Domestique Cycling Podcast

Finlay Pickering finished the Vuelta a España sick, and he tells Aidan Burgess he never once thought about climbing off. The Jayco AlUla rider spoke to us on the morning of the final stage in Granada, a day after Mikel Landa's win on the Collado del Alguacil and two days after the worst day he has ever had on a bike.👉 This podcast is powered by Exposure Lights. Get 15% off your lights which will last you a lifetime at https://www.exposurelights.com/ with code DOMESTIQUE15He is honest about what went wrong. A good time trial, then a stomach that stopped working, then 30 minutes lost on stage 19 and a top 20 on general classification gone with it. His reason for staying out there is the best line in the episode: a DNF on ProCyclingStats is not something he wants next to his name.There is a proper masterclass in here on racing in the heat. Pickering does not think the heat was his problem at all, and he has little patience with the idea that the Vuelta in August is a surprise. Saunas, a training block in Spain, 20 minutes at a time, every day, building slowly. He explains exactly how he does it and why most people get it wrong by cooking themselves once and never going back.He also makes the case for Enric Mas. Pogačar crashing out changed the race, but Pickering argues the winner still had Roglič, Kuss, Carapaz and Gall to beat, and points back to the day Mas chased Pogačar down on the road. His view on racing the best rider in the world is simple: you do not want to fight a guy who is nought and 26.Plus stage 20 from inside the bunch, Landa as a hero from his childhood, the Worlds without Pogačar, a losing bet on red at the Monaco start, and the supermarket start line in Granada.

Enric Mas reaches the second rest day of the Vuelta a España in red, 2:06 ahead of Felix Gall and 2:10 ahead of Primož Roglič. The man with four Vuelta podiums and no Grand Tour win is now the favourite, and Bram and Ethan spend this episode working out whether he can actually finish the job.👉 Use code DOMESTIQUE20 for 20% off your first tasting box at https://mnstry.com👉 Use code DOMESTIQUE15 for 15% off your first purchase at https://exposurelights.comMas took 27 seconds at Calar Alto and another 25 on La Pandera, and Movistar have controlled this race in a way nobody expected from them. That leads to the argument that runs through the whole episode: with Tadej Pogačar out and his season now over, does this Vuelta come with an asterisk next to it? Bram says it should not. Ethan says nobody looks up who crashed out twenty years later.Then the heat. 41 degrees on the road to Loja, riders taken to hospital, and Sunday's stage into Córdoba cut by 79.5 kilometres under the extreme weather protocol. Both hosts think the measures are the right ones and both think they are aimed at the wrong end of the day, with the Vuelta moving finishes later for television rather than starting in the cool of the morning.There is a lot of good racing in here too. Wout van Aert won twice in three days and controlled the whole finale in Córdoba, Visma are on five stage wins with three of them from Matthew Brennan on his Grand Tour debut, and Jakob Omrzel and Marco Brenner produced the two surprises of the week. Bram and Ethan then look at the final week: the Jerez time trial, Peñas Blancas, the brutal stage 20 to Collado del Alguacil, and a Granada finish that is not a parade.Plus the Tour of Britain, where Tim Wellens took the overall and UAE filled the podium on the final stage in Earlston. Ethan was at stage 1 in Lincoln to see Lewis Askey win.A heads up on the end of this one: Bram's internet dropped in the middle of the Tour of Britain section, so the episode finishes earlier than usual.

Finn Fisher-Black joined Aidan Burgess on the first rest day of the Vuelta a España, four days after Tadej Pogačar crashed out of a race he was leading by nearly four minutes.He is honest about his former teammate. People assume Pogačar wins so often that a bad day cannot really hurt, and Fisher-Black says that is exactly backwards. Everyone starts each race the same, everyone wants to win, and nobody turns up to a Grand Tour without doing the work. He explains how the news travelled through the bunch, how quickly the racing stopped, and how close his own team came to being caught in the same crash.Then the race that is left. Fisher-Black rides for Primož Roglič, who was hit by a car on a training camp only weeks before the start and could barely get on a bike. Nobody in the team knew what they had until the racing began. He talks about how you read Roglič's mood, why the calm version is the fast one, and why he thinks the last week will be the best one.There is also the tactical picture. With UAE no longer policing the race, nobody seems to want the job, and Fisher-Black explains why that opens up breakaway after breakaway, why he still fancies a move with Jay Vine and Pavel Sivakov in it, and how much freedom he gets while his leader sits second overall.Plus the Monaco time trial and rolling out of a casino, the warm-up he makes up as he goes, the hail on the Font Romeu stage and the hotel that took the peloton in, the five-star reviews that got deleted, the mattress in the background of the call, the drink bottle scrums, and why he still wants to go back to the track.SUBSCRIBE and get notified when a new video drops:👉  @DomestiqueCycling  Get your cycling news and feature articles on Domestique: https://www.domestiquecycling.com/Follow Domestique on Socials 🔗👉 X: https://x.com/Domestique___👉 Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/domestiquecycling.com👉 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/domestique___/👉 WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbBXjUd8F2pLi4jBEo3v👉 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@domestiquecycling👉 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/domestiquecyclingcom👉 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/36bP23fgphegg9xTWDVPeF?si=777f3ae957f34d34

