VN Pod, ep. 175: Tour Down Under's format, UCI gravel, James Piccoli and Larry Warbasse

Summary: The 2020 WorldTour season has roared to life with the Tour Down Under finishing up on Sunday. Richie Porte took the overall after again dropping his foes on Old Willunga Hill. The formulaic finish of this year's race begs the question: Should the Tour Down Under change its format? Every year the race seems to boil down to a battle for time bonuses on the flat stages, and then a three-minute slugfest up Old Willunga. Andrew Hood and Fred Dreier debate why (or why not) the race should try and shake things up. Hood was in Australia to interview UCI President David Lappartient, and Lappartient addressed two big storylines in pro cycling in 2020. The first is the return to pro cycling for Bjarne Riis. The second is the growth of gravel, and how the UCI hopes to get involved with the growing off-road racing format. Finally, we catch up with two North Americans who are starting their respective 2020 seasons off at the Tour Down Under. Canadian James Piccoli is making his WorldTour debut with Israel Start-Up Nation, and Larry Warbasse is again racing for French team AG2R-La Mondiale. All that and more on this week's episode of The VeloNews Pocast.