RadioCycling

2024 Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes route announcements, and Velo d’Or awards, featuring Mark Cavendish, Jonas Vingegaard, Jasper Philipsen ...

A special extended episode of RadioCycling comes live from Paris, as we attend the prestigious Vélo d'Or awards and the 2024 route announcements of the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes.Our 24-hour Parisian special begins at the Pavilion Gabriel, just off the Champs-Élysées, where the great (most notably Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault) and good gathered for the first formal presentation of the prestigious Vélo d'Or awards by French magazine Vélo. We hear from the winners – or at least those that attended rather than opting for a short break at EuroDisney – including Demi Vollering, who swept up many of the major events on the women's calendar during a season when her SD Worx team were all-conquering.Our special continues at the Tour de France presentations at Paris's Palais de Congrès. We hear from Mark Cavendish, Jonas Vingegaard, Jasper Philipsen, Demi Vollering once again, Audrey Cordon-Ragot, Patrick Lefevere and Richard Plugge, who give their thoughts on what lies ahead at next season's two biggest races.The episode ends with our analysis of the two routes, including the significance of the Tour de France Femmes' first visit to Alpe d'Huez, the fuss generated by the Tour de France's inclusion of 32km of racing on gravel, and an examination of the key stages in both events.This podcast is brought to you with the support of our sponsor, Saddle Skedaddle. Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Michael Mørkøv on Mark Cavendish; exclusive Charlie Quarterman interview; 2024 Giro d’Italia route; Tour de France Femmes set for Alpe d’Huez finale

In a week when the dying embers of the raging fire that was the 2023 season are almost extinguished, we're already looking ahead to 2024... Welcome to the latest slice of cycling news from RadioCycling...We start with a guest appearance by Charlie Quarterman, who lifts the lid on the reasons for his decision to retire from the professional scene at the age of 25, despite a sterling performance in the 2023 Giro d’Italia and his undimmed passion for racing. The young Briton talks candidly about the constant physical and mental pressure he felt he was under, both on the bike and off it, about how his mind was made up when he found himself in hospital at 3 in the morning with heatstroke, and about his desire for a normal working life.All roads lead to Rome for the 2024 Giro d'Italia – Starting in Turin and finishing in the Italian capital, we look at the many and varied delights on next year's corsa rosa, including summit finishes a-go-go, a stage on the Strade Bianche, almost 70km of time trialling, a final weekend plane transfer that flies in the face of climate concerns – and a possible debut for Tadej Pogačar...?Michael Mørkøv’s mission is to help Mark Cavendish win stage number 35 at the Tour de France. The pair are set to be reunited next season at Astana-Qazaqstan and the Danish lead-out supremo tells us that he's confident that they can rediscover the winning formula that resulted in Cavendish taking four stage wins for QuickStep at the 2021 Tour.TDF Femmes sets its sights on Alpe d'Huez – Following this year's finale on the Tourmalet, the TDFF peloton will tackle the mythical ascent of Alpe d'Huez on its final stage next year. We examine what this means for the race and explain why performances by former greats of women's racing cement the Alpe's status as "Dutch mountain". This podcast is brought to you with the support of our sponsor, Saddle Skedaddle. Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Intermarché in racism scandal; transfer frenzy after merger meltdown; Tour set for gravel test; Babadag - the toughest climb of all

It may be autumn, the time of falling leaves and drifting woodsmoke, the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, but there's still plenty of news and talking points in the pro peloton. These are RadioCycling's latest headlines...Intermarché-Wanty-Circus plunged into racism scandal – The Belgian team has pulled two of its riders from the Tour of Guangxi, the final WorldTour race of the season, after they posted a racist image on social media. We detail how the team and the UCI have responded to this furore and examine what it says about the riders involved and the state of the sport.Post-merger meltdown sends transfer market into a frenzy – The Jumbo-Visma/Soudal-QuickStep fusion is off, and, like the floodgates opening a dam, the transfer market is suddenly in full flow. We detail the main moves in recent days and explain why the merger blocked the transfer market and what it's meant for the many riders who are still out of contract for next season.The Tour de France heads for the white roads – Following a weekend dominated by racing on gravel at captivating editions of Paris-Tours and the UCI World Gravel Championships, the French press is reporting that the 2024 Tour de France will also be heading off-road, following the trail blazed by the Tour de France Femmes' peloton through Champagne's vineyards in 2022. We reveal the latest...It's big, it's bad, it's the Babadag – This is the climb unearthed by the organisers of the Tour of Turkey. The stats say is 50% tougher than the Angliru, while the riders who tackled it were unanimous in it being the hardest climb they'd ever raced up. We hear from Bora-Hansgrohe's Florian Lipowitz, who took 75 minutes to complete this monster 18km ascent that averages 10.5%, and was fourth to the top.  This podcast is brought to you with the support of our sponsor, Saddle Skedaddle.   Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jumbo-QuickStep merger latest; Bahrain seek 2nd sponsor; Thibaut Pinot Ultras head for Lombardy; Guangxi returns after 3-year break

The European road season may be heading for its grand finale in Lombardy this weekend, but there's no end yet to the talk of mergers. As uncertainty continues to linger over the men's peloton, these are RadioCycling's headlines...  Blood on the carpet – with the UCI weighing in as the Jumbo-Visma/Soudal-QuickStep merger meltdown continues, we examine the latest developments in this ongoing saga. Is SQS boss Patrick Lefevere the good guy? And what of Richard Plugge,  the Jumbo-Visma  boss who's also the head of the professional teams' association. Has his reputation been tarnished?Money, money, money – Bahrain want even more: They may be backed to the tune of €30 million a season, but that's little more than half the funding that the strongest teams now pull in. We hear from Bahrain boss Milan Erzen about his thwarted desire to prevent Mikel Landa from leaving, why he was never in the market for Primož Roglič, and what the gulf state-backed team's Plan B if it can't find a secondary sponsor to invest €10 million or more. The Thibaut Pinot Ultras head for Lombardy: As the much-beloved Frenchman prepares to make his final racing appearance at Il Lombardia on Saturday, we hear from the Collectif Ultras Pinot, the fans who packed the final climb of the Tour de France in July and are now heading to Italy by all means possible to pay a final tribute to their sporting hero. They're planning quite a party!The long road back for Guangxi: After the cancellation of the last three editions due to the effects of the Covid pandemic, the Tour of Guangxi is not only back on the WorldTour calendar but also set to take place. Race director Olivier Senn tells us about the difficulties faced in relaunching it, why the 2023 route will look very similar to the last edition in 2019, and what the race's return means for the sporting landscape in China.Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Motor doping: the absent tech fraud tests that threaten cycling’s credibility; is Jumbo-QuickStep merger on? How Cat Ferguson leapt to the WorldTour

Talk of mergers are on the news menu just about everywhere, but before we turn to the latest on that issue, RadioCycling has quite a scoop...X-ray machines and iPads have been touted as the means to prevent motor-doping and reassure everyone in cycling that the sport is technologically clean. However, a RadioCycling investigation has found that, despite the UCI stating that “it carries out bike tests at all UCI men’s and women’s WorldTour events”, that is not the reality.Our canvassing of the 51 WorldTour and Women's WorldTour races reveals that there are huge holes in the technological testing programme, even extending to the Grand Tours, while at least one major stage race has not seen any testing since 2021. We dig into the details and ask the question: is the absence of tech fraud testing threatening cycling’s credibility?We can't, of course, avoid the merger mayhem that's enveloped the sport. But is the reported fusion of Jumbo-Visma and Soudal-QuickStep simply an attempt to bring another big player back to the negotiating table? We pick over the latest rumours and discuss why this story provides another indication of cycling's flawed financial model.We then turn to Cat Ferguson, the outstandingly successful 17-year-old British junior who's signed a three-year deal with Movistar. We hear from her dad, Tim Ferguson, who provides the background to his daughter's transformation from Britain's second-best slalom skier to becoming the one rider almost every WorldTour team wanted to sign, and also hear about the Yorkshire team that's propelling Cat and a number of other girls to the top level. Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vuelta review: Jumbo boss Richard Plugge on their leadership furore, Remco on being better in 2024, & Geraint Thomas on ”stagnation” at Ineos

