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The Cycling Podcast

The Cycling Podcast takes listeners to the heart of professional cycling with weekly episodes and daily coverage of the Grand Tours.

Join journalists Daniel Friebe and Lionel Birnie – and a few special guests along the way – as they podcast about the latest cycling news and the world of professional cycling.

Founded by Richard Moore, Daniel Friebe and Lionel Birnie in 2013, The Cycling Podcast is one of the longest-running independent sports podcasts.

To support The Cycling Podcast, subscribe as a Friend of the Podcast to join our community, listen to special episodes released throughout the year and access our archive stretching back to 2015. Subscribe at thecyclingpodcast.com

This episode of KM0 by The Cycling Podcast is available for everyone to listen to for a limited time before it moves across to our Friends of the Podcast feed shortly. If you enjoy it, and are not already a Friend, consider subscribing annually or monthly to support The Cycling Podcast. The support of our Friends of the Podcast subscribers enables us to deliver our weekly and daily Grand Tour coverage free for all. Sign up at thecyclingpodcast.com

This week the Giro d’Italia will start behind the old Iron Curtain for the third time in five years, specifically in Bulgaria. For Italians, the Giro has always represented the sporting highlight of May – but for those living in Eastern Europe, for half a century, the Peace Race took centre stage.

The 1986 edition was an unforgettable one, for reasons that had nothing to do with cycling. Ten days before the race was due to start in Kyiv, 90 kilometres from there, at the Chernobyl power plant, there was an explosion in one of the reactors. The ensuing catastrophe turned into the worst disaster in the history of nuclear power. 

Hundreds of billions of dollars, hundreds of thousands of Soviet soldiers and hundreds of thousands of evacuations would be required to restore at least the illusion of control. Meanwhile, a cover-up of unprecedented scale and unimaginable consequences began – and allowed the 1986 Peace Race to start in Kyiv. 

In the last instalment of his two-part series, Daniel Friebe covers what happened when the Peace Race peloton left Kyiv and over subsequent months and years, as the horrific implications of Chernobyl slowly revealed themselves. 

Meltdown: The Race to Escape Nuclear Disaster is a series written and produced by Daniel Friebe. Episode art is by Daniel Friebe.

Meltdown: The Race to Escape Nuclear Disaster | Part 2: Zone of Alienation

On Friday, the first Grand Tour of the season rolls out from Bulgaria, not Italy – and, as always, we’ll be there, on the ground, to bring you all the action from the Giro d’Italia. 

This year’s “Corsa Rosa” starts here, with our race preview and the troika who’ll take you on the journey to Rome over the next three weeks: Daniel Friebe, Brian Nygaard and Michele Pelacci. Before sinking our teeth into the Giro, though, we discuss the first big headline of the week: Paul Seixas’s announcement that he’ll be riding the Tour de France. 

It’s then time to talk about the Giro, focusing first on the favourites, then moving into the beautiful canvas upon which Jonas Vingegaard et al. will hopefully create cycling art over the next three weeks. 

EPISODE SPONSOR

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Follow us on social media:
Twitter @cycling_podcast
Instagram @thecyclingpodcast

Friends of the Podcast
Sign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com to listen to new special episodes every month plus a back catalogue of more than 300 exclusive episodes.

2026 Girovagando selection:
You can buy this year’s Girovagando wine selection here: https://dvinecellars.com/products/cycling-podcast-giro-26. 
The wines with corresponding stage numbers are as follows: 
Stage 3: Mixtape Red, Georgiev & Milkov, Plovdiv (red) 
Stage 4: Tenuta del Conte, Calabria Rosso, Calabria (red) 
Stage 5: Vigneti del Vulture, Pipoli, Aglianico del Vulture, Basilicata (red)
Stage 10: Bianco 'il Terraio’ Paterna, Tuscany (white)
Stage 14: Les Crêtes Mon Blanc, Valle D’Aosta (white)
Stage 20: Braida Antica Blanc, Russolo, Friuli Venezia-Giulia (white)

The 11.01 Cappuccino
Our regular email newsletter is now on Substack. Subscribe here for frothy, full-fat updates to enjoy any time (as long as it’s after 11am).

The Cannibal & Badger
Friends of the Podcast can join the discussion at our virtual pub, The Cannibal & Badger. A friendly forum to talk about cycling and the podcast. Log in to your Friends of the Podcast account to join in.

The Cycling Podcast is on Strava

The Cycling Podcast was founded in 2013 by Richard Moore, Daniel Friebe and Lionel Birnie.

S14 Ep32: 2026 Giro d’Italia | The Preview

Every year, as the Giro d'Italia approaches, we ease into our coverage with an episode that has — ostensibly — nothing to do with racing bikes. Any listeners with a passing interest in wine, stay with us. Everyone else, there are plenty of other episodes in our build-up to the Grande Partenza that will be more up your strada.

