Giordana Body Clone FormaRed bib shorts £129.99

Those in the market for high-end cycling apparel often overlook Giordana, their money often gravitating towards the more common choices when spending a large wad of cash on a pair of bibs.

But Giordana clothing shouldn’t be overlooked. The Italian company offers a comprehensive range of clothing that is not only keenly priced, but offers performance levels easily equivalent to that of Assso and other high-end shorts.

These are Giordana’s top-tier shorts, and are some of the best RCUK have tested in a long while. They’re made from fabric tagged HC44, which squeezes and compresses the muscles with 4-needle flat seams providing stretch in just the right areas. The shape and cut offers a close fit. Their USP is Giordana’s “Body Clone” approach, which essentially aims to make the shorts fit as though they were a second skin.

This is achieved, with some impressive results it must be said, by seamless cutting of the material using no hems, the traditional method of tidying up the cut material. At the end of the shorts, dual-layer Moxie leg cuffs do away with silicone gripper tape and despite this the short legs stayed in place perfectly well during testing. It has to be said that the lack of gripper tape did feel a bit odd at first, but it’s something that is quickly gotten used to.

Comfort is provided by the Elite Gel OF chamois, a one-piece gel seamless pad that stands up well impressively under the toughest conditions (a three-day tour to Paris-Roubaix included), the gel inserts providing unrivalled comfort. It’s fairly elastic too so it conforms well to your rear.

What else? Well there’s features aplenty; reflective logos and strip on the legs, a small rear pocket and there’s no mesh between the bibs so sweat build up is non-existent. Available in three colour variations and sizes S to XXL.