Northwave Veloce Extreme road shoe review - taking a ride in Filippo Ganna's shoes

I'm no closer to a world record than I was before, but my feet are happy

Northwave Veloce Extreme shoes
(Image credit: Rachel Sokal)
Cycling Weekly Verdict

Like other performance kit, high end road shoes promise you a few extra watts but at the cost of a lot of your hard earned money and most likely, the comfort of your feet. On paper, the Northwave Veloce Extreme road shoes are exactly that. The shoes were developed for Filippo Ganna and boast an impressive array of stats you’d expect given their association with a man who holds both the hour record and Olympic gold. Stiffer, more power, more stability, less effort and a price tag of $429.00 / £360.00. What I wasn’t expecting is the Veloces to also be the most incredibly comfortable shoe I’ve ever ridden. If I had this kind of money to spend on shoes, without doubt these would be the ones I'd buy.

Reasons to buy
  • +

    Incredibly stiff

  • +

    Great comfort

  • +

    Adjustable fit with insoles

  • +

    Great adjustability from Northwave's dial adjusters

  • +

    Good looks

  • +

    Evidenced increase in power for less effort

Reasons to avoid
  • -

    Dial adjusters won't suit all

  • -

    High price

You can trust Cycling Weekly. Our team of experts put in hard miles testing cycling tech and will always share honest, unbiased advice to help you choose. Find out more about how we test.

The Veloce Extreme is Northwave’s new top-end road shoe. It’s already had a year on the Grand Tour upon Fillipo Ganna’s feet and now available to the non-world record riders amongst us. How will it compare to the rest of our best cycling shoes?

Northwave Veloce Extreme shoes

The Veloce's stiff carbon sole wraps up the heel and around the arch for increased stiffness and stability

(Image credit: Rachel Sokal)

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

Join now for unlimited access

Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1