Choosing the right cyclo-cross shoe

The most treacherous surface a road shoe has to cope with, when it’s not clipped into a pedal, is a freshly mopped cafe floor. For a cyclo-cross shoe it’s a tougher gig. Not only does it have to be lightweight, stiff and stable for pedalling but it also has to have an effective tread that keeps you upright when you’re running through a quagmire. Protection, venting, water-repellency and mud-shedding also need to be taken into account.

Most manufacturers have an off-road racing shoe range that serves both cyclo-cross and XC mountain bike racing, since both disciplines use the same Spd-style pedals that are engaged via a two-bolt recessed steel cleat.

The Sidi Dominator, now on its seventh iteration, is a cross favourite that’s been in the Italian firm’s line-up for a long time. At £174.99 it’s the first true racing shoe in the range and has Sidi’s polyurethane MTB Competition sole that’s more aggressively knobbled than the entry-level Trace’s (£140) sole and can be fitted with two toe spikes for even better grip — like all Sidi shoes above this level.

Despite its stiffness making it theoretically more difficult to run in, carbon soles are now popular with the top cross riders who prioritise a stiff pedalling platform over running comfort. If the ground is soft enough it, rather than the shoe, will yield.

The Dragon 4, at £260, features Sidi’s SRS Carbon MTB sole and an Italian-made microfibre PU upper, but the ultimate cross shoe is the £350 Tiger, which has the brand’s latest SRS Carbon-ground sole. The new sole drops about 100g per pair compared to the previous version. The Tigers pack all of Sidi’s technologies and, as their name suggests, are pretty fearsome.