Velo Podcast

In this week’s episode of the Cyclingnews podcast - brought to you in association with Prendas Ciclismo, Pinarello and Floyd’s of Leadville – Edward Pickering and Daniel Benson look back at the ‘opening weekend’ in Belgium and analyse the racing that saw Michael Valgren (Astana) come out on top in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNl-Jumbo) continue his fine start this season with victory in Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne. 

We hear from Valgren and two of the Omloop protagonists, Mitchelton Scott’s Matteo Trentin and Sep Vanmarcke (EF-Education First), while Jim Ochowicz provides the latest on BMC Racing’s search for sponsorship. 

The main focus, however, is on the Classics and as well as looking at the winners, we also focus on where some of the leadings teams – Lotto-Soudal and Quick-Step Floors – were found wanting.

There’s also the latest on Astana’s financial situation and a quick look ahead to Peter Sagan’s season debut at next weekend’s Strade Bianche.

Coming up this week, we have an exclusive interview with Richie Porte on his future at BMC Racing. The Australian was almost anonymous at the Volta ao Algarve but we spoke at length about his race plans and how he is aiming to peak for the Tour de France.

BMC Racing has not signed any riders for 2019, and the squad’s future is still uncertain. In our interview Porte confirms that he has given the team until May to find a sponsor before he begins talks with other squads.

We also hear from Algarve winner Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky), who took the final stage and the overall on the last stage of the race. We talk about the race highlights, before turning our attention the Ruta del Sol, where Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) took an impressive win.

We hear from Chris Froome and Dave Brailsford, who were both at the race, and then we head back to the UK for Bradley Wiggins' team launch in London. We hear from the former rider on his hopes for his Continental team in 2018, while there's still no escaping the difficult questions stemming from his Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUE) history.

Welcome to the Cyclingnews podcast, brought to in association with Prendas Ciclismo, Pinarello and Floyds of Leadville.

This week, with the Cyclingnews team scattered around the globe at various races in Colombia, Oman and Spain, we thought we’d bring you another one of our cycling dream teams.

Last month it was the turn of Marco Pinotti and this time we sit down with Tom Southam. The former rider, turned dircteur sportif with EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale, had a colourful career, and although he never made it on the WorldTour stage he represented Great Britain and rode for some of the smaller, yet more fascinating teams on the circuit.

It’s often the case that the riders who struggle the most, and who rarely taste high-profile success, have the most interesting stories, and Southam fits that bill. The former Amore & Vita, Barloworld, Drapac and Rapha rider has picked a team of home-grown riders and mercurial European talents, including Steve Cummings and former Banesto sprinter Jeremy Hunt.