We’re getting to the end of the Life in the Peloton season, and I’ve saved a special episode for this week. Just as the long road season winds down, the winter cyclo-cross season is firing up for the year. And you might be asking – what exactly is cyclo-cross racing?

To learn a little bit about the sport and its history, I’ve found someone who can talk me through it. But it’s not just any old person, I’ve gone and found the best in the business, the undisputed G.O.A.T – Sven Nys.

Sven has an incredible ability to teach and talk about cyclo-cross to literally anyone – from kids right up to pros, and he does it in such a humble and entertaining way. He’s so good at it because he is an absolute champion and a true giant of the sport, the best to have ever thrown a leg over a cyclo-cross bike – or I should probably say to have thrown a cyclo-cross bike over his shoulder.

An incredibly dominant rider throughout his career, Sven won literally everything of importance – earning him the nicknames The Cannibal, and the Eddie Merckx of cyclo-cross. At his peak in the 2004 – 2005 season, he did something that no other cyclo-cross rider has ever done, when he took out the National and World Championships, won the Superprestige, and the Gazet van Antwerpen, and finished the season ranked number one in the UCI rankings and the World Cup. He is the only cyclo-cross rider to have achieved this even once, and he went close to repeating the incredible feat in the following season – only just falling short when he crashed in the final lap of the World Championships.

It's an absolute privilege to have Sven join me on Life in the Peloton today, I hope you enjoy the listen!

Cheers,

Mitch

Cyclo-Cross with the G.O.A.T - Sven Nys