The Cycling Podcast (The Cycling Podcast)

The first mountain stage of the Vuelta a España was contested by the breakaway, with the stage and red jersey of overall leader going to Rein Taaramae, the Estonian on the Intermarché team.

Daniel Friebe and Richard Moore discuss the stage and what we learned, and we hear from Kenny Elissonde, who was third on the stage, and Primoz Roglic, the deposed leader.

Daniel speaks to Hugh Carthy and Robert Gesink about the art of positioning in the bunch and we hear from Gino Mader about his initiative to raise money for an environmental organisation by donating a Euro for every rider he beats on each stage.

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Stage 4 of the Vuelta a España saw an emotional win for Fabio Jakobsen, just over a year after his terrible crash at the Tour of Poland, and in tonight's podcast we hear from his teammate and good friend, Florian Senechal.

Rein Taaramae held on to the leader's red jersey despite a late fall and we have an interview with him and his Intermarché team's sports director, Valerio Piva.

Richard Moore and Daniel Friebe discuss the stage and look ahead to Wednesday's fifth stage as the Vuelta continues to head south.

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This episode is sponsored by Babbel, the language-learning app. Right now, Babbel is offering our listeners six months free with a purchase of a 6-month subscription with promo code CYCLING. Go to uk.babbel.com/play, and use promo code CYCLING for an extra six months free.

In this episode of Kilometre 0 we meet some of the other Slovenians.

The small country has two of cycling's superstars, Primož Roglič and Tadej Pogačar. But beneath them there are a lot of other good riders, three of whom are riding the Vuelta a España. 

We speak to Jan Tratnik of Bahrain Victorious, Jan Polanc of UAE-Team Emirates and Luka Mezgec of Team Bike Exchange. We also hear from Gorazd Štangelj, a former professional who's now a sports director at Bahrain, and Marko Dzalo, a soigneur with Ineos Grenadiers.

Kilometre 0 by The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens: energy management for committed athletes and coaches. See Supersapiens.com.

The peloton spent most of the fifth stage anticipating crosswinds which never blew but there was still late drama on the approach to Albacete.

Daniel Friebe is still in Spain following the Vuelta a España, and he is joined by Richard Moore and Lionel Birnie to discuss the day’s racing.

We hear from Kenny Elissonde, who was talking down his chances of taking the red jersey before the stage, and discuss the crash which cost Rein Taaramae another day in the overall lead. We also hear from Pavel Sivakov about the crosswinds and Matt Winston on DSM’s hopes after Romain Bardet was caught in the crash and lost more than 12 minutes. We also discuss Jasper Philipsen’s second stage win and the brewing battle for the green jersey with Fabio Jakobsen.

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The wind may not have blown particularly hard but it took only a gentle sea breeze and some narrow roads to create some Classic-style racing at the Vuelta a España.

In this episode, Daniel Friebe has descended the Alto de la Montaña de Cullera in order to check in with Richard Moore and Lionel Birnie to recap stage six of the race which saw another change of leadership.

But which Classic did the race resemble? Would Magnus be Cort or Not Cort at the finish? And what next for Movistar now they have manoeuvered their trident into position behind Primoz Roglic? We try to provide the answers. We also hear from King Kenny, Jack Haig and Jens Keukeleire.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport

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This episode is also supported by LinkedIn Jobs. To find the perfect person for your organisation advertise to more than 30 million professionals in the UK at linkedin.com/cycle

Mark Padun’s back-to-back stage wins at the Critérium du Dauphiné in June shocked the cycling world. Long touted as a future star, the Ukrainian had seemed to stagnate in his second and third seasons as a pro - only to bounce back spectacularly in the Alps over that remarkable weekend in the late spring.

Having missed out on selection for the Tour - to the surprise of many - Padun is now aiming to shepherd his Bahrain Victorious leader Mikel Landa to victory at the Vuelta, while also scoring a stage win himself.

Meanwhile, Padun’s origins and career trajectory remain a mystery to many - one that Daniel tries to unpick in this episode of Kilometre 0.

Kilometre 0 by The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens: energy management for committed athletes and coaches. See Supersapiens.com.

The Vuelta a España burst into life with the toughest stage so far, to Balcón de Alicante. There was a desperate escape from the last chance saloon by Team DSM, a crash for one member of Movistar’s trident and a clutch of dangerous riders climbed back into contention.

Richard Moore and Lionel Birnie dial up Daniel Friebe in Spain to discuss the action. Richard wastes no time claiming the stage winner Michael Storer for Scotland. We discuss the impact Alejandro Valverde’s crash and departure from the Vuelta will have on Movistar’s other two leaders, Enric Mas and Miguel Angel Lopez. We hear from Pavel Sivakov about the timing of one of Storer’s attacks, from Chris Hamilton about his victorious teammate and ask Roglic the burning question of the day – have you seen the Netflix documentary about Movistar?

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport

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Although it was a quiet day on the Vuelta a España there’s plenty for Daniel Friebe, Richard Moore and Lionel Birnie to talk about.

They discuss the sprint finish and a second victory for Fabio Jakobsen before reflecting on some comments from EF Education-Nippo sports director Juanma Garate about Hugh Carthy, who withdrew from the race yesterday.

We ponder the impact of pressure and leadership responsibility following an excellent result – Carthy was third in last year’s Vuelta – and whether general classification contenders sometimes have to take a step back before moving forwards.

The finish town of Mar Menor has been battling ecological disaster over the past couple of years and there were some protests from people hoping the Vuelta’s visit would shed some light on the issue. While it’s understandable the Grand Tours want to show off the best of the areas they pass through we discuss whether the sport also has a responsibility to help publicise important issues.

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Richard Moore and Lionel Birnie dial up our man in Spain, Daniel Friebe, to discuss stage nine of the Vuelta a España, the final test in the mountains before the first rest day of the race.

A couple of days ago we were hoping to learn more about the likely shape of the battle for the red jersey only for a number of riders to gain time in the break and muddy the picture at the top of the overall standings. Today we did get a sort out and with two weeks still to go the question for Movistar is, how do they crack Primoz Roglic?

We discuss a thrilling stage, won by the Italian Damiano Caruso, whose Bahrain Victorious team was also celebrating the fact their rider Jack Haig moved up to fourth overall today. We hear from Caruso, Haig and their sports director Gorazd Stangelj too.

Ineos Grenadiers, and Adam Yates in particular, tried to unsettle Roglic but succeeded only in putting their own rider Egan Bernal on the back foot. Meanwhile Roglic was left with only one Jumbo-Visma teammate, Sepp Kuss, for company at the crucial moment. We hear from Pavel Sivakov of Ineos and Kuss on the brewing tactical battle between the teams.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

In the second instalment of our riders’ diaries from the Vuelta a España we hear from James Knox of Deceuninck-Quick-Step, Pavel Sivakov of Ineos Grenadiers and Joan Bou of Euskaltel-Euskadi.

Bou is from Valencia and when the Vuelta reached some of his local roads at the end of the first week he shone, figuring in a couple of breakaways, including the strong break on stage six, from which Magnus Cort held on to win.

Knox has been part of a team that’s won two stages with Fabio Jakobsen, whose return has given the Vuelta one of its feel good stories. On stage seven Knox also achieved his highest average heart rate for an hour – 186 beats per minute. 

And Sivakov went close to the win on stage seven, finishing third behind Michael Storer, who incurred the wrath of El Siv by apparently attacking when Sivakov dropped his chain.

Kilometre 0 by The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens: energy management for committed athletes and coaches. See Supersapiens.com

In the August episode of The Cycling Podcast Féminin we have an in-depth interview with the surprise Olympic road race champion, Anna Kiesenhofer.

Kiesenhofer tells us how she approached the race and started the early break, how much – or how little – she knew about what was happening behind, how she is adjusting to life as Olympic champion, and what she will do next. 

Rose Manley, Orla Chennaoui and Richard Moore also discuss the recent Tour of Norway and there’s an interview with one of the stars of that race, Rachel Neylan. Finally we hear from Lotte Kopecky, looking ahead to the world championships in Flanders in September.

The Cycling Podcast Féminin is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

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Scott Thwaites is at the Vuelta a España as part of one of the most successful Grand Tour teams, Alpecin-Fenix. But it's something of a miracle that he's here at all, after a crash in 2018 left him with a broken spine, neck, ribs and sternum.

He raced domestically in the UK in 2019 before returning to the big time last year. In this episode he tells us about his crash and comeback. 

He’s 31 now and out of contract at the end of the year, but in the meantime he is relishing the experience of being back at his first Grand Tour since his accident and in a team that – even without its star, Mathieu van der Poel – has continued its winning ways at the Vuelta. 

Kilometre 0 by The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens: energy management for committed athletes and coaches. See Supersapiens.com

It was another day when the Vuelta a España was turned on its head by a big break, which led to a change of leadership and a second stage win for one of the revelations of the first week.

Richard Moore and Lionel Birnie dial up to speak to Daniel Friebe to discuss the tenth stage of the race. Daniel is on the south coast of Spain, the most southerly point of this year’s race, and Norway’s Odd Christian Eiking, who is in the red jersey tonight, is the rider in this Vuelta from the most northerly place in Europe.

We discuss the shake-up to the overall classification and ask whether Intermarché will keep the race lead a bit longer this time. We weigh up Guillaume Martin’s chances after he climbed up to second overall and we assess Primoz Roglic’s attack, which led to him falling on the descent to the finish. Was the risk worth the reward?

We hear from Max Schachmann, King Kenny, Jack Haig, Chris Hamilton, Guillaume Martin and others in a packed podcast.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport

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It was déjà-vu – or should that be Dane ja vu? – at the Vuelta a España as the race reached Valdepeñas de Jaén and a very steep climb past the Andalucian whitewashed buildings to the finish.

Lionel Birnie dials up Daniel Friebe in Spain and they initially ponder the Buffalo, Richard Moore’s whereabouts. Don’t worry, Richard joins us midway through.

We recap a second stage win for Primoz Roglic, who won on a climb that was tailor-made for him. But there was heartbreak for the Dane Magnus Cort, who nearly pulled off the impossible for the second time in the space of a week. He managed to evade capture to win the stage at Cullera but lightning didn’t strike twice for him. We also hear from Tom Pidcock about how his debut grand tour has been going.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport

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For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

When Fabio Aru won the 2015 Vuelta a España at age 25 it was easy to foresee the Sardinian assembling an extensive Grand Tour collection before he even reached his thirties.

Instead, the trajectory of Aru’s career changed dramatically, so much so that he would not finish on the podium of a three-week race again. Not only that, but Aru decided before this year’s Tour of Spain that it would be his final race.

In this episode of Kilometre 0, Daniel speaks to Aru about the relief of moving on, and we assess the extent to which his early exit from the sport is a sign of ever more mentally exhausting times in the pro peloton.

Kilometre 0 by The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens: energy management for committed athletes and coaches. See Supersapiens.com

It was another dynamic and surprising stage at the Vuelta a España and so Richard Moore and Lionel Birnie dial up The Cycling Podcast’s man in Spain Daniel Friebe to recap the action.

