The Cycling Podcast

This is part two of Lionel Birnie's conversation with Shelley Verses about her experiences working as a soigneur for the 7-Eleven team at the 1986 Tour de France. She was the first woman to work as a soigneur on the Tour and her presence on the race attracted a lot of attention from the media. If you've not listened to part one yet, you can find it here. This episode of KM0 is available for everyone to listen to for free, thanks to you the support of our Friends of the Podcast. To sign up to listen to all our KM0 episodes go to thecyclingpodcast.com. An annual subscription works out at a few pounds (or dollars) a month and plays a huge part in keeping the show on the road.

Join Lionel Birnie and Graham Willgoss as they recap the 2025 Tour de France. We’re back on the road for the 13th time with daily episodes recorded at the heart of the world’s biggest race. Our nightly episodes feature race analysis, interviews and plenty of French flavour. To listen to the episodes as soon as they are released, follow The Cycling Podcast in your favourite podcast app. INTRODUCING OUR SPONSORS, WAHOO FITNESS We’re very happy to welcome Wahoo as sponsors for the rest of our Tour de France coverage and the Tour de France Femmes later this month. Wahoo have been having a fantastic Tour de France so far. They supply more than half of the teams in the Tour (and Tour de France Femmes) including those by Mathieu Van der Poel, Tadej Pogačar, Ben Healy and Jonathan Milan. Wahoo’s vision is to build the best athlete in all of us, by transforming the way the world moves through connected fitness technology and training insights. Wahoo creates a full ecosystem of software, sensors, indoor, and outdoo

Join Lionel Birnie and Graham Willgoss as they recap the 2025 Tour de France. We’re back on the road for the 13th time with daily episodes recorded at the heart of the world’s biggest race. Our nightly episodes feature race analysis, interviews and plenty of French flavour. To listen to the episodes as soon as they are released, follow The Cycling Podcast in your favourite podcast app. INTRODUCING OUR SPONSORS, WAHOO FITNESS We’re very happy to welcome Wahoo as sponsors for the rest of our Tour de France coverage and the Tour de France Femmes later this month. Wahoo have been having a fantastic Tour de France so far. They supply more than half of the teams in the Tour (and Tour de France Femmes) including those by Mathieu Van der Poel, Tadej Pogačar, Ben Healy and Jonathan Milan. Wahoo’s vision is to build the better athlete in all of us, by transforming the way the world moves through connected fitness technology and training insights. Wahoo creates a full ecosystem of software, sensors, indoor, and outd

Join Lionel Birnie and Graham Willgoss as they recap the 2025 Tour de France. We’re back on the road for the 13th time with daily episodes recorded at the heart of the world’s biggest race. Our nightly episodes feature race analysis, interviews and plenty of French flavour. To listen to the episodes as soon as they are released, follow The Cycling Podcast in your favourite podcast app. INTRODUCING OUR SPONSORS, WAHOO FITNESS We’re very happy to welcome Wahoo as sponsors for the rest of our Tour de France coverage and the Tour de France Femmes later this month. Wahoo have been having a fantastic Tour de France so far. They supply more than half of the teams in the Tour and Tour de France Femmes and six of the 10 stages before the rest day were won by riders using the Wahoo Element Bolt 3 cycle computer and Trackr heart-rate monitor – including those by Mathieu Van der Poel, Tadej Pogačar, Ben Healy and Jonathan Milan. Wahoo’s vision is to build the better athlete in all of us, by transforming the way the w

Come and chow down on our Grand Tour sandwich episode! Deliciously filled with all the chat from a thrilling Giro d’Italia Women plus a look ahead to the imminent Tour de France Femmes in our mini feature about Breton cycling. Rose Manley, Denny Gray and Rebecca Charlton cover all the talking points from a Giro which saw the maglia rosa change hands several times. It took a daring strategy on the Queen stage from Elisa Longo Borghini to finally wrestle the overall victory from this year’s breakthrough GC rider Marlen Reusser. And we ask a question rarely asked, where the heck were SD Worx? In our mini feature, we explore Breton cycling in light of next week’s Tour de France Femmes Grand Départ in Brittany. The Cycling Podcast favourite François Thomazeau explains the history and heritage of the region, plus we hear from two Breton riders that have had outstanding Tours de France in recent years: Cédrine Kerbaol of EF Education Oatly and Maeva Squiban of UAE Team ADQ.  Also on the agenda: a café that floods

