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Coppi versus Bartali. Anquetil versus Poulidor. LeMond versus Hinault. Armstrong versus Ullrich. Contador versus Schleck. Does Tadej Pogačar’s epic rivalry with Jonas Vingegaard at the Tour de France beat them all?

That’s the question we try our best to answer during this week’s Tour de France-focused episode of the road.cc Podcast, as we rub our hands in glee at the prospect of Pogi v Jonas entering its fifth consecutive instalment, with the scores currently even at two-all.

As the Grand Départ in Lille approaches, Emily, Ryan, and Dan discuss the duo’s sustained rivalry and its place in cycling history and why, despite this year’s Tour appearing more delicately poised than ever, Pogačar is, in most people’s eyes, the hot favourite for yellow in Paris.

In part 2, legendary Olympic champion-turned-Active Travel Commissioner, Chris Boardman, is taking some time out from the Tour to offer us some much-needed respite from incessant bike racing chat.

In the full version of our interview featured earlier this month on road.cc, Ryan and Chris talk e-bikes, safety concerns, “sloppy journalism”, and the need to tackle anti-cycling narratives in the press and some political circles by highlighting the positive outcomes of riding a bike.

00:00 - 00:54: Introduction 
00:55 - 37:52: Is Tadej Pogačar vs Jonas Vingegaard the greatest Tour de France rivalry in history?
37:53 - 39:38: Hammerhead advert plus exclusive offer
39:39 - 51:27: Chris Boardman interview
51:28 - 53:17: outro

The road.cc Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music, and if you have an Alexa you can just tell it to play the road.cc Podcast.

At the time of broadcast, our listeners can also get a free Hammerhead Heart Rate Monitor with the purchase of a Hammerhead Karoo 2. Visit hammerhead.io right now and use promo code ROADCC at checkout to get yours.

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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…

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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 podcast@road.cc.

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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.

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Over the past five decades, countless promising young riders have been bestowed and burdened with the tag of being the ‘Next Eddy Merckx’.  After an unbeatable 2024, Tadej Pogačar is the first to look even remotely close to matching, or even surpassing, Merckx’s until-now untouchable legacy.

Which is why, since that 100km attack in Zurich, the question has raged on in social media debates, live blogs, and on weekend club rides: Is Pogačar the greatest male cyclist we’ve ever seen?

On episode 88 of the road.cc Podcast, Dan and Ryan dissect the GOAT debate, the folly of comparing different eras, and Merckx’s own flip-flopping position on Pogačar’s place in cycling history.

We also break out the stats to assess how Eddy and Tadej stack up against each other at the same age (spoiler – it’s closer than you think), what the current world champion has to do before he retires to compete for GOAT status, and to what extent Pogačar’s swashbuckling, devil-may-care style, and the brutally dominant manner of his victories, compares against other attacking greats such as Fausto Coppi.

In part two, Ryan and road.cc founder Tony are joined by former GCN presenter and developer Cillian Kelly to discuss current cycling media landscape, why it’s changed (and changing), and whether we should be worried about the future. Oh, and why we miss the good old days of countless cycling magazines filling our local newsagents’ shelves.

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We're coming at you with episode 87 of the road.cc Podcast in association with Hammerhead a whole week early, because... well, Rapha's 'Past Forward' 20-year anniversary bash at the Truman Brewery in London finishes on Sunday 22nd, and going live next week would mean numerous continuity errors in our interview! 

Anyway... as well as telling you about where and when you can stop by to take a look at the exhibition celebrating all things Rapha, the brand's co-founder and former CEO Simon Mottram sits down with Ryan and Jack for a wide-ranging interview that goes back to the very beginnings of Rapha in 2004 when a plucky young Mottram rocked up to the Cycling Plus newsroom, where none other than road.cc's co-founder Tony Farrelly was then the editor, to plug a cool new cycling brand (to a rather mixed reception, he claims!)

