The next big star in British Cycling & Visma–Lease a Bike TDF line-up 🔥 | The Ultimate Cycling Show

Orla Chennaoui and Adam Blythe are joined by Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio and Matt Winston on the latest episode of The Ultimate Cycling Show. The quartet discuss Oscar Onley’s successful Tour de Suisse, an exciting period for British Cycling and how a strong Visma–Lease a Bike can stop Tadej Pogacar at the Tour de France.

0:00 Intro
2:02 Oscar Onley’s successful Tour de Suisse and plans for Tour de France
4:25 Expectations of João Almeida
6:00 Tadej Pogacar being the team leader for UAE Team Emirates
8:15 Quinn Simmons & George Hincapie’s new American Cycling team
10:00 MotoGP rider Aleix Espargaro joining the Lidl-Trek professional cycling team
13:40 Exciting period for British Cycling
21:00 Exciting personalities to watch out for in British Cycling
22:45 Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio on her recovery from serious injury
31:45 Concussion protocols in Cycling
34:28 Visma–Lease a Bike Tour de France line-up
36:15 How Visma–Lease a Bike can stop Tadej Pogacar at the Tour de France
39:23 SD Worx–Protime’s Giro d’Italia line-up
45:42 Outro

News and coverage from the #HomeofCycling in Europe. Watch TNT Sports Cycling anytime, anywhere via: https://bit.ly/3boIVvd

We bring you some of the biggest sports events in the world, such as Vuelta A Espana, The Olympic Games, Tour De France, Giro D’Italia, World Championships amongst so many more.

Do you want to see more? Subscribe now to watch TNT Sports Cycling anytime, anywhere: https://bit.ly/3boIVvd

Follow us on:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TNTSportsCycling
Twitter: https://x.com/cyclingontnt
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tntsportscycling

[Music] [Applause] [Music] coldhearted deliverance is what he’s looking for at the moment and he turns every single pedal as if indeed he was born to do it super win for Robert Gregoire takes the day if you’ve got anything left in the tag and this man’s clearly got plenty he’s left them behind alan Mazy out the line brilliant work that was a good What a performance that was quinn Simmons has just
Yeah isn’t that brilliant almeida has to find yet more time still got 1700 meters to go and he’s going to sprint for the line because he wants the margin when will he sit up he finally allows himself to appreciate the crowd’s cheers he’s in the lead almeida can he possibly get back at him he’s going to charge into this gap try and seconds up on the inside right now it’s going to be on the throw oh my goodness and he just takes it oh and it looks like Mayos is going to have the fun here that was absolutely outstanding [Music] oh is going to get it on the line i think it’s going to be on the throw between the pair of them what amazing stuff this is as it goes to Almeida [Music] race of truth and the truth is that Shia Almeida has been brilliant shia Almeida not to be denied not for a second time it doesn’t matter how you knock me down and I’m coming back at you beautiful victory for Almeida so Matt Oscar Onlay what a superstar eh hey you did a nice job eh
yeah uh yeah really really good tour to Swiss after coming straight from altitude camp as well so I think you’ll be pretty happy with that
i’m sure you probably weren’t that surprised were you no I think he’s been we kind of also he’s preparing for the tour but we also had uh to Swiss was a goal so it was like we wanted him to come in in in good shape um so he did three weeks in Tenneref had had a break before that block after kind of the start of the season and uh yeah he uh after his third place I was thinking okay shape’s good he wanted more um yeah and uh then a second and a first and then a podium also is really nice in the in in the tortois
right here’s a question for you you see this with a lot of teams now you got a rider like Oscar who is capable of like top 10 maybe top five if everything goes perfectly for him
at the Tour to France
at the Tour to France but he’s got two or three stages probably that he can win what’s his focus because it’s so when when we watch it I get so frustrated with riders not frustrated with them but the way that you’ll just see year after year after year is so many riders are in that bubble of GC riders but if you look at them and you go “God if we could just let them lose time and just let them lose.”
