It's Christmas Eve! Traditionally we've recorded a look back at the year and talked a bit about what's coming up. This year we're reviewing things a little differently, as we take a look back at some of the most popular stories and subjects we've addressed over the years and what they teach us about the sport, the audience and the business of Pro! Women's! Cycling!
This is a significant episode for us, as this week we are announcing the end of our regular podcast series. We talk through the reasons behind our decision to take a step back, what's changed over the nearly six years we've been doing this and also reminisce about some of our favourite things. This is a positive episode and we'll really love for you to share it with us. Thanks for listening, we hope you've had as much fun as we have.
British cyclocross rider Helen Wyman has always been a fan favourite, and it seems like her racing is getting better than ever. Winning her fourth Koppenbergcross this season, she was on the podiums of the last two Cyclocross World Cups, and with the weather turning wet, rainy and muddy, just as she likes it, this could be just the beginning of an exciting season. We talked about what's made a difference, and how the sport has changed over the last five years - including how Helen's work on the ...
Sean Robinson is one half of Vélofocus, whose photography makes women's road cycling look so good. Sean talked to me about how 2017 was for him - the highs and lows, and changes he saw from his unique viewpoint of the sport. We also talked about how the sport could improve, and who he thinks we should watch out for in 2017. Check out the Vélofocus pictures, and buy their 2017 annual at http://www.velofocus.com
This week we recap our highlights and best parts of the 2017 women's road season. It's been an amazing year of racing and there's so much to celebrate. From the spring classics through to worlds in Norway, we've got opinions on them all! Get your best of the year opinions now!
In this episode we take a look at the changes in races, race days and race types from the 2017 season into the 2018 season. There's been some interesting changes in different global regions and specific countries. We look at which country has the most races and several surprising countries should probably be doing much better. Then right at the end Sarah causes Dan's brain to melt and the episodes in a minor medical emergency... so, enjoy!
This episode we go through what we know about the 2018 UCI Calendar so far, and what's changed from this year. There's been a lot of changes, with fewer overall race days but still a wealth of races, from all over the world. We go through in detail and talk through the implications of this new season for the peloton as a whole. We also catch up on the latest transfer news and a couple of other exciting announcements as well.
This episode we go through what we know about the 2018 UCI Calendar so far, and what's changed from this year. There's been a lot of changes, with fewer overall race days but still a wealth of races, from all over the world. We go through in detail and talk through the implications of this new season for the peloton as a whole. We also catch up on the latest transfer news and a couple of other exciting announcements as well.
This week we dive right into all the latest news and updates on transfers. If you need to know which rider is going where, then this is the episode for you! (Unless they haven't been confirmed yet, in which case, you probably still want this episode but you'll have to learn to live with the fact that we can't predict the future). Lots of interesting moves being made, with notable riders going to interesting teams; young up and comers joining the elite peloton; and a few eyebrow raisers too.
This week we talk through the Junior and Elite Women's Road Races from Bergen in Norway. There was all sorts of excitement in both races, and we talk through the highlights, the lowlights and the interesting moments that made the races. We also have a bit of a chat about riders to keep an eye on from the Junior racing, and of course we get a bit sidetracked, distracted and diverted some of the time too. There's even a special comedy bonus in the post for you!
This week it's been a week of trials, time trials! World Championship Time Trials! We talk through what happened in Bergen with the Team Time Trial and then both the Junior and Elite Women's Individual Time Trials. There are some spectacular results and the racing has been absolutely top notch. We talk through the start of Cyclocross season, and how the American races have gone thus far. There's a bunch of other topics we get through quickly before taking a look ahead at the road race and the sc...
This week we catch up on the racing in Spain and France with the Madrid Challenge and the Tour de l'Ardeche. We discuss what happened at the mountain bike world championships in Cairns, and we also get into the latest intrigue from Cycling Australia leading into the Road World Championships in Bergen. Speaking of which, racing in Bergen starts on Saturday! So we talk worlds, along with transfers and new team rumours. Heaps to discuss so let's get to it!
This week we catch up after Sarah's been away at the Boels Rental Ladies Tour in the Netherlands. There's Plouay results to discuss, all the Dutch racing and of course what it means for worlds. Speaking of worlds, we're two weeks out from the festivities in Bergen and so of course it's time for the (sigh, eyeroll) polemica. This year it's Australia's turn to do something unforgivably stupid, and Dan's got shoutpinions about it.
This week Sarah and Dan talk through the polemica and outrage of Dan's whisky choices. Also discussed is each of the stages from this year's Ladies Tour of Norway, including a bit of race-related polemica. Then there's a look ahead to the Boels Rental Tour next week and the implications of current races for Worlds which is coming up quickly indeed now. We also wax rhapsodical about the GP Plouay which is on live tomorrow! And there's an interesting bit of news from around the place with retireme...
This week we cover the results from Sweden with the Vargarda Team Time Trial, and the Road Race. We also have an interesting diversion into how the calendar shift of this race has changed the way it's raced and the results. Ella CyclingTips this week had a really interesting interview with Leah Thorvilson, the Canyon-SRAM rider who was the winner of last year's Zwift Academy. We discuss that interview and the broader impact of Zwift Academy on the sport, especially interesting as the second year...
This week we catch up on the Prudential Ride London GP, which was surprisingly held in London this year. We also cover the full results for Juniors, Under23s and the Elite Women at the European Championships in Denmark. We've got a great block of live races coming up with Vargarda and then the Ladies Tour of Norway, GP Plouay all coming up. There's heaps to get across along with all the usual hilarity, swearing and awesomeness!
