Life in the Peloton, presented by MAAP

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I can’t believe the 2026 UCI World Championships kick off in just a few days! With Pogačar sidelined, the elite men’s race is set to be an epic showdown, and one of the most open worlds we’ve seen in years!

Of course, that means it’s time for me, Tom Southam, and Luke Durbridge to catch up, preview the race, and have a good old yarn on this month’s Race Communiqué. 

Over the weekend we had the GP Quebec and Montreal, which gave us a great look at who’s in shape ahead of Worlds and how the circuit in Montreal is going to be raced. Durbo was on the ground racing, getting chopped left, right, and centre and gives us some amazing insight into the chaos and tension in the bunch. 

We’ve shuffled the order around this month, so Durbo jumps straight into PeloChat! Durbs goes through the nuance of how to ride on the front of the bunch and protect your leaders, how to know when to get off the front and let someone else pull, and how a team can dictate a hard race by just riding smart. This is the kind of insight that 15 years in the peloton gets you - Luke really showing us why he’s had such a long and successful career as one of the most trusted teammates in the bunch. 

Southam’s Talking Tactics is all about the fantastic Vuelta we’ve just seen. Movistar turning their race around after a difficult first week to capitalise on Pogačar’s misfortune and roll out some real old-school Grand Tour tactics to take the red jersey all the way to the finish in Grenada was an epic spectacle, and Southam gives us all the inside gossip from the road. 

Before we get into the World Champs preview, I wanted to give the Vuelta a proper send-off and discuss the five most interesting points of the race. When will Pogi go back and try to win? Where will Roglič go from here? What does such a strong grandy mean for Wout van Aert’s world champs chances? 

The 2026 elite men’s world championships road race is just less than two weeks away. The Montreal circuit we saw raced on the weekend will be tackled 12 times, but who’s going to come away with the rainbow jersey? Evenepoel, Del Toro, Seixas, Pidcock, Van Der Poel, Van Aert, and more - with Pogačar sidelined, this is going to be one of the most open worlds we’ve seen in years. I can’t wait. 

Guys, if you know me, you know I love a cold one. I also love pro cycling, so I thought I’d combine my two passions for a bit of a laugh with the boys this month - the ‘Beer Bus’; combining our favourite beverages and pro cyclists. Fabian Cans-Of-Larger, anyone?

Durbo brings us home with a CommuniQuiz he’s cooked up all about win records in the races we’ve discussed in this episode! It’s a banger with some crazy surprising statistics, so play along at home and see how you do.

Guys, that’s all for this month’s Communiqué! I can’t believe the season’s coming to its conclusion! It feels like only yesterday the peloton was defrosting after their winter hibernation at Omloop, yet here we are barreling towards the end of another amazing season of bike racing.

Cheers, Mitch

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Every few years, a special rider comes along who does things a little bit differently. My guest on this month’s episode of Life In The Peloton is one of those riders: Dutch legend Taco Van Der Hoorn. 

Taco’s been a pro for almost a decade, and in that time he’s had some massive wins and more than his fair share of bad luck. From getting his hands in the air with a stage win at the Giro in 2021 to spending over 500 days out of racing with a nasty concussion, Taco’s lived through the beauty and brutality of the sport.

Earlier this year, I got to sit down with Taco and discuss not only racing, but what it means to be a pro cyclist, how he got to where he is today, and how his slightly different approach has given him such a long and fruitful career when, on paper at least, he doesn’t think he’d have a chance in the World Tour if he started riding today. 

From training in Colombia with his neighbour Annemiek van Vleuten to studying for a degree in human movement before he even became a professional, Taco’s career has seen him ride for some of the biggest teams in the peloton and carve out a niche as a guy who can punch well above his weight. 

Inspired by other free thinkers like Graham Obree and Jan Willem Van Schip, he recognised early on that there’s more to racing than just power numbers, and he’s used equipment, tactical nous, and determination to win some bloody big bike races and have a good time while he’s doing it. As he puts it, it’s about speed, not power.

Guys, get this episode on, make yourself comfortable, and listen to Taco’s tales from the Pelo. I loved chatting to him, and actually saw a lot of similarities in my own career and his, so this is well worth a listen.

Cheers,

Mitch

 

This episode is sponsored by SHOKZ. If you’re after the best sports headphones - be it for cycling, running, or even swimming - get across to SHOKZ’s website, and use the code LITP enjoy a cheeky discount for being a LITP listener -https://bit.ly/4skq7lK

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When you think of steep, cobbled bergs you probably think of Belgium - so when Harry and Stu told me the UK had its own Flandrien berg, I knew I had to find out more. As luck would have it, this iconic Michaelgate climb played host to the first stage of this year’s Tour of Britain, so I dispatched my men-on-the-ground - better known as Life In The Peloton’s Race Radio presented by SHOKZ - to Lincoln to check it out.

Here’s what the best bald boy in the bike business Harry, had to say:

Harry: It only felt right that with stage one of this year’s Tour of Britain finishing up Lincoln’s iconic Michaelgate climb, Stu and I should head there to record our next episode of LITPRR. Camped out on the 16% cobbles, we were right at the heart of the UK domestic racing scene, and day one delivered a full-blown GC battle. What a place to watch a bike race! Cathedrals. Castles. A British winner. Quintessential stuff.

I only raced in the UK a few times in my career. I did the Tour of Britain and Tour de Yorkshire once each, the RideLondon classic four times, and that miserably wet World Champs in Harrogate in 2019. If there’s one thing I remember about racing in Britain - it is grippy as it gets. Hard roads, plenty of narrow lanes twisting and turning through the countryside, and downright shit weather most of the time. There are no easy Ks in the UK.

Hearing the boys soaking in the atmosphere in Lincoln really does take me back to proper Belgian racing; the cheering, the cowbells, and the faint sound of riders wincing as the cobbles and gradient start to bite. Oh man, I wish I was there with a cold one taking it all in. 

Guys, this is a real racing fan’s episode. Harry & Stu have netted some amazing interviews with some proper legends, and really captured what this race is all about. Of course, none of this would be possible without support from our presenting partner SHOKZ. If you’re after the best sports headphones - be it for cycling, running, or even swimming - get across to SHOKZ’s website, and enjoy a cheeky discount for being a LITP listener. 

The Race Radio boys have just one race trip left on their 2026 calendar; the Italian one day races that form the build up Lombardia in October and bring the curtain down on plenty of rider’s seasons. I can’t wait to hear what they cook up. 

Cheers,

Mitch

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Well, I don’t think anybody expected that to happen…

Guys, welcome along to this rest day special episode of the Race Communiqué. I’m joined by Luke Durbridge - getting his last few days of relaxation in before heading across to Canada - to wrap up everything we’ve seen in an absolutely crazy first week at La Vuelta. 

Of course, how could we not discuss the biggest news of the race…and maybe even the season: Tadej Pogačar has crashed out of La Vuelta! After absolutely dominating the first week of the race, the Slovenian superstar hit the deck at high speed on stage eight and suffered a concussion, a fractured collarbone, and a fractured vertebrae. 

That is a pretty serious list of injuries for Pogi, and casts a lot of doubt over the rest of his 2026 season. Here’s hoping that he can get fit and healthy again and get back to racing when he’s ready. 

With Pog out, the race really has been turned on its head. Mas has moved into the race lead, and all of a sudden there are opportunities for all sorts of riders to potentially win a grand tour. 

Once Durbo and I recap the race so far, we get a special voice note from the big man - Tom Southam - on his way back from driving the EF Team car for the first part of La Vuelta. He gives us his take on Pog’s crash and what that means for the race. 

As sad as Pog’s departure is, the race continues without him. It’s a cruel sport, hey? How is the rest of this year’s Vuelta going to play out? Will we see any more big surprises? Who’s going to win? We discuss all this and more on this special rest day Race Communiqué.

Cheers,

Mitch

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Join the next TrainingPeaks virtual ride with Durbo and me on 7th September - sign up here! A local loop around Girona, just like the good old days

Life in the Peloton is proudly brought to you by MAAP

La Vuelta a España is almost upon us! That’s right, it’s almost time for the last Grandy of the season - and my favourite! In this month’s Race Communiqué Luke Durbridge, Tom Southam, and I are picking apart the route, looking down the startlist, and previewing what promises to be an absolute scorcher of a race. 

Of course, the headlines around this year’s edition of La Vuelta are dominated by the presence of some Slovenian kid called Terry Pogačar…or something, and it’s fair to say he’s going to be the out-and-out favourite. But that doesn’t mean we’re in for a three-week snooze fest, oh no. Guys like Richard Carapaz, Felix Gall, Mads Pedersen, Wout van Aert, Matt Brennan, and heaps more absolute hitters are showing up to make this a Grand Tour that you do NOT want to miss.

Kicking off in Monaco, the 2026 Vuelta Route takes the pelo down through Andorra and into Spain, with a huge emphasis on the southern part of the country. That means two things: ripping hot temperatures and disgustingly tough climbs. In fact, this year’s route has almost 59,000 meters elevation total - almost 10,000 more than the Giro! 

We go through the course stage by stage and pick out some of our favourites that you’re gonna want to sit down and watch. As you know, I have a real soft spot for the Vuelta, and I think the organisers must have been listening to us yarn away on the pod about what stages we want to see in the grand tours, because there’s some absolute bangers in there. 

After the Vuelta preview, we turn to Luke for this month’s PeloChat. Durbs has done some serious digging for this ep, and is looking into what it takes to scout out new and upcoming talent. With a bit of an explainer from our old mate Michael ‘Heppy’ Hepburn, now working for Red Bull - BORA - Hansgrohe, this is a really great insight into how the biggest teams are finding the superstars of tomorrow. 

Southam’s talking tactics takes a look at La Vuelta and asks: does it really need to be three weeks long, or could it be shorter? What would a two week grandy look like? Would it be better racing? It’s something that comes up for discussion every time the Vuelta rolls around, and Southam’s got one hell of a take on it. 

You know the drill by now; as always, we wrap things up with a Vuelta-themed CommuniQuiz. Southam’s on the mic as Quiz Master this month, trying to catch me and Durbo out with some pretty sneaky Spanish stats.

Guys, crack open a crisp Cerveza, order some tapas, wake up from your siesta, and get ready for this year’s Vuelta! I can’t wait, and I hope this episode gets you fired up and ready for a real fiesta of a race. 

Cheers,

Mitch

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