Race Radio: Vuelta Pandemonium, Protests, and Podiums

Life in the Peloton, presented by MAAP

Mitch Docker

Fitness, Sports, Wilderness, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 543 Ratings

🗓️ 19 September 2025

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Guys, the Vuelta is over and, well, what a race. My favourite grandy felt a little bit different this year with a huge amount of disruption, tension and uncertainty that meant the racing took a back seat for a lot of people. We saw some unreal rides from Jonas Vingegaard, Tom Pidcock, and utter dominance from UAE Emirates. Holy shit, they were good, chaotic at times, but banked a whole heap of stage wins. The anti-Israel protests that impacted the race so much really shone a light on how fragile and vulnerable bike racing is. There were some hairy moments out there on the road, and – although the bunch made it to Madrid – the riders were robbed of the traditional podium ceremony. But, in this disruption, we saw one of the coolest, old school, grassroots style podiums I’ve ever seen in Pro Cycling. Our British Boys, Harry & Stu, have put together a banger of an episode for this month’s ep of Life In The Peloton’s Race Radio. Here’s what old mate Stu Downie has to say about this month’s Race Radio: With La Vuelta ending in what could be both the best and worst podium we’ve ever seen, we invited our mate Sean Hardy along to chat – why? Because he was in that very car park to witness the madness of the day unfold. Sean has been Lidl-Trek’s photographer for a few years now, earning the trust of the riders – including fan favourite and points jersey winner Mads Pedersen – and making some of the best pictures in racing. We hear about the day, get a severe case of FOMO, and get the lowdown on life in the Lidl-Trek bus. We also consider the history of protest in cycling, talk about racing’s place within wider culture, and wonder aloud when the UCI will do something about the more severe cases of sports washing. A nice light chat to start the weekend, no? Guys, I hope you like this episode as much as I do. I can’t believe we’re coming to the end of the race season, with just the World Champs in Rwanda and Lombardia left to go! Catch up soon, Cheers, Mitch

Transcript

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0:00.0	Harry, how are you? Good, yeah, in that kind of in-between moment between the Valta and the world's got a nice little break and then it's, wow, and then it's, it's rainbows in Africa for the first time. Five thousand meters of climbing in the men's race, do you? Are we going to see, are we going to see a pot, a polka-cha double rainbow? Oh, I saw a double rainbow the other day, which I think was probably
0:22.0	a bit of an omen's, yeah.
0:24.1	It just feel like that Apogachar double rainbow Oh I saw a double rainbow the other day
0:20.9	Which I think was probably
0:22.0	Yeah, a bit of an omens, yeah
0:23.8	It just feel like that at the moment Doesn't it? It's sort of like when you're at a house party And someone opens a door And you kind of get a bit of fresh air And you're like, oh, a bit of release As if you can remember what a house party feels like It's been a while I mean, I've got two children now. I'm not allowed.
0:36.6	Here we go. late. It's been a while. I mean, I've got two children, I'm not allowed. I'm not allowed.
0:40.4	Here we go.
0:47.5	Let's take advantage of this.
0:52.9	I'm Mitch Stocker,
0:57.1	and this is Life and the Peloton's Race Radio.
0:58.9	Over to you.
1:01.3	Hello everyone, I'm Harry.
1:02.0	Joining me as Stu.
1:05.5	Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you are in the world.
1:06.7	Thank you for joining us.
1:09.3	Of course, this is Life in the Pelotons Race Radio, brought to you by Matt.
1:10.9	You probably know by now,
1:16.8	Harry and I like to take a fan's eye view of racing, and what better time to take a fan's eye view of racing, especially from afar because we weren't at the Voilta, but the Vuelta's just finished.
1:21.5	And it was quite unusual. It's been in the press for not the wrong reasons, but for different
1:26.6	reasons. It finished or didn't finish. I suppose it's the first time I can think of where a race hasn't ended, as you'd expect. What do you think about that? Were you disappointed? Yeah, definitely. It's a real downer to not, I think for the riders as well, it's a bit sad, like not to just put the cap on it,
2:03.3	you know, it's just a big DNF at the end. I mean, I guess they all finish the, they get their finish, but they don't get, they don't get that feeling of crossing the line. It's just a damp squib, you call it. And it, yeah, it's a real shame, but it was a very strange, strange race. It's kind of like teetering on the brink for so much of it, the kind of would it, would it, wouldn't it make it?
	...

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