The Rouleur Podcast

It is late summer 2015 and nobody knows that Tom Dumoulin is on the verge of a breakthrough. Not the 24 year-old Dutchman himself, nor his team-mates at Giant-Alpecin. It doesn’t figure in his employers’ plans. The top tens of Grand Tour contenders put out by magazines and websites ahead of such races do not feature him. The best three-week riders in the world might know his name but have no idea he is set to join their ranks. Dumoulin has shown promise in week-long races, winning stages at the Tour de Suisse and the Eneco Tour, placing twice overall in successive years at both. He finished second to Tony Martin in the penultimate stage TT at last year’s Tour de France. By more than a minute but still, Tony Martin. A podium at Paris-Nice, maybe Romandie, should be next, though Dumoulin has already said his target for 2016 is an Olympic medal. A gold one. He is thought of by his team as an exciting prospect for the future but they see him, for now at least, as “a world class time trialist who’s very good on the hills”. He can make it over the high mountains (more or less) but he is not expected to challenge in them. That is about to change.He’s one of the best Grand Tour men of a generation now; in 2015, Tom Dumoulin was a 1,000-1 outsider before the Vuelta a España that kickstarted his career. The “Butterfly of Maastricht” and his team-mates reflect on how they nearly pulled off the greatest shock in modern Grand Tour racing.The Rouleur Longreads Podcast brings you selected long form articles from the magazine, especially recorded for Rouleur. Don’t stop what you’re doing – do it while listening to the world’s best cycling writing.The latest in this series is ‘The Butterfly Effect’ by Nick Christian, from Rouleur 18.6, read by George Oliver. Download the Rouleur app and use the code BUTTERFLY to read the whole issue free of charge. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We have three fascinating, erudite guests on the latest podcast, and Desire editor Stuart Clapp too. Only joshing, Stu…Olympic team pursuiters Elinor Barker and Katie Archibald were interviewed by Hannah Dines for the latest Rouleur issue, and an excellent feature it is too. Waiting for a postponed Olympics, getting back to racing, mental health and explaining the Madison via the works of Shakespeare - Katie and Elinor cover it all in typically engaging style. Baltimore cyclist Chris Jones’s superb essay in issue 20.7 is another highlight. He tells Ian Parkinson about the experience of riding the city streets as a black man in America, racial divides, very gradual improvement and freeing the mind via the bike. Essential listening.Our Stu was understandably emotional at the weekend, as a young man from Hackney most of us here at Rouleur Towers have known since he was a skinny little kid working in a bike shop, won the Giro d’Italia. Stuart has a nice little anecdote about Tao Geoghegan Hart and what a decent chap he is - of course he does. Brings a tear to the eye.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“The ’cross background puts riders like Wout and Mathieu in an ideal position to fight for the win in the final of a Classic. They’re used to pushing top end power for an hour in a way most riders can’t,” says Merijn. “Explosive power is harder to develop than endurance. It’s also a mental thing: if you’ve learned to push yourself at a young age, it’s something that sticks with you. It’s very hard to pick up later if you haven’t got it.” Some say cyclo-cross riders also have a better feel for the race. “You learn that riding ’cross – bike handling, positioning, timing,” says Wout. And with the constant micro-adjustments and anticipation, riders get better at gauging their effort, sensing when to push or hold back. “The racing is more instinctive, not just relying on power readings,” he says.One of the added challenges in the winter discipline has been the increasingly technical courses. “It’s great for the spectators, but shifts the racing more towards interval efforts, less steady state,” says Wout. “I’m more of a power rider and this recent development tends to favour lighter, more technical riders like Mathieu.” Of course, Wout has amazing skills, but Mathieu is nimbler. “It means usually having to chase him coming out of the bends.”Having Van der Poel as a rival meant there was never any room for complacency. In interviews, Wout’s trainer Marc Lamberts has said that it