The Cycling Podcast

We continue our review of the men’s 2024 professional season, this week focussing on the riders who have called time on their career in recent months and weeks.

Daniel Friebe is joined by one still relatively new retiree, Joe Dombrowski, and a rider who is very much still an active member of the pro peloton, Larry Warbasse, as we reflect on the achievements and legacies of Mark Cavendish, Thomas De Gendt and others.

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We continue our review of the men’s 2024 professional season, this week focussing on the riders, teams and trends that had a year to forget. 

After Daniel’s controversial suggestion last week that it was in fact such a bad year that it was a good one for INEOS Grenadiers, who will come under the spotlight this time around? Rob Hatch has at least one nomination for a team that fared worse than the Brits - while Richard Abraham is blowing raspberries at the whole, once great cycling nation of France after its lacklustre few months. 

Cofidis certainly didn’t wow anyone in 2024 - and we hear from one of their departing riders, Harrison Wood, about why it became an annus horribilis for that team.

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On this month’s episode of Féminin, Orla Chennaoui joins Rose Manley and Denny Gray to look ahead to the Tour de France Femmes 2025. With the route announced by race organisers ASO last week, we offer up our thoughts and predictions on what should be a gripping nine days of racing.

We can also finally discuss one of the biggest transfers in women’s cycling. After months of speculation (and some acrimony), Demi Vollering has officially confirmed that she will be moving to FDJ-Suez on a two year contract. But with French GC hopefuls Juliette Labous and Evita Muzic already there, we explore whether FDJ’s co-leadership tactics are going to pay off.

Plus following the recent UCI Gravel World Championships won by Marianne Vos, this month’s mini feature is on the rapid rise of gravel racing. We hear from 2023 Gravel World Champion Kasia Niewiadoma and British gravel racer Danni Shrosbree about why more and more road racers are taking on the discipline. 

In this week’s episode of The Cycling Podcast, Daniel Friebe is joined by Rob Hatch and Richard Abraham, as we kick off our series of 2024 season review episodes. 

This year the boys’ task was simple: come up with a list of riders, teams, trends and concepts for whom 2024 was a memorable year, preferably without dwelling too much on the exploits of a certain Slovenian. The nominations were whimsical, surprising and in some cases provocative. 

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In this week’s episode of The Cycling Podcast, Daniel Friebe is joined by François Thomazeau & Richard Abraham, as we deliver our verdict on the newly minted 2025 men’s & women’s Tour de France routes. 

François is in Paris to catch up with old friends and familiarise himself with the new Tour parcours. We discuss whether it really is a Jean-Marie Leblanc tribute Tour, how delighted Tadej Pogačar should be this evening…& why François may soon have to learn to love La Plagne. 

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In this week’s episode of The Cycling Podcast, Daniel Friebe is in Mallorca, at the home of ace commentator Rob Hatch, for a final check-in of the European road season - & a tired but already excited look ahead to 2025.

Daniel & Rob discuss the week’s news, a grand finale to the season at the Veneto Classic & the latest rumours regarding Tom Pidcock’s future. There’s also talk of anniversaries - particularly the one being celebrated this week by arguably cycling’s greatest ever talent nursery.

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In this week’s episode of The Cycling Podcast, Daniel Friebe is on Fran Reyes’s home turf - Granada in southern Spain - and that pair is joined by Richard Abraham for another week of analysis and reflection on, yes, yet another Tadej Pogačar masterpiece, this time at the Tour of Lombardy.

The build-up to the final Monument of the season had been enlivened or overshadowed - depending on your viewpoint - by Tom Pidcock’s shock exclusion from the INEOS line-up. We examine the likely consequences of that - and the possible reasons.

It’s then time for another attempt to contextualise arguably the finest cycling season of all time by a male rider, and certainly the most extraordinary since Eddy Merckx’s ‘cannibalistic’ reign.

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In this week’s episode of The Cycling Podcast, Daniel Friebe is joined by Larry Warbasse of Décathlon-AG2r La Mondiale and journalist Richard Abraham, as we review the action from a soggy Giro dell’Emilia last weekend in Bologna - home of the cured meat known there as ‘mortadella’ & in the USA as, ahem, baloney.

No surprise, it was the newly crowned world champion, Tadej Pogačar, who would bring home the, er, oversized bacon-like sausage - quite literally as a large lump of the stuff was among his prizes. 

We discuss that, look forward to Saturday’s Il Lombardia & also hear from Taco van der Hoorn about his remarkable comeback victory at the Betcity Elfstedenrace last week.

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In this week’s episode of The Cycling Podcast, Daniel Friebe is joined by Larry Warbasse of Décathlon-AG2r La Mondiale and Team USA, plus Eurosport commentator Rob Hatch, as we look back at the men’s elite world championship road race that took place in Zürich last Sunday.

The build-up to the rainbow jersey showdown had been soured by the news of Swiss rider Muriel Furrer’s death after her crash in the junior women’s road race on Thursday. We start by paying tribute to Furrer and imagining what could be some of the learnings from the tragedy. 

We then dissect Tadej Pogačar latest, superlative-defying performance on Sunday, examine some of those no-longer outlandish comparisons with Eddy Merckx and ponder what may be Pog’s next major goals.  

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Sign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com to listen to more than 100 exclusive episodes. Our latest KM0 specials, ‘How to Become a Pro Cyclist’ and ‘How to Become an Ex-Pro Cyclist’ are available on the Kilometre 0 for Friends of The Cycling Podcast feed now. 

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Join Rose Manley and Jo Rowsell as they discuss a thrilling Women’s Elite World Championships Road Race which took place over a punchy 154 kilometres, finishing in Zurich.

With an inter-team rivalry at SD Worx that has been building all year, the race was expected to be a showdown between defending World Champion Lotte Kopecky and all-conquering Demi Vollering. But also lining up were Tour de France Femmes champion Kasia Niewiadoma and Giro d’Italia champion Elisa Longo Borghini who come to the race with renewed confidence this year. Young stars like Puck Pieterse and Neve Bradbury also had the chance to prove themselves with a World Champion U23 title on the line in the same race. With the rainbow bands at stake, who will reign supreme?

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Sign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com to listen to more than 100 exclusive episodes. Our latest KM0 specials, ‘How to Become a Pro Cyclist’ and ‘How to Become an Ex-Pro Cyclist’ are available on the Kilometre 0 for Friends of The Cycling Podcast feed now.

The Cycling Podcast is on Strava