Velo Podcast

It's been a strange year for Alex Howes, as it has been for everyone.

The U.S. national champion hardly got to race in the jersey he won last year — but since nationals was canceled, he gets to wear it again until the 2021 nationals.

Howes also flew to South Africa to race Cape Epic as part of EF Pro Cycling's alternate program that puts its pro roadies in adventure races. But... that race never happened.

The soon-to-be-father recently got back to racing.

On this episode of Put Your Socks On, Howes talks about his long road with Jonathan Vaughters' team — the only pro squad he has raced for. Even before turning pro, Howes races on Vaughters' junior development team, TIAA-CREF.

Also on this episode, Bobby picks Howes' brain at length for gravel gear tips...

The 2020 Giro d'Italia has come to a thrilling conclusion, while the Vuelta a España heads into its mountainous midpoint. On today's episode of The VeloNews Podcast, we dive headfirst into the season's two other grand tours to offer our insight and opinion on the racing.

First up is the Giro, which saw Tao Geoghegan Hart take the overall after a thrilling final four days of racing. What do we make of Geoghegan Hart's win for Great Britain and Team Ineos-Grenadiers? Does this win vault the 25-year-old Londoner into the the team's top leadership position, or is Ineos-Grenadiers still the squad of Egan Bernal and Geraint Thomas?

Then, the Vuelta a España is chugging into foul weather in northern Spain, and Jumbo-Visma saw its grip on the red jersey fall apart after its team leader, Primož Roglič, struggled to put on his rain coat at an inopportune time. How did this disaster occur, and what must Jumbo-Visma do now to rebound?

Finally, we hear from Americans Sepp Kuss and Logan Owen, both of whom are racing the Vuelta a España. All that and more on this week's episode of The VeloNews Podcast!

Eric Richter and Peter Curran from Giro join tech editor Dan Cavallari on this episode of the VeloNews Tech Podcast to answer the stiffness question.

We all know we're supposed to ride the stiffest shoes for power transfer. But do we really need all that stiffness? Is a little bit of give actually good? And is there something else more important than stiffness, that we should focus on when shopping for shoes?

Listen to this episode to find out!

The Giro d'Italia is in full swing, and what a race it's been. The unpredictable nature of the Italian grand tour this year reminds Bobby and Gus of another remarkable year, where Ryder Hesjedal took and lost and took the pink jersey, finally winning the overall in a nail biter of a final time trial. So we rang up Ryder to hear about that year at the the Giro, and to get some insight into his interesting career in professional cycling.

Ryder got his start in bike racing with mountain biking in his native Canada in the ’90s. By the time he was 15, he was racing the MTB world championships, and his trajectory just continued from there, for a time blending mountain and road racing.

A stint with the Rabobank development road team led to a contract with U.S. Postal Service — which he was still using as training for mountain biking en route to the Olympics.

After some trial and error, Ryder found his sweet spot with Jonathan Vaughters' Slipstream team, where he enjoyed being a driving force in the scrappy upstart squad.

An excellent 2011 year saw him finish seventh overall in the UCI rankings, and with the team's directive to focus on the Giro for 2012. Here is the story of how he did exactly that.

It's time to Put Your Socks On.

The busy 2020 WorldTour season continues, and this week we have two grand tours and one monument to discuss!

Over the weekend the Tour of Flanders was held on empty cobbled streets in Belgium, and both the men's and women's editions produced plenty of drama and action.

The men's race saw newcomer Julian Alaphilippe force the day's decisive move with Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert. The stage was set for a three-man battle to the finish, and then Alaphilippe struck a race motorcycle and crashed.

We discuss the crash and its impact on the finale, which saw van der Poel win the sprint by inches. Could Alaphilippe have upset the two cobbled crushers in the final 35km? What impact would he have had in the sprint, or on the ascent of the Paterberg? Our resident Alaphilippe expert, James Startt, provides some expert opinion.

In the women's race, Boels-Dolmans used its superior team tactics to set Chantal van der Broek-Blaak up for the win. We wonder what could have happened, however, if Anna van der Breggen and Annemiek van Vleuten would have continued their attack, instead of sitting up with 25km to go.

Then, the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España are both going strong, and we break down the action from both races. What do we make of Chris Froome's dismal performance on the opening day of the Vuelta? And, is Wilco Kelderman really the favorite to win the Giro now?

Finally, we have interviews with American stars at the grand tours. First up is Sepp Kuss, who is leading Jumbo-Visma's domestique ranks at the Vuelta. Sepp discusses the Tour de France finale as well as his Vuelta ambitions with us.

Then, we hear from Brandon McNulty, who is racing for GC at the Giro d'Italia. Brandon just scored a third place finish in the Giro's long ITT — an amazing result for a grand tour debutant.

Today's episode is brought to you by flobikes.com, your home for live streaming action of the Giro d'Italia for U.S. and Canadian viewers. Flobikes.com is also broadcasting the Vuelta a España in Canada. To sign up, go to www.flobikes.com/velonews.

Joe Friel and Jim Rutberg join VeloNews tech editor Dan Cavallari to get you fired up for indoor riding season. Friel and Rutberg have co-authored a book called "Ride Inside," which gives you tips and tricks to do exactly that.

But the book doesn't stop there; get the most out of your indoor training sessions, learn how to race on Zwift, and even get the skinny on what gear you need to make the most out of your indoor miles.

The 2020 Giro d'Italia has been thrown into chaos this week by a slough of COVID-19 positives. On this week's episode, we discuss the news with James Startt, who is attending the race.

James places the Giro's COVID-19 news into historical context, and explains how riders and directors at the race have been reacting to the news. He also explains how it has changed the racing dynamics at the event.

Then, we hear from American rider Chad Haga, who is attending the race. Chad explains how the hotel protocols during the race's early stages in Sicily made riders feel uncomfortable, due to the presence of the general public. Chad also discusses his team leader, Wilco Kelderman, and why Kelderman often flies under the radar at big events.

This week's episode is sponsored by Flobikes.com, which is your go-to destination for live broadcast coverage of the Giro d'Italia and Tour of Flanders, among other races. To sign up, go to www.flobikes.com/velonews.

Richie Porte has been a successful stage racer for a decade, winning the overall at the likes of Paris-Nice, the Tour Down Under, and the Tour de Romandie. And while he has raced the Tour de France 10 times, it wasn't until this year that he stood on the final podium in Paris as third overall.

Although Porte has raced for many of the top WorldTour teams, he started out at the bottom, finishing dead last in his first stage race. But slowly he worked his way up from a Tasmanian team to small Italian teams to the top of the sport.

Richie and Bobby first worked together at Saxo Bank, where Richie came on as a neo-pro and rode his way into the leader's jersey at the Giro d'talia in his first attempt at the Italian tour.

In this episode, Bobby and Gus catch up with the typically media-shy star on his remarkable career that began on the roads of Tasmania.

Betsy's back from the wilderness of Colorado, and she's got plenty of stories to tell about her high-alpine adventures!

She emerged from the trail after 11 days of bikepacking through some of the most stunning and harsh landscapes Colorado has to offer. And even though it was August, she still got snowed on. That's Colorado weather for you.

Hear all about what gear Betsy ended up bringing with her, what performed well, and what could have used some improvement.

And hear about one valiant pair of socks — the only pair Betsy brought with her.

Race every race like it's your last. We've all heard that kind of a cliche in one form or another during our lives. However, for the women's peloton in 2020, no sentiment could ring more true.

Today, we sit down with Kasia Niewiadoma from Canyon//SRAM to hear from her just what it's like to be approaching each race day as if it's your last.