Tadej Pogacar took the first red jersey of his career in Monaco by nine hundredths of a second. Ethan Hayter lost it on the line, then spent all of Sunday in the breakaway trying to take it back, and finished the day 29 seconds down. In Manosque, Wout van Aert attacked with two kilometres to go and Pogacar closed him down, then refused to pull. Behind them, 20-year-old Matthew Brennan came past both to win his first Grand Tour stage, on his first ever road stage at a three-week race. Two days in and this Vuelta has already given us more than the preview suggested it would.We go through the Monaco time trial and how nobody crashed on a course full of tunnels, cones and an F1 hairpin. We get into what Pogacar's ride actually tells us, and the moment he stopped riding for Josh Tarling and went full gas. Then we look ahead. Font Romeu and its one long shallow climb, the short Andorra stage that shouts breakaway, the sprint on stage 5, and the gravel with bonus seconds on top of it on stage 6. We also cover Visma's very crowded sprint train, Felix Gall's 46 seconds, and the influencer the Vuelta hired for its social channels, which has gone about as badly as it could. Plus Kim Le Court winning the Tour of Britain Women, Jasper Philipsen taking three stages and the overall at the Renewi Tour, and Isaac del Toro winning the Deutschland Tour.👉 Use code DOMESTIQUE20 for 20% off your first tasting box at https://mnstry.com

Magnus Cort is retiring at the end of 2026, and he tells Aidan Burgess exactly why. He is still winning, he became Danish champion for the first time this year, and that is the point. He does not want to squeeze everything out and finish the sport struggling at the back.He also confirms his selection for the Vuelta a España, the Grand Tour he likes best and the one where his career started with two stage wins. He talks through where his chances are, why Mads Pedersen and Wout van Aert worry him more than Tadej Pogačar, and how a team of only Danes and Norwegians keeps punching above its budget.And he is honest about what comes next. There is no job lined up, only a winter in Andorra, and a rider who says he almost does not know who he is outside of cycling. There is also the moustache, the worst hotel in the Tour de France, and one very firm opinion about ankle socks.

Tadej Pogacar arrives at the Vuelta a España chasing the one Grand Tour missing from his palmares, seven years after finishing third here on debut at twenty. Primoz Roglic is now expected to start, five weeks after being hit by a car in training, still hoping for a fifth title that would make him the outright record holder. Felix Gall and Oscar Onley come in off the back of Burgos, where five seconds separated them, and on Monday morning Visma confirmed that defending champion Jonas Vingegaard will not race again this season. We don't think the GC battle is really a battle at all, but the podium behind Pogacar is wide open, and we go through all 21 stages to work out who takes it.We cover the Monaco time trial and its F1 corners, the brutal short stage into Andorra, and the gravel sections and punchy finishes that should suit the breakaway all through week one. We get into the Alto de Aitana and the heat that comes with it, the Jerez time trial that could cost Felix Gall his podium spot, and the queen stage to the Collado del Alguacil, the only Categoría Especial climb of the race. Then we lay out our predictions for the podium and the green jersey, talk about what a "day by day" Vuelta actually looks like for Roglic, and go through the riders worth watching beyond the favourites.MNSTRY have been fuelling this podcast for months now. Ethan has got noticeably stronger on it. Bram puts that one entirely on his own lack of training. Neither of us has had a single stomach issue: up to 120 grams of carbohydrate per hour, naturally sourced flavours, nothing artificial, entirely vegan.👉 Use code DOMESTIQUE20 for 20% off a tasting box at https://mnstry.com🎮 Play Domestique PredictWe're back for the Vuelta. Pick the rider you think will finish highest on every stage. You can only use each rider once across the whole race, and your score is their time behind the stage winner minus a bonus of 10, 6 or 4 seconds for a top three finish. It runs like its own GC, from Monaco on Saturday through to Granada on 13 September, and it's free. Come beat us at https://peloton.domestiquecycling.com/predict

Zoe Backstedt came out of her first Tour de France Femmes with an all time 20 minute power best, a stage 9 pain face that went round the internet, and a very clear idea of what the race is missing. She tells George Burgess what nine days of it actually asked of her.Her job at CANYON//SRAM was to protect Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney and Antonia Niedermaier, which she describes as bodyguard duties for the whole week. That means positioning, following attacks she was not built to follow, and an endless loop back to the team car for bottles and ice. It was the hottest week she has ever raced. She could not tell you how many bottles the team went through, only that the ice had melted before she reached the front with it.She is good on Niewiadoma. On the stage 5 climb to Belleville-en-Beaujolais, Backstedt was going sideways up an 18 percent ramp to make it flatter. At the bus afterwards she found out her leader had ridden the same climb in the big ring. On Mont Ventoux, where Niewiadoma went solo with nine kilometres to go and took yellow, her verdict is that the mind games behind made no difference at all. Niewiadoma was the strongest rider in the race from breakfast onwards.The numbers are worth the episode on their own. Over 1,100 watts in a bunch sprint, and 225 to 250 in the Ventoux gruppetto. On the final stage she set a 20 minute best that beat her old one by 20 watts, with Niewiadoma shouting at her to keep going. She also explains why she was fourth in the Dijon time trial rather than on the podium. Getting over that took a phone call with her sister about anything other than cycling.There is plenty more in here. Why the UCI clothing checks were not the story people thought they were, why nobody in the peloton was surprised that Lorena Wiebes could climb, and why she once got on the radio to tell her sprinter that she was not doing the final. She also wants one change for next year, and it is not a harder route. She wants a rest day and a proper sprint stage, because there was not a single day in the nine where anybody could ride easy.

