Velo Podcast

NFL veteran Eric Studesville has coached for 23 years, including with the Denver Broncos when they won the Super Bowl in 2015. On this episode of PYSO, Eric chats with Bobby and Gus about how football player roles compare to cyclists' roles on a team.

Eric got into cycling growing up in Madison, Wisconsin. First, the bike was transportation. Then, it was for workouts. And soon — and now — it is for the love of riding.

Now the running back coach for the Miami Dolphins, Eric explains how he lures NFL players into cycling, and what their biggest hesitation is about getting on a bike.

Looking at cycling and football, it's not too dissimilar in terms of everyone having distinct roles, Eric says.

"Everybody's got a role and function," Eric says. "Running back, you know, you may be a third-down back, you may be a short-yardage or a goal-line back. Are you the two-minute guy? Are you a special teams contributor? I see that on a cycling team; they have a role and a function. You have the GC guy and you have your sprinters and your climbers, but everyone on a team has a role in a function, and everyone has to perform their role and function to the maximum for the team and for the GC rider to have the greatest chance to be successful."

"I see the domestique people as the offensive linemen; you may not know who they are, but they're they got to be out there grinding those Ks every day for the team to succeed," he says.

On this episode of PYSO, your role is to be the listener, so sit back and enjoy.

Jason Gay of The Wall Street Journal drops by the VeloNews Podcast this week. Jason is one of the preeminent sports columnists in the country, and he's also a not-so secret cycling fanatic.

The coronavirus pandemic has impacted the cycling scene in a multitude of ways, and Jason discusses how he's seen the U.S. cycling scene shift in the past several months. The sale of bicycles is booming — how can the U.S. cycling scene capitalize on new riders entering our sport? Jason has some thoughts on how and how not to welcome these people.

Plus, the Tour de France is just 2.5 weeks away, and Jason, like all other fans, is hopeful if slightly worried of the race taking place amid the pandemic.

Then, up-and-coming American rider Matteo Jorgenson joins the podcast. Matteo just finished 17th place at Milano-Sanremo in his first ever monument appearance. He discusses his unorthodox pathway to the WorldTour, and his thoughts on how the coronavirus could impact the U.S. development pathway.

The Tour de France is just around the corner, and the 2020 VeloNews Tour de France guide is now available for pre-order. This year the guide is again packed with insight and analysis on all 21 stages and 22 teams. We also have feature stories that examine the Tour's history with global crisis, and the simmering battle between Team Ineos and Jumbo-Visma. You can order yours now at www.velopress.com.All that and more on this week's episode of The VeloNews Podcast

Senior editor Betsy Welch is going on an adventure. She'll be bikepacking the Colorado Trail, a journey notorious for devouring even the heartiest cyclists to attempt it.

She joins technical editor Dan Cavallari to give us the rundown on what gear she's bringing (not much), how long she'll be out (a really long time), and where she will store everything she needs (bags, bags, bags).

A wild road brought Isabel King to cycling: Division One soccer at Columbia led to a UCLA MBA that led to Wall Street and then triathlon. Not the usual route, but today Izzy is racking up QoMs on Strava left and right in California.

Tune in for a rolling ride on PYSO with Bobby Julich, Gus Morton, and Isabel King.

Pro bike racing is back, and on today's episode we go inside the Vuelta a Burgos and Strade Bianche with dispatches from Andrew Hood and James Startt.

Then, our countdown to the Tour de France continues as we provide detailed and extra-nerdy analysis of Tour stages 11-21. We analyze every climb and every sprint to determine who will win the overall.

Finally, we have an interview with American Leah Thomas who rode to an impressive third place at Strade Bianche. Leah rode with strong legs and smart racing intellect, joining the early breakaway that gave her an advantage on the dusty, dry course. Leah takes us inside the tense few moments after she dropped her chain on a dirt climb and was pushed by an overzealous fan.

The Tour de France is just around the corner, and the 2020 VeloNews Tour de France guide is now available for pre-order. This year the guide is again packed with insight and analysis on all 21 stages and 22 teams. We also have feature stories that examine the Tour's history with global crisis, and the simmering battle between Team Ineos and Jumbo-Visma. You can order yours now at www.velopress.com.