Despite the reservations of cynical journalists and Cycling Plus forum members at the time, Rapha of course went on to be worn by over a million cyclists, became the kit sponsors to the most successful British road cycling team in history and is one of the most recognisable cycling apparel brands on the planet. Listen for Mottram's take on cycling and fashion, his thoughts on the brand's association with MAMILs, some tense moments with Team Sky and Dave Brailsford and what's coming in the future when it comes to cycling clothing. Enjoy! 

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Like the British cycling world for a brief period earlier this month, episode 86 of the road.cc Podcast has gone Box Hill crazy. 

We sat down with Dom Jackson and Tobias Dahlhaus of the London-based team Foran Cycling – two of the figures behind arguably one of the most ambitious (and successful) Strava KOM/QOM attempts of all time – to find out how Dom, winner of the prestigious Rás Tailteann international stage race earlier this year, cracked the most attempted and arguably the most prestigious Strava KOM of them all, Box Hill. 

With meticulous planning, spreadsheets, a bunch of willing pals pulling turns on each bend or sweeping and marshalling corners, a curious pre-effort diet, and two immaculately shaved arms, Dom rode an outrageous time of 4:05, at an average speed of 33.7km/h – eight seconds quicker than pro cyclist Rory Townsend who had taken the KOM just days earlier. 

Will we see a sub-4 clocked soon on Box Hill’s slopes? It’s like the four-minute mile barrier all over again! We also squeezed some climbing tips out of Dom and Tobias, both highly accomplished bike racers, and got some further advice on locating and smashing some Strava KOMs for ourselves… when we’ve put some more training in.

At the start of the episode, we also welcome tech writer Emily Tillett for our new regular opening section on the ‘week in cycling’ with presenter Ryan Mallon, which this week focuses on the current trouble at Ineos and asks: Are bikes becoming better value again?

Let us know what you think of our new sound at podcast@road.cc 

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If you’re a fan of nerdy technical chat about shoe design and the joy of riding a bike through town in a suit with a multiple grand tour stage winner, then you’re in for a treat on this special bonus episode of the road.cc Podcast. 

Because, to mark the launch this week of the CHPT3’s Transit 2.0, we sat down with the brains behind the urban commuter shoe that aims to combine the “power of a pro cycling shoe and the comfort of a luxury sneaker” – pro cyclist-turned-commentator David Millar and ex-Adidas designer James Carnes – to discuss the inspiration behind the potentially revolutionary new cycling footwear, Millar’s rediscovered love for cycling, and whether you can wear the same shoe at the local nightclub and down a precipitous Swiss mountain.

We chat about discuss the journey, both literally and metaphorically, that led them to the Transit 2.0, and the problems inherent in so many commuter or urban cycling shoes, and how Millar rediscovered his love of cycling by breaking out of his pro cycling bubble.

We also ask the important questions: Do they look cool? Are they suitable for cycling and walking about the office and town? How do they fare on a downhill mountain biking route in the Swiss Alps, or in the most inhospitable of British town centres? And most importantly, can you wear them with a suit?

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For episode 84 of the road.cc Podcast, we took a deep dive into one of the more curious, and headline grabbing, cycling tech studies of recent years – which discovered that your bike’s electronic shifters may be susceptible to hackers, who could even be lurking at the Vuelta a España, waiting to sabotage Primož Roglič’s next move to the big ring.

That study, published earlier this month by three US-based cyber security experts, explored the security features of Shimano’s Di2 electronic shifting systems, the current most common method of changing gears in the pro peloton.

The researchers rather worryingly concluded, through a black box analysis of Shimano’s systems and a roadside experiment, that they can be hacked by a relatively simple and cheap radio technique – one that potentially has the power to allow nefarious individuals by the roadside or in the peloton itself to change or jam a rival’s gears without their knowledge during a race, in a bid to scupper their chances of victory.

In this week’s podcast episode, one of the researchers behind the much-talked-about Di2 analysis, Dr Earlence Fernandes, a cyclist himself, chats about what inspired him to delve into the security set-ups and flaws of wireless shifting, how hacking someone’s gears actually works, his subsequent interactions with Shimano, and how pervasive he thinks the threat of wireless doping could be to both the pro cycling world and us weekend warriors out on a Saturday group ride.