Demi Vollering is a two-time champion of the Tour de France Femmes, and she had to win the last two stages to get there. Kasia Niewiadoma rode away from her on Mont Ventoux on Friday and took yellow. Vollering took it back in Nice on Saturday by eight seconds. Then she attacked again on the final climb of the race on Sunday, when sitting on the wheel would have been enough, and won by 1:18. We go through all of it, including the stand-off between Vollering and Reusser on the Ventoux that nearly cost her the race, and why Bram thinks Niewiadoma's ride up it was the best climbing performance he has seen from a woman.We also get into the row. Niewiadoma accused Celia Gery of closing her against the barriers at the foot of the last climb on stage 8. FDJ said the footage does not show much, and the 20-year-old spent the night before the final stage receiving death threats. The two of them cleared it up in about fifteen seconds after the finish, which rather makes the point about where the escalation actually happened. Our view, and the view of most people who voted on the Domestique Debate, is that this is a racing incident.On the men's side, Felix Gall won the Vuelta a Burgos by five seconds for the first stage race win of his career. He did it on the kind of punchy finishes that should suit Ciccone, Onley and Pellizzari more than him, which leads into whether he is the only real threat to Tadej Pogacar at the Vuelta. Tudor won the Tour de Pologne with Marco Brenner and then took the closing time trial with Stefan Kung, which is a very good week for a team that keeps stepping up. And the transfer market has properly opened. Soudal Quick-Step signed Tim Torn Teutenberg and Lorenzo Milesi, Santiago Buitrago left Bahrain Victorious after seven years, and Picnic PostNL have now lost all three of their fast men.🎮 Play Who's That RiderOur daily game is live on Domestique. Guess the rider from their palmares, with one extra hint for every wrong answer. Play today's edition at https://peloton.domestiquecycling.com/dailyMNSTRYMNSTRY have been fuelling this podcast and sending us their products to test for months now. Ethan has got a lot stronger on them. Bram has not, and that is entirely down to a lack of training. What they do have in common is that neither of us has had a single stomach problem: up to 120 grams of carbohydrate per hour, naturally sourced flavours, nothing artificial, entirely vegan, and all the good stuff your body actually recognises.👉 Use code DOMESTIQUE20 for 20% off your starting kit at https://mnstry.com

Pauline Ferrand-Prevot came to defend her Tour de France Femmes title and is five minutes down after five stages. Marlen Reusser has the yellow jersey, Demi Vollering is twelve seconds behind her, and the race the whole spring pointed towards has turned into something nobody predicted. We go through how it happened, and why nothing about Ferrand-Prevot's week looks like the rider who dominated this race in 2025.Before that, the first week did everything the men's Tour did and more. Lorena Wiebes won the first two stages and was untouchable in both, to the point where the interesting question became why anyone is still chasing down breakaways to set up a sprint against her. Then Sigrid Ytterhus Haugset rode 88 kilometres alone to win in Poligny and take yellow, with Lotte Kopecky chasing her all the way to second place. It was the best move of the race so far, and the television coverage started after she had already gone, which we have plenty to say about. Reusser took the jersey back in the Dijon time trial, then Vollering won a finish that went to the line on stage 5. Twelve riders have already abandoned, one team is down to three, and the peloton is racing in the high thirties.On the men's side, Remco Evenepoel has now won the Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa four times from four starts. A bike change left him nearly forty seconds down on the Erlaitz, and he still rode back to the front and dropped everyone but Richard Carapaz. Jonathan Milan has won the first three stages of the Tour de Pologne, which gets us onto what that race keeps doing with its finish design. Matthew Brennan and Oscar Onley have taken a stage each at the Vuelta a Burgos, and Onley's is his first win for Netcompany-Ineos.We also get into the things underneath the results. Two Belgian development teams have disappeared in two seasons. Women's cycling is arguing about whether it needs a bigger calendar. Nine UAE riders are not going to a Grand Tour this year and have won ten races between them. And we still cannot work out what Fabio Jakobsen would be doing at Visma.Order your MNSTRY Tasting Box now and use code DOMESTIQUE20 to get 20% off!Order now!http://mnstry.com/en-in?utm_source=referral&utm_medium=domestique&utm_campaign=260126_domestique_partnership-2026