Do you have a plan yet
yeah yeah we have a plan i I hope we do sorry 10 days away from the front of a plan like a developing one
yeah we have one um I wrote it this morning of an actor yeah i I think that’s that’s a thing isn’t it because you have to like obviously for a guy like Oscar 22 years old like does he try and hold a GC where he can learn a lot but then you also get suppressed because like we see now the top end of that GC is so strong
are you ready to break into that do you want to hold on to that or do you actually like you say do you want to let him free and you can still get a top 20 on the GC when you drop 10 minutes and then you go in a good breakaway that’s allowed to go but then again that all depends on who’s in the yellow jersey at that moment
he’s such an exciting talent because it’s not just his results but when you look at that stage win that he took at the weeks the Queen stage for a start
in a two-up sprint against Xiao Almeida i mean that was phenomenal wasn’t it almeida by the way his race
i mean it was remarkable wasn’t it
about time he’s had quite a good season to be fair he’s had quite a good season but he’s whenever he gets on the big stage Jirro tour worlds whatever he is just a he’s always something wrong and it’s like what was old mate’s name that was at the gro that
Del Toro
no the other one that got off
oh
are you so oneo yeah yeah
i think with them two is like they’re the promised GC riders but for like the GC and where they’re employed to do the big GC results i.e the JRO or the Welter to not the talks that’s tad they never quite can step up and it’s always those little bits when I say about time
for me it’s they should be winning those races like to win those races they you have to win those races to be able to win a grand tour
yeah it does sound
don’t forget his age though like Al is also still young like so he still should be doing this a little bit like you can’t be
like I think 3 weeks when you’re some guys can do it so like a guy like T comes in and then now everyone just expects everyone should be able to do it
especially in that team I think that’s our expectation it’s not even even necessarily
but I mean I mean today’s job is to win you know whereas for these guys yeah exactly but I mean for these guys they’re not necessarily always there to win you so I think sometimes it’s it it can be quite hard to kind of find that balance so now I’m I’m a support rider and now I need to go for the win you know um I mean today’s been conditioned you know to be the race you know
and this is actually an interesting topic alto together is that dynamic how you get the right dynamic in a team you know
yeah i guess it’s slightly easier when TAD is on the team because there is no question who’s the leader do you know what I mean though like in terms of management you don’t have to juggle anything it’s like lads look at Tad sorry he’s a real leader you can take your chances where you get them but you’re supporting him and that’s that so it does make it slightly easier i feel like those riders in another team would have much more of a battle and I guess that’s what we get in the other Grand Tur isn’t there
i think they’re all just fighting for that second spot i just think they’re going to prove who’s the better rider i think you know if you look at the the guy who’s got it right in that team two riders I think is obviously Tad cuz he’s Tad the next one’s Adam Yates
so Adam Yates is the support rider all the time but he never has that pressure of winning whereas Jiao Maida Auso Sol all these kind of riders they’re in that second tier under the bracket but they’re all trying to fight for that next leadership role so it’s it’s very much the classic when they went to the Jira they had Del Toro and Auso fighting out i don’t think it’s necessarily so much to be I want to win this race but it’s almost like I should be given leadership i’m the better rider and it’s I think
that’s an extra pressure though doesn’t it and we saw it at the Jed Italia with Wanauo that’s your chance to lead a grant here for UAE memory this year it’s a massive responsibility as well as opportunity if you don’t take that it must be devastating really because when are you going to get it again and and you find like some rise to the challenge so being challenged by the younger riders and they rise to the to the challenge but some just can’t you know what I mean because they they need all that attention on them this is my grand tour what are you doing here you know stepping on my toes but when you look at how Almida won the tow and that big breakaway went away on the first day Reaguar was in the jersey for a long time and he had to just chip away there he was three and a half minutes behind after day one so they’ve made him a leader but then he’s given a three and a half minute handicap away and he has to chip away at that so actually that just shows how strong mentally he is because he could have gone in as a leader and then maybe like day one it’s done it’s done gen is finished now
i thought the way he won it was really impressive
he just chipped away every day took the time bonuses like still had work to do in the time trial it still wasn’t done and he still had to go out there and race the mountain time trial to come into first place
there’s a lot of respect for that actually because I mean to win it on the last day is actually perfect for the team you know because there’s no pressure um leading up to that last day and then he took all of that responsibility on himself to to deliver on the last day
what did we make of Quinn Simmons his stage victory
very wild task wasn’t it
yeah it was wasn’t it american Eagle landing i quite like that yeah no thoughts i mean it’s a good talking point right we need in cycling as well hey it’s
He stands out anyway doesn’t he
without that
yeah yeah but yeah it did make me think about George Henappy’s new plan for an American focused team and I love love love the idea i feel like I think he’s a great person to lead it anyway and a great person to have as a figurehead but we were saying before we sat down to this table I really believe for cycling for any sport that wants to be globally financially successful and sustainable it needs a foothold in the United States still does and that’s been lacking really since of course the Lance years and so to have an all-American it’s not going to be an all-American team but an American focused team I think is good for the sport
yeah I think they definitely need to keep coming with a few more teams and and build it when you when you build it that’s where your talents are going to start coming through again because you also look at the amount of UCI race days in the Americas and for the size of the country it’s like they’ve got two World Tour one days in Canada