led to him forcing Wout’s development harder and earlier than he would if the Dutchman hadn’t been around. Wout would have had more time to grow into the under-23s. They pushed each other and now everyone else is suffering.Fully recovered from his horrific 2019 Tour crash, Wout van Aert is the most exciting bike racer in the world. Domestique, sprinter, climber, time trials, cyclo-cross and Tour de France stage wins - he can do it allThe Rouleur Longreads Podcast brings you selected long form articles from the magazine, especially recorded for Rouleur. Don’t stop what you’re doing – do it while listening to the world’s best cycling writing.The latest in this series is ‘The Wout Factor’ by Olivier Nilsson-Julien, from Rouleur 20.7. Download the Rouleur app and use the code WOUTFACTOR to read the whole issue free of charge. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Doping has sadly become a perennial issue in cycling. Every year there’s a new drug, a new disgrace and a series of articles on websites where we all persuade ourselves that this will be the last time this happens. Let’s be clear. Cycling is far cleaner than it once was. Despite the non-endemic media’s perception of bike racing as a kind of endurance version of WWE wrestling, the vast majority of riders and racers wouldn’t know where to begin doping. But that doesn’t mean they don’t wonder how it feels. Everybody who has found themselves in the gruppetto all week, only to see the same guys ride away from them three weeks later, has marvelled at how form can change that fast. We’ve all asked ourselves what it is like to not get tired, to always be the hammer and never the nail. Does it feel like every day on the bike is your best day? Or a little bit superhuman? Or like you’ve had too much coffee? What does doping feel like? After decades of racing in the bunch, a top amateur racer satisfies his curiosity in a clinical trial and discovered that it’s not what you put into your body, but what you get out, that matters.The latest in this series is ‘New Blood’ by James Stout, from Rouleur 20.4. Download the Rouleur app and use the code NEWBLOOD to read the whole issue free of charge.SPONSORED BY LAKAWe are delighted to have Laka as a brand partner of the Rouleur Podcast.Laka is a team that looks out of each other. Laka’s collective cover is made for cyclists, for life on and off your bike. Laka has flipped outdated traditional insurance on its head.No more fixed upfront premiums. Instead, your monthly contributions are based on the collectives’ claims that month. Your max monthly price is capped, but the savings are all yours. Plus, 80% of your money goes straight back into the collective: fixing, replacing, helping, whatever. And the other 20% keeps their wheels spinning. It’s as simple as that.And when s*** does hit the fan, Laka’s got your back. Claims are handled by experts and usually agreed within a day. With no depreciation or excess. Laka are so over annual contracts locking you in…with Laka – if you want to leave, you can. Anytime.If you are new to Laka, you can get a £10 credit by signing up today. Just use the discount code: rouleur Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two Grand Tour legends - Alberto Contador and Ivan Basso - have launched their own bike brand, inspired they say by their decades of experience in the pro peloton. They join presenter Ian Parkinson, along with 19-year old Alpecin-Fenix rider Ben Tulett, fresh from a very creditable performance over the 260 punishing kilometres of Liège-Bastogne-Liège. The Giro'Italia is already proving as unpredictable as every other race this season, although the early stages were dominated by discussions about EF Pro Cycling's radical new kit, a collaboration with the skateboard brand Palace. Rouleur's head of Desire Stuart Clapp, himself recovering from an age-inappropriate skateboard accident, thinks it's a work of genius. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"I didn’t want a Stone Age ecosystem, a ready-meal career path. I wasn’t for UCAS statements, study placements, three-year degrees and guessing how to succeed.I needed anarchy. A world with a clear winner: always the strongest, the smartest, finishing first. Throw away the protocols, policies, processes… no thanks to 9am and waiting for the clock to strike five.I craved a wave of noise, colour and zeal. Klaxons, chaos and bup, bup, beeeep. Moments to unfurl on a team car bonnet, opportunities to be hurled like live grenades: forward and back until they explode.I wanted to be riding, or lying down,Lying down, or sitting up,Sitting up, or eating up,Anything elseWas wrong.This awe-inspiring, time-consuming wave is cycling. I wanted to ride that wave, to achieve perfection.I wanted to be a professional cyclist."Not just any cyclist either, but the second coming of Sean Kelly. It didn't go quite as Daniel Stewart had hoped. In our latest issue's longread, the Irishman reflects on his turbulent time in the ratrace.The Rouleur Longreads Podcast brings you selected long form articles from the magazine, especially recorded for Rouleur. Don’t stop what you’re doing – do it while listening to the world’s best cycling writing.The latest in this series is ‘Learning to Fly’ by Daniel Stewart, from Rouleur 20.6. Download the Rouleur app and use the code LEARNINGTOFLY to read the whole issue free of charge. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Daniel Stewart grew up riding his bike on the streets of East Belfast, dreaming of being a pro racer. And his dream came true, even if it wasn't quite what he was expecting. He tells the story of his mad journey through the pro peloton in Rouleur 20.6 and on this edition of Rouleur Conversations. He joins presenter Ian Parkinson, Executive Editor Ian Cleverly and Paolo Martelli, official photographer of the world's most photogenic sportive - the Eroica series. Paolo's photo feature in Issue 12.6 inevitably includes shots of his friend the late Luciano Berruti - whose extravagant moustache and goggles made him the face of L'Eroica. They also find time to reflect on a mesmerising Tour De France and a new generation of race winners. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“You peer at this gleaming canvas of countries and you can see that the paint is still wet.” - Kwame Anthony Appiah, The Lies That BindWith Slovenian riders on the cusp of achieving an historic one-two at the Tour de France, we revisit our 2019 exploration into how a country less than thirty years old, the size of Wales and home to barely two million inhabitants, has risen to the status of cycling superpower. Seemingly overnight.The Rouleur Longreads Podcast brings you selected long form articles from the magazine, especially recorded for Rouleur. Don’t stop what you’re doing – do it while listening to the world’s best cycling writing.The latest in this series is ‘Slovenia’ by Nick Christian, from Rouleur 19.5. Download the Rouleur app and use the code SLOVENIA to read the whole issue free of charge. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Rouleur crew have torn themselves away from the television briefly to discuss a fascinating opening week of the Tour.Can Primož Roglič go all the way to Paris, assuming the race does... Is Marc Hirschi's stupendous stage 9 descent into Laruns one of the best cycling moments we have ever witnessed? And is Sam Bennett a big crybaby or a lovely, lovely guy? (We know the answer, don't @ us)And Stu even manages to shoehorn Heinrich Haussler into the conversation, cycling's longest running bromance.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Some fine racing in the opening week of the Tour de France for our panel to mull over. Ineos Grenadiers looking less than convincing, Jumbo bossing it, Caleb Ewan on fire. Fingers crossed we will get to Paris for a grand finale. A Rouleur quartet of Andy McGrath, Ian Cleverly, Maria David and Stuart Clapp join Ian Parkinson for a Tour chinwag. Lizzy Banks was a revelation at the GP Plouay, finishing second to an imperious Lizzie Deignan. She’s been a guest on our podcast before, because she’s a great talker as well as a brilliant bike rider. The Équipe Paule Ka rider enjoyed La Course immensely, is improving her racecraft to go alongside the strong legs, and will be in action at the Giro Donne imminently.  Rouleur contributor Maria David has been following Donnons des Elles au Velo, a group of riders who ride the Tour de France route one day ahead of the men to campaign for a women’s race of equal standing to the men’s. Now in its sixth year, it seems ASO and Christian Prudhomme are finally listening to their fine efforts. Finally!    Desire Editor Stu has broken arms. Yes, that’s right. Both of them. A bike riding incident, you’d think? No, but there were wheels involved. Don’t do this at home, kids.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.