Are we witnessing the Three Days of Magnus Cort? Away in the big break two days ago, caught in sight of the line yesterday, the Great Dane won a brilliant sprint finish in Córdoba after a brilliant lead-out from his EF Education-Nippo teammate Jens Keukeleire.

One of the teams of the day was UAE-Team Emirates, who worked hard to set up Matteo Trentin. We hear from Trentin about what happened at the finish. We also hear from Movistar’s sports director Patxi Vila about one of their two hopes for overall victory, Enric Mas.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport

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For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

Tim Moore's new book, Vuelta Skelter, sees him retrace the journey of the 1941 Vuelta a España in the wheel-marks of the winner, Julián Berrendero.

Berrendero was a Republican who had spoken out against Franco. He spent 18 months in a concentration camp but was released in time to ride the 1941 Vuelta,  or "the tour of a nation reborn," as it was branded by Franco and his followers.

Vuelta Skelter completes Moore's grand tour trilogy after French Revolutions and Gironimo, his books about his exploits riding the routes of the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia.

In this episode of Kilometre 0 Moore tells us about the complex, frequently rude Berrendero, why this book might not have happened without a global pandemic, and sneaking off to Spain to complete his Vuelta in between lockdowns.

Kilometre 0 by The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens: energy management for committed athletes and coaches. See Supersapiens.com

It was back to work for the sprinters on stage 13 of the Vuelta a España and in The Cycling Podcast we discuss a lead-out that appeared to go wrong for Deceuninck-Quick-step before going spectacularly right, with Florian Sénéchal taking the win.

Tom Pidcock tells us what happened to split the bunch in the closing stages, with Matteo Trentin and Bert Van Lerberghe describing how the sprint unfolded.

And we discuss Jack Haig, the Australian who sits sixth overall, within two minutes of the two time winner and favourite, Primož Roglič. Ahead of a mountainous final week, and leading a strong Bahrain Victorious team, Haig and others tell us about his chances of finishing on the podium, perhaps even going for the win.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport

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This episode is sponsored by Beer52. For a free Case of 8 Craft Beers from Beer52 go to www.beer52.com/Cycle – all you have to do is cover the postage costs of £5.95.

The first of two very challenging weekend stages was a bit of a stalemate as far as the race between the overall contenders was concerned but there was an intriguing battle for the stage win.

RIchard Moore and Lionel Birnie check in with our man in Spain, Daniel Friebe, to recap stage 14, which was won by Romain Bardet.

The Frenchman was arguably the most dangerous of the riders in the 18-man break and we’ll hear from another man in the lead group, Lotto-Soudal’s Matt Holmes, who wanted to get away without Bardet but suffered two untimely punctures.

We also clear yesterday’s little local difficulty between Deceuninck-Quick Step’s sprinter Fabio Jakobsen and his lead-out man, and eventual stage winner, Florian Senechal.

Finally, we learn about Jose Maria Jimenez, who lit up the Vuelta around the turn of the century and was one of three high-profile tragic figures in professional cycling in the early 2000s. Tomorrow’s stage visits Jimenez’s home town and will pay tribute to El Chava.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport

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For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

The Vuelta a España reached its second rest day but the much-anticipated sort out failed to materialise meaning that there’s a surprising wearer of the red jersey as the race goes into its final week.

Richard Moore and Lionel Birnie check in with Daniel Friebe in Spain once again to recap stage 15, which saw a long pursuit match between eventual winner Rafal Majka and Steven Kruijswijk, who chased hard but failed to make any dent in the Pole’s advantage.

We hear from Kruijswijk, weigh up whether there are any cracks in Primoz Roglic’s armour – asking for an eyewitness opinion from Jack Haig and Egan Bernal – and get the low down on Odd Christian Eiking, who continues to hold the race lead. We also hear from Movistar boss Eusebio Unzue, who has been in charge of the team for more than 40 years.

Richard heads to Spain tomorrow to join Daniel for the final week of the race.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport

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For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

In the latest episode of Kilometre 0 by The Cycling Podcast we hear from one of our audio diarists at the Vuelta a España, James Knox of Deceuninck-Quick-Step.

James tells us about his rest day tumble, awkward Anglo-French relations with his roommate, Florian Sénéchal, and getting his heart rate up to 206 beats per minute, in his raw, insightful and entertaining account of the second week of the Vuelta.

Kilometre 0 by The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens: energy management for committed athletes and coaches. See Supersapiens.com

In The Cycling Podcast's first press conference episode of the Vuelta a España Daniel Friebe and Richard Moore answer listeners' questions, which ranged from Romain Bardet's English, Team Bike Exchange's woes, the possibility of a fourth grand tour in the Southern Hemisphere, podcasters' use of language and the recruitment process of our audio diarists.

In this episode we also hear from Team DSM sports director Matt Winston. 

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport

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For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

In our latest episode of Kilometre 0 we hear about the second week of the Vuelta a España from two of our audio diarists, Pavel Sivakov of Ineos Grenadiers and Joan Bou of Euskaltel-Euskadi.

Sivakov talks about getting his confidence back after the low of crashing out of the Giro d'Italia, while Bou tells us about how he is coping with his first grand tour and the longest race of his career. 

Kilometre 0 by The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens: energy management for committed athletes and coaches. See Supersapiens.com

The Vuelta a España resumed after the second rest day in Cantabria in the north of Spain with a final stage for the sprinters, won by the man in the green jersey, Fabio Jakobsen.

In tonight's episode we hear from Jakobsen's leadout man, Bert Van Lerberghe, and from Joe Dombrowski, whose team tried to distance Jakobsen on a climb.

We look ahead to Wednesday's crucial stage to Lagos de Covadonga, one of the Vuelta's iconic climbs, with Alberto Contador, Robert Gesink, David de la Cruz, Ion Izagirre and Luis Ángel Maté.

And we meet Florian Vermeersch, who, as well as studying for a history degree at university is riding the Vuelta for Lotto-Soudal.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport

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For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

It was arguably the performance of his career. Primoz Roglic won the seventeenth stage of the Vuelta a España to take a commanding overall lead into the final few days of the Spanish tour, and The Cycling Podcast was roadside to witness it.

We hear from some of the fans – from Spain and Slovenia – as well as the atmosphere of the roadside experience as Richard Moore and Daniel Friebe watch and analyse a defining stage.

Although Roglic was the winner, Egan Bernal was the other protagonist and the rider who lit the touchpaper – we hear from him and from Roglic in this episode.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport

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The Vuelta a España tackled a new mountain, Alto d'El Gamoniteiru, at the end of stage 18 and Daniel Friebe and Richard Moore were at the summit to witness the riders coming across the line.

In this episode we hear from Gino Mader, who had an important role looking after his team leader, Jack Haig, while also cementing his own position in the top ten on general classification. We hear from Haig, too, as well as the overall leader, Primoz Roglic.

At the other end of the race, Matt Holmes crossed the line alone and over 48 minutes down, outside the time limit and out of the race. We hear from Holmes at the start of the stage, where he talks about being unwell and his daily battle just to stay in the Vuelta.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport

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For two riders at the Vuelta a España the journey from Burgos to Santiago de Compostela represents something much bigger than a three-week Grand Tour.

A year ago the Bora-Hansgrohe pair, Anton Palzer and Ben Zwiehoff, were both pro sportsmen but in completely different disciplines and indeed Palzer had never participated in a bike race.

In this episode of Kilometre 0, we find out how they got here, how they’ve survived the mountains and above all the plains, and wonder what their respective futures may hold.

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There was another humdinger of a stage at the Vuelta a España and The Cycling Podcast was on the ground in Monforte de Lemos to speak to Lawson Craddock, who helped set up his teammate, Magnus Cort, for the win, as well as their sports director, Juanma Garate.

We also hear from the second- and third-placed riders, Rui Oliveira and Quinn Simmons. And we consider the different plights and fortunes of two teams, DSM and Bike Exchange, and hear from Nick Schultz of the latter.

We also get to the bottom of double stage winner Michael Storer's Scottish connection, and meet a man riding his 15th grand tour – a record for a Japanese cyclist – Yukiya Arashiro.

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The penultimate stage of the 2021 Vuelta a España served up a feast of exciting and dramatic racing and The Cycling Podcast was there to see it.

In this episode we hear from two of the day's winners, Jack Haig and Gino Mader of the Bahrain Victorious team, while Patxi Vila and Enric Mas of Movistar reflect on the shocking withdrawal of a rider who started the day sitting third overall, "Superman" Miguel Ángel López.

Richard Moore and Daniel Friebe discuss Ineos Grenadier's disruptive tactics and Bahrain's decisiveness in taking advantage of the disruption. And we toast the day's unlikely stage winner, Clément Champoussin of the French Ag2r team.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport

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The Vuelta a España completed its three week pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela with Primoz Roglic the winner, and The Cycling Podcast was there to witness it.

The theme of this final episode from the Vuelta is pilgrims and we tell the story of the 2021 race in six parts, including the Movistar story – with an update on Miguel Angel Lopez's sensational withdrawal on the penultimate stage – Roglic, Jack Haig, Fabio Jakobsen and Egan Bernal.

We hear from some of the thousands who make the pilgrimage to this city, as well as riders including Bernal, Haig, Jakobsen, Joe Dombrowski and Scott Thwaites.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport

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For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

In our final episode of Kilometre 0 from the Vuelta a España we hear for the last time from our three audio diarists, James Knox of Deceuninck-Quickstep, Pavel Sivakov of Ineos Grenadiers and Joan Bou of Euskaltel-Euskadi.

While Sivakov finished the Vuelta in good shape, and able, he said, to carry on for another week, for Knox and Bou the final week was about survival.

Bou crashed heavily and, having been in several breakaways in the first two weeks, he was reduced in the last stages to merely hoping to finish with the gruppetto.

With characteristic candour, Knox admits that he is struggling for motivation as the Vuelta draws to a close. He appreciates the places and the sights, and can reflect with satisfaction on his team's four stage wins, but wrestles with his own feelings of fatigue and low morale. 

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Life in the Peloton is back after the Vuelta a España and for this episode I spoke to two young Kiwi champions who are going to have very big futures. If you don't know the name Fisher-Black yet, I reckon you're going to hear it a lot in the coming months and years.

Niamh and Finn Fisher-Black are brother and sister who are both racing at World Tour level. Niamh is 21 and in her first year with the SD Worx team after a couple of seasons with Bigla Pro Cycling. This season she was ninth overall at the Giro and won the best young rider classification.

Her younger brother Finn is still only 19 and he started the season with the Jumbo-Visma development team. As you'll hear, he was starting to be integrated in the senior Jumbo-Visma team and he rode the Baloise Belgium Tour for them in June, finishing fourth overall in a race won by Remco Evenepoel. That turned out to be his final race for Jumbo-Visma because in July he made a mid-season switch to UAE-Team Emirates.

I wanted to find out more about Niamh and Finn and listening to them speak about their journeys into the pro ranks from New Zealand reminded me of the commitment it takes to move to the other side of the road and try to make it in the sport.

Cheers,
Mitch

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The theme music for Life in the Peloton was composed by Pete Shelley, who was lead singer of the punk band Buzzcocks. It was commissioned by the production company behind Channel 4’s coverage of the Tour de France in the 1980s and was used as the theme music for the nightly highlights show. Pete died in December 2018. We were given permission by Pete’s widow and his manager to continue using the music for the theme tune to Life in the Peloton. To hear more about the music, listen to the Andre Greipel episode of Life in the Peloton.