there’s the Mryland Classic is working really hard to come onto the calendar and kind of start to build but actually for American riders growing up where they’re looking forward and saying “Where do I go what’s my opportunity?” Of course the tour to France but that’s a massive step between being a junior rider and the tour to France and I think this can reignite that fire a little bit in uh in American cycling that’s going to attract cuz
yeah George Hinabi is a name people remember and he is going to attract people into the sport
just from who he is and the experience that he has in the sport
i mean in terms of expanding fan base and expanding reach did you all see the news of Leis Fargo the Moto GP rider getting a shot at professional cycling he’s going to be racing the tour of Austria I think it is um and he like I don’t know if you know much about him but I I’ve did a couple of seasons of Muddy GPS he’s an absolute superstar and a huge cycling fan so he would always bring his bike to race weekends and be out riding and like there is quite a crossover between the two sports mark Cavish has been at quite a few Moto GP race weekends one of his best friends Kachel was really into cycling as well there is that crossover but he’s been a fanatic of the sport for such a long time and lead track then signed him to be a bit of an ambassador this year which I thought was genius and he’s in his life on his little track gear and going on training camps now he’s going to be racing in the prop pelaton which European I absolutely love it i love it and I know it’s gimmicky but the lad has 1.3 million followers on Instagram and that might not be everything it’s not what it’s all about however if you can bring any of those fans into professional cycling it’s a brilliant thing
i think it definitely is there’s no harm done with it i just think oh if he’s a Moto GP rider in his spare time he’s going out and training great and I’m sure he’s a very good
like he is an elite athlete
he’s an elite athlete at Moto GP i think if you’re trying to do two sports I’m all for it by the way but I just think if he
Are you really and I only think if he’s really that good and he will be good cuz he’s riding a race of posing and just going to do it for a bit of fun
they’ll get him in there and I just think if he’s super good or just good it’s kind of like how is that possible that he can do that and that and I just
You’re worried that it sort of shows not shows up the sport but that it makes a bit of a mockery of it I guess a bit are you
kind of a little bit yeah i think it’s very like
I think it’s great what they’re doing they’re opening doors as you said to the world but I I also think it’s kind of Get his head kicked
yeah all the No no no like professionally speaking get his ass handed to him every single time no but it’s true though it like make you realize how hard this sport is cuz I’m sure his sport’s hard
but it’s not as hard as side i
I think
No but it’s not it’s not they’ve got an engine for one you know what I mean pitcock is going to win the queen stage on top of the sky views of Haru
feels like a lifetime ago doesn’t it
that was a lifetime ago by for Georgie there’s only meter to go one more clutch and victory here’s Williams stevie Williams takes the biggest win of his career great Britain’s Anna Henderson now driving for home here comes Brennan oh he’s got it absolutely nailed it matthew Brennan never say die it’s going to be quite a sprint between these two schmidt have backed zoe Backstead looks like the British champion in that champions jersey is going to take the lead
ethan Hanker our new race leader cat Ferguson goes down the right hand side of the road cladding over through the center cat Ferguson does the double for Great Britain and Simon Carr continues ef Education easy post 10 got to charge into this gap try and dig out the line he wants a bonus seconds comes up on the inside right now it’s only on the throw oh my goodness only just takes it and Simon Y sets off inside [Music] my goodness we talk about the glory days of British cycling being like early 10 you know 2012 and around then but it’s quite a good time in British cycling Matt isn’t it yeah we’ve had a lot of riders now that have really uh stepped up in the last few years and I think doing a really nice job also now you’re seeing more and more the young guys have made those steps and starting to get victories already this year you see Matthew Brennan kind of all his victories oscar with his victory the other day i think all those younger guys are also pushing through now
i think it’s particularly exciting period for the young writers as you say like I mean Cat Ferguson wow i mean she’s incredible
i mean yeah winning already already first year in elite and so dominant and the youngest to ever sign in in the women’s world tier as well
she was even winning before she was professional
won as a stage in Beno bench which is probably the best and hardest race in the world yes but it is good i think what’s really exciting for me is the likes of Brennan i think you know I think through what and Oscar
and Oscar but I think you know there’s Oscar side of things which I think it’s a little bit more GC side and we’ve had that since Brad through me Simon as well with a wellter hero Garin and I think it’s it’s been very much there Cav has been
Gar as well to a to an extent where we’ve just had them in that one day sort of attacking racing i think with Brennan he’s the next rider that can really shine as something other than the tour to France and put because within British cycling and within the UK we have our big stars but everyone that knows cycling only knows the tour to France and that’s it i think with Brennan he can bring everything around what he does and then if he gets to do the tour to France it’ll explode him into what he is as a bike rider more doing classics doing the monuments and I think that’s it’s not what the UK needs but I just feel like everyone knows Bradley have Sir Chris Hoyer as well there’s so much more to cycling that the general public don’t know really
I think that’s the thing with him because he he can win a bunch of sprint but he can also he’s he’s more versatile like you see the in PT there where he’s winning in Catalunia on that stage that is a hard finish it’s not a sprinter’s finish that and it showed just how strong he was
