Rachel Jary and Chris Marshall-Bell are back for the Tour de France! This episode features an interview with the Head Coach of Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team, Stephen Barrett. He tells us about the changing approach to altitude training, explains why riders are wearing winter kit when it is 35 degrees outside and spills the beans on why he's relieved Netflix aren't back to film another season of Tour de France: Unchained.

This podcast is supported by Van Rysel.

To get a 15 per cent discount off the price of a normal Rouleur subscription, go to www.rouleur.cc/subscribe and enter the code podcast15.

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Follow Chris on Instagram: @cmbreports

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Rouleur editor Edward Pickering and staff writer Rachel Jary take you through what is inside Issue 136 – our Tour de France issue. Featuring interviews with: Mathieu van der Poel, Tim Merlier, Pavel Sivakov, Geraint Thomas and much more.

To get a 15 per cent discount off the price of a normal Rouleur subscription, go to www.rouleur.cc/subscribe and enter the code podcast15.

Follow Edward on Bluesky: @edwardpickering

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It's nearly July and for cycling fans that means only one thing - days glued to screens, or standing at the roadside, as the greatest sporting show on earth rolls through the French countryside. And, this year, Denmark. Rouleur editor Ed Pickering and veteran Tour photojournalist James Startt look ahead to the Copenhagen Grand Depart. Team DSM's technical wizard Piet Rooijakkers tells us how he manages the technology and tactics for 500 races each year, working alongside partners like Shimano and Scott. And Australian journalist Sophie Smith, author of new book 'Pain and Privilege', talks about her 'addiction' to the Tour, and 'fat shaming' in the pro peloton.

Can anyone beat Pogačar and Roglič? It's the Tour - anything can happen.

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Pro-cyclists are getting younger. Really, it's not you getting older. In the men's and women's pelotons, Grand Tours and World Championships are being won by riders in their early twenties, or even younger. Good timing for Rouleur 111 - the Youth Issue. On this podcast, Rouleur's Rachel Jary talks about her article on the lack of racing for Under-23 women, and the problems that's causing for the sport as a whole. And Rouleur editor Ed Pickering chats with Joe Laverick about the roller-coaster challenge of racing in Belgium.

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So you’ve taken that (not very difficult) decision and bought yourself a gravel bike. But the choices don’t end there. What sort of tyres are you going to put on it? Smoother tread or knobbly? Dry or wet compound? And what pressure?

Dan Cavallari is on the case as always, with the help of Ken Avery - Senior Vice President of product development at Vittoria. Between them, they can help you choose the right tyre (or tire as Dan insists on spelling it).

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Rouleur editor Edward Pickering and photojournalist James Startt talk about the features in our latest magazine, Rouleur 134: the Classics edition. Featuring interviews with Lizzie Deignan, Sean Kelly, Andy Schleck, Rebecca Charlton and Rachel Jary.

To get a 15 per cent discount off the price of a normal Rouleur subscription, go to www.rouleur.cc/subscribe and enter the code podcast15.

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“You’ve got to love bike racing - it’s the best thing in the world”. Ben Turner of Ineos after 257 km of dust, cobbles and crashes in this year’s Paris Roubaix. Rouleur’s Rachel Jary was there and in this edition she talks us through the surprises of the men’s race with contributions from Ben Turner himself, Bradley Wiggins and Dave Brailsford; and talks to two of the youngest riders in the women’s race about their baptism on the cobbles. 

Ed Pickering is Rouleur’s new editor. He joins host Ian Parkinson to talk about his love for the sport and his plans for the magazine.

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Rachel Jary and Ian Cleverly mull over two fine races at Strade Bianche, then consider the upcoming Classics before moving swiftly onto Trappist ales and ‘beautiful’ Belgium.

