Cafe du Cycliste Francine Jersey

Lightweight short-sleeved jerseys are the mainstay of summer cycling, but surely they are much of a muchness as far as performance goes? With the Francine jersey, Cote d'Azur cycling specialists Café du Cycliste have taken the concept of the summer jersey and, as well as loading it with technical details, they've injected it with a bit of French je ne sais quoi into the bargain. C'est merveilleux!

Find your nearest dealer here

Buy this online here

It's hard not to admire the attention to detail that Café du Cycliste put into designing their cycling garments. Right from the word go, they've been hitting a sweet spot with their Gallic flair. The Francine is no exception. Presented in the stripes that Café du Cycliste have become known for, the Francine is available in both white or red and pink.

Beyond the colours and stripes, the jersey also uses some rather striking fabrics as both a design and functional element. The trio of rear pockets are made from a bold stretch mesh fabric, with the central one also providing a water resistant lined zipped pocket and a cable port to facilitate use of a race radio/iPod.

The mesh fabric element continues up the centre of the back and under the arms, to give optimal ventilation at the body's hot spots. As a design element it's also picked up at the sleeves and collar.

Other features include hem gripper tape, reflective tabs at the rear and an anti-chafe full-length front zip. The main body fabric itself is a mid-weight super-soft and stretchy Italian polyester.

Check out our buyer's guide to summer jerseys, from £4.99, here

The cut of the Francine is described as 'race fit', but although it was sleek and snug with no bagginess to flap in the wind, it wasn't over tight and was true to size. The length of the body might not please taller women, but for my average height frame it was spot on.

Performance was excellent, with the incredibly soft and pleasant to wear fabric wicking moisture away quickly and effectively and drying out fast. The mesh panels definitely helped with ventilation on really hot days and overall comfort levels were good.

The rear mesh pockets were slightly on the small side, a common problem on women's jerseys, I find, and though the two outside pockets did stretch enough to accommodate a gilet or similar, they started to show signs of a more permanent overstretched bagginess quite quickly. The rear zipped pocket happily took an iPhone 5S but struggled with larger smartphones.

It's a gorgeous looking jersey that really delivers on its performance promises, but could just do with having the rear pockets tweaked a little to be more useful.

Verdict

A magnifique summer jersey that looks good and performs well, let down slightly by the rear mesh pockets