Le Col Womens Hors Categorie Jacket II

The Le Col Womens Hors Categorie Jacket II is the top-of-the range jacket from British brand Le Col, designed to keep you warm and protected from the wind and rain. It's a great bit of kit that balances warmth, breathability and waterproofing, with the addition of some generously proportioned reflective details to increase visibility. However, all this quality does not come cheap...

> Buy now: Le Col Women's Hors Categorie Jacket II for £330 from Le Col

Our best waterproof cycling jackets buyer's guide covers men's and women's jackets from £60 upwards.

The Hors Categorie Jacket II is an excellent outer layer that combines wind and rain protection with breathability. It's also a great fit, with sufficient room for additional layers underneath.

Materials

Like Le Col's Womens Deep Winter Base Layer that I recently tested, this jacket uses a combination of Polartec fabrics that Le Col says will 'keep you consistently warm and protected from the elements with no risk of overheating'.

The outer is made from Polartec's Power Shield fabric, a bio-based material offering a defence against both wind and rain. It performed fantastically at keeping out the elements, with rain and road spray beading effectively while completely blocking out the wind. I would suggest keeping a waterproof rain jacket on hand for particularly heavy downpours, but everything short of that this is fine.

The outer also features large reflective panelling across the arms and an additional strip on the back, which help to increase your visibility to other road users from the front, back and sides. I tested this jacket in a quite muted navy, so I was particularly glad of the generous reflective details.

It's Polartec once again on the inside, in the form of its fleecy Alpha material. This feels very soft against your skin and kept me lovely and warm but without being sweaty. The collar also features fluffy material that felt soft against my skin as well as helping to keep some chill off my neck.

This jacket really does perform well despite being so thin, though you do need to choose your layers correctly, as there is a risk of overheating if you wear too many layers underneath. In temperatures ranging from 5-8°C, I paired it with just a short sleeve base layer and I stayed comfortably warm.

It remained warm in low single-digit temperatures when I paired it with Le Col's Womens Deep Winter long-sleeve base layer. I never felt at risk of being cold, and even found myself having to unzip the jacket slightly during harder uphill efforts. Despite feeling very warm, the jacket has great moisture management, and it remained dry on the inside after completing my ride.

The covered zip has a protective flap at the top so it doesn't irritate your neck, and its long grippy tag makes it easy for you to unzip it when riding to let in some more air.

The three large rear pockets give you loads of space for snacks and spares, and they have mesh lower sections to prevent any water from pooling.

There's also a zipped, waterproof valuables pocket that will fit keys and loose change but proved too small for my iPhone 13.

The Le Col Womens Hors Categorie Jacket II is available in the navy we tested, along with black or red.

Size and fit

The Womens Hors Categorie Jacket II is available in five sizes from XS-XL and it's cut for a relaxed performance fit.

The jacket doesn't have much stretch but I still found it a comfortable fit – it's close fitting without being restrictive. There isn't that much room for many extra layers but fortunately, you don't need to add many layers underneath to stay very warm.

I normally wear a size small and was also a size small according to Le Col's size guide, and the jacket fitted me well without being baggy or having any excess material. I sometimes struggle with the length of the body and sleeves with cycling jackets, but both were a good length for me and there was no exposed skin between my gloves and the sleeves.

The jacket has a dropped tail with a silicone gripper, which helped to keep it in place, and it didn't ride up at all when I was riding.

Value

At £330, there's no doubt this is expensive, but you are paying for a high-quality jacket that performs exceptionally well.

That said, it's not alone at coming in at this sort of price. The Rapha Women's Classic Winter Gore-Tex Jacket has gone up to £300 since Anna reviewed it in 2020. It offers similar wind and rain defence as well as useful two-layer cuffs.

You can get a high-quality jacket for a good deal less cash. Emma tested the Castelli Perfetto RoS Long Sleeve Women's Jacket a couple of years ago that retails for £220.

On a tighter budget still and you might want to consider the Altura Nightvision Storm Women's Waterproof Jacket. In spite of the jacket costing just £79.99 Emma was impressed with its performance in all but the heaviest rain.

Conclusion

I was really impressed with the Le Col Womens Hors Categorie Jacket II. Yes, it's expensive – but it does exactly what a winter jacket should do. It's very warm, offers wind and rain protection, it's breathable and has a great fit – which is pretty much a full house for a cycling jacket.

Verdict

Very warm jacket that offers excellent protection from the wind and rain while still being breathable