With great coverage, the excellent and efficient Boa binding system, Gore-Tex waterproofing and an easy clean exterior, the Mavic ticked pretty much all our boxes.

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It was nearly as tall up our ankles as the Specialized but where the Specialized cuff is stiff and cumbersome, the Mavic is supple and unobtrusive.

The shoe felt impenetrable to most conditions, but having said that, when the temperature fell below zero, our toes began to get chilly. We suspect the insulation clearly isn’t as generous as some of the others.

We‘re not fans of zips on footwear because they usually die from grit ingress long before the rest of the shoe, and prefer a simple Velcro fixing instead. That said, the Mavic zips worked perfectly through the duration of this test and, unlike Velcro, didn’t clog with snow and ice.

The ultra stiff shank inside the sole meant pedalling was efficient, but the downside is the shoe wasn’t quite so effective when on the hoof, although an aggressively-treaded sole unit helped improve grip on technical trails.

A sleek, efficient shoe, but just a little expensive to get top marks.