Avsnitt
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Beware: this episode of Velo Podcast is a packed one.
Amstel Gold has to be one of the best races of the year, and this year was no exception. While everyone thought Tadej Pogačar was gone, he sat up and started to soft pedal. And instead of blowing it all up at the last climb, Amstel Gold ended up being decided in a three-person sprint. The first two names–Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel–are to be expected. But Mattias Skjelmose? He seemed surprised to even be there, much less that he won.
In this latest episode of the Velo Podcast, we talk about Skjelmose winning Amstel Gold, Mischa Bredewold taking the win at Women's Amstel Gold.
They also preview Liège-Bastogne-Liège and discuss Remco's 100-percent win record at The Old Lady; two starts, two victories! Can he do it again against the likes of Pidcock, Pogi, and Van der Poel? Levy is a believer, whereas Hoody has his money on a certain Slovenian.
And in the tech world, Levy and Tech Editor Alvin Holbrook talk about the newly-released Factor Monza aero bike, his latest gravel bike in for test, and Silca’s Tariff-Limited Electronic Pump.
We told you it would be a packed one!
Topics of discussion:
‘Terrible Cold’ at Flèche Wallonne Reminds Peloton That Mother Nature Is Racing’s Toughest Rival
Pogačar and Vollering vs. the Pack: Can Anyone Stop Another Rout at Liège-Bastogne-Liège?
Giant-Killer Mattias Skjelmose Stuns Pogačar and Evenepoel to Win Amstel Gold Race
The Factor Monza Road Bike Promises Pro-Level Aero and Stiffness at a (More) Accessible Pricepoint
This Week In Tech: Silca’s Tariff-Limited Electronic Pump, Strava’s Strike on Fake KOMs, and Smart Kids Bikes
Cannondale Revives The SuperX Name for Its New Go-Fast Gravel Bike
5 Trends and Takeaways from the 2025 Sea Otter Classic -
Josh, Alvin, and Levy unpack a massive week in tech that includes self-inflating tires winning Paris-Roubaix under a mountain biker, Pogačar's fresh V5RS, and an aero road bike that promises forward thrust in any wind conditions. The guys also dig into Allied's new Able that combines speed and tire clearance, the smart geometry of Norco's redesigned Search, and why (or why not) drop-bar mountain bikes make sense.
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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There isn't anything else like the Queen of the Classics and, if this season so far is anything to go by, we've got an exciting weekend of racing in front of us. The women's field will face the thirty cobbled sectors under the sun on Saturday, while there's a chance of rain and mud for the men on Sunday as Tadej Pogačar aims to be the first reigning Tour de France champion to win the Hell of the North in decades.
Velo's Andrew Hood, Jim Cotton, and Mike Levy sat down to chat about how to ride the cobbles like a pro, Roubaix bike setup, favorites and wildcards, the chances of anyone beating Kopecky in the velodrome (slim), and how van Aert, Pedersen, Ganna, and Van der Poel could tag team Pogi. -
This week's Velo Podcast brings Mike Levy and tech editor Alvin Holbrook together to talk about our favorite trade show: the Taipei Cycle Show.
Velo had Jessie-May Morgan, Shoddy Dave Everett, Alvin, and a video team there to wander all four floors and never-ending aisles that are always packed full of everything from the interesting, exciting, exotic, and maybe even useful to the just plain questionable, and a bunch of stuff in between.
This week, we're talking about some crazy carbon fiber wheels with Mother of Pearl finish on them, whether we should be considering aero crankarms for the gainz, or what about a different crankset that claims to add 50 percent more power to your pedal stroke?
Also up for discussion included some wild new bikes that may or may not exist, and we need to know if the relatively inexpensive Wheeltop and L-Twoo wireless drivetrains from China have finally gotten good enough to consider buying.
If you care about seeing what the future of the bike industry looks like–and what bikes, components, and accessories from Asia look like–you won't want to miss this one.
