World Championships, Record Breakers, and Cycling Legends

Welcome back! After some well-deserved international travel, Joel, Katey Henk Vogels  and Merckxy reunite in the Wheelhouse bunker. They share their recent travel stories, with Henk detailing the extreme heat conditions faced during races in China, including extreme temperature protocols and the challenges riders faced.

The team also discusses the upcoming World Championships in Zurich, with insights into key contenders like Pogacar, Van der Poel, and Michael Matthews. They delve into the dynamics of national teams versus trade teams and highlight the potential for history-making performances from riders like Demi Vollering and Lotte Kopecky.

Kate shares her experience at Amy's Gran Fondo, discussing the evolving nature of the race and the spirit of having pace partners. The team also talks about the importance of the World Championships, the dynamics of time trials, and Grace Brown's quest for the rainbow jersey.

Additionally, the episode covers young Australian talents making their mark, contract updates, and the excitement around the Tour de France starting in Britain in 2027. The team also highlights the inspiring journey of Lachie Morton and the incredible achievement of Lael Wilcox, who cycled around the world.

Join us for an engaging and insightful episode as we traverse the world of cycling, from extreme heat races to championship previews and inspiring long-distance feats.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Good to go here. You're looking very tanned. Yeah, I'm just going through my
notes and trying to remember how to read again.
A week on the beach in Thailand, two weeks on the beach in Thailand and you're
done. Forgot everything. Your literacy out the window.
Numeracy, literacy, logic, all of it has been amazing, but it's good to be back
in the wheelhouse bunker as we go around again. My name's Joel Sprebarra.

(00:23):
Katerina Barthez. Bonjour. Bonjour. I'm sure. Hank Vogel's also back from international
travel, looking like you're sporting a bit of a, well, you know,
a little bit of a tan as well, mate. Yes, it was a tad warmish over there.
Yeah? China? A tad warmish in China, I can tell you.
Never had any heat like that in my entire life, so I'm happy to be in the air-conditioned
bunker. Hold on, what are we talking?

(00:44):
30 night, midnight, between 40 and 46 in the race, and sometimes we had well
over, and I took a few photos with my phone in the car, and it was like...
50, 48 degrees. Dry heat or humid? Wet.
Is there a mercy rule for your riders? Well, they enacted the UCI. They enacted the rules.

(01:05):
They shorted four days out of 11 because of the heat, and they lopped off a
third of the race on four days. So extreme temperature protocols. Yeah, yeah.
Was it humid, Hank? It was gross. Was there any chafing?
There was lots of chafing, lots of wet. I actually took two T-shirts in the
race car because I had to get changed before the race. Otherwise I was sitting in a wet car.

(01:28):
So it was, and you know, like I'm complaining, I'm sitting in an Audi S4 with
air conditioning, but the boys had to race a hundred, 130 K a day.
But we went through a hundred water bottles and eight bags of ice, three Eskys in the car.
We emptied them every day. How did they come to the conclusion other than the
bleedingly obvious that they needed to be shortened?

(01:50):
Like, was there an official protocol for doing that?
Or did you just find out on the start line? Well, the actual UCI commissaires
actually just called a meeting and said, this is out of control.
We can't, this is bullshit. Like we need to, this is way too hot.
Yeah, they were having a schvitz in their commissaires booth.
Exactly. So, and, and seriously, like when you're in the convoy,

(02:12):
it was like feeding time at the zoo.
So there was like 10 cars trying to run each other over to get to their riders
to feed them. And, you know, we had a full esky ice socks.
So they had four lots of ice socks in the race.
Putting full bottles of cold ice water over them. We're just trying to keep them very, very...
Very cool. Their core temperature is out of control. Like over 40 degrees and

(02:35):
they're racing at 180 beats a minute.
It was, yeah, I felt bad for them. So that's, especially when I put the window
up and turn the AC on as a DS, because I've done my time of doing that.
Gave them a little wave. I mean, women's pantyhose are kind of going out of
fashion, but. Not in China.
Not, well, not in bike racing. Well, I bought five. That's what you feel with
ice, right? I bought 500 pairs of ladies ankle socks.

(02:58):
Like. Like pantyhose socks. They're about $35 Australian for 500 pairs.
So there's 1,000 of them. We went through half of them. Are you wearing any now, Hank? No, I am not.
So with that, just quickly, the questions on chafing and now women's pantyhose
have come from the one and only Merksy in the bunker.
G'day, mate. Good to see you're in form. It's good to be back.
And Hank loaned me his cap. You like that?

(03:19):
Yes. Oh, hence. Okay, that's where the innuendo is coming from because you've
got a cap. He's gone. Okay. Yes.
He's put a lid on it, has he? Okay. That's like, ooh.
Welcome back hank vogels i'll tell you what that what an
ordeal for the riders i wonder if any of them are questioning their their choices
their life choices kind of uh instant like everyone
got through okay obviously but no one didn't no they did it no one one of one

(03:42):
of the young blokes nate had and he was in the time trial he's a gc rider and
he was on a real good one and it was a 9k climb straight up this mountain and
then they go into a very technical windy 90 section and he didn't,
didn't realize that the corner wasn't 90 degrees,
that it was 200 degrees and he went straight,
he went straight over the guardrail and straight down the ravine.

(04:05):
I didn't see it happen because it was so steep and I, there was another rider was catching him.
And I actually kept driving cause I didn't see him and I just heard him yell out.
And I stopped the car and waited. And I can't reverse your team car in a time trial in a race.
So I jumped out and he's come around the corner with a, you know,

(04:26):
big bump on his head and claret coming out of him. And I told him just get immediately in the car.
So he had to abandon, he was that GC rider.
So he didn't get through, but as far as heat wise, yeah, they struggled a lot,
but they got through it, but they're pretty used to it.
But did he then get to sit in the air conned car for the rest of the tour?
He did. And I had to take, I didn't have a spare place for the bike.

(04:46):
So the mechanic had the bike on in the back seat with him, had to take the wheels
out. So he had to drive the rest of the time trial course with a bike on top
of him with three of like these, you know, it was, uh, it is a grant,
not really a glamorous lifestyle.
I can tell you that's the race officials. They're going, look,
sorry, mate. No, you're not allowed to reverse the car. You're not allowed to
get out of the car either.

(05:07):
And Hank's going, I wasn't going to get out of the car.
It's quite comfortable in here. All I was doing was, uh, sitting on a beach
doing day tours and a bit of drinking, but but also a little bit of Thailand's
famous markets, of course.
And I stumbled across one item that I brought back with me and I thought might
make a little bit of an addition to the bunker here, if you don't mind.

(05:30):
Berksy's going to hate me for it because the colour does not work with our backdrop.
And I just want to say in advance, I have no issue whatsoever with you vetoing
this particular item, Berksy, okay? Well, I'm intrigued now.
Oh, no, he's kept this one quiet. He really has. It's nothing to do with Thailand.
The bag comes up. It's nothing to do with Thailand, and it disgusts me to be doing this.

(05:52):
If you pull out a bintang t-shirt. I'm so curious about a bintang singlet.
No, no, it's nothing to do with Thailand. Oh, no, no, that's not Bali. Okay.
Oh, yes. It's a Parramatta Eels jersey, and it makes me sick holding it,
but it's here for the bunker. Is that for?
Oh, that is spectacular.
That is genuine special price for me only. I'm a special guy,

(06:14):
apparently, and I'm the only guy that got special price for that particular jersey.
Kate, I think you need to whack that on. It would have been going cheap,
I reckon. That is. They gave it away. That is. Freebies.
I benefit. No, no, 20 baht, 20 baht. That is bloody brilliant.
It's nice, isn't it? Yeah.
Look, that's a genuine article for you there. That is beautiful. Thank you.

(06:36):
It wasn't a cheap Thailand thing. It's a para jersey for the bunker.
It's beautiful. We've had para metacycling jerseys.
And now we have the Parramatta NRL jersey as well to commemorate. I chuffed.
Another wonderful year from the Eels, I have to say. And that's coming from
a Broncos fan, so I won't throw too many stones.
Hey, we weren't last.
That's the best I've got. In a low-scoring finale too.

(07:00):
Absolutely. Look, there you go. Thank you. I'm very appreciative.
We are going to continue traversing the world today. We're going to go to Zurich.
There's something big coming up there as well. Well, some big-name retirements
happening in Australia and abroad that we need to go over.
And I believe Wout has been tied down for another 400 years basically with his

(07:21):
latest deal with Jumbo as well.
Intercrier. Yes. Well, he turned 30 this week. Merksy and I had cake for his birthday.
Where is it? Did you really, Merksy? Yeah, we had cake.
This isn't like a podcast. You actually had cake for Wout's?
I think Kate donated some money to sign him forever. No.
No, we didn't have cake. I suggested it and Merksey humoured me. I said sod off.

