Podcast recorded a few hours before INEOS‘s Caleb Ewan announcement, which we nonetheless sort of mooted. Lots of other stuff in here, including INEOS‘s mea culpa, Geoghegan Hart, Fisher-Black, Pithie & more. audioboom.com/posts/864163...

When @cilliankelly.bsky.social met @friebos.bsky.social podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/c...

A UAE Grand Tour clean-sweep, a Van Aert Monument, a Yates brothers grudge match…& (nearly) a live airport-lounge cameo from Rog. All in The Speculation Episode 2025: audioboom.com/posts/863884...

Arrivederci, dear Gianni thecyclingpodcast.substack.com/p/arrivederc...

Desperately sad to say that my friend Gianni Savio has passed away. There’s a lot to add - about his remarkable career, the riders he launched towards greatness, the laughs he & I shared over 20 years & hundreds of chats - but for now my thoughts are with his wife & daughters.

Last in the trilogy of our Grand Tour highlights - & last @cycling_podcast episode of 2024 - is online now. audioboom.com/posts/862830...

Fun to relive some of these memories. Tour & Vuelta compilations coming next. Merry Christmas all! audioboom.com/posts/862829...

A footnote/encore to my interview with Redbull-Bora-hansgrohe Head DS Rolf Aldag, our festive audience* with Primož Roglič is online for Friends of The Cycling Podcast. *utterly devoid of Xmas references minus two or three ski-jumping references

Time for our now annual audience with Redbull-Bora-Hansgrohe Head DS Rolf Aldag at their Mallorca training camp. We get into the weeds of Roglič‘s first season with the team, the teething problems & the mistake they made before the Tour. audioboom.com/posts/862518...

Roglič’s programme: Algarve, Catalunya, Giro, Tour. No Tour de Suisse (obviously) & says he ‘won’t be competitive’ in Algarve.

Confirmed: Roglič will target the Giro d’Italia (with Hindley & Martínez in team) & then also ride the Tour.

Contrary to some reports, Ineos were never remotely in the running - at least according to my info. bsky.app/profile/inrn...

Maxim Van Gils ain‘t going to Ineos unless someone‘s telling big, fat lies.

Just further to this, don’t expect INEOS to try to ‘replace’ Pidcock with some kind of last-minute signing. Despite him attending team meeting at Old Trafford a few weeks ago, feeling even then was he’d be gone. Riders/staff weren’t surprised when they were informed. bsky.app/profile/frie...

Understand the Pidcock ‘divorce’ was relatively amicable in the end, despite the very onerous financial considerations. ‘Like a married couple who know they want different things,’ I was told by a source today. Destination not confirmed but everything points to team currently known as Q36.5.

Over the summer it was widely reported that triathlete Kristian Blummenfelt intended to become a pro cyclist with the goal of competing for victory in the Tour. The plan has been shelved, probably forever, Blummenfelt says here - ‘It was probably now or never.’ open.spotify.com/episode/0RWk...

Before we get into a froth about Prudhomme wanting to ‘slow racing down’ based on one pull-quote, it’s worth noting that he’s also said the onus is partly on course designers. See here in a 🇩🇪 interview from the summer. www.tour-magazin.de/profi-radspo...