Emily Dixon spent her childhood throwing tantrums on mountain bike trails. She did swimming, gymnastics, dance and netball, and she was, in her words, pretty mediocre at all of them. Then lockdown cancelled everything, her dad started riding Zwift in the garage, and she got jealous enough to put a neighbour's old road bike on a trainer and ride it in her sneakers.Six years later she is racing in Europe with two professional wins to her name.In this episode she tells Aidan Burgess how that actually happened, and she is unusually honest about the ugly middle part. She entered Zwift Academy almost by accident, after a time trial got rained off in Melbourne. When the finals invitation came, her parents assumed it was a scam. She turned up in Portugal at 17, needing lawyer-verified travel documents, to be greeted by Zoe Backstedt.Then came 2025. She describes a season where she finished 29th in her first race and 29th in her last. She spent every race hanging on at the back, quietly wondering whether the team had made a mistake picking her. What changed for 2026 was not training. It was deciding she deserved to be there. She won on 30 April, won again on 1 May, and pulled on the leader's jersey.She is also clear about what is still missing. The World Tour team has a mental coach. Her development team does not, so she has been building her own sports psychology out of podcasts. She is also sharp on why girls do not take up cycling in the first place. There was no women's racing on television when she was young, and there is still a belief that you need to spend tens of thousands of dollars before you can start.Emily Dixon rides for Canyon//SRAM Generation. This episode was recorded just before the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, and she gives her podium picks at the end.

Rune Herregodts has one month of his Belgian national champion's jersey behind him, and he is out of contract at the end of the season. In this episode he tells Aidan Burgess that he expects to leave UAE Team Emirates XRG, that he is talking to a few teams, and that there should be news quite quickly.Before that, he takes us inside the strongest team in the world. He explains why UAE keep December training camps deliberately relaxed, with no crazy interval sessions and no weighing food, so that riders can hold the stricter plans all season. He explains the racing philosophy in one line: they race to win and they train to train, and a race is never treated as preparation. He describes what a domestique at UAE is actually paid to do, which is mostly positioning, and why the modern peloton is decided before the climb rather than on it.He is also open about the parts that are less comfortable. The jersey brings expectations, and he admits there are days when he would rather the camera found someone in a neutral kit. Team Flanders, the team that made him a professional, is losing its Flemish government funding, and he says plainly that without it some riders who have the potential will never turn professional at all.There is plenty for the equipment obsessives too. He compares the Colnago Y1Rs with the V4 and puts a number on the difference between a full aero bike and a full climbing bike. He also explains why he raised his handlebars by two centimetres rather than a few millimetres. And he describes the treadmill the whole sport is now on, where altitude camps and heat training no longer win you anything, they only stop you losing.

Tadej Pogačar has won his fifth Tour de France, and he now stands level with Merckx, Hinault, Anquetil and Indurain. Five stage wins, Marco Pantani's Alpe d'Huez record beaten by more than a minute, and then a Queen stage spent riding as a domestique for his own teammate.Remco Evenepoel finished second at 6:26 with two stage wins and the best climbing week of his career. Isaac Del Toro is third and in white on his debut. Paul Seixas is fourth at nineteen years old. And on a final stage shortened by the wildfires in the southwest, Mathieu van der Poel went over Montmartre with Pogačar and held on all the way to the line.Bram and Ethan unpack all three weeks: why nobody even tries to follow Pogačar anymore, whether Evenepoel would have matched Jonas Vingegaard, how Richard Carapaz timed his run at the mountains jersey to perfection, and why stage 21 has become the best stage of the Tour.We also spend a while on the part of this Tour that was not fun to watch. Half a million people on Alpe d'Huez, no barricades outside the Dutch corner, Einer Rubio into a team car with twenty stitches to the face, and ASO blaming the design of modern cars. We think something has to change before the Tour goes back.This episode is brought to you by MNSTRY. Over 120g of carbohydrate per hour, naturally sourced flavours, no artificial additives, no preservatives, and everything vegan. Domestique listeners get 20% off their first tasting box with the code DOMESTIQUE20.👉 https://www.mnstry.com

On the second rest day of the Tour de France, Michael Storer joins the Domestique Hotseat to talk through a brutal and record-breaking second week of racing. He gets honest about backing up a second grand tour after the Giro, why the heat has been reshaping the race, and what changes now that Jonas Vingegaard has crashed out of contention.Michael also reflects on racing against a dominant Tadej Pogačar, breaks down what to expect from the rest day time trial between Remco Evenepoel and Pogačar, and gives his take on the 2AM doping controls that have sparked debate across the peloton. He also touches on Trek's tactics this Tour, Quinn Simmons' climbing form, and shares his podium picks for Paris. A candid conversation from inside the bunch as the race enters its final week.

