Cyclo-Cross with the G.O.A.T - Sven Nys

Life in the Peloton, presented by MAAP

Mitch Docker

Fitness, Sports, Wilderness, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 543 Ratings

🗓️ 11 October 2023

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We’re getting to the end of the Life in the Peloton season, and I’ve saved a special episode for this week. Just as the long road season winds down, the winter cyclo-cross season is firing up for the year. And you might be asking – what exactly is cyclo-cross racing? To learn a little bit about the sport and its history, I’ve found someone who can talk me through it. But it’s not just any old person, I’ve gone and found the best in the business, the undisputed G.O.A.T – Sven Nys. Sven has an incredible ability to teach and talk about cyclo-cross to literally anyone – from kids right up to pros, and he does it in such a humble and entertaining way. He’s so good at it because he is an absolute champion and a true giant of the sport, the best to have ever thrown a leg over a cyclo-cross bike – or I should probably say to have thrown a cyclo-cross bike over his shoulder. An incredibly dominant rider throughout his career, Sven won literally everything of importance – earning him the nicknames The Cannibal, and the Eddie Merckx of cyclo-cross. At his peak in the 2004 – 2005 season, he did something that no other cyclo-cross rider has ever done, when he took out the National and World Championships, won the Superprestige, and the Gazet van Antwerpen, and finished the season ranked number one in the UCI rankings and the World Cup. He is the only cyclo-cross rider to have achieved this even once, and he went close to repeating the incredible feat in the following season – only just falling short when he crashed in the final lap of the World Championships. It's an absolute privilege to have Sven join me on Life in the Peloton today, I hope you enjoy the listen! Cheers, Mitch

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Well, good-a-goy, guys. Welcome to Life in the Peloton. I'm Mitch Stocker, and we've got a cracking
0:26.5	episode for you. I know I say that all the time, but this one is a very special episode coming up.
0:32.3	The podcast is being brought to you by Raffa. Now, Raffer has been supporting life in the Peloton for the last couple of years because our stories align.
0:41.0	Their purpose is to inspire the world to live life by bike.
0:45.7	They do this first and foremost by creating the world's best cycling clothing,
0:50.1	but also through their films and features to tell cycling stories to inspire people to get out there and ride bikes themselves.
0:58.0	Well guys, as you heard me say at the start, we've got a cracking episode and it is cross season.
1:03.0	It's up and racing. Racing has started. We've just ended the long road season and we're just about to kick off the winter season with cyclocross racing.
1:12.6	Well, what is cyclo-cross racing you might be asking out there? Put simply, it's the form of bike
1:18.9	racing that runs during autumn and winter, but it's off-road. It's normally on a technical
1:24.2	two to three lap, course over grass, could be mud, with obstacles as well. It's all on a technical two to three lap horse over grass could be mud with obstacles as well
1:29.3	it's all on a bike that's not too far from a road bike as well now to learn a little bit
1:35.0	about the history and to help explain all the ins and outs of this sport I not only have
1:39.4	gone away and found someone who can do all that but I've gone and got the best in the business.
1:45.6	Sven Nees.
1:47.5	He has the ability to teach and talk about cyclocross to anyone, and I mean anyone, like kids,
1:53.4	right up to the pros, from the ins and outs, the background.
1:57.9	But that's because he was an absolute champion. He is the best that has ever
2:02.9	thrown a leg over a cyclocross bike, or should I say, thrown a cyclo-cross bike over his
2:07.6	shoulder. I can tell you right now how privileged we are to have him on the podcast, but not only
2:13.4	to be able to chat to him about his amazing career, but to take us through the sport from the
2:18.2	beginning right up until what's going on right now with today's superstars, you know, the Van
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Mitch Docker, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Mitch Docker and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.