Velonews Podcasts

Most VeloNews readers know the story of Greg LeMond well. But what was it like growing up in that world? This week, Bobby and Gus sit down with Geoffrey LeMond, son of Greg and the kid made famous for his appearance alongside his father on the top step of the Tour de France podium in 1989. Now 35, Geoffrey reflects on the racing, the characters, and the innovation that went on during his father's career, such as Giro aero helmets and Scott aero bars. Geoffrey talks about how his love of inventing has led him back to the cycling world with the development of new carbon technology, as well as the upcoming relaunch of the fabled LeMond bicycle brand.

The 2020 Tour de France rolls on, and Jens Voigt joins the podcast again to break down all of the action from the Pyrenees and Tuesday's sprint stage. Sam Bennett's sprint win on stage 10 carried extra significance because he out-kicked his old teammate, Peter Sagan. Jens discusses Bennett's career path and the decision of Bora-Hansgrohe to choose Sagan over Bennett for years. Why is Peter Sagan winless in the Tour thus far? Jens analyzes Sagan's form, as well as the strategic decisions made by Bora-Hansgrohe. Then, Jens lends his opinion on Jumbo-Visma's aggressive strategy through the first half of the Tour. Has the Dutch team spent too much energy in its attempt to win? And why didn't Primož Roglič attack on the Col de Peyresourde after he dropped Egan Bernal? American rider Tejay van Garderen joins the podcast today with a wide-ranging audio diary about the 2020 Tour de France. What elements of this strange edition feel completely different from the norm, and what elements are the same? What are ride

The battle for the Tour de France's yellow jersey heated up over the weekend, as the peloton tackled two punishing stages in the Pyrenees. On today's episode of The VeloNews Podcast, we break down all of the action between contenders like Egan Bernal, Primož Roglič, and Tadej Pogačar. Then, we hear from American Neilson Powless, who has attacked into two day-long breakaways already in this Tour. Why is Neilson on the attack, and what has he learned from these breakaways? Then, Andrew Hood and James Startt file a dispatch from the Tour de France, where the peloton is anticipating a big moment for the 2020 race. On Monday, the race will test more than 600 riders and staff for COVID-19, and determine who stays in the race and who is sent home. Today's episode is sponsored by a new training supplement called MitoQ. MitoQ is a unique form of the antioxidant CoQ10 that is designed to get inside our cell's mitochondria to help create energy and neutralize free radicals. For more information go to www.mitoq.com.

It was a soapy start to the 2020 Tour de France, and the tech headlines have all focused on the tiny patch where the rubber meets the road. What makes a good tire? Why are riders experimenting with options beyond tubulars? Find out on today's episode.

Team Ineos Grenadiers detonated the peloton during Friday's 7th stage of the Tour de France, and a handful of contenders were caught out. Wout van Aert won the stage in another stunning example of why he's the most exciting men's rider of the year. On today's episode of the podcast, Fred Dreier and Jens Voigt break down the action from the last few stages of the Tour de France, and analyze the biggest storylines in the race. Van Aert has now won two stages of the Tour de France, and he's shown that he can climb, descend, and win one day races. What does the future hold for van Aert? Jens offers his unvarnished opinion on how van Aert should steer his career — and cyclocross is not a part of the picture. Jens also has some opinions on the UCI's ruling to penalize Julian Alaphilippe for taking an illegal feed on stage 5. Then, the guys break down the coming stages in the Pyrenees and discuss why the Pyrenean climbs present a challenge that is wholly different from climbs in the Alps. Then, our special

Mark Cavendish has won 30 stages of the Tour de France. This places his second in the all-time record behind Eddy Merckx — or first in the all-time record if you are only counting mass-start stages and not time trials as well. Cavendish is not racing the Tour de France this year, and the veteran sprinter reflects with Bobby and Gus about the special dynamics of the Tour — "I owe the Tour de France everything in my life" — the struggles he's faced both on and off the bike, and the special people he considers friends like Bernie Eisel and George Hincapie. Cavendish talks about how track racing prepared him to sprint at the Tour, in terms of leg speed and tactics. Cavendish says his top end power is relatively low for a Tour sprinter, but he can sustain it for a long time. "It's rare I'll get over 1,400 watts, you know, but I can average over 1,200 for 15 seconds, whereas guys like [Andre] Greipel would go 2,000 and then quickly drop down to 1,000 or 900," he says. Cavendish talks about the special dynamics

The Tour de France heated up on Tuesday with the summit finish to Orcières-Merlette, and Primož Roglič and Team Jumbo-Visma drew first blood in the battle with Ineos Grenadiers. On today's episode of The VeloNews Podcast, Fred Dreier and Jens Voigt break down all of the action from stages 3 and 4, and offer their insight into what Jumbo-Visma's early dominance means for the Tour. Is the Dutch team wasting too much energy this early? Is Ineos Grenadiers waiting for the right moment to strike? What do we think of Egan Bernal's inability to follow Roglič? Then, Jens explains why he thinks Peter Sagan will go winless at this year's Tour de France, even if he succeeds in taking a record eighth green jersey. Jens think Sagan will get a major challenge for the green jersey from one specific rider. We have our first audio diary of the race from American Neilson Powless, who is making his Tour de France debut on Team EF Pro Cycling. Neilson takes us inside his first Tour de France stage, and explains how importan

Tech editor Dan Cavallari has been testing a lot of bibs lately, and every time he found a pair he liked, the chamois came from the same company: Elastic Interface. On today's episode, Cavallari catches up with Irene Lucarelli from Elastic Interface and Tim Jackson from Pow Word Communications to talk about what makes a good chamois you can forget all about on your ride.

The Tour de France has begun, and so has our special podcast series taking you inside the race. For the next nine episodes we will feature expert analysis with co-host Jens Voigt, as well as audio diaries from riders in the race, and on-the-ground reporting from the event. Jens Voigt joins the episode today to offer his analysis on the first two stages of the Tour. Julian Alaphilippe's stunning win on stage 2 again made him a fan favorite, but Jens argues why Alaphilippe's antics are a sign that he's not a true GC contender this year. Jens also offers his opinions on Team Ineos Grenadiers' decision to leave its veteran rider Geraint Thomas home from the Tour. Thomas has been a part of every one of the team's Tour de France wins. Is leaving him home a blunder? Plus, Jens breaks down all of the crashes and drama from the stage 1 opener in Nice. What is the role of the peloton's 'patron'? Jens takes us inside this very special person of the peloton. Then, we get our first dispatch from Andrew Hood and Jam

Bobby Julich calls him Sir Rod. Bahrain-McLaren racers call him boss. You probably know Rod Ellingworth from his early coaching connection to Mark Cavendish. However you know him, the general manager of the WorldTour squad Bahrain-McLaren comes on the show today to talk about preparing for the Tour de France. Getting an international team ready for the Tour is organized chaos in the best of times, with people, vehicles, and materials scattered around various countries in the weeks and days leading up to the Grand Depart. And this year of course is special, with coronavirus precautions adding layer upon layer of complexity. "We had all the challenges, we didn't just have the COVID challenge," Ellingworth said. "Our partners were in trouble from a financial point of view, and that was potentially the biggest challenge that we had." Bahrain-McLaren recently announced that McLaren will not be returning as a sponsor next year. Selecting which eight riders make the Tour de France team is critical point for any

There will be no Chris Froome or Geraint Thomas at the Tour de France this year. The bombshell news was dropped by Team Ineos this past week, and on today's episode of The VeloNews Podcast we discuss every angle of the decision. What does this mean for Froome's legacy and his attempt to win a fifth Tour? Why did Thomas look so bad at the Critérium du Dauphiné? And what does this milestone mean for Team Ineos and its era of dominance at the Tour de France? Plus, the Tour de France revealed a new rule for COVID-19 safety, stating that teams will be booted from the race if they have two or more riders or staffers who test positive for the virus or show symptoms. We analyze this rule, and what impact it could have on the race. Then, our countdown to the Tour de France concludes this week as we analyze our top-five contenders for the yellow jersey. Froome's omission threw off our top-10 list, and we discuss which second-tier contenders deserve a spot on the list of top favorites. All that and more on this w

In a normal year, Ben Delaney and Dan Cavallari are wandering random hotel parking lots in search of the newest and coolest Tour de France tech, often getting chastised by team mechanics and otherwise making nuisances of themselves somewhere in France. 2020 is no normal year. This year, both Ben and Dan will be watching the Tour from home, squinting at computer and TV screens to spot the new stuff. In this episode of the VeloNews Tech Podcast, Ben and Dan talk a bit about their processes for spotting new tech when they're on the ground at the Tour de France (hint: always look for electrical tape!) and what they will be looking for on their screens at home this year.

Sylvan Adams is an enthusiastic masters racer — with one heck of a philanthropist twist. He fell in love with the sport late, and quickly found his way to national and world masters championship titles. But then.... the successful Canadian businessman and philanthropist went all in on supporting the sport of cycling in general and the Israeli cycling scene in particular, bringing the Giro d'Italia to Israel and launching Israel Start-Up Nation into the World Tour. Tune in for a special episode of Put Your Socks On, as Bobby, Gus, and Sylvan talk about how Sylvan got into cycling, and where he wants to see it go.

The Critérium du Dauphiné is done and dusted, and we have our final glimpse of the Tour de France contenders before the big race. On this week's episode of The VeloNews Podcast we analyze all of the storylines from the Dauphiné and also Il Lombardia, and discuss how these stories impact our impressions of the upcoming Tour. Chris Froome is not fit, Geraint Thomas looked bad, and numerous other contenders are suffering injuries and crashes. What does this mean for the race? Then, we analyze the big contenders who will be battling for the Tour de France overall. In our annual VeloNews Tour de France guide we ranked the top-10 contenders. This week we analyze our riders ranked No. 10 through No. 6 on the list, and discuss each rider's strengths and weaknesses. Live bike racing is back, and FloBikes is your home for live and on-demand coverage of the biggest events of the year including the Giro d’Italia, Tour of Flanders, Amstel Gold Race, Tirreno Adriatico, and much, much more. Go behind the scenes with exc

As the bicycle becomes more complex, so too does the process for making it look, well, super pretty. Micah Moran from Trek Bicycles knows a thing or two about what goes into all those nifty paint jobs; he has been deeply involved with Trek's in-house custom paint shop, Project One, as well as the Icon paint schemes that grace some of the most eye-catching designs on the road. Micah joins tech editor Dan Cavallari to give us a sense of what's new in bicycle paint, where we've been in the past, and what we can look forward to in years to come.

NFL veteran Eric Studesville has coached for 23 years, including with the Denver Broncos when they won the Super Bowl in 2015. On this episode of PYSO, Eric chats with Bobby and Gus about how football player roles compare to cyclists' roles on a team. Eric got into cycling growing up in Madison, Wisconsin. First, the bike was transportation. Then, it was for workouts. And soon — and now — it is for the love of riding. Now the running back coach for the Miami Dolphins, Eric explains how he lures NFL players into cycling, and what their biggest hesitation is about getting on a bike. Looking at cycling and football, it's not too dissimilar in terms of everyone having distinct roles, Eric says. "Everybody's got a role and function," Eric says. "Running back, you know, you may be a third-down back, you may be a short-yardage or a goal-line back. Are you the two-minute guy? Are you a special teams contributor? I see that on a cycling team; they have a role and a function. You have the GC guy and you have your

Jason Gay of The Wall Street Journal drops by the VeloNews Podcast this week. Jason is one of the preeminent sports columnists in the country, and he's also a not-so secret cycling fanatic. The coronavirus pandemic has impacted the cycling scene in a multitude of ways, and Jason discusses how he's seen the U.S. cycling scene shift in the past several months. The sale of bicycles is booming — how can the U.S. cycling scene capitalize on new riders entering our sport? Jason has some thoughts on how and how not to welcome these people. Plus, the Tour de France is just 2.5 weeks away, and Jason, like all other fans, is hopeful if slightly worried of the race taking place amid the pandemic. Then, up-and-coming American rider Matteo Jorgenson joins the podcast. Matteo just finished 17th place at Milano-Sanremo in his first ever monument appearance. He discusses his unorthodox pathway to the WorldTour, and his thoughts on how the coronavirus could impact the U.S. development pathway. The Tour de France is ju

Senior editor Betsy Welch is going on an adventure. She'll be bikepacking the Colorado Trail, a journey notorious for devouring even the heartiest cyclists to attempt it. She joins technical editor Dan Cavallari to give us the rundown on what gear she's bringing (not much), how long she'll be out (a really long time), and where she will store everything she needs (bags, bags, bags).

A wild road brought Isabel King to cycling: Division One soccer at Columbia led to a UCLA MBA that led to Wall Street and then triathlon. Not the usual route, but today Izzy is racking up QoMs on Strava left and right in California. Tune in for a rolling ride on PYSO with Bobby Julich, Gus Morton, and Isabel King.

Pro bike racing is back, and on today's episode we go inside the Vuelta a Burgos and Strade Bianche with dispatches from Andrew Hood and James Startt. Then, our countdown to the Tour de France continues as we provide detailed and extra-nerdy analysis of Tour stages 11-21. We analyze every climb and every sprint to determine who will win the overall. Finally, we have an interview with American Leah Thomas who rode to an impressive third place at Strade Bianche. Leah rode with strong legs and smart racing intellect, joining the early breakaway that gave her an advantage on the dusty, dry course. Leah takes us inside the tense few moments after she dropped her chain on a dirt climb and was pushed by an overzealous fan. The Tour de France is just around the corner, and the 2020 VeloNews Tour de France guide is now available for pre-order. This year the guide is again packed with insight and analysis on all 21 stages and 22 teams. We also have feature stories that examine the Tour's history with global crisi