The eleventh edition of the Brother UK Cycling Podcast celebrates the return to national road racing after an absence of more than a year with the 2021 Women’s CiCLE Classic. Brother UK will have an unmissable presence at this superb race with three sponsored teams in the peloton and the Neutral Service p/b Brother UK in-race support crews in the race convoy.
Co-hosts Timothy John and Phil Jones, the Managing Director of Brother UK, share their experiences, insights and excitement as a journalist and sponsor respectively. Both have had the privilege of riding shotgun in a Neutral Service p/b Brother UK support vehicle, and both pay handsome tribute to the volunteer crews facing their busiest weekend of the year.
Colin Clews, the founder and race director of the CiCLE Classic in all its forms (men’s, women’s and juniors), offers a fascinating view from inside the race: its foundation, its budget, its benefactor, and a route that beguiles as many as it exhausts. He reveals a unique feature of this year’s parcours: a route through Owston that no previous edition of the race has followed.
Sian Botteley of Team Brother UK-OnForm offers a view from behind the handlebars. Despite finishing in the top 10 of the 2017 edition of the Women’s CiCLE Classic, her unique perspective comes from local knowledge rather than experience of the race: its celebrated country lanes are her home training roads. Sian talks adrenaline, concentration, endurance and excitement in her illuminating contribution to this episode.
Tony Barry is the manager of the Neutral Service p/b Brother UK in-race support crews. Formerly a rider, Team GB road manager and board member at British Cycling, there’s little about elite bike racing that Tony doesn’t know. He offers facts, figures, insights, memories and more from his service at previous editions of the CiCLE Classic.
Larry Hickmott is officially the founder and editor of
VeloUK.net and, unofficially, the hardest working man in cycling. Despite covering countless editions of the men’s CiCLE Classic, 2021 will see his first visit to the women’s race. He talks course recces and the advantage of local knowledge, while revealing the best viewpoints from which to capture memorable images of Britain’s most photogenic bike race.
Enjoy this latest episode of the Brother UK Cycling Podcast, and catch up with our earlier editions on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify. Just search “Brother UK Cycling Podcast”, subscribe, and leave your feedback.