In this week’s episode of The Cycling Podcast, we revisit one of the most intriguing storylines of the late summer and autumn in the first instalment of a new KM0 series - Trapdoor - examining the fight to avoid relegation from the WorldTour. 

First up is Astana and their miraculous recovery from a dire position a year ago. Exactly how did the recruitment of a data scientist, new bikes, a bit of ‘Moneyball’ recruitment and a completely fresh approach to race planning revive a team that looked dead and buried twelve months ago? Maybe the key individual in the whole, miraculous process, the team’s Head of Performance, Vasilis Anastopoulos, reveals many if not all of the secrets in this interview with Daniel Friebe. 

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In this week’s episode of The Cycling Podcast, we digress from the usual diet of weekly news and analysis for a check-in with a familiar voice and regular guest over the years, Matt White, who in recent weeks has joined the Movistar’s team staff after over a decade in senior management at Jayco-AlUla.

White’s departure from the Australian trade team he had shaped for years was almost as much of a surprise as his professional ‘emigration’ to Spain, although he has lived close to Valencia for many years. In this episode, he explains the specific challenges facing Movistar to Daniel Friebe, while also meditating more broadly on the challenge for ‘mid-table’ teams of staying relevant in the Pogačar era.

  

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With the 2025 road racing season now firmly in the rear view mirror, join Daniel Friebe and Lionel Birnie for a freewheeling ramble through some of the big stories that have hit the headlines in the past couple of weeks.

We start by discussing the fragile nature of survival at World Tour level with the news that the Australian team Jayco-Alula came within days of possibly folding, and the delays to confirmation that two Belgian teams, Lotto and Intermarché, intend to become one. Where does that leave the riders, especially Intermarché's biggest star Biniam Girmay?

Then we indulge in a bit of off-season speculation and wonder what Tadej Pogačar's 2026 season might look like, particularly with a number of race organisers making changes seemingly to entice the SlovAlien to ride. The Vuelta a España starting in his adopted home town of Monaco is not a particularly subtle overture and it seem an appealing prospect but, as we discuss, the picture is more complicated than that.

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The Cycling Podcast returns on Halloween for an end-of-season debrief and audience with the rider formerly known by his team-mates as ‘The Ghost’, Larry Wabasse - for reasons the Tudor Pro Cycling ace will explain.

After a quick dip into the week’s headlines, including news of Oier Lazkano’s provisional suspension for biological passport anomalies, we open our mailbag and invite Larry to respond to your questions. From Madeira travel tips to the now familiar question of whether Tadej Pogačar is turning pro cycling into a snoozefest, we demand answers and Larry, happily, obliges. 

  

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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 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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Twitter @cycling_podcast

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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.

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So, let's go back to October 2024...

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.

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. 

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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Twitter @cycling_podcast

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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.

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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.

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The inaugural UCI road World Championships on the continent of Africa took place in Rwanda last week. Dominated - again - by Tadej Pogačar, the men’s road race was widely dubbed ‘the hardest edition ever’, but was it really? Team USA’s Larry Warbasse joins Daniel Friebe and Lionel Birnie to give his verdict and general impressions from Kigali. 

We also solve the mystery of Nauru’s first ever World Championship entrant - who didn’t make it to the start-line. In addition, we pay tribute to two influential figures in the cycling media who have passed away in recent days, and look forward to the European Championship road race at the weekend. 

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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Twitter @cycling_podcast

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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.

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).

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