Topics of discussion
5 Interesting Wheelsets from Taipei Cycle Show
Wheeltop’s Budget Wireless Gravel Groupset Looks Ready to Challenge SRAM and Shimano
Randoms, Part 1
Taipei Cycle Show on video, including those cranks claiming 50 percent increased power
We Got Our Hands On the Chinese Bike That’s Sponsoring a WorldTour Team
Overfast Brought a Wild New Aero Crankset and a Sub-1000-Gram Road Wheelset
Forbidden Fruit: Tech Finds at Taipei Cycle Show That Could Rival the Industry’s Best
Why This Carbon Fiber Kids’ Bike Signals the Future of Bike Tech
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Can a $600 pair of shoes really be worth the price? Surely not... but also maybe, depending on who you ask.
Today's show sees tech editor Josh Ross and Mike Levy talk about Specialized's new S-Works Ares 2 shoe, as well as how to test expensive bikes and gear, and how relevant that pricey equipment may — or may not — be for many riders who have different priorities. -
Here's a burning question we've had for quite some time: should your bike complement your strengths or shore up your weaknesses?
Wait, hear us out! We thought about the best bikes we've ridden, and there's always something in common: they make us feel superhuman. But what about that that bike makes you feel that way? Is it how it makes up for your weaknesses on the descents, or is it how it only amplifies what you're the best at?
We have a bit of an argument here, with some of us believing a bike needs to focus on rider weaknesses, while others would rather their bikes help them feel better about what they're doing.
Along the way, we talk about Litespeed's new titanium road bike, which they claim is the lightest titanium frame yet. Then, we get nostalgic about old Cannondales as we talk about the latest Topstone Carbon ahead of its launch
Ah, and as we should, we talk about a big crash that happened while filming our first-ever Velo Field Test. Don't tell us we don't make sacrifices for this job!
Listen to the latest episode of the Velo Podcast below. -
Bike racing is back! With the UAE Tour and Volta in the rearview mirror, it's time to jump feet first into what looks to be an epic Classics season that kicked off with Omloop and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne. Then, it was off to the rolling white roads of Italy's Chianti region for the Strade Bianche, where the women's race climaxed with a duel between Demi Vollering and Anna van der Breggen up the steep final wall better known as Via Santa Caterina. And if you were watching the men's race and waiting to see if Tadej Pogačar could best last year's 80km solo breakaway for victory, he did exactly that but in a very different way, overcoming what looked like a serious crash to notch up his third Strade victory.
Today's podcast sees Mike Levy chat with Andrew Hood and Jim Cotton about what makes the Classics so special, how Pogačar could win Milano-Sanremo, and why more people need to think like Tom Pidcock. -
Some of the Velo team is in the midst of gearing up for a field test, where we're testing all-road bikes and comparing them against a traditional racey road bike and a gravel bike. Between all the testing and riding we're doing, it's got us wondering what the heck is an all-road bike, anyway?
Yeah, yeah, all-road bikes are supposed to bridge the gap between the race road bikes and the performance gravel bikes. They tend to offer more upright body positioning, handling that skews toward safe rather than agile, and often include some sort of feature that promises to dampen road vibrations.
But where did the all-road name even come from? How did we lose the phrase 'endurance road bike' along the way? And perhaps most importantly, is a gravel bike the right bike if you're looking for an all-road bike?
Along the way, we chat about Jim Cotton's excellent story on how breathing sensors are poised to blow up bike racing and why a breathing sensor is a much more reliable indicator of effort and output. We also dig into why Lidl-Trek raced on a SRAM gravel groupset at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
We dug in on this latest episode of the Velo Podcast, and we hope you enjoy digging in, too.
See the latest in cycling on Velo: velo.outsideonline.com
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Today's bikes are really, really good. That doesn't mean we don't have major pet peeves, however. Proprietary seat posts and stems, are an easy one, as are companies cheaping out on bolts and bearings. But we went further, talking about the bike industry's propensity to push bikes on us that don't help riders address their weaknesses, and perhaps most importantly, how we wish the bike industry solved these issues.
Look, we said the bikes are good. We didn't say they were perfect!
In the news, we talk about Devinci's latest Hatchet Pro gravel bike that is a whole lot more racey than we'd expect. Is Hope Tech's new carbon gravel crank with a foam core going to be any good? And we talk about why Josh isn't going to stop waxing his chain any time soon.
All that and more in the latest Velo Podcast. See more: velo.outsideonline.com/featured -
If you grew up or currently live and ride bikes in a town with any sort of population, we bet there’s either a group ride of some sort that just happened or will be happening in a few days.