i just hope that these riders get that level of support that the likes of Brad and Chris Frim and Garant had you know we’re coming to the end of that era now with Garant Thomas about to race his final tour to France which is mad and really lucky you know British fans are really lucky to have all of this young talent coming through and I just hope that they get the headlines that the generation before them got because it’s really really important you know when you look back to the fanfare and the fuss and the excitement of 2012 in particular and obviously the Olympics is a big part of that there isn’t that wider buy in you know there we’re we’re invested in cycling of course we are we love it it’s our bread and butter and I just hope that that that can spread beyond you know it’s like for example the Geodatalia and Simon Yates that’s something that did resonate beyond and you know it was on BBC news and you know made it across to to wider headlines and and newspapers beyond the well I was going to say beyond the ones that would usually cover cycling no newspapers used to cover cycling
but it needs that bigger buyin as well I think and I just hope for the sake of those riders and their careers and their longevity and what they can get out of the sport that it gets a little bit of that fuss as well if you look at riders that really focus on what boosts the UK you got the likes of Brad and Car and all these guys that have done the Tour to France Olympics one being hugely successful one guy who has won but he’s really in front of all that media hype which is a he’s not well I’d say he’s a household name is
Pigcock for his CV what he’s done on the road yeah it’s a good CV but Brennan’s is
won a lot more and like if you were going to sign anyone at the minute no offense to Tom but I’d sign Brennan just because of what he’s able to do maybe on the results I signed Torm because of everything else that he brings as well
exactly value
i think that’s the side of it where it’s very British to be in that limelight for the races that you know like Tom winning the Olympics world cyclross champion sponsored by Red Bull all those kind of things
boost him
but I I think that’s the main thing until you don’t become a household name until you’re in that Olympic level
yeah when you actually look back at the the success of the riders that have gone before
British cycling was a huge part of what they did where they become so they were using then out they were having partners coming in people like PCEL at the time and they were then giving endorsements and you were on the front of a PEL box or a Kellogg’s box or whatever and that’s kind of now
you say the support the riders have more support than ever because British cycling did a fantastic job but now also the pro teams are so interested in British riders that they’re all supporting the Brits
i don’t even mean by I don’t even mean within the sport i mean out with the sport i mean the support of British fans and a wider audience more than anything
and and that’s kind of my point because then you need the the interest from companies in the UK to highlight those riders and that’s kind of going to be the because you can have an Instagram page that has 200,000 followers that’s great it’s still only 200,000 people that’s not a household name really yeah i think across the country of how do we bring in the big brands that don’t necessarily need to be sponsoring a team but when they take on individual riders and just point out the restrictions that a lot of the teams place on riders unfortunately where personal endorsement deals you know they’re clamping down more on that because they want a cohesive sort of image or there’s maybe conflict of interest you know
but unfortunately a lot of cycling is still run by dinosaurs also
it’s run by dinosaurs and we’re listening to the dinosaurs and I would say to all the young writers out there stop it stop listening to the dinosaurs they’ll still employ you because you’re still brilliant
i I remember when I
just take control take matters into your own hands create your own career create your own platform because if you dropped anyway at some stage you might as well create a business for yourself and if that business is just followers on social media then you’ve at least created something and you’ll get more eyeballs into this sport
i actually see like social media and sort of your personal brand development goes hand inhand with um personal development so with self-growth you know if you especially if you’re working with younger riders and and maybe this is what agents could or um management companies could start doing and maybe some are already but if you’re basically helping your rider to establish who they are what their interests are you know and helping them build their brand and themselves through social media you you’re actually helping them with like a self-empowerment project basically you’re helping them learn about themselves
what they stand for what they want to represent yeah
I think you you you think about it a different way than a lot of riders and kind of you’re you’re also thinking in that respect but also your future
but I know
she’s on the show
i know for sure knowing the amount of riders I know if someone that worked in the communications department or commerce department went to the ride and said “Can we sit down and can we talk about how you raise your brand?” They’d be like
“I don’t want to do that.” Or “The team’s telling me I have to do that.” or I’m being told they also don’t want to pay someone
themselves to also support them so I think you’re quite forward thinking there whereas a lot of riders maybe aren’t ready for to to make that step
to bring it back to British riders then who are the exciting personalities to watch out for who Who’s going to be the next Well who’s going to be the next household name who’s going to be the next Bradley the next Garite the next Mark Cavendish
cat Ferguson
cat Ferguson absolutely yeah yeah yeah she is there isn’t she she’s got everything
i mean she’s great and her personality she’s savvy she has a look she obviously has a talent she has a support the family support
i mean not that we should be celebrating drinking on the podium or anything but it’s just that
pint exactly she just she drinks the whole glass of champagne or the whole bottle no maybe not quite but you know what I mean it’s that sort of fun
you know she’s having fun you can see that when she’s racing her bike like the last stage of the of the tour of Britain how exciting was that ali Wallist Cat Ferguson going for those intermediate sprints um yeah i mean I would play Zoe back as well zoe already a Red Bull athlete that brings a certain level of kudos and cool with it and obviously she’s got the cross-disciplinary element being successful from such young age she’s fun she seems to really enjoy her bike i think she really excites me and I really hope that she becomes a real household name
um like beyond cycling what about the guys there what about the lads
m Brandon for sure i just think my Brennan is on the way up big time
after that you’ve got the likes of Hley as well who’s a match team i just think there’s there’s a certain cluster of riders really coming up within British cycling but it’s across the board and it’s really difficult in like Stevie Williams he won flesh last year he’s nowhere this year because of an injury so I think it’s just that consistency as well but I’d say the most exciting rider we’ve had
