Velo Podcast

Well, Chris Froome did it. He won his third grand tour in a row at the Giro d'Italia, waiting until the last possible moment to do it. Rivals crumbled, fans freaked out, and lots of people have opinions about his impressive victory. So let's try to make sense of it all. To better understand things, we hear from our European correspondent Andrew Hood, who was on the ground at the Giro this year. He has audio from Chris Froome and Simon Yates's Canadian teammate Svein Tuft. Finally, Chris Case comes on the show to talk about this weekend's big gravel race, Dirty Kanza 200 and why he put a narwhal on his bike.

What just happened? Chris Froome blew up the Giro d'Italia's GC in stage 19 Friday. Simon Yates is out of pink. Chris Froome is in it. And poor Tom Dumoulin is left chasing another Englishman. We recap the action, hear from Froome at the post-stage press conference, and have some takes and analysis about Froome's performance. Was it his best ever? Was it believable? All that and more. This episode of the VeloNews podcast is sponsored by Smith Optics, which outfitted us with the Session helmet and Attack Max sunglasses for the Epic Rides mountain bike series. Check out www.smithoptics.com for more.

We hear from Svein Tuft on what it's like to see his Aussie team grow up from its roots as upstart Orica squad to world-beaters as Mitchelton-Scott. Plus, we discuss Simon Yates's four-month ban for an asthma medication back in 2016 and whether that should color our opinion of his Giro dominance. We also talk about the recent round of the Epic Rides mountain bike series in Grand Junction as well as Stephen Hyde's plans to try for an Olympic spot as an XC mountain biker. Finally, Fred's got a few hot takes after his week covering the Amgen Tour of California. This week's VeloNews Podcast is sponsored by Fezzari, the bike company that brings a personalized experience to buying bikes online. With a 30-day "love it or return it" guarantee, you can shop with confidence and get the ride that's right for you. Check out www.fezzari.com to learn more.

After the stage 4 time trial propelled Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing) into the general classification lead at the Tour of California, stage 6 brought another big GC shakeup. Sky's Egan Bernal reclaimed the yellow jersey with a powerful move on the long climb to South Lake Tahoe, nabbing his second stage victory in the process. We catch up on the big storylines from the day and hear from Bernal and his teammate Tao Geoghegan Hart after their impressive performances on the final big GC day of the race. Over on the women's side in California, UnitedHealthcare's Katie Hall soared to a convincing victory in Lake Tahoe — and then shared her thoughts with the podcast on how it all went down. And then there's the Giro. We talk about Monte Zoncolan and hear from Sky's Chris Froome as the Italian grand tour visits its hardest climb.

Have you ever noticed a little "Tg" on your carbon fiber rims? It means "glass transition." Did that clear things up for you? Of course not. So, our tech editor Dan Cavallari spoke with Enve's Scott Neilsen about what this means for bike wheels. Why does glass transition matter? How does this relate to rim durability under heavy braking as well as ride quality? We answer these questions and more. This episode is brought to you by Pro Bike Gear. With its new online saddle selector, you can find your next saddle with just a few clicks. Visit http://www.pro-bikegear.com and check out Pro’s newly expanded line of saddles.

It's often overlooked, sometimes forgotten. But it never should be. Recovery is just as important to strong performances as your daily workouts and weekly riding volume. Recovery is the other side of the training balance that we often neglect. In today’s technology-driven training world, we have easy-to-use tools like power meters to track our performance. But tracking recovery is not so easy. What’s lacking is that one clear metric or tool to tell us when we're fatigued. In today’s episode, we delve into the question of recovery metrics. First, we'll discuss why the balance between training and recovery plays such an important role in performing at our best. We'll also address the difference between overtraining and functional over-reaching. Next we'll discuss a recent review comparing subjective metrics to objective metrics of recovery. If you think that a blood test or heart rate measure is necessarily better than answering a few questions every morning about how you feel, think again. Finally, we'll hear from several coaches and athletes about what they feel works best when it comes to monitoring recovery.

America's biggest race is underway in California! Dane Cash and Fred Dreier are on the road and covering all of the key stories from the Amgen Tour of California. We discuss Colombia's emerging climbing talent Egan Bernal who won the Tour of California's queen stage on Gibraltar. Fun fact: He actually had to borrow a helmet for his first bike race back in the day. Bernal has come a long, long way since then. Plus, we hear from Americans Sepp Kuss and Brandon McNulty at the race. This episode of the VeloNews podcast is sponsored by Smith Optics, which outfitted us with the Session helmet and Attack Max sunglasses for the Epic Rides mountain bike series.

The Giro d'Italia is underway! And Froome is off the back... Already! Should Sky worry about his bad ride at the opening TT? We check in with Andrew Hood and Gregor Brown who are on the ground in Italy. Back in the States, the Amgen Tour of California starts on Sunday. We preview the route, the key riders, and more. Finally, in our tech segment, we talk to Dan Cavallari about patents. Are they a window into the future of bike design or just a tease, never to materialize on our personal bikes? Kind of a little bit of both, but they are still very interesting to follow. Want to watch the Giro d’Italia? Stream all the stages on Fubo.tv for a special first-month introductory rate of $19.99. Subscribe now: https://www.fubo.tv/lp/giro/?irad=361812&irmp=1235874

Should we call them frenemies? Not quite. Mountain bike stars Howard Grotts and Payson McElveen are close friends and training partners even if they clash on the trails at the races. We recorded this interview in the back of McElveen's van at Whiskey Off-Road in Arizona before they embarked on a road trip to U.S. marathon mountain bike nationals in Arkansas. As they did last year, the Durango, Colorado duo brought the heat with McElveen winning his second title in a row and Olympian Grotts again getting a silver. We talked a little about the racing but a lot more about their heavy duty training programs, and how Grotts likes to keep it old school as far as technology is concerned.

Welcome to the brand new VeloNews Tech podcast, in which we’ll discuss complex tech topics and distill them down into terms we can all understand. Aero tube shapes are now integral parts of bicycle design. Engineers test them in the wind tunnel once they’ve got a prototype in hand, but before such prototypes even exist, a virtual design can be created and tested on the computer using Computational Fluid Dynamics, or CFD. Chris Yu from Specialized walks us through CFD and explains how it influences bicycle design today. Episode one is brought to you by Pro Bike Gear. With its new online saddle selector, you can find your next saddle with just a few clicks. Visit pro-bikegear.com and check out Pro’s newly expanded line of saddles.