VeloNews Podcasts

The great debate finally hits the VeloNews Tech Podcast: eTap, or Di2? The electronic shifting systems from SRAM and Shimano each offer distinct advantages and disadvantages — and ultimately, each system has a personality all its own. SRAM's wireless eTap AXS system is the newcomer, attempting to unseat Shimano's wired Dura-Ace Di2 system that has proven itself reliable, smooth, an ergonomically sleek for years now. If Dan and Ben had to spend their money on just one system, which would they choose? Find out on this episode.

After an absence from the top level of the sport, longtime team director Bjarne Riis is back in the WorldTour at the helm of NTT Pro Cycling. Riis is well known for many things — winning the 1996 Tour de France as a rider, his doping confession, and leading many riders to victory as the boss of Team CSC / Saxo Bank / Saxo Bank-Tinkoff. As a team leader, Riis has long been a proponent of team building, often taking teams on military-like exercises in the early months of the year to build cohesion. With NTT, Riis has been working with team management and riders to develop that cohesion remotely, through Zwift racing and regular communication, and other strategies that he isn't yet ready to talk about beyond saying he has established 'six pillars' of training. But he is confident that NTT will come out of the pandemic lockdown ready to race. "I guarantee you NTT Pro Cycling is going to be a weapon when we come out racing again," Riis said. "Because that was what I explained [to the riders]: I want you to be a weapon in what you do." In his recent years away from directing a WorldTour team, Riis said he missed "fighting in a creative way." While Ineos has the the biggest budget and can hire many of the best riders, other teams have to be creative and organized in their tactics, he said. "What's important to me is being a team, not just saying we are a team but showing it," he said. "You know, the way we race the race together in the peloton, the way we move together, everything we do as a team," he said. "And that's the culture you build." Listen in for a conversation with Gus Morton and Bobby Julich, who for a time raced for Riis at CSC.

Richard Plugge, the managing director for Jumbo-Visma, has a very informed perspective on COVID-19 and its impact on pro cycling. Back in March Plugge came down with a fever and a cough, and after more than a week of feeling ill he was hospitalized. Plugge was diagnosed with COVID-19, and he spent more than six weeks recovering from the illness. On today's episode of The VeloNews Podcast we link up with Plugge to hear the story of his experience with COVID-19. We also discuss the UCI's proposed calendar for bringing racing back this fall, and get Plugge's opinion on the plan. While other team directors have criticized the UCI's schedule as being too ambitious, Plugge believes it is a plan that works for pro cycling and provides a lifeline for the teams that are teetering on the edge of financial ruin. Next, we discuss the ladies Paris-Roubaix with one of the peloton's best riders on the cobblestones: Ellen Van Dijk. Van Dijk is a winner of the Tour of Flanders and a 2x champion at Dwars Door Vlaanderen. She explains why the launch of Paris-Roubaix for women has completely changed her focus on the 2020 season. All that and more on this week's episode of The VeloNews Podcast. This week's episode is sponsored by Roll Massif, organizer of eight iconic cycling events in Colorado. Right now listeners of the podcast can get 15 percent off event entry by going to rollmassif.com and using the code Velonews15 at checkout.

While tubeless tires have long reigned supreme in the mountain bike world, they have had a harder time gaining traction — forgive the pun — on road bikes. That has changed only recently, as more and more bikes come stock with tubeless-ready tires and rims. Has road tubeless finally arrived? Ken Avery would know; he has been involved in the design process of countless tires, both road and mountain, for Vittoria Tires and other companies before that. Does Ken think road tubeless has shrugged off its reputation as unreliable? Give this week's tech pod a listen to find out.

A novelty at first, six weeks of lockdown has taken its toll on all athletes. With the easing of restrictions now beginning, we check in with NTT Pro Cycling's Michael Valgren to see how he’s been holding up after months of uncertainty and how he’s planning on moving forward with the new UCI calendar just announced. A quick primer on Valgren, for those of you who don't know him: After turning pro at the tender age of 21, the Danish rider quickly won consecutive U23 Liège–Bastogne–Liège editions, establishing himself as a rider to watch in the future. Fast forward to 2018, and Valgren came of age, winning Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and the monument Amstel Gold Race as well as finishing fourth at the Tour of Flanders. Following that break-out year, where he moved from a strongman to team leader, Valgren transferred to his current team, NTT (formerly Dimension Data), in one of the most anticipated moves for the season. Plagued by bad form and a series of setbacks, 2019 was a winless one. With 2020 a chance to redeem an “un-Valgren-esque” 2019, it seems the COVID-19 situation has delayed his chances of getting even in his favorite classics.