in a long time is probably Marty Breen like since a rider like that who can
win as much as Cav was winning in a year so far so Ashley how are you doing how are things with you after your horrendous crash last year and the long recovery from that
yeah I mean I’m doing well now so I’m hoping that it’s finally time to close that chapter um and to move forward it did take longer than I expected you know I’ve had I’ve had really bad injuries um in the past i mean from a horse riding accident and a head injury in induced coma almost brain damaged um that was my final year at school but I made actually a miraculously fast recovery from that you know and then breaking my um ilium in 2016 you know it took a bit of time but I wouldn’t say a full year but this one has really taken a year um and it was actually quite interesting because in the beginning you know I had so much motivation last year you know I crashed at the worst possible time if you’re talking about the Olympic games and the tour France fun I just tried to look at the positives and focus
after breaking Yeah exactly so like I think it was literally 10 days after breaking my back that I was already back on Zift you know riding on the indoor trainer with the back brace on because um
Oh my god
yeah it was an unst it was a bad fracture most people would have had surgery but I was actually quite lucky that the doctor at the time in in Spain decided to go a more conservative route which is better as an athlete because if you have back surgery the recovery is actually much longer so I accepted that the first two weeks were really really scary because um there was a piece you know my T10 literally shattered into many pieces it was a what they call a burst fracture so from the high-speed high impact crash it was in a sprint finish i was already in the drops like launching you know to make sure I didn’t lose time and someone slid out in front of me and so I literally went didn’t break didn’t really respond just went over hit the impact on my head and that sort of folding of the back is what meant the two vertebrae above the the other one you know squashed it um and it just shattered into a whole lot of pieces so it was quite dangerous or scary because there was a piece protruding into the spinal column but I’m really really lucky um that I had no nervous damage so um I have actually made a very good recovery but now in hindsight I think back and I’m like I was barking mad you know like in in a back brace like I’d spend the whole day lying on my bed because standing upright means that um gravity is pulling down on the fracture so the more you stand upright the more height of the vertebrae you you lose so I was told to lie on my bed but I’d make this exception just to go and ride my session on Zift in the back brace and then go back and lie on my bed you know how long did you do your how long were your were your sessions on Zift when you I mean obviously I I you know increased incrementally so it started by literally maybe half an hour and then went and at first really upright so sitting on a a tax the bike the neo bike you know really upright like this and then eventually went to my bike and actually the position of of being in in the natural bike position was almost better because leaning over like that you don’t have the pull of gravity so much on on the spine I sailed through that you know and I had all this motivation for the Olympics i raced the Olympic Games prematurely i mean now I think to myself I was so crazy the risk I was taking i raced with a back brace so it wasn’t as comprehensive as the proper medical back brace that I was in but it was just in case um I crashed but the reason I used is that well what are the chances the only way I would do real damage again is if I crashed exactly the same way so I’m like what are the chances I’m going to crash exactly the same over the handlebars you know in a sprint so that was what kind of gave me the peace of mind to do it but then racing the Olympic Games and being on those cobbles you know on the Sakraur I had my my back went into total spasm all the muscles were like what are you doing so I obviously realized that the tour to France from of Xswift was too much um so I backed down in that moment was when I really properly grew up you know as a rider and I realized why
you know I have the rest of my life ahead of me
and I want to go and raise the tour of France F yeah it’s a great race don’t get me wrong it is a great race but I thought there’s other ways that I can be involved and that’s what I think Zift are doing so amazingly is by creating this watch the fun movement you know so I got straight in touch with Zift i said “I’m happy to host some of your watch party rides,” you know and that’s how I kind of stayed involved i did a podcast with Lance Armstrong at the time you know so
you know I found my way of being involved and that’s the beauty of you know the Watch the Funs movement is you don’t only have to be racing to be involved
were you 100% sure though that you wouldn’t do more damage
so I had a few conversations with a couple of people but but but there was no guarantee you know obviously
cuz it’s your back and it’s the rest of your life yeah yeah
yeah i mean wearing a back brace like it was a really comprehensive back brace you know so that’s just a whole new story riding on Zift with this really like I sweated crazily i have two braces so that afterwards I could put the other one on otherwise I’d be so that the other one could be washed yeah to explain to you guys the madness it’s it’s actually difficult to explain it but I suppose there was an element of sanity in it i mean I was really nervous in the beginning i didn’t even take the back brace off to sleep although the doctor at the hospital said I could I was afraid well if I need to go to the Lou in the night and I’m not wearing my back brace you know what could happen so I literally slept in it you know for a good two or three weeks before I took it off um so I had conversations there were obviously different opinions my husband um his brother is a doctor and our brother-in-law so his sister’s husband is also a doctor so I was talking to both of them one is a radiologist and one’s more sort of general medicine the general medicine he was like “No damn way.” You know like “Tell Ashley to stop she’s not racing the Olympic Games.” You know and then the radiologist was like “Well
you know okay.” He was looking at my scans all the time like seeing the progress he was like “Well I suppose if she’s wearing the back brace like you know as long as she’s not doing too much and she’s
getting the opinion that suits you.”
