2024 was a rollercoaster year for cycling! 🚴♂️🌟 From Pogačar dominating the Grand Tours to Cavendish making history and Kasia Niewiadoma triumphing at the TDF Femme Avec Zwift, there was no shortage of epic moments.
But behind the excitement, the cycling industry faced challenges, with many brands struggling to recover post-Covid. Si and Dan dive into whether 2025 could be the year the industry finds its footing again.
They also reflect on GCN’s highlights, GCN’s independence, and what’s in store for the year ahead! 🎉
Make Dan do the longest ride he never wanted to do 😂 👉 https://ambitious220.ambitiousaboutautism.org.uk/fundraisers/daniellloyd/manchester-to-london-2025
00:00 Welcome to the GCN Show – Headlines
00:42 Tadej Pogačar – the GOAT of 2024
01:16 Ultra endurance boundaries pushed further
02:15 The post-Covid bubble of the cycling industry
03:11 GCN becoming independent
04:08 The light at the end of the tunnel
07:05 What does 2025 look like for the bike industry?
08:36 Cycling shorts
08:41 Mark Cavendish making history
09:12 Kasia Niewiadoma winning Tour de Franc Femme Avec Zwift
09:44 Mathieu van de Poel double
09:51 Tom Pidcock winning Olympic gold
10:20 Dan racing Jonas Vingegaard and Sepp Kuss
12:17 Si and his gravel racing
13:10 GCN content
13:48 Shoutout to the GCN community
14:44 Dan’s upcoming charity ride
16:09 Upcoming GCN challenges
17:08 Hack/bodge of the week
22:56 Happy New Year!
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Do you think the bike industry will recover in 2025?📈
Watch more on GCN…
📹 The UCI Budget Rule That Would Change Cycling Forever. (But Will It Work?) 👉 https://youtu.be/tG7ILMmxT44
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#gcn #cycling #roadcycling #roadbike #bike #bikes #bikelife #industry #postcovidrecovery #recession #bikebrand #2024 #wrapup #economicrecovery
📸 Photos – © Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images & © Sirotti Images
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46 Comments
Do you think the bike industry will recover in 2025?📈
Since Manon sadly retired from GCN there is an overwhelming amount of testosterone on the content according to Twila, my wife and a cyclist. Definitely need a woman presenter on GCN with content that targets the larger portion of human population.
Going on 7, 8 years watching GCN. Could probably count on one hand the amount of episodes I’ve missed. We’re all thankful for what you guys are doing. 👌
Glad the channel survived a pretty tough year; I'm sure there were a lot of stress and tears behind the scenes. Still enjoying the content and I hope it continues for a long time. (If you could bring back GCN+, though, that would be grand.)
Met and rode with a female GCN presenter during a Dirty Kanza 200 event. Nice person unfortunately she disappeared on the show never to be heard from again. And, I forgot her name.
Can you more coverage of British bike brands, ribble, fairlight, enigma…
Bought my best ever bike (Titanium with Di2) at 33% discount.
I even supported a British manufacturer (Ribble)
I’m stoked you guys are independent again but I loved the app when it came out. I’d love to see GCN and GMBN team up to produce something similar again. I’m not
Much of roadie (my roots are mtb) I just love bikes though and that app really helped me get into and follow the road scene with its content and race updates.
May I suggest that if you raise £20K, Si does a triathlon….. Thanks GCN for all the work you do – long trainer sessions would not be the same without your content.
GCN putting a gloss on excessive greed. "Misjudged forecasts" does not really describe whats happened over the past 10 years.
More expensive ✔️
New standards ✔️
Higher running costs ✔️
Reduced durability ✔️
Harder to home service ✔️
Reduced spares availability ✔️
We need brands to change their ethos and remember that we're not all chasing KOMs.
Thanks to all of the GCN crew for what you do, and a very happy new year to you all.
Dan, start prepping and do the ride no matter what. It would just be proper, wouldn't it?
Dan, as you push into your charity ride, and Si, I’m excited to see where your journey in gravel riding takes you next! I’m with you both in spirit as I work to get back into the “cycle” of pedaling myself. What you’re doing is truly inspiring, and I have to say, since you went independent again, the content feels more authentic—if that’s the right word. It has this grassroots vibe while still maintaining exceptional quality, which is no small feat.
I’ve always enjoyed your work, but there’s something special about how it resonates now. That said, I do miss Manon; her presence added such a unique dynamic to the team.
Oh, and as I say every year—one of these days, I’d absolutely love to see GCN at the Hotter’N Hell Hundred in Wichita Falls, Texas! Maybe 2025 could be the year? Here’s hoping!
Greedy bike companies deserve to go to the wall, consumers being ripped off etc. How exactly can a tiny road bike tyre cost £50+ for a decent one? Ridiculous. Then factor in cost of bikes, £12k for top end ones which is price of a top spec motorbike. Sorry but it's farcical and we consumers should vote with wallets. Don't buy.
Thanks
If I were to wish for one video from GCN in 2025, it would be Hank and Mark Beaumont finally riding the Trans Am together as a team. To this date, their film together was one of the best and one of the most heartbreaking. (Or maybe they could just do the Transcontinental and save the plane fare).
You’ve done a lot of videos abroad, but none in Norway. Please come do something here as well. Maybe a full on winter commute challenge in the snow, or tackle the troll ladder, or Lysebotn Climb ❤
When the races went away I wasn't sure how I felt about watching GCN but I have been pleasantly surprised at how many videos I've watched. I'm watching GCN much more than ever and I'm glad I stuck around. You guys are awesome.
