S8 Ep116: Kilometre 0 – The sprint finish

Episode 8: With back-to-back sprints coming up after the rest day and no win on the board yet, the pressure was beginning to mount on Deceuninck-Quick Step's Irish champion Sam Bennett.

Being the designated sprinter for the Belgian squad at the Tour de France brings with it responsibility. The long line of sprinters who have shouldered that expectation includes Tom Boonen, Mark Cavendish, Marcel Kittel and more recently Fernando Gaviria and Elia Viviani.

In this episode we tell the story of stage 10 to Îl de Ré, a day fraught with uncertainty over the coronavirus test results and the threat of crosswinds.

But, as it turned out, it went perfectly for Bennett and his leadout man Michael Mørkøv. We also hear from Sunweb's Nikias Arndt and Life in the Peloton host Mitch Docker – who has experience as both a sprinter and leadout man – gives his tactical breakdown of the finish.

Despatches from our team of audio diarists will appear throughout our Tour de France coverage as well as in Kilometre 0. The full line-up is Nikias Arndt, Sam Bewley, Simon Geschke, Ryan Gibbons, Jens Keukeleire, Michael Mørkøv, Lukas Pöstlberger, Pavel Sivakov, Connor Swift and sports director Tom Southam.

Kilometre 0 by The Cycling Podcast is supported by Zwift, the app for riding, training and racing at home. Kilometre 0 is a 15-part series published on weekday mornings during the Tour de France.