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It’s the most wonderful time of the year… that’s right, it’s our annual podcast episode looking back over the biggest and most bizarre bike-related stories of 2024! Plus some less cheery but nonetheless important town centre cycling ban chat for good measure.

In part one, Ryan, Jack, and Emily, paper party helmets firmly attached, discuss the stories and narratives that jumped out at them during 2024: the UK general election and its impact on cycling so far, the ongoing storms battering the bike industry, the latest wave of aero tech, Tadej Pogačar’s overwhelming dominance and much more.

In part 2, we turn our attentions towards another cycling story that just wouldn’t go away over the last 12 months – town centre cycling bans.

Ryan is joined by one of those activists who successfully stood up to the wardens and caused a rethink in their local council over how they approach so-called ‘anti-social cycling’.

As well as discussing his group’s campaign against the crude and often incorrect implementation of the city’s cycling ban, Will Bramhill from the Colchester Cycling Campaign told the podcast that cycling PSPOs will always prove controversial until the UK fully addresses its decades-long failure in transport policy, which constantly shunts cyclists away from safe spaces and on to dangerous roads alongside motorists.

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With British cycling in turmoil this winter, following the closure of the country’s two remaining UCI Continental teams, this week’s episode of the road.cc Podcast features one rider who’s forging an alternative path through the struggling domestic scene – former Lotto-Soudal pro Matt Holmes.

After hanging up his wheels at the end of 2022, following a three-year spell racing for WorldTour team Lotto-Soudal – which saw him win a Tour Down Under stage and ride some of cycling’s biggest race but which ultimately left him disenchanted with the sport – Holmes returned to racing, with immediate success, in May.

This time, however, as squads continue to fall by the wayside, he’s doing it without a team, as a a fully-fledged privateer – choosing his own calendar, looking after himself before and during races, riding on donated equipment, and seeking out his own sponsors. In 2025, this DIY approach to racing will see him dive headfirst into the gravel scene, while prepping a possible tilt at a team pursuit spot for LA ’28, after an aborted bid to make the Paris team this year.

During an insightful, thoughtful chat, Matt discusses his journey from racing in Britain to the WorldTour and back, adjusting to life after racing, his return as a privateer and how you go about supporting and marketing yourself on your own, the state of the current domestic scene, and why a reset could do British cycling the world of good in the long term.

And in part two, we were joined by one of those sponsors keeping Matt on the road – the co-founders of One Good Thing, the world’s first wrapper-free oat and protein bars for cyclists, father and son Mike and Daniel Bedford, to discuss what inspired OGT’s creation and whether cycling – for all its other environmental credentials – has a litter problem.

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We’ve got a cycling industry and bike tech special for you this week on the podcast, as Factor CEO Rob Gitelis joins us to discuss the brand’s history and the latest cutting-edge tech, before we take a closer (audio) inspection of the brand-new Scott Addict RC.

In part one, Rob joins us from sunny Girona to chat about his journey from racing cyclist to working in Taiwan’s fledgling carbon fibre bike manufacturing industry and making bikes for an array of famous brands.

Rob then traces his journey to Factor, the company’s own growth in recent years – which has seen it win grand tour stages and Olympic gold medals – and how it’s been able to weather the storms of the bike industry’s turbulent post-pandemic period.

He also chats about that infamous Chris Froome bike set-up saga, his partnership with Israel-Premier Tech, the inevitable rise of disc brakes, and why the gold medal-winning track tech we saw in Paris – which Rob claims made the Aussies go three seconds faster – could soon be making its way to a road bike near you.

And in part two, Dave gets up close and personal with the brand spanking new Scott Addict RC, the brand’s new top-end climbing bike weighing in at a featherweight 5.9kg.

Dave is joined by the bike’s product designer Christian Holweck and lead engineer Max Koenen to discuss how you go about making such a light bike, while keeping it comfortable and throwing in a few nods to the aero watchers too.

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Like Sir Chris Hoy, who last month revealed that he has terminal prostate cancer, Kevin Griffiths is determined to turn his own experience of living with stage four cancer into a positive.

The Stoke-based cyclist, who hails from two of Britain’s most revered cycling families, launched the Cancer My Arse initiative this year after discovering that his bowel cancer was terminal, four years on from initially undergoing treatment for the disease.

Inspired, he says, to “create a positive out of a negative”, Griffiths hopes Cancer My Arse will galvanise a global community of fighters, survivors, and supporters to collectively raise significant funds for cancer research and support services, primarily through one simple, very unique, and rather difficult challenge – cycling out of the saddle for as long as possible.

In a moving and inspiring interview, Kev details how he attempted to juggle running a fledgling business with his initial cancer treatment, how he came to terms with his terminal diagnosis, and why he hopes his campaigning – along with the positivity and optimism exuded by Hoy following his own terminal cancer announcement – will change the perception of what life can be like living with stage four cancer.