The Cycling Podcast has been on the ground at every Giro since 2016, and the lesson we keep relearning is that these races can't really be separated from the places that host them. The culture, the land, the things it grows and makes — all of it is part of the story. It was with that in mind that we headed to D Vine Cellars HQ in London last week for the unveiling of our 2026 Girovagando selection (link to buy and list of wines in the shownotes below), with Greg Andrews the master of ceremonies. 

Follow us on social media:
Twitter @cycling_podcast
Instagram @thecyclingpodcast

2026 Girovagando selection:
You can buy this year’s Girovagando selection here: https://dvinecellars.com/products/cycling-podcast-giro-26. 
The wines with corresponding stage numbers are as follows: 
Stage 3: Mixtape Red, Georgiev & Milkov, Plovdiv (red) 
Stage 4: Tenuta del Conte, Calabria Rosso, Calabria (red) 
Stage 5: Vigneti del Vulture, Pipoli, Aglianico del Vulture, Basilicata (red)
Stage 10: Bianco 'il Terraio’ Paterna, Tuscany (white)
Stage 14: Les Crêtes Mon Blanc, Valle D’Aosta (white)
Stage 20: Braida Antica Blanc, Russolo, Friuli Venezia-Giulia (white)

Friends of the Podcast
Sign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com to listen to new special episodes every month plus a back catalogue of more than 300 exclusive episodes.

The 11.01 Cappuccino
Our regular email newsletter is now on Substack. Subscribe here for frothy, full-fat updates to enjoy any time (as long as it’s after 11am).

The Cannibal & Badger
Friends of the Podcast can join the discussion at our virtual pub, The Cannibal & Badger. A friendly forum to talk about cycling and the podcast. Log in to your Friends of the Podcast account to join in.

The Cycling Podcast is on Strava

The Cycling Podcast was founded in 2013 by Richard Moore, Daniel Friebe and Lionel Birnie.

S14 Ep31: Girovino!! | The Wines of the 2026 Giro

The spring Classics campaign has come to an end and the Giro d'Italia is just around the corner. To bridge the gap between the two, and with Daniel Friebe absent as he prepares for the Giro, Lionel Birnie is joined by Tudor Pro Cycling's Larry Warbasse to wrap up the first part of the season, look ahead to the first Grand Tour of the year and react to some huge sponsorship news which may help Ineos Grenadiers challenge for the Tour de France once again.

In part one Larry updates on the Tour of the Alps, where he and a lot of riders were fine-tuning their form ahead of the Giro and one of his teammates made a rapid and successful transition from speed skating to elite level cycling with a stage win. He also talks about his version of the all-day-breakfast and heat training indoors.

In the second part, Lionel reports back from the big reveal which confirmed a new title sponsor for Ineos Grenadiers. From the Giro d'Italia they will be Netcompany-Ineos thanks to backing from a Danish IT company that is pumping in a figure thought to be around €100m over five years. The target is for the team to win an eighth Tour de France in the next five years, but its the introduction of Netcompany's AI software, Pulse, which makes this more than just a sponsorship deal. Pulse, which is used at several major airports, including Heathrow, will be used to help the team make 'better decisions more often'. We ask whether its use can extend beyond logistics and training and start to influence racing strategy and tactics.

In the final part, we tie up all the loose ends from the spring and turn our attentions towards the Giro before handing over to Daniel and co for daily coverage of the Corsa Rosa, which starts in Bulgaria on Friday, May 8.

Image courtesy of Netcompany-Ineos.

Follow us on social media:
Twitter @cycling_podcast
Instagram @thecyclingpodcast

Friends of the Podcast
Sign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com to listen to new special episodes every month plus a back catalogue of more than 300 exclusive episodes.

The 11.01 Cappuccino
Our regular email newsletter is now on Substack. Subscribe here for frothy, full-fat updates to enjoy any time (as long as it’s after 11am).

The Cannibal & Badger
Friends of the Podcast can join the discussion at our virtual pub, The Cannibal & Badger. A friendly forum to talk about cycling and the podcast. Log in to your Friends of the Podcast account to join in.

The Cycling Podcast is on Strava

The Cycling Podcast was founded in 2013 by Richard Moore, Daniel Friebe and Lionel Birnie.

S14 Ep30: Ineos Turn to AI to Get the Pulse Racing

This episode of KM0 by The Cycling Podcast is available for everyone to listen to for a limited time before it moves across to our Friends of the Podcast feed shortly. If you enjoy it, and are not already a Friend, consider subscribing annually or monthly to support The Cycling Podcast. The support of our Friends of the Podcast subscribers enables us to deliver our weekly and daily Grand Tour coverage free for all. Sign up at thecyclingpodcast.com

Next week the Giro d’Italia will start behind the former Iron Curtain for the third time in five years, specifically in Bulgaria. For Italians, the Giro has always represented the sporting highlight of May – but for those living in Eastern Europe, for half a century, the Peace Race took centre stage.

The 1986 edition was an unforgettable one, for reasons that had nothing to do with cycling. Ten days before the race was due to start in Kyiv, 90 kilometres from there, at the Chernobyl power plant, there was an explosion in one of the reactors. The ensuing catastrophe turned into the worst disaster in the history of nuclear power. 