So I was the one that suits me yeah and then also having spoken to teammate Maria Abonito who had also fractured her vertebrae the year before we like discussed you know what are the chances you know so it was it was a lot of sort of my own decision- making um and my husband knows I’m crazy so somehow
you just let me do it
if you were speaking to your younger self who had that crash what would you say i mean I’m always pro you know I’m a motivated ambitious person so I’d never want to take that away from the younger version of myself or anyone else who is like me so
but it you do need to think about your well-being and I think that’s something that we don’t think about enough as pro riders you you know we’re just thinking about
riding results
you know keeping our spot on the team keeping our relevance and that’s why I suppose through this whole process my my whole thinking has evolved to the fact that we should be developing more holistic you know people and environments where
and encouraging that way of thinking where the culture
and rewarding it as well and that’s why I love that you brought up the Moto GP rider that’s now you know involved with little trick because we need to start celebrating the following that you know there could be riders that maybe don’t perform at their best and I’m also one to have hated on this before just I just see your eyes
like where you know what what I really hated in the first part of my career as a as a female pro cyclist was women using their sexuality you know riders using their sexuality to gain favor and following and that
I tried that really tried
but I think that we do need to start looking at the bigger picture around you know the people the stories who they are helping helping riders young riders build their own brand their own
interests um you know so that when the injury happens
it’s not racing isn’t the only thing they’ve got
exactly they can sort of okay well let me focus more on my YouTube videos and share my recovery process with everybody rather than hammering to get back as quickly as possible and it happens too much i mean we’ve seen it with Anameik Vanflutin you know
breaking her wrist and still you know racing with a brace on or breaking her pelvis and back racing in a month you know so and it’s celebrated it’s like or I think one tour of Fllanders she dislocated her shoulder and she got back on the bike and still finished fourth or something like this and that’s celebrated like you’re a hero you know yeah and it’s hard not to celebrate that because it is an incredible feat of resilience and mental fortitude that most of us can’t comprehend so it’s hard not to lionize that in some way but the danger is when you glorify it too much over and above the rider actually recovering
the next rider that crashes feels like they have to do it exactly and that’s the whole thing like with the with the stories around concussion at the moment like when for for us as in our team we have a concussion protocol so as soon as a rider crashes we make we’re making the assessment and we’ve all got a card where we know okay this is what you need to do and we’re not going to take a chance like I pulled Roman B out the tour two years ago and it was my decision just by the way you stood up i was like no
yeah yeah
and obviously I raced out the tour to France the whole world is watching and then you get back in the car and you think did I make the right decision yeah
like if he’s ultimately it was Yeah but like if he’d been full of energy at the finish and all like everyone would have been like what what
but like you don’t you don’t want to take that chance because then the next person thinks I’ve got to do it i’ve got to do it i’ve got to do it and then
and somebody has to step in and override the rider sometimes to look after them
well he wanted to carry on
of course yeah he’s a racer he’s a winner and you go in the ambulance now and you just take your time and then and he came back and he was ready for the welter because we so quickly got him in the dark room we we took all the pressure out no screens no and then you can recover quite quick when he finishes that stage
then the process just goes longer and I think that’s where
we do celebrate like great feats which is is is good but we also have to think about yeah the younger generation coming through and
also their life is you know it’s a
But this is an interesting point really because like let’s say okay I crash I break my back um and the team like shifts a little bit they focus okay well this is a really good story like let’s let’s tell the story you know um and I mean I’m not criticizing my my current team i’m just saying like this isn’t a thought process that anyone enters into in pro cycling it’s like okay Ashley might not be ready to to do the Olympic games
but she’s still an asset on the team
exactly but let’s tell the story because this is something someone might be able to relate to because in real life people aren’t always winning they’re they’re having ups yeah the ups and downs in everybody’s life you know so maybe if they had to have changed the focus or I changed the focus to sort of sharing the story
you know being relevant while I’m still recovering from injury then maybe I don’t know maybe that changes the thinking as well but
so many people have learned from it as well yeah but as an athlete we’re just thinking I need to be back to race i need to be back to race because that’s who I am i’m a bike racer you know and I think that’s the biggest biggest mistake of pro sport you know is that
I’m not you know cycling is not who I am it’s what I do you know and that’s something that we we need to try and encourage younger riders