The Vuelta a España may be done, but it's not yet dusted. These are RadioCycling's headlines following one of the most controversy-hit Grand Tours in recent memory...Vuelta wash-up: did the best man win? We examine whether Jumbo-Visma's overdue and belated selection of Sepp Kuss as the team's leader was a sporting or a marketing decision, and hear from the man who made it, Richard Plugge, who insists that social media pressure didn't play a role in them deciding to back the American and that everyone on the team buys into their #Samenwinnen (winning together) ethos.Slovenian sulk: will Primož Roglic ever get over it? Jumbo-Visma did all they could to present a united front, but the Slovenian said he had his "own thoughts" on his team's tactics. Was Roglič hard done by? And to what extent did the failings of rival teams and riders push Jumbo-Visma into a totally unprecedented leadership dilemma?Remco Evenepoel looks ahead to 2024: He may not have defended the Vuelta title he won last year, but the 23yo Belgian still came away from the race with his reputation heightened. With a Tour de France debut now in his sights for next season, Evenepoel tells us what needs to be done within his Soudal-QuickStep team to ensure that he can contend for the yellow jersey.Ineos Grenadiers blown away: After finishing without a Grand Tour victory for the second year in succession, we hear a candid assessment of the British team's performances from their Welsh leader Geraint Thomas, who confesses that they've been affected by "stagnation", triggered by the loss of several key staffers. Thomas adds, though, that a change for the better is already taking place.Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jumbo’s Vuelta skelter, including ex-UCI boss Brian Cookson on their dominance; heart scares in the bunch; NCL hits the skids; & transfer latest

With GC Kuss edging ever closer to Madrid and Jumbo-Visma's Grand Tour Grand Slam now inevitable, these are RadioCycling's latest headlines...As Jumbo-Visma end their tactical Vuelta skelter, we ask whether the Dutch team is the greatest of all time and whether it can maintain its supremacy. We also hear from former UCI president Brian Cookson, who assesses whether that dominance is good for the sport and why salary and budget caps aren't the solution to the perennial issue of big-money teams lording it over their rivals.This week's heart scare for Jumbo-Visma's Nathan Van Hooydonck was followed by the news that Cofidis's Wesley Kreder had suffered a similar issue two weeks ago. We looks at the details of both cases, the science behind heart issues in endurance athletes and the shadow that Covid continues to cast over the peloton.NCL – boom or bust? The National Cycling League was launched to a fanfare of hype, with celebrity backers like NBA star Kevin  Durant and a million dollar prize purse. Hailed as a future for cycling, it's quickly hit the skids, with races scrapped, venues changed and riders laid off.  We get the inside line of what's gone wrong and why from Escape Collective's editor Caley Fretz.And we have the transfer latest... including big name signings for Israel-PremierTech and, it almost goes without saying, Lidl-Trek, news of a new Brit in the WorldTour, as well as the return of the Vinokourov name to the pro peloton. Plus, there's an update on arrivals at Ineos Grenadiers...  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vuelta leader Sepp Kuss, Vuelta discovery Cian Uijtdebroeks, racing legend Annemiek van Vleuten & Tour of Britain boss Mick Bennett

As the Vuelta a España pauses for its second rest day, these are RadioCycling's latest headlines...Cruise control for Sepp Kuss: With just six days of racing between the American and one of the unlikeliest but also most popular Grand Tour wins of recent times, we hear from the Vuelta race leader. Kuss explains why the steepness and quantity of the climbing that lies ahead holds no fears for him, his good memories of the fearsome Angliru and confirms that there are, as yet, no team orders being applied to Jumbo-Visma's three leaders who fill the top three positions on GC.Cian Uijtdebroeks, the smiling assassin: Few would have expected the 20-year-old Bora-Hansgrohe rider to be the rider spearheading Belgium's challenge this far into the Vuelta. The apparently always buoyant Belgian tells us why his instinct is to attack and why the last week should suit him, while Bora team director Rolf Aldag highlights the qualities that look likely to lift Uijtdebroeks into the ranks of the Grand Tour contenders.What's the future like for Britain's biggest races? A day on from the conclusion of the Tour of Britain, race director Mick Bennett makes a guest appearance on the podcast. He responds to the criticism of his race's route selection, suggests that the government needs to bring its influence to bear in order for elite level bike racing to survive in the UK, and suggests there are ways for racing fans to safeguard the future of the sport by making their voices heard. Annemiek van Vleuten, racing legend: Last weekend the Dutch rider who's won almost every major title in the sport – and in most cases won them again and again – raced for the final time. We get an insider's perspective on Van Vleuten's qualities from Martin Vestby, her team director at Mitchelton-Scott in 2018 to 2020, a period when she made extraordinary strides forward, pulling the women's peloton along in her slipstream, and assess her place in the sport's pantheon of racers.   Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

