The Race Communiqué: 2025 Grand Finale

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It’s been a long season, but we’re here, we’ve made it, it’s the final pod of 2025! I’m joined by EF sports director, Tom Southam, and Jayco Alula pro cyclist - and Aussie national road champion - Luke Durbridge, for one last Race Communique to wrap up the podcasting year.

I wanted to kick off by running through the season we’ve just witnessed. There’s so much racing going on from January at the Tour Down Under right the way through to Lombardia just last week, it’s easy to forget just how great the racing has been. Durbo, Southam, and I discuss our favourite wins of the year - some quite obvious ones and some that you might have forgotten about. Then, we go through some quick-fire awards: best kit, worst kit, most overhyped rider, biggest loss to the peloton, and more!

Of course, we’ve got our regular PeloChat - where Durbo rounds up all the retiring riders this year - and Talking Tactics - where old mate Southam gives us the final scores on the doors for this year’s relegation battle, which was thrilling right down to the final day of racing. What does WorldTour promotion mean for UnoX? We’ll have to wait and see…

But, for the season finale, I wanted to give the CommuniQuiz WorldTour status for this episode and let my guests…I mean co-hosts…take a segment each. This is a bumper quiz that’s peppered throughout the episode, so listen closely and play along at home.

Guys, the monthly Communiques have been a real highlight of the year for me. Catching up with Southam and Durbo, having a yarn about the racing, and - of course - some great banter has been great fun, and I hope you can hear how much we love recording these episodes.

Thanks to Tom Southam and Luke Durbridge for joining me every month for these episodes. Their insight and expertise makes the Communique, and I can’t wait to have them back after the off-season to kick off 2026.

Guys, it’s been a hell of a year. Thanks for listening to the Race Communique and all the other podcasts we put out here at Life In The Peloton. Put your feet up tans crack a few frothier this winter, and I’ll speak to you next season.

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I’ll be heading to Adelaide this January for the Santos Tour Down Under - chasing the racing, riding the bunches in the morning, and soaking up all the summer vibes the city has to offer. Hope to see you there.

🎧 Timecodes

• 0:00 Intro
• 08:57 Race Recap & Quickfire Awards - Best kit, worst kit, most overhyped rider & more
• 38:19 Communi-quiz Part 1
• 45:14 World's Quickest Pelo Chat
• 49:47 Communi-quiz Part 2
• 54:47 Talking Tactics - Southam breaks down the relegation battle
• 1:07:29 Communi-quiz Part 3

Cheers,

Mitch