Jonas Vingegaard's Tour de France is over. The two time champion crashed twenty kilometres from the summit of Plateau de Solaison on stage 15 and abandoned with a suspected broken collarbone, ending his record of never finishing lower than second overall at this race. Remco Evenepoel beat Tadej Pogacar in an uphill sprint on the stage for his first ever Tour road win, while Isaac del Toro completed the podium and reclaimed the white jersey. Pogacar's overall lead is now five minutes over Evenepoel, with del Toro third and Paul Seixas fourth, all within 6:23 of yellow.We also go back through the rest of the week: Søren Wærenskjold winning the fastest road stage in Tour history at 50.91 km/h in Nevers, Tim Merlier completing a sprint hat-trick in Chalon-sur-Saône, Mauro Schmid's win from a 57-rider megabreak in Belfort that briefly put Tom Pidcock into the top four overall, and Pogacar's solo demolition job on the Col du Haag at Le Markstein for his fourth stage win of this Tour.Then we look ahead to the final week. The Tour's only individual time trial along Lake Geneva, one last shot for the sprinters before the terrain turns, Orcières-Merlette, and the back-to-back Alpe d'Huez finishes that close this Tour out before Paris. With the podium fight suddenly wide open for the first time in five years, this is the week that decides it.Order your MNSTRY Tasting Box now and use code DOMESTIQUE20 to get 20% off!http://mnstry.com/en-in?utm_source=referral&utm_medium=domestique&utm_campaign=260126_domestique_partnership-2026

Ben Healy and Michael Valgren sat down with us on the first rest day of the Tour de France, nine days into one of the hottest editions in memory. The result is an honest conversation about racing in temperatures that have barely dropped below 35 degrees, and what it takes for a team like EF Education to keep chasing wins in the heat.Healy is refreshingly open about his biggest weakness. The heat, he says, is a real Achilles heel, and it is stopping him from performing at his best when it matters most. He explains how the team manages his cooling, why it did not fall to him in yesterday's breakaway, and why his teammate got the nod instead on a brutally hot day.Valgren talks through his own rest-day form, the world-class company in that breakaway, and why EF keep backing themselves to be in every move that reaches the line. We also get into the numbers behind the cooling effort, the bottles, the ice socks and the soigneurs working late into the night, and how a rider knows when their body is starting to overheat.Then the tactical picture. With UAE locking the race down and seemingly fixated on the team classification, we ask both riders how you even beat a team riding like that, where the real chances are in the final two weeks, and what they made of Sean Quinn's standout Tour so far. Healy and Valgren also reflect on what Richard Carapaz brings to the team beyond a GC result, their goals for the rest of the race, and the small moments that make the Tour worth coming back for.

Gene Bates, Sporting Manager at Jayco AlUla, joins the Domestique Hotseat with Aidan Burgess on the eve of the Tour de France in Barcelona. We get into the team's plan to hunt stages instead of riding for GC, Michael Matthews' comeback from two broken wrists, Mauro Schmid's move to Q36.5, and why Bates thinks nobody can stop Pogačar this July.He also opens up on managing Ben O'Connor after a huge 2024, how Jayco keeps its Australian DNA while becoming a truly international team, the stage 1 team time trial, and why they will happily pat a departing rider on the back rather than leave him at home.

Damiano Caruso is riding his eighth and final Tour de France. Before the start, he joins us to talk about Paul Seixas' reported €13 million contract, why he thinks it puts unfair pressure on a 19-year-old, and why he'd always choose a team that feels like family over a bigger paycheck.We also cover Bahrain Victorious' chaotic run to the pink jersey at this year's Giro d'Italia, his prediction for Pogačar vs. Vingegaard, and why, heading into retirement and a new role as directeur sportif, all he wants is to arrive in Paris without any regrets.

On Saturday the 113th Tour de France rolls out of Barcelona: 21 stages, 3,333 kilometres to Paris, opening with a team time trial for the first time since 1971. For the sixth year running it comes down to Tadej Pogačar against Jonas Vingegaard, and this time the Dane arrives off a crushing Giro win with his cleanest run-in since 2023. But two new faces are forcing their way into the picture: 19-year-old Paul Seixas, France's biggest home hope in decades, and a rebooted Remco Evenepoel at Red Bull.In this big preview episode we go through all 21 stages one by one, from the Barcelona team time trial and the explosive Montjuïc finishes, through the early Pyrenean double of the Tourmalet and Gavarnie-Gèdre, the Bastille Day return to Le Lioran, the new summit finish at Plateau de Solaison and the Lake Geneva time trial, to the brutal Alpine double-header that ends on Alpe d'Huez twice. We talk through the green jersey rule changes and why they hand Tim Merlier a real shot, the Seixas pressure and that reported €13.5m contract talk, and Pogačar's chase for a record-equalling fifth title.We then work through the start lists team by team, UAE, Visma, Lidl-Trek, Decathlon and Red Bull, including the Affini fitness question, Lidl-Trek's crowded leadership, and Red Bull's two-leader puzzle with Evenepoel and Lipowitz. We finish with our predictions for the GC podium, the surprise names and breakaway riders to watch for three weeks, and our picks for yellow, green, polka dot and white.Tour de France 2026: Saturday 4 July to Sunday 26 July. Barcelona to Paris, 3,333 km, 54,450 m of climbing, 21 stages, rest days on 13 and 20 July. Five summit finishes, with Alpe d'Huez featuring twice in the final week.We're also launching Domestique Predict for the first time at this Tour. Pick one rider each day to win the stage, you can only pick each rider once, and we run it as a GC, so the rider's time counts, not their position. The overall winner takes home a Santini Tour de France yellow skinsuit. Sign up at debate.domestiquecycling.com/predictRead all our previews on domestiquecycling.com:Route, stage-by-stage guide: https://www.domestiquecycling.com/en/features/tour-de-france-2026-stage-by-stage-guide/ Analysing the 2026 favourites: https://www.domestiquecycling.com/en/news/analysing-the-2026-tour-de-france-favourites/ Full team-by-team guide: https://www.domestiquecycling.com/en/cycling-races/tour-de-france/2026/news/This episode is fuelled by MNSTRY. Fuel your body actually recognises, no artificial flavouring, no artificial anything. Use code DOMESTIQUE20 for 20% off your tasting box at https://mnstry.comSubscribe for race previews, reviews and analysis every week, and drop your yellow, green, white and KOM jersey picks in the comments. We love reading them, and sometimes making fun of them.