In this episode Tom Whalley virtually heads off to Eurobike for a catch up with friends of the podcast, New Motion Labs, about the launch of their new Enduo chain.

Lizzy Banks immerses herself in the world of ultra-endurance racing as she follows the riders at All Points North as they take on a 1,000-kilometre ride around the north of England.

A weekend of dotwatching prefaced a nailbiting run in to Sheffield for the 1,000-kilometre sprint between the first two riders.

Finally, Tom and Lizzy look back at the Paralympic and Olympic games and speak to Italian track rider Martina Alzini about that team pursuit final and what's next for the Italian women's team.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

In this episode of The Cycling Podcast, Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe discuss the Tour of Britain, the European Championships and some of the latest transfers in the World Tour.

Lionel reports back on his stint at the Tour of Britain, celebrates the Classic-esque quality of the Great Orme, and asks if there's a way to Wout van Aert-proof a week-long stage race.

Plus we hear from Dan Martin, who announced his retirement on the eve of the race, and look back at his legacy of grand tour stage wins and Monument victories.

We also discuss the European Championships, won in impressive fashion by Sonny Colbrelli. Where does that put the Italian on the list of favourites for the World Championships next month? And what does his second-place finish say about Remco Evenepoel?

Finally, we talk about Miguel Angel Lopez and weigh up the likelihood of the Colombian switching back Astana after his remarkable withdrawal from the Vuelta a España as a podium place slipped away from him on the penultimate day.

Friends of the Podcast: listen out for Lionel's Tour of Britain episode (which currently does not have the working title Notes from a Small Island). It will be released next month, after the conclusion of the World Tour season.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is also supported by LinkedIn Jobs. To find the perfect person for your organisation advertise to more than 30 million professionals in the UK at linkedin.com/cycle

Richard Moore is in Bruges for the World Championship time trials and he checks in with Lionel Birnie to discuss Sunday's elite men's race.

It was a neck-and-neck battle between defending champion Filippo Ganna and home favourite Wout van Aert.

We hear from four-time world champion Tony Martin, who confirmed his intention to retire after this week's races, from Ireland's Marcus Christie, whose story we featured in a Friends of the Podcast episode earlier this year, and from Dan Bigham.

Looking ahead to Sunday's men's road race we speak to Kasper Asgreen about the star-studded Danish team and wonder how they will take on the Belgians and Italians and from Tim Declercq, who was born in Leuven, about racing a World Championships in his home town.

Finally, following the tragic death of Danish rider Chris Anker Sorensen, a former Giro d'Italia stage winner who in retirement became an integral part of Danish TV's Tour de France coverage, his friend and colleague Brian Nygaard pays tribute.

Coming later this week are an episode of The Cycling Podcast Féminin, Mitch Docker meets Hannah Barnes in Life in the Peloton and Service Course returns too.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is also supported by Curators of Craft, a company set up by cycling fans Kate and Graeme who pride themselves on discovering some of the best beers independent brewers have to offer. To get 15% off all orders over £40 and free UK mainland delivery on all orders over £60 use the code WORLDS15 

In the first of two episodes of The Cycling Podcast Féminin this month, Rose Manley, Orla Chennaoui and Richard Moore, in Bruges for the UCI world championships, look back on Monday's time trial, won by Ellen van Dijk, and ahead to the road race at the weekend.

We hear from the time trial silver medallist Marlen Reusser as well as from Leah Thomas and Joss Lowden. 

The Cycling Podcast Féminin is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

This episode is sponsored by Noom, the psychology-based approach to getting people on track to eating healthier. Sign up for a trial and get psychology-based support to lose the weight for good at noom.com/cycle 

I’m back this week with one of the more experienced riders in the Women’s Pro Peloton, British rider Hannah Barnes.

After turning pro with United Healthcare in 2014, Hannah has ridden for Canyon-SRAM for the past six seasons and is set to move on to the new Uno-X team next year. As a youngster she was multiple national champion across several cycling disciplines, and most recently won the British national individual time trial in 2018. She’s also a Giro d’Italia stage winner and has finished top six in both Gent-Wevelgem and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

I was keen to hear Hannah’s story and how she came into cycling and the pro peloton. I loved hearing about her early years; watching her Dad race 24hr mountain bike events on the weekend, lying about her age when she was 12 so she could join one of the MTB relay teams and joining the local club at age 10 to start weekly racing.

She’s had a colourful career, across multiple continents and as you’ll hear, her fair share of ups and downs.

I hope you enjoy the chat with Hannah, I know I did.

Stay tuned next week for more on our episode of Talking Luft!

Cheers,
Mitch

Life in the Peloton playlist

Keep in touch with Life in the Peloton

Keep up to date with everything that’s going on with Life in the Peloton at my website lifeinthepeloton.com

Life in the Peloton shop
Check out my range of Life in the Peloton merchandise on our Etsy store too, from beanies and caps to embroidered tees, logo tees and much more. Visit the Etsy store.

Or follow on social media:
Instagram: @lifeinthepeloton
Twitter: @lifeinthepelo

Theme music
The theme music for Life in the Peloton was composed by Pete Shelley, who was lead singer of the punk band Buzzcocks. It was commissioned by the production company behind Channel 4’s coverage of the Tour de France in the 1980s and was used as the theme music for the nightly highlights show. Pete died in December 2018. We were given permission by Pete’s widow and his manager to continue using the music for the theme tune to Life in the Peloton. To hear more about the music, listen to the Andre Greipel episode of Life in the Peloton.

This episode is sponsored by Babbel. If you'd like to learn another language Babbel is the app for you. Get six months extra free when you sign up for six months with the code CYCLING

It's hill-climb season once again in the UK. In this episode Tom Whalley and Lizzy Banks discuss what could be the UK's steepest climb. Could it even be the steepest climb in the world? Simon Warren, author of 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs, and Ben Lowe, the creator of Veloviewer, talk us through their attempts to climb and measure the gradiant of Bamford Clough. Lizzy also speaks to Rebecca Richardson, one of the UK's top hill-climbers, about the balancing act of life and how she still manages to get to the top. Lizzy and Rebecca take on Winnats Pass where the national hill climb championships will take place on October 31.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is sponsored by Calm, the mental wellness app. Get 40% off a premium subscription by going to calm.com/cycle

And by LinkedIn Jobs. Recruit the right person for your organisation. Go to linkedin.com/cycle

In this week's episode we dissect a thrilling men's road race at the world championships in Flanders: a race hailed by some as the greatest world championship road race in history, played out in front of a crowd estimated at a million.

We hear from some of the riders who contributed to the drama and excitement: Belgium's Yves Lampaert, Neilson Powless of the USA, Tom Pidcock of Great Britain and Remi Cavagna, a French teammate of the winner, Julian Alaphilippe.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is sponsored by NordVPN. Get up to 73% off a two-year plan: go to NordVPN.com/TCP

Orla Chennaoui, Rose Manley and Richard Moore look back at the world road race championships in Flanders and ahead to the first ever women's Paris-Roubaix.

We hear from Elisa Longo Borghini, who led her Italian teammate Elisa Balsamo out to victory in Flanders, and from the British riders Lizzie Deignan and Anna Henderson.

There are also interviews with two riders who were retiring after the road race: Ruth Winder and Anna van der Breggen, who exits with her legacy secured as one of the all-time greats.

And we hear from the chief executive of Flanders Classics, Tomas Van Den Spiegel, about his vision for women's racing in Flanders.

The Cycling Podcast Féminin is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is supported by Babbel, the fun and effective way of learning a new language, using bite-sized lessons to teach you words and phrases that you will actually use in the real world. Right now, Babbel is offering our listeners six months free with a purchase of a 6-month subscription. Go to Babbel.com/play and enter the promo code CYCLING. 

In this feature length episode from Paris-Roubaix Richard Moore and Lionel Birnie take us on a journey from Compiègne to Roubaix via some of the famous cobbles.

From Saturday's first ever women's race we report from the first sector of pavé and hear from riders including Audrey Cordon-Ragot, Marlen Reusser and Lisa Brennauer.

From Sunday's men's race we hear from Mitch Docker, riding his last race as a professional, and Florian Vermeersch, the revelation of the race who finished second in the Roubaix Velodrome. And we also speak to Roger Hammond and Tim Harris, Bahrain Victorious sports directors of the winner, Sonny Colbrelli, as well as his teammate Fred Wright.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is sponsored by Curators of Craft. If you would like to try some Curators of Craft beer, go to CuratorsofCraft.co.uk. With the discount code Roubaix15 you can get 15% off all orders over £40 and free UK mainland delivery on all orders over £60. 

Join Rose Manley, Lionel Birnie and Lizzy Banks as our nightly coverage of The Women’s Tour kicks off following the opening stage to Banbury.

Hear from Sophie Wright, teammate of stage winner Marta Bastianelli, and Anna Christian, who launched one of the most persistent attacks of the opening stage.

Plus there’s Lizzie Deignan, who lines up as defending champion and newly-crowned Paris-Roubaix winner, Christine Majerus, Amy Pieters and Elisa Longo Borghini.

Lizzy outlines what we can expect to see over the coming five days after a number of potential winners were ruled out. Will this be a race won by the sprinter who can time trial best or can someone gain enough time against the clock to hold off the time bonus chasers?

We also ask what the impact of a brutal debut edition of Paris-Roubaix may have on the six-day stage race.

Plus, we discuss Banbury Cakes and ask what the nursery rhyme is all about.

The Cycling Podcast Féminin is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is also supported LinkedIn Jobs. To post a job ad for free and find the right candidate for your company go to LinkedIn.com/cycle

Join Rose Manley, Lionel Birnie and Lizzy Banks as they recap stage two of the Women’s Tour, which tackled ten climbs on a tough circuit in grim weather.

A break of 10 riders got clear to deny a second bunch sprint and at the finish we saw Amy Pieters of SD Worx win her fourth Women’s Tour stage, while Clara Copponi of France took the race lead from Marta Bastianelli.

In this episode, we hear from Pfeiffer Georgi and Juliette Labous of Team DSM, who were both in the break, Pieters’ teammate Demi Vollering and new queen of the mountains Elise Chabbey.

Lionel investigates the link between Walsall and Brooks saddles and in the final part there’s an exclusive interview by Orla Chennaoui with Olympic silver medallist Elinor Barker, who shared some big news today…

The Cycling Podcast Féminin is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

The Women’s Tour had the first time trial stage in its eight-year history as the riders tackled a 16.6-kilometre circuit round Atherstone. But this was about as far from the traditional out-and-back British 10-mile time trial as you could get.

Join Rose Manley, Lionel Birnie and Lizzy Banks in the New Swan in Atherstone as they recap a stage that has turned the race on its head – and possibly put the leader’s jersey out of the reach of all the riders.

Hear how the time trial unfolded with our focus on the riders who sat in the hot seat – or the giant deckchair of destiny – over the course of the afternoon. We spoke to the riders who led the time trial and to Demi Vollering, who won the stage and took what could be an unassailable lead overall.

Lizzy was out on the course checking out the technical aspects of a demanding course and we hear from Clara Copponi, who put up a spirited defence of the race lead she took yesterday.

We also hear from World Hour record breaker Jos Lowden, Women’s Tour ever-present Leah Kirchmann and Lionel finds out about the Atherstone ball game.

The Cycling Podcast Féminin is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

So, this is it, my final race as a professional cyclist. When I announced I'd be retiring at the end of this season I didn't know what my last race would be, but then fate stepped in. Paris-Roubaix – a race I've truly loved over the years, was rescheduled from its usual April spot to an end-of-season Sunday in October. It seemed fitting to ride this brutal race to close my career.

It's been quite a journey to get here, especially after fracturing my elbow in a crash at the Benelux Tour in early September. With so many high-calibre Classics riders in our team I wasn't guaranteed a start.

It was touch-and-go whether I'd be on the start line in Compiègne for the Hell of the North and there were even moments in my final preparation race when I had my doubts.

This episode tells the story of my final week as a professional cyclist. Join me along the way as I get ready for the race with my current teammates – Tom Scully, Michael Valgren and Stefan Bisseger, catch up with some of my best friends in the peloton, Bert de Backer, Luke Durbridge, Sam Bewley, Jack Bauer and Mathew Hayman, followed by the aftermath of one of the legendary wet editions of Paris-Roubaix.

I've always said I wanted to do at least one wet Paris-Roubaix before I retired but as the rain fell on the morning of the race and everyone retreated into their own thoughts I began to have second thoughts.

I won't spoil how the race turned out – you'll have to listen for that – but as one of my old teammates said, very few people in sport get to bow out with a fairytale finish. Having said that, the way my Paris-Roubaix ended turned out to be the perfect send-off.

I've loved my professional career but I've learned this year that when it's time, you know it's time.

I hope you enjoy this episode – thank you for all the support whether you were there cheering in the rain or watching at home. If you want to get your hands on a Final Sunday in Hell cap as a memento check out my Etsy store in the links below on Friday.

Cheers,
Mitch

Life in the Peloton playlist

Keep in touch with Life in the Peloton

Keep up to date with everything that’s going on with Life in the Peloton at my website lifeinthepeloton.com

Life in the Peloton shop
Check out my range of Life in the Peloton merchandise on our Etsy store too, from beanies and caps to embroidered tees, logo tees and much more. Visit the Etsy store.

Or follow on social media:
Instagram: @lifeinthepeloton
Twitter: @lifeinthepelo

Theme music
The theme music for Life in the Peloton was composed by Pete Shelley, who was lead singer of the punk band Buzzcocks. It was commissioned by the production company behind Channel 4’s coverage of the Tour de France in the 1980s and was used as the theme music for the nightly highlights show. Pete died in December 2018. We were given permission by Pete’s widow and his manager to continue using the music for the theme tune to Life in the Peloton. To hear more about the music, listen to the Andre Greipel episode of Life in the Peloton.

It’s another packed podcast from the Women’s Tour. Join Rose Manley, Lionel Birnie and Lizzy Banks at the famous Rossi’s ice cream parlour on the seafront in Southend-on-Sea as they recap stage four.

The stage was won by Lorena Wiebes of Team DSM and we hear her finish line reaction and get the thoughts of sports director Albert Timmer.

Lizzy checked out the course, we hear reaction from the riders after a fast, furious run-in, and in the final part we ask race director Mick Bennett why there is no live coverage of the race – something that is a World Tour requirement. Lizzy also gives her thoughts on the fact fans cannot watch the race as it unfolds.

Finally, we learn about Southend and a debate rages about ice cream flavours.

The Cycling Podcast Féminin is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com 

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is also sponsored by the Hammerhead Karoo 2. For a limited time only get a free Hammerhead heart-rate monitor with the purchase of a Karoo 2. Go to hammerhead.io and use the promo code CYCLE at check-out.

Oh we do like to be beside the seaside… For the second day in a row the Women’s Tour finished beside the sea, this time in Clacton and for the second day in a row Lorena Wiebes won the stage.

Join Rose Manley, Lionel Birnie and Lizzy Banks on the sea front as they recap the stage. We hear from Mark Cavendish, who stopped to watch the race yesterday and was at the finish today.

Lizzy heads out on her bike to give the lowdown on the course, we hear post-race reaction from Wiebes and her Team DSM teammate Pfeiffer Georgi. Plus there’s Hayley Simmonds, who earned the biggest lead over the peloton so far this week, from Chloe Hosking about Trek-Segafredo’s search for a stage win and focus on a couple of the riders who have had difficult days in the race.

There’s a discussion about what constitutes a podium finish and – Clacton Klaxon – some fascinating facts about Clacton.

The Cycling Podcast Féminin is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com 

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

That’s a wrap from the 2021 Women’s Tour. Join Rose Manley, Lionel Birnie and Lizzy Banks as they witness the conclusion of the final stage – the longest of the race – to Felixstowe.

The sun was shining, the crowds were cheering and although there wasn’t a drop of rain in the air in the finishing straight the rainbow shone too.

Elisa Balsamo, the recently-crowned world champion, finally grabbed a stage win for her Valcar team after going so close yesterday. We hear the reaction from Balsamo and her teammates.

Lizzy’s recon included a trip on a ferry, we wrap up the stories from the day’s breakaway and the crash which marred the run-in before focussing on overall winner Demi Vollering. We hear from her SD Worx sports director Danny Stam.

We also reveal who has won the Pédaleuse de Charme and Stacy Snyder’s beautiful hand-made cup and hear from Trixi  Worrack, who brought down the curtain on a long career today.

We hope you have enjoyed this week’s coverage. Thanks to our producers Will Jones, Adam Bowie and Huw Owen. Also to Simon Gill, to Lionel’s mystery researcher and to Alasdair Lloyd-Jones and the social media team.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com 

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is sponsored by NordVPN. Get up to 73% off a two-year plan: go to NordVPN.com/TCP

In the first of two episodes this week, Richard Moore and Daniel Friebe discuss Tadej Pogacar's victory at Il Lombardia, the fifth and final Monument of the season.

There's also all the most recent cycling news, including Arnaud Demare's win at the end of a thrilling Paris-Tours, the latest transfers and the appointment of Marion Rousse as the director of the new Tour de France Femmes, which is launching in 2022.

The podcast will return with Lionel Birnie later in the week to discuss the 2022 Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes routes, which will be unveiled on Thursday.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

The routes for the 2022 Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes were revealed in Paris so now the riders know what awaits them next July.

The 109th edition of the men’s Tour will start on Friday, July 1 with a time trial in Copenhagen, followed by two stages in Denmark before a transfer back to France where the cobbles of the Hell of the North await. The serious climbing starts with La Super Planche des Belles Filles before Alpe d’Huez returns for the first time since 2018. The Tour will visit Hautacam in the Pyrenees before a time trial at Rocamadour.

The first edition of the Tour de France Femmes will kick off with a stage in Paris on the same day the men’s Tour reaches the Champs-Élysées. Over the course of eight stages, the women will tackle gravel and climbs before the yellow jersey is decided on La Super Planche des Belles Filles.

Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe dissect the routes, assess some of the culinary highlights and ask whether the sprinters will be forced to look elsewhere for opportunities.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com 

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is sponsored by Noom, the psychology-based approach to getting people on track to eating healthier. Sign up for a trial and get psychology-based support to lose the weight for good at noom.com/cycle 

Richard Moore has been in the Veneto region of northern Italy experiencing the rebirth of racing in an area that is rich in cycling heritage.

Richard joins Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe to talk about the week's racing and riding.

Filippo Pozzato, former Milan-Sanremo winner and Italian national champion, has created a new one-day race in his own image.

The Giro del Veneto, first held in the 1920s but absent from the calendar for more than a decade, has returned and has been joined by the Veneto Classic and a gravel one-day race, the Serenissima.

The Veneto region is also home to some of Italian cycling's most storied manufacturers, including Campagnolo and Sidi. But how does a new race fit into an already crowded Italian race calendar, what is the true potential for gravel racing, and what does it say about the current state of the sport in Italy?

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is sponsored by Calm, the #1 mental wellness app, to give you the tools that improve the way you feel. If you go to calm.com/CYCLE, you’ll get a limited time offer of 40% off a Calm Premium Subscription, which includes hundreds of hours of programming.

So, this is it, retirement. Or, to put it another way, the longest off-season of my life. I've ridden my final race and in a few short weeks I will be officially retired from the professional peloton.

When I made the decision that this would be my final season as a rider, I wanted to prepare myself for what comes next. And so, over the course of the year, as my mindset has changed and I've got closer to my final race, I spoke to some friends and former teammates about what to expect.

In this episode, I speak to eight people who have all adjusted to retirement – some very recently, such as Tejay van Garderen, some longer ago like David Millar. Brett Lancaster, Andreas Klier and Robert Wagner have all stayed in the sport in some way, whereas Dom Rollin has gone in a completely different direction. I also speak to Gracie Elvin and my good buddy Svein Tuft about the ups and downs of no longer being a pro athlete. What's it like to no longer be the best at something? How do we adjust to regular life? What can those who have gone before me tell me that can help me prepare for my own retirement?

This is the final episode of Life in the Peloton for 2021. I hope you've enjoyed our season of shows. Thank you for all your support and kind comments and I'll see you on the road. I'm really looking forward to finding out what life outside the peloton has in store...

Cheers,
Mitch

Life in the Peloton playlist

Keep in touch with Life in the Peloton

Keep up to date with everything that’s going on with Life in the Peloton at my website lifeinthepeloton.com

Life in the Peloton shop
Check out my range of Life in the Peloton merchandise on our Etsy store too, from beanies and caps to embroidered tees, logo tees and much more. Visit the Etsy store.

Or follow on social media:
Instagram: @lifeinthepeloton
Twitter: @lifeinthepelo

Theme music
The theme music for Life in the Peloton was composed by Pete Shelley, who was lead singer of the punk band Buzzcocks. It was commissioned by the production company behind Channel 4’s coverage of the Tour de France in the 1980s and was used as the theme music for the nightly highlights show. Pete died in December 2018. We were given permission by Pete’s widow and his manager to continue using the music for the theme tune to Life in the Peloton. To hear more about the music, listen to the Andre Greipel episode of Life in the Peloton.

In this episode of Service Course, Lizzy and Tom speak to two holders of prestigious cycling world records. First up is Ashton Lambie, who at the time of recording is the current holder of the individual pursuit world record, and the first person to go under four minutes in that event. Ashton talks about living in an RV, not wanting to ride for a road team, bench pressing over 300lbs, coffee, bikes, and what to watch on Netflix.

Next is Joss Lowden, the new hour record holder. Lizzy caught up with her at the British National Championships, she tells us that she actually broke that record riding one of Ashton’s old frames.

Finally Tom chats to Anna Lawson, an ironman athlete, about the weird world of bikes used in those competitions, but more importantly her ride to COP26 in Glasgow and the ways that cycling can have a positive impact on climate change.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is sponsored by NordVPN. Get up to 73% off a two-year plan: go to NordVPN.com/TCP

And by LinkedIn Jobs. Recruit the right person for your organisation. Go to linkedin.com/cycle

This is a trailer for a new episode available to Friends of the Podcast.

