S14 Ep2: Crystal Balls Up
The Cycling Podcast
The Cycling Podcast
4.7 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 23 January 2026
⏱️ 64 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Gather around The Cycling Podcast Féminin crystal ball and try (and mostly likely fail) to take a look into the future of the 2026 road season. Yes it is that time of the year when we bring out our ‘bold’ predictions for the racing ahead. This time the team are taking safety in numbers as Rose Manley is joined by a bumper number of co-hosts in Denny Gray, Rebecca Charlton and Jo Rowsell.
Who will be tipped for success in the Classics? Which rider might be headed for a Giro-Tour double? Who is looking likely for a big bounceback? Before the team inevitably squabble over what is to come, they’ll first be taking a look at how they fared with their predictions last year.
But enough conjecture, the team will also be taking a close look at the first Women’s World Tour race of the season, the Tour Down Under. There’s plenty to talk about after Team UAE-ADQ squandered a three-versus-one advantage over Noemi Ruegg to grant the Swiss rider her second consecutive title at the race. Plus we discuss the recently announced UK Grand Depart for the Tour de France Femmes in 2027.
Also on the agenda: the correct pronunciation of ‘Leeds', giving birth before Gent-Wevelgem and a cheese knife that will turn your family against you.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to the cycling podcast Femina. |
| 0:39.3 | Well, hello listeners. It's already 2026. Can you believe it? Happy New Year, if that's not far, far, far too late to say, things we are at the end of January now. And we've even already had a women's world tour race. Can you believe? Well, we're starting this year on the cycling podcast Feminand with a bit of a, well, I would say a bumper edition, but it's certainly bumper in numbers of presenters anyway, |
| 0:44.8 | because we have me, Rose Manly. |
| 0:46.7 | Not just that, we also have Denny Gray. |
| 0:49.1 | Say hello, Denny. |
| 0:50.4 | Hello, Jenny. |
| 0:54.5 | An old classic. An old classic. |
| 0:55.8 | An old classic, yeah. |
| 0:58.1 | Just like yourself, Denny, of course. |
| 1:01.6 | We have Rebecca Charlton. |
| 1:04.5 | Hello. |
| 1:05.9 | And we have Joe Roussel. |
| 1:08.3 | Hi there. |
| 1:09.4 | I should also say, not only do we have that, |
| 1:12.0 | but Joe is also joined by another presenter. |
| 1:15.5 | I think we can even hear him right now. |
| 1:17.0 | Yes. |
| 1:17.6 | Oliver, baby Oliver. |
| 1:18.7 | Nine month old baby Oliver is safely in a playpen with a variety of toys, |
| 1:23.6 | none of which are anywhere near as interesting as anything that's dangerous. |
| 1:28.7 | So I've kept him safely in there just in the background. So any noise that we hear is him. He's been desperate |
| 1:34.2 | to try and play with the headphones and the mic. That's what you really want to get his hands on. |
... |
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