Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.

My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.

As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable

experts and genuinely engaging voices. What you may not know is that the BBC

makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,

poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.

If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds.

Hello and welcome to more or less on the BBC World Service with me, Charlotte McDonald.

We're your guide to the numbers in the news and this week

we're your guide to the numbers in the sporting news. Specifically the

cycling news.

Yes, it's Tour de France time. Yes, it's Tour de France time.

Lots of skinny men cycling extremely fast past shadows and fields of

sunflowers. It's an incredible physical challenge. Three weeks of cycling,

3,500 kilometers. They spend days and days riding up and down some of Europe's biggest mountains.

They seem almost superhuman.

But can we use numbers to work out how much better they are than ordinary cyclists, or even

super keen amateurs who spend their weekends in Lycra?

We contacted a man who knows his way around data and cycling.

He's Michael Hutchinson, a former British time trial champion, a journalist,

and he even has a doctorate in law. So I asked Dr Hutchinson, how do you work out how much better pros are than

amateurs? It's not as straightforward as you would hope because there aren't very

...