(07:46):
Sod off with that. Given he's a celiac, it takes away a bit from the- Oh,
it wouldn't need to be gluten-free.
Okay. All right. Well, Kate and Luke- Oh, hang on. Who's Luke?
Kate and Merksey have also been away.
You've been conducting some pretty important business in Victoria as well, Catherine.
Yes, we had Amy's Gran Fondo on the weekend. It was bloody spectacular.

(08:09):
Pics look good. Might I say.
I can also say that we didn't have any problems with the heat like you did, Hank.
No, I heard you were very underprepared in that department. We were.
It was so cold. On the Saturday, it was about seven degrees and hailing.
Oh, no. And we were going riding. On the Sunday morning, we were riding down

(08:30):
to the Gran Fondo and then doing a ride.
And we were putting sunscreen on and getting mocked by the Victorians.
They were like, eh, you're probably not going to need that, you Queenslanders. Yeah.
You know, we've got to keep the visage in good shape. We didn't have gloves.
We didn't even have jackets.
We ended up riding in puffer jackets. They did the trick.
It was cold. But spectacular. Riding along the Great Ocean Road, nothing like it.

(08:56):
Exhilarating. Wasn't it, Merksy? Like, there was just so beautiful.
And you even went on a rival podcast to talk about it.
I did. I can't believe you're mentioning that.
I don't remember approving such a thing. I did. I spoke to Christophe at SBS about the foundation.
You know what? I've changed my mind. You can keep that jersey now. It can stay on the desk.

(09:17):
That's your punishment. And the wonderful work we're doing. Look, it was fantastic.
We had around 4,000 people there doing everything from the Gran Fondo to the
Medio Fondo and the Family Ride just to see the community together.
And the incredible support was bloody sensational.
It looked great. The energy looked great. What about the Gran Fondo itself,
though? So isn't that just the most magical road to ride your bike on?

(09:40):
It is. So it was 122 kilometres and it served as a qualifying event for the
World Grand Fondo Championships next year on that course.
Right. So Australia is hosting it. So pretty cool.
The top 25% of each category qualified and they went up a climb to start and
through the back and then dropped down onto the Great Ocean Road with about 45 kilometres to go.

(10:03):
So thankfully for them, it was a tailwind coming back because Merksy and I rode
out on the Great Ocean Road that morning and the headwind, we were going about 15 to 17 K an hour.
Brutal. And turn around and you're just being, you know, pushed up the hills.
Put the spinnaker up. Yeah, it was fantastic. So it was kind of lucky for them.

(10:25):
But I wanted to discuss something that I discovered. Oh, okay.
You sure? Yes. Controversial, you mean? Yes, Merksy. All right.
I'm sure because I want people's views on this. I love how Merksy's already
asked about chafing and various other. I know. And he's going, really, Kate?
Really? Well, we're not. Yeah, come on now.
It's all in the name of road safety, Merksy, anything Amy Gillett Foundation related.

(10:50):
So qualifying for the world championship.
People are taking this pretty seriously, like really seriously.
And we had a heap of people who had employed, whether paid or unpaid,
whether favours or not, had pace partners.
I love it. So people who set out with them simply to pace them and help them qualify.
What do we think? Were they the people that were accompanying them superior bike riders?

(11:16):
Yes. Were they setting a pace that was- Well, setting a pace and adjusting that
pace to ensure that the qualifier, the person trying to qualify- Qualifier.
Qualifier was able to have a wheel to hold the whole time.
Is that in the spirit of the event? Well, that's my question.
That's my question. What's the answer?
Let's go to Pete. Yeah, what's our views? Well, isn't it called a world championship qualifier?

(11:42):
Yes. So you've just put the word championship in there. It's now not.
You've just turned it to something else. You have to qualify.
It's not just a grand fondo anymore.
No. And I like it. The stakes have been raised. They do it in running. They pace.
That's true. They do it in running. They pace. And it's not like if you're pushing,
yeah, you know, doping or pushing or getting in a car, that's cheating.

(12:05):
I reckon pacing's fine. Pacing's fine. What do you reckon, Joel?
Initially, I admit I'm sort of like, I don't know. It seems like a bit of an
unfair way to get a barometer of where you're at.
I'm not 100% sure I'm in love with it. If you're turning up there,
shouldn't you have done the work to be able to hit the pace?
And shouldn't that be part of the challenge?

(12:27):
Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. But it's not under race rules. No,
there are their own rule book for Gran Fondos.
I mean, I have a view on each one, to be honest, because on one hand,
I say, like, go for it, do what you need to do.
And then on the other hand, I'm like, yeah, but pacing in running,
they just pace from the front. So you're sitting on the fence.
You're sitting on the fence.

(12:48):
A little bit, Maxie. I guess I am, because this isn't just pacing from the front.
It's not like you have 20 paces keeping the bunch going. It's like individual people.
And people entering simply for that purpose or dropping back from other categories.
So you might've had like a 30 to 45 year old male entering in that category,

(13:11):
starting first and then waiting to pace riders who were starting further back
in different age categories.
Yeah. But it's a mass starting race and there's no real rules about collusion.
So if it says in the rule book, you're not allowed to collude.
But in cycling, it happens every race. had happened this week.
Yeah. When I was in China.
Two teams worked together to pull their prize money together and they won everything.

(13:36):
But there's no real rules around Gran Fondo.
It's just whoever goes across the line. I think it's overlooked and I don't
think really anyone cares.
I think you'd be surprised about who cares. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. A bit of a backlash?
No, just opinions. People take it very seriously. But how far do you take it
then? Do you say, oh, well, you sat on the bunch so you're disqualified?

(13:59):
Oh, yeah. I mean, I don't think you can regulate it. Like, I think that's silly.
Yeah, there's no regulation.
No, I think it's- Are you guys just talking about the spirit here,
are we? I think so, yeah. You've got to be because there's no real rules,
so you can kind of do what you want.
Yeah, you can do it. It's just whether it's in the spirit or not.
And I'm not normally a fence sitter, so for me to be on the fence about something,
it might be refreshing, Merksy, actually.

(14:20):
Yeah, but I don't know that I have a solid view on this one,
but a lot of people talking about it. Yeah, for sure.
Well, my instinct was surely that's not in the spirit, it, as Merksie said as
well. But if you're looking like this, you can do what you've got to do to get over the line.
Interestingly, and shout out to the Parramatta, since I've got this Parr jersey,
Parramatta Cycling Club crew that were there. I saw a couple of them. It was sensational.

(14:41):
A fellow by the name of Mike Merriman, who I've known my entire life.
Now, he's gone down on multiple occasions.
The aim was to qualify through, and he didn't this year, which shocked him.
He said that it was so much more serious this year than every other year.
You know, he said he did a similar time, similar pace to the other times,

(15:03):
but that put him so much further down in the classification than any other years.
So is this the first time it's been a qualifier for Worlds?
Yeah. Yeah, well, there's your answer, right? Actually, it might not have been
the first time, but I think because, yeah, no, it's not the first time qualified,
but because the World Championships are next year in Australia,

(15:23):
it made this one more important.
Next year. What are the numbers going to be like next year?
You can imagine it going to be double, you think? Well, they had 4,000 in Denmark
at the World Championships, Gran Fondo, not long ago. You guys were close to that.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, there'll be more for sure. But they're also running just the general Gran Fondo.

(15:46):
So if you didn't qualify, you can still come and do it. You just aren't in the
classification for a rainbow jersey. So, I mean, I could put the challenge out.
We've got 100K at Brisbane to Gold Coast coming up. I'd be keen to do that next year.
$122,000 isn't that much further. I've never done Amy's Grand Fondo.
No, you'd be able to do it.
I'll do it if you pace me. Okay, done. No, hang on. I'll pace you. Done.

(16:10):
Done. No. Hold on.
Hold on. Did you say that was the world's biggest handbrake right then?
Oh, it's going to go down.
Edit that out, Berksy. Edit that out. We don't edit. We don't edit.
It was spectacular. I was like, just throw me the ball, will you?
Yeah, yeah. Don't be coached. You're right. It's still 120 k's. Yawn. No, not a yawn.

(16:31):
Cool. All of the controversy aside, it sounds like an incredibly successful trip. It was.
And it's so good to see the foundation back up doing what it does.
And with amazing support as well.
And on the Friday night, Merksy and I went for dinner at one of the AGF board
members' house, Phil Anderson.
The one and only. The legend. My old teammate.
Now, he's such an interesting fella.

(16:55):
He's got such an incredible career, but the man behind find the career is far
more interesting than any of the results. And he had another fellow there.
Hank, I reckon you might know him, Clyde Sefton. Yep.
Australia's only Olympic medalist in the men's road race. Wow.
That's really quite surprising. Because we're a powerhouse now and we weren't back then.

(17:15):
Yeah. So for. Did your old man ride 72?
No, he did 64 on the team's pursuit. So yeah, he was done by 68.
So yeah. It was just watching. He knew Clyde.
He knew Clyde. And Clyde raced. He was a good fellow, wasn't he,
Max? He was. He had some great stories.
And interestingly, nowadays he farms deer and he sends their antlers to China. What was it for, Kate?

(17:40):
For strength and energy and recovery. For aphrodisiac purposes.
Yes, for strength and energy and recovery, as I said. Yes. So I brought a few
home. That's great. Just a few deer antlers. Oh, my God.
Oh, okay. Yeah, it's like for above the mantelpiece.
Sure, Mercsie. Excellent. Okay. All right. Well, so moving on from that.

(18:02):
I thought it was interesting. Made the luggage a little bit horny for the ride home.
Yeah, enough about chafing. Phil Anderson, oh my gosh, has a little museum in his house.
He brought back all of his trophies from his career, which is remarkable because
I don't think I brought a single one back from Europe, to be honest.
They're all probably in a suitcase in an old cycling storage somewhere or long

(18:25):
thrown out. But he's got all of them in cabinets.
And the most curious thing, he's got his ponytail.
Oh, lopped off. Lopped off. He kept it. Yeah, it's framed.
And it's plaited. And it's plaited. Yeah, beautifully plaited. Oh, okay.
Yeah. It's like Elsa's. Sentimental. Frozen. Yeah. Except brown. Yeah.

(18:46):
Oh, they were pretty famous locks. Yeah, they were.
Back in the day with those Oakley factory pilots and that long hair and TVM era.
So it's immortalized in a beautiful frame in his house. That's super cool.
And every jersey that has a story and he would pull one out at a time and tell
a story, really magnificent.
And these beautiful old woolen jerseys that have been magnificently laundered and folded.

(19:10):
So he would just pull another one out, hold it up, tell a story.
He pulled one out and said, oh, Commonwealth Games, and there was a hole in the jersey.
He said, oh, that was a broken collarbone, that one.
He should open a resort like Sagan. Sagan Pita. Yeah, Sagan Pita.
They should go into business together.
It is interesting, actually, because we don't, as such, have an Australian cycling museum.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. How good would that be? That would be cool.

(19:32):
Oh, they've just thrown it out there now. Yeah. There you go.
Wheelhouse could get behind that, I reckon. Oh, absolutely.
We could throw a mountain of cash at that, couldn't we, Merksy?
Do you think I could put – Did I hate Sagan? The eels jersey and just as.
We'll put that at the back of the lock of hair wing, which is probably the biggest
wing we're going to have because now that that's a thing, I think everyone's

(19:52):
going to start cutting their hair off and framing it. It is very cool.
Well, there's enough mullets around at the moment.
There are, for better or worse. Take full advantage.
Definitely not better. Deer antlers at the entrance. You could hang the jerseys on those.
That's not all you could hang on them, according to Moxie. Moving on. Let's go to Zurich.
So the Worlds are coming up. You guys spoke about the end of GT season,

(20:15):
but that doesn't mean the end of anything else. So we're back to Zurich.
We're here for the first time, but we've had some worldsy events there in the
last few years. How does it stack up? Are you pumped?
What are we looking at, 270-odd kilometres?
Yeah, I'm excited. I always love Worlds. Worlds is always something very special.
And the last time they were raced in Switzerland in Mendrisio 2009,

(20:37):
our only ever road world champion, Cadel Evans.
He won. He did it. That's where he did it. So it's a happy place for a straightaway.
Yeah, 4.8 kilometre break he won from. Yeah.
So, I mean, it's an interesting one this year because you have to think who
can possibly beat Pogacar.
He's the man of long breakaways.

(20:58):
So is that what we're looking at? The longest ever breakaway at a world championships
was 90 kilometres in Imola in 1968.
90 kilometres? 90 kilometres solo for Vittoria Andoni.
And Dorney. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Were the others like on foot or something?
Yeah, they just gave up, had a coffee on the way. Just had a cuppa.

(21:18):
But that's, I mean, that's what we're looking at potentially,
like a massive breakaway for Garcher. That's how he does it.
Are we looking at any names outside the not oft touted Avenepoels, Van Arts?
There's always, I think the Americans have got a really strong team.
The Dutchies, the Belgians, they're all super strong. Bling's got a good chance.
Vince, Michael Matthews, but yeah, I don't think Pogacar, he's,

(21:42):
he's marked like everywhere as soon as he moves.
Yeah. But he's been, I mean, he's marked at Lombardia the last couple of years
and he still rode off and won.
Yeah. Worlds is a different story. It's always like Lombardia's trade team,
trade team cycling, world championships.
We were the strongest eight guys from France, strongest German,

(22:03):
you know, the big nations they can kind of, you know, that's the best of the
best, the cream of the crop.
Yeah. So I believe that he won't have it at all his own way.
I mean, he's, you know, he's odds on favourite and he's looking like he's going
to ride away from everyone, but.
Vanderpool has actually lost a shit ton of weight. So he's looking as skinny

(22:25):
and he knows that he had to lose weight to try and follow Pogacar.
It's not all about like last year when Vanderpool won, it was all power,
just pure power, short, steep, sharp, and hard. And that's what he's really, really good at.
Whereas this year he knows he has to climb a bit more. So I'm really excited
to watch it because I think it's going to come down to those two.

(22:46):
And, you know, there's always two or three guys who you don't realize who are going way better.
Like Mark Hershey won five races out of six starts last week.
I mean, he's no flash in the pan. He's always really good at the end of the year. And he's a local.
Exactly. And you wonder why he's won so many races so close to his World Road
Championships. So Hershey, for me, will be there.

(23:08):
I'm a little worried about what's going to happen with Michael Matthews because,
yes, he's the fastest, but he needs some teammates to try and bring back his
bro-mance man in Tadej Pogacar.
Well, we've got a pretty strong Aussie team. So, but I mean,
the comment about trade team versus national team, it is a big difference.

(23:32):
If you even look back at the Olympics, this is a completely different race.
Yep. You know, for the men, there's eight here.
For the women, they only had one, two or three in Paris and we've got six Aussies
out there for the women. So a very different dynamic.
Yes. But, I mean, Michael Matthews has been on the podium three times,

(23:52):
2015, 2017, 2022, a silver, two bronzes.
It's extraordinary, his career at World Championships, and I still think he
should have won in Richmond. I watched that.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. You don't think so, Merksy? Beat the Sagan, man. No, no, no.
I actually think that Matthews should have been world champion that year.
I just don't think he had anyone to bring him back. He won that sprint easy,

(24:14):
and Sagan was blowing kisses with, you know, maybe 100 metres to go,
but if someone had ridden, Matthews would have been world champion.
And because it was very close to finish the climb, and if Garrow had ridden,
and I don't know where Garrow was, I probably couldn't get to the front or something,
but a little bit more support, I reckon he could have been world champion.
That's the one that got away from Matthews for me out of that whole lot.

(24:36):
But that could be a possibility.
But for me, 4,715 metres elevation over 276 kilometres in Zurich with super fast climbing roads,
maybe a bridge too far, but I really hope he's got someone who can try and bring
him back. Who would that be?
Who should it be? Well, Simon Clarke is generally always there in this time of the year.

(25:00):
He's not out there. Yeah, that's the thing. Yeah. So, yeah, I'm not sure.
I'm not sure. It's the area.
You said before Golden Era, we're hearing a lot about it. Obviously,
Oz Cycling doing amazing things.
Is this one area where we could use a few more contenders?
Yeah. I mean, like Kate just said, we haven't won a medal in the men's road race. We've been close.

(25:23):
We've been super close. So, well, Matthews was third in.
In 22. In 22. Yeah. I'll miss Plappy.
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think we've got good talent coming up,
but, yeah, it's a two-horse race for me, the World Road Championships for men
with those two guys, Vanderpool and Pogacar.
Well, the question, guys, is does Vanderpool have a farmer's door to knock on? I was about to say.

(25:49):
Should the need arise. Well, let's hope that someone doesn't concrete their
hand into the Swiss or just remove them quickly, don't worry. No, yeah.
Cut his hand off. It will be beautiful. In the women's, it'll be really interesting
because a lot of Capecchi could well go back to back.
I mean, she's. Is it not too hard for her? Do you think Vollering will ride

(26:10):
away? Demi Vollering is going early.
You know, if you just look at their style of riding and their highlights,
you might say yes, but then if you look at the Giro and in the Queen's stage,
Capecchi barely got dropped and Tour of Romandie, they couldn't drop her on the climbs.
I just don't think in the 154 kilometers, it's long enough and hard enough to

(26:32):
really crack her. What's the longest ladies race, Kate?
Is it, this has got to be right up there, right? It is. Yeah.
So the, the, it has to be less than 160.
Why? But, well, until a couple of years ago, it had to be less than 140.
And until a little bit before that, it was 120.
So they're getting longer and longer incrementally.

(26:55):
But, you know, we've also got an under 23 category now for the women,
which is a big game changer. Next year.
Yeah. Not this year. No, but within the race they still are eligible. Oh, they still are.
Okay, they're still giving them. They're eligible to give that.
And we've got Izzy Karnes riding the time trial, which is unreal.
We love Izzy Karnes. Yeah, well, she's one of our girls. Karn, Izzy. Yeah.

(27:15):
So you're saying a race in – oh, sorry, please. No, and she's riding because
she qualified through Oceania Championships as the champion.
So that's unreal that Oz Cycling is supporting her to go.
Well, if anyone can. Izzy can.
We said two contenders in the men's and we've kind of really tapped into two
in the women's. Who else are we looking at?
Can I just say Balsamo's name comes up before every major race,

(27:40):
every single major race, but she doesn't seem to often get into that upper echelon,
but she's always in the mix.
Yeah, good observation. She's always there. The Italian team always comes prepared.
And 15 years ago, it was the German team.
Like the German team always were in contention.
And the German cycling is not in the same spot anymore, but the Italian women's

(28:02):
team have really stepped up.
And so I think Balsamo is in the running. But what will be interesting is actually the American team.
You know, they've got Olympic champion in Kristen Faulkner and whether she's
been able to maintain a form, whether she carries the confidence in.
One thing I do know about the American team is they're not known for working
particularly well together,

(28:22):
so that will bite them, you know,
because when you have squads where the patriotism really comes out and they're
absolutely all in to get a world champion versus a team where they're not necessarily
as committed to the cause.
I think that that can really affect the outcome of the race.

(28:43):
And what about our defending Tour de France champion, Cassiane Niwadona?
Oh, look, what a year she's had. Oh, that's what I was going to say. What a breakout year.
I mean, she's now got the confidence, right? Exactly. When you just get wings
once you get some big racing.
Spot on. She's always been there and she's always been part of the furniture
at the front end of the race. But now she's got this.

(29:05):
You know, confidence. So, yeah. I mean, is she somebody, she must be somebody
in the top five. I think so.
I mean, the climbs are very kind of Ardennes inspired and she really excels in that regard.
She won Gravel Worlds last year, which was a big turnaround.
That was the moment where she went from being always the bridesmaid to the bride.

(29:27):
And since then, she's just had an incredible season.
And I'm a big fan of hers. She's just a lovely human being, and I like seeing those people succeed.
Prosper, yeah. You know, Poland for the women have never won a world title.
Slovenia for the men, surprisingly, got third. They did get.
Oh, they could clean up this year. Yeah, well, they've never.

(29:49):
With Roglic. They've won every Grand Tour. Yeah, but they've never won a world title.
So Andre Hauptmann is the only Slovenian to stand on the podium at a world championship.
Wow. Before, he was third in 2001. in 2001, he's now an assistant director sportif at UAE.
So he's working with the Pog. Yeah.
So, you know, I like seeing history made for nations too. Yeah, absolutely.

(30:12):
That's cool. That's something that
you get at world championships in their national colours more than ever.
Yeah, I always loved doing riding for Australia.
It was some of the coolest moments ever actually.
Yeah. Do you reckon we'll see fireworks between Faulkner and the Vollering and
Kopecky pair after the past sort of... Yeah, I think so. I think...

(30:35):
In an Olympic year, sometimes you think that the worlds are less important,
but I think often it gives you another chance to settle some dues.
Worlds are more important. Worlds are worlds. For the riders.
Me personally, I believe that the World Road Championship is more important
than the Olympic Championship.

(30:56):
Yeah, okay. And that's the only time I'll say it.
For the road race. Meaning, not for any other events, all the track events and
everything else like that and time trial, I believe, are more important to win the Olympic.
But the world road title is more important than the Olympic road title. You know why?
You get to wear the rainbow jersey for 12 months.

(31:17):
You're not allowed to wear any Olympic rings on anything, on your bikes, on your jerseys.
You are not allowed to promote that in any other events.
And people want to be world champions. And on your sleeve for the rest of your career.
So, yeah, I agree with that. And it does change the complexion of the following
season when you've got someone in rainbows.

(31:39):
They're the hunted. That changes the way that a lot of riders approach each race.
We can go down a rabbit hole about the curse of the World Championship jersey
and it exists, but apparently not for Peter Sagan.
But, yeah, I believe it's worth more.
Speaking of that, where's Tobias Voss these days? Exactly.
Yeah, good question. No knock on Tobias at all. Yeah, I mean,

(32:03):
I don't think he was expected to win when he did in Wollongong. Speaking of time trial.
Thank you, Merksy. That was the... Yes, I know. Yeah, you knew, didn't you?
Beautiful little segue there. Workshopping the segue. So someone who will be
time trialling but won't be wearing rainbows and nothing to do with the Olympics.
Is Grace Brandt? Well, hopefully she's wearing rainbows on the podium, but yeah.

(32:26):
After that, it'll just make for very good decoration. Yeah.
To go next to a ponytail if she chooses to lop that off and frame it.
Go up on the shelf next to the Olympic gold medal. That'd look nice.
She's been second the last two years, obviously, with her incredible form in
Paris and her trajectory. It would be hard to argue against her being the hot favourite.
How is her form? Has anyone got an inside line on that? I'm not a better, by the way.

(32:54):
I'm not going down the No I understand That this is really The jewel in the
crown for her For her career So she could be All eyes on this Olympic champion,
And wear the rainbow jersey In the same year And then just hang them both up
Oh I see That just cracks me That's insane It just makes me feel It makes me
feel a little bit ill Well like generally In pro cycling If you're the world

(33:18):
champion It's like cha-ching Yeah bring on the big dollars.
I'm just going to go straight on the gravy for the next four years and wear
my jersey, get fat, and just get paid the bank.
But she wants to go home and do that anyway and not get paid.
It's not all about the money. Oh, I know. She wants to have the babies and the family and the normal.

(33:39):
I know. This is just a man's opinion. I know. I mean, I get it.
But it will be very unusual.
I hope she wins Rambos because what a jewel in the crown. But it will be very
unusual. Do you reckon she'll change her mind?
No, I don't think so. You don't reckon she's done? No, she's not that,
she's not the kind to change her mind.
Like she makes it with conviction for a good reason. What if she got offered
a million euros, like one million. Million euros.

(34:02):
Uh, I mean, who's offering it to her, but ah, that's a conversation for her, I suppose.
Well, we're talking that kind of money if the world's best riders now.
Yeah, but I mean, short of that, I, I can't see her backtracking on her decision,
but I will, I will admit if she was an Australian.
And we were talking about a rider potentially winning a world championship and

(34:23):
then not representing in the jersey, I would be critical and I would say, what a shame.
Terrible to not have the jersey out there, but it's Grace Brown and I really
would love her to win rainbows. She'll do what she wants. Here's another one for you.
Here's another one for you. You hear about ladies in elite sport having babies and coming back. Yes.
Could we, maybe she could have a baby and come back? Have a cake and eat it too.

(34:48):
Why not? This year, haven't we? We have. I mean, hello, Ellen.
Do you reckon you could do that in the same season?
Oh, physiologically, it would be a pretty big ask. No, I mean,
not next year if that was what they were planning. I see. Specificity, Hank.
Not have a baby and win the World Ride title in the same time trial title.
Well, I think the challenge for Grace Brown over the Europeans is the family

(35:13):
and community because, you know, the Europeans can live pretty close to home,
have Nana look after bubs while they're traveling and whatnot.
It's a little bit different for the Australian riders. They don't have that
community and support system.
And that goes across the board for all Australian athletes that have to live
in Europe, whether they're having babies or not.
That's it. It hurts them. It really does. The support network isn't there for Australian athletes.

(35:37):
Yeah. And I mean, unless cycling want to go into the crash business.
Yeah. But, you know, I'm not sure. There's a revenue stream.
Just get Albanese on the phone.
He needs voters, doesn't he? Yeah, they've got money to spare.
They've only thrown $600 million at the Papua New Guinea Rugby League bid.
Oh, and you don't sound dirty about that at all. Not at all.

(35:57):
No, no. I love politicised sport.
You know how much I love it. I love it when politics and sport mesh.
It's great. Yeah, just stay away from our eels.
You can have that. Sure. Grace Brown. Okay. That was a real shiver.
That was a genuine shiver.
It was like an eel. I actually felt that for me. It was like an eel.
Chloe Dargott. So let's talk rivalry. Let's talk Grace Brown's hopes of getting

(36:21):
that rainbow on that podium before bowing out.
I want to open with the USA threat.
You've opened with the USA threat on the road.
It's an interesting one because I think Grace Brown went in as one of the favourites in Paris.
But I was surprised how much she won by because I thought Chloe Digett would
really, it would be very, very close and hoped that Grace would win,

(36:47):
but thought that Digett might prevail.
Digett, she's motivated by things she doesn't achieve.
The more that is put in her way, the harder she charges at it.
And so I think that she will come to worlds with a little bit more grunt.
Well, did Chloe punch her or crash in Paris?

(37:08):
She did, but that wasn't the... No, no, no. I mean, she was going to get beaten,
but she did have a mechanical mishap or a crash.
And one of the other American riders crashed three times. She did,
yes. She was a triathlete and...
Was there for the triathlon and did very well in the triathlon.
She was there for the triathlon. Maybe this is going to hurt,
but maybe she should have stayed during the triathlon.

(37:29):
Stayed in the Seine, you reckon? Sorry? Stayed in the Seine. Wow.
No, that was dirty.
That's Merksey's kind of river. Did she wear short socks?
No, no. She had long aero socks on, so she wasn't even identifiable as a triathlete.
Very talented. I like triathletes. They're lovely people. They just need to

(37:51):
stick to triathlon. Just to stick to triathlon.
Okay. Throwing down the gauntlet. Oh, well. Geez, we're going to have to move
on before something really offensive gets said. Have I ever sat on the fence?
Have I really ever sat on the fence? No, and I usually don't.
Maybe about the Gran Fondo pacing, but otherwise I don't.
Okay. Grace Brown, we've had a glorious year. I mentioned it earlier.
Everyone's talking about it being such a wonderful time for Oz Cycling, which it is.

(38:12):
But then careers end. So who steps up? Grace Brown.
If indeed, if Hank's theory, well, you know, doesn't come to pass and we don't
see a comeback. back. Where's that torch going?
Well, yeah, Izzy Carnes will be there, but Brodie Chapman is also writing the time trial.
She did really well at nationals and so close and was really pushing for a spot in the time trial.

(38:34):
I think she could give it a good nudge, but you do notice, you know,
whether it's the men or the women, when you have success, success breeds success,
and you have a bigger pipeline of athletes.
And we've got some really great young, talented talented writers like Felicity Wilson-Haffenden.
She was junior world champion and she's had a, last year, she's had a bit of a rough year.

(38:56):
This year needed a surgery on some injuries.
It's always tough the first couple of years. It's really tough.
No matter who you are. Give them a few years and they emerge out with a lot of talent.
So we'll miss Grace, but I think we still have a pretty good pipeline.
We're in a good spot, I think, with the young ladies. Was that her Paris,
was that her Ash Barty moment? Was that her get your gold medal,

(39:19):
Ash, when she got that Aussie open? Was it something, you know what?
Oh, good. Yeah, isn't it remarkable? We have a few female athletes who do that,
the absolute peak, but you couldn't choose to go out on a higher moment.
Like so often you'd like to orchestrate that for your career and it just doesn't
come to pass. That was actually quite nice for her, I think.
Yeah, 100%. Okay, all right. Well, let's go from Aussie hopes to transition.

(39:44):
So one of the big names making a little bit of a disciplinary change,
Kate, we love talking about this. We love when you're going from the road to
the mountain bike or from the mountain bike to that penny farthing sponsored
by a Canadian club back in the old days.
That's not what's happening for Pauline for UnPrevot, but is going across out

(40:05):
of the mountains and just looking ahead to the road.
She's been road world champion before in 2015, road, mountain bike and cyclocross
all in one year. What a freak. Oh, hello. Oh, wow. Wow.
She's got 10 world titles on the mountain bike. She's incredible. Yeah.
She's tried to. She's now bored. Now she's like, you know what?

(40:25):
Yeah, I don't need all of this in my day anymore.
But I think as an athlete, when you're doing different disciplines,
and I experienced this doing track and road, you do get to a point where you
really wonder, what would I be able to achieve if I focused just on one discipline?
It's kind of like Vanderpool. Yeah, because there is absolute benefit to doing multiple.

(40:47):
But I think that benefit, a lot of that is realised when you're quite young
and it's skills and training, craft and the different approaches to things.
Once you're more established, you get less benefit from all of that.
You need more recovery, less race days.
And so I think it's a good move for her for career longevity.

(41:08):
Well, once you knock up that 10th, you can't. But realistically,
she could get multiple jerseys at a Tour de France. Yeah.
So that didn't exist a few years ago.
Yeah. So that would be a big pull for her as a French woman.
I still think three Aussies wearing the jerseys at the same time is a better stat.

(41:29):
It is. Look, one rider wearing them all would be really impressive,
but we'll just take that one. It is. I agree.
Hang on to that one. Now, one that nearly wasn't in the rundown,
Hank and I had to say, Kate, Kate, there's a bit of news that we haven't got you.
We should definitely talk about, of course, Wout van Aert. And Kate said, who?
That didn't happen. That absolutely never has happened on this podcast,

(41:49):
but he's in the rundown again.
Not going to say who put in there, Kate. Excuse me, Kate. It was Moxie, actually.
And the note we've got here is, Wout signs with Visma forever and ever.
So that, you know, the old eternity deal, as they say. Marriage.
I mean, there's only one person in cycling that signed a lifetime contract.

(42:10):
Who's that, Moxie? Moxie.
That's Phil Liggett. That's Phil Liggett with NBC. NBC. Yeah.
Well, there is another person who's kind of got a lifetime contract. Yes, and that is?
Cadell Evans. Cadell Evans with BMC. With BMC. Oh, hang on. Okay. Ambassador for Life.
Ambassador for Life. Yep. I mean, I'd argue that although maybe not inked on

(42:31):
paper or publicized, Vanderpool and Canyon.
Well, that was 10 years. You know? I know. 10 years. 10 years.
And then they'll want to renew.
I mean, I feel like that's. Bet you he owns. I bet he's got shares in the company too.
Well, he should by now. Yeah. He's achieved so much for them.
But it is not something that's usually done.

(42:51):
It's Van Aert. Yeah, Van Aert. It takes a lot of trust and commitment.
Oh, yeah. I don't know. Well, I mean, everyone remembers in the Tour de France
a couple of years ago when he attacked in the yellow jersey,
came in solo, and did the full Red Bull give you wings.
He was the only one on the team who was allowed to wear the Red Bull hat.

(43:12):
No, it wasn't Magpie. Oh, Magpie. No.
Don't get me started on those little fuckers. But I was certain that he was
going to get bought out by Red Bull,
and this is a massive move from Visma Lease Bike to stop that from happening
because I reckon they've come incredibly hard for him.
There would have to be a lot of money involved. It would have been

(43:33):
roughly between $7 million to $10 million a year
year for the next five i reckon they are massive numbers
and i reckon they've just said we can't afford to lose
this guy because anything can happen to finger garden all of a sudden they're
off the top of the list as a powerhouse in cycling so yeah red bull have come
hard and they've gone harder again so well it was only last year there was chat

(43:57):
about quick step and visma merging into to a super team.
Yes. So what if that happens? I would not like to see that happen.
I'd really hate to see Quickstep go because we need those teams in cycling,
so that's one less powerhouse team.
It would be a very curious contract.
The Wout deal? Yeah, the Wout deal. I feel as though there would be a lot of –,

(44:21):
Yeah, clauses and caveats around things.
Well, performance firstly, like surely two, three years from now and a few more.
He's got five years, I reckon. I reckon he's got five years left of racing and
then he will straight into the VIP tent, straight on the beers.
Under the speaking sack. Every single time, every race he will be in the VIP

(44:42):
car and he'll be at every Visma, Lease a Bike, whatever it's called,
whoever owns the team, he will just be taking care of customers.
But is that sort of part of this deal, I guess, as well, that they sort of trot
him out as the team legend?
Yeah. I mean, I would think that the clauses and the asterisks and the outs
are actually in the benefit of Wout, not the team.

(45:04):
Yeah. So that if the team changes materially, if they change sponsors or merge,
if it becomes something different, then he would have the opportunity to leave.
That would be my thought. But that they want him, they show faith in him.
They've got a great relationship and they've inked that in the most legal way possible.

(45:26):
But two things, he's proven again and again he's a team player and the other
thing is he's got damn good hair.
He does have good hair. You've got good hair too. He's got to be the most marketable bloke in soccer.
Yeah, and that's the huge, and that beyond the longevity of his actual writing
career has to be a massive part of the thinking behind this because how awkward
is that conversation if performance starts to dip to the point of we can't really

(45:50):
keep using you in the next couple of years and they have to have that conversation
two years into an eternity contract.
But he's the kind of writer who...
Won't, he won't continue riding for the money.
Like he won't, you know, a lot of riders then go to smaller teams when they're
not winning races anymore, but they want the coin, you know?

(46:12):
Oh, babe, come on. Is he still there, Maxie?
You there, mate? I'm here. But it's true. And I don't see Bernard as being that character.
When he's done, he's not going to just make up bunch numbers.
Well, no, he can't do that anyway. Anyway, he's just signed his life away for
ever going to another team.
I think, well, the contract, which I would love to see what the number figure

(46:34):
is, but he sees his contract out.
He's probably got five more years, I reckon. If he's 30, 35,
and he, you know, Jens Voigt got to 38, 39, Valverde, roughly the same.
So at a maximum seven years, I would say to him.
And then he is literally going to be at the VIP tent at DS.
He's going to be possibly the new manager. JR

(46:54):
he will be used forever for
any it's a great great move by
Visma Lisa bike because he's one of the most marketable guys
on earth for the next 10 years because he's a good looking rooster every
guy wants to be him and every lady would like to be
with him and he he is he's he's a good looking fellow who's the one of the best

(47:21):
bike riders in the world so So they're going to be attracting sponsors for the
next 10 years in any way, shape or form with him and the team,
even if he's still not the best in the world. He's the most marketable guy on earth.
I mean, maybe at 35 they'll cryogenically freeze him. Yes. They haven't already?
Surely you have to cut at least a lock of that hair for his museum and then

(47:42):
send the other to the cloning lab.
Okay, so you think, again, I'm banging this horse, but two years from now,
I can't believe what I just said.
Banging? No, I'm banging this drum. The horse, we didn't work out.
Performance is down. You can't ride anymore. Two years into this deal,
and you reckon he'll be happy to say, okay, I'll just spend the rest of my cycling

(48:04):
association days going to the tents and appearing as your high-paid ambassador.
You reckon he'll be okay? Yeah. Well, he may.
I mean, he's a really competitive beast, so he's probably going to want to get
in the car as a director, and then he might move into the owner of the team's general manager.
He might be the guy getting the sponsors. He might be the VIP guy.

(48:24):
But a lifetime contract, I've never heard of it.
It's cool. I like it. We don't see a lot. Like in other sport as well,
you see the odd five- and ten-year deal in our summer codes,
but the old life contract is not.
I mean, the three of us in here and Merksy in the control room,
we've got lifetime contracts with the wheelhouse.

(48:46):
No, you tried to get one, you and Joel, and we wouldn't sign it. Sorry.
Oh, poo-poo. No, those lifetime contracts, mate, they're on your left finger.
Oh, wow. There you go. Just need to upgrade, Merksy. Oh, you've got one of those
sleep rings. I've got an aura ring. Moving on, Hank.
Take it away, Joel. Don't get me started.
A couple of Aussie contract updates as well.

(49:10):
Yeah, we've got some young fellas heading to the world tour, Hank.
While we're talking about just quickly going back to the world,
young Hamish McKenzie from Hagen's
Berman, and who's going to actually be going to Jayco in the future.
He had a crash 200 metres from home, four days out from the world championships.
He broke his nose, concussion, so he's unfortunately out.

(49:33):
And he was second in Glasgow last year in the under-23 time trial, so he's out.
But that sucks because he possibly could have won the world time trial championships
this year, which would have been great.
So he's out. But Oscar Chamberlain, the junior world championship.
Junior world champion, I should say, has just signed a three-year deal with AG2R Decathlon.

(49:55):
So he's on board. And one of our riders, Declan Trezise, is currently doing
a stagiaire roll, which is a tryout for Astana. So it looks like he's going there.
And Jackson Medway is going to go to Tudor for Cancellara's team.
So there's a couple of good young riders who are signing.
Yeah, with Lulu. Boy Lulu. And yeah, we're just going to hopefully young Alistair

(50:16):
McKellar will end up at Jayco Alula as well because he's one of the best under-23s in Australia.
So stay tuned on that one. Hopefully that one goes through. So there's a couple
of little contract things for the young guys. Yeah, go Aussies.
That's an exclusive wheelhouse update right there for you from Hank Vogels.
If you're tuning into any other podcast, delete them now because that's what

(50:36):
you come here to get. That was outstanding. That was bloody great. Hang on a second. Hello?
Sorry? You want conditions in Zurich? Road. Oh, no, no. Oh, you're a bookmaker.
Oh, no, Hank Vogels. I'll send you his number. Okay.
Sorry, I don't mean to take calls during work. Okay, let's go to Loxton.
So the junior and master's nationals as well. Kate, your eyes lit up when we

(50:57):
were speaking about this before the show.
Yeah, it just reminded me. My first ever national championship was in Handorf
in South Australia in the under-13s.
Nice, pleasant, cool afternoon of riding. Yes, I won the under-13s.
Michael Rogers, you might remember him. Yes, very well. One of our best ever
time trialers. He won the under-15.
Wow. Category. And actually in my year, I also had Mark Renshaw racing.

(51:21):
Rochelle Gilmore was there as well. So.
Blast from the past. Yeah. Sometimes you have these awesome junior years and
at the time you don't even really appreciate who you're surrounded by, but good memories. And.
Junior nationals is like a rite of passage. Sounds like it, yeah.
Because there's no team cars. You don't have the setup like you do at Elite.

(51:42):
Like it's go out there and survive.
There's every man and girl for himself. And good luck to you.
Yeah, and junior and Masters nationals are always held kind of on the edge of
winter. So it's usually bloody freezing.
And it really is. Like it's so different to the experience you then get in Elites.
I reckon once you do your first national titles, you're done for life.

(52:03):
You're just addicted to cycling. Broken in, yeah.
That's it. As soon as you get to the Nationals and you realise you see the state
jerseys everywhere else, that's it. You're done.
You're done for 50 years. You'll be riding your bike until you've got arthritis. It's quite cool.
Can we get down there before the Gold Coast ride? Because that might just be
the inspiration. Look, I'm not sure that we'll be able to, but, yeah.

(52:25):
But it's cool because it's with Masters.
You'll have, like, you know, 14-year-olds and 70-year-olds all competing together.
I like that. Yep, yep, yep. Yep. Legit pathway.
Legit pathway. And you're excited about the talent. I'm not going to ask you to list all of them.
Yeah, I am because every year we have, you hear stories, isn't that?
That's what I really like, actually.

(52:46):
Hank, you know, you catch up with people that you haven't seen in ages and they'll
be like, oh, you should see this young girl we've got coming through.
Yeah, she's got some good stuff.
Yeah. Watch that one. And you hear about them. They become like urban legend
and you hear about them for many, many years.
And then all of a sudden you're seeing them race in their first national team
jersey, and you feel like you've been on the whole journey with them.

(53:07):
That's great. And it's cool. You know, I mean, I remember commentating on Lucas
Plapp when he was a junior, and at the time we thought he was remarkable,
but now look at what he is.
Yeah. You know, back then he was just a skinny pup, you know. A pup, a Plapp.
Yeah, like a Plapp pup. So when are the junior nationals, they're after Worlds,

(53:27):
are they? No, they're starting this weekend.
Okay. Yeah. Yeah, they've made the...
The trek down there. It's just strange they put the national titles on at the
same time as the world titles. Are we going to go there?
We could have a scheduling conversation on another day. Oh, my Lord.
That's always a bugbear of mine, scheduling. Why don't they do it at national

(53:48):
championships when everyone else has national championships?
Oh, look, that's a question for another day, Hendrik Kutzvogel.
Okay, let's see. I had scheduling questions. There's so many rabbit holes we
can go into. There are so many.
I resisted when you were talking about the 50 degree heat in China,
going, why are they riding? Why are they riding?
At this time of year when you're talking about welfare. Yeah, it's crazy.
All right. I just quickly shout out to a friend of the show,

(54:11):
Jack Scott. He's riding down there at Nationals on the road.
Good luck, Jack. From Frizzy. Good luck, Jack. Elliot Schultz is his coach.
Go you good thing. Yep. He's wonder what.
And Elliot Schultz, he's a cracker. We had him at eSports Worlds.
Unfortunately, he had a bit of a technical kerfuffle and didn't get to race
the second race. A guy has so much bad luck.

(54:32):
He's got so much talent, though. We've just got to harness it.
I saw him crash in front of me in a race in Belgium and break his collarbone
when he was coming for the win.
It's like every time I hear a story about him crashing or something,
yeah, poor boy. Well, good luck to Jack.
Yeah, we love it. We love it. And the local newspapers will be salivating if
he wins because that's one of the great cliché headlines is, of course, Great Scott.

(54:55):
Let's get that happening. Now, the Commonwealth Games, Catherine,
you would have been very happy to know because we discussed Just,
you know, extensively the ramifications for athletes if the Commonwealth Games
wilted, which they looked like they were,
for a while, but Scotland's come to the rescue with Victoria still footing a
significant part of the bill.

(55:16):
Yes. Well, I'm sure there's plenty of political podcasts also talking about
the Commonwealth Games for a different reason.
It's good. It will be scaled down so they're only going to have 10 sports,
Merksy, is that right, 10 sports?
Well, yeah, minimum 10. Minimum 10. Mm-hmm.
But we know that track cycling will be one of them in no small part because
of the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, you know, one of the most famous Scottish.

(55:40):
You have to think, yes, hasn't been announced yet, but you have to think that's
a bit of an iconic sport to throw in.
But it is very, very good to see the Commonwealth Games movement back.
Not that it ever, we were scared it would disappear, but it didn't.
No, it didn't. But is this, like, is Com Games Lite, is that the new,

(56:02):
is this the new blueprint after what we've seen?
I reckon it probably will be. I mean, look at all of the things that.
Change not on purpose that are hard to undo.
And I'm thinking like work from home, you know, or even kind of,
you know, video quality of some TV crosses using mobile phones.

(56:22):
Whereas years ago that would have never been acceptable, but then it changed out of necessity.
And yeah. But if you tune into the Wheelhouse Cycling Podcast,
you'll see beautiful production standards.
No mobile phone quality here. Yeah. What are we in now? Like 8K?
Yeah, 8K, definitely. Yeah.
Yeah. If you run around the desk, it'll be like you never moved.
Let's be fair. I'll do laps before we start. We'll catch every frame of it.

(56:45):
That was a Christmas party.
There's no Australian broadcast deal signed yet. Okay. And the unfortunate thing
is it's moved to not a great time zone.
Like Melbourne, Victoria would have been a great time zone. Are we bidding for
it, Merksy? We might throw our hand in the ring.
You know, Seven's got some issues. Yeah.
Yeah. Well, look, we could put our hand up for it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

(57:06):
Might end up on SPF. Tell them we'll send them some deer horn pills instead
of in lieu of cash. Get Clyde Sefton in.
Yeah, that's a different meaning when you say harden up.
Oh, my God. Some deer horn pills and a lock of hair. Okay.
Shark fin suit. But you know what? I hope that it does give it a blueprint moving
forward because let's call it what it was.
This was a bungle of epic proportions and it did not look good and it made not

(57:31):
just Victoria but Australia look a bit behind the eight ball with all of this.
It was a major stuff-up. Yeah, awful.
But you can't run events where you make massive losses anymore,
right? Yeah, that's it. That's got to be done.
Otherwise, it's always going to end. And that's another post-COVID sort of thing.
I think sport making, like making those reckonings and sort of coming to terms

(57:52):
with, oh, we can't splash what we used to on certain events,
exhibitions, tours, whatever it is.
This one, my question was always, why would you not crunch the numbers before
you made the commitment?
Why? That's the eternal question. How did you put the cart before the horse?
I mean, Brisbane, when we had Gold Coast, Commonwealth Games,

(58:12):
they did a great job because they used it essentially as an infrastructure plan
to upgrade facilities from 1982.
So we had the Chandler Velodrome from 82 and then we got a new one,
the Anamir's Velodrome, and it became a real legacy program.
And when that infrastructure already exists, you should use it.
But Melbourne, they were talking about building a new velodrome and as a sport,

(58:36):
you try, you're like, hey, but they already have two beautiful indoor velodromes.
So even though cycling may have wanted another one, it wasn't necessary.
And that's what a lot of the criticism was, was like this infrastructure exists. Yeah.
What are you doing? And the spread of it as well, the footprint of it being
as big as it was going to be with the whole regional involvement,

(58:59):
which I love, don't get me wrong, but again, just an overbite as far as what they could actually.
And look, Glasgow's in a great position. They had super worlds last year.
So for cycling, I think it would almost be an easy rollout for any of that.
They've got the infrastructure, so they are able to plug and play,
and I hope that's what we'll see in the future to make it possible.

(59:20):
Just like the Brisbane Olympics.
We've got a perfectly good athletic stadium from 1982. It'll be fine.
Oh, riding into some local politics here.
Wow. I really, really hope they build a nice stadium.
You think they will? I hope so too. I'm praying they do.
State election coming up and the guy who's polling very strongly is saying there
is absolutely no chance we're proceeding with that plan.

(59:44):
Victoria Park being the seemingly obvious plan B. Should have been probably
plan A. Anyway, not getting political, but we'll see.
Put that on the list for another day with the calendar issues.
Let's go to Britain. Send them some deer horns. Send them some deer horns and
a lock of hair and everything. There you go, Mr.
Crissifulli. Here's some deer antler. Some fried donkey.

(01:00:04):
Just get it right. If you're going to bid for the event, just sort your shit out. Okay.
Tour de France going back to Britain in 2027.
Not the first time. It's happened a couple of times. I remember the Yorkie start.
Oh, my God. That was unbelievable. That was epic. That was unbelievable.
That was probably the biggest Tour de France start I've ever seen in my lifetime anywhere.

(01:00:29):
I think it's great. I love them starting outside of France.
The Poms love it. Yeah, it's great.
The Poms love it. It's great for new audiences. It's great for crowd.
In July too. It's great weather. Everyone gets out. Yeah, a bit better in the
UK than it is in mainland Europe at that time of year actually temperature-wise.
Can they go through the tunnel? Can they go in that tunnel?

(01:00:50):
Under the tunnel. Well, it's a train, darling. That'd be pretty boring.
Well, yeah, we put it on the train and then you.
Well, I think they'll probably get transported that way. I mean,
that's probably the biggest.
They could fly. They could fly. They can't swim.
It's the biggest fact, really, when they're having remote starts is the transfers.
Well, Tour de France starts in every different country. Exactly.

(01:01:12):
It's not a big transfer. So it's just how many stages they'll have before they
then do the transfer because often the transfer's a rest day.
And to have a rest day super early on throws the rest of the tour out a little bit.
So we'll see. Talking about how to make events work, that's how Tour de France makes it work.

(01:01:33):
That's why they're cash positive because they go to different parts of the world
to start and pay for their events.
I reckon the rest days are as much about getting from A to B than they are.
For the riders to have. On my rest day when I did the Tour de France in 97,
Stuart O'Grady and I, we drove the TGV.
We were the ones. We were the ones in charge of the TGV. I got the France 3

(01:01:56):
crew there. They took us up there.
And I'm not joking, I was shitting myself. That's terrifying.
300 and something kilometres an hour. And you've got these paddles, these huge paddles.
And I had my hands on them. I was like, no, no, I'm not doing it.
I'm not doing it. Because you're seeing a corner and then you're through the corner.
And you're like, oh, it's like a video game. Do you have to do much?

(01:02:16):
No, no. It's all kind of programmed.
It's like a gimmicky thing. but I was up there on my touch in this thing. Yeah, I wouldn't have.
That's too much power for one man. Yeah, look, these decisions that TDF makes
are also commercially logical as well,
capitalising on the popularity, obviously, of past starts, but also just the
crop of writers that are incredibly popular.

(01:02:39):
I'm surprised that it hasn't, Slivini haven't asked for it.
Yeah, well, that's a bit of a transfer.
It's a long way east, I get it. But I'll put it out now. They still make planes. It's 2024.
This is 2027 we're talking about. I reckon they'll start with not just a prologue,

(01:03:02):
but a long prologue edging proper time trial stage for Joshy Tarling to take the yellow.
Get the yellow. If I was on the organizing committee, that's what I'd do.
Well, they generally do start, a lot of Tour de France's start with a prologue
or a time trial. or a long prologue. Yeah, a long prologue, Josh Tarling on

(01:03:23):
sort of home soil. 18K or something like that. Yep.
Comeback from Cav. He's probably still writing. He'll be the one,
you know, doing the start gun.
In January, he'll do a Dusty Martin. He'll just be like, right,
I'm retiring, I'm retiring.
All right, I'm going to go and write for Cancellara's team. Tease my mind. I can't let it go.
I can't. Oh, that's great. All right, so TDF in Britain.

(01:03:46):
Is that women's as well? Do we know? Is it just the- No, we don't know yet. Don't know yet, okay.
And they're also talking about what's going to happen in 2028 because the LA
Olympics, mid-July to mid-August, so much earlier again, so they'll have to –,
it's looking as though there'll be about a week between the Giro and the Tour.

(01:04:07):
Scheduling. So scheduling, yeah, put that on for another day.
Okay, on the Wheelhouse Cycling Podcast, I want to ask you just – our dear friends
at Bike Bug texted me and just said we haven't heard anything about the bike
pack. Bates is blanking us.
Can you ask what's happening with it? So I'm going to ask you live on the podcast now.
How did the bike pack go? Did it all arrive safely? Brilliant.

(01:04:28):
Okay. Thank you very much to the guys at Bike Bug. Without that,
I don't know if Merksy and I would have been able to jaunt along the Great Ocean Road.
No, they did a very good job. Very, very impressed.
We actually had to upgrade our bike bags because they're the kind,
And one of them is a Chicon bag. Okay.

(01:04:48):
So they've got the hard base that it protects and you put your front and rear
forks in. Okay. But we had the kit for. You had the old skull.
Yeah. For rim brakes. Yeah. For rim brakes and through axle.
Through axle. And so we had to upgrade the inserts to make sure we could use
them. Can you buy the inserts? You can. You can buy the inserts separately.
At Bike Bug. Yeah. Oh, awesome. So. Oh, I'm really. Now, thanks very much for

(01:05:11):
telling me that. I just threw my old Bike Bug out. Did you? Bike Bug out.
Damn it. Head to Bike Bug if you'd like an upgrade.
Yeah. Yeah, throw out your bike bag, not your bike bug, because your bike bug's... No. Yeah.
Spectacular. Code Wheelhouse. Yeah. So we, Code Wheelhouse. So I've got an Evoque.
Is that what it's called, Maxi? Yeah. Bag, and I got a new undercarriage for

(01:05:31):
that too, and they worked beautifully.
And I got the Chicon. The Chicon. Oh, the Chicon. You can walk through the airport.
I've used it for 10 years. With your finger.
That's Skycon. A single finger. You call it Chicon, I call it Skycon.
I was going to ask, because this came up at the Brisbane Cycling Festival as
well. Elliot from BikeBug, we asked. Elliot.
Yeah, we asked. Where's Elliot from? Sneaky, sneaky. I think he's a Queenslander.

(01:05:53):
Queenslander. He's not Italian. Tomato, tomato.
Yeah, no, I think he says chicone. Celica, celica.
Oh, yeah. See, now it's getting messy.
It's getting messy. Either way, the chicone bag is beautiful.
Okay. I don't know why that was so much fun. Oh, my God. Wheelhouse code,

(01:06:14):
10% off, coming your way.
Thank you to Bike Bug and their ongoing support for this podcast.
We are very, very grateful. And for everyone that takes advantage of that deal.
I'm going to go and get a new bike bag. A new bike bag. I am.
I'm going to have to go. I actually need a new one now.
We'll be heading their way. Who will need a new bike bag?
Lockie Morton. Yes. Oh, he doesn't need a bike bag. He just rides there. He just rides there.

(01:06:40):
He's like a bag of bones, that guy. He's that lean.
You would be if you're doing how many Ks a day, Kate? 350, 450. No, up to 500. 450. 500.
500? Yeah, 500 max.
That's got to be with the tailwind. He's going to break the record by days and days.
On his journey around Australia. He's started something, isn't he?

(01:07:01):
Well, there was a brilliant photo of him at the end of one of his 500-kilometre
days and he's in a blow-up kids' pool.
Yeah, his ice bath. Eating watermelon.
Yeah, having an ice bath but in a coloured blow-up. It's so cool.
And I was like living the life. Oh, dead right.
And raising the money. And raising the money, yeah, for the Indigenous Literacy

(01:07:21):
Foundation, which is great. He's trying to get $100,000, right?
I think. Yeah. I saw one of his reels on the gram and he was pushing it pretty
hard. Well, and here's a connection.
The fellow that is the CEO of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation is a guy by
the name of Ben Bowen, who was the first Australian, Indigenous Australian to
represent Australia in triathlon.

(01:07:42):
Fantastic. Wow. So there you go. Hank, before the show, you were saying you
were going to probably flick him five grand. That's good. Was I?
I can't remember that conversation. It's really fine.
See if I can remember it after. Depends on how he's called with the book he goes to.
Accidentally called me. We'll check on that next week, Moxie.
I love it, though. I'll just ring Clyde and he can send me some.

(01:08:03):
He'll sort it out. Some deer antler. Some deer antlers and I'll take them to
China next time and smuggle it in.
Never forget the lock of hair. She'll give you some.
I'm just kidding. You're in a slam today, aren't you? Thank you.
I gave you a bloody jersey. I know. Thank you. I do appreciate it.
I need that back, by the way.
This whole alt-tour thing, is this a thing? Is this going to be like the Dakar Rally of cycling?

(01:08:30):
We get out and ride 8 million kilometres over a few weeks.
I don't think there's going to be many people on earth that are going to be
able to physically do what he did.
No, but there is a little bit of a movement, I think.
Bike-packing movement. Yeah, like Alex from Bike Bug last week,
he rode with Lockie for a portion as he came through. I think there'll be a

(01:08:51):
lot of people who join in on the adventure.
Well, they're making a doco too. Yeah, which will be brilliant. Oh, yeah.
The Mortons have always kind of gotten into the documentary making and the storytelling
of long-distance cycling. Yeah.
You know, I mean, I'm sure he's getting some good stakes to put down his chamois to keep him.

(01:09:14):
Down the strides. Put down his strides. He'd need to have a couple of rib fillets. That's the way.
Minute stakes. Minute. Yeah, okay.
You know, because, you know, like minute stakes, you know, in F1,
you know when they get crap on their thing and they flick it off?
Yeah. Like minute stakes, you can just throw it out behind you and then the
rider behind you just gets right across the page.

(01:09:36):
Speaking of long rides for causes. And they're going to need a lot of minute
stakes for these kind of riding.
You would, wouldn't you? Yes. You
would. You'd need sponsored entirely by butchers. Very good chamois. Yes.
Sponsored entirely by butchers. Every rider is sponsored by a different butcher.
So when you do like a sponsorship review and you look at all the different categories

(01:09:57):
of who you think might align with what you're trying to sell.
Butchers is usually not one that pops up. Yeah, these guys make helmets.
They make, Nick's, no, we don't want that. They make bikes. No,
we don't want that. Ah, there we go.
Prime rib, 49 a kilo. We want that.
Lael Wilcox, you've got an item lucky 13 today.

(01:10:19):
I know, I know. On the exploits of Lael Wilcox. I threw this in because while
we're talking about Epic Adventures,
adventures she's ridden around the world 18
000 miles 26 28 698 kilometers
i did write that down somewhere but i can't see it now so i hope i'm right on
that calculation amazing no no no hank's shaking his head no okay 108 days 12

(01:10:44):
hours and 12 minutes this was a charity right.
No. No. I might have bummed steered. I said good cause. Full self.
Somebody called Guinness. Guinness World Records. That's it.
You don't have to pay for that. You do, yeah. You've got to pay like. 11,000 pounds.
How many thousand? 11,000 pounds. 11,000 pounds, Maxi. Yeah,

(01:11:04):
yeah. I was going to try and break a record once. Which one? We should start our own.
The Wheelhouse World Records. Most deer horns have what's consumed in one hour.
Wheelhouse World Records.
Let's get into that. There we go. This is turning into the longest podcast in history. Yeah.
You don't have to pay £11,000 to get a wheelhouse world record.
Nah. We'll come up with a fee structure. You just need to do some very obscure

(01:11:26):
shit. So leave that with us and we'll come back to you. How did this woman not die?
If she rode around the world, she's got to go through like world wars.
This is true. Well, so starting in Chicago, she flew over to Europe, into Portugal.
So she didn't swim across the pond. She didn't. She made her way through France

(01:11:48):
and Italy, Georgia, Australia, New Zealand, and then Alaska.
So she didn't go through the Middle East? No.
Okay. I mean. Did she really go around the world?
Or Western? Oh, wow. Wow. We're celebrating you, little Will Cole.
This is the Philly's home question, isn't it? Good on her. I just think those

(01:12:10):
people have some, just a bit crazy.
What's the definition of around the world? Well, that's for another day.
I think Matt is going to cut us off here soon. I'm telling you,
around the world in 80 days.
That's the big thing. When Phyllis Fogg says 80 days, you say,
that's not around the world. Yes, but that is in a hot air balloon. It's a hot air balloon.
Not a very fast one, given that it only took her an extra 28 days to do the world. This is true.

(01:12:32):
Anyway, really important topics to continue unpacking on the Wheelhouse Cycling Podcast.
Hank Vogels, welcome back. Lovely to see your face again.
Thank you, sir. It's great to be back here. Hank, just before we go,
how's the chasing going?
Chafing's going okay, thanks Good bookender The heat got to me a tad Glad you

(01:12:52):
asked, Merksy Fantastic,
Merksy, thank you for your PG contributions as always Do we actually need to
do a rating for people for listening to this podcast?
If we continue on this path, we may I think they're quite well known by 111
episodes Yes, and next week's episode will be directed by Martin Scorsese is

(01:13:14):
we've just gone longer than his longest movie.
So congratulations to everyone. Like, share, subscribe. Tell everyone you know
it's Australia's coolest, freshest, most unique, whatever.
It's the best cycling podcast there is. And this jersey's the best.
Hey. Thank you. Thanks, Joel. You're very welcome. Go the Parramatta Eels.
See you next time.