The UCI has released a plan to bring pro racing back in August with a competition calendar that squeezes all of the major races into three months. There are more than a few overlapping race dates. On this week's episode of The VeloNews Podcast we discuss and analyze this new calendar and the ramifications it has on pro teams and events. What do we make of the overlapping dates and the compressed season? What pressures will this calendar put on pro teams and riders? And, most importantly, do we believe these races will actually take place amid the coronavirus pandemic? Then, we examine the Giro d'Italia, which would have been starting this coming weekend prior to the coronavirus shutdown. The new schedule places the Giro in competition with the major one day classics, as well as the opening week of the Vuelta. What does this tell us about the Giro's overall importance within the global cycling community? Riders love the Giro, and frequently tell us that it is their favorite race. We dig into why the Giro scores top marks with the riders, and what cultural impact the Giro has on the global cycling fanbase. All that and more on this week's episode. This week's episode is sponsored by Giordana Cycling, makers of fine Italian cycling apparel. Right now fans of the podcast can get 25 percent off their purchase by going to giordanacycling.com and entering the code PODCAST at purchase.

Tech Editor Dan Cavallari chats with Berne Broudy about her research into women's-specific design in the cycling industry. Where did it all start? What did the industry get right — and very wrong — along the way? And is women's-specific design now dead? Broudy guides us through two divergent paths of technology: bikes themselves, and the world of clothing and accessories. As it turns out, there's more to women's-specific design than blanket statements of its effectiveness overall. (Hint: It takes some nuance and research to get it right!)

How is the biggest team in the world dealing with the global coronavirus lockdown? Well, they've been doing a few things - including pivoting to help distribute hand sanitizer to hospitals in conjunction with their sponsor Ineos. Ineos team boss David Brailsford comes on the show to talk about how the riders, the coaches, and the support staff have been collaborating, training, and racing over the internet — and helping create value in new ways. Ineos owner and chairman Jim Ratcliffe told Brailsford that he wanted to produce a million bottles of hand sanitizer a month and supply that to the frontline workers in hospitals, using the well-oiled logistics of the cycling team to handle some of the distribution. "Everybody has been involved, and they've done a brilliant job and it's quite a satisfying thing to be involved in," Brailsford said.

How are pro riders spending their time amid the coronavirus shutdown? On this week's episode of The VeloNews Podcast we dive into our recent Day in the Life series with Betsy Welch. Over the past five weeks we have been reaching out to pro of every variety: European and North American; roadies, gravel racers, and mountain bikers; veterans and fresh-faced youngsters. We've asked them nine questions to help us understand how the COVID-19 shutdown is impacting their lives, and how they are maintaining their physical and mental health during these strange times. We have seen trends and outliers, and major differences between different types of riders. We break down these trends and differences on today's podcast. Then we conduct an actual Day in the life interview with Catharine Pendrel of the Clif Pro racing team. Catharine is a two-time world champion and an Olympic Bronze medalist in cross-country mountain bike racing. She is riding out the shutdown in Kamloops, British Columbia, where the singletrack is dry and the sun is shining . This week's episode is sponsored by Roll Massif, organizer of eight iconic cycling events in Colorado. Right now listeners of the podcast can get 15 percent off event entry by going to rollmassif.com and using the code Velonews15 at checkout.

We are certainly living in strange times, and Alison Tetrick, like other professional athletes, is stuck in a holding pattern to see if and when the race season might resume. But she's not sitting by idly; Tech editor Dan Cavallari chats with Tetrick about her training during the Covid-19 era, what gear gets her through recovery, and why she carries a whiskey flask at every race.

