S13 Ep69: The One And Onley

Join Lionel Birnie and Graham Willgoss for the final instalment of their pre-Tour de France 'attitude camp'. In this episode they recap the final major preparation race, the Tour de Suisse where UAE Team Emirates – who else? – took the overall honours.

But while João Almeida's overall victory had a feeling of inevitability about it as soon as he reached the midway checkpoint in the final time trial, the week was perhaps more revealing about the two riders who joined him on the podium.

We hear from third-placed Oscar Onley, who won a stage and put together the best stage race performance of his career as he prepares to head to the Tour for Picnic Post NL. And we discuss Kevin Vauquelin's credentials as a potential star for the home nation at the Tour. He won a stage during the opening weekend in Italy last week and he very nearly delivered a huge result for an Arkea-B&B Hotels team that has been struggling in the World Tour this season.

There's a recap of the other races, including two events on the calendar in Copenhagen and Andorra, a brush with the UCI rules and analysis of Tadej Pogačar's foray into the world of children's books with his partner Urška Žigart.

Next up – our XL Tour de France Preview episode will be out in the middle of next week.

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