This week we follow up on the second race from La Course by Le Tour de France; the chase held on the weekend with the top 19 riders from the Col d'Izoard stage raced it out on the streets of Marseille. We talk through the excitement and also the issues that this new format of race revealed. There's positives and negatives, we take our time with both and also explore ways that we think the format could be improved for the future.
Look, we do understand that not all weeks can be huge weeks of racing, but honestly this week was definitely a HUGE week of racing. We had stage racing at the BeNe Ladies Tour in the Netherlands and Belgium. We also had the Lotto Thuringen Ladies Tour in East Germany. With races suiting different types of riders and different types of racing there was no shortage of surprises and feats of phenomenal prowess to be impressed by. All of that before we get into the high mountains for the Col d'Izoar...
Marianne Vos' life in cycling just keeps on as a roller coaster. After getting back on top, she broke her collarbone in June, and now is back racing the BeNe Ladies Tour. She told me how her recovery has gone, and what it was like, watching the team she owns, WM3 Procycling, win the OVO Energy Women's Tour, and struggle in the Giro. We also talked about some of her most memorable Giro Rosa moments, and what it's like to deal with some of the race's frustrations. Click through to my website for t...
The Giro Rosa has finished for 2017 but we're far from done with it. With great racing every day, it's perhaps best summed up by Neal Rogers talking about Lucinda Brand when he said: "Only thing more badass than “no one in the photo”? No one in the photo with blood trickling down your arm". Sarah and Dan recap the biggest stage race on the calendar and all of the highs and lows the second week of racing brought us. After that they continue with the overview on the Tour de Feminin in Poland befor...
We're at the halfway point through the 2017 Giro Rosa with five stages completed. We cover each of the stages so far, from the opening TTT through to the ITT and all the travails and changes on GC in between. There has been more than a fair share of surprise Giro geomorphology including some truly brutal climbs and so on. An incredibly close sprint finish and more. There's lots to cover and lots more to speculate on as we continue into the second half of the stages. (Spoiler Warning: We do actua...
All year we watch the TV highlights of the UCI women's WorldTour made by Rose Manley, of InCycle TV. I've always enjoyed Rose's work, so I was delighted when she came on the podcast and told me all about the effort that goes into producing these, and the features she's been making on various riders throughout the season, as well as the high and low points of the year so far. For links of everything we talked about, go to my site http://www.prowomenscycling.com
This week we preview all the stages of the 2017 Giro Rosa, from the Team Time Trial all the way through to the climb of Mount Vesuvius. There's stages to suit the sprinters, the puncheurs, the roleurs and the climbers. Who is suited to each stage? Which teams have the strongest rosters? Who are the riders to watch? How is the race likely to unfold? We answer all of these questions and more. We even unlock the age-old secret of how to interpret the race book (It's Idiosyncratic, Unless It's the E...
Balint Hamvas and Sean Robinson are Vélofocus, who take gorgeous photos of women's cycling. They told me about how the 2017 season is going, their highs and lows - and all about their kickstarter for a fantastic coffee table book about the year in women's road cycling. Listen here, and head to my website, https://prowomenscycling.com/velofocus-interview/, for the links of where you can buy their book, see their work, and a lot more.
This week Sarah and Dan recap the Ovo Energy Women's Tour held in the United Kingdom, reviewing each of the stages and exploring some of the more surprising results. Along the way they accidentally reveal which one of them is the REAL comic book geek (you won't be surprised when you hear who it is!) and of course, take some time to wrap up the other things that they've seen around the way over the past week.
This week marks the beginning of the Ovo Energy Women's Tour, the United Kingdom's best known women's stage race. We run through a full preview of each stage, the riders that are likely to do well and the teams who have very clearly come prepared for this year's contest. Following that we also take a quick look at the recent downhill mountain bike event at Fort William, with a bit of a surprise result.
Isabelle Clement is the director of Wheels for Well-Being, a charity dedicate to helping disabled people cycle more, through both their sessions giving people in London with a hug range of disabilities try a massive range of bikes, and through their national campaigning work. She told me all about these aspects of her work, and talks about barriers to disabled people cycling, both physical, in terms of infrastructure, and emotional, as well as the charity's successes, plans for the future, and w...
This week's podcast is a little bit of a catchup as we cover off the impact that May has had on the peloton with races going on in the USA, the Basque country, Belgium and more. Riders and teams have had to choose where to apply their focus and resources and it's made for a very interesting month. We take a particular look at how the Tour of California and the Emakumeen Bira played out and then how they contributed to the way that Gooik-Geraardsbergen-Gooik was raced. As always, there's plenty t...
Hopefully you listened to the recent BBC Radio 4 Women's Hour programme dedicated entirely to women's cycling, and set at the London Bike Kitchen. If you did, you will have heard LBK Director Jenni Gwiazdowski talking about their work teaching people to repair their own bikes - or maybe you've heard the Wheel Suckers' podcast Jenni runs with Look Mum No Hands' Alex Davis, which I was on that same day. You can imagine, being in the LBK space, and being on the podcast made me want to know a whole ...
This week we talk through the events in China at the Tour of Chongming Island. We catch up on Marianne Vos' first win of the season. We take a look at the Women's Tour of California (aka The Breakaway From Heart Disease Women's Race presented by SRAM). We catch up on the latest news from BMX and we take a few minutes to reflect back on the last five years of podcasting. That's right, it's our FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARY EPISODE!
