Wheel Talk

What a stage to kickstart the fourth edition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift! Loren Rowney, Georgie Howe, and Matt de Neef break down all the action from a day in which the stage-hunters and GC favourites (and the GOAT herself) duked it out for the first yellow jersey of this year's Tour. Today’s episode features audio diaries from Brodie Chapman (UAE Team ADQ), Jelena Erić (Movistar), Ally Wollaston (FDJ-Suez), and Mags Vallieres (EF Education-Oatly).

Matt de Neef, Loren Rowney, and Georgie Howe are on the ground at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. On the eve of the race, they discuss all the top contenders for the general classification and stages, plus chat with Iris Slappendel, Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal) and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) ahead of the fourth edition of The Femmes.

Fresh off an impressive performance at the Giro d’Italia Women and days before the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, Abby sat down with Sarah Van Dam, Ceratizit’s breakout star of 2024. In her first season in the WorldTour Van Dam has already finished on the podium of a WWT stage race – the Itzulia Women – but she doesn’t want to be considered just a climber just yet.You can also read more about her over at Escape Collective.

Today on the Wheel Talk podcast we briefly look back at a wicked fast Giro d'Italia Women and look ahead to the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift with a full route breakdown featuring the one and only Sarah Gigante.

Abby and Georgie talk about the Giro d'Italia overall, the final stage, and more. With audio diaries from Brodie Chapman (UAE Team ADQ), Amanda "Spratty" Spratt (Lidl-Trek), Ana Vitória Magalhães (Movistar), and Lea Curinier (FDJ-Suez).

Abby and Loren are joined again by Esra Tromp to talk about the Queen stage of the Giro d'Italia, and what a stage it was! Heroic tactics, incredible teamwork, and new woman in pink. With audio diaries from Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal), Brodie Chapman (UAE Team ADQ), Josie Talbot (Liv AlUla Jayco), and Becky Storrie (PicNic PostNL).

Abby and Loren are joined by EF Education-Oatly Team Manager Esra Tromp to talk about a wild sixth day at the Giro d'Italia Women. With audio diaries from Mirre Knaven (EF Education-Oatly), Lea Curinier (FDJ-Suez), Rebecca Koerner (Uno-X Mobility), and Liv-AlUla-Jayco DS Shawn Clarke.

Abby is joined by Cosmo Catalano of the How The Race Was Won podcast and Loren to talk about the fifth stage of the Giro d'Italia Women. What was slated to be a sprint stage was upended by one sector of crosswinds where some of the GC favourites got to jump on some of the climbers and the favourite from the stage still managed to take it. With audio diaries from Lieke Nooijen (Visma-Lease a Bike), Becky Storrie (PicNic PostNL), Mirre Knaven (EF Edcuation-Oatly), Alice Towers (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) and Josie Talbot (Liv AlUla Jayco).

What. A. Stage! Abby and Georgie chat that climb that finished off the fourth stage of the Giro d'Italia. The pink jersey is on the back of a GC favourite but the race is far from won. With audio diaries from Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal), Lea Curinier (FDJ-Suez), Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek), and Brodie Chapman (UAE Team ADQ).

In today's episode, Cosmo Catalano of the How The Race Was Won podcast joins Abby to talk about stage 3. A late-stage crash drastically impacted the outcome of the race ... but did it really? With audio diaries from Mirre Knaven (EF Education-Oatly), Alice Towers (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), Becky Storrie (PicNic PostNL), Josie Talbot (Liv AlUla Jayco), and Lieke Nooijen (Visma-Lease a Bike).

After the second stage of the Giro d'Italia Women, Loren and Abby talk through the surprising win, the changes in the GC, and what the heck happened to a few GC contenders who lost time. With audio diaries from Brodie Chapman (UAE Team ADQ), Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal), Rebecca Koerner (Uno-X Mobility), Lea Curinier (FDJ-Suez), and a special contribution from Liv AlUla Jayco DS Shawn Clarke.

Abby and Georgie talk about the opening time trial at the Giro d'Italia Women, where the top four riders are exactly who you'd expect and the GC battle might already be wrapped, much to the surprise of the winner. The good news is the Giro is only getting started. With audio diaries from Brodie Chapman (UAE Team ADQ), Amanda Spratty (Lidl-Trek), Rebecca Koerner (Uno-X Mobility), Lieke Nooijn (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Ana Vitória Magalhães (Movistar).

Today on the podcast, Abby and Georgie talk you through each of the stages in the upcoming Giro d'Italia Women, plus the biggest names to watch and more. Stay tuned for daily episodes with audio diaries from some of our favourite riders and find a full written preview on EscapeCollective.com.

With no WorldTour racing this past weekend and a Giro preview podcast coming later this week, I wanted to use this as an opportunity to highlight a fantastic story by Matt de Neef about a topic that has been on the rise in recent years: iliac artery endofibrosis. The written piece can be found here, but for those who prefer to read with their ears, you'll be able to listen to Matt narrating his story on the pod this week.

After the Great Handlebar Fiasco last week, riders (and the hosts of this podcast, Abby, Georgie, Loren, and Gracie) were not pleased about the lack of safety at the new Copenhagen Sprint WWT event.

It's a full house this week as Abby, Loren, Georgie and Gracie discuss everything that went down at Tour de Suisse: Marlen Reusser's meteoric rise, Demi Vollering's biggest weakness, the second-best climbing team in the peloton, and what it all means for the coming weeks. They also talk about the new handlebar rule, with some input from FDJ-Suez's Director of Performance, Lieselot Decroix, as well as the Giro d'Italia Women's new slot on the 2026 calendar.

Forget the battle of Winterfell, the Tour of Britain was the true battle for the North.This week, the team dive into what was an EPIC edition of the Tour of Britain. The roads were punishing, and the weather was unforgiving. Two forces eventually fought it out for victory on the streets of Glasgow. Gracie, Matt, and Georgie also look to Spain as FDJ-Suez continue to prove their dominance, plus HoweGood roasts the UCI in a minute of madness, and Gracie describes how she gave Georgie a baptism of fire on the MTB.

With a lull in WWT racing last weekend, Georgie, Abby, and Gracie try to answer a few listener questions, including one about fueling in the women's peloton. We also break down the new Tour of Norway and chat Unbound, featuring audio diaries from Cassondra Spring of Liv and Melisa Rollins.

This week, Anna Shackley, former professional for SD Worx-Protime and current director for Cynisca, joined Loren and Abby to break down the final Spanish stage race - Vuelta a Burgos. The three discuss what they learned from the Spanish block of racing, who came out on top and who will be looking for more in the coming months. 

Abby, Gracie and Georgie chatted this week about Matt White's dismissal from the GreenEdge team, Ceratizit ending their sponsorship of a WorldTour team, Itzulia Women and Vuelta a Burgos (aka the first WWT ITT of the year).