The Critérium du Dauphiné starts on Sunday and the Tour de Suisse takes place soon after, and both races are clear indicators that the Tour de France is now just weeks away. Top of the menu in July, of course, will be the much-hyped and long-awaited clash between the big four – Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogačar, Remco Evenepoel and Primož Roglič . But what of the Ineos Grenadiers? Knocked from their perch having dominated the Tour during the 2010s, the British team is resurgent. They may not have ...
May 31, 2024•39 min•Season 2Ep. 22
In the end, the biggest obstacles to a Tadej Pogačar victory in the Giro d'Italia were a few over-excited fans giving him an unwelcome push on Monte Grappa. The Slovenian now says that he will chill, and then come back for the kill, only this time at the Tour de France... In the wake of Pogačar's six stage wins that carried him to the largest winning margin at the Giro for six decades, we reflect on the UAE Team Emirates leader's radical change of Grand Tour fortunes and look ahead to how his fi...
May 27, 2024•41 min•Season 2Ep. 21
After months of uncertainty, British Cycling have the money, the title partner and the race director: now they also have the races. Incredibly, the Tours of Britain have been saved, thanks to a five-year sponsorship deal with Lloyds Bank that is believed to be in the region of £20 million. We hear from British Cycling CEO Jon Dutton as he tells the media about the "landmark deal" that will see Lloyds Bank immediately become the title partner of the Tour of Britain events, as well as what BC are ...
May 23, 2024•36 min
We’re only 15 days into the 2024 Giro d’Italia, and already Tadej Pogačar has the race in his pocket . He leads second-placed Geraint Thomas by almost seven minutes. Before the Giro began, he had already won Strade Bianche, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Volta a Catalunya. Soon he will be turning his sights to the Tour de France. Is he going to win every race he turns up to this season? In order to get perspective and context on his achievements , shortly after the Slovenian’s Grand Tour mastercla...
May 20, 2024•35 min•Season 2Ep. 19
Road racing’s not just about the biggest races, the biggest names and the biggest teams. While the Giro d’Italia continues and hogs most of the headlines, there's plenty of quality racing going on elsewhere, just with a lesser profile and often less funding too. This leads us to the question: why can’t Britain’s most talented young team get a bike brand on board? That team is Shibden HopeTech Apex , and we hear from its manager, Tim Ferguson. He tells us about their astonishing run of success th...
May 17, 2024•39 min•Season 2Ep. 18
Tadej Pogačar has a convincing lead in the Giro d’Italia as the race pauses for the first rest day. With nine stages completed he's already won three stages and could easily have bagged five. Imperious on every terrain, he's even turned his hand to providing a devastatingly strong lead-out for his UAE team's sprinter, Juan Sebastián Molano. He's racing for fun and for victory. So, we ask, can anything stop him from cantering away with the maglia rosa as the race nears its Roman finale? In order ...
May 13, 2024•34 min•Season 2Ep. 17
Defending Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard is talking up his chances of being at the Grand Départ of this year’s race in Florence on 29 June after the crash at Itzulia Basque Country that left him with serious injuries and complicated his Tour preparations hugely. But will he make it? And if he does, will he be in good enough shape to challenge for the yellow jersey yet again? At the end of a week in which Vingegaard made his first outdoor foray on two wheels since that horrific crash, w...
May 10, 2024•35 min•Season 2Ep. 16
Just three days into the Giro d’Italia and, after Tadej Pogacar’s sterling work over the opening weekend, it’s already a done deal, isn't it? No, of course it isn’t. Yes, the Slovenian has the pink jersey and has made a great start, but there's still plenty of racing to come and work to be done, according to Stephen Roche , who knows better than almost anyone what it takes to win the Giro-Tour double. Although he recognises that Pogačar is a class apart as a racer, Ireland's 1987 Triple Crown wi...
May 06, 2024•36 min•Season 2Ep. 15
With the Giro d'Italia starting in Turin on Saturday, we turn most of our new episode over to a preview of the corsa rosa and ask the question: can Geraint Thomas — or in fact anyone — outfox the flying Tadej Pogačar? We start with an extended interview with Geraint Thomas , beaten on the final weekend last year by Primož Roglič, who took the title by just 14 seconds. While acknowledging that Roglič's fellow Slovenian Pogačar is a class above his GC rivals for the maglia rosa , 2018 Tour de Fran...
Apr 30, 2024•43 min•Season 2Ep. 14
The spring Classics are over and the Grand Tours are looming, starting with the Vuelta Femenina , which kicks off this weekend. But before we get into the Vuelta Femenina and ask if Demi Vollering can win for the first time this season, there’s another huge women’s story in town: that of world champion Lotte Kopecky deciding to bypass the Tour de France Femmes in August — something which would have been unthinkable even a year ago — in favour of the Paris Olympic Games. We examine the reasons be...