The latest in our series featuring The Cycling Podcast's hosts features Lionel Birnie facing the questions from Orla Chennaoui. Lionel talks about his route into cycling journalism, from a childhood spent making football magazines to learning the ropes at his local newspaper.

To sign up as a Friend of the Podcast go to thecyclingpodcast.com. 

There are currently almost 50 episodes available to Friends of the Podcast subscribers.

In this episode, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe discuss some of the latest stories from the world of professional cycling. After saving the team at the last minute a year ago, is this the end of the road for the Qhubeka-NextHash World Tour team? What’s behind the latest shake-up at Movistar, and does Tiesj Benoot really want out of Team DSM? And if he leaves, where might he end up?


In part two, we discuss Ineos Grenadiers. Geraint Thomas appears to be staying for another year, there are changes in the coaching and management department with Tim Kerrison leaving after 12 years and Roger Hammond considering an offer to join. And could one of the team’s brightest young stars be lured away by another team?

Finally, we discuss two doping stories. We’ll try to make sense of the WADA report into British Cycling running a private testing programme for nandrolone a decade ago in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics, and get to the bottom of the substance found in some Bahrain-Victorious riders’ hair samples.

Plus, which men’s World Tour rider had the most race days in 2021 – and how far towards the moon would that have taken him?

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is sponsored by NordVPN. Get up to 73% off a two-year plan: go to NordVPN.com/TCP

Explore returns for a mini series this month and in this opening episode we cover the pavé and gravel experiencing the old and new of road racing.

The day before the women's Paris-Roubaix, Richard Moore and Lionel Birnie, joined by Simon Gill, sampled some of the sectors. Lionel once rode the full 260-kilometre Paris-Roubaix cyclo-sportive but Richard had never ridden on the cobblestones of north-eastern France and was in for a shock.

Then Richard headed to Veneto in northern Italy for a week of racing and riding put together by former Milan-Sanremo winner and Italian champion Filippo Pozzato. As well as a series of one-day races, there was a Granfondo, which Richard rode, and the first edition of the Serenissima gravel race, which was won by Alexey Lutsenko.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is sponsored by the Hammerhead Karoo 2. For a limited time, our listeners can get a free Hammerhead Heart Rate Monitor with the purchase of a Karoo 2. Visit hammerhead.io right now and use promo code CYCLE at checkout to get yours today.

In this week's episode Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe discuss Alex Dowsett's Hour record attempt.

Dowsett held the record back in 2015, before Bradley Wiggins broke it, and he aimed to win it back from the current holder Victor Campenaerts in Mexico this week.

He fell just short but he won a lot of admirers for raising awareness of haemophilia, a condition he has overcome to reach the top of his sport, and for putting together the team for his record attempt himself. What does his near-miss mean for the record and who will go for it next?

In part two, we talk about the 2022 Giro d'Italia grande partenza in Hungary. Postponed from 2020 because of the pandemic, Budapest will finally host the start of the Giro next May and the three stages unveiled this week by the organisers look more promising than the original plans. With the Giro route being unveiled bit-by-bit over the course of a week has the race lost something without a 'big reveal'? And what else might Italy's grand tour have in store?

Finally, Lionel talks about his weekend trip to Belgium to see the Koppenbergcross. We hear from 'cross legend Sven Nys to take the current temperature of the scene and the possibility of Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert returning later in the season.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is sponsored by Beer52. For a free case of eight* Craft Beers from Beer52 go to www.beer52.com/Cycle – all you have to do is cover the postage costs of £5.95. *Order now and get two additional free beers, making 10 in total.

In this month's episode of The Cycling Podcast Féminin Orla Chennaoui and Richard Moore are joined by Lizzy Banks to discuss the British national championships and the Ronde van Drenthe, and we hear from Susanne Andersen who is leaving Team DSM to join Uno-X.

We also look back on the first women's Paris-Roubaix and ahead to next year's inaugural Tour de France Femmes. 

The Cycling Podcast Féminin is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport. 

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is supported by LinkedIn Jobs. LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. And you can post a job for free, go to: LinkedIn.com/CYCLE 

This episode is also supported by Noom, a psychology-based approach to getting people on track to eating healthier. Instead of setting a strict set of rules, Noom empowers you with the knowledge and psychology to build smarter, more sustainable habits and behaviours. To start your free trial, to go: Noom.com/CYCLE

In the latest episode of Explore we hear Mark Beaumont’s audio diary from GBDuro, the on- and off-road race the length of Britain, from Land's End to John o’ Groats.

Amazingly this was Mark’s first ever organised race — though GBDuro is not a race in the traditional sense.

Or perhaps it is? As well as being a test of endurance, it is an event that seeks to put cycle racing back in touch with its roots. With four ultra long stages, and with the riders unsupported and self sufficient, it arguably has more in common with the early Tours de France than the modern incarnation.

As well as Mark — who told us all about his round the world record in our first ever episode of Explore — we hear from some of the other competitors.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is also sponsored by NordVPN, which offers you security online whenever you connect to the internet. Get NordVPN's Cyber Month Deal today. Go to nordvpn.com/tcp or use code tcp to get up to 73% off your NordVPN Plan + a bonus gift

In this episode Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe discuss the final unveiling of the 2022 Giro d'Italia route. The Giro stages have been revealed bit by bit this time in batches, rather than chronologically. Has this robbed the Giro route of some of its mystery and majesty or does it not really matter? And what are the other terrible innovations in recent grand tour history?

It's track season, cyclo-cross season and silly season. We discuss the controversy of riders taking part in events on their new team's bikes before their contracts have expired in the light of EF Education First's threat to terminate Sergio Higuita and Lawson Craddock's contracts for doing just that. We ask whether Adam Yates's Barcelona marathon time was impressive for a professional cyclist. 

Richard's show and tell segment discusses a new show on GCN featuring EF Education First sports director Tom Southam teaching a bunch of fourth-category riders how to ride as a team, and we hear from Southam himself.

And in the final part we speak to Tony Moffa, a Friend of the Podcast who has recently secured a job in the World Tour with Team DSM as a mechanic – a move which came about after he listened to our Friends of the Podcast special episode A Team Apart.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is sponsored by Calm, the #1 mental wellness app, to give you the tools that improve the way you feel. If you go to calm.com/CYCLE, you’ll get a limited time offer of 40% off a Calm Premium Subscription, which includes hundreds of hours of programming.

For this episode of Explore one of our audio producers, Adam Bowie, takes over on the mic as he sets off to ride the King Alfred's Way in the south west of England.

The 350-kilometre circular, mostly off-road, bikepacking route features a mix of gravel tracks, woodland trails, canal towpaths and rural lanes as it takes in parts of the Ridgeway, South Downs Way, Shipwrights Way and Sussex Border Path.

The route is named after Alfred the Great, who ruled the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex in the ninth century. The route passes King Alfred's statue in Winchester, where he is buried.

This is not just a multi-day bikepacking adventure. Adam had a specific reason for undertaking the trip, because it marked an important point in an inspirational and transformative journey he'd been on over the course of more than a year as the country locked down during the pandemic.

Find out more about King Alfred's Way here.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is also supported by Babbel. If you want to learn a new language get six months free with the purchase of a six-month subscription with the promo code CYCLING at uk.babbel.com/play

And by Beer52, who are offering ten free craft beers (that's two more than usual) for just the price of postage if you order before December 17. Go to beer52.com/cycle

This week's episode comes from the Six Days of Ghent, which is back this week after a year's absence. 

Richard Moore and Lionel Birnie report from a familiarly busy and raucous 't Kuipke on the opening night and speak to some of the star names, including Olympic Madison champion Michael Mørkøv and local favourite Iljo Keisse. 

We also hear from Maikel Zijlaard, riding his first senior Ghent Six and remembering his grandfather, who was one of track cycling's legendary derny riders. The director of the race, Christophe Sercu – son of the late Patrick – also tells us about this year's race and his hopes for six day racing. 

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is sponsored by Hammerhead. The Hammerhead Karoo 2 is a next-generation cycling computer that brings the power of advanced GPS navigation and intuitive software right to your handlebars.

For a limited time, Hammerhead has an incredible deal - buy a Karoo 2 at hammerhead.io/trade and get up to $170 back when you trade in your current cycling computer.

In this episode of Service Course, Tom Whalley looks back on the fixed gear phenomenon, which peaked around a decade ago, and asks what happened to fixie culture.

He speaks with Max Leonard, co-author of Fixed, former bike messenger Emily Chappell, and Tibco-SVB’s Tanja Erath.

Tanja came into pro-cycling through the Zwift academy, but before that she started making waves racing in fixed gear criteriums, notably the much missed Red Hook series. Tanja talks about the benefits of riding fixed and how she hopes to be able to ride fixie crits as part of next year’s race calendar.

Service Course by The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is sponsored by LinkedIn Jobs. Recruit the right person for your organisation. Go to linkedin.com/cycle

In this fourth and final episode in our mini-series of Explore we look at the  gravel scene.

Gravel at a crossroads is partly inspired by some of the reaction to our feature on the so-called "first professional gravel race" in Veneto in episode one. Some took exception to the description, with one listener advising us that if we want to talk about gravel we should speak to some Americans!

So we have. In this episode we hear from Caley Fretz, editor of Cycling Tips and "groad" pioneer, and Ian Boswell, the former World Tour pro who won Unbound, arguably the world's biggest gravel race, this year.

We also speak to two riders at a crossroads in their careers: Tiffany Cromwell, who is combining Women's World Tour racing with gravel races, and Finley Newmark, a promising young rider who is turning full-time to gravel in 2022. 

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is also supported by Babbel. If you want to learn a new language get six months free with the purchase of a six-month subscription with the promo code CYCLING at uk.babbel.com/play

In the first part of our look back at the 2021 road racing season, Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe discussed the cobbled Classics.

The Latin title of our series, Annus galaxicus, was Daniel's idea, naturally, and it refers to Julian Alaphilippe, Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel, who looked set to dominate the one-day races. However, while all of them had outstanding moments, none of them managed to win one of the five Monuments. We ask why.

And what was the outstanding Classic performance of the year? Tadej Pogacar's sports director Allan Peiper didn't hesitate when we asked him the question.

We also hear from Tour of Flanders winner Kasper Asgreen and Lionel designs his five-course Monuments meal.

Next week, we'll move on the Ardennes Classics and other eyecatching one-day races as well as ask whether any of the current generation of stellar stars can complete the career grand slam by winning all five Monuments.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is also supported by Beer52, who are offering ten free craft beers (that's two more than usual) for just the price of postage if you order before December 17. Go to beer52.com/cycle

In the second part of our look back at the one-day races of 2021, we pick up the story by asking whether Peter Sagan can return to his best to challenge the current crop of Galácticos.

We hear from Jonathan Vaughters about the ways racing has changed and why a 'boring' race to watch does not mean an easy race to ride.

Toms Skujiņš of Trek-Segafredo tells us which of the current riders are most likely to win all five one-day Monuments in their career.

And we hear from Ineos Grenadiers rider Tom Pidcock, who was the breakthrough rider of the spring.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

The article by Nick Busca featuring Supersapiens founder Phil Southerland referenced in this episode can be found here.

