Cycling Odysseys

"Yes, yes, in much the same way how some now think the Giro-Tour double is back to being impossible or at least shall never be done again because of the steep competition, so some thought Liege-Bastogne-Liege would never again be won on La Redoute. Ah! But surely no reasonable limits can bound Titans when they Clash in the Second Golden Age of Cycling."

"There was no way to lay back in the armchair at ease, most viewing must have been bolt upright with every muscle tensed. It was a beautiful moment where the primal senses and instincts of Man were fused with modern gamesmanship and technology in the heat of a cunning competition that was as epic as any quest or gladiatorial melee of forgotten yore. (An Author’s Note: Why, O! Why, can’t such stakes ever be felt at Average Amstel?). "

"Allow me to introduce another award....I draw upon the idea of Ace Fighter Pilots."

Must watch before listing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ru3vGR8nck&t=336s

"It had not been seen for a generation, but finally in this Autumnal edition it commenced once more: a muddy Roubaix. There are very few sporting events guaranteed to be compelling drama and griping viewing, but a muddy Paris-Roubaix, a proper Sunday in Hell, is one of them."

"To peel back the deeper dramatic narrative layers of a Monument or a Grand Tour is easier than peeling an onion, but for certain Classics like Average Amstel I find that deeper-narrative-peeling-process to be rougher than shucking corn. Perhaps this is a “Me” problem, but I can’t recall anyone else drawing out a compelling narrative from Average Amstel either (save in 2019)."

"Scheldeprijs is a weird race for me, I don’t exactly understand where it fits and how to classify it, or perhaps it has multiple identities. Sometimes it acts as a bona fide Flandrien Cobbled Classic and is won by the likes of Peter Van Petegem or Servais Knaven, despite being very flat near Antwerp and the Dutch border with relatively benign cobbled sectors. And sometimes it really does act like the unofficial sprinters’ world championships...It was only with 24 hours’ digestion after its 2022 completion that I even decided to cover Scheldeprijs this year, because the winner made me smile, and embodied this dividing line classification conundrum."

"They had Clashed like Titans creating earthquakes and thunderstorms for the past 50km in front of the best fans in cycling who ate up every minute of it and brought the best of these Titans themselves. It had been an epic battle for which this podcast was exactly created to commemorate."

"Yes, this is the beauty of cycling: no race is the same.....Even this race’s half-brother, the Volta a Catalunya will be highly distinguishable from this one—none would ever mistake Catalunya’s High Mountain days with the spicy hills of this region.....Of course I speak of a race that grows all viewing hearts bigger: the Itzulia the locals now call it, having rejected the Spanish Pais Vasco title, in English we call it the Tour of the Basque Country."

"It is the Flemish people that still hold the crown of greatest cycling fans. These are the people who come out in force to cheer on the Monument passing near their towns. These are the people who all tune in so well to such a Monument that it gets better ratings than the Americans’ Superbowl: surely, the figures would be 100% of Flemish viewers if such a large share of their population did not watch from the roadside in person."