GC Kuss – it’s on at the Vuelta! 2024 Tour route latest; Van Aert on Kooij; all hail the Tour of Britain

There's a big weekend of racing ahead at the Vuelta a España and the Tour of Britain. With our special guest host OJ Borg standing in for Jeremy Whittle, these are RadioCycling's latest headlines...We start at the Vuelta, where all the talk is about GC Kuss. Could it happen? Will it happen? The American mountain domestique who's leading the race didn't buckle in the TT, is climbing as well as anyone and appears to be enjoying his spot in the limelight. We examine the beautiful dilemma of having three leaders that's facing Jumbo-Visma and, bizarrely, is also facing their rivals at UAE Team Emirates, who have their mountain domestique Marc Soler in a similarly elevated position, just behind Kuss. Will this Vuelta of champions go the way of a first-time Grand Tour winner? It may be 10 months away from starting, but the presentation of the 2024 Tour de France and the Tour de France Femmes will take place in Paris at the end of next month. As well as highlighting the bits of both races that have already been announced, including a first-ever finish away from Paris for the men's race, we delve into the known knowns and unknown knowns of the routes, including the Tour having two TTs and passing over Europe's highest road pass.This week's Tour of Britain has been all about one rider, Jumbo-Visma sprinter Olav Kooij. The young Dutchman won the first four stages and then played a very significant part in Wout van Aert's success in the next.  We hear from Van Aert about his budding partnership with his young teammate and profile former speed skater Kooij, who is shaping up like the next king of the sprints.This episode finishes with Britain's national tour, which has copped a good deal of flak for putting on a string of flat stages.  We reveal the reasons behind the route selection, why Covid, recession and police costs have meant that getting the race on at all has been a success in itself, and look at where the race could and should go next.This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Saddle Skedaddle.Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Remco and Jonas on Vuelta TT; Juan Ayuso profiled; Vuelta flirts with muddy disaster; Jumbo-Visma’s relentless winning machine; big moves for Steels &...

As the Vuelta a España caravan pauses for its first rest day and the chance to wipe off the mud and dirt it picked up at the Cruz de Caravaca summit finish, these are RadioCycling's headlines...Is the Vuelta organisation's better judgement going off course? After yet another stage that left questions hanging over the race directors, we discuss the muddy mayhem of the Cruz de Caravaca. Was the decision to neutralise the final kilometres an over-reaction or were they right to avoid a situation where the hopes of some GC contenders might have gone slip sliding away?Well-drilled and relentlessly brilliant, we shine a focus on Jumbo-Visma's stage race-winning machine, which has lifted three of its riders into contention for the Vuelta title and is carrying them towards the first-ever Grand Tour Grand Slam. Jumbo DS Marc Reef explains the work and thinking behind the Dutch squad's never-ending search for perfection and why its riders buy into this philosophy.The Vuelta recommences on Tuesday with its sole individual time trial. We hear from world TT champion Remco Evenepoel, who tells us about the course in Valladolid and confesses that he's  hoping to replicate the kind of gaps he created in the equivalent test last year. We also get a very succinct take from Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard.Like Jumbo-Visma, UAE Team Emirates have three riders in contention for the Vuelta title. Juan Ayuso is arguably the pick of them, and in this episode we throw a spotlight on him. The 20-year-old Spaniard tells us about his disrupted build-up to this race, his belief in his chances of victory, his growing bond with his one-time racing hero Alberto Contador, and the foundation and junior team he's establishing to enable others to follow in his footsteps. We also turn our attention away from the Vuelta and towards the women's peloton, where two extremely promising British riders have been the subject of intriguing transfers. We hear from relative racing newbie Claire Steels about her move to Movistar as replacement for the all-conquering Annemiek van Vleuten. We also get the lowdown from Canyon-SRAM team manager Ronny Lauke on the arrival of the prodigiously talented Zoe Backstedt.Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices