2. The road season gets underway
January 28 | The season has kicked off and, in the latest Telegraph Cycling Podcast, Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe discuss the opening events in Australia and Argentina.
At the Tour Down Under in Adelaide Simon Gerrans took his fourth win and Caleb Ewan confirmed his promise as a sprinter – prompting the podcast team to ask, is he quick enough to beat Mark Cavendish and Marcel Kittel? At the Tour de San Luis in Argentina, meanwhile, another young rider, Dayer Quintana upstaged his more famous older brother, Nairo, to win the Tour de San Luis.
But crashes have been in the news as much as victories. Richard was at the Giant-Alpecin training camp in southern Spain when six of their riders were involved in an horrific head-on collision with a car on Saturday. Paris-Roubaix and Milan-San Remo winner John Degenkolb was one of those seriously injured, along with French star Warren Barguil and American climber Chad Haga. Richard reports on their teammates' shock in the aftermath and discusses how the incident might affect one of the sport’s most admired teams in the coming weeks and months.
Before the crash, Daniel had been at the Giant-Alpecin launch in Berlin and we have interviews with their new signing, Laurens ten Dam, and a rider who has been described as “the fastest lead-out man in the world,” Tom Veelers.
The Telegraph Cycling Podcast is supported by Trainer Road.