to grasp good luck [Music] have you seen the bees light up for the DR m sweet mother of all things holy it’s insane if you look at that team in isolation I’m sorry it’s hard to beat that isn’t it
to be fair they played that card to perfection at the Jro right so I mean that was quite an incredible performance the way they pulled that off so maybe they’ve learned from that experience and they’re thinking you know that’s what they need to bring into the tour of course um they have their standout for the yellow jersey but they you know they have different strategies they can play out with such a strong team i think it’s such a team for that first week in particular isn’t it you know I just feel like they could create utter carnage with the the size of the riders they’ve got as well
that could be where they land the blows to UAE in that first because it can be chaos
the weather is going to be okay but when it’s not then it is going to be carnage do do you know the only thing I think if UAE had a GC rider that wasn’t Teddy and someone like Yonas
who’s heavily dependent on his team I think it would make a massive difference but you just you look at Tad just follows everything he can follow everything like you look at him in the classics like as much as the team’s importance he needs it in there for support if they start shooting around and sending rides off the front
he’s very independent
all that
Tad has to do is follow Yonas to all the other attacks I mean he is only human and he is subject to the same whims of lady luck as everybody else and you know we are talking about fortune and mis and not wishing misfortune on anyone um but it’s hard to see unless it’s injury or illness or something unfortunate to tally it is difficult to see what they’re going to be able to do however they probably have the best team to be able to do it
and to try to create a bit of chaos which is you know sewing some chaos amongst the EU team is probably as good a strategy as they can hope for
i think UAE could take it two ways at least they could either really I think Visma could really try to put them in the red so they really try to put the team under pressure and they could waste so much energy or they could just say look we’re going to be under pressure take it easy
just take it easy sit back like don’t stress too much but I know
no UAE I think Visma will ultimately try because that’s what the team I think with UAE we can say Ted’s good we just need two or three riders around him maximum after that don’t go and kill yourselves you got a heavy final couple of weeks it’s not the way they like to Yeah exactly
like and I think that’s where
for me looking at what we’re going to do in the tour if UAE have the jersey just written down this morning if UAE have the jersey it’s always more difficult for the breakaway
cuz Pad likes to race
every day whereas when Fisma have the jersey then you think ah there’s a bit more chance to for the breakaway and to to go so you want Bisma to have the jersey
when they can hold it for a while then then you have the space and I think what they did really well in the Jirro and I was also yeah I was talking to to to Mark Reef about it afterwards is you didn’t see them really the I mean they won stages so of course you saw them there and they did a good job with those stages but in terms of GC they were under radar
and Simon just floated for the whole time and kind of like UAE were racing for everything at every second and that can become their undoing a little bit when they do that whereas I think
or it can if it’s not daddy that’s the problem that the rest of the palaton has it’s
but you only also need one bad day and and then and then you and he is only human
exactly
look it but apparently
he’s had it in the past
yeah yeah yeah yeah
but but that’s a good point though because you know I mean Vizma are showing up with a super strong team so they have two strategies they either go like all in to create the chaos and to force UAE to make mistakes um which would be super exciting but then at the same time you just summed it up with the gro i mean Simon was just kind of there thereabouts like off people’s minds and then they just executed one day to absolute perfection they can’t do that with you and us though can they
he’s never going to be under the radar
but I think what they’ll do also and what they do well is like if they’ll have they’ll have their tactic and say “Okay we go for GC today this is a GC day for us
but it doesn’t that doesn’t necess mean they have to race for the stage so they’ll look at the composition of the breakaway and they’ll think right it’s going to cost us too much to bring that breakaway back in terms of what it does to our team so we’re going to let the breakaway go then we’re going to race the last climb and Yonas can take his time whereas UAE’s approach is more we want to race for GC today but we want to race for the stage because that opens everyone up because then you get everyone thinking oh I can win
and then it makes the race a little bit more open whereas they’ll just let it they don’t need to win the stages they just want the yellow in Paris and that’s all they care about speaking of grand tours to look forward to and team announcements Essie Works have announced their team for the JRO haven’t they
we’ve got Lena we’ve got L we’ve got Anna Vandera amongst others i mean it’s quite the team isn’t it
yeah it’s an interesting strategy actually um because I would say it’s a dress rehearsal or a training camp for the tour they’ve almost said this basically on on their social media which is a point for discussion really because I mean I’m going to be racing at the Jro explain what they’ve said on their social media then for anybody who missed it
