Brother UK Cycling Podcast - 2022 Women's Tour Review

June represents peak season on the elite British road racing calendar: a fact reflected in this packed edition of the Brother UK Cycling Podcast. 

Co-hosts Timothy John and Phil Jones MBE, the Managing Director of Brother UK, are joined by VeloUK editor Larry Hickmott to look back on the Women’s Tour and look ahead to the Women’s CiCLE Classic and National Road and Time-Trial Championships. 

Further input comes from Becky Storrie (CAMS-Basso), who was crowned best British rider at the Women’s Tour, from Dr Carlos Ludlow-Palafox, the CEO and founder of recycling firm Enval, from Colin Clews, the race director and founder of the CiCLE Classic, and from Mark Botteley, the manager of Team Brother UK-Orientation Marketing. 

In a wide-ranging discussion, Tim, Phil and Larry reflect on the Women’s Tour’s closest-ever finish and the effect on the race of tactics, time bonuses and a gruelling parcours. Did the Trek-Segafredo team of winner Elisa Longo-Borghini clinch her one-second victory with dominant riding? Or were the questionable tactics of the FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine team a contributing factor to their leader, Grace Brown, finishing as runner-up? 

Becky Storrie’s emerging brilliance offers a more straightforward topic. The 23-year-old, who began her career with the Brother UK-OnForm development team, shone on the queen stage of the Women’s Tour by matching the strongest riders in the world on the cruel gradients of Black Mountain. Who better to describe the demands of the race and the challenges and opportunities of progressing from the domestic scene to the Women’s WorldTour than Becky? 

Brother UK’s sponsorship of the race’s Green Zones opens another fascinating topic for discussion - recycling, sustainability and the circular economy - and how each of these aligned areas is likely to have a growing effect on professional cycling. Dr Ludlow-Palafox shares the importance of the circular economy to his company. As a recycler of flexible plastics, including the gel wrappers collected from the Brother UK-sponsored Green Zones, Enval is on the frontline of a critical debate.

Phil shares reports from inside the peloton on the impact of Brexit on the movement of British riders seeking to establish careers in mainland Europe, while Larry reveals that the impacts of Covid are still felt by British teams whose rosters are being decimated by infections among their athletes. Elite British road racing, it seems, is not immune from the wider issues that shape our lives. 

The Women’s CiCLE Classic is a case in point: a race that almost folded when its principal backer decided to withhold further funds in a dispute with British Cycling over its policy on transgender cyclists. Crowdfunding and a new sponsor gained from the publicity generated by the stand-off saved the race, but did the threat posed to the Women’s CiCLE Classic only underline the fragility of cycling’s economic model?

British Cycling’s National Road and Time-Trial Championships offer a chance to consider Britain’s strongest riders. Phil, Larry and Tim consider every angle, from the course to the contenders to disciplines ranging from circuit races to time-trials. Can Dumfries and Galloway and the championships’ first foray north of the border in nearly 10 years match last year’s spectacle in Lincoln? And should the federation have stuck with last year’s end-of-season calendar slot? Our experts debate the issues. 

Listen now to episode 19 of the Brother UK Cycling Podcast for informed debate among expert witnesses. Subscribe via your podcast provider and never miss another episode.