along with the recommendations of the VeloNews club team. Subscribe today!

What makes a great race? What makes a race last for 40 years? And can the Quiznos Pro Challenge replace or even exceed the Coors Classic? This questions and more are answered as VeloNews takes a look at the history of American racing, from its humble beginnings through the Amgen Tour of California and on into the future. Subscribe today!

VeloNews editor at large John Wilcockson leads the magazine's complete coverage of the 2010 Tour de France. Relive all the action of the world's greatest race, and go inside the stories you saw from the outside on television. Subscribe today!

The future is now. VeloNews takes a close look at the fresh young crop of super-talent riders, such as cover boy Tejay Van Garderen, world champion Taylor Phinney, Liquigas' sensation Peter Sagan and more.

Tech editor Zack Vestal puts areo wheels to the test in the lab, on the road and in the wind tunnel. We rank the wheels by aerodynamics, weight, stiffness and rotational inertia, and list the feedback of the test riders. The results don't lie. Subscribe today!

How does your sprint stack up? Power meter guru provides the simple protocol for a sprint test to determine what type of sprinter you are - and how to use this information for racing and training. Subscribe today!

Which stages will be critical? How steep is the Tourmalet? And how is Christian Vande Velde doing? These are just a few of the hundreds of questions answered in the Official Guide to the 2010 Tour de France. Subscribe today!

With the Tour de France on the horizon, VeloNews editor at large John Wilcockson visited the Ardennes Classics to witness firsthand how this year's Tour contenders were shaping up. At the Amstel Gold Race Belgian Philippe Gilbert used his impressive power to win a difficult uphill sprint ahead of Ryder Hesjedal. At Flèche Wallonne Cadel Evans jumped past Alberto Contador on a steep summit finish for a cagey win. And at Liège-Bastogne-Liège Alex Vinokourov launched a perfect counterattack to outwit Evans, Contador and the Schleck brothers for victory. Any of these three scenarios could have been epic battles at the Tour de France — only RadioShack's Lance Armstrong, Andreas Kloden and Levi Leipheimer were missing. But regardless of who wasn't there, the Ardennes were telling of what's to come in July.

In 2010 the spring classics season belonged to one rider, Saxo Bank’s Fabian Cancellara. Over the course of three weekends — E3 Prijs, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix — Cancellara won three of the hardest one-day races in pro cycling, each time crossing the finish line alone against the best classics riders in the sport, and each time by a wider margin than the last. VeloNews managing editor Neal Rogers was on the ground in Belgium and Northern France to witness the Swiss rider’s domination and put it into perspective. VN tech editor Zack Vestal was also rattling along the cobblestones, and scored a shotgun seat in one of Mavic’s SSC Neutral Support cars at Roubaix. He came back with a memory card full of photos and war stories. Subscribe Now!

Every year VeloNews takes an in-depth look at the coming domestic road season, and this year’s 14-page section might be our best edition yet. It’s certainly our most plugged-in edition — between Twitter, Facebook, blogs, Web video, text messages and plain old-fashioned phone conversations, following pro racers has never been easier. We tell you who to watch, and how. Subscribe Now!

The best Americans racing this year, the best Americans racing 25 years ago, and the Americans who may well be the best in the years to come are all subjects covered in the April issue of VeloNews, along with plenty of insights on bike past-and-present technology. Subscribe Now!

The second annual edition of the VeloNews Race & Ride Guide is a 116-page manual of 65 road and mountain-bike one-day and stage races, plus epic rides and highlighted gear you’ll need for every application. We highlight the best of the country’s competitive road events, from the hot trend of American gran fondos to stage races to one-day events. Subscribe Now!

This season, an unprecedented number of American pro teams are tackling the world's biggest races. VeloNews attended the training camps of RadioShack, HTC-Columbia, Garmin-Transitions and BMC. We bring you the inside scoop on these super-squads and others in the March issue. We also take a look at the varied career of the ever-popular Tim Johnson, who wore his recently earned national championship skinsuit to a 14th place finish at cyclocross worlds. Subscribe Now!

We break down all the best bikes of 2010 in 18 categories, plus give you the inside story on tested products from road groups to helmets to shoes. The photo feature, 25 Years of Cool, takes you inside bike tech as only VeloNews can, showing choice bikes and gear in their 1985 form alongside their 2010 iteration, like the Specialized Stumpjumper or Sidi shoes. Subscribe Now!

Cadel Evans won the title, but who was Australia really riding for at the world championships? This, and many other questions about Australian cycling are answered in detail in the April issue, for which Neal Rogers spent weeks on the continent Down Under. Plus, a day at the track with Philip Deignan and an insider's look at Japanese cyclocross. Subscribe Now!

Alberto Contador, Lance Armstrong, Bradley Wiggins, Fabian Cancellara and many more capture titles in the 22nd annual edition of the VeloNews awards Subscribe Now!

The decade's biggest stories and greatest photos.

• Which first - marriage or racing? The pros speak.
• Cadel's world title - 10 years in the making
• Alison Dunlap 3.0
• Training - what the pros are doing now