Spin Cycle

Jasper Philipse edged closer to the green jersey as Biniam Girmay suffered a nasty crash, and we're about to head back into the Alps for a tough end to this Tour de France. Caley, Jonny, and Iain discuss all that plus a very flat rat, some live-on-TV swearing, carbon monoxide, and Cav's last sprint stage.  To get the bonus After Dark segments at the end of each show, sign up now at escapecollectiv...

Welcome to the second rest day of the Tour de France. The boys have taken a pilgrimage to a site of lore on the Tour Daily pods, the river through Carcassonne, where the tarps came arf and many listener questions were answered.  For access to the whole Rest Day episode, sign up at escapecollective.com/TDF for just one dollar/euro/pound. 

Jonas Vingegaard tried. He used a hard stage in the best way he and his team knew how, but it wasn't enough. Caley, Iain, and Jonny talk through a battle on Plateau de Beille, plus break the chip story wide open, discuss Pogačar's press offensive with the French people, and wonder why anybody would run up a mountain in flip flops. 

Cracker of a stage, that was. The GC lit up on Pla d'Adet as Pogačar improvised and attacked his way into time gains. Caley, Iain, and Jonny talk through the stage and consider where the race stands near the end of its second week. 

Caley Fretz, Jonny Long, and Iain Treloar are in Pau after stage 13 of the Tour de France to break down Jasper Philipsen's win and the Pyrenees ahead, and Ronan Mc Laughlin joins the podcast to discuss the use of carbon monoxide during altitude training.

Fresh to your ears from the finest finish line-adjacent Campanile, where Caley, Jonny, and Iain are pleased to find they'll be spending the night lulled to sleep by the low whir of Ineos' trucked-in air conditioning units. The trio discuss Bini Girmay's third win, Primoz Roglič's terrible luck, and the sad isolation of a caravan Haribo vehicle away from its flock. 

Jonas Vingegaard is here to play. Dropped but not gone, he fought his way back to Tadej Pogačar and set up tight GC battle ahead of the Pyrenees. Caley, Iain, and Jonny chat through the narratives around Pogačar and Vingegaard, plus what they heard at the busses after the stage about Remco, Roglic, and the French football team. 

Finally, Jasper Philipsen gets his stage win. Caley, Iain, and Jonny discuss the sprint, what it means for the green jersey, and then add a bit of Adrie van der Poel parking woes, an alpaca update, and a cheat sheet for the random things we like to talk about. 

It's a beautiful rest day in Orléans and Caley, Jonny, and Iain bring you a week one vibe check plus a big ol' bag of mail. For the full episode, sign up at escapecollective.com/TDF or, if you're already a member, click here . 

The third different gravel world championships took place in Troyes, or TRWA!, on Sunday. Caley, Iain and Jonny sat down over a 4/10 pizza to discuss the race for the win and the fight behind between the GC guys.

Biniam Girmay made it two and the fight for the green jersey looks like it will go all the way to Nice. Caley, Iain, and Jonny break down the day and then peruse their notebooks for other stories of the day. 

Time trial day at the Tour de France. That means marginal gains, aero hacks, speedy suits and, of course, nutritional birthday cake. Caley, Jonny, and Iain discuss the day's racing plus a visit to a birthday boy and lots more. 

Another sprint stage and another sprinter crosses the line first. Congratulations Dylan Groenewegen, but the big story today was the relegation of last year's four-time winner Jasper Philipsen. Caley and Jonny are joined by none other than Iain Treloar to talk through the stage, plus all the strange things spotted throughout the rest of the day. 

Well, he did it. Win number 35. Mark Cavendish, already the greatest sprinter of all time, now has more Tour de France stage wins than any other rider. Caley and Jonny chat through the sprint, talk to Cav's coach, his leadout man, and his whisperer, and then bring together a pile of other strange things that happened today in France. 

The question before the stage was simple: would they go for it? Would today be the true kickoff in the fight for the yellow jersey? The answer was an emphatic yes. Stage four took in the mighty Galibier and the race for the GC is officially on. Caley and Jonny come to you from the finish town in Valloire, where they speak to Jonas Vingegaard, chat about Pogačar's wheel selection, and break down ho...

The Tour always throws up a few good surprises, and stage 3 came with two. Caley, Jonny, Joshua Robinson of the Wall Street Journal, and then Ronan (accidentally) on in Torino and chat Biniam Girmay, Richard Carapaz, and Mark Cavendish. 

Jonny can't stop talking about Harry Kane but luckily Caley and Ronan watched the bike race and run through the biggest storylines from Stage 2 of the Tour de France. The race is officially on, and we now know who wants to win it. 

Stage 1 of the Tour de France and the home nation, if not the host nation, already have something to cheer about. Caley, Jonny, Ronan, and Joshua Robinson of the Wall Street Journal come to you from a coastal restaurant in Rimini to talk through Romain Bardet's big day out front, Mark Cavendish's rough day out back, and what the next few days might look like. 

It's the eve of the first stage of the Tour de France and Caley, Jonny, and Josh Robinson of the Wall Street Journal (#JRotWSJ) are joined by a live audience in an alley of Florence. On the docket: Visma's new van, press conference vibe checks, a brief mailbag, plus a chat between Jack Haig and Fred Wright. Finally, we have José Been's first cultural instalment. 

Buongiorno from an Italian start to the Tour de France. Caley and Jonny stop at a lovely seaside town en route to the Grand Depart and discuss the contenders and storylines of the upcoming Tour de France.  For complete access to our Tour de France coverage, become a member for only $1 this month. You'll get bonus episodes and members-only interviews, no paywall on the website, access to our hoppin...

A plan to “ride around Australia” is just one of many nuggets from Lachlan Morton on this week’s Performance Process podcast. The 2024 Unbound Gravel winner also spoke of how his training changed in preparation for this year’s Unbound, all the tweaks and hacks he made to his bike and why he is constantly adjusting his position as he gives us an insight into his incredible versatility and unique ta...

It’s time to geek out. This week Brad Copeland, Ronan McLaughlin, and Dave Rome are on the pod to talk all the major news in the world of tech and what’s on their minds. There’s a new road bike from Pinarello, and a new head unit that promises to be self-sustaining, and a more affordable full suspension race bike from Specialized. Plus Dave and Brad share some things on their minds. Forward warnin...

On this week's Placeholders, Caley Fretz, Kit Nicholson, and Jonny Long discuss Tadej Pogačar's fueling at the 2023 Tour de France, Remco Evenepoel's floor needs, and more. Escape Collective's podcasts are made possible by our members. Head on over to escapecollective.com/member to support this show and everything else on our podcast network. Also, we'd love to get your feedback on this show and o...

We’ve got a two-parter for everyone this week. The first is Loren and I breaking down Tour de Suisse, who will look back on the race happy with their form and who will have a lot of questions with only two weeks to go to the Giro. In the second part Matt de Neef’s calls up Ruby Roseman-Gannon . Obsessions: Loren – Her new gravel bike!, Abby – Our Tour de France Femmes coverage plans! And as we not...

An *IMPORTANT NOTE* to start: Moving forward, the How the Race was Won Podcast will only be available either on its own solo feed or on the members-only podcast feed. If you've been listening on the non-members Escape Collective feed and want to keep getting the podcast, search for "How the Race was Won" wherever you get your podcasts, or go here on Spotify or here on iTunes . This week, Cosmo Cat...