Sigma Sports Unplugged with Matt Stephens

Matt Stephens discusses a trailblazing first season at pro level for Joseph Blackmore, which saw him jump up a level from Conti Tour to Pro Tour for Israel Premier-Tech. He had a string of fantastic results along the way, including the general classification and points jersey at the tour de l’Avenir, he also won the tour of Rwanda, tour of Taiwan and the Circuit des Ardennes, and the U23 Liège–Bastogne–Liège! He really can do it all - so it’s no surprise that he smashed the hometown quiz! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens chats to David Millar about retirement, maturity and finding solace in the quiet life. The former British national champion won multiple stages and wore the leader's jersey of all three grand tours during his illustrious career. In a candid and honest conversation, David opens up about his recent alcohol problem, and how the bike played a big role in his rehabilitation. Now in a much better place thanks in no small part to the help of his sister Fran, he has fallen in love with the bike again by tackling challenges that scare him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens discusses career highlights with Victor Campenaerts, including his UCI Hour Record and that amazing victory on stage 18 of the 2024 Tour de France, which he credits to the joyous psychological boost that came with the birth of his son. Recorded in the off-season, Victor is about to move from Lotto Dstny to Visma Lease a Bike, where he explains his goals for 2025 include helping Jonas Vingegaard beat Tadej Pogacar at the Tour. In the hometown quiz, the Belgian phones a friend in the Antwerp diamond trade and convinces him he’s actually on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire - this one is not to be missed folks! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens chats to Nathan Van Hooydonck about the heart attack that changed his life forever, prematurely ending his professional cycling career for Team Jumbo Visma. Having enjoyed a hugely successful career with highlights that include helping Jonas Vingegaard win the Tour de France in 2023, he is now embracing life as a business development manager for Team Visma Lease a Bike. Discussing the importance of treating team members as people, Nathan explains that their philosophy of ‘helping each other win’ extends beyond the peloton and into life itself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens chats to Tiffany Cromwell about her impressive road racing career and her switch to gravel racing in recent years. The Canyon//SRAM pro has some great advice for anyone getting into gravel, and lives by the rule of constantly challenging herself. Having set up events in her homeland of Australia and her partner Valtteri’s homeland of Finland, she’s helping grow the whole gravel scene, emphasising the importance of all the fun stuff around the racing too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Back in France with his portable recorder, Matt Stephens brings us clips from behind the scenes at the Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift 2024. From the grand depart in the flatlands of Holland to the hilly Ardennes and onto the high mountain finale of Alpe D’Huez, the biggest grand tour on the women’s calendar was like a week-long ramp test. And while the racing was nothing short of breath-taking, Matt was busy finding his usual flavour of obscure and wonderful distractions to chat about; Dutch sweets named after pickpockets, frog’s legs in Belgium, and the closest GC winning margin in history - this is a podcast not to be missed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens is back behind the scenes at the Tour de France with his portable recorder, capturing the sights and sounds of the race and the caravan. While dodging chicken goujons and other projectiles, he catches up with Hannah Walker, Adam Blythe and Alberto Contador as they review the feast of racing we’ve been treated to over the past three weeks. Matt also reflects on Tadej Pogačar’s scintillating performance, considering him to be the strongest rider he’s ever seen. Roll on 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From behind the scenes at le Tour de France, Matt Stephens has been having the time of his life reporting on the race from the back of a motorcycle for Eurosport WBD. As the Tour entered week two, Jonas Vingegaard completed his incredible comeback to put Tadej Pogacar under serious pressure for the GC. Meanwhile Matt has enjoyed an adrenaline fuelled reportage while sitting on the back of a motorcycle surging ahead of the peloton at breakneck speeds. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens reports from behind the scenes of the 2024 Tour de France, where history has been made and records have been smashed. On a week when Biniam Girmay became the first ever black African to win a stage of the Tour de France, and Mark Cavendish extended his record to 35 wins to go clear of Eddy Merckx - there was a lot to talk about! So if you like hearing about Cav, Biniam, and Bardet with a side order of good parking, nugget temptation, and butt-cheek numbness avoidance advice, then this is the podcast for you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens chats to Luke Rowe about his decision to retire just months after signing a contract extension with team INEOS Grenadiers. Luke is candid and open, explaining how easy it was to make the decision following a chat with his neurologist. Ever the optimist, the Welshman has loved his career and knowing how hard successes are to come by, he offers some sage advice to enjoy every single thing you achieve. There’s a first in the Cardiff quiz when Luke phones a friend of his live on air - but will he know what Cardiff City football club were originally known as?! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens is back behind the scenes at the Giro d’Italia 2024 to bring us clips from his experiences in the final week of his favourite grand tour on the calendar. In this episode he encounters a garden gnome from the lofty heights of a scary chairlift, gets stuck on a mountain, manages to create a race with some team buses after stage 19, and takes us into the commentary booth to call the race home in Rome. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From behind the scenes of the second week of the Giro d’Italia, Matt Stephens brings us a mix of off-the-wall clips and considered race reviews. With his colleague and good friend Ned Boulting for company, the duo survive a night in a Snow White themed hotel, rescue Matteo Trentin, and as the fatigue sets in and food in the Italian mountains gets scarce, there’s a disturbing suggestion of cannibalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens is back at the Giro d’Italia bringing his trademark blend of unusual clips from behind the scenes. This bumper episode takes us from before stage 1 through to stage 9 with a short review of each stage mixed with whatever spontaneous nonsense unfurls around him. Matt bemuses his Eurosport colleague Ned Boulting with some outlandish predictions, and the pair bring us into the booth for some exciting stage finishes, then they encounter the best-resourced tax policing unit in Europe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens chats to Rory Townsend about his versatility as a rider, both in terms of his ability to win one-day classics and stage race sprints, but also in terms of his flexibility within UCI ProTeam Q36.5. Being on a team with limited resources requires a range of skills that can be called upon at short notice - and at the time of recording, Rory was waiting to hear if he or teammate Szymon Sajnok would be required for Ronde Van Vlaanderen, just three days later! Matt was also keen to learn if the former Irish national road race champion would be targeting that title again this season, and what other goals he set himself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens previews Paris Roubaix with the 2024 Milan San Remo champion, Jasper Philipsen. Arguably in the form of his life, the Belgian Alpecin - Deceuninck sprinter looks forward to racing with his ever-humble teammates, reflecting on how it feels to have Mathieu van der Poel leading him out, and how timing is 95% of the job. Touching on tactics and how training for the Classics differs from training for Grand Tours, this is an insightful chat right in time for what promises to be the best race of the classics season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens has a fascinating chat with Rod Ellingworth about his impact on British Cycling and how that helped lead to the period of dominant success at Team Sky in the mid 2010’s. The newly appointed race director for Tour of Britain explains how he had a holistic approach that valued the personality of the riders as much as their numbers, and shares some interesting stories about the likes of Mark Cavendish, Geraint Thomas and Bradley Wiggins. But how can such an intelligent man be so awful at quizzes? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this International Women’s Day special, Matt Stephens chats to Kate Veronneau about her pioneering role in helping to deliver the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. From a basketballing background to riding fixies for 50 miles, Kate rose to the ranks of elite cycling but quickly learnt it was not a viable career option. Now, as head of partnerships at Zwift, she’s doing all she can to help break down the barriers and deliver parity for the next generation of female riders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens chats to Stevie Williams about how his career is no longer defined by a plague of knee injuries since adding the General Classification of the 2024 Tour Down Under to his palmares. The Aberystwyth native is a shining example of determination and credits consistency for getting him beyond his form prior to several setbacks over the years. The Welshman claims he couldn’t have done it without the support of his friends and family, and has a refreshingly simplistic attitude when it comes to training. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens is impressed by David O’Doherty’s cycling knowledge, and in particular, his obsession with the racing bikes of the late 1980’s that’s led him to own a collection so big he now operates on a ‘one in one out’ basis. David is famous for being one of the most successful Irish stand up comedians of all time, with a host of awards and appearances on QI, 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Would I Lie To You, and the upcoming series of Celebrity Bake Off. But given his chosen subject on Celebrity Mastermind was The First 100 Years of The Tour De France, surely he’ll ace the hometown quiz? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens and Wout Poels chat all about his thus-far illustrious career. With recent stage wins at the Tour de France and La Vuelta Espana for team Bahrain Victorious, the 36 year old is enjoying a long career which he credits to keeping his routine fresh. The pair have differing memories when they raced together at the 2010 Tour of Britain, with Wout taking a stage win and Matt doing his best to keep up. Having grown up in a small town in the Netherlands, you’d expect Wout’s knowledge of Blitterswijck to come in handy in the hometown quiz - and when the questions feature his fan club’s favourite pizzeria hotspot, surely he can’t go wrong…right? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens and Alison Jackson discuss her incredible Paris-Roubaix victory and what it meant to the nation of Canada. Having proven her wisdom at the Spring Classics, Alison’s EF Education TIBCO-SVB teammates now listen closely to her tactical calls, but how would she go about winning Roubaix for a second time in 2024? Born competitive, Alison grew up on a Bison farm in rural Canada dreaming of one day becoming an Olympian - the only question was which sport to choose. Luckily for us fans, she chose cycling! The Canuck’s next goal is to have a street named after her in her native Vermilion, and Matt gets the idea of starting a petition to help make that happen… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens chats to two-times British Road champion Ben Swift about his impressively long career, which has just been extended for another two years with INEOS Grenadiers. Having ridden with the team since the inception of Sky Procycling, Ben has seen the sport change exponentially in recent years, and claims he enjoys the thrill of racing now more than ever and continues to develop as a rider in his mid thirties. In a podcast packed with stories about teammates Adam Blythe and Geraint Thomas, Ben reflects on how his true idols are the heroes that taught him to ride on his local chain gang in Yorkshire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens chats with a humble and reflective Matej Mohoric, who was recently crowned UCI World Gravel Champion. The Slovenian explains how he grew up riding off-road and started racing in order to dodge working on his parents’ farm. But will he get to wear the famous rainbow stripes racing on gravel next season? And having won stages at all three grand tours, what’s next for the all-rounder? With a touching tribute to Gino Mäder, Matej explains how his whole Bahrain-Victorious team re-evaluated their lives after the tragic passing of their much loved teammate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens and Sir Chris Hoy are joined by a live audience at the Sigma Sports Electric store to discuss the incredible track cycling career which led him to become Britain’s most successful Olympian in his heyday, and brought him a knighthood for services to sports. Chris shares his approach to increasing his maximum power output, explains how his self doubt was a catalyst for success, and enjoys taking questions from the audience about all sorts. No stranger to the hot seat having appeared on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire for charity, can Chris survive the added pressure of Matt’s Murrayfield quiz?! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens and Zoe Bäckstedt chat about bike racing and family. With both parents and a big sister already proving themselves in athletic terms, it's no surprise that Zoe has had such a successful junior career - winning World Championship jerseys for road racing, time trialling, cyclocross, and even some track disciplines. And in the 24 hours since recording this podcast, she’s become European U23 Individual Time Trial champion too! But Matt is keen to learn which discipline is her favourite, and how it feels to switch teams mid-season from EF Education-TIBCO-SVB to Canyon-SRAM, where her father Magnus is Directeur Sportif. Zoe also rates Matt’s Lego collection, and gets shocked by the price of Fish and Chips in her hometown of Pontyclun. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens chats to Freddy Ovett about his development from a middle distance runner to a globetrotting road cyclist to one of the best gravel pioneers in the world. Freddy will be the first to point out the flaws of Pro Cycling Stats, as he proclaims his love for the extra plotlines written into every gravel race that the stats just don’t tell. With spells at AG2R, BMC and L39ION of Los Angeles, Freddy has seen the world and tried all styles of racing before finding his true calling as an independent gravel racer; writing his own story by racing the way he wants on the elite gravel circuit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens chats to Josh Tarling about his breakthrough season with Ineos Grenadiers. Recorded just days after he became British National Time Trial Champion, and weeks before he earned a podium at the UCI World Championships in Glasgow, Josh is relaxed and candid as he chats about his goals for the season. A fascinating retrospective listen, the young rider fantasises about custom Pinarello paint jobs, describes how he keeps pre-ride stress at bay, and shows his knowledge of local chippies in his hometown of Aberaeron. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From the heart of the action, Matt Stephens has been recording clips at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow. With so many disciplines at the first ever “Super-Worlds”, Matt witnesses Van der Poel’s crash in the company of several Belgians, signs a man’s leg at the Road Race finishing circuit, enjoys an irreplicable atmosphere at the Cycle Ball, and loses his muff at the Cross-Country MTB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens reflects on the Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift 2023, where he brought his portable recorder behind the scenes to document the race from the inside. While the racing unfolds around Matt, he has arguments about Haribo with Manon Lloyd, enjoys podcast inception with Rebecca Charlton, soaks up the atmosphere with Iris Slappendel, and gets selfies with former teammate David McKenzie - all set against the sonic landscape of the race caravan and the associated media circus. Oh, and the racing was absolutely unforgettable!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens is at the 2023 Tour de France, digesting the racing and sharing his thoughts from behind the scenes. With VIP access to all of the riders, and his Eurosport GCN colleagues, you might think this podcast is full of gripping interviews and hot takes on the Jonas Vingegaard / Tadej Pogačar rivalry.... But, Matt’s more interested in chatting about high altitude curry with Adam Blythe, discussing Haribo strategy with Alberto Contador, and figuring out how to interview riders without knowing if they’ve won the sprint or not with Laura Meseguer! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens is back behind the scenes at the 2023 Tour de France, where he’s been recording clips in between performing his duties for Eurosport GCN. In this episode, Matt discusses his experiences through stages 10 to 15, including fine dining on ‘long nuggets’, chatting to Jens Voigt who loves being in the peloton on a motorbike (but definitely doesn’t miss racing), and suffering from acute vertigo while riding a Gondola to the foot of Europe’s highest mountain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens is at the 2023 Tour de France reporting for Eurosport GCN, but luckily for us, he’s brought his trusty portable recorder along for the journey. Over a collection of spontaneously recorded clips, Matt reflects on his experience from the biggest bike race in the world in his own inimitable way; extolling the virtues of a CBL (Car Bonnet Lunch), commending Philippe Gilbert on his Berlin Nightclub attire, and telling the story of how losing a bet to Mads Pedersen can result in a tattoo forfeit. Matt also reflects on Mark Cavendish’s devastation at crashing out of the race, but will it prove to be his final TdF farewell? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens welcomes Ben Healy back to the podcast to discuss everything that has changed in the past 18 months. Since his last appearance, Ben has continued his meteoric rise within the World Tour, including a stage win at the 2023 Giro d’Italia for EF Education-Easypost. Find out how the Irish National Road Race Champion performs in a race against himself to see if he can remember the answers to the same questions Matt asked in his previous hometown quiz. And the RQG asks which superpower he would choose, if he could only have it every Tuesday for one hour. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens and Derek Gee chat about the attritional weather at the 2023 Giro d’Italia, and how a series of unfortunate events actually gave Derek the chance to make a big impact on the race. The Israel-Premier Tech rider is a comparatively late bloomer, and explained how the World Tour team gave him his lucky break at the age of 25. No stranger to the track, a national Time Trial champion, and possessing the ability to podium on almost any parcours, is there anything Gee can’t do?! Matt tries his best to stump him in the Ottawa quiz by asking Derek the price of donuts in his hometown. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens speaks to Andy McGrath about his impressive career as a sports writer which all began at the tender age of 14 under an embarrassing alias. He has since gone on to become Chief Reporter for Cycling Weekly and Editor of Rouleur Magazine. In 2017 he won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year for Tom Simpson: Bird on the Wire. Matt spoke to Andy on the eve of the 2022 awards, where his second book, a Frank Vandenbroucke biography entitled God is Dead was shortlisted for the same prize. There are many tangents as always, including a brush with the law, some worrying sirens, cars powered by chip fat, and a story about trying to get Greg Lemond to do karaoke. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens and Mads Pedersen chat all about the great Dane’s wonderful UCI World Road Championship win, when he romped home in appalling conditions to win the road race in Yorkshire, 2019. The Trek-Segafredo rider had a wonderful 2022 season, adding 9 victories to his Palmares, and now looks forward to 2023 with just a tedious training camp to complete first. With a fascinating insight into how his mentality as a child was better suited to cycling than soccer, how he was inspired by seeing his dad on a turbo trainer, and his surprising use for a hot tub - this chat has it all. The refreshingly honest pro pulls no punches and tells it like it is, even calling out Matt’s error in researching the hometown quiz - it turns out he’s not from Aarhus after all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens and Niamh Fisher-Black discuss her route to glory at the UCI Road World Championships in Wollongong, Australia. The New Zealand native treated the race as a stop on her way home to Nelson, and enjoyed the rare treat of celebrating a massive win with her nearest and dearest around her. Now, the Under 23 world road champion is looking forward to the 2023 season and perhaps the prospect of racing the Tour de France Femme if selected by Team SD Worx. In the hometown quiz, Matt asks the same questions he asked of fellow Nelsonian George Bennett, to determine who’s the best at being from Nelson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens welcomes Ned Boulting to a tiny cupboard in Soho (masquerading as a hotel room) to record the 100th episode of this very podcast. The pair waste no time going off-script and enjoy flicking through the 2022 edition of The Roadbook; the pro cycling almanack for which Ned is the editor. With an impromptu quiz about the 2022 Giro d’Italia, some fantastic prize-winning questions from our listeners and backstage stories from Ned’s sold-out live show - this is a celebration not to be missed. For more information on Ned's Cycling Almanack, visit www.theroadbook.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens and Ethan Vernon chat about his hugely successful first season as a World Tour pro. He got off to a great start on his first training ride with Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, beating Fabio Jakobsen in a town sign sprint. Following a fairly memorable team initiation task, he went on to win a couple of stages at the Tour of Slovakia, and another at Volta Catalunya too. Of course, none of this should come as a surprise given his pedigree on the track - he’s currently a Team Pursuit World Champion for Team GB. With an in-depth chat about adaptive training and sprinting techniques, along with the usual fun on the hometown quiz, this episode has something for everyone. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens and Ashton Lambie reflect on his incredible Individual Pursuit World Record, as the first person ever to ride the 4km discipline in under four minutes. He’s also a decorated gravel racer and loves nothing more than heading off on multi-day adventures on his gravel bike. On the same day that he became World IP Champion, his wife Christina was accepted to NASA’s Astronaut Candidate Class. Ashton discusses the influence that training for short and long distances has on the two disciplines he excels at, and how having his fellow track racing partner Christina in his corner, helps him achieve his goals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Recorded in the Green Room at Rouleur Live 2022, Matt Stephens enjoys a freeflowing chat with a range of guests from the top table of professional cycling. Tom Pidcock enjoys mixing it with the ‘Big Dogs’, Lizzy Banks discusses the merits Corduroy, Taylor Phinney and Adam Blythe rate one another’s teeth, and Nathan Haas explains the difficulty in finding the Green Room on behalf of the colourblind community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In a cosy live setting on the island of Ibiza, Matt Stephens hosts a chat between some of the most successful riders of all time, and Adam Blythe. Mark Cavendish reflects on his career, and what annoys him about the record he shares with Eddy Merckx, Óscar Freire has a controversial opinion of his friends in the peloton, and Johan Museeuw flies the Belgian flag with all his might. With thanks to LeBlanq, ‘Tales of the Rainbow Jersey’ was part of their Ibiza Joyride package, recorded in front of a live audience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens chats to Thymen Arensman about the incredible impact of his first two