The ‘South of France’ starts around the cities of Valence (Drôme) according to several spokespeople from tourism offices contacted by The Connexion The tourism professionals made reference to sunnier weather pine and larch trees and private swimming pools as common characteristics of what the South of France is considered to look like There seems to be more debate of the start of the south relating to the east than the west where the marketing is more centred around culinary riches and historic heritage While the western unofficial border line looks clear the start of southern France in the east is hazier Tourism offices seem to agree Brive-la-Gaillarde (Corrèze) and Perigueux (Dordogne) are the two gateway cities in the south west Brive-la-Gaillarde’s tourism office says a common saying in the town states that ‘everything above Brive-la-Gaillarde is considered north.’ The tourism offices of Valence and Montélimar both market their cities as being the point at which people enter the South of France or the ‘Midi’ the colloquial term for ‘southern France’ in the east the motorway taking drivers from Lyon to Marseille that is nicknamed the ‘the sunshine motorway’ (l’autoroute du soleil) “We have been marketing Valence based on the sunny atmosphere,” said Naomi Nicolas director of communications at the Valence tourism office While the office’s official slogan is ‘changez d’air’ (‘a change of scenery’) Ms Nicolas confirmed that the office also marketed Valence as the gateway to the Midi with slogans such as ‘Ici commence le Midi’ (The Midi starts here) and ‘Valence aux portes du Sud’ (Valence as the gates of the south.) Ms Nicolas also mentioned a billboard on the motorway rest area near Portes-lès-Valence (Drôme) that reads: ‘Porte du Soleil’ (‘Gate to the sun’) playing on the ‘porte’ in the commune’s name inhabitants of Valence have an expression claiming that they live at ‘midi moins le quart’ which means ‘a quarter to 12’ but also suggests that they are almost but not quite in the Midi (south) Read more: French property watch: Drôme - an idyllic ‘gateway to the south’ a town 10 kilometres north of Valence in Drôme is also sometimes considered to be the beginning of southern France the town has never marketed this to tourists “Loriol-sur-Drôme (Drôme) is for me the frontier,” said a spokeswoman for Montélimar’s tourism office arguing that the change in scenery and the combination of dry weather pines and a stronger mistral wind were all features of the South of France director of communications of Grenoble’s tourism office referred to the two mountain passes of the Lautaret (Hautes-Alpes) and the Col de Rousset (Drôme) as geographical borders dividing the north and south Ms Boudières mentioned the lavender fields found past the Col de Rousset as a sharp distinction with the blanket snow and ice-cap scenery north of the pass She said the abundance of larch trees after the Col du Lautaret was another geographic feature she factored in Ms Boudierès said she did not consider Grenoble to be part of the south of France while Ms Nicolas did agree on Valence being in the south French newspaper Libération created an online game where it asked players to label cities as being in the north or the south The game is no longer accessible because of technical issues The South of France line may move further north over the years as climate change pushes temperatures up and brings phenomena often observed along the Mediterranean coast Ms Boudières did mention cicadas in Grenoble over the summer a rather unusual characteristic for residents Ms Nicolas said lavender fields are beginning to blossom further and further north Dordogne popularity, winter heating woes: Four French property updates National parks in France warn visitors to respect flora and fauna We explain the subtle distinctions between the various terms used in cafés Cow’s milk cheeses dominate as winter comes to an end Every month we outline good film and TV series to improve your language Bike Europe is a part of VMNmedia. The following rules apply to the use of this site: Terms of Use and Privacy / Cookie Statement | Privacy settings On-trend rim width; cool 3K carbon weave aesthetic; usefully aero on the road; stiff and responsive Can buffet in crosswinds; faulty freehub pawl broke on one test ride Corima launched the Essentia 40 wheelset in summer 2022 and it turned heads thanks to its distinctive design In a wheelset world dominated by unidirectional and layered carbon fibre the Essentia 40’s 3K weaved rim construction stands out from the crowd There are also design elements under the skin that are purported to improve strength and performance The Corima Essentia 40 wheelset is designed and hand-built in France Unlike many wheelsets that are made further afield but often ‘assembled’ in the brand’s native country Corima has developed and owned its own production techniques in France The raw carbon fibre originates from Japan and America but the rims and hubs are all weaved and produced (respectively) at its headquarters in France Although that doesn’t necessarily result in any higher construction standard than a wheelset produced elsewhere it might matter if you care about how and where your carbon wheels have been made The Essentia 40 is pitched as the brand’s all-road wheelset – primarily for road use, it’s also said to be suitable for all-road and gravel applications Like the similarly pitched Reynolds ATRx – a good benchmark in the ‘up to £1,500’ price bracket – it has a 40mm-deep rim and a 23mm internal-rim diameter Corima says compatible tyre sizes range between 700 x 28c and 700 x 50c – all available among the best road bike tyres and the best gravel tyres Unlike the ATRx wheelset, it has a hookless rim design curving externally to 28mm wide (as opposed to 32mm) As with other hookless rims, this limits you to solely tubeless tyres, though you can still use inner tubes to get you home The 3K carbon weave layup is distinctive thanks to its raw finish Corima doesn’t go out of its way to say whether this carbon weave has any specific performance benefits but it employs the style across its carbon wheelset range Some of these wheels have been ridden to victories at the highest level by Team Astana in recent years There are some tiny holes present in the construction – something the brand refers to as an “aesthetic porosity” – which I’m told comes about because it doesn’t apply a varnish layer to mask the imperfections once out of the mould which Corima’s wheel category manager Hugo Poudrel says is better to show off the aesthetic I’m assured by Poudrel there are no structural or reliability concerns with this approach The Essentia 40’s rim profile is relatively V-shaped – the rim curves slightly to the inner rim diameter Such a design used to be the norm for aero road bike rims (albeit narrower, and sometimes even pointier than this). However, it’s strikingly angular when you compare it against the broad spectrum of road bike wheels from ENVE The rim cavity features an aerospace-grade foam core which Corima says improves the rim’s strength while also helping to dampen vibrations from the road Corima says the freehub has been designed to deal with the demands associated with all-road and gravel riding with 36 teeth for a 10-degree engagement angle Corima says oversized steel bearings are employed for greater reliability in the face of gravel riding punishment The bladed spokes are laced in Corima’s distinctive R2 arrangement which sees pairs fitted in close proximity at the rim The alloy spoke nipples are external for easier servicing meaning there’s no need for tubeless rim tape but mine came in at 1,679g including the supplied tubeless valves the Essentia 40 is more of a mid-range wheelset The Corima Essentia 40 wheelset has demonstrated a keen ability on both road and light gravel The 23mm internal diameter enables road-going tubeless tyres to blow out wider than their nominal width – around 29mm at 65psi when ridden with 28c Continental GP5000 S TR tyres It offers a good platform for the range of commonly used gravel tyre sizes My testing covered mainly road and some light gravel excursions and I found the wheels to feel efficient and stiff enough to support higher-power efforts if your idea of gravel edges closer to mountain biking than it does road riding you will probably be better off with a less rigid wheelset the sharper-than-average rim design feels quick in calmer conditions and responds sharply to sudden accelerations and power inputs There’s a small tendency for the wheelset to buffet in strong crosswinds – the more U-shaped Reynolds ATRx wheelset is a touch more stable the Essentia 40 could be more efficient when the wind is still (or coming at you head-on) Ridden over poor UK tarmac and well-surfaced gravel the Essentia 40 does a grand job of calming the experience down Much depends on the tyre size (and pressure) you choose to run, but the wide rim seemed to allow my Continental GP5000 S TR tyres to inflate with a relatively flat (as opposed to a rounded) shape Inevitably, using Continental Terra Speed gravel tyres at far lower pressures relaxes the ride behaviour – and given that I tend to ride at slower speeds off-road feel more aerodynamically stable in that scenario too my review was curtailed by an issue with the brand’s new star ratchet freehub One tooth broke under heavy load and caused the system to fail (I could turn my drivetrain freely with no engagement at all following the incident) Corima investigated the issue and mentioned that while it had been seen once before due to a batch defect the issue has since been rectified and shouldn’t be a problem going forward Poudrel tells me the design has seen action during the 2023 Spring Classics (including Paris-Roubaix) with no related problems Pro riders will certainly stress the components more than I can Provided with a replacement wheelset to complete my testing and have otherwise been impressed by the solid pickup and smooth performance from the freehub spoke tension has remained consistent throughout springtime testing on road and light gravel Switching between the Continental road and gravel tyres I was also impressed by how easy they were to set up With the gravel tyres specifically, I needed the assistance of two tyre levers to get the tyres on – but my grip isn’t particularly strong and this isn’t out of the ordinary The Essentia 40 wheelset offers a lot of performance for a decent price but compared to the Reynolds ATRx wheelset Shimano’s GRX carbon wheelset is lighter and wider on paper (albeit shallower) and is competitively priced at £1,224.98/$1,399.99 It also has a hooked rim if you’re still set on running clincher tyres The Corima Essentia 40 wheelset offers decent-value performance across road and light gravel Although I experienced an issue with the freehub on my original test wheelset this problem would appear to be localised and not one affecting wheelsets now in circulation at all levels the Essentia 40 wheelset has largely impressed with a keen price tag married to good all-round performance and easy installation more bluntly profiled wheelsets offer more stable performance in windy weather the Essentia 40 wheelset is certainly fast The French brand has launched