Apr 25, 2024•37 min•Season 2Ep. 13
After being at the forefront of British success for two decades, masterminding the development of superstars such as Mark Cavendish, Geraint Thomas, Bradley Wiggins and Tom Pidcock, Rod Ellingworth has left WorldTour to oversee the reboot of the women’s and men’s Tour of Britain. In an exclusive interview trackside at Manchester velodrome, Ellingworth reveals why he left Ineos Grenadiers, how he has a bold vision to grow British Cycling’s national tours — and whether he’ll be giving Dave Brailsf...
Apr 16, 2024•43 min•Season 2Ep. 12
The frenzy of the cobbles are just about behind us, the Ardennes Classics now lie in wait and soon the high mountains of races like the Tour of the Alps and, of course, the Giro d’Italia will fill our screens... Meanwhile, off the road, the UCI has just announced that it is bringing in a new face to lead the fight against technological fraud ….but who is this guy…? We profile and hear from Nicholas Raudenski – a former criminal investigator who has also worked for the US Department of Homeland S...
Apr 11, 2024•44 min•Season 2Ep. 11
It’s time for Paris-Roubaix: the race that every kid dreams of winning, but that half the pro peloton hate. After last weekend’s chaos on the Koppenberg in the Tour of Flanders, what lies in wait in the ‘Hell of the North’? One thing that's already clear is that race organisers ASO and the riders' union the CPA are determined to put a strong emphasis on safety, most specifically with the introduction of a chicane right before the entrance to the most notorious section of cobbles in the Arenberg ...
Apr 03, 2024•36 min•Season 2Ep. 10
Another bike race, another Tadej Pogačar exhibition. The Slovenian didn’t just win the Volta a Catalunya, one of cycling’s toughest week-long stage races, he completely annihilated the opposition. Pogačar’s only 25, but already he counts 69 victories on his palmarès, including two Tours de France and five Monuments. Is there anything he can’t do? Is he now knocking on the door of eternal greatness? We put that question to the man himself in Catalonia, where Pogačar tells us that he's stepped up ...
Mar 28, 2024•38 min•Season 2Ep. 9
The WorldTour’s Big Four stage racers – Vingegaard, Pogačar, Evenepoel and Roglic — are all on the road at last, as the European season really gets going. We start, though, with the news that the much-rumoured British Grand Départ, set to take place in 2026, has been shelved. UK Sport deputy CEO Simon Morton tells us, "We are not actively pursuing hosting in 2026," as the funding crisis in local government takes hold and cuts are made to government-backed sporting events in what's an election ye...
Mar 06, 2024•26 min•Season 2Ep. 8
Had enough of sandstorms, palm trees and camels at the roadside? Get ready then for beers and techno, bergs and burgers: it’s time for Opening Weekend... We start with a preview of Saturday's two editions of Het Nieuwsblad and Sunday's Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. The men's edition of Het Nieuwsblad will see Visma-Lease A Bike start with a stacked team that features the race's last two winners, Dylan van Baarle and Wout van Aert, and very much tagged as favourites. We hear from Sep Vanmarcke, who won...
Feb 23, 2024•30 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Adam Yates, Lotte Kopecky, Mads Pedersen – the big names are already winning the big races. But as we look ahead towards Strade Bianche, Paris-Nice, the spring Classics, other issues come into play – just as they do every season. Issues like race safety, rider responsibilities, ethics and money... With these issues very much in mind, we speak at length to dsm-firmenich PostNL team manager Iwan Spekenbrink, who talks about why his team remains part of the Movement for Credible Cycling, why cyclin...
Feb 14, 2024•42 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Ten years after the Grand Depart of the Tour de France in Yorkshire, road racing in Britain is in crisis. We examine two strands of that state of affairs... We start by interviewing British Cycling CEO Jon Dutton, who has announced a rescue plan for the men's and women's national tours. Dutton explains how the newly formed British Cycling Events will set about saving these two emblematic races, but admits that they may not be as substantial as they previously were, in the short term at least. He...
Feb 05, 2024•36 min•Season 2Ep. 5
So the training camps are over, WorldTour racing is under way, and already the European calendar has kicked off. But it’s a bumpy road in professional cycling and, while some riders and races thrive, others are already finding it hard going. On the new RadioCycling podcast... Is it already too late for the Tour of Britain? With grave doubts hanging over the future of Britain's national tour, we hear from Hugh Roberts, the CEO of Sweetspot, who organised the race for the last 20 years but have no...
Jan 25, 2024•32 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Taylor Swift, Lionel Messi, Novak Djokovic and Tom Cruise. No, that’s not the new backroom staff at Manchester United. Those are the names of the global superstars that front up the entertainment choices that we all make, each and every day. So how does five hours of road racing in the rain in Flanders compete against A-listers like that? Well, in this RadioCycling special, we meet Richard Plugge, head of the world’s teams organisation the AIGCP, and the hugely successful manager of the Jumbo-Vi...