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is also supported by Noom. If you'd like to lose weight in a carefully-managed, sustainable way, go to Noom.com/cycle

The final episode of The Cycling Podcast Féminin of 2021 is one of two halves.

In the first, Lizzy Banks and Richard Moore argue over who should win our end-of-year awards, and Lizzy tells us all about her new team, EF Education-Tibco-SVB.

In the second, Orla Chennaoui is interviewed by one of our listeners, Jack Mckillop, about the origins and first five years of The Cycling Podcast Féminin.

The Cycling Podcast Féminin is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is sponsored by Hammerhead. The Hammerhead Karoo 2 is a next-generation cycling computer that brings the power of advanced GPS navigation and intuitive software right to your handlebars.

For a limited time, Hammerhead has an incredible deal - buy a Karoo 2 at hammerhead.io/trade and get up to $170 back when you trade in your current cycling computer.

This episode is also sponsored by Calm, the #1 mental wellness app. If you go to calm.com/CYCLE, you’ll get a limited time offer of 40% off a Calm Premium Subscription, which includes hundreds of hours of programming.

Our review of the 2021 men’s road racing season continues with a deep look at the three grand tours.

Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe weigh up the era of the galacticos in a year when the three outstanding stage racers – Egan Bernal, Tadej Pogačar and Primož Roglič – each won a grand tour.

Transport yourself back to Italy, France and Spain with our greatest hits compilations, a selection of audio highlights from our travels this year, before we discuss each of the races in turn.

We look back at the best days of racing, ask whether the Vuelta really is overtaking the Giro as the ’second’ grand tour, revisit Mark Cavendish’s record-equalling stage wins at the Tour and ask which of Bernal and Roglic is best placed to challenge Pogačar next season.

We hear from Joe Dombrowski, Pavel Sivakov and Jonathan Vaughters on the Pog-nomenon and ask what threats there are to his dominance. And we speak to Toms Skujiņš about arguably the best day’s racing from the grand tours – or at least the day which provided the least expected thrills.

The Giro d’Italia – 12 minutes 28 seconds

The Tour de France – 37 minutes 49 seconds

Vuelta a España – 1 hour 36 minutes 27 seconds

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

The article by Nick Busca featuring Supersapiens founder Phil Southerland referenced in this episode can be found here.

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is also supported by Beer52. To get ten free craft beers delivered to your door, order by December 17 at https://www.beer52.com/cycle

In this week's episode, it's over to you, our listeners, to ask the questions of Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe.

Is Patrick Lefevere's belief in Remco Evenepoel misplaced? Is it right for the whole cycling circus to fly to Australia for the World Championships considering the environmental impact? How have the peloton and the press room changed since we started The Cycling Podcast in 2013? Are the crowds at the Tour of Britain bigger than at the Dauphiné? Which race route would make the best one-day Classic? Can anyone win the triple crown again? And more...

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is also sponsored by Shipstation. If you sell online and need to despatch orders easily, go to Shipstation.com and use the code CYCLING for a 60-day trial.

In this press conference episode of Service Course, Tom Whalley and Lizzy Banks open the floor to your questions. We discuss whether time is up for the front derailleur thanks to Classified's revolutionary two-speed hub, we try to unmuddy the waters when it comes to picking that perfect winter tyre and Richard from France asks Tom and Lizzy to describe their dream builds.

Finally, we talk about increasing the accessibility of cycling and hear from the creator of The School of Rocks, Eleanor Jaskowska, about how to build your confidence and develop a skillset for off-road riding. Her partner, Liam Glen, winner of the Highland Trail 550 also tells us about building a race winning bike on a budget and making your own bike packing bags.

Service Course by The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is sponsored by LinkedIn Jobs. Recruit the right person for your organisation. Go to linkedin.com/cycle

This episode is also sponsored by NordVPN, which offers you security online whenever you connect to the internet. Get NordVPN's Cyber Month Deal today. Go to nordvpn.com/tcp or use code tcp to get up to 73% off your NordVPN Plan + a bonus gift

Explore usually takes riders a little further afield than just a few kilometres from their home but in this episode Lionel Birnie sets out on his familiar festive route in the eastern edge of the Chilterns.

On the route are 12 hills and so this is the 12 hills of Christmas, a 90-kilometre route peppered with short climbs.

While Christmas is a time for celebrations, lightheartedness and joy it's also a time for reflection on the year almost passed. Regular listeners will know Lionel missed a big chunk of the season and cancelled his Tour d'Écosse series for Explore at very short notice. While the roads may be reassuringly familiar, he also takes the time to explore less comfortable territory as he talks about his mental health and what happened this year.

GPX file: If you want to ride The 12 hills of Christmas route, you can download the GPX file from Dropbox here.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

The Cycling Podcast is on Strava

Welcome to The Cesares, also known as The Moonies, or to put it more simply The Cycling Podcast's alternative awards 2021.

Our virtual ceremony hosted by Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe has none of the glitz or glamour of The Oscars or, indeed, any of the world's well-known awards nights.

But it can only be a matter of time before The Cesares, or The Moonies, or whatever we're calling it is, matches the same prestige as the Velo d'Or or the Flandrien of the Year prize.

So, without further ado, let's reach for The Cycling Podcast's pile of brown envelopes to see who the lucky winners are this year. Which race will claim the Definitely Not Flèche Wallonne Race of the Year prize? Who is in line for the Sex and the City Comeback of the Year gong? Who can stand in the way of Primož Roglič and the Primož Roglič Defeat from the Jaws of Victory award?

Drum roll, please... let's welcome to the stage, in a virtual tuxedo and bow tie, your host Richard Moore...

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is sponsored by Hammerhead. The Hammerhead Karoo 2 is a next-generation cycling computer that brings the power of advanced GPS navigation and intuitive software right to your handlebars.

For a limited time, Hammerhead has an incredible deal - buy a Karoo 2 at hammerhead.io/trade and get up to $170 (£125) back when you trade in your current cycling computer. This offer expires on January 6.

The Cycling Podcast is on Strava

Merry Christmas from Richard, Daniel, Lionel and everyone at The Cycling Podcast.

Cast your mind back to the summer's three grand tours in this mini episode. We'll be back in mid-January to see what the 2022 season has in store.

In the meantime, Friends of the Podcast subscribers can listen to our Christmas Selection Box, starting on Christmas Day. We'll release seven episodes over the festive season starting with a love letter to cycling magazines.

A Friends of the Podcast subscription is £20 (approx $26US, €27 or $37 AUS) for a year's access. There are currently more than 50 episodes to listen to straight away.

Sign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com

Existing Friends of the Podcast will have their subscriptions renewed automatically (unless that option has been disabled). To check your subscription status login to your account.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

The Cycling Podcast is on Strava

In our first episode of 2022 we meet the World Tour’s youngest rider, Cian Uijtdebroeks.

The 18-year-old Belgian has signed for Bora-Hansgrohe and will make his professional debut in Mallorca at the end of the month. 

Already dubbed “the next Remco,” Uijtdebroeks came to wide attention when he won the junior edition of Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne in 2020 with a 50km solo breakaway. 

But who is he, and how does an 18-year-old deal with the expectation and hype that comes with being a talented young rider in Belgium?

Before Christmas, Richard went to meet him at the Uijtdebroeks family home close to the border between Flanders and Wallonia.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

The Cycling Podcast is on Strava

Friends of the Podcast
Sign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com to listen to more than 60 exclusive episodes including the Christmas Selection Box collection.

In our first regular episode of 2022 we anticipate the Grand Tours and ask whether it will be the third year of Pog – Tadej Pogačar.

Daniel Friebe has spoken to Pogačar's coach, Iñigo San Millán, who describes him (Pogačar, not Daniel) as "the perfect athlete." We also hear from Pogačar himself. 

And we hear from Egan Bernal, who Richard spoke to in between training rides in Colombia (Bernal, not Richard). Bernal tells us that while the Tour de France is his main focus he would like to ride Liège-Basgogne-Liège and Flèche Wallonne as well.

Rolf Aldag, meanwhile, tells us about Bora-Hansgrohe's ambitions as they transition into a team with a focus on general classification in stage races. 

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

The Cycling Podcast has a new collaboration with MAAP. See: maap.cc

The Cycling Podcast is on Strava

Friends of the Podcast
Sign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com to listen to more than 60 exclusive episodes including the Christmas Selection Box collection.

This episode is also supported by Noom. If you'd like to lose weight in a carefully-managed, sustainable way, go to Noom.com/cycle

“Whatever people say I am, that’s what I’m not”. In this episode Tom Whalley channels his inner Arthur Seaton as he looks at the history and legacy of the Raleigh brand, 20 years after they closed their final factory in Nottingham. Local historian Chris Matthews takes us on a walk of some of  the key Raleigh sites in the city, and digital story teller James Walker talks about author Arthur Sillitoe’s classic novel, Saturday Night Sunday Morning, and its protagonist Arthur Seaton who worked in the Raleigh factory. We also hear from Julian Hopkins who collects Raleigh Burners and Ken Price who has one of the world’s most impressive collections of Raleigh Choppers.

James Walker’s work includes Dawn of the Unread, an online graphic novel series celebrating Nottingham's literary history, and The Sillitoe Trail, which explores the enduring relevance of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. More recently he has created the Sillitoe-inspired Instagram story The Loneliness of the Lockdown Runner and the D.H. Lawrence Memory Theatre.

Find more about James here

Chris Matthews is a historian, author and graphic designer. You can see more of Chris’ work here

Service Course by The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is sponsored by LinkedIn Jobs. Recruit the right person for your organisation. Go to linkedin.com/cycle

This episode is also sponsored by the Hammerhead Karoo 2. Listeners can get a free custom colour kit with a Karoo 2 for a limited time at hammerhead.io

In this episode, Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe react to Egan Bernal's terrible crash while training in Colombia which left Ineos Grenadiers' reigning Giro d'Italia champion needing surgery on his back and right leg.

Then we turn our attention back to previewing the 2022 season looking at the men's one-day Classics and asking who will challenge Wout van Aert while Mathieu van der Poel regains full fitness, how Ineos Grenadiers will deploy Tom Pidcock to greatest effect and where Remco Evenepoel fits into Quick Step's Classics line-up. We also hear from Bora-Hansgrohe's sports director Rolf Aldag about Milan-Sanremo.

Finally, there's more from Richard on the early season form of Scotland's Mark Stewart.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

The Cycling Podcast has a new collaboration with MAAP. See: maap.cc

The Cycling Podcast is on Strava

Friends of the Podcast
Sign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com to listen to more than 60 exclusive episodes including the Christmas Selection Box collection.

This episode is also supported by Harry's. To get your trial set for £3.95 postage go to harrys.com/cycling

The Cycling Podcast Féminin returned for 2022 with Rose Manley back in the host’s seat and joined by Orla Chennaoui and Richard Moore.

They look ahead to the season and there are interviews with Linda Jackson, founder of the new-look EF Education Tibco SVB team, and Hannah Barnes, who has moved from Canyon-SRAM to the new Uno-X team.

There’s also the much anticipated return of Rose’s quiz, Motto or Notto.

