The Giro Highlights Show
Plus a chat with François Thomazeau at Roland-Garros
by Lionel Birnie
This week’s episode is a collection of Daniel’s highlights from a brilliant Giro d’Italia. The race for the maglia rosa may have offered all the suspense and drama of the Olympic torch relay, because right from the lower slopes of Oropa it was a question of how many minutes Tadej Pogačar would win by, but many of the individual stages were compelling and Italy was once again the star.
And, even if I say so myself, our coverage was fantastic. Actually, I can say that because it was nothing to do with me. It was all down to Daniel and Brian, who once again transported us to Italy and took us along for the journey. Our grand tour coverage has always been about more than just the cycling – the Giro especially – because since 2013 we have covered the races on the ground. When the grand tours are on, the pavement cafes are our recording studio and the idea is to create a sports-themed travelogue with the racing at the heart of things while attempting to capture the essence of what the races are all about. They exist partly to showcase the host countries, they pay homage to their own history, and we try to reflect that too. There’s so much more to a grand tour than finding out who the best rider is. Let’s face it, most of us could have answered that one correctly before the riders had even emerged from their team buses in Venaria Reale before stage one.
Thank you for all the emails and messages on social media. I’ve spent the week sifting through hundreds, nay thousands, of emails pointing out that Slovenia does, indeed, have a coastline. Well, you’ve got to have something to occupy Corrections Corner or else it’ll soon become Corrections Cubby Hole. Your feedback has been fantastic and is much appreciated.
And last, but by no means least, a big thank you to Brian for his wonderful contribution. Enjoy a few weeks at home before the Tour de France.
If you are suffering from Giro withdrawal symptoms, relive some of the best moments in the highlights show, or sign up as a Friend of the Podcast to listen to the Giro episodes of KM0.
A chat with François at Roland-Garros
This week I made a short hop over to Paris to see our very dear friend François Thomazeau to record the opening jingles for our Tour de France coverage. I took the mic and talked to François about a few things – his time as press chief at the Roland-Garros tennis tournament, what he was doing in Paris, his upcoming trip to the Critérium du Dauphiné (the last cycling race he’ll be working on he says), and the French success at the Giro.
François at Roland-Garros
François in Paris
François on the Dauphiné
François on the French at the Giro
If you want to get in the mood for the 2024 Tour de France, there can be few better ways than revisiting last year’s KM0 series, FT’s Tour Tales, which is one of the most enjoyable things I’ve worked on for the podcast. It’s simply a couple of hours spent listening to François talk about his favourite Tour de France memories, including the tale of how he broke the story of the Festina doping affair in 1998.
Il Barone’s photo gallery
The Girovagando case from DVine Cellars
The 2024 Girovagando case of six wines, curated by our friends at DVine Cellars, is available to buy now. My case arrived last week, and I ordered a second one for our neighbour, who is from the very north of Italy a few kilometres from the Swiss border, as a thank you for removing a hedge in our back garden.
Countdown to the Tour de France
Next week, we train our long lens on the 2024 Tour de France with the first of a quartet of weekly episodes that will take us all the way to the Grand Départ in Florence.
Daniel will be at the Dauphiné having transformed into Television’s Daniel Friebe by disappearing into a phone box, spinning round a few times and emerging with a slightly bigger and more professional-looking microphone.
So next week, our Tour de France team makes its debut. Mitch Docker and Richard Abraham return to be joined by Graham Willgoss, who will be making his debut on The Cycling Podcast. Graham is no stranger to the mic, though, having anchored The Bradley Wiggins Podcast for Eurosport a few years ago. (If he can cope with that, he can cope with anything!) We’re looking forward to welcoming him to the team alongside Mitch, who has been part of our Tour de France coverage since 2021, and Richard, who made his first appearance last July.
We’ll give them all a proper introduction in next week’s edition of The 11.01 Cappuccino.
A big thank you to MAAP for supporting The Cycling Podcast. Check out the full range of clothing to make you look the part on, and off, the bike at maap.cc