And in the first part of the podcast, Ryan, Dan, and Emily celebrate Mark Cavendish’s ‘official’ retirement by sharing their favourite moments from the Manx Missile’s storied 18-year pro career. What’s your favourite Cav win? Let us know at podcast@road.cc.

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From 2026, the familiar sights of the Tour de France – the epic mountain ranges, fields of sunflowers, Tadej Pogačar riding off into the distance – will remain the same. But for many cycling fans in the UK, the sounds will be very different.

Next year’s Tour, the 25th edition of the race to be shown live on ITV, will also be the final one to be broadcast on free-to-air television in the UK, after it was announced last week that Warner Bros. Discovery and Eurosport have agreed a new exclusive TV rights deal for cycling’s biggest race from 2026 onwards.

On this week’s episode, ITV’s lead cycling commentator Ned Boulting, who’s been working on the race for the channel since 2003, discusses the sad and poignant end of 40 years of the Tour de France on free-to-air British TV, the news of which he discovered while touring his new show, based on the 1923 edition of the race.

Boulting reflects on why ITV’s long association with the race has come to an end, what effect this will have on the Tour’s viewership within the UK, and his own personal relationship with the race.

He also chats about his new show, the ‘Marginal Mystery Tour: 1923 And All That’, which just so happens to celebrate ITV’s coverage of the Tour de France and why he’s crafted a piece of theatre about cycling and the context in which it takes place.

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When it comes to culture war discourse around cycling, things had become a bit quiet lately. Too quiet.

After a brief period of respite following a general election campaign which saw cycling and active travel largely sacrificed on the so-called ‘War on the Motorist’ altar, the political and ideological conflict surrounding riding a bike kicked into gear again this month, with the Telegraph, Iain Duncan Smith, and even Thames Valley Police fanning the culture war flames with questionable public pronouncements.

So, are the cycling culture wars back? And did they ever go away? Transport and sustainability journalist Carlton Reid and the London Cycling Campaign’s Simon Munk join us to ask why and how cycling become embroiled in the culture wars, assess the role of conspiracy theories and motonormativity in hindering cycling projects and policy, and offer up our own (somewhat ambitious) plans to put a stop to the cycling culture war once and for all.

Oh, and maybe review a very cycling-focused chapter of Boris Johnson’s new book…

And in the Week in Cycling, Ryan and Emily ponder what the future holds for Tom Pidcock, after the British star became embroiled in a transfer saga following his very public falling out with the Ineos Grenadiers.

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Over the past five decades, countless promising young riders have been bestowed and burdened with the tag of being the ‘Next Eddy Merckx’. After an unbeatable 2024, Tadej Pogačar is the first to look even remotely close to matching, or even surpassing, Merckx’s until-now untouchable legacy.

Which is why, since that 100km attack in Zurich, the question has raged on in social media debates, live blogs, and on weekend club rides: Is Pogačar the greatest male cyclist we’ve ever seen?

On episode 88 of the road.cc Podcast, Dan and Ryan dissect the GOAT debate, the folly of comparing different eras, and Merckx’s own flip-flopping position on Pogačar’s place in cycling history.

We also break out the stats to assess how Eddy and Tadej stack up against each other at the same age (spoiler – it’s closer than you think), what the current world champion has to do before he retires to compete for GOAT status, and to what extent Pogačar’s swashbuckling, devil-may-care style, and the brutally dominant manner of his victories, compares against other attacking greats such as Fausto Coppi.

In part two, Ryan and road.cc founder Tony are joined by former GCN presenter and developer Cillian Kelly to discuss current cycling media landscape, why it’s changed (and changing), and whether we should be worried about the future. Oh, and why we miss the good old days of countless cycling magazines filling our local newsagents’ shelves.

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We're coming at you with episode 87 of the road.cc Podcast in association with Hammerhead a whole week early, because... well, Rapha's 'Past Forward' 20-year anniversary bash at the Truman Brewery in London finishes on Sunday 22nd, and going live next week would mean numerous continuity errors in our interview!

Anyway... as well as telling you about where and when you can stop by to take a look at the exhibition celebrating all things Rapha, the brand's co-founder and former CEO Simon Mottram sits down with Ryan and Jack for a wide-ranging interview that goes back to the very beginnings of Rapha in 2004 when a plucky young Mottram rocked up to the Cycling Plus newsroom, where none other than road.cc's co-founder Tony Farrelly was then the editor, to plug a cool new cycling brand (to a rather mixed reception, he claims!)

Despite the reservations of cynical journalists and Cycling Plus forum members at the time, Rapha of course went on to be worn by over a million cyclists, became the kit sponsors to the most successful British road cycling team in history and is one of the most recognisable cycling apparel brands on the planet. Listen for Mottram's take on cycling and fashion, his thoughts on the brand's association with MAMILs, some tense moments with Team Sky and Dave Brailsford and what's coming in the future when it comes to cycling clothing. Enjoy!