Hundreds of billions of dollars, hundreds of thousands of Soviet soldiers and hundreds of thousands of evacuations would be required to restore at least the illusion of control. Meanwhile, a cover-up of unprecedented scale and unimaginable consequences began – and allowed the 1986 Peace Race to start in Kyiv. 

In the first of this two-part series, Daniel Friebe journeys back in time to the moment of the disaster. He speaks to men who were supposed to travel to Kyiv and didn’t, and to riders who had no option but to race while a vast radioactive cloud spread across Europe and beyond. 

Part two will cover what happened when the Peace Race peloton left Kyiv, and over subsequent months and years, as the horrific implications of Chernobyl slowly revealed themselves. That will be released on Wednesday May 6, the day before we travel to Bulgaria to kick off this year’s Girovagando - our daily coverage from the Giro d’Italia. 

Meltdown: The Race to Escape Nuclear Disaster is a series written and produced by Daniel Friebe. Episode art is by Daniel Friebe.

Meltdown: The Race to Escape Nuclear Disaster | Part 1: Chain Reaction

Get the waffle-o-meter out for one last time as Rose Manley and Lizzy Banks react to the the final Spring Classic of 2026, Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes.

With the Ardennes Classics providing both surprise winners and familiar champions so far this season, which way will this tenth edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège go? Could breakout star Paula Blasi go for victory once more this week? Might Demi Vollering make it a record-breaking third title at the race? Or could Kasia Niewiadoma finally take the top step after a season littered with podiums?

Also on the agenda: a picnic’s worth of puns and Preston Bus Station… obviously.

S14 Ep29: Arrivée: Liège-Bastogne-Liège (Women)

Daniel Friebe and Lionel Birnie recap the men’s edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the final race of the spring classics and the oldest one day race of them all.

S14 Ep28: Arrivée: Liège-Bastogne-Liège (Men)

Rose Manley is joined by Flèche Wallonne Femmes’ biggest fan Lizzy Banks as they react to the 2026 edition.

With five former champions lining up for the race this year, the spoils really could go anywhere. Plus with surprise Amstel Gold Race winner Paula Blasi returning for a second Ardennes Classic, might fans be in for another big surprise?

Also on the agenda: fickle fan club presidents, cat skinning and getting your knickers and tongues twisted.

S14 Ep27: Arrivée: La Flèche Wallonne (Women)

Daniel Friebe and Lionel Birnie recap the men’s edition of Flèche Wallonne, the Ardennes classic famous for its steep, uphill finish on the Mur de Huy which was celebrating its 90th birthday this year.

EPISODE SPONSOR

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Follow us on social media:
Twitter @cycling_podcast
Instagram @thecyclingpodcast

Friends of the Podcast
Sign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com to listen to new special episodes every month plus a back catalogue of more than 300 exclusive episodes.

The 11.01 Cappuccino
Our regular email newsletter is now on Substack. Subscribe here for frothy, full-fat updates to enjoy any time (as long as it’s after 11am).

The Cannibal & Badger
Friends of the Podcast can join the discussion at our new virtual pub, The Cannibal & Badger. A friendly forum to talk about cycling and the podcast. Log in to your Friends of the Podcast account to join in.

The Cycling Podcast is on Strava

The Cycling Podcast was founded in 2013 by Richard Moore, Daniel Friebe and Lionel Birnie.

S14 Ep26: Arrivée: La Flèche Wallonne (Men)

Daniel Friebe and Lionel Birnie return for another spring Classic review, this time focusing on Remco Evenepoel’s surgical performance and victory in Amstel Gold Race at the weekend

We examine how Remco learned from his near-miss last time around and pick out some of the other notable displays from Sunday’s race. It’s then time to look forward to the true Ardennes Classics, which kick off with Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday. 

Daniel has an intriguing theory about why Paul Seixas may struggle on the Mur de Huy, while Lionel wonders whether Tom Pidcock may have made a wise choice by skipping Flèche altogether. 

EPISODE SPONSOR

NordVPN
Get NordVPN two-year plan + four months extra ➼ https://nordvpn.com/tcp It’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee.

Follow us on social media:
Twitter @cycling_podcast
Instagram @thecyclingpodcast

Friends of the Podcast
Sign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com to listen to new special episodes every month plus a back catalogue of more than 300 exclusive episodes.

The 11.01 Cappuccino
Our regular email newsletter is now on Substack. Subscribe here for frothy, full-fat updates to enjoy any time (as long as it’s after 11am).

The Cannibal & Badger
Friends of the Podcast can join the discussion at our new virtual pub, The Cannibal & Badger. A friendly forum to talk about cycling and the podcast. Log in to your Friends of the Podcast account to join in.

The Cycling Podcast is on Strava

The Cycling Podcast was founded in 2013 by Richard Moore, Daniel Friebe and Lionel Birnie.

S14 Ep29: Arrivée: Liège-Bastogne-Liège (Women)

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