Season's Greetings from The Cycling Podcast

It's time for a gingerbread-flavoured post-11am cappuccino

Christmas and cycling are inextricably linked for me. I got my first bike at Christmas (a Raleigh Strika in 1982) and can still remember the heart-stopping thrill of opening the door and seeing a large, bulky object leaning against the radiator next to the Christmas tree, wrapped in Santa paper with the handlebars and pedals poking out. I didn’t care that it was as heavy as a battleship or that several of my friends had got the much cooler BMX bikes – inspired by Andy Ruffell and the season’s smash hit movie E.T – it was my first proper bike.

A few years later I got my second bike at Christmas – a Raleigh Pacer with drop handlebars and five gears. From then on, in my mind, I was riding the Tour de France wherever I went, with a reasonable impression of Phil Liggett commentating in my head. I struggled a bit when my friends ducked off-road into the woods – I had more punctures than them too – but on the roads and pavements of Not Watford the Pacer came into its own, especially going up hill.

Over the years came all manner of cycling-related gifts. As a teenager, a set of beautifully-engineered Campagnolo pedals – the first piece of a bike my Dad and I spent the best part of a year building up from scratch. Then, an Avocet cycling computer, just about the most advanced bit of tech I’d ever owned, putting the Commodore 64 into a distant second place. Then, a pair of ludicrously-expensive Oakley Mumbo sunglasses (later rebranded as M-Frames), as worn by the coolest rider on the planet, Greg LeMond. It was a tad unfortunate that within a few weeks of getting them a trip to the opticians revealed I needed glasses. As a result, I rarely got to wear the Mumbos and I had to pretend to be the bespectacled Laurent Fignon instead in a little round pair of tortoiseshell Harry Potter-style glasses. (It was the early 1990s).

There were books (the Winning annuals The Fabulous World of Cycling, and Graham Watson’s Visions of Cycling stick in the mind), videos and accessories. Anything cycling-related would be a solid gold hit. Well, almost anything. My uncle (not really my uncle but a very close family friend we adored) once got me a pair of track mitts. Something had been lost in translation because I’d asked for a pair of Fagor team gloves worn by Stephen Roche, Robert Millar, Sean Yates and Malcolm Elliott. He’d been to a bike shop in London and got me a pair of Zahor gloves, as worn by an obscure Spanish team that didn’t even qualify for the Tour de France. My initial disappointment turned to joy eight months later when Zahor’s Juan Fernandez, riding for Spain, finished on the podium at the World Championships in Ronse, which was won by Maurizio Fondriest after that extraordinary crash between Claude Criquielion and Steve Bauer in the finishing straight. Perhaps that makes me the first cycling hipster in Britain, rocking my Zahor gloves in the Hertfordshire lanes, passing other, older riders who were no doubt in awe at the kid who really knew his stuff.

***

There were a few years back there when I felt more like Ebenezer Scrooge and the Grinch rolled into one. It was 2009, midway through Lance Armstrong’s comeback. I was one of the cynics and sceptics who didn’t believe in miracles, partly because I’d been told, deeply off-the-record, by one of Armstrong’s old teammates the extent of the doping that had gone on in the US Postal Service team. This was before Floyd Landis blew the whistle publicly and before Jeff Novitzky and the Feds got involved, so my source knew that if he went on the record he’d be a lone voice of dissent, vulnerable to being sued hard, or worse, given the sort of treatment meted out to Betsy Andreu. So I carried this information around with me, only occasionally letting some of it slip if someone started to spin me the gospel of St Lance.

One such occasion was Christmas drinks after the miraculous third place comeback at the 2009 Tour de France. One of my partner’s family friends was a middle class man of a certain age who had taken the good book (It’s Not About the Bike) word for word and declared Armstrong to be his hero and saviour. I was encouraged, rather mischievously, by my partner’s father to share what I knew, which I did, gently at first, prompting increasingly incredulous shakes of the head. Why, he asked not entirely unreasonably, was all this not in the public domain? How could Armstrong have successfully sued David Walsh if what I said was true?

So I went on – and on – giving more and more detail about riders he’d never heard of and races he didn’t know, until his shoulders slumped and I felt like a spirit-crushing spoilsport who’d told a small child Santa Claus wasn’t real.

What made it worse was that I had to endure another three awkward Christmas Day drinks before I was eventually proved right by the Oprah Winfrey confessional. Oh well, we all have our cross to bear.

***

Christmas is a strange time for the professional riders. Most teams will have held their pre-Christmas camp – a time for a bit of bonding, photo shoots and press days, a Christmas party and an initiation ceremony for new signings but, increasingly, some serious training too. Then there’s a bit of a break before the even-more-serious January training camp. With the new season just around the corner it’s not a time for too much indulgence. The days of doing a bit of cross-country skiing and riding into form in the early February races are well and truly in the past and although some riders will take Christmas Day off (or Christmas Eve, if they’re in a country where that’s the big celebration) many still like to turn the legs before lunch.

These days, Strava-noia (copyright Daniel Friebe) bites hard, but was it ever thus? I can remember stories of Sean Yates or Sean Kelly going out for long rides on Christmas Day – or at least saying they’d gone out for long rides – to get the edge on their fellow riders.