Michele Acquarone ran the Giro d'Italia and RCS' other races for years, and pushed for revolutionary change such as teams sharing in TV revenue and all races having men's and women's events. On this episode of Put Your Socks On, Michele talks with Bobby and Gus about where the sport of cycling should be headed. Michele argues that all pro races should include women's and men's events. "It's so easy to do combined events, that it's crazy that all the pro cycling movement is not doing that," he says. "It should be a must if you want to have a first level race. You have the TV production, you have the operations already in place. For the organizer, it's easy. You have the streets closed, you have the helicopters and the airplanes in the sky. Everything is in place. You just need to invest a little extra money to have a great show with the two races at the same time." And what about esports in cycling? "Esports are not the future but the present of the sport, and you cannot ignore it," Michele says. Before talking with Michele, Bobby shares some indoor training tricks from TrainingPeaks' guru Tim Cusick, such as the importance of investing in a quality trainer with a flywheel for mimicking inertia, using your own power meter if you have one instead of the power from the trainer, and cooling your environment as best you can. "At the end of these indoor rides, you often end up looking like a salt lick," Bobby says.

Pro cycling has a partial competition calendar for 2020, with the UCI approving plans for the Tour de France to start on August 29 and the world championships to begin September 20. On today's episode of The VeloNews Podcast we dig into this tentative plan to bring pro cycling back. Is it even a good idea to schedule events amid the pandemic? What does this sketch of a calendar mean for the sponsors, pro teams, and pro riders? Plus, how do we think this tentative schedule will impact the Tour de France in general? Nobody is quite sure how riders will react to so much time away from racing before the Tour. We're in uncharted territory with 2020, and the proposed calendar leaves us with more questions to ponder than answers. This week's episode is sponsored by Giordana Cycling, makers of fine Italian cycling apparel. Right now fans of the podcast can get 25 percent off their purchase by going to giordanacycling.com and entering the code PODCAST at purchase.

Gravel bikes have gone soft! By which of course we mean suspension has become a stable in some form or another on most gravel bikes. Flexing seatposts, decouplers, and even full-suspension designs have all aimed to make gravel riding more comfortable. But is it necessary? Tech editor Dan Cavallari talked with VeloNews editorial director Ben Delaney to get his take on the gravel bike he has tested over the years. Does Ben think suspension is here to stay? And Cavallari chats with Zack Vestal from Niner Bikes to get deeper into the design considerations behind the MCR (Magic Carpet Ride), the first full-suspension gravel bike to hit the market.

Steve Maxwell and Spencer Martin of The Outer Line join the show to talk about what the sport of cycling could like in a post-coronavirus world from a business perspective. Will there be fewer teams and fewer events? Possibly. Along with the rest of the world, the cycling industry is now scrambling to figure out what it can do to stay afloat and what the waters will look like once the storm subsides. "Clearly we can't really imagine at this point in time, what the overall impact of COVID is going to be on the sport, just just like we can't really imagine what the impact is going to be on society in general, when we come out of the other side of this whole thing," Maxwell says. "But I think there are a few things that are starting to be apparent. We're not going back to the same old normal. Some things will probably change permanently as a result of this whole calamity." In this special edition VeloNews collaboration of PYSO and The Outer Line, the gents on the pod dig into a laundry list of possible effects of the coronavirus shutdown: How does it affect the teams, the managers, the events, the regulators, and the UCI? "Each one of these stakeholders is going to come out of this thing on the other side a little bit different than the way it went in," Maxwell says.

Pro Zwift racing has arrived, with the start of the Zwift Classics pro/am series. These six races feature $5,000 in prize cash, short and challenging courses, and fields comprised of pro and top amateur riders. So, what do you look for in a virtual race? On this week's episode of The VeloNews Podcast we take a deep dive into pro Zwift racing with two experts: Leah Thorvilson and Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio. Leah Thorvilson was the first winner of the Zwift Academy talent search back in 2016, which earned her a pro contract to race with the Canyon-SRAM road squad. Thorvilson breaks down the similarities and differences between Zwift and IRL (in real life) bike racing, and discusses her own experiences in WorldTour-level road events. Then, WorldTour veteran Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio explains why she's embraced Zwift riding during the coronavirus shutdown. Moolman-Pasio won the most recent Zwift Classics event, and it came after she dedicated herself to a month of training on the online platform. Why is she racing indoors, and how has it changed her riding style? We find out. This week's episode is sponsored by Giordana Cycling, makers of fine Italian cycling apparel. Right now fans of the podcast can get 25 percent off their purchase by going to giordanacycling.com and entering the code PODCAST at purchase.