they said that there um there’s no GC ambition so they’re going to the tour with no GC ambition so I mean there is a strategy yeah exactly
i hope it Yeah i hope it’s BS
yeah i mean I think it’s a cover up like you say i mean they go there they see what happens but as someone who is racing the JRO with GC ambitions and you have that lineup I mean if they’re going there for stage wins it can completely blow the race up you know because for example if Anna goes or if L goes
for sure the GC riders like myself can’t let her go
yeah you have to fall
um so yeah it makes it a little bit tougher for for the likes of myself really to read this racing but having said that I have a strong team so we have some cards to play as well um but yeah I think I think it’s a little bit arrogant
i wanted to ask you about that right because what do you make of the fact that they have said we’re not going with GC ambitions because they have two of the the premium GC riders
in the women’s palaton because they haven’t gone and said we’re going for stage wins that would be a positive way of approaching it instead they’ve said we’re not going for GC from the outside that feels a little bit disrespectful I would say to the race and to the rest of the pelaton whereas if they’d said we’re good for stage then you think oh yeah I’ve raced for work so just to give some like some background insight so okay there’s two ways like I definitely think that the JRO is good preparation for the tour um yeah I mean that’s that would be my strategy as well like it’s it’s you can’t replicate that kind of training you know no matter where you go what else should you do you’re never going to replicate it so it really is the perfect preparation for the tour we have two gap in between which is just enough to recover so that’s all good like I I totally respect that there’s more than one team doing that but I think what they’re actually trying to do is they’re trying to figure out their pecking order so if I know from racing on the SD works um team there would always be a pecking order so plan A plan B plan C plan D you know like they could win with we could usually
Yeah
no but there were other letters in the alphabet nothing
this is exactly how it worked and this is why for example at um the start of Bankei where you had um Copeki and uh and Demi sprinting each other it’s because because I was on the team
A and B collide
exactly because so plan A would have been Copeki because I was on the team with with the same strategy so Copeki was plan A then Demi would be plan B and then let’s say I would be plan C so then how that works is plan C has to go the earliest you know okay so let’s say plan D plan D is the breakaway the the first breakaway okay plan C is entering into the final you know and that was often my card
um and then Demi would be plan B which is like in the final but you know not too far away and then lot is the last card the A card so if we come to the sprint you know
so for example Demi all respect to her she played her card she got away she was solo so then that should hugely be your ticket on SD work so now I’m solo i did what I needed to do the race is won but then L crossed over right so and I know for a fact just from background and talking to people that there was no discussion as they were going up the final climb as to who was the leader getting intel into this race
so Demi thought well I went first i played my card first so I’m the winner today i’m going for it and lots of things well I’m I’m plan A and I crossed over
wow
so I’m going for the win today so do you see how that happened yeah that’s why they sprinted each other and Demi is never going to step down you know neither is L so so this is what I think they’re doing in the Giro they’re not 100% sure of L because I mean we all know she hasn’t had the best start to the year you know she’s also been putting some stuff out there that she’s been struggling i think she had a a knee issue in the off season um and she’s actually taken it quite hard all the criticism from from the outside um so they’ve sent them all to altitude they’re all on altitude camp and they’re going to go to the gro to see what plan A B and C and D is for the tour so I think it’s a bit of a test you know to sort of see between Anna and Copeki what’s our plan A and B at the tour
yeah makes it all so much more interesting
danny Stam is paid a lot of money to technically do nothing we can’t say that
plan A plan B come together i haven’t got a plan anymore i was the heck come off it you can’t ridiculous it’s actually quite a good point because honestly
was not Anna in the car that day and breath
no she was with Danny
with Danny okay yeah so you were going to say it’s a good point because
because actually just you know from past experience I’m not sure what they’re doing now so I don’t want to be you know um hated for what I say now but uh beforehand when I was on the SD works team as you say there wasn’t a lot of work to be done you know like we just sat the team meeting and there was no like this is the course this is the pinch point this is the that all the riders basically we did that ourselves we came to the meeting and it was literally like plan A plan B plan C plan D you know that have fun
you know make my my life exciting what have you got when
Exactly whereas going to the AG insurance team um and especially with um SAS Cannavan coming in or having his influence coming from Inos
it was incredible how professional it was like night and day you know you’d go now in our um debriefs we have
like a 20 slide PowerPoint presentation sometimes exactly
where everything is detailed to the last you know millimeters so yeah it was it’s very interesting to compare fascinating [Music]