Maybe it starts from the local bike shop, or maybe it starts from the go-to coffee shop. Some rides are a chill Sunday spin that's gone on uninterrupted for the past two decades, while others are the three-hour World Championship ride with 50 of the local meatheads.
We do our best to define these group tries, describe what motivates these rides, and how to find your ideal group ride, even if that means starting one yourself.
Of course, we also dig into the news. That means talking about how the UCI handed out a last-minute ban on a Kask helmet visor that the Ineos Grenadiers have used for years, and talking to the team to find out what happened.
Then came the sealant conversation. Silca is so certain of its sealant working headache-free that the brand has promised to pay a $500 Bad Day Bonus to its sponsored athletes who get punctures that don’t seal. We dove into why it is so confident in its new Ultimate Sealant.
All of that and more in the latest podcast!
See more from Velo: https://velo.outsideonline.com/featured -
Host Mike Levy has a hot take — or is it Senior Tech Editor Josh Ross who has the hot take? Find out this week as we debate the merits of aero road bikes.
And first, we take a closer look at Classified's patent on a self charging shifting system that could make the burgeoning alternative drivetrain maker's offering a whole lot simpler to live with. -
Mike Levy sits down with Dan Sommer, owner of Jack's Cycle, to talk about the realities of running a bike shop.
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If you're listening to this, there's a pretty good chance that you love to ride your bike. That can manifest itself in all sorts of different ways. Some of you like to do shuttle runs with your buddies on the weekend or go to the bike park. Some of you like to pedal up the hill. Some of you like to go down the hill. Some of you like to race your bike for a few hours. And some of you… Well, some of you like to race your bike for over 4,000 kilometers through sand, snow, hopefully, more than a little bit of sun, and everything else in between.
Today, Mike Levy talks to Meaghan Hackinen. Meaghan won the 2024 Tour Divide, and she's also a two-time 24-hour world time trial champion, which sounds absolutely insane. We're going to talk about those things, and we're also going to get to sleeping alone in grizzly country, waking up to a scorpion, strategies for doing these ultra-distance events by yourself, and I might have even slipped in a UFO question or two.
Meaghan Hackinen isn't just an adventure seeker; she's a heck of a writer, too. Find her latest work here: meaghanhackinen.com
Read an abbreviated transcript and see a whole bunch of photos here: velo.outsideonline.com/gravel/gravel-culture/velo-podcast-meaghan-hackinen/
See more on Velo: velo.outsideonline.com/featured -
In this latest podcast, we're talking about winter riding from two different perspectives: the tips and tricks we’ve learned to stay warm during those cold rides, but also how to make your indoor riding suck the least amount possible on those days when you say, “Nah, I’ll just stay inside.”
Besides that, we also get into the news. We dive into the latest 2024 UCI Crash Statistics report and some low-hanging fruit solutions to make road racing safer. Alvin talks about why CES 2025 matters if you're a bike nerd, even if they call it 'personal transportation.' Then there's a breakdown of what the latest SRAM Force AXS leak could mean in the near future, and all of our latest gear on test.
Stories we reference:
‘35% Rider Error’: UCI Issues Intriguing Crash Statistics, Presses Pause on Gear Restrictions, Airbags - https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-racing/35-rider-error-uci-issues-intriguing-crash-statistics/
Vaporware or Gamechanger? The Bike Tech from the CES Show 2025 - https://velo.outsideonline.com/news/vaporware-or-gamechanger-the-bike-tech-from-the-ces-show-2025/
Spotted: Is an Updated SRAM Force AXS Groupset Coming Soon? - https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-gear/spotted-updated-sram-force-axs-groupset/
See the latest from Velo: https://velo.outsideonline.com/featured -
Will checks in from Australia at the Tour Down Under to fill us in on what has been going on in the women's race as well as the latest tech.
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Will is on a plane going to the Tour Down Under, so it makes perfect sense that we have Senior Tech Editor Josh Ross in to talk all about marsupial pouches on bikes... right?
Today's conversation was all about our worst rides of 2024. Alvin got a series of unfortunate flat tires. Josh went to bonktown and back. And Levy? He had some serious GI issues that forced him into a hotel room.