In days of yore (just a few years ago, really), WorldTour team mechanics would spend hours, if not days, building wheels in preparation for big races. Now, most teams have equipment sponsors who send wheels pre-built.

What's the benefit to the rider of having a pre-built wheel from one manufacturer?

Jeff Schneider from Giant Gear joins tech editor Dan Cavallari on the show to talk about how Cadex Wheelsystems ensure riders get the best balance of light weight, performance, and consistency.

It should come as no surprise that it all boils down to research, and hard numbers gleaned from years of testing. In the end, consistency is key. Listen to what Schneider has to say about what you can expect from your next wheelset.

In this special episode, co-host Bobby Julich becomes the hot-seat guest as Tejay van Garderen and Gus Morton pepper the Olympic medalist and Tour de France podium finisher about not only his career, but the decisions behind his actions, his regrets, and his most cherished moments.

After watching ESPN's two-part LANCE documentary, van Garderen has questions for Julich about how the sport and society treated riders who doped, citing the depression and drug-related deaths of Marco Pantani and Frank Vandenbroucke.

Julich talks about his own involvement in doping, his now-wife's prescient words about it decades ago, and his decisions to not only opt to race clean years ago, but to come clean to Team Sky years after, knowing that it would cost him his job.

Van Garderen and Morton are empathetic but probing in their frank conversation.

Van Garderen raced under Julich's guidance at BMC and still considers him a mentor. The younger American says he regrets racing too cautiously in the past, and seeing success as a zero-sum game, and asks Julich if he feels the same about his career.

Julich also talks about his rare moments of zen on the bike, including one special instance during his Olympic time trial ride in Athens that netted him a silver medal.

We have a packed episode of The VeloNews Podcast this week, with interviews and segments that take you into pro cycling's return to racing.

Andrew Hood is at the Vuelta a Burgos this week, which marks the first international pro men's race to be held since the coronavirus shutdown back in March. Andrew provides an on-the-ground account of what it's like to be inside a race during the pandemic, including his perspective on the safety measures being used to curb the spread of the virus.

Then, we hear from American Sepp Kuss, who is racing the Vuelta a Burgos about his return to racing, and how he feels about being back in a bike race.

Our countdown to the Tour de France continues this week, as we take a deep dive into the opening 10 stages of this year's Tour with James Startt. We analyze each stage's elevation profile and offer our thoughts on whether it's a day for the GC riders, sprinters, or breakaway specialists. We also offer our picks for each stage's winner.

Then, Betsy Welch and Fred Dreier link up with American rider Tayler Wiles, who recently traveled back to Europe to start up the pro women's season. Wiles participated in races over the weekend in Spain, and offers her perspective on whether or not she fees safe in pro cycling's return.

The Tour de France is just around the corner, and the 2020 VeloNews Tour de France guide is now available for pre-order. This year the guide is again packed with insight and analysis on all 21 stages and 22 teams. We also have feature stories that examine the Tour's history with global crisis, and the simmering battle between Team Ineos and Jumbo-Visma. You can order yours now at www.velopress.com.

Gear and tech can often dictate the outcome of a stage, or the overall race, at the Tour de France. On this episode of the VeloNews Tech Podcast, European correspondent Andrew Hood joins tech editor Dan Cavallari to recount some of the most interesting and consequential tech moments of his tenure covering the Tour, which started in 1996.

How many athletes can you name that use one sport as cross-training for another? Probably a few, right? But can you name any athletes that participate in the very highest levels of professional competition in one sport as preparation for another sport? That is exactly what Ineos-Grenadier rider Cam Wurf is doing, using WorldTour racing as training for the Ironman world championships, which were recently postponed until February.

In this episode of Put Your Socks On, Cam catches up with Bobby and Gus after the hosts catch you up with the final two stages of the Virtual Tour de France on Zwift.

Oh, and if you're impressed with Cam's two-for-one professional sports plan, you should also know that he has been to the Olympics — in rowing!