This article was produced in association with Assos
Cycling is the greatest of all sports and pastimes, which only we know. It has its own rules of engagement, which have taken years, decades even, to fine-tune – and they can seem counter-intuitive next to those of regular civilian life. For example, it’s said that progress takes place outside the comfort zone, but that doesn’t apply to us. Quite the opposite. For cyclists, comfort is progress and progress can’t take place without it, and no one knows this better than ASSOS.
The Swiss brand was the first to bring Lycra shorts to the sport and has led the development of technical cycling apparel ever since. ASSOS’s founder, Toni Maier, saw how the aerodynamic, lightweight fabric worn by downhill skiers could revolutionise cycling. Once Peter Post’s TI-Raleigh superteam started wearing Assos’s Lycra shorts in 1977, the whole peloton followed, and old-fashioned wool shorts were history.
The new Mille GT range showcases ASSOS’s latest advances in comfort technology. The Mille GT jersey is designed for ultimate endurance in the hottest conditions, weighing 25 per cent less than the standard Mille GT C2 EVO jersey. The body is engineered with two new ultralight textiles that rival ASSOS’s Equipe RS racing jersey for breathability and cooling while maintaining the GT’s comfort-tuned fit. The sleeves have also been updated, using the same textile as the previous Equipe RS Jersey for ultra-breathable, muscle-wrapping support that’s inspired by racing kit but shaped for streamlined comfort. In fact, it is so lightweight, breathable and cooling that ASSOS recommends wearing sunscreen underneath it.
The Mille GT jersey’s body textile is AirCell, an ultralight circular knit with an open hexagon pattern that breathes, wicks, cools, and is designed to feel like an ASSOS Racing Series jersey. The rear pockets additionally feature lightweight Stabilizer V11 mesh, which is cooler and more breathable than the standard GT version. The set-in sleeves made from Push Pull fabric, are raw cut for clean lines and aerodynamics and maintain a race-inspired silhouette with low-weight and low-volume but high comfort.
The cut is ASSOS’s regularFit for total comfort on long rides, and to ensure the jersey stays perfectly in place for the entire length of the ride, what ASSOS calls PILtec Plug-In at the rear hem features a lightweight, ultrabreathable textile band with a microdot silicone treatment to stabilise the jersey’s back panel and maintain grip while wet.
For the redesign of the latest-generation Mille GT bib shorts, ASSOS worked to improve even further the things riders loved about its predecessor, including the premium X-frame suspension carriage, a refined comfort waist fit, and a reduction in seams and weight (28 per cent and five grammes respectively). Meanwhile, the insert inherits the increased ventilation of ASSOS’s GTS/GTO models and receives three millimetres of additional cushioning. The Odor Control Top Sheet Tex has been updated to the Sugar Blue colour way.
The shorts part is made from ASSOS’s Type.429 fabric, which it says is flexible enough for a streamlined fit, breathable enough for the heights of summer, compressive enough to respond to and support your body and substantial enough to resist the abuse of countless kilometres: “A true daily workhorse” is how the brand describes it. Meanwhile the straps, or “suspension carriage” are inherited from the Mille GTS bibs and are positioned and tensioned to limit sag on the lower back and stabilise the chamois and main body panel.
The chamois gets all the tried-and-tested ASSOS technology and then some, with those extra three millimetres of cushioning. The innovative goldenGate design has been a feature of ASSOS’s top chamois for some years and has never been bettered. The stitching pattern anchors the front and back but lets the insert float, allowing the chamois to move with your body rather than against it. The Shock Absorb Damping Mono comprises foam layers in an 11mm endurance platform, with thermoformed shaping to reduce ridges and irritation.
Like the jersey, the Mille GT bib shorts are cut with ASSOS’s regularFit that’s based on its performance race models but tuned for comfort with a more forgiving Zero-Pressure waist for stress-free all-day cycling.
Almost 50 years after the first Lycra shorts, ASSOS is applying the same principles and still progressing the comfort zone with every redesign, and the new Mille GT range is a perfect illustration of that.