We also talk about the untimely death of the NCL (National Cycling League), our experiences with AI coaching on the bike, a new carbon adventure gravel fork from No. 6, and a whole lot more. This one's a bit longer than normal, but we had a lot of fun with it, and we hope you will too!
Visit Velo here - https://velo.outsideonline.com/featured
How a LinkedIn post spelled demise for the NCL - https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-racing/the-national-cycling-league-is-officially-dead/
Our experiences with an AI coach - https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-gear/review-coachcat-ai-cycling-coach/
All about that new carbon gravel fork - https://velo.outsideonline.com/gravel/gravel-gear/no-6s-new-carbon-adventure-fork-hits-the-sweet-spot/ -
This week on the Velo Podcast, host Mike Levy is back with Alvin Holbrook and Will Tracy for the first official video podcast of 2025, and this week it’s all about reflecting on our favorite rides of the past year.
A favorite ride doesn’t have to be the longest, hardest, or have any certain superlative attached to it — it just has to be memorable in one way or another. But before recounting our favorite rides, which range from dream routes in far-flung locations to an overnight solo expedition, we discuss some news.
Are AI coaching tools coming for the jobs of cycling coaches? We discuss Jim Cotton’s story about Team UAE's new AI tool called Anna, and the implications it may have on training and race strategies.
In the world of cyclocross racing, the defending world champion Mathieu van der Poel is still out with a bruised rib, while Wout van Aert is back to his winning ways. How are things shaping up weeks out from the world championship?
And Betsy Welch has a story about politics in bike lanes in Toronto. A premier wants to take away bike lanes — but a video game designer is fighting back.
Alvin also fills us in on what’s in the test pipeline for him: including an inflatable helmet and a gravel Brompton. -
This week on the Velo Podcast, we have something a little different for you as former Pinkbike editor extraordinaire Mike Levy joins the show to talk gravel and road bikes.
Some of you are no doubt asking yourself right now: “Wait, isn’t he the mountain bike guy?”
Right you are. He’s a multi-faceted person though who has spent the last year exclusively riding road and gravel bikes and has fallen in love with the drop-bar world, taking on some monster rides along the way and learning what a carb is.
In this special episode of the podcast, Levy is joined by yours truly Will Tracy, and tech editor Alvin Holbrook to discuss the pressing issues of our times in gravel and road biking.
We start out with a discussion of some of the latest news, including what a possible SRAM smart trainer means for the market, the transition of Astana to Chinese manufacturer XDS bikes, and Alvin's review of the Factor Ostro VAM.
Other topics include the emergence of carbon spokes and their impact on performance, as well as the unique features of the Kona Ouroboros and Santa Cruz Stigmata gravel bikes that the team has been riding recently.
Finally, we get to the main segment: reflections on personal cycling experiences and the lessons learned throughout the year. We learned a lot on the bike in 2024 (or so we like to think) including knowing when to quit or solider on and how to maintain and in some cases rekindle the joy of cycling, as well as the importance of proper nutrition and fueling and the supportive community found in cycling. -
Colnago has unveiled its first aero model in a long time, and it's turning heads. Called the Y1Rs, it's claimed to be the fastest bike in the pro peloton in part due to taking advantage of recently relaxed UCI rules on bike design. It's sure to provide an advantage to the likes of Tadej Pogačar this upcoming road season.
Our tech team talked to Colnago about the new design and is here to break down this futuristic, and polarizing, design.
Later on the episode, Alvin Holbrook shares his thoughts on a road bike he just reviewed that he describes as the antithesis of Colnago's new aero bike, and our tech editors preview their upcoming articles. -
This week on the Velo Podcast, host Will Tracy is joined by European correspondent Andrew Hood and retired pro Bobby Julich to discuss the best races, athletes, and moments of the 2024 pro road cycling season.
What were the best grand tours and classics? Who had a standout year or reached that next level? Who had the grittiest performance? And of course, who were the best riders of the year? We bring our top picks as we look back on another great season of road cycling. Then, we cap things off with a discussion of our favorite heavy handed UCI moments of the year.
We also start with a discussion of some top news stories of the week, including Tadej Pogačar’s record setting new contract and the rider setting Strava KOMs who’s searching for a pro contract. - Visa fler