Three-stage races, one clear message: the Tour de France is coming, and the favorites are flying. Tadej Pogačar turned his Tour de Suisse debut into a public training camp - a 69 km solo on stage 1, a time trial win by four-hundredths of a second over Mathieu van der Poel, and a mountain win to finish. Three stages, the overall, and not a rival within six minutes. We break down the stage-1 "glitch", Narváez's 90 km breakaway raid in a thunderstorm, Van der Poel's surprising time-trial form, and what Primož Roglič's quiet week says about the twilight of his career.In Slovenia, Red Bull ran the show - Florian Lipowitz taking the overall and two stages, Laurence Pithie two more, in a near-perfect rehearsal 12 days before Lipowitz chases another Tour podium. And in Belgium, the Tour's sprinters sharpened their knives: four bunch sprints, four different winners (Girmay, Merlier, Kooij, and Philipsen), with Philipsen climbing well, walking off with the overall, and looking like the early green-jersey favorite under the new points rules.Then the big one: Wout van Aert is out of the Tour, and the morning's press points to a surprise replacement at Visma. We react to the Piganzoli reports, why Bram still wishes it were Ben Tulett, the back-to-back Grand Tour burnout question, and what it all means for Vingegaard's bid to chase down Pogačar.Fuel your body actually recognises. No artificial anything.👉 Code DOMESTIQUE20 for 20% off your tasting boxOrder now!https://mnstry.com/en-in?utm_source=referral&utm_medium=domestique&utm_campaign=260126_domestique_partnership-2026We've launched a free space to take a position on the biggest questions in pro cycling, rate other perspectives, and debate the community respectfully. No paywalls. Join at debate.domestiquecycling.com.

The Critérium du Dauphiné is done, and a 22-year-old just announced himself to the world. Bram and Ethan break down Isaac Del Toro's back-to-back summit wins on the Grand Colombier and Plateau de Solaison, Paul Seixas' brave ride and painful final-morning abandon, and what it all means for the Tour de France.Is Del Toro already a better climber than Remco Evenepoel? We think so. We also dig into the soaking-wet Copenhagen Sprint that ended in carnage and handed Jasper Philipsen a big confidence boost before the Tour, and ask whether he can take green in 2026.Then it's countdown time. Tadej Pogačar finally makes his Tour de Suisse debut (good luck, everyone else), Roglič and Carapaz line up too, and Red Bull brings a Grand Tour-worthy squad to the Tour of Slovenia. Plus: what on earth is going on with Matthew Brennan and Arnaud De Lie's seasons?Fuel your body actually recognises. No artificial anything.👉 Code DOMESTIQUE20 for 20% off your tasting boxOrder now!We've launched a free space to take a position on the biggest questions in pro cycling, rate other perspectives, and debate the community respectfully. No paywalls. Join at debate.domestiquecycling.com.

Michael Storer has just delivered the best Grand Tour result of his career, finishing seventh overall at the Giro d’Italia for Tudor Pro Cycling. In this conversation, the Australian reflects on the race, explains why Jonas Vingegaard could beat Tadej Pogacar at the Tour de France, and offers a different perspective on cycling’s safety debate.We start with the Giro. Storer discusses the breakaway that reshaped the general classification, the crash that ended Adam Yates’ challenge, his strongest WorldTour time trial performance yet, and why sitting at the back of the peloton can sometimes be the safest tactical decision.From there, we go deep into rider safety. Storer questions the UCI’s proposed restrictions on cycling computer sizes, calls for greater transparency around the research behind new regulations, and explains why better roads, street sweepers, clearer warnings, and the removal of dangerous road furniture could have a much greater impact.Then comes an unexpected idea. Rather than limiting the salaries of cycling’s biggest stars, Storer believes the sport should raise its minimum salary. He explains how low pay and short contracts can encourage riders to take greater risks, why two-year contracts could offer more security, and how reducing financial pressure may ultimately make racing safer.Storer also takes us inside life at a Grand Tour, from time trial recon and long hours on the team bus to reading Pride and Prejudice, watching Gossip Girl, and managing the mental fatigue of potentially racing the Giro and Tour de France back to back.And finally, his Tour prediction: based on what he saw firsthand at the Giro, Storer is backing Jonas Vingegaard to beat Tadej Pogačar this July.

