KM0: Netflix & Hills: Jonathan Vaughters On Where Pro Cycling Goes Next (free for a limited time)
The Cycling Podcast
The Cycling Podcast
4.8 • 2.9K Ratings
🗓️ 13 June 2025
⏱️ 71 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Much of the second half of the episode was about where the sport goes from here, including Jonathan's hope that the One Cycling project might finally give some coherence to the professional sport's structure.
Jonathan asked if we could make this conversation available more widely and so, for a limited time, it will be on our free feed, with our thanks to our Friends of the Podcast subscribers who help to fund our coverage.
Jonathan Vaughters is the general manager of the EF Education-Easy Post team and in this conversation with Lionel Birnie, he begins by talking about the conclusion to the Giro d'Italia. Richard Carparaz finished third overall after that thrilling stage over the Colle delle Finestre but Jonathan explains the tactics were designed with only victory in mind.
From there, it's a freewheeling discussion about the state of pro cycling in 2025. Is Tadej Pogačar's dominance good for the sport, the One Cycling project, the Netflix effect, even the possibility of AI's influence on racing.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This conversation with EF Education Easy Post General Manager Jonathan Vortas was recorded last week |
| 0:05.7 | and was released a few days ago for Friends of the podcast subscribers. |
| 0:10.1 | On Thursday, the sports governing body, the UCI, confirm the race calendars for the men's and women's |
| 0:15.5 | world tours for the next three-year cycle, and the big bit of news was that the One Cycling Project was not included |
| 0:22.0 | in the calendar, effectively kicking it into the long grass, if not killing the idea completely. |
| 0:28.2 | One Cycling, which is backed by a sports-focused arm of the Saudi Arabian Investment Fund, |
| 0:33.2 | had pledged around 250 to 300 million euros, but that investment was dependent on the UCI giving the project approval. |
| 0:41.6 | Anyway, in our conversation, Jonathan talked in depth about the challenges facing the sport |
| 0:46.2 | and his hope that the one cycling project would get off the ground. |
| 0:49.9 | And we discussed the way the pro race calendar had not really been planned, it had just evolved. |
| 0:58.3 | And that led to a lot of the problems that the sport faces on a commercial level. |
| 1:03.4 | Following the UCI's decision, Jonathan was keen that this episode be made available to everyone. |
| 1:06.8 | And so for a limited time, it will be on our free-to-air feed, |
| 1:10.2 | with a big thank you to all of our friends of the podcast subscribers who play such a huge |
| 1:11.3 | part in keeping the cycling podcast going. |
| 1:14.1 | If you'd like to sign up to listen to all of the additional Kilometer Zero episodes and |
| 1:18.0 | support the podcast in the process, you can get a monthly or annual subscription at |
| 1:22.0 | thecyclingpodcast.com. |
| 1:24.0 | Anyway, for a limited time, here's my conversation with Jonathan Vortas. |
| 1:28.8 | Oh, it's important not to let it change you. |
| 1:31.6 | Resist the temptation to totally uproot your life, you know? |
| 1:35.2 | I'll still do all the same things I did before. |
... |
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