Join Lionel Birnie and Graham Willgoss as they recap the 2025 Tour de France. We’re back on the road for the 13th time with daily episodes recorded at the heart of the world’s biggest race. Our nightly episodes feature race analysis, interviews and plenty of French flavour. To listen to the episodes as soon as they are released, follow The Cycling Podcast in your favourite podcast app. INTRODUCING OUR SPONSORS, WAHOO FITNESS We’re very happy to welcome Wahoo as sponsors for the rest of our Tour de France coverage and the Tour de France Femmes later this month. Wahoo have been having a fantastic Tour de France so far. They supply more than half of the teams in the Tour and Tour de France Femmes and six of the 10 stages before the rest day were won by riders using the Wahoo Element Bolt 3 cycle computer and Trackr heart-rate monitor – including those by Mathieu Van der Poel, Tadej Pogačar, Ben Healy and Jonathan Milan. Wahoo’s vision is to build the better athlete in all of us, by transforming the way the w

Join Lionel Birnie and Graham Willgoss as they recap the 2025 Tour de France. We’re back on the road for the 13th time with daily episodes recorded at the heart of the world’s biggest race. Our nightly episodes feature race analysis, interviews and plenty of French flavour. To listen to the episodes as soon as they are released, follow The Cycling Podcast in your favourite podcast app. INTRODUCING OUR SPONSORS, WAHOO FITNESS We’re very happy to welcome Wahoo as sponsors for the rest of our Tour de France coverage and the Tour de France Femmes later this month. Wahoo have been having a fantastic Tour de France so far. They supply more than half of the teams in the Tour and Tour de France Femmes and six of the 10 stages before the rest day were won by riders using the Wahoo Element Bolt 3 cycle computer and Trackr heart-rate monitor – including those by Mathieu Van der Poel, Tadej Pogačar, Ben Healy and Jonathan Milan. Wahoo’s vision is to build the better athlete in all of us, by transforming the way the w

On the evening of the first Tour de France rest day, Lionel Birnie and Graham Willgoss headed to the EF Education-Easy Post team hotel on the outskirts of town for dinner. There, they met the team's chef, Owen Blandy, a  keen amateur racer who quit his job in finance to pursue a dream, combining his love of cycling with a passion for cooking. For Owen, preparing the meals for the riders is an ever-changing challenge. First there's the sheer logistics of driving a catering truck that wouldn't look out of place at a street food festival around France, sourcing the ingredients and designing a menu that not only tastes great but gives the riders the right balance of nutrition to perform at their best in the most demanding race in the world. With Ben Healy in the yellow jersey it was a busy day for everyone on the team and while there was not necessarily any extra pressure on evening meal service, there was an additional sense of pride in fuelling the race leader. Forget The Great British Bake-Off, this is the

In 1986, Shelley Verses became the first woman to work as a soigneur at the Tour de France, when she was part of the American 7-Eleven team's support staff. Shelley had been at the Giro d'Italia with 7-Eleven the previous year but the attitudes towards women being involved in professional cycling were such that she was confined to duties at the team hotel. That changed at the 1986 Tour when she was able to work in the feed zone. A month ago, Shelley contacted Lionel Birnie keen to share her stories from life on the road and so this is the first part of a series called Chapter & Verses. The first three parts focus on her early days as a soigneur in cycling and the 1986 Tour. Of the ten 7-Eleven riders, only Doug Shapiro had experienced the Tour before, and so the whole team – on and off the bike – were going into the unknown. This is Shelley's story. This episode of KM0 is available for everyone to listen to for free, thanks to you the support of our Friends of the Podcast. To sign up to listen to all

Join Lionel Birnie and Graham Willgoss as they recap the 2025 Tour de France. We’re back on the road for the 13th time with daily episodes recorded at the heart of the world’s biggest race. Our nightly episodes feature race analysis, interviews and plenty of French flavour. To listen to the episodes as soon as they are released, follow The Cycling Podcast in your favourite podcast app. VAN RYSEL, OUR TOUR DE FRANCE SPONSORS We are very pleased to welcome Van Rysel as our sponsors for the first half of our Tour de France coverage. The Tour gets underway in Lille, the city where the company was founded and has its headquarters. The city is steeped in French cycling history and heritage, not least because the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix are on the doorstep. Van Rysel supplies bikes and kit for the Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale World Tour team, who feature Felix Gall, Bruno Armirail and Aurélien Paret-Peintre in their line-up for the Tour. If you are going to Lille for the opening weekend make sure to drop in at V

Join Lionel Birnie and Graham Willgoss as they recap the 2025 Tour de France. We’re back on the road for the 13th time with daily episodes recorded at the heart of the world’s biggest race. Our nightly episodes feature race analysis, interviews and plenty of French flavour. To listen to the episodes as soon as they are released, follow The Cycling Podcast in your favourite podcast app. VAN RYSEL, OUR TOUR DE FRANCE SPONSORS We are very pleased to welcome Van Rysel as our sponsors for the first half of our Tour de France coverage. The Tour gets underway in Lille, the city where the company was founded and has its headquarters. The city is steeped in French cycling history and heritage, not least because the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix are on the doorstep. Van Rysel supplies bikes and kit for the Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale World Tour team, who feature Felix Gall, Bruno Armirail and Aurélien Paret-Peintre in their line-up for the Tour. If you are going to Lille for the opening weekend make sure to drop in at V

Join Lionel Birnie and Graham Willgoss as they recap the 2025 Tour de France. We’re back on the road for the 13th time with daily episodes recorded at the heart of the world’s biggest race. Our nightly episodes feature race analysis, interviews and plenty of French flavour. To listen to the episodes as soon as they are released, follow The Cycling Podcast in your favourite podcast app. VAN RYSEL, OUR TOUR DE FRANCE SPONSORS We are very pleased to welcome Van Rysel as our sponsors for the first half of our Tour de France coverage. The Tour gets underway in Lille, the city where the company was founded and has its headquarters. The city is steeped in French cycling history and heritage, not least because the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix are on the doorstep. Van Rysel supplies bikes and kit for the Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale World Tour team, who feature Felix Gall, Bruno Armirail and Aurélien Paret-Peintre in their line-up for the Tour. If you are going to Lille for the opening weekend make sure to drop in at V

Join Lionel Birnie and Graham Willgoss as they recap the 2025 Tour de France. We’re back on the road for the 13th time with daily episodes recorded at the heart of the world’s biggest race. Our nightly episodes feature race analysis, interviews and plenty of French flavour. To listen to the episodes as soon as they are released, follow The Cycling Podcast in your favourite podcast app. VAN RYSEL, OUR TOUR DE FRANCE SPONSORS We are very pleased to welcome Van Rysel as our sponsors for the first half of our Tour de France coverage. The Tour gets underway in Lille, the city where the company was founded and has its headquarters. The city is steeped in French cycling history and heritage, not least because the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix are on the doorstep. Van Rysel supplies bikes and kit for the Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale World Tour team, who feature Felix Gall, Bruno Armirail and Aurélien Paret-Peintre in their line-up for the Tour. If you are going to Lille for the opening weekend make sure to drop in at V

Join Lionel Birnie and Graham Willgoss as they recap the 2025 Tour de France. We’re back on the road for the 13th time with daily episodes recorded at the heart of the world’s biggest race. Our nightly episodes feature race analysis, interviews and plenty of French flavour. To listen to the episodes as soon as they are released, follow The Cycling Podcast in your favourite podcast app. VAN RYSEL, OUR TOUR DE FRANCE SPONSORS We are very pleased to welcome Van Rysel as our sponsors for the first half of our Tour de France coverage. The Tour gets underway in Lille, the city where the company was founded and has its headquarters. The city is steeped in French cycling history and heritage, not least because the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix are on the doorstep. Van Rysel supplies bikes and kit for the Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale World Tour team, who feature Felix Gall, Bruno Armirail and Aurélien Paret-Peintre in their line-up for the Tour. If you are going to Lille for the opening weekend make sure to drop in at V

The publicity caravan has been a Tour de France institution for almost a century. Introduced in 1930 by the race founder Henri Desgrange to generate much needed funds for the Tour, the cavalcade of promotional vehicles that precedes the race has grown to become a much-loved spectacle for millions of roadside fans every summer. It's bright, colourful and noisy and during Tuesday's fifth stage The Cycling Podcast's Graham Willgoss was part of the show. He had a place on one of the Basic Fit floats, promoting a chain of French gyms. He joined the happy, enthusiastic (mostly) young people for their pre-race dance to get the energy levels pumping ahead of the stage. This episode of KM0 is available for all of our listeners thanks to the support of those who sign up as a Friend of the Podcast.

Join Lionel Birnie and Graham Willgoss as they recap the 2025 Tour de France. We’re back on the road for the 13th time with daily episodes recorded at the heart of the world’s biggest race. Our nightly episodes feature race analysis, interviews and plenty of French flavour. To listen to the episodes as soon as they are released, follow The Cycling Podcast in your favourite podcast app. VAN RYSEL, OUR TOUR DE FRANCE SPONSORS We are very pleased to welcome Van Rysel as our sponsors for the first half of our Tour de France coverage. The Tour gets underway in Lille, the city where the company was founded and has its headquarters. The city is steeped in French cycling history and heritage, not least because the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix are on the doorstep. Van Rysel supplies bikes and kit for the Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale World Tour team, who feature Felix Gall, Bruno Armirail and Aurélien Paret-Peintre in their line-up for the Tour. If you are going to Lille for the opening weekend make sure to drop in at V

Join Lionel Birnie and Graham Willgoss as they recap the 2025 Tour de France. We’re back on the road for the 13th time with daily episodes recorded at the heart of the world’s biggest race. Our nightly episodes feature race analysis, interviews and plenty of French flavour. To listen to the episodes as soon as they are released, follow The Cycling Podcast in your favourite podcast app. VAN RYSEL, OUR TOUR DE FRANCE SPONSORS We are very pleased to welcome Van Rysel as our sponsors for the first half of our Tour de France coverage. The Tour gets underway in Lille, the city where the company was founded and has its headquarters. The city is steeped in French cycling history and heritage, not least because the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix are on the doorstep. Van Rysel supplies bikes and kit for the Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale World Tour team, who feature Felix Gall, Bruno Armirail and Aurélien Paret-Peintre in their line-up for the Tour. Visit www.vanryselcycling.com to find out more. EPISODE SPONSOR Indeed If

Join Lionel Birnie, Graham Willgoss and François Thomazeau as they recap the 2025 Tour de France. We’re back on the road for the 13th time with daily episodes recorded at the heart of the world’s biggest race. Our nightly episodes feature race analysis, interviews and plenty of French flavour. To listen to the episodes as soon as they are released, follow The Cycling Podcast in your favourite podcast app. VAN RYSEL, OUR TOUR DE FRANCE SPONSORS We are very pleased to welcome Van Rysel as our sponsors for the first half of our Tour de France coverage. The Tour gets underway in Lille, the city where the company was founded and has its headquarters. The city is steeped in French cycling history and heritage, not least because the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix are on the doorstep. Van Rysel supplies bikes and kit for the Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale World Tour team, who feature Felix Gall, Bruno Armirail and Aurélien Paret-Peintre in their line-up for the Tour. If you are going to Lille for the opening weekend make

Join Lionel Birnie, Graham Willgoss and François Thomazeau as they recap the 2025 Tour de France. We’re back on the road for the 13th time with daily episodes recorded at the heart of the world’s biggest race. Our nightly episodes feature race analysis, interviews and plenty of French flavour. To listen to the episodes as soon as they are released, follow The Cycling Podcast in your favourite podcast app. VAN RYSEL, OUR TOUR DE FRANCE SPONSORS We are very pleased to welcome Van Rysel as our sponsors for the first half of our Tour de France coverage. The Tour gets underway in Lille, the city where the company was founded and has its headquarters. The city is steeped in French cycling history and heritage, not least because the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix are on the doorstep. Van Rysel supplies bikes and kit for the Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale World Tour team, who feature Felix Gall, Bruno Armirail and Aurélien Paret-Peintre in their line-up for the Tour. If you are going to Lille for the opening weekend make

Join Lionel Birnie, Graham Willgoss and François Thomazeau in Lille as they recap the first stage of the 2025 Tour de France. We’re back on the road for the 13th time with daily episodes recorded at the heart of the world’s biggest race. Our nightly episodes feature race analysis, interviews and plenty of French flavour. To listen to the episodes as soon as they are released, follow The Cycling Podcast in your favourite podcast app. INTRODUCING VAN RYSEL, OUR TOUR DE FRANCE SPONSORS We are very pleased to welcome Van Rysel as our sponsors for the first half of our Tour de France coverage. The Tour gets underway in Lille, the city where the company was founded and has its headquarters. The city is steeped in French cycling history and heritage, not least because the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix are on the doorstep. Van Rysel supplies bikes and kit for the Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale World Tour team, who feature Felix Gall, Bruno Armirail and Aurélien Paret-Peintre in their line-up for the Tour. If you are goin