The Cycling Podcast

Stage five of the Giro d'Italia was one for the sprinters but it was marred by a series of nasty crashes that saw one of the favourites, Mikel Landa, have to pull out of the race – we hear from his sports director, Franco Pellizotti.
In this episode we speak to another of the crash victims and the previous day's winner, Joe Dombrowski, and to Simon Yates' director, Matt White...

Another cold and wet day at the Giro d'Italia saw a win for one of our audio diarists, Gino Mader, only 24 hours after losing his team leader, Mikel Landa, who crashed out on Wednesday.
In the latest episode Richard and Daniel discuss the stage and the new man in pink, Attila Valter, who we hear from. There's another audio diary from James Knox, Gianni Savio is back discussing tactics and Caleb Ewan confesses his ignorance of Italian geography...

In our third episode of Kilometre 0 from the Giro d'Italia we revisit a classic sports book, The Miracle of Castel di Sangro. 

Stage 9 of the Giro will roll out of a small town in the Abruzzo mountains: the scene in 1996 of the "miracle" of Castel di Sangro winning promotion to Italy's second top division, Serie B.

When he read about this unlikely story, Joe McGinniss, a  celebrated American writer, decided to go and live in Castel di Sangro to document life in Serie B...

Stage 7 of the Giro d'Italia took the riders down the Adriatic coast to the southernmost point of this year's race, with Caleb Ewan winning the bunch sprint to take his second stage.
Richard Moore and Daniel Friebe discuss Ewan's qualities as a leader and we hear from his Lotto-Soudal teammate, Roger Kluge, as well as the rider who was third, Tim Merlier...

Stage 8 of the Giro d'Italia was won from a breakaway by the Frenchman Victory Lafay, while behind there was no great sort out of the overall contenders ahead of a testing stage in the Abruzzo mountains on Sunday.

In tonight's episode we hear from Team DSM's Nikias Arndt, who was third on the stage, and Nicholas Roche, as well as Hugh Carthy...

The first mountain stage of this year's Giro d'Italia saw a commanding win for Egan Bernal, who took over the pink jersey, after a thrilling day's racing in the Abruzzo mountains.

In our stage nine episode we hear from Bernal, as well as Giulio Ciccone, who was second on the stage...

In Italian, unlike in English, ‘prima donna’ is certainly no insult, meaning literally ‘first woman’ or first female voice in a company of singers. If the Giro often resembles an opera, though, only this year has the chorus of race narrators acquired such a figure - at least on Italian television...

Peter Sagan won stage 10 of the Giro d'Italia as the race headed north and entered Umbria for Tuesday's rest day. In tonight's podcast we get reaction from Sagan's sports director, Jens Zemke, and also hear from the rider who was second, Fernando Gaviria.
There's another instalment from our audio diarist, James Knox, and we speak to a rider with a special connection to this part of the world – if only by name...

As the Giro d'Italia paused for its first rest day The Cycling Podcast does its now traditional rest day episode – the press conference. 
Answering some of our listeners' questions, Richard and Daniel discuss subjects including the Giro's apparent "bias" against the south, rider safety, the vogue for gravel and even a non-Giro question concerning Julian Alaphilippe's decision to miss the Olympics...

At Strade Bianche in March there was a leading group containing cycling's biggest stars – the world champion, the last two Tour de France winners, stars of cyclocross and the classics – and Michael Gogl.

The 27-year-old Austrian, who rides for Qhubeka Assos, was the big surprise in one of the best races of the year – although his performance on the white dirt roads of Tuscany did not come as such a surprise to him and his team...