Jan 14, 2024•42 min•Season 2Ep. 3
While northern Europe is swept by blizzards and freezing temperatures grip the landscape, in the relative warmth of Spain's Costa Blanca cycling's elite teams are making their final pre-season preparations and, as part of that, have been meeting the press. We joined this welcome migration and this pod features three of the peloton's biggest names... We start with Belgium's most feted sporting star, Remco Evenepoel, one of the "big four" who are due to clash at the Tour de France this summer. We ...
Jan 10, 2024•31 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Happy New Year to all of you — here’s to 2024. There's so much to look forward to: the Classics, Grand Tours, the Paris Olympic Games, plus the intrigue, rumour and spectacle of professional cycling... Sadly, we start, though, with the distressing story of the death of Australian Olympian Melissa Hoskins in Adelaide on New Year’s Eve. Her husband, two-time world time trial champion Rohan Dennis, was subsequently arrested on charges of causing death by dangerous driving. We look back on Hoskins' ...
Jan 01, 2024•44 min•Season 2Ep. 1
Christmas is coming but there's still enough time for us to squeeze in one final podcast before we're all submerged in discarded wrapping paper. These are our headlines... Tours of Britain reach the end after Sweetspot mainstays retire: The breaking news is that Mick Bennett and Hugh Roberts, promoters of the men’s and women’s Tour of Britain, are to retire. We reveal what's known so far, discuss what it could mean for UK cycling and whether the British Cycling federation has a new strategy for ...
Dec 19, 2023•36 min•Season 1Ep. 54
Do they know it’s Christmas? Well, no, not at most pro team training camps, where thoughts are a million miles away from brandy cream and mince pies. We sent our intrepid reporter to the Costa Blanca to get the latest from the peloton's stars... Mark Cavendish says he's ready for his final hurrah: Motivated by the desire of his Astana-Qazaqstan to see him race for one more season and also by his competitiveness at this year's Giro d'Italia and Tour de France, the Manx sprinter says he's happy an...
Dec 18, 2023•33 min•Season 1Ep. 53
The first pre-season training camps are under way, and we've got news from three of the teams sure to be in the heart of the action when racing restarts in January... We start at Israel-PremierTech, where there's been quite a u-turn since we spoke to team owner Sylvan Adams just a fortnight ago. Back then, we asked him if — given the tensions fuelled by the conflict in Gaza — he had any concerns for the safety of his team’s riders and staff, to which he replied: “What are we supposed to do? Cowe...
Dec 01, 2023•35 min•Season 1Ep. 52
Teams rosters are all but finalised and the first gatherings prior to the 2024 season are now just days away. In this new episode, the RadioCycling team looks ahead, initially by focusing on a new name in the WorldTour peloton, a rider who looks set to be America's next big thing... Have the Ineos Grenadiers found the next American superstar in 18-year-old Andrew "AJ" August? We hear from the British team's coach Dario Cioni, who reveals the long courtship between Ineos and the teenage sensation...
Nov 23, 2023•39 min•Season 1Ep. 51
Our latest episode features an exclusive, hard-hitting and sometimes confrontational interview with Israel-PremierTech boss Sylvan Adams. It's an encounter that's sure to create debate and shouldn't be missed. With the world's attention on the ongoing warfare in Israel, the Israeli-Canadian billionaire reveals the impact the conflict has had on his team and offers an extremely robust defence of his adopted country's military response to the horrific terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas. Adams ...
Nov 16, 2023•38 min•Season 1Ep. 50
In the latest podcast from the RadioCycling team, the headlines are... Tour of Britain in limbo – Following British Cycling's sudden and dramatic termination of its 10-year agreement with Tour of Britain promoters Sweetspot, we examine the probable repercussions and hopes for survival of both the men’s and women’s races. We hear from the journalists who broke the story, Cycling Weekly 's Tom Thewlis and The Guardian 's Jeremy Whittle, who explain the financial dispute that led to the apparently ...
Nov 10, 2023•28 min•Season 1Ep. 49
Road racing may now have ceded centre stage to cyclo-cross, but there's still plenty of major stories and issues for the RadioCycling team to pick over in our latest podcast. We begin with... One Cycling – the latest on the plan that could rock world road racing. Since lifting the lid last week on the scheme put together by Jumbo-Visma boss Richard Plugge and Soudal-QuickStep majority owner Zdeněk Bakala, we've been gauging reaction and opinion across the sport. We hear from the race organisers ...
Nov 01, 2023•43 min•Season 1Ep. 48
A RadioCycling special report reveals how Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) may be part of the proposed new league that promises to revolutionise and change cycling forever. PIF, who have invested heavily in football, golf, boxing and F1, have held discussions with the major stakeholders of the mooted league. RadioCycling has been informed that the league has been in the works for the past three years, and that five major teams are involved. The league is the brainchild of Jumbo-Visma’...
Oct 27, 2023•29 min•Season 1Ep. 47