The Critérium du Dauphiné 2026 (now the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes) is wide open, and 19-year-old Paul Seixas arrives as the favourite ahead of Isaac del Toro. Two days in, the breakaway has won both stages by method of Alex Baudin and Anthon Charmig while the GC men wait. We break down stages 1 and 2, why João Almeida is out of the Tour de France, the team time trial, and the brutal mountain finale on the Grand Colombier and Plateau de Solaison.Plus: Demi Vollering's stunning comeback to win the Giro d'Italia Women 2026, becoming only the second rider ever to complete all three women's Grand Tours.Fuel your body actually recognises. No artificial anything.👉 Code DOMESTIQUE20 for 20% off your tasting boxOrder now!

Brent Copeland rarely gives interviews. As General Manager of GreenEdge Cycling (Team Jayco AlUla and Liv AlUla Jayco) and President of the AIGCP, the teams' union, he sits inside almost every room where cycling's future is being decided. In this conversation he opens up on all of it.We start with the Giro d'Italia: the stage 2 crash that took out Andrea Vendrame and changed the entire race, and what the Tour de France build-up looks like with Michael Matthews on the moment. From there we go deep into SafeR, the body working on rider safety. Copeland explains how every crash in pro cycling now gets logged and analysed, the real story behind the handlebar width rule, and what actually happened with the SRAM gear restriction case.Then the big one: money. Copeland makes the case for a budget cap in professional cycling. He explains how average WorldTour budgets have nearly tripled since 2012, why losing Mauro Schmid came down to an offer 40% over market price, what he learned from the people who introduced salary caps to the AFL and NRL, and why he believes the current model is unsustainable. And he addresses the question every Australian fan is asking: what happens to the team when Gerry Ryan steps back?

Jonas Vingegaard wins the 2026 Giro d'Italia with five stage victories and a final margin of over five minutes, completing the Grand Tour treble. But was it the race we hoped for?Bram and Ethan break down everything from the Giro: the GC fight that was won early, a surprise podium, the breakout of Alfonso Eulalio, Felix Gall's second place as a statement to his own team, Jai Hindley's love affair with Italian racing, the sprint battle between Jonathan Milan and Paul Magnier, Toon Arts' unexpected emergence, and the wildly uneven team performances from Visma, Bahrain, Lidl-Trek, and Soudal Quick-Step.Plus: what the Giro tells us about the Tour de France — and whether anyone can actually challenge Vingegaard and Pogačar in July.This episode is fuelled by MNSTRY - 100% vegan sports nutrition trusted by Unibet Rose Rockets, CANYON//SRAM and more. Use code DOMESTIQUECRAMP20 at mnstry.com for 20% off your first Anti-Cramp Shot order.Order now!

Uno-X Mobility's Johannes Kulset joins us fresh off a massive Giro stage win for the team. Fredrik Dversnes went into the break on a pan-flat sprint stage and executed a plan the team had been sitting on since day one. Johannes breaks down exactly how it happened, why the win means more than most people realise, and what the team is hunting in the final week.We also get into: why the Giro and Vuelta produce better racing than the Tour right now, what it actually feels like to get dropped by Vingegaard while he's nose-breathing, the moto controversy and why Kulset thinks the peloton is mostly looking at it wrong, and the inside story on Dversnes' celebration, which nearly gave the whole team a heart attack.

Nine stages into the Giro and the race has delivered chaos, crashes, and near misses. Marcel Kittel joins us on the rest day from inside the Unibet Rose Rockets camp to break down how the team has handled its first Grand Tour test, why stage 6 hurt so much, and what it really takes to build a sprint train capable of mixing it with the best.Marcel is now on the other side of the race, guiding the sprint group from the team car, and he walks us through the emotions of the Giro so far: the broken bus window in Naples, Dylan and Elmar’s crash in the final corner of stage 6, and why Unibet can still walk away with a stage win despite the chances slipping by.We also dive into the details behind a Grand Tour lead-out, why alignment, roles, and 30-page briefings matter, how Wout Poels could still find opportunities in the harder stages, and what Marcel has learned in his new role as a performance leader rather than a rider.

Jonas Vingegaard finally laid down his marker on the Blockhaus, with Felix Gall the only rider who came close to following him and Giulio Pellizzari paying the price for going too deep, too early. We make the case for Eulálio as a genuine third-place podium contender, and discuss why Jai Hindley might be the one rider who can stop him.We also dig into the power data from Velon. Vingegaard's three minute attack on Blockhaus, Paul Magnier's standing-start sprint in Naples, and Giulio Ciccone's stage 9 attack. We also explain why Davide Piganzoli is the most impressive Visma support rider you have probably never heard of.Then we look ahead to a brutal second week. A 42 kilometre time trial from Viareggio to Massa on Tuesday that should give Vingegaard the pink jersey. A row of stages where Lidl-Trek and Soudal Quick-Step will fight for sprint wins. And then Pila on Saturday, 16.6 kilometres at 7.1%, where Gall could realistically take the fight back to Vingegaard.This episode is fuelled by MNSTRY - 100% vegan sports nutrition trusted by Unibet Rose Rockets, CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto and more. Use code DOMESTIQUE20 at mnstry.com for 20% off your tasting box.Order now!

