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One of the cycling transfer stories of the winter – and possibly the decade – was Tom Pidcock’s decision to break his contract with the Ineos Grenadiers three years early to join Swiss second-tier ProTeam Q36.5 Pro Cycling.

And, despite the messy, protracted saga that preceded the transfer, it’s fair to say the move has worked out pretty well so far. Pidcock’s debut for Q36.5 saw him win two stages and the overall in convincing fashion at the AlUla Tour, while the team’s also been firing on all cylinders early doors, already equalling their total number of 2024 wins by mid-February.

So, with a Pidcock-led Q36.5 making waves at the start of 2025, we’re joined on this week’s episode by the squad’s former Irish champion Rory Townsend, who’s starting his second season with the Swiss team after working his way up through the British domestic scene over the past decade. 

Townsend discusses the Pidcock transfer saga, as well as the double Olympic champion’s immediate impact on the in-form team, and whether signing one of cycling’s biggest stars has raised expectations and changed the squad’s identity.
We also examine the 29-year-old’s own unique, circuitous path to the pro ranks, via an Epstein Barr diagnosis, rejections, a university degree, an emotional national champs win, and a mattress on the floor of a dingy Belgian B&B.

Elsewhere, Rory chats about his plans and ambitions for the season, which include a crack at the classics and aiming for that so far elusive Tour of Britain stage success, his brutal day in the break at the Glasgow world championships, those Box Hill Strava KOM conquests – and why you need to properly dilute your pickle juice before downing it during a race…

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Since it was announced early last week, Warner Bros. Discovery’s controversial decision to ditch Eurosport in the UK and Ireland, after over three decades of quirky, wonderful broadcasting, and move all of its cycling coverage to the all-encompassing, £31-a-month TNT Sports (hiking the price up by 443 per cent in the process), has been the subject of intense debate among cycling fans, riders, and stakeholders.

In part one of this week’s road.cc Podcast, Ryan, Dan, and Emily dissect the earth-shattering news, the backlash from across the cycling world, and what it all means for the future of cycling coverage (and the sport itself) in the UK and Ireland.

And in part two, road.cc’s tech editor Mat Brett sits down for a chat with one of those high-profile cycling figures set to be directly affected by this new, monopolised cycling media landscape, especially after July’s last (for the foreseeable future, anyway) free-to-air Tour de France on ITV4 – four-time Tour stage winner-turned-ITV commentator David Millar.

The former Garmin rider chats about his new role as brand director at premium bike manufacturer Factor, his “geeky” love of bikes, and the “death by a thousand cuts” demise of his clothing brand CHPT3 last year. 

Millar also assesses the recent safety debates in pro cycling, from yellow cards and gear restrictions to airbags, and concludes that the key to making the “inherently dangerous” world of bike racing safer could be “empowering” the peloton to self-police and respect each other.

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On this week’s episode we’re delving into the past, present, and future of American cycling, with none other than former Tour de France podium finisher and current gran fondo organiser, Levi Leipheimer.

A former teammate of Lance Armstrong’s at US Postal, Astana, and RadioShack, Leipheimer was one of the leading American pros during an era when the United States was planted firmly at the summit of the sport. The stage racer and TT specialist finished third, behind teammate Alberto Contador, at one of the closest ever editions of the Tour de France in 2007, came second at the Vuelta, and won the Tour de Suisse and Dauphiné Libéré, as well as three consecutive editions of the Tour of California.

However, Leipheimer’s career came to an abrupt halt in 2012, after he confessed to doping for much of his career as part of the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s case against Armstrong, which ultimately led to the Texan’s lifetime ban.

Since then, Leipheimer has spent his time helping young riders in California, as well as organising Levi’s Gran Fondo, a mass participation event in Sonoma County which he started in 2009, raising over $3.2 million for at-risk youth, and announced this month that he plans to grow the event into the “richest” professional one-day race in the world. 

During a reflective, candid conversation, Leipheimer discusses the current state of America’s domestic road racing landscape, how he hopes to breathe new life into it, the impact of his generation’s widespread doping on the reputation of cycling in the States and the current racing malaise, his perspective on his own career, and how cycling in general deals with its past.

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It’s time for the first road.cc Podcast episode of 2025, and we decided to kick off the new year by mixing things up and delving into unexplored territory for the podcast – by analysing the ongoing struggles facing the cycling industry and assessing where the BBC went wrong in their latest controversial active travel take. Oh wait… Well, start as you mean to go on, I suppose.

And to just underline how little ground we’re planning on breaking this year, in part one Ryan and Jack are joined once again by Rory Hitchens, a long-time bike industry stalwart, for what’s fast becoming an annual segment on the podcast: assessing the state of the cycling industry as we enter the new year.

For most of last year, the bike industry’s motto seemed to be ‘Survive until 2025’ – and it’s clear that there is plenty of surviving still going on.

However, despite continuing negative headlines, Hitchens is optimistic that the storms which have battered the cycling industry since the Covid pandemic are starting, finally, to abate, as the industry reshapes itself into something “leaner, meaner, and more creative”.

And speaking of creative thinking, in part two e-biketips editor Alex Bowden joins us to pick apart THAT recent BBC Panorama documentary on e-bikes – widely criticised for appearing to conflate legal e-bikes with illegally modified machines, and the dangerous riding and criminality associated with them – and ask: Where did Adrian Chiles go wrong?

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year… that’s right, it’s our annual podcast episode looking back over the biggest and most bizarre bike-related stories of 2024! Plus some less cheery but nonetheless important town centre cycling ban chat for good measure.

In part one, Ryan, Jack, and Emily, paper party helmets firmly attached, discuss the stories and narratives that jumped out at them during 2024: the UK general election and its impact on cycling so far, the ongoing storms battering the bike industry, the latest wave of aero tech, Tadej Pogačar’s overwhelming dominance and much more. 

In part 2, we turn our attentions towards another cycling story that just wouldn’t go away over the last 12 months – town centre cycling bans.

Ryan is joined by one of those activists who successfully stood up to the wardens and caused a rethink in their local council over how they approach so-called ‘anti-social cycling’. 

As well as discussing his group’s campaign against the crude and often incorrect implementation of the city’s cycling ban, Will Bramhill from the Colchester Cycling Campaign told the podcast that cycling PSPOs will always prove controversial until the UK fully addresses its decades-long failure in transport policy, which constantly shunts cyclists away from safe spaces and on to dangerous roads alongside motorists.

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With British cycling in turmoil this winter, following the closure of the country’s two remaining UCI Continental teams, this week’s episode of the road.cc Podcast features one rider who’s forging an alternative path through the struggling domestic scene – former Lotto-Soudal pro Matt Holmes.

After hanging up his wheels at the end of 2022, following a three-year spell racing for WorldTour team Lotto-Soudal – which saw him win a Tour Down Under stage and ride some of cycling’s biggest race but which ultimately left him disenchanted with the sport – Holmes returned to racing, with immediate success, in May.

This time, however, as squads continue to fall by the wayside, he’s doing it without a team, as a a fully-fledged privateer – choosing his own calendar, looking after himself before and during races, riding on donated equipment, and seeking out his own sponsors. In 2025, this DIY approach to racing will see him dive headfirst into the gravel scene, while prepping a possible tilt at a team pursuit spot for LA ’28, after an aborted bid to make the Paris team this year.

During an insightful, thoughtful chat, Matt discusses his journey from racing in Britain to the WorldTour and back, adjusting to life after racing, his return as a privateer and how you go about supporting and marketing yourself on your own, the state of the current domestic scene, and why a reset could do British cycling the world of good in the long term.

And in part two, we were joined by one of those sponsors keeping Matt on the road – the co-founders of One Good Thing, the world’s first wrapper-free oat and protein bars for cyclists, father and son Mike and Daniel Bedford, to discuss what inspired OGT’s creation and whether cycling – for all its other environmental credentials – has a litter problem.

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We’ve got a cycling industry and bike tech special for you this week on the podcast, as Factor CEO Rob Gitelis joins us to discuss the brand’s history and the latest cutting-edge tech, before we take a closer (audio) inspection of the brand-new Scott Addict RC.

In part one, Rob joins us from sunny Girona to chat about his journey from racing cyclist to working in Taiwan’s fledgling carbon fibre bike manufacturing industry and making bikes for an array of famous brands.

