Anyone unfortunate enough to have downloaded and tried to use last years Tour de France glitchy and continually crashing app will probably have breathed a sigh of relief that developers didn’t even bother with one for 2012. But where does that leave iPad owners with a hankering for some interactive action? Surprising few teams have bothered developing their own apps (Team Sky’s fairly basic one is for phone only) but Rabobank Cycling put their heads above the parapet and gave it a go. Cyclo put the Rabo Cycling App through its paces.

As all good apps should be, the Rabo app is simply designed and a breeze to navigate. Naturally the bent on content is towards the team itself, but the News and Video tab is comprehensive and up to date with everything from broad strokes and analysis to the minutiae of behind the scenes life. Anything of interest can be shared in a click to Twitter and Facebook so there’s no excuse to keep your friends in the dark about the latest developments.

The Current and Future Events tabs are where this app really comes into its own even if Rabo isn’t your team of choice. Hit the Tour de France option for example and not only do you get a full list of every team’s riders but basic stats on each individual; add to that details and profiles of each stage, plus standings and, when available, live coverage and updates and this app becomes an almost indispensable tool for keeping up with the global action.

The World Tour tab gives breakdowns of classifications by rider, team and country with the full 2011 season also up for analysis.

This may not be the prettiest app for the iPad but design is functional and clear and one of the few improvements that could be added – assuming it’s Rabo you want to follow – would be the integration of their Twitter feed. Now, if only more teams would follow suit…