Three stages into the Giro and the race is already cracked wide open. Rasmus Søjberg joins us on the rest day to break down what we've seen so far: the crashes, the sprint margins, and why UAE could still win stages despite losing key riders.Rasmus is one of the lead-out men for Tobias Lund Andersen at Decathlon CMA CGM, and he walks us through what went right and what went wrong on stages 1 and 3, why Milan looked off the pace, and how Magnier has put himself in the conversation as a top-three sprinter at this race. We also look ahead to stage 4, the Blockhouse on stage 7, the time trial, and Felix Gall's GC ambitions.If you want to understand how a Grand Tour really works from inside the bus, this is the conversation.

Three stages in Bulgaria, three completely different stories. Paul Magnier wins the opening stage in Burgas and takes the first maglia rosa of his career, then doubles up in Sofia. Guillermo Thomas Silva becomes the first Uruguayan ever to win a Grand Tour stage, taking pink into Italy. And on a slippery road with 23 km to go, a mass crash takes Marc Soler, Jay Vine, Adam Yates and Santiago Buitrago out of the race in a single moment.In the middle of the carnage, Jonas Vingegaard launches a sharp double attack on the Lyaskovets Monastery, and only Giulio Pellizzari can answer it. We dig into the power data from Velon, including Vingegaard's 520 watts for a minute and a half, Magnier's stage 1 sprint with 300 watts less peak power than Jonathan Milan, and the criminally easy first three days where Adam Yates averaged 150 watts for 100 km. We also talk about the stage 1 finale that should never have been designed that way, the broken-helmet question on rider safety, and whether cycling needs G-force sensors in helmets.Then we look ahead to the Italian week: stage 4 to Cosenza, the punchy day to Potenza, Naples on cobbles, and the big one on Friday. 244 km to Blockhaus, the longest mountain stage in over a decade and the first true GC test of the race.This episode is fueled by MNSTRY. Get 20% off your first Tasting Box order with code DOMESTIQUE20 to see why your sports nutrition shouldn't be a choice between on-bike performance and off-bike health.Order now!

In this episode, Gorazd Štangelj joins Aidan in the Hotseat for a look inside the role of a sports director, from preseason planning and race tactics to the split second decisions made from the team car.Gorazd explains why modern racing has become faster and more chaotic, with positioning now often deciding races before the climbs even begin. He reflects on his own Giro history, the race’s unique demands, and why experience with Italian roads, weather and racing culture still matters.The conversation then turns to Bahrain Victorious’ Giro d’Italia plans. Santiago Buitrago leads the team for GC, but Štangelj makes clear that Bahrain will also hunt stages through riders such as Damiano Caruso, Afonso Eulálio, Alex Segaert and Edoardo Zambanini.He also breaks down the difference between racing against Visma and UAE, where small tactical windows can open, and why Bahrain’s targets are a strong GC finish and an early stage win to lift the whole team.The episode closes with thoughts on bonus seconds, the white jersey, young talents like Paul Seixas, and the relentless post stage routine of a Grand Tour sports director. 

The 109th Giro d'Italia starts this Friday in Bulgaria - three weeks, 3,459 kilometres and 50,000 metres of climbing all the way to Rome. Jonas Vingegaard is the clear favourite, chasing the third Grand Tour of his career and the treble that would put him alongside Merckx, Hinault, Anquetil, Gimondi, Contador, Nibali and Froome. We break down the route stage by stage - the Bulgarian Grande Partenza, Blockhaus on stage 7, the 40-kilometre Tuscan time trial, the five-star showdown at Pila, and the Dolomite double of Piani di Pezzè and Piancavallo that will decide the pink jersey. Then the GC favourites: Giulio Pellizzari carrying the hopes of an entire country, Adam Yates stepping into UAE's leadership role, Derek Gee returning to where it all began, Egan Bernal closer than he has been in years, Thymen Arensman, Jai Hindley, Felix Gall, and the question of who can actually push Vingegaard.This episode is fueled by MNSTRY. Get 20% off your first Tasting Box order with code DOMESTIQUE20 to see why your sports nutrition shouldn't be a choice between on-bike performance and off-bike health.Order now!

Pavel Bittner sits down on the Hot Seat to talk through a brutal Paris-Roubaix campaign, what it's like watching the race from inside the broom wagon, and why he keeps coming back to a race that has, in his own words, "always treated me pretty shit."We also get into his breakthrough win at the Vuelta a España, beating Wout van Aert in a sprint at 21 years old, the unspoken etiquette of the final 3km ("the respect goes out the window"), and where he sees his career heading - sprinter, classics rider, or both.Plus: the truth about Gravel Bittner, his tattoos, and goals for the rest of 2026 including the Tour de France.