End of the world as we knew it

Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe look back at Paris-Nice, the last World Tour stage race before coronavirus brought the world to a halt.

In stage 13 of Our Giro we hear from Max Schachmann of Bora-Hansgrohe who was in sparkling form this spring, finishing second at the Volta ao Algarve before winning Paris-Nice, which made its way to the French Riviera as Europe was on the verge of lockdown. The race continued in surreal circumstances, as Daniel describes in this episode, and was curtailed a day short.

Schachmann – who won a stage of the 2018 Giro at Prato Nevoso the day before Chris Froome attacked and cracked Simon Yates – talks about Paris-Nice, how he hoped to capitalise on his excellent spring form and what the future holds when racing returns.

We also hear from Andrea Agostini, chief operating officer of UAE Team Emirates, who was in the UAE as the virus began to spread among riders and people working on the race. Agostini was hospitalised in the UAE before recovering enough to return home.

This episode also reveals the next member of Ciro Scognamiglio’s Giro Dream Team, and there’ll be few surprises about who he has chosen as team leader.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by iwoca and Science In Sport.

COMING TOMORROW
We look at the art and psychology of descending and talk about editions of the Giro d’Italia that have been won by going downhill fast.

LIFE IN THE PELOTON
While we’ve been doing Our Giro, Mitch Docker and his old Orica-GreenEdge teammates have been remembering Their Giro when they won the opening team time trial of the 2014 race in Belfast.

WATCH OUR FIRST FILM

Our first film, And So We Rode… is available for Friends of the Podcast to watch now. This is the story of Larry Warbasse and Conor Dunne packing their bags and going on a bikepacking trip in the French and Italian Alps after their pro team Aqua Blue Sport folded mid-season. It costs £15 to sign up as a Friend of the Podcast and you will be able to watch the film as well as listen to all our special episodes. thecyclingpodcast.com/join

iwoca became The Cycling Podcast’s title sponsors in March 2020. Iwoca specialises in supporting small businesses and can lend between £1,000 and £250,000. Applications can take only a few minutes to complete and they promise a fast and fair decision. To find out more, go to iwoca.co.uk

Science In Sport is The Cycling Podcast’s longest-standing supporter. It’s a relationship that stretches back to…