It’s a different matter for the cyclo-cross stars. Cyclo-cross on Boxing Day is as traditional in Belgium as football is in Britain – a day to get out in the fresh air and watch some live sport. This year there’s a World Cup race in Gavere in East Flanders where a huge crowd will turn out to see the riders – including Mathieu van der Poel – battle the mud.

***

I don’t tend to get cycling-related gifts these days, but there is one tradition I like to observe. My friend Andy and I try to find time for the annual Disaronno Ride, a leisurely roll through the lanes with a coffee stop. Andy brings a fun-sized bottle of the almond-flavoured liqueur and we add a little shot of festive warmth to our coffees, compare notes on Christmas dinner plans – I am firmly against both Yorkshire pudding and cauliflower cheese with turkey – and try to resist complaining about being another year older and slower. This is an entirely weather-dependent ride. The Disaronno Ride has the most sensitive Extreme Weather Protocol of any cycling event in the world and will be postponed at the merest suggestion of rain. It has to be held on a crisp, clear day, preferably with a hint of sunshine in the sky. It’s cycling for the sheer enjoyment and being wrapped up snugly against the cold is one of those comforting pleasures of winter riding – as long as it’s not wet. This year we’ve pencilled in one of the Betwixmas days so fingers crossed for a bright morning.

Years back I tried (and failed) to complete Rapha’s Festive 500 but I know it’s beyond me, even if I am roaring fit. The weather is too miserable and there are too many other things going on. I doff my casquette to anyone who does manage it because, like any meaningful challenge, it requires a significant level of effort and sacrifice to complete.

I’ve never been one to ride on Christmas Day anyway, although I know people who relish the quiet roads and a bit of peace and solo goodwill towards themselves before the over-indulgence. I’ve only ventured out on Christmas Day a few times – most memorably when I got the Raleigh Strika and then the Pacer – and that would have been around the block to try out the new bike with my Dad following close behind.

No, I am firmly of the thought that cycling is for life, not just for Christmas, and that, if there’s any good time of year to take it easy, this is it.

£10 off Shokz headphones until December 31

The discount code CYCLING10 gives £10 off any set of headphones at uk.shokz.com until December 31. So, if you don’t find a set of OpenRun Pro 2 headphones nestling under the tree on Christmas morning you can buy yourself a gift instead. Then you can listen to your favourite podcasts and ring in the New Year with a blast of Auld Lang Syne on your new bone-conduction headphones. A big thank you to Shokz for supporting The Cycling Podcast over the past six weeks.

This week's episodes

Our latest episodes…

The penultimate part of our Review of 2024 is Daniel’s interview with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s head sports director, Rolf Aldag, reflecting on a season that brought a record fourth Vuelta a España victory for Primož Roglič and second place for Dani Martinez at the Giro d’Italia. There’s also a companion episode of KM0, Yuletide Rog, in which Daniel talks to Roglič about his Giro hopes, unfinished business at the Tour de France and, yes, ski-jumping. That episode is available now for Friends of the Podcast subscribers.

Coming in the next 24 hours is the final episode of The Cycling Podcast Féminin for the year. The Féminin team always embraces Christmas with a head-long rush to match the speed of the peloton entering the final kilometre of a flat stage. Tune in to hear what festive fun they have in store.

Our final episodes of 2024, eclectic highlights packages of our Giro, Tour and Vuelta coverage, conjuring up the memory of warmer, sunnier days of a European summer, will be released next week. We’ll then take a break before returning in mid-January (week-commencing January 13, to be precise) with the now traditional, curtain-raising Speculation Episode to engage in (pointless?) guesswork about what 2025 has in store.

So, until then, season’s greetings to one and all. Remember to leave a bidon and energy gel for Santa and his reindeer domestiques, hang out your compression socks (or Christmas stockings if you prefer) and enjoy the festivities.

Congratulations and thanks to MAAP

Earlier this week, MAAP announced some big news – they are entering the World Tour and will be supplying the kit for the men’s Jayco-Alula and women’s LIV-Alula-Jayco teams from January. They unveiled a striking purple jersey paired with conversation-starting grey shorts.

While I am a traditionalist in many senses, I like any move away from black shorts. I can still remember the excitement of seeing Banesto in blue shorts in 1989, and later the Toshiba team who had white stripes going across the front of the shorts, and then the infamous Carrera Jeans denim-look shorts, which I really liked but were perhaps a step too far. I even quite liked AG2R’s brown shorts.

Although several World Tour teams are still to unveil their jerseys, purple should stand out well in the peloton and, if not, the shorts will certainly make the team easy to identify from a distance.

It represents a big step for MAAP, who have made no secret of their desire to partner with a World Tour team and have been making gradual steps in this direction over the past few years.

MAAP have also been our clothing partners for the past three years and we’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone there. I remember the excitement of the early days of our relationship, when MAAP designed three potential jerseys for The Cycling Podcast, imagining what our jersey would have looked like if we’d been a pro team in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. When the designs arrived by email, Richard Moore called me and we opened the email at the same time and asked each other ‘what do you think?’. We agreed they were bold, different and not what we’d have come up with if it had been down to us – which we also agreed was very much a good thing.