When the industry and I include GCN in this, has been pushing new and expensive bikes, parts and gear for years it really is not a surprise when a downturn occurs. People don't like when they feel excluded and they especially don't like it when they are struggling to make ends meet. It might sound selfish and mean but I really hope that the industry doesn't bounce back until they realize what is important and come down to the level of the ordinary person.
Watching this after my new year morning ride while drinking a green smoothie with banana 😆 Thank you GCN and happy new year!
Great work from GCN as usual. Wishing you all a very happy, healthy and successful new year. Chapeaux.
Happy New Year! 🎉
Today, 01/01/2025 Britain has no Men’s UCI Continental teams. This situation will obviously not remain and it’s well known people are pushing for a new Men’s team. It would be great if GCN made a documentary about the birth of that team. What is the process to create a team? Who are the people behind the new team? Will we have any British riders in this years Men’s Tour of Britain? This could be a fascinating documentary showing the birth of a new Men’s pro team.
No, it is not.
Concerned people want to know what you put in a smoothie if not a banana.
Idea: giant community ride.
schedule a huge road/gravel ride that runs the length of the country from northwest Scotland (where they do the highland trail race) down to the Jurassic coast and finishing in Brighton (good transport links to get home). Make it kind of a relay with pairs or groups of GCN staff tapping in and out.
Publish the times, locations and participants ahead of time in a plan (so that joiners can book trains, B&Bs or camping spots ahead of time) then do live updates as you move down the country so that community members can join for sections of the ride, or as long as they want.
Would be cool if it was for charity. If it was successful it would even make for a nice thing to do annually because nobody would have to necessarily commit to the entire distance
Happy New Year from Colorado USA🥳
Thank you to all of you for the great content at GCN. I'm not your target demographic, but I enjoy the vids and find I always learn something (or am just straight-up entertained).
Hope someday to see one (or all??) of the presenters ride in Canada? Winters are a bear, but we also have the Rockies. I'm sure you could find a challenge worth documenting.
1:50 is 2025 … And internet geeks ultradistance fans won't let go the fact that there is support and unsupported record differences… In a near future Morton will break the record but EF is or looks like $$$ ineos or Visma … Against the 'team' or efforts of the families of solo riders as Jenny or Mark that did the same on a budget… And then… Here I am one of many that are greatfull for the exposure or the ultra distance BUT then is not the same to climb alone and not ropes that have the most expensive one team equipment looking and letting you safe night by night… For you to only worry about climb… Morton and Wilcox are as much as heroes as others But they have done a different kind of record on a similar kind of effort. Praise to all the stuff that is possible to achieve by ultra distance and every performers out there. Including Dan in a near future.
Now I really want to see Si do a triathlon.
Woo more carspiracy videos! More people need to be aware of how pervasive and destructive cars have been
Videos we want you to do? Why, Si doing a triathlon, of course.
Great to have Simon and Dan back!! A GREAT start to 2025😁
How about an interview with Lebron James. Since he joined Canyon bikes, see how his influence has created more interest in cycling. Also, do a ride with him and Shaquille O'Neil. Seeing Shaq on one of those big bikes would be fun, and he is always great for content. Just watch him on Inside The NBA.
Loved the carspiracy video! More like that would be really cool.
More videos on "affordable" bikes £500-1000 and doing bikepacking on a budget
When you put a banana in a blueberry smoothie…it negates the antioxidant benefits of the blueberries…Dr. Rhonda Patrick
Keep up the great content for 2025!
How's about getting some female presenters for 2025? You're not really representing 50% of the population right now. Cycling is for everyone? How are you motivating women to get into the sport, have fun riding and racing, and be the best that they can be?
Long time viewer here, not at a cyclist but thanks to you guys I finally bought my first road bike for my 40th birthday. It would be awesome to see more entry level videos
It sure is, with Labour now in power we are all going to be so much better off and have all this extra expenditure for overinflated bikes and kit 👍😂
I hope what the USA is threatening worldwide with tariffs (not just on China) doesn't throw a wrench in the recovery of the cycling market, among others.
Regarding the fan-blow-dry-your-shirts…
I used the exact same (I guess) sort of fan for four and a half years. A month and a half ago, during a Zwift ride, it kind of exploded. I heard a very loud boom, and only by coincidence and luck, none of the hundreds of pieces of the three petals rotating, now turned into moulding yet very sharp object flying across the room, hit me. I had used it to hang my (post-ride obviously sweat drenched) towel on, and it might – that's my guess, anyway – have coroded, giving under for the vast amounts of sweat dripping down into it.
Or maybe it was just an old fan. Since I'm not an American, so noone is getting sued, though.
I naturally finished my Zwift ride unaffected and cleaned up later.
For me personally I have great faith the industry will thrive once again. In October 2022 I started a small bike shop with just one lesser known brand, fast forward just over two years I now have some of the worlds best and biggest bike brands on board and I’ve had to accelerate my five year plan to two and have just picked up the keys to a much bigger shop. I don’t think we’ve done anything radical just offering the best service and price we can and generally being nice. Oh and we have a really good coffee machine 😂
Tak!
@gcn and Dan. Thank you for raising money to assist young people diagnosed with autism. I donated what we are able to your goal. Our older daughter was diagnosed five years ago. With understanding and a little extra support, she will go on to do great things. Dan, if you do not reach £15K and do not ride, I will ride it for you. I do not live in the UK and will have to do the 354 kilometres on 22 June virtually. If you do end up riding it, I'll ride it regardless. It's 150 kilometres farther than I've ever ridden in one go. If this isn't a good enough reason to push my limits, I don't know what is. Completing the Festive 500 has me off to a good training start.
Pound notes still available in the Isle of Man. Not UK but British Isles. See you T shirt missing the island as well as Channel Islands.
Happy New Year.
It's a shame Manon is not on GCN any more.