seasons as a World Tour pro, and where he sees his career going with the Ineos Grenadiers in 2023. The powerful dutchman is perhaps a surprisingly capable climber, and his victory for Team DSM at the Queen stage of the 2022 Vuelta marked him out as a potential future Grand Tour winner. But he’s not letting it get to his head, as he explains to Matt he’s happy to try his best and see where he ends up. For a man who loves history, he’s got the potential for a very bright future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens and Super-domestique George Hincapie chat about the highs and lows of his incredible career where he helped deliver Tour de France victories to three different teammates. However, it wasn’t all done cleanly, and George admitted to doping during a portion of his career which meant his Palmares in Lance Armstrong’s era of dominance were stricken from the record. George helped bring about positive change and is considered by many to be the best teammate of all time, including Mark Cavendish who shared a touching voice note that leaves George shaking. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens and Lizzy Banks discuss how the landscape of women’s pro cycling has changed for the better in the past five years. It hasn’t been all plain sailing for Lizzy however, who has been plagued by a serious case of concussion and more recently, pericarditis caused by a Covid infection continues to keep her off her bike. Having studied medicine before pursuing her career in the pro peloton, the Team EF Education–Tibco–SVB rider is well placed to impart wisdom on how to recover from concussion and has the grit to focus on her heart’s recovery by wild swimming and sharing her knowledge of the sport she loves on The Cycling Podcast and GCN Eurosport. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this special episode to mark World Mental Health Day on October 10th, Matt Stephens chats with two guests to discuss the relationship between cycling and their mental health. Pete Kennaugh is an Olympic gold medalist and enjoyed a successful career racing for Team Sky and Bora–Hansgrohe, who retired to gain better control over his difficult mental health condition. Lee Stephenson was a member of the armed police force in the UK, who suffered immensely in the aftermath of a particularly traumatic incident. Lee discusses the positive influence of cycling in his recovery and ongoing management of complex PTSD. This podcast deals with difficult themes including suicide, and listener discretion is advised. If you are struggling with your own mental health, please contact your local health services or General Practitioner. Or contact www.samaritans.org for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens and Alex Dowsett enjoy catching up in the neutral zone of this podcast, before getting down to brass tacks. With his incredible pro cycling career coming to an end with Israel Premier Tech, Alex reflects on how the time felt right to move on to the next chapter with lots of exciting media and business ventures to look forward to. With some great advice on how to use a power meter to best effect, and a deep-dive analysis of how he could outperform his teammates on time trials while pushing fewer watts, Alex is a firm believer in racing with your head, not your legs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens learns how Alex Richardson went from brokering deals in the City of London to striking deals in the pro peloton. With a fascinating story of how Stage 3 of the Tour of Britain unfolded, Alex feels that putting too much trust in his fellow riders’ word perhaps cost him the race. The story of how an obsession with cycling took over his life leaves no wonder how he made it from laps of Richmond Park, all the way to the pro peloton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens and Philippe Gilbert discuss his incredible career in the pro peloton and how he has prepared for retirement at the end of the season with one final ride on the Cauberg. A former world champion, with stage victories at all three grand tours, his dominance of the Spring Classics is perhaps how Philippe’s career will be best remembered. But the Lotto Soudal rider insists it’s not just the victory that matters, but the manner in which it is won. For more information on Phil’s last ride as mentioned in the podcast, visit www.philslastride.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Stephens and Jack Haig discuss the value of consistency above all else. The story of how a young Australian mountain biker went from hitching hiking around North America to the third step of the 2021 Vuelta a España is inspirational. His determination and grit are the key to his success and the Bahrain Victorious rider reckons the most important thing to do, is to turn up - just put in a shift no matter how it goes - it’s the sum of your consistency that really makes the difference. Now recovering from a nasty wrist injury, how does he feel to watch the Vuelta on TV and not have the opportunity to play his part? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices