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Welcome back to The British Continental podcast, the show all about domestic road racing.  In today's episode, host Denny Gray discusses the way forward for British road racing with Olympian Ed Clancy.

Last August Ed was asked to chair the elite road racing task force, an eight-person panel of experts tasked with the job of developing a series of recommendations for British Cycling to implement in 2024 and beyond. The task force was given a targeted remit, to consider the composition of the elite national calendar (including road and circuit), the challenges facing domestic teams and the opportunities to grow the reach and profile of domestic races. 

Jon Dutton, British Cycling’s CEO, stressed that the task force would not be a talking shop, saying that there were areas where British Cycling “can and will make immediate progress."

After several months of deliberations the task force published its report on Monday, the 29 January. It contained 16 recommendations for British Cycling to take forward, many of them calling for further exploration and review. 

Ed, a three-time Olympic gold medallist, is no stranger to domestic road racing. He was a long-time member of the renowned JLT Condor squad and was regularly at the pointy end of some the country’s top races, particularly when it came to crits.

In this episode, Denny speaks to him about the challenges facing domestic road racing, why he took on the job as chair of the task force, the task force's recommendations, and what difference he thinks the work of the task force will make. 
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With the 2024 National Road Series just around the corner, The British Continental podcast is back with a preview of the women's National Road Series and the upcoming ANEXO/CAMS CiCLE Classic, one of the most important elite road races on the British calendar.
Host Denny Gray gathers an insightful panel including Sarah King, the inspirational London Academy manager, and DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK rider Sian Botteley - one of the main protagonists of last year's CiCLE Classic - to discuss what to expect from this year women's National Road Series and why it matters.

The trio also look ahead to this Sunday's ANEXO/CAMOS CiCLE Classic (17 March), which has a stellar startlist. The race occupies a distinctive niche in the UK road racing calendar with its challenging off-road sectors. Its recent rescheduling to March has increased its unpredictability and the harshness of racing conditions. Denny, Sarah and Sian discuss the tricky parcours and how to approach it, and pick out riders and teams to watch.

We also hear from Monica Greenwood, the reigning National Road Series champion. Greenwood shares her pivotal 'now or never' decision to embrace full-time racing at the start of 2023, leading to a standout season. She offers an insider's view on clinching the National Road Series title and expresses her eagerness to compete in the Series again this year, despite her progression to Team Coop-Repsol. Having narrowly missed out on the win at last season's CiCLE Classic, Greenwood has unfinished business at this time around.


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Host Denny Gray is joined by Saint Piran's James McKay and Jo Tindley of Pro-Noctis - 200º Coffee - Hargreaves Contracting Ltd to discuss the latest domestic road racing developments. 
The trio consider:
Saint Piran's decision to close its USKIS development team. Hear directly from James about the team's decision to merge their development and UCI Continental squads.The important of competition. James, Jo and Denny compare and contrast the dominance of Saint Piran in men's domestic scene versus the more competitive, less predictable women's racing scene.The season so far. We dissect the races that have shaken up 2024, spotlighting riders and teams that have caught the eye. Jo drops insights from last month's the ANEXO CAMS CiCLE Classic. The East Cleveland Classic: James and Jo dish out insider info and make bold predictions for the next National Road Series round.Listen now to stay ahead of the pack and join the conversation about the ever-evolving landscape of domestic road racing.
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The British Continental. Proudly presented by Le Col, supported by Pro-Noctis

Welcome back to The British Continental podcast!
We are absolutely delighted to be reviving our humble podcast this week to bring you another Tour of Britain diaries series.
Throughout the duration of the AJ Bell Tour of Britain, we’ll be taking you inside the race from the perspective of the domestic teams and riders with audio dispatches and interviews with managers, riders and staff. 
For the domestic teams, the Tour of Britain is akin to the Tour de France. By far the biggest event in their racing calendars, a chance to showcase their sponsors, attract new investment and prove themselves against higher-tier opposition, and it’s a shop window too for the riders, keen to put on an eye-catching performance that might bag them a pro contract. 
 This year’s Tour is a bit like a British version of the Race to the Sun – or Paris-Nice as it’s more formally known – in that it starts in the north of the country and then heads south to warmer climes. The 2022 edition starts where the 2021 version finished - in the Scottish coastal city of Aberdeen. It finishes eight days later overlooking The Needles on the Isle of Wight. 
It promises to be another tough edition. There is no team time trial – or any time trial for that matter – this year, meaning hilltop finishes, crosswinds, time bonuses and aggressive racing are likely to be the influential factors deciding the race’s overall winner. Any winner will certainly need good climbing legs. Every stage bar one - Stage 5 - has over 2000 metres of climbing and the race is bookended with hilltop finishes at the Glenshee Ski Centre in Aberdeenshire and The Needles on the Isle of Wight.
Ahead of that first summit finish, we hear from 19-year-old Scotsman Oscar Onley, a stage winner of the Giro Valle d’Aosta earlier this year, who is being given a GC shot by Team DSM at this year’s race.

Saint Piran’s team manager Steve Lampier talks us through his team, including their head-turning new signings, and fires a riposte to social media commentators who have questioned