Cyclist Magazine Podcast

This week Will and James are joined by Castelli and Sportful’s global brand manager, Steve Smith. Steve grew up in Portland, USA, where he – like most of the city he says – worked for Nike for 10 years. But in 2000 he decided to make a bold move to Italy, to live the bella vita with a job at Sportful. Four years later parent company Manifattura Valcismon bought Castelli, and in the years since Steve and his team have been responsible for some of the biggest game-changers in cycling, from creating some of the earliest, wind-tunnel designed aero kit to the now infamous Castelli Gabba, which revolutionised foul weather cycling gear and spawned a whole new genre of clothing along the way.

In this chat, Steve explains how those early aero jerseys sparked a mutiny within Castelli’s sponsored pros; the day Castelli blew everyone’s minds – including the race commissaires – with turquoise shorts; what the fastest kit would really look like if riders could only put it on properly; what changes in the law around PFC chemicals have really meant for cycling clothing; and how waterproof kit actually works – and why some jackets lose it, while others will be waterproof forever.

Our chat with Steve begins at 10.34

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This episode is brought to you by the Hammerhead Karoo GPS bike computer. Visit hammerhead.io and use the code CYCLIST to get a free HR strap with every purchase (just be sure to add the strap to your cart then apply the code at checkout)

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Did you know Cyclist is also stunning monthly print magazine?
Subscribe now at store.cyclist.co.uk/cycpod and get every issue for less than in the shops, delivered straight to your door
And it's also a rather lovely website about everything road cycling and gravel. Check us out at cyclist.co.uk
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Robyn and James are joined by WorldTour pro Zoe Bäckstedt. Born in 2004 in Pontyclun, Wales to British track champion Megan Hughes and Paris-Roubaix winner Magnus Bäckstedt, there were only two ways Zoe’s life (and sister Elynor’s for that matter) could have gone – cycling or cycling. So she burst onto the scene as a teenager, winning multiple junior world titles in road, track and cyclocross, before turning pro with EF Education-Tibco-SVB in 2022.

The following season saw her big move to Canyon//Sram zondacrypto, where she took her first pro win a season later with a stage at the Simac Ladies Tour. A string of top results and showings has followed across all three cycling disciplines, but at just 21 years old, colleagues, managers and pundits are all sure of one thing: Zoe’s best is yet to come.

In this episode, Zoe talks about how her multi-discipline abilities have converged on Classics specialist; how dad Magnus and mum Megan have made her the rider she is, along with the British rain; why, despite the chaos and carnage, Paris-Roubaix is still her favourite race; and just how difficult it is to play boardgames in a family that's so competitive.

Zoe's chat begins at 7.38

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This episode is brought to you by the Hammerhead Karoo GPS bike computer. Visit hammerhead.io and use the code CYCLIST to get a free HR strap with every purchase (just be sure to add the strap to your cart then apply the code at checkout)

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Did you know Cyclist is also stunning monthly print magazine?
Subscribe now at store.cyclist.co.uk/cycpod and get every issue for less than in the shops, delivered straight to your door
And it's also a rather lovely website about everything road cycling and gravel. Check us out at cyclist.co.uk
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's guest is Pieter Potters, R&D manager at Belgian Cycling Factory, the group that owns Eddy Merckx Cycles and Ridley Bikes. For nearly six years Pieter has been at the centre of designing cutting edge road and gravel bikes, including the recent Ridley Noah Fast 3.0, which features a new kind of geometry that many see poised to change the game - think steep seat tubes, short cranks and aggressive forward positioning of the rider (don't worry, Pieter explains it better).
Pieter is also in charge designing Eddy Merckx bikes, so here he discusses plans to rejuvenate that once great marque, along with answering questions around how much input pro-riders really have into the bikes they ride, how to design bikes for the modern age, how to negotiate potentially ruinous UCI rule changes, and that perennial question, just why are bikes so expensive?

Interview begins at

This episode is brought to you by the Hammerhead Karoo GPS bike computer. Visit hammerhead.io and use the code CYCLIST to get a free HR strap with every purchase (just be sure to add the strap to your cart then apply the code at checkout)

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Did you know Cyclist is also stunning monthly print magazine?
Subscribe now at store.cyclist.co.uk/cycpod and get every issue for less than in the shops, delivered straight to your door
And it's also a rather lovely website about everything road cycling and gravel. Check us out at cyclist.co.uk
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, James and Will are joined by Scottish ex-pro turned team manager, commentator and pundit, Brian Smith.

Brian cut his teeth in the 1980s at the school of cycling hardknocks, ACBB – Athletic Club de Boulogne-Billancourt – in Paris, whose alumni include Jacques Anquetil, Stephen Roche and Pippa York, before turning pro with the legendary British Banana team in 1991. Three successful seasons followed including his first British national road race title, which led to Brian catching the eye of the Motorola team bosses. He signed for the American outfit in 1994, and went on to race alongside Lance Armstrong, Andy Hampsten and Phil Anderson. Brian won his second British national road race title that same year, but as we discuss in our chat, despite such success he found himself disillusioned and on the outside of a sport he loved as cycling embroiled itself in its darkest doping years – something Brian wanted no part of. He hung up his racing wheels in 1996 but returned to the pro-peloton in 2011 as directeur sportif for Endura Racing, where he stayed as it evolved into MTN-Qhubeka then Dimension Data, before retiring in 2014.

Today, Brian can be found with a microphone in hand as a commentator and pundit for Eurosport, and among other parts of that job, Brian discusses his love of commentating and watching the lesser-known Tour of Hellas, a five-stage race around Greece which this year takes place between 6th and 10th of May, so keep an eye out for that one.

There are probably few people with as much experience across the last four decades of cycling as Brian, and certainly few people who talk so candidly about everything from being invited into 'the program' by Lance Armstrong, to having a snake thrown into his shower by Shane Sutton. So get the kettle, pin back your lugholes and listen to this one.

Interview begins at 3.44

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The Tour of Hellas in Greece is a five stage race taking place from 6th - 10th May 2026. Find out more here, and check in with wherever you watch your cycling for broadcast times
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This episode is brought to you by the Hammerhead Karoo GPS bike computer. Visit hammerhead.io and use the code CYCLIST to get a free HR strap with every purchase (just be sure to add the strap to your cart then apply the code at checkout)

------------------

Did you know Cyclist is also stunning monthly print magazine?
Subscribe now at store.cyclist.co.uk/cycpod and get every issue for less than in the shops, delivered straight to your door
And it's also a rather lovely website about everything road cycling and gravel. Check us out at cyclist.co.uk
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, James is joined by Lee Donaldson, filmmaker and passionate cycling fan, to discuss his upcoming documentary 525: The Unstoppable Eddy Merckx. Lee describes 525 as having ‘the greatest cast of racing champions ever seen in a cycling documentary', and it's hard to disagree. Contributors include Mark Cavendish, Bradley Wiggins, Lotte Kopecky, Bernard Hinault, Sean Kelly, Roger De Vlaeminck, fashion designer Paul Smith and Merckx's old mechanic, Ernesto Colnago, plus Eddy Merckx’s family and, of course, the man himself.

As you might have guessed, Lee now has an encyclopaedic knowledge of The Cannibal to rival his personal passion, so plug in, sit back and enjoy our Merckx-centric chat, which covers everything from Merckx's insane Grand Tour performances, to his tragic crash in Blois, to what it was like going to lunch with the main man.

Interview begins at 3.44

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525: The Unstoppable Eddy Merckx is produced by Lee Donaldson and Simon Hardy's 6 Day Films. Find out more, including where you can watch it, here.

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This episode is brought to you by the Hammerhead Karoo GPS bike computer. Visit hammerhead.io and use the code CYCLIST to get a free HR strap with every purchase (just be sure to add the strap to your cart then apply the code at checkout)

------------------

Did you know Cyclist is also stunning monthly print magazine?
Subscribe now at store.cyclist.co.uk/cycpod and get every issue for less than in the shops, delivered straight to your door
And it's also a rather lovely website about everything road cycling and gravel. Check us out at cyclist.co.uk
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.