 Host Ian Parkinson asks Rachel about the all-star Team SD Worx, coming up in the Classics-heavy issue 110, out next week. We consider Paris-Roubaix and our endless fascination with cobbles. And Ian C draws the short straw and has to drink fine beers with the boys from Deserter, all in the name of research, of course. Proost!

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Custom frames and bespoke builds continue to garner a healthy corner of the bike market. Those searching for a head-turning ride made totally to their specification are prepared to part with serious money for their dream machines.

Matteo Visentini from Italian specialists Passoni tells Dan Cavallari who the customer is, why they desire one of Passoni’s timeless titanium frames, and how a trained architect prefers a career working with beautiful bikes. And if you recognise Matteo’s surname, that’s because his father Roberto won the 1986 Giro d’Italia. Bicycles are in his blood.

We are also joined by Ben Farver from Argonaut Cycles, who grew from being a one-man steel operation to custom carbon production in Oregon with a dozen employees, combining the wonderful ride qualities of steel with the almost limitless customisation potential of carbon. Ben will tell you all about it. 

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Rouleur 109 - the Enable issue - is entirely devoted to Paralympic sport and disabled athletes. It features Kristina Vogel, Marion Clignet, Hannah Cockroft, Barcelona's remarkable Genesis team and many more - including British athletics and paracycling star Kadeena Cox. A promising runner until she was diagnosed with a life changing illness, Kadeena took up track cycling - then decided to continue competing in both sports. Her determination has been rewarded with multiple Olympic and World Championship medals. She talks to host Ian Parkinson about her career and her ambition to make elite cycling more diverse.

And after nine years at Rouleur, five of them as editor, Andy McGrath is off to new challenges. He reflects on the changes in the magazine, and the sport.

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Caren Hartley and Matt McDonough joined forces in 2017 to create Isen Frameworks, building high-end, award-winning custom steel and titanium bikes in their south London workshop. What are the latest developments in the field, as riders increasingly turn to off-road excursions to get their kicks? Tyres and brakes are the big game-changers, they say, and their designs reflect the advances, balancing comfort and joy. 

Plus an advance audio version of Ned Boulting’s upcoming column from issue 109, entitled Paralympia, read by Phil Wright. 

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Peter Stuart and Dan Cavallari run their beady eyes over the past year’s technical innovations and what 2022 has in store.

In 2021, we saw semi-wireless Dura Ace, SRAM phasing out mechanical groupsets, Lizzie Deignan winning Paris-Roubaix on a 1x gear system, and tubeless replacing tubulars.

 As for the new year, Peter considers whether the pure cyclo-cross racing bike’s days are numbered as manufacturers continue to focus their efforts on gravel. Aero is making a return to the fore. And power measurement grows increasingly sophisticated, alongside integrated electronics with applications outside of the gearing-only systems. Meanwhile, Dan’s hot take is that one-piece bar and stem combos are on the way out. Crazy guy… or maybe not.

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With the cyclo-cross World Championships rapidly approaching at the end of January, we have three experts to assess the contenders in Fayettville, Arkansas.

Multiple British champions Helen Wyman and Ian Field have seen the sport transform, especially on the women’s side, since they were practically the only Brits racing ‘cross in Belgium. With no Wout van Aert or Mathieu van der Poel to contend with in the States, can Tom Pidcock pull on the rainbow jersey? And Zoe Backstedt has been far and away the strongest junior rider this season. Will the current road race world champion double up in the mud? Wyman and Field guide us through the noisy and enthusiastic world of American cyclo-cross. Yee-ha.

Cameron Mason took his first UCI World Cup win over the packed Christmas holiday period. The young Scot is a genuine podium contender in the under-23s having spent three winters learning the ropes in Belgium.

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Wondering why your bikes and bits are taking so long to arrive? What is the hold up in the supply chain? Dan Cavallari asks logistics expert Dan Woodcock where the products are right now, why ships are sitting outside harbours unable to unload, and when we can expect to see some easing of the situation.

Harrison Macris of Princeton Carbon Works, supplier of TT wheels to Team Ineos, also joins Dan to explain how his company has coped with the lack of hub deliveries with a unique solution - scouring the globe for quality components, plus in-house manufacturing with their Tactic brand. 

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Ian Boswell’s road career was cut short by severe concussion sustained during a crash at Tirreno Adriatico in 2019. Where one door closes, another opens, as the American started a new job for Wahoo and, before you know it, was racing again – and very successfully too – but this time on gravel.

Rachel Jary discusses changing disciplines, the more inclusive vibe of the gravel scene and why wearing a transgender flag sweatband has a personal meaning to Boswell alongside raising a broader conversation in the cycling community.

Author Jonathan Heard compiled ten wonderful stories of long-distance riding for his book Cycling Through a Pandemic having himself put his life on hold to take a winding month-long route from Land’s End to John o‘ Groats. Adventurer cyclist and racer Sami Sauri also joins Ian Parkinson to describe the difficulty of riding across the deserts outside of Zaragoza during Spanish lockdown.

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Rouleur’s Rachel Jary has been isolating in a Milton Keynes hotel for ten days. Thankfully, Dad dropped off the Tacx smart trainer so she’s not gone completely nuts. What sessions has she been doing on the turbo? How did she keep motivated locked in a room eating dreadful food? And what Netflix series has she been binging? Dan Cavallari asks the big questions from the comfort of his garage in Colorado.

Digital editor Peter Stuart, meanwhile, mulls over the online options for virtual indoor training. Zwift is the big one currently, of course, but other players dipped their toes in the market over the last decade. A brief history of virtual training, and a gaze into the future as Wahoo launch their Systm app.

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Rouleur's Digital Editor and resident tech expert Peter Stuart takes host Ian Parkinson on a tour of some of the standout bikes and kit at Rouleur Live. Gravel bikes galore, a rear hub which does away with the front changer and a world-beating frameset that costs - well, if you have to ask the price you certainly can't afford it.

And Ned Boulting is here with the hot-off-the-press Roadbook 2021, looking back over a season which - everything - gave us exciting racing and historic firsts.

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Supersapiens hit the headlines recently when the UCI banned use of the glucose monitoring system in races. Company founder and CEO Phil Southerland, who also founded Team Novo Nordisk with a roster comprised entirely of type 1 diabetics, declared it a backward step from the governing body, citing improved rider health and welfare possibilities with the new technology.

Supersapiens co-founder and CTO Gagan Chaudhari joins us to explain how the system works, what the benefits are, how to monitor fuel intake and what the future holds. It’s food for thought, literally.

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Emma Pooley is more likely to be found running up hills these days than cycling up them, but the competitive spirit that led her to Olympic medals, world championships and multiple stage and race wins is still strong.  She joins presenter Ian Parkinson from her home near Zurich to talk about retirement, the current state of the women’s pro scene and why she’s about to run 100km through the mountains. She also delivers a personal warning about the dangers of too much sun and not enough sunscreen. Tan-line cultivators listen closely.

And what can cyclists learn from the great philosophers? Author James Hibbard argues that - from Plato’s search for the ideal to Nietzsche’s struggles in the Alps - there are lessons there for anyone who rides.

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Ultra-Endurance rider Lael Wilcox was the fastest woman at Unbound 2021. She sits down with host Dan Cavallari to discuss going fast over 350 miles of gravel. While it's all about the legs and the heart, bike tech plays a vital role in multi-day races in the wilderness. From making the right choice of aero bar or flat bar, choosing the best power banks and bringing a reliable head-torch for those nighttime mechanicals, Lael doesn't leave a single element of her gear to chance. Evidently as averse to an idle mind as an idle body, Lael also explains how she rode across Alaska while listening to East of Eden on audiobook, and in one race stayed awake by scaring herself stiff listening to Stephen King's It.

We promise this podcast will be a little less jarring.

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