Hommage au Velo Bourlon Jersey

The Hommage au Velo Bourlon jersey certainly proved me wrong. Its fabric felt too thick to offer the 'enormous capability in the heat' Hommage claims on its website, but boy did it hold its own against the 30°C scorching temperatures. It's very comfortable too.

• Pros: Excellent fabric choice, realistic performance cut
• Cons: Materials aren't the most robust

Hommage au Velo has gone down the aero route with this new jersey, which has an almost rubberised feeling fabric for the front and lower side panels, with a similar product used for the sleeves and shoulders.

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The fabric is made by Schoeller and, like I said, it feels quite thick to the touch for a jersey designed to be worn in the heat. But if you look at the rear of the material you see that there are vertical strips that don't have the same backing as the rest of the fabric, so there is basically just the thinnest amount of Lycra covering you.

This lets air through the front before exiting with your body heat out of the rear mesh panels, and it works very well indeed. I wore the Bourlon on one of the hottest days of the year for a four-hour ride in pretty much continuous sunshine and I never felt damp or clammy at any time.

The shoulders work in a similar way but the strips are wider spaced.

Even on the steepest of climbs the Hommage worked wonders; I was really impressed.

When it comes to the fit, Hommage au Velo has played it sensible. It's cut close with a dropped tail for decent coverage when in the saddle and there is no excess fabric flapping around anywhere.

It's not a super-skinny cut, though, it's what I call realistic. You need to be pretty lean to pull off the look but you certainly don't need to have pro-level body fat percentages to wear it.

The waist has a silicone gripper to keep the jersey in place, although the sleeves just use an elasticated hem. It's quite large but that does a better job of spreading the load for no pressure points.

There is no zip garage at the neck but it's not a concern as the Bourlon comes with what Hommage calls a 'French' collar. Basically it sits low, not far above the top of the chest.

Pocket-wise, you get your traditional three along the rear and they are a decent size and depth. They use the same fabric as the front of the jersey which is strong enough to avoid sag.

It's nice to see a zipped valuables pocket, too, which has a neat little reinforced hole to pass your headphones cable through to the inside of the jersey.

The overall finish and quality is pretty good. There are a few stray thread ends here and there, but on the whole it's neatly stitched.

I did wear the jersey with a rucksack on a couple of times and there is a bit of bobbling and marks to the front fabric, plus the rear mesh has hitched on the left shoulder which has bunched the fabric up a bit. Neither are a big deal but I'll be keeping an eye on the wear levels over the coming months.

> Buyer's Guide: 20 of the best summer cycling jerseys

The Bourlon will set you back £95 which, while pricey, is in the same ball park as many of its competitors. For example, Primal's Theta Men's Helix jersey, which is described as an aero summer jersey, is £80, while Castelli's Aero Race 5.1 Jersey FZ goes the other way, with an rrp of £100 for a similar design and quality.

Overall the Bourlon is a good jersey that copes really well with hot temperatures. It also comes in a decent selection of colours too: black/red, navy/blue and white/blue as well as this red/black version.

Verdict

Very good quality, fit and performance, especially in the heat, from this aero jersey