Alé, until now, have specialised in race-ready kit. Mainly Euro-styled jerseys and shorts cut close to the skin and designed for sylphlike Italians to fly up the slopes of Dolomite sportives looking well and truly pro.
But now, the Italian brand have decided to release a clothing line that caters to those of us who like to go for a casual ride in more casually-fitting kit. While there’s definitely a time and place for the borderline compressive, figure hugging offerings in their PRR range, it’s nice to have something a little more casual too. Enter the Mortirolo jersey and shorts.
Well, actually, it’s not just the Mortirolo. There’s the Stelvio, too. See what they’ve done there? Named both kits after two of the Giro’s most famous climbs. Smart.
Both, however, maintain Alé’s rather Euro styling – especially the pink, white and black Mortiolo – but do it in a rather throwback way, with the jersey looking more like something you may have seen on the back of Francesco Moser than Ivan Basso.
The jersey features a looser fit (although that’s by cycling standards, so it’s still fairly tight), and uses a lightweight, breathable fabric on the front and back with a softer, more Lycra style offering on the sleeves.
The shorts combine mesh bibs with reasonably classic black Lycra legs. The grippers are two-and-a-half inches wide and covered in silicone which look like they should provide a solid grip without any discomfort at all. They’re very similar to the grippers on Alé’s top line PRR 2.0 shorts. The chamois is another good-looking area and thickness graduates from very thin at the front to plush at the back. I’ve enjoyed Alé’s pads in the past, and hopefully this one will deliver the same performance.
At £70 for the jersey and £75 for the shorts, they’re right in that mid-range and have some pretty stiff competition from other brands, so I’ll be getting in some riding time in this kit over the next few weeks and seeing how they stack up.
