Mavic Cold Ride+ £54

Baselayer technology has moved on in the past few seasons and all the brands seem to have upped their game. It’s testament, then, to the enduring excellence of Mavic’s offering that it’s managed to maintain the winning position it first achieved in 2015 in our annual winter baselayer grouptest. The Cold Ride+ does this through a combination of performance fibres, high-quality knit construction and an incredibly well-specified cut and fit that consider every aspect of ride performance. That body-mapped knit delivers thicker, denser fabric where you need warmth and has more open mesh on the back, down the sides and under the arms, where you need extra ventilation. A semihigh neck adds protection from the weather, sealing in warmth without being obtrusive, and the back hem has a properly dropped cycling cut with silicone gripper to keep it in place when leaning forward on the bike. The fabric is a wool/nylon mix with a soft, natural feel. It’s superbly comfortable next to the skin, as well as impressively fast-wicking and drying. All this results in performance that really sets this baselayer apart, combined with a ‘barely there’ feel that makes it supremely comfortable. The Mavic Cold Ride+’s bike-specific cut, combined with superb fabric technology and even a surprisingly affordable price tag all add up to deliver a perfect score – not something that our testers hand out without very good reason! www.mavic.com

“THE BIKE SPECIFIC CUT, SUPERB FABRIC TECHNOLOGY AND AFFORDABLE PRICE OF THEM A VIC COLD RIDE+ ALL ADD UP TO A PERFECT SCORE”