Velo Podcast

Matej Mohorič was not the strongest climber or the fastest sprinter at Milan-San Remo. But he was strong enough to bridge the the front group over the decision final Poggio climb. And then, as his race will forever be remember, he dropped his dropper post and the best cyclists in the world on the technical descent and then held off his chasers on the flat 2.2km run-in to the finish.In this episode, Jim Cotton and Ben Delaney analyze Mohorič's power numbers at each critical section in comparison to those of Mathieu van der Poel. This power analysis comes courtesy VeloNews training columnist Zach Nehr. Jim and Ben also discuss Mohorič's tactics at the decisive points of the race, and talk about the specifics of the dropper post he used, how he used it, and whether we will see others using the technology in future races.

In 2020, VeloNews created the Monuments of Gravel by polling elite gravel racers and race organizers for their top 5 picks of the most import gravel races. The Mid South, put on by Bobby Wintle in Stillwater, Oklahoma, was a near-unanimous selection, as was Unbound Gravel, SBT GRVL, and BWR California. The fifth Monument, Rebecca's Private Idaho, was decided in a reader vote.This year, some 2,500 people signed up for one of the many events at The Mid South. Betsy Welch and Ben Delaney were among them, and on this podcast they discuss why The Mid South is such an important event in the North American gravel scene.

VeloNews editor in chief Daniel Benson got a scoop on Netflix's planned docu-series on the 2022 Tour de France, including the eight teams that will be showcased. Daniel walks us through how the series could come together, and what it will mean for fans and the teams.But first, Jim Cotton and host Ben Delaney catch up on the highlights and hot takes from Strade Bianche, from Tadej Pogačar's dominant performance to the ongoing debate on gravel's place in professional road racing.Strade Bianche is a relatively new race on the pro scene, certainly a baby amongst the Monuments like Paris-Roubaix and Milano-Sanremo. But where does it rank in our hearts? Jim and Ben boot a number of Monuments out of the way in their lists to make room for Strade.

The classics season officially kicked off with four races packed into two days: the men's and women's Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, and Omloop van het Hageland. VeloNews' Sadhbh was in Gent, Belgium, for the weekend, covering the races and talking to the riders.Jumbo-Visma's Wout van Aert rode away with the big prize of the weekend, and Fabio Jakobsen saved face for Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl on Sunday. Has the balance of power at the classics shifted?O'Shea also recounts the most recent battle in the ongoing clash of titans in women's racing between Annemiek van Vleuten and Demi Vollering.Tune in for five hot takes from Opening Weekend - what the big stories were, and what they mean for the next few months of racing.

Andrew Hood is just back from Ruta del Sol, and he checks in with five key takeaways about some of the riders and trends for the 2022 season he picked up on while following the race around southern Spain. At Ruta, Andy also caught up with Pat McCarty, who is directing the American team Human Powered Health (formerly Rally Cycling). Hear Andy's take on his conversations with 19-year-old American Magnus Sheffield, who won a stage riding in his first year for Ineos Grenadiers.Andy's other Ruta revelations involve volcanos, specialized handlebar set-ups, and changes of plans with the impending 'opening weekend' of the classics in Belgium. Tune in to hear them all — plus his interview with American Pat McCarty, who raced for teams from U.S. Postal to Rock Racing before moving into team management.

Having twice coached at the Olympics, Rob Stanley is a performance scientist and men's endurance track cycling coach at USA Cycling. Previously he was performance scientist at the Japanese Cycling Federation. And he is currently wrapping up his PhD at Leeds Beckett University — in bike racing.Stanley joins host Ben Delaney to talk about the merging of his academic work and his coaching of athletes like Gavin Hoover, who just won the inaugural UCI Track Champions League.Stanley's PhD title is a mouthful: Exploration of determinates of performance in the Elite Men’s Track Cycling Omnium. The Omnium is a four-event, points-based competition at the Olympics as well as in track cycling competitions around the world. And the new Track Champions League used a condensed format of it for its fan-friendly nighttime series that was held in Mallorca, Lithuania, and London,Stanley talks about breaking down races into more manageable chunks for riders, and making the summations of data from past racing accessible to them to help guide choices in the heat of racing. He says he wishes he could see inside rider's minds during racing, because the feedback afterwards is always the same: "That was hard!"Before speaking with Stanley we catch up with James Startt in Paris, who is just back from covering the Tour de la Provence, where he managed to photograph the winners' bikes from all four stages — before they won the stages.

Veteran cycling journalist Daniel Benson is the new editor in chief of VeloNews. Daniel comes to VeloNews after 14 years at Cyclingnews, where he was editor in chief for the past seven years.On this podcast, Daniel and host Ben Delaney talk about the 2022 road reason, rider salaries, the best races to watch, and why early season races matter.Daniel's sports journalism career of more than two decades includes experience reporting from a dozen Tours de France, several world championships, the Tour Down Under, multiple spring classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. While at Cyclingnews, Benson ran the global editorial team and helped establish the brand as a leading website for professional road race coverage. Now he's in the driver's seat at VeloNews. Hear what he has to say about the intersection of his job and pro cycling.

Was Marianne Vos right to play cat and mouse with her compatriot Lucinda Brand in pursuit of her record eighth world title? What did Tom Pidcock think about the course and his competition? The cyclocross world championships came to the United States for only the second time in history, and fans and racers traveled from around the world to attend. Host Ben Delaney and VeloNews web editor Greg Kaplan covered the weekend's racing in Fayetteville, Arkansas. On this episode, Ben and Greg discuss the highlights and scuttlebutts of the racing, and bring you the thoughts of the top racers, the fans, and the locals in their own words.

Philippe Gilbert has had one heck of a career. His wins include worlds, Paris-Roubaix, the Tour of Flanders, Amstel Gold, Il Lombardia, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Strade Bianche, and on and on. He's won stages in all three grand tours. And now, in 2022, he will race for this one last season before retiring.Can he win the one monument — Milan-Sanremo — that has eluded him? He would love to, of course, but his job there this year will almost certainly be to help his teammate Caleb Ewan.Andrew Hood interviews Gilbert.

America's national champions Clara Honsinger and Eric Brunner are both headed to the world cyclocross championships in Fayetteville at the end of January, but they have chosen very different routes to get there.After they won their respective national titles in mid December, Honsinger returned to Europe for more racing at the elite level in Superprestige and World Cup competitions. Brunner, despite being on a hot streak of winning four races in a row, opted to head home to Boulder, Colorado to reset and focus on training.Both riders join the VeloNews podcast to talk about their seasons, the weight of expectations, and their excitement for the worlds in Arkansas.