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Former world time trial champion, Olympic medallist, and endurance sport all-rounder Emma Pooley joins the podcast to discuss her new recipe book/memoir Oat to Joy, her own up-and-down relationship with food, the ‘weight debate’ that erupted in women’s cycling this year (and what she regards as the gender-based hypocrisy surrounding it) and her times spent fighting the sport’s ‘idiots’… especially when it came to a celebratory post-win hot chocolate.

We also chat about Pooley and her generation’s role in growing women’s cycling, the battle for the Tour de France Femmes, getting used to riding slowly on the morning commute, and why sometimes making enemies is a sign you’re doing a good job…

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“This is crazy. It’s Russia, you don’t illegally enter Russian territory. You don’t do that!” says Sofiane Sehili. Except he did… And the ultra-endurance legend tells us all about it on this epic episode of the podcast.

In September, Sehili was a day away from breaking the world record for the fastest Eurasia crossing by bike when he was refused entry to Russia at the country’s border with China. Undeterred, he forged on through a forest, through streams, and over barbed wire across the border. After handing himself in, he was arrested, spending 51 days in a Russian jail before being sent home.

Now back home safe in France, Sehili talks in depth about that dramatic conclusion to his latest record attempt, his 51 days in a jail in Russia’s Far East, and the response he’s got since returning home.

We also chat about the logistical planning that goes into these mammoth, ultra-cycling rides, how his perspective on life has changed since his time in Russia, and – most importantly – what happened to his bike when he was in jail…

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20 years ago, former England footballer, Crystal Palace captain, and cancer survivor Geoff Thomas first made his mark on the cycling world by completing all 21 stages and 3,593km of the 2005 Tour de France, a day before the Lance Armstrong-led peloton.

Since then, Thomas’s Tour 21 has developed into a huge deal, and every year groups of amateurs follow in his wheel tracks and ride the Tour route one week before the pros, raising millions of pounds for Cure Leukaemia. And this summer, Geoff marked two decades since his first French summer by riding his seventh Tour 21. 

In a wide-ranging chat, Geoff discusses his own cancer story, the origins of his Tour rides, the highs and lows of 20 years of riding a bike around France, his experiences with a certain Texan, his relationship with cycling beyond the Tour, and why cycling in a group isn’t that far removed from being part of a football changing room.

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It may have been sorely lacking in recent years, but the 2026 edition of the Tour de France Hommes will be all about suspense. Or, as the race’s press release put it, it’s going to be a ‘crescendo’. Whether it’s one that could build to a great Alpine GC frenzy, or, if Tadej decides to clash the symbols sooner than anticipated, fade into a disappointing diminuendo, remains to be seen.
On this week’s episode, we offer our immediate reactions to the Tour Hommes route revealed this week, which features a Barcelona start, an early Pyrenean excursion, a backloaded double visit to Alpe d’Huez, and the return of the Montmarte finale in Paris.
We also provide some hot takes on what looks set to be a very exciting Tour de France Femmes in 2026, including its long-awaited trip to Mont Ventoux and a potentially explosive final stage in Nice.
Elsewhere, inspired by Remco Evenepoel’s redemptive downhill performance at Il Lombardia this month, Emily puts her sports psychology Masters to good use and offers some handy advice on how you too can overcome a heavy crash and regain your confidence on the bike.

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Following Israel-Premier Tech’s decision to change both its name and nationality for 2026, in the wake of a season dominated by protests and controversy surrounding the team’s participation in races amid the conflict in Gaza, former UCI president Brian Cookson joins us on the podcast to discuss one of cycling’s biggest talking points in recent years: sportswashing.

In a wide-ranging discussion, Cookson, who ran the UCI between 2013 and 2017 after 16 years at the helm of British Cycling, chats about the spectre of sportswashing in cycling, affecting both sponsorship and race locations, why nation states shouldn’t have their name on team jerseys, and how cycling’s stakeholders should deal with protests on the road.

Elsewhere in the podcast, we also discuss the state of professional cycling in 2025, how the sport has moved on from the doping era Cookson saw first-hand as UCI president, and where things are currently going right (and wrong) for cycling in the UK.

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Buckle up for a truly epic episode of the road.cc podcast! We're delighted to be joined by legendary cyclist Pippa York and arguably cycling's most well-known journalist, David Walsh, for episode 115. 

After York agreed to spend three weeks on the road with Walsh following the Tour de France back in 2020, the pair struck up an unlikely friendship, which culminated in a book about their adventures during that Tour, plus the 2021 and 2022 editions, published earlier this year. 

Nothing is off the table in this episode, as we discuss the book, York’s struggles before, during, and after her career, the trans debate in sports, whether cycling has changed over the last 30 years, and a whole lot more. 

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This week, we're exploring one of the big cycling tech stories of 2025: the rise of Chinese bike brands. And why they could, through better tech, research and design, and affordable prices, very quickly threaten the traditional western brands and transform the global cycling industry. 

To assess China’s new high-end bike brand dynasty, and dig deeper into the circumstances, tech, and methods underpinning it, we spoke to Yoeleo, one of those Chinese companies aiming to disrupt the global cycling market and reinvent the country’s position and reputation within the industry.

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On the evening of Tuesday 23 May 2019, Ben Hetherington’s life changed forever. 

Ben, then 23-years-old and one of the most exciting young prospects in British cycling, was racing a local 10-mile time trial when he was struck by a motorist who turned right across the carriageway’s eastbound lanes after failing to give way. Ben suffered serious, life-threatening injuries in the crash, including a traumatic brain injury, and spent several weeks in an induced coma and three months in hospital. He eventually returned to para-cycling and continues to pick up top results. 

However, after the motorist was cleared in the criminal courts, Ben pursued civil proceedings against the driver – who then claimed the cycling club who organised the time trial (and Ben) were actually the ones at fault. Earlier this year, the driver’s case was dismissed in what has been described as an “important decision” for grassroots cycling clubs.

Ryan sat down with two lawyers who worked on the case, Laura Murphy and Martin Porter, to discuss what that judgement means for time trialling in Britain, for cycling clubs staging any kind of event on open roads, and for the volunteers who help make it all possible – and also why cyclists should expect better from the police investigating crashes.

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This episode of the podcast is in association with Schwalbe...

How do you go about building a Tour de France team effectively from scratch? That’s the question I asked when I popped around to the rest day hotel of Julian Alaphilippe’s Tudor Pro Cycling squad, who are making their debuts at this year’s Tour.

The Swiss team are relative newbies to the sport, only launching under the Tudor name in 2022, two years after classics legend and national hero Fabian Cancellara took over the Swiss Academy Racing project. The squad then stepped up to the second-tier ProTeam level the following year, and has enjoyed something of a meteoric rise to the top of the sport, making their Giro debut last year, before being invited to the 2025 Tour.

On this week’s episode, I chat to Tudor CEO Raphael Meyer about the team’s growth and how you get ready for a race as big as the Tour de France.

I clambered up into the team truck, to have a nosey at the squad’s bikes and wheels, and to chat to their head mechanic Diego Costa about what it takes to put together a Tour de France bike.