The Cycling Podcast Féminin is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is sponsored by Babbel, the language learning app. Babbel is offering our listeners six months free with a purchase of a 6-month subscription using the promo code CYCLING.

Go to babbel.com/play, and use promo code CYCLING for an extra six months free.

This episode is also sponsored by NordVPN, who are offering listeners up to 70% off your NordVPN Plan + 1 additional month for free. It’s completely risk free with NordVPN's 30 day money-back guarantee. Go to https://nordvpn.com/tcp 

Is Miguel Angel Lopez's crown as cycling's Superman under threat? Who's already looking al dente just a week into the season? Does the new Cofidis jersey look as good on the bike as off it? And just what should we make of the Astana rap?

All these questions and more are covered in a bumper episode. With the road racing season well underway in Europe and the Middle East Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe discuss what we've seen so far.

The season was almost a week old and Quick Step were still waiting for their first win of the season until Remco Evenepoel took flight on stage one of the Vuelta Valenciana. We hear from Evenepoel about his thwarted attempts to check out the gravel finish to Friday's third stage in Spain.

We also recap the rest of the racing, including Tom Pidcock's win in the cyclo-cross World Championships, and on the road at the Challenge Majorca, Grand Prix La Marseillaise and Saudi Tour.

UAE Team Emirates head coach Iñigo San Millan tells us about ketones and, at the end of the show, Lionel looks at the history of cycling's world rankings and delves into the prospect of promotion and relegation in the World Tour.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

The Cycling Podcast has a new collaboration with MAAP. See: maap.cc

The Cycling Podcast is on Strava

Friends of the Podcast
Sign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com to listen to more than 60 exclusive episodes including the Christmas Selection Box collection.

This episode is also sponsored by True Bill, which can help you manage your online subscriptions and save money.

This is a trailer for our latest series of episodes for Friends of the Podcast. To subscribe, go to thecyclingpodcast.com

The Story of The Cycling Podcast is a trilogy of episodes commissioned and edited by three of our subscribers.

In part one, How It Started, Jack Mckillop asks Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe about the origins of the podcast and how it has developed over the past nine years.

Part two, by Scott Emmons, is called How the Sausage is Made, and goes behind the scenes to ask our audio producers how the podcast is put together.

Finally, part three by Nick Busca is A Day on the Road and tells the story of a typical day at the grand tours through the prism of one of the most dramatic days in recent Tour de France history. Richard and Lionel recall the stage of the 2016 Tour when Chris Froome was seen running up Mont Ventoux without his bike. 

In this week's episode we discuss last week's stage racing in Saudi Arabia, the south of France and southern Spain.

Dylan Groenewegen and Fabio Jakobsen each won two stages at their respective races, and, although these are very early days, we wonder if the two Dutchmen may emerge as the world's top sprinters this season. 

We hear from the young Norwegian Tobias Johannessen, who finished third at Étoile de Bessèges. He is an identical twin whose brother, Anders, also rides for Uno-X, the ambitious Norwegian team eyeing a wild card for the Tour de France.

And ahead of his season debut at the Tour of Oman, we speak to Mark Cavendish's coach, Vasilis Anastopoulos. 

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

The Cycling Podcast has a new collaboration with MAAP. See: maap.cc

This episode is sponsored by Hammerhead. For a limited time, our listeners can get a free Custom Color Kit and an exclusive premium water bottle with the purchase of a Hammerhead Karoo 2. Visit hammerhead.io and use promo code CYCLE at the checkout to take advantage of this limited time offer.

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Sign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com to listen to more than 60 exclusive episodes including the Christmas Selection Box collection.

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The early season action continues to come thick and fast with races in the south of France, the Middle East and southern Spain. 

Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe discuss the Tour de la Provence, Tour of Oman and the new gravel race in Spain as the focus starts to switch to the 'holiday swing' as we're dubbing it, with the start of the Ruta del Sol in Andalusia and the Tour of the Algarve. The sun is shining and you can almost smell the sardines and sangria. It won't be long now until focus shifts to the grit and cobbles of Belgium.

It was a week of Covid cases, sprint relegations and a disqualification and in part one we delve into the racing to ask whether Nairo Quintana's win in Provence means there's still hope for the 32-year-old Colombian in the grand tours. We discuss Filippo Ganna's bike change and the continuing Cofidis revival. Then we discuss the new Clasica Jaen Paraiso won by the current gravel king, Alexey Lutsenko. Does this mean there's a new leader in The Cycling Podcast's Performance of the Year powered by Cassoulet classification?

We also discuss Chris Froome's recent comments questioning whether time trial bikes have a place in road cycling and in the final part we hear from Jumbo-Visma's manager Richard Plugge about Primoz Roglic and from George Bennett, the Kiwi climber who has swapped the Dutch squad and a role supporting Roglic for UAE Team Emirates where he'll ride with Pogacar.

There's also some droning on about drones, a terrible Smiths joke and an inaccurate football analogy. If UAE Team Emirates are the Manchester City of cycling, what does that make Jumbo-Visma? All this and more in a bumper episode.

Cycling Podcast history was made because, with Richard making a brief visit from northern France, this was the first episode recorded in Lionel's spiritual home town, Watford.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

The Cycling Podcast has a new collaboration with MAAP. See: maap.cc

This episode is sponsored by Noom, the psychological approach to losing weight in a healthy, sustained way. Go to noom.com/cycle to get started today.

Sign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com to listen to more than 60 exclusive episodes including the Christmas Selection Box collection.

In this week’s episode we discuss the smorgasbord of races over the past week, including the ongoing UAE Tour, and also look ahead to Opening Weekend in Belgium.

Tadej Pogačar won the first mountain top finish at the UAE Tour, confirming that he is the man to beat in that race – and in many others this season. He is said to be targeting Milan-Sanremo and Daniel says that he can see a pogcineration on the Poggio.

We hear from two of the young riders who’ve impressed in the stage races in Spain and Portugal over the past week, Magnus Sheffield of Ineos Grenadiers and Johannes Staune-Mittet of Jumbo-Visma.

And we catch up with Primoz Roglič at his altitude training camp in Tenerife ahead of his 2022 racing debut later this week. 

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

The Cycling Podcast has a new collaboration with MAAP. See: maap.cc

This episode is sponsored by LinkedIn Jobs. LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. And you can post a job for free. Just go to LinkedIn.com/cycle

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In this episode of Service Course, Tom jacks into the metaverse for a closer look at Bike Club, a new cycling club based around NFTs and run using block chain technology. Tom also looks at the wider ways in which sports are embracing NFTS, and with them cryptocurrencies, and how those technologies might alter the way we interact with online cycling platforms like Zwift. Along the way we hear from Rich Mitch and Tyler Benedict from Bike Club, Wes Salmon from Zwift, host of Welcome To The Metaverse Luke Franks, Capital Block CEO Tim Magnall, as well as The Cycling Podcast’s own Lionel Birnie and Kate Wagner.

Service Course by The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is also supported by Truebill. Manage your online subscriptions at truebill.com/cycling

And by Harry's. Claim your trial set for a beautiful shave at harrys.com/cycling

Wout van Aert started his road racing season in emphatic style at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, finishing off a Jumbo-Visma one-two started by Tiesj Benoot. Richard Moore was in Gent for 'Opening Weekend' and he joins Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe to discuss the beginning of the classics campaign.

We also dissect Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, which ended in the predictable sprint showdown between Fabio Jakobsen and Caleb Ewan but got there in far more surprising fashion.

Daniel describes the concept of the 'cassoulet Taco' as the worst fusion cuisine imaginable, we highlight some of the other stars of the cobbles, and wrap up the rest of the week's racing action, which has been dominated by a handful of teams.

In the final part, we discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine and how it relates to professional cycling after Gazprom, the team sponsored by the Russian state-owned energy company, starred at the UAE Tour.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

The Cycling Podcast has a new collaboration with MAAP. See: maap.cc

The Cycling Podcast is on Strava

Friends of the Podcast
Sign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com to listen to more than 60 exclusive episodes including the Christmas Selection Box collection.

This episode is sponsored by Hammerhead. For a limited time, our listeners can get a free Custom Color Kit and an exclusive premium water bottle with the purchase of a Hammerhead Karoo 2. Visit hammerhead.io and use promo code CYCLE at the checkout to take advantage of this limited time offer.

In this month’s TCP Féminin we consider the rise of Movistar, the women’s team that has slowly established itself as a formidable force and, as of the beginning of March, the best in the world.

In Annemiek van Vleuten and Emma Norsgaard they are capable of winning most, if not all, races. And their talents complement each other’s: Van Vleuten is aggressive and can go from a long way, while Norsgaard is a fast finisher – though far more than a pure sprinter.

We hear from both Van Vleuten and Norsgaard in this episode, as well as from Sebastián Unzué, who runs the women’s team and is the son of Eusebio, who has run the men’s team for more than four decades.

There are also interviews with Demi Vollering, Grace Brown and two newly appointed sports directors, Tim Harris at EF-Tibco-SVB and Jolien D’hoore, who retired at the end of last season and is now in the car for NXTG.

The Cycling Podcast Féminin is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

The Cycling Podcast has a new collaboration with MAAP. See: maap.cc

This episode is supported by Wine52. Wine52 is a discovery club all about showcasing the very best wine from a different region, each and every month. All you need to do is go to www.wine52.com/cycle and cover the postage costs of £5.95, and you’ll get three bottles delivered to you.

This episode is also supported by NordVPN. Get your exclusive NordVPN Deal by going to nordvpn.com/tcp or use the code tcp to get a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 1 additional month for free + a bonus gift. It’s completely risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee. 

Join Lionel Birnie and Simon Gill in Tuscany as they explore the white roads of Strade Bianche.

At the start in Siena Lionel meets Ciro Scognamiglio of La Gazzetta dello Sport, Brent Copeland of Bike Exchange and the 'SuperTuscan' Max Sciandri of Movistar. Then it's out on the course to see what they can see through the white dust. The Pogi Club fans were optimistic their man could launch a long-range solo move and back in the Piazza del Campo we hear from Groupama-FDJ's Lewis Askey, who was on Julian Alaphilippe's wheel when 'the crash' happened.

The Cycling Podcast will return later this week with race analysis and discussion of Strade Bianche, Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

The Cycling Podcast has a new collaboration with MAAP. See: maap.cc

The Cycling Podcast is on Strava

Friends of the Podcast
Sign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com to listen to more than 60 exclusive episodes including the Christmas Selection Box collection.

In the second of this week's two episodes Richard Moore and Daniel Friebe report from Paris-Nice, with Richard then linking up with Lionel Birnie to discuss the other World Tour stage race currently on, Tirreno Adriatico.

With the recent races dominated by two teams, we ask whether Jumbo-Visma and UAE-Team Emirates are now on a different level to their rivals. And we look ahead to a Netflix documentary series that will focus on eight teams at the Tour de France. 

We hear from Frans Maassen of Jumbo-Visma and Matteo Trentin of UAE-Team Emirates, as well as , Ben O'Connor of Ag2r-Citroen and Owain Doull and Tom Southam of EF Education-EasyPost.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

The Cycling Podcast has a new collaboration with MAAP. See: maap.cc

This episode is also supported by NordVPN. Get your exclusive NordVPN Deal by going to nordvpn.com/tcp or use the code tcp to get a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 1 additional month for free + a bonus gift. It’s completely risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee.

The Cycling Podcast is on Strava

JOIN RICHARD FOR FLANDERS WEEKEND
Richard Moore will be hosting a Tour of Flanders Experience at the Flandrien Hotel over the weekend of April 2-3. Visit the Flandrien Hotel's website for more details.

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Sign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com to listen to more than 60 exclusive episodes including the Christmas Selection Box collection.

In the first of two episodes this week, Richard, Lionel and Daniel look back at Paris-Nice and Tirreno Adriatico, the stage races in France and Italy respectively won by the Slovenian superstars, Primož Roglič and Tadej Pogačar.

Roglič’s performance in the ‘Race to the Sun’ ended up throwing up as many questions as answers, though in the end he did win – and that, as Lionel points out, is the crucial fact. 

In Italy, Pogačar continued his utterly dominant start to the season with a performance that only really suggested one question – what can Pogačar not win? 

Whether he will win Milan-Sanremo is the question we will turn to in the other episode due out later this week as we preview the first monument of the season. 

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

The Cycling Podcast has a new collaboration with MAAP. See: maap.cc

This episode is sponsored by Noom, the psychological approach to losing weight in a healthy, sustained way. Go to noom.com/cycle to get started today.

Sign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com to listen to more than 60 exclusive episodes including the Christmas Selection Box collection.

The second of this week's episodes looks ahead to Milan-Sanremo and asks whether Tadej Pogačar can become the first grand tour champion since Vincenzo Nibali to win La Primavera.

Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe discuss dominance and whether Pogačar is on course to 'complete' cycling. Winning Milan-Sanremo, a race that can be won by sprinters, climbers and attackers, would be his third Monument victory in under a year but other teams, notably Jumbo-Visma and Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl, will have plenty to say about that.

Get ready for the longest Classic of the season with our in-depth look ahead at the race.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Starting this Saturday: Arrivée
Our Classics review and analysis show Arrivée kicks off with Milan-Sanremo on Saturday. Richard, Lionel and Daniel will record their instant reaction to the first Monument of the season shortly after the winner crosses the line. From Kilometre 0 to Arrivée, we've got cycling covered.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

The Cycling Podcast has a new collaboration with MAAP. See: maap.cc

Sign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com to listen to more than 60 exclusive episodes including the Christmas Selection Box collection.

This is the first episode of Arrivée, our new post-race analysis show covering the Classics season. Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe discuss the 113th edition of Milan-Sanremo, the first Monument of the 2022 season.

 Who won it and more importantly how did they do it? We unpick the major incidents from the longest one-day race on the World Tour calendar.

We’ll follow up with any unresolved storylines and take a deeper dive, cover the opening days of the Volta a Catalunya and Classic Brugge De Panne, and look ahead to the E3 Saxo Bank Classic and Gent-Wevelgem in our regular episode later this week.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

The Cycling Podcast has a new collaboration with MAAP. See: maap.cc

Sign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com to listen to more than 60 exclusive episodes including the Christmas Selection Box collection.

Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe are back to discuss the racing in Spain and Belgium.

At the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya – or should that be Volta Down Under – Australian riders took the opening three stages and in Belgium we saw the World Cycle Path Championships, otherwise known as the Minerva Classic Brugge-De Panne.

Daniel asks the key question – would you prioritise watching the race that takes place amid the gently rolling hills and verdant beauty of Catalonia, or on the semi-urban Belgian coastline? That might not be the exact wording but it was certainly a loaded question.

We also look back at Milan-Sanremo and Matej Mohorič's use of mountain bike tech – the dropper seat post – to help him tackle the descent of the Poggio.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

The Cycling Podcast has a new collaboration with MAAP. See: maap.cc

This episode is sponsored by Hammerhead. For a limited time, our listeners can get a free Custom Color Kit and an exclusive premium water bottle with the purchase of a Hammerhead Karoo 2. Visit hammerhead.io and use promo code CYCLE at the checkout to take advantage of this limited time offer.

Sign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com to listen to more than 60 exclusive episodes including the Christmas Selection Box collection.

In this month's episode of Service Course Tom and Lizzy tackle a press conference question from friend of the podcast, Dave Owen, which was a bit too complicated for them to answer so they pull in the experts.

Lizzy speaks to Niamh Fisher-Black, Team SD Worx rider and the UCI WWT best young rider in 2021, about her experiences sourcing well fitting equipment as a petite woman.

James Roberts from Fit 2 Ride Bike Fit helps Lizzy understand the method behind the magic of a bike fit and finally Tom speaks to former British Cycling physio and author of Bike Fit Phil Burt. Phil tells us why crank length both really matters and makes no difference at all and delves deeper in to some of the issues around what make us comfortable on a bike.

Service Course by The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is sponsored by LinkedIn Jobs. LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. And you can post a job for free. Just go to LinkedIn.com/cycle

And by Harry's. Claim your trial set for a beautiful shave at harrys.com/cycling

The Cycling Podcast has a new collaboration with MAAP. See: maap.cc

This episode of The Cycling Podcast is a tribute to Richard Moore, who passed away last month aged 48.

Richard founded The Cycling Podcast in 2013 with Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe and with his passing we have lost our directeur sportif, team leader, road captain and super domestique deluxe all in one. But more than that, we have lost our very dear friend.

We would like to thank Seb Piquet, the voice of Radio Tour at the Tour de France, for hosting this conversation between Lionel and Daniel as they talk about their friendship with Richard and the years spent working together. Orla Chennaoui and Rose Manley, Richard's co-hosts on The Cycling Podcast Féminin, also share their memories. Other members of The Cycling Podcast's family that Richard was instrumental in building – Ciro Scognamiglio, François Thomazeau, Tom Whalley, Lizzy Banks, Kate Wagner, Mitch Docker and Brian Nygaard – also pay their tributes.

We would like to thank all our listeners, friends and colleagues who have sent messages over the past two weeks, as well as our sponsors Supersapiens, Science in Sport and MAAP for their support and understanding.

Arrivée returns with analysis of the second edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes. Lionel Birnie has travelled to northern France and is joined by Lizzy Banks to discuss the race.

Who won it and more importantly how did they do it? We unpick the major incidents.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

The Cycling Podcast has a new collaboration with MAAP. See: maap.cc

Sign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com to listen to more than 60 exclusive episodes including the Christmas Selection Box collection.

Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe discuss the 2022 edition of Paris-Roubaix. Who won it and more importantly how did they do it? We unpick the major incidents.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

The Cycling Podcast has a new collaboration with MAAP. See: maap.cc

Sign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com to listen to more than 60 exclusive episodes.

In a podcast of two halves, we discuss the 2022 editions of Flèche Wallonne. In part one, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe discuss the men's race and then Lizzy Banks joins Lionel to analyse the women's race. Who won and more importantly how did they do it? We unpick the major incidents.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

The Cycling Podcast has a new collaboration with MAAP. See: maap.cc

Sign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com to listen to more than 60 exclusive episodes.

In a podcast of two halves, we discuss the 2022 editions of Liège-Bastogme-Liège. In part one, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe discuss the men's race and then Lizzy Banks joins Lionel to analyse the women's race. Who won and more importantly how did they do it? We unpick the major moments of the monument.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

The Cycling Podcast has a new collaboration with MAAP. See: maap.cc

This episode is also supported by NordVPN. Get your exclusive NordVPN deal by going to nordvpn.com/tcp or use the code tcp to get a huge discount off your NordVPN Plan + 1 additional month for free. It’s completely risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee.

Sign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com to listen to more than 60 exclusive episodes.

In this episode of Service Course, Tom speaks to Dan Craven, better known as Dan from Nam. Dan's career began in 2009 with the Rapha Condor team and he finished up in 2017 after a spell with Israel Cycling Academy, but that's probably less than ten per cent of the story.

He memorably represented Namibia at the 2016 Olympics in Rio where he managed to live tweet his ride in the individual time trial. As a Namibian Dan has been at the forefront of the development of cycling in Africa and for his latest project he's packing his bags, leaving Girona and returning to Namibia where he will be building bikes.

Dan's bike brand, Onguza, is not the typical bike brand you might expect from an ex-pro. He's not putting his name on a carbon frame built in a factory thousands of miles away, he's getting his blow torch out and producing handmade, steel-framed bikes. There are also words from Ian Boswell who pays tribute to our friend Richard Moore.

Service Course by The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

This episode is sponsored by Harry's. Claim your trial set for a beautiful shave at harrys.com/cycling

The Cycling Podcast has a new collaboration with MAAP. See: maap.cc

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Ever since 2020, The Cycling Podcast and Dvine Cellars of London have joined forces and united passions to offer a liquid accompaniment to our listeners’ Grand Tour experience. This year – after months of discussions and a highly contentious tasting session in March – we again settled on six bottles that hopefully represent the geography and the spirit of the upcoming Giro d’Italia. The name of the case – the Selezione Simpatica – is a nod to our great leader, Richard Moore. The wines themselves are surprising, unconventional and – with apologies to Richard and his time-honoured tasting notes – a little more than 'nice'. In this episode Daniel dives deeper with Greg Andrews and Luciana Girotto of Dvine Cellars.

To order the Selezione Simpatica, head to DVine Cellars.
(Please enjoy in moderation). A percentage of the proceeds from every sale will go to a cause chosen by Richard’s family.

The full line-up of wines (in Giro route order), with tasting notes from Dvine Cellars, is as follows: 

Chateau Megyer Dry Furmint 2020, Tokaj, Hungary Furmint
Hungary's most popular white grape for dry wines with a long, cool, flint minerality. Aged for six months in new oak barrels, rounding the acidity. Pair with fish and buttery, creamy sauces with mushrooms. 

Le Vigne Di Eli Etna Rosso 2019/2020, Sicily, Italy
The 'pinot' of Mount Etna. Bright fresh summer fruits are tempered with a volcanic mineral influence making this a delightful savoury wine.

Cantina Rapino GIRA 2015 Montepulciano d'Abruzzo DOC, Italy
100% Montepulciano, 100% guts, blood, sweat and tears. Intense aromas of game and hoisin sauce carry to the supple, polished, full-bodied palate. This is a rich red.

Poderi Fiorini Lambrusco Becco Rosso 2021, Emilia Romagna, Italy
A sparkling purply-red wine with hints of raspberry. It is dry, fresh and savoury, with a pleasant effervescence on the palate. Grab some mortadella and charcuterie!

Russolo Doi Raps 2019, Friuli Venezia-Giulia, Italy
Packed with surprisingly ripe fruit flavours of lychee, white peach and candied lemon, the enchanting Doi Raps has so much character. The ripe fruit is joined by white flowers in bloom and a tingling, mineral finish. It's not very often you find such ripe flavours in this cool growing area of North-East Italy

Marion 2020, Valpolicella Borgomarcellise, Veneto, Italy
 All red fruits, flowers and soft sweet spices, this is one of the most enjoyable and smashable reds you will see from this region. And it's great value to boot.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.

Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.com

For 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

The Cycling Podcast has a new collaboration with MAAP. See: maap.cc

Sign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com to listen to more than 60 exclusive episodes.