an disc brake version of its carbon spoked MCC wheel Corima has released a disc brake version of its MCC wheel - the full carbon design that first rolled out if its factory in France back in 2010 The new hoops feature the same design ethos - with the rim spokes and hub all constructed from carbon The disc model was three years in the making and boast just 12 carbon spokes each at the front and rear hitting the scales at 1295g for a set of the 32mm deep rims The wheels are also available with a 47mm rim Both options come with an internal diameter of 26mm and can be purchased for a tubular or tubeless ready set-up - the latter coming with rim tape and valve All of Corima's wheels are moulded by hand at the Loriol Sur Drome workshop in France and Corima calls these hoops the "perfect disc brake wheelset to cover all aspects of racing from lightweight and superior stiffness for climbing to optimising aerodynamics and control for fast descends and flat road." As well as now offering its lightest production wheel in a disc brake iteration French brand has redesigned the shape of the rim dropping the drag - compared to 2019 models - by a reported 9 per cent at the front and 18 per cent at the rear The 12 carbon spokes are distributed in pairs which Corima say reduces the effect of crosswinds and six anchor points inside the rim distribute the weight and provide a low rotational inertia which reportedly leads to fast accelerations and performance on the climbs the stiffness to weight ration has been bolstered by filling the rim with a structural foam and a horizontalUD carbon fibre aims to guard against flex without adding additional grams 'Double Torque Technology (D2T)' has been applied via a y-shaped carbon configuration where two spikes are joined to distribute the forces and ensure the carbon hubs can cope with torque being applied both when pedalling and braking Corima's CEO Pierre Jean Martin said:  "We are proud to launch the brand new MCC DX full carbon disc brakewheelset range which utilises the best of Corima’s cutting edge carbon wheelset design expertise and technology and merges it into the ultimate performance disc brake wheelsets." He added: "Corima has always been at the forefrontof carbon wheelset design since we entered the bike industry in 1988 With our own unique patents and design philosophies we are constantly innovating and improving our wheelsets to stay one-step ahead and to always offer you increased performance you can trust." Thank you for reading 20 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1 *Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1 An NCTJ qualified traditional journalist by trade Michelle began her career working for local newspapers She's worked within the cycling industry since 2012 and joined the Cycling Weekly team in 2017 having previously been Editor at Total Women's Cycling Prior to welcoming her first daughter in 2022 and still rides as much as she can - albeit a fair proportion indoors Michelle is on maternity leave from April 2025 until spring 2026 Corima are among the cycling industry’s oldest carbon rim and wheel makers. Based in Loriol sur Drôme, France, they've just finished the two-year development of two new wheelsets called Aero MCC and Winium MCC which they launched under Astana’s Giro d’Italia team last month The new wheels use a carbon rim and both molded and bonded spoke design, similar to Lightweight, Mavic’s Cosmic Carbon Ultimate and others. “Corima's Aero MCC is a 100 percent carbon wheel produced using a complete composite process,” Pierre-Jean Martin, Corima’s general manager, told BikeRadar via email “The rim is made of uni-directional [carbon] and taffetas carbon prepreg fibers wrapped on a foam [core] The hub is partly made of prepreg carbon fibers and the spokes are totally made of carbon prepreg fibers Some parts are over-molded and others are adhesive bonded with a structural epoxy adhesive.” The wheels are offered in an aero configuration called Aero MCC with a 47mm rim height or a climbing version called Winium MCC with a 24mm rim; claimed weights are 1,080g and 980g The wheels come with weight limits of 100kg (rider and bike) for the Aero MCC and 85kg for the Winium MCC The new Corima wheels have a striking look due to their lack of spokes; each wheel sports just 12 spokes The MCC name plays on the company’s history. “Corima was created in 1973 but the activities at the beginning were the tooling for composite parts for automotive and aerospace,” said Martin “When we started the composite carbon wheels and Puma/Cougar frame in 1988 22 years later we keep only the initials of ‘My Corima Carbon’ to name our new range of wheels with carbon spokes.” They say the extra girth bolsters both aerodynamic performance and stiffness The MCC carbon layering technique allows Corima to build each wheel with 12 — the UCI minimum — conical spokes the minimum spoke count improves the wheels' aerodynamics without sacrificing stiffness or strength Martin explained that despite the use of CAD software more than 60 prototypes were built before the final design was decided upon He said several in-house machine tests and road tests with test riders were carried out to improve the wheel details as evidenced by Astana’s use of them in last month’s Giro d’Italia Roman Kreuziger took the best young rider competition at the Giro with Corima's new wheels Bretage Schuller and Velo Club La Pomme Marseille — will ride the MCC wheels in competition this year They're available via Corima’s web store and cost between €2,650 and €2,850 depending on rim depth Only tubular versions are available at this time