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For most of the pro cycling world, June is all about altitude camps, warm-up races, and fine-tuning that all-important preparation ahead of the big one: the Tour de France. But here at road.cc, it really means only one thing: our annual tech-spotting pilgrimage to the Critérium du Dauphiné! (Or whatever it’s going to be called next year…)

And while all eyes were on Tadej Pogačar, road.cc’s editor Jack and news editor Dan were busy skulking around rural French car parks in search of the next big thing in bike tech, from the new Cervélo S5 aero bike to that mad, track-inspired, super wide fork-sporting Factor. 

After discussing their findings and why bike brands still love “playing the game” when it comes to ‘secret’ new tech, attentions turned to the UCI’s latest regulatory bombshell, after the governing body’s string of new tech rules, covering everything from helmet designs and rim height to handlebar and fork width, provoked a backlash from riders and bike fitters.

And in part two, the Cycle to Work Alliance’s chair Steve Edgell joins us to chat about the success of Cycle to Work in enabling people to, well, cycle to work, recent claims it lack inclusivity and is “sucking the lifeblood” out of bike shops, and what modernising the scheme actually means in practice.

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On this week’s episode, we’re joined by Julian Chamberlayne, a partner at Stewart’s, the UK law firm who last month secured a £4.5m settlement case against Planet X’s insurers, after cyclist Dr Daniel Gordon was left paralysed in a crash caused by his gravel bike's carbon fork shearing in two on a grass slope.

We discuss what went wrong to lead to such a horrendous crash, the case itself, and its potential implications for the cycling industry, where gravel bikes are frequently marketed as ‘go anywhere’ machines, when the reality can often be very different. 

And in part one, Ryan and Dan chat about THAT staggering ending to the Giro d’Italia, the tactical drama that unfolded on the Colle delle Finestre, and whether Simon Yates’ pink jersey triumph places him firmly in the upper echelon of British cycling greats.

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This week, Ryan chats with the co-founder of the latest big idea hoping to shake up the conservative world of cycling: Formula Fixed, a new US-based indoor racing series featuring bikes with no brakes on tight, twisting, go-kart style circuits in a ticketed arena setting.

With this new brand of cycling set to launch this year, Formula Fixed founder James Grady chats about his background in cycling, his plans for his new racing league, how it will actually work, and why big swings, not marginal gains, are required to give cycling a metaphorical boot up the backside.

We also talk about turning cycling from a participant-based sport into a fan-based one, the issues afflicting US racing at the moment, why Formula Fixed can boost the road scene, not usurp it – and why he doesn’t care what people in France think.

And most importantly: Does our sport really need a rebrand and can Formula Fixed, ahem, ‘fix’ cycling?

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This week, former WorldTour pros Harry Tanfield and Sophie Wright kindly interrupted their packing for Sea Otter to hop on the podcast and discuss how they’ve adapted to life as rookie gravel racers with Britain’s newest professional cycling team, the Ribble Outliers – including getting used to wider tyres and lower pressures (and why they’re a big plus when it comes to riding on Britain’s battered roads).

The duo also chatted about the pressures facing British cycling at the moment for riders, organisers, and fans, Harry’s ill-fated bid to set up his own road team last year, and why the Tour de France’s visit could be a kick-starter for the local scene… If we can watch it on TV, of course. 

Oh, and why the UK’s active travel approach is lightyears behind our European counterparts (yes, there was a lot covered).

And in part one, Jack and Ryan are joined by road.cc founder Tony Farrelly and regular contributor Jo Burt to pay tribute to the brilliant John Stevenson, our friend and former colleague at road.cc, and an absolute titan in the world of cycling journalism for four decades, who died earlier this month.

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To mark Security and Storage Week on road.cc, this week’s episode focuses on one of the most useful and controversial – if you’re a grumpy SUV driver, anyway – urban cycling innovations of the past 15 years: the cycle hangar.

Invented by Cyclehoop founder Anthony Lau, and spawning a host of imitators, Bikehangars provide secure shelter for six bikes in half the space normally occupied by a car parking space, giving cyclists outdoor, weather-protected cycle storage near their homes. And they’ve proved exceptionally popular too, currently numbering 3,000 across the UK.

Lau joins for a wide-ranging chat discussing the origins and growth of Cyclehoop, the persistent and increasing problem of bike theft in the UK, the lack of safe, secure storage facilities for cyclists, and the criticism his company’s faced from motorists for taking spots once reserved for cars. 

Oh, and why SUV-shaped bike hangars could be the future…

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With the cycling industry gripped by yet another period of uncertainty, this week’s episode of the road.cc Podcast focuses on the story that’s dominated the front pages all month – Donald Trump’s chaos-creating global tariffs. 