Rob then traces his journey to Factor, the company’s own growth in recent years – which has seen it win grand tour stages and Olympic gold medals – and how it’s been able to weather the storms of the bike industry’s turbulent post-pandemic period. 

He also chats about that infamous Chris Froome bike set-up saga, his partnership with Israel-Premier Tech, the inevitable rise of disc brakes, and why the gold medal-winning track tech we saw in Paris – which Rob claims made the Aussies go three seconds faster – could soon be making its way to a road bike near you.

And in part two, Dave gets up close and personal with the brand spanking new Scott Addict RC, the brand’s new top-end climbing bike weighing in at a featherweight 5.9kg.

Dave is joined by the bike’s product designer Christian Holweck and lead engineer Max Koenen to discuss how you go about making such a light bike, while keeping it comfortable and throwing in a few nods to the aero watchers too.

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Like Sir Chris Hoy, who last month revealed that he has terminal prostate cancer, Kevin Griffiths is determined to turn his own experience of living with stage four cancer into a positive. 

The Stoke-based cyclist, who hails from two of Britain’s most revered cycling families, launched the Cancer My Arse initiative this year after discovering that his bowel cancer was terminal, four years on from initially undergoing treatment for the disease.

Inspired, he says, to “create a positive out of a negative”, Griffiths hopes Cancer My Arse will galvanise a global community of fighters, survivors, and supporters to collectively raise significant funds for cancer research and support services, primarily through one simple, very unique, and rather difficult challenge – cycling out of the saddle for as long as possible.

In a moving and inspiring interview, Kev details how he attempted to juggle running a fledgling business with his initial cancer treatment, how he came to terms with his terminal diagnosis, and why he hopes his campaigning – along with the positivity and optimism exuded by Hoy following his own terminal cancer announcement – will change the perception of what life can be like living with stage four cancer.

And in the first part of the podcast, Ryan, Dan, and Emily celebrate Mark Cavendish’s ‘official’ retirement by sharing their favourite moments from the Manx Missile’s storied 18-year pro career. What’s your favourite Cav win? Let us know at [email protected].

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From 2026, the familiar sights of the Tour de France – the epic mountain ranges, fields of sunflowers, Tadej Pogačar riding off into the distance – will remain the same. But for many cycling fans in the UK, the sounds will be very different.

Next year’s Tour, the 25th edition of the race to be shown live on ITV, will also be the final one to be broadcast on free-to-air television in the UK, after it was announced last week that Warner Bros. Discovery and Eurosport have agreed a new exclusive TV rights deal for cycling’s biggest race from 2026 onwards.

On this week’s episode, ITV’s lead cycling commentator Ned Boulting, who’s been working on the race for the channel since 2003, discusses the sad and poignant end of 40 years of the Tour de France on free-to-air British TV, the news of which he discovered while touring his new show, based on the 1923 edition of the race.

Boulting reflects on why ITV’s long association with the race has come to an end, what effect this will have on the Tour’s viewership within the UK, and his own personal relationship with the race.

He also chats about his new show, the ‘Marginal Mystery Tour: 1923 And All That’, which just so happens to celebrate ITV’s coverage of the Tour de France and why he’s crafted a piece of theatre about cycling and the context in which it takes place.

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When it comes to culture war discourse around cycling, things had become a bit quiet lately. Too quiet. 

After a brief period of respite following a general election campaign which saw cycling and active travel largely sacrificed on the so-called ‘War on the Motorist’ altar, the political and ideological conflict surrounding riding a bike kicked into gear again this month, with the Telegraph, Iain Duncan Smith, and even Thames Valley Police fanning the culture war flames with questionable public pronouncements. 

So, are the cycling culture wars back? And did they ever go away? Transport and sustainability journalist Carlton Reid and the London Cycling Campaign’s Simon Munk join us to ask why and how cycling become embroiled in the culture wars, assess the role of conspiracy theories and motonormativity in hindering cycling projects and policy, and offer up our own (somewhat ambitious) plans to put a stop to the cycling culture war once and for all.

Oh, and maybe review a very cycling-focused chapter of Boris Johnson’s new book…

And in the Week in Cycling, Ryan and Emily ponder what the future holds for Tom Pidcock, after the British star became embroiled in a transfer saga following his very public falling out with the Ineos Grenadiers.