The Race Communique - La Vuelta a España edition
Life in the Peloton is proudly brought to you by Rapha We’re back with the third installment of The Race Communique – where we get back to our roots chatting in depth about what’s happening in the pro peloton. This week we’ve got the whole gang back together, with Luke Durbridge, and Tom Southam, both joining me on the pod. I couldn’t wait for this opportunity to really pick apart all the happenings of the Vuelta – and there was a lot to unpack. Of course, the incredible performance by Sepp Kuss, but also the drama surrounding Jumbo’s dominance and team leadership. When has a team last finished top three in a Grand Tour?! We take a deep dive chatting about Jumbo Visma and their incredible dominance this season – winning all three Grand Tours in the same year with different riders, which is virtually unheard of. I get a DS and rider perspective on whether Jumbo made the right call in how they supported Sepp and talk about some of the weirder optics we saw playing out on the road as the team tussled with the decision over ultimate leadership. And on the flipside some underperformances at the Vuelta – what happened to Remco, it wasn’t a terrible performance by any means, but it wasn’t up to expectations - so was it pressure or was it form in the third week? Beyond the Vuelta, we also cover some of the latest advancements in the world of aerodynamics and chat about some of the strange aspects of team culture that play out during transfer season. So, sit back and enjoy this insight into the pro peloton and the world’s biggest races on The Race Communique! Cheers, Mitch