And why, at least according to one industry insider, they aren’t going to, as feared by many, “sink the ship”, and could even present an opportunity for bike brands in the UK to capitalise on a re-ordered global market.

As brands rush to increase their prices and campaign groups lobby their local politicians during Trump’s 90-day pause on his so-called reciprocal tariffs, we’re joined by Dominic Loh, the director of business at the parent company that runs mountain bike brands Funn and Granite Design, with over a decade’s worth of experience in the Asian and UK cycling market.

Fresh from Sea Otter, where the US president’s trade policies were the talk of the town, Dominic discusses the reaction to the tariffs within the industry, why forecasts of doom and gloom are overstated, and the potential for prices rises for customers at their local bike shop.

He also chats about the continued resilience of the cycling industry, why brands need to stay nimble, and why the tariffs could lead brands to adopt a more global approach, perhaps even presenting opportunities for UK-based companies in the new post-Brexit landscape.

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We’re deep into classics season, with Paris-Roubaix looming on the horizon, so this week’s episode of the road.cc Podcast pays homage to cycling’s biggest one-day events.

In part two, double Olympic champion Kristen Faulkner joins us from her altitude training camp in Sierra Nevada, as she prepares for the upcoming Ardennes classics following a turbulent start to the season marred by the concussion she suffered in a training crash in December.

The EF Education-Oatly leader chats about that mad week in Paris last summer, which saw her become the first American women to win gold medals in two different disciplines at the same Olympics, her plans for 2025, her outsider’s status within the peloton, and why, despite women’s cycling progressing rapidly in recent years, the sport has to acknowledge “how far there is to go”. 

And first up, Emily casts her eye over the cobbled classics season so far, and Ryan recaps an eventful, often chaotic day on the Oude Kwaremont at last weekend’s Tour of Flanders, reflecting on why the Ronde means so much not just to Belgium, but to cycling in general.

Oh, and we announce the winner of our coveted Episode 100 Jeremy Vine competition…

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It’s the road.cc Podcast’s 100th episode! And to celebrate our century, we’re joined this week by a staple of our news and live blog coverage: broadcaster, cyclist, road safety advocate, and self-confessed road.cc fanatic Jeremy Vine.

During a brilliantly entertaining chat, Jeremy talks us through his conversion to cycling in his 40s, his later radicalisation when it came to road safety, and his decision to buy a helmet camera and post his rides to work in London on the lovely online debating forum that was Twitter. 

We also discuss his stance on social media toxicity, especially concerning cycling, the BBC’s impartiality rules, the “gaslighting” of cyclists for wanting safer infrastructure, a few of his, ahem, unusual ideas to make things better for cyclists in London, and his general relationship with all things cycling and bikes.

Oh, and there were also a few Trump impressions thrown in for good measure.

And in part two, Ryan, Jack, and Emily look back over the past 100 episodes, four years, and 6,000 or so minutes of the podcast – and there’s a chance for you to win some excellent road.cc swag…

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What is the worst, least hospitable city for cycling in the UK? While we’re sure you all have your own ‘favourite’ contenders for that particular accolade, in this week’s podcast episode – our 99th, if you haven’t noticed already – Ryan decides to settle the debate once and for all, by jumping on his bike (and pushing and walking it) along the questionably protected and poorly connected bike lanes of Belfast.

Despite the implementation of the Belfast Cycling Network Delivery Plan in 2021, Northern Ireland’s capital still boasts a paltry two miles of protected cycling infrastructure, missing out large swathes of the city, locking it in the pre-active travel dark ages and attracting strong criticism from local campaigners.

During the episode, Ryan joins one of those campaigners, the Belfast Cycle Campaign’s Meg Hoyt for an eye-opening bike tour of the city, featuring some head scratching bike lane designs, plenty of ‘get off and push’ moments, traffic-free paths filled with broken glass, badly parked cars, a prolonged stretch of lovely scenic riding, and maybe… just maybe, a glimmer of hope for the future. 

And in part two, Jack and Ryan sit down to chat with Jonathon Harker, the editor of Cycling Industry News, as we mark five years since the world shut down and the face of the bike industry was changed irrevocably. 

Jonathon assesses the state of the bike industry in 2025, discusses the impact of culture war stories surrounding e-bikes and infrastructure on the industry, and why cycling’s new motto, after a year or so of ‘Survive until 2025’, should perhaps be modified to the equally poetic ‘Thrive beyond 2025’. 

Let’s hope that one catches on…

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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…