Daniel Friebe, Lionel Birnie and Rob Hatch, give their verdict on the parcours unveiled in Paris on Thursday morning.
The ASO bigwigs have backloaded the course, apparently in the hope of maintaining a little more suspense this year. Will they succeed? Or, in trying to Pog-proof the Tour, have they merely underlined what an impossible task that is?
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The Cycling Podcast was founded in 2013 by Richard Moore, Daniel Friebe and Lionel Birnie.
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S13 Ep146: SlovAlien
The Monument season ended at the weekend in time-honoured fashion, with il Lombardia, and its now traditional denouement of a Tadej Pogačar victory. What more can anyone say about Pogačar’s extraordinary domination? As ever, we at least try to dig out new superlatives, this week with Daniel Friebe, Lionel Birnie and TNT’s voice of cycling, Rob Hatch.
We’ve got other reflections from Lombardy, including on Quinn Simmons’ remarkable performance and Redbull-Bora-hansgrohe’s struggles. There’s also the usual round-up of some of the week’s most eye-catching news stories, including the latest on Derek Gee and the battle for survival in the WorldTour.
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Sign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com to listen to new special episodes every month plus a back catalogue of more than 300 exclusive episodes.
The 11.01 Cappuccino
Our regular email newsletter is now on Substack. Subscribe here for frothy, full-fat updates to enjoy any time (as long as it’s after 11am).
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Friends of the Podcast can join the discussion at our new virtual pub, The Cannibal & Badger. A friendly forum to talk about cycling and the podcast. Log in to your Friends of the Podcast account to join in.
The Cycling Podcast is on Strava
The Cycling Podcast was founded in 2013 by Richard Moore, Daniel Friebe and Lionel Birnie.
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S13 Ep145: Psych!
It’s a meeting of minds on this month’s episode of The Cycling Podcast Féminin as Rose Manley, Denny Gray and Rebecca Charlton take a closer look at sports psychology in light of World Mental Health Day.
We hear from Dr Allie Wagener, sports psychologist at the Human Powered Health team about her work. Plus we hear from General Manager Ro de Jonckere and rider Ruth Edwards about the ongoing influence sports psychology has on the workings of the team both on and off the bike.
The Cycling Podcast Féminin team also pick over the European Championships road race and debate the merits of that surprise World Championships win in the first regular episode since the race.
Also on the agenda: cheese wheel rankings, the brief return of “Casio Niewiadoma” and the fear of a burnt pizza.
Follow us on social media:
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Friends of the Podcast
Sign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com to listen to new special episodes every month plus a back catalogue of more than 300 exclusive episodes.
The 11.01 Cappuccino
Our regular email newsletter is now on Substack. Subscribe here for frothy, full-fat updates to enjoy any time (as long as it’s after 11am).
The Cannibal & Badger
Friends of the Podcast can join the discussion at our new virtual pub, The Cannibal & Badger. A friendly forum to talk about cycling and the podcast. Log in to your Friends of the Podcast account to join in.
The Cycling Podcast is on Strava
The Cycling Podcast was founded in 2013 by Richard Moore, Daniel Friebe and Lionel Birnie.
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S13: KM0: Gravel Dust & Rainbows (available here for a limited time)
This episode was released for Friends of the Podcast subscribers at the start of the year and, with the 2025 UCI Gravel World Championships taking place in Maastricht in the Netherlands over the weekend, we're making the episode available for everyone to listen to in the build-up to the race.
So, let's go back to October 2024...
(This episode is part of our Friends of the Podcast series. It will be available on our regular feed until the end of the weekend. To sign up as a friend go to thecyclingpodcast.com)
Last October, Lionel Birnie and Simon Gill went to Leuven in Belgium for the third edition of the UCI Gravel World Championships.
They'd made the journey across the channel to the Flanders Classics many times but this was their first trip to a gravel race and they were keen to see what this overnight sensation (which was more than a century in the making) was all about.
They meander through the history of gravel racing, examine where gravel and road converge, and take part in the Rainbow Gravel Ride, the sportive for amateur riders held on the finishing loop of the World Championship course.
In this episode we hear from two American riders, Ian Boswell and Larry Warbasse, about their experiences of gravel racing, Colin Clews, the organiser of the Cicle Classic in Britain – a road race with gravel that preceded the current trend by a decade or so – and Connor Swift, who was in the thick of the racing in Leuven.
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S13 Ep144: Seixas And We Know It
The autumn season rolled on with the European road race championships at the weekend - and report back from a men’s road race dominated in familiar fashion by Tadej Pogačar, but also lit up by a French teenager riding and starring on home roads, Paul Seixas.
Daniel Friebe and Lionel Birnie are joined by the voice of Radio Tour, Seb Piquet, to analyse Pog’s latest masterclass and what’s next for Seixas. Before all of that, we also catch up on other news from the last week in pro cycling, including Cian Uijtdebroeks’ surprise transfer to Movistar, Alexander Kristoff’s unhappy farewell and the likely demise of the Arkéa team.
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The Cycling Podcast is proudly supported by Lloyds. Last year, Lloyds began a multi-year partnership with British Cycling, which includes becoming title sponsors of the Lloyds Tour of Britain races for men and women. Lloyds also sponsors the Great Britain team and National Championships across a range of disciplines – road racing, track cycling, mountain biking, BMX and cyclo-cross. Thanks to sponsorship from Lloyds, The Cycling Podcast covered the Lloyds Tour of Britain Men with daily episodes for the first time.
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Follow us on social media:
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Friends of the Podcast
Sign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com to listen to new special episodes every month plus a back catalogue of more than 300 exclusive episodes.
The 11.01 Cappuccino
Our regular email newsletter is now on Substack. Subscribe here for frothy, full-fat updates to enjoy any time (as long as it’s after 11am).
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Friends of the Podcast can join the discussion at our new virtual pub, The Cannibal & Badger. A friendly forum to talk about cycling and the podcast. Log in to your Friends of the Podcast account to join in.
The Cycling Podcast is on Strava
The Cycling Podcast was founded in 2013 by Richard Moore, Daniel Friebe and Lionel Birnie.
The Cycling Podcast takes listeners to the heart of professional cycling with weekly episodes and daily coverage of the Grand Tours.
Join journalists Daniel Friebe and Lionel Birnie – and a few special guests along the way – as they podcast about the latest cycling news and the world of professional cycling.
Founded by Richard Moore, Daniel Friebe and Lionel Birnie in 2013, The Cycling Podcast is one of the longest-running independent sports podcasts.
To support The Cycling Podcast, subscribe as a Friend of the Podcast to join our community, listen to special episodes released throughout the year and access our archive stretching back to 2015. Subscribe at thecyclingpodcast.com
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