Richard never got to see the finished jersey, of course, and so for me – and for many of you, I’m sure – there’s a tinge of sadness but also added significance attached to the design. We were so grateful to MAAP for their support and understanding during that incredibly difficult year, as we were when they agreed to add the Buffalo motif to the sleeve, even though we knew it would mess with their production timetable.

I still chuckle at François’ attempts at election interference when we opened the public vote, whispering ‘check, check, check’ whenever I asked listeners to decide which design should go into production.

We have been very proud to partner with MAAP and wish them every success for the next stage of their adventure. Check out the new Jayco kit at maap.cc

We’d love to create a gallery of photos of listeners in The Cycling Podcast’s MAAP jersey so if you have one send a photo of yourself wearing it to us by email at contact@thecyclingpodcast.com

The Cannibal & Badger’s Festive Watch-Along

’Tis the season to eat, drink and be merry with friends and family. However, if that eventually all gets a bit much and you need to retreat into your own space for a bit – perhaps for a calorie-burning blast on the static bike or just a break from endless re-runs of Christmas movies, perhaps The Cannibal & Badger’s Festive Watch-Along is the answer.

I’ve started the ball rolling by posting a link to the 1989 film 8 Seconds In July in a thread on our defiantly lo-fi forum, The Cannibal & Badger, which all Friends of the Podcast can access by logging in to their account here.

I remember this film vividly because it was broadcast on Channel 4 the evening school broke up for the Christmas holidays in December 1989. It starts with Phil Liggett at home in what I imagined was his second-best sitting room, with a glass of wine on the table and the Christmas tree in the background. What follows is an hour of highlights of the most dramatic Tour of all-time and I watched it avidly, even though I had video recordings of all 21 stages in a cupboard on VHS tapes marked ‘DO NOT TAPE OVER’ in angry teenage black marker pen.

Anyway, head over to The Cannibal & Badger to discuss the film and post links to your favourite cycling films if you can find them on YouTube.

Thanks to one and all

This is the final edition of The 11.01 Cappuccino for 2024. Thank you for reading, and especially to those who have chosen to support The Cycling Podcast by subscribing – it really does make a difference. The 11.01 Cappuccino will be back to accompany our audio coverage in mid-January.

Daniel and I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has listened this year. We’d also like to thank everyone who has joined us on the mic, whether for one episode or an entire grand tour. So a big thank you to Rob Hatch, Larry Warbasse, Brian Nygaard, Fran Reyes, François Thomazeau, Mitch Docker, Richard Abraham, Graham Willgoss, Joe Dombrowski, Renaat Schotte, Cillian Kelly and Emil Bischofberger. Thank you to The Cycling Podcast Féminin team led by Rose Manley, and joined by Denny Gray, Rebecca Charlton, Orla Chennaoui and Jo Rowsell.

Our production team have all been with us for a long time and we wouldn’t have a successful podcast without them so a big thank you to Jon Moonie (who edited our first episode in 2013), Tom Whalley (who joined in 2015), Adam Bowie (2016), Will Jones (2016) and Huw Owen (2021).

Behind the scenes, Spencer Martin, David Luxton and everyone at DLA, have helped keep us on the road. Thanks also to Mike Newman and everyone at our audio hosts Audioboom, and Jeff Friedrich and Bethany Wilson at Supporting Cast, who run our Friends of the Podcast platform. Stacy Snyder, who once again created much-cherished collections of cups to celebrate the grand tours, while also raising money for some very worthwhile cycling-related causes. Humphrey Waterhouse and Georgina and the team at AccTax for helping to keep things running smoothly. Greg Andrews and everyone at DVine Cellars, and all of the companies who have supported the podcast this year by sponsoring or advertising in our coverage.

The Cycling Podcast in 2024

• 136 free-to-air episodes

• 5.5 million listens

• 3rd – our highest position in the Apple Podcasts sports chart

• 19 episodes of KM0 for Friends of the Podcast subscribers

• 12th Tour de France covered

Celebrate in style with DVine Cellars’ special selection

In what has become a cherished Cycling Podcast tradition, we celebrated the three Grand Tours by partnering with Dvine Cellars of London to select wines made on, or close to, the routes of the Giro, Tour and Vuelta. As ever, Daniel, Greg and the rest of the team at Dvine Cellars agonised over the final six-bottle line-ups – and some worthy contenders missed out. We’re rectifying that for Christmas and the New Year with a Best of the Rest – 2024 Grand Tours case that’s available now for UK listeners from Dvine Cellars. Here’s the final, festive roster:

• Ronchi di Cialla Ribolla Gialla, Friuli, Italy

• Nebbiolo Coste della Sesia, Travaglini, Gattinara, Piedmont, Italy

• Domaine Bruno Lupin Roussette Frangy, Savoie, France

• Domaine Les Caizergues, L'Arbre d'Or 2017, Languedoc, France

• Tobía, Selección de Autor, Chardonnay/Tempranillo Blanco, Rioja, Spain

• Niepoort, Rotulo Tinto, Dao, Portugal