S11 Ep135: Route & Branch Changes

In this week’s episode of The Cycling Podcast, Daniel Friebe, Lionel Birnie and ace commentator Rob Hatch examine one venerable Italian cycling institution’s latest iteration - the newly revealed 2024 Giro d’Italia route - and look at the brightest, most ambitious upstart on the same nation’s racing calendar: Filippo Pozzato and his races in the Veneto.

We deliver our own assessment of a noticeably less lofty-than-usual ‘Corsa Rosa’ route before hearing Jayco-AlUla head DS Matt White’s verdict. We, or rather Daniel, then literally travels to Italy to find out how Pozzato is trying to shake up an ageing, ailing Italian scene - and why he may need a bit more help from the Giro itself.
In the final part of the podcast, we reflect on the predicament of the many riders who find themselves jobless at the end of the 2023 season - and one in particular, the Ethiopian Tsgabu Grmay. He tells Daniel that, while his present plight looks bleak, his dreams and inner fire are very much still alive. The episode we mention featuring Mitch Docker speaking to Tsgabu Grmay on Life in the Peloton is here https://audioboom.com/posts/7878541-life-in-the-peloton-tsgabu-grmay

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The Cycling Podcast was founded in 2013 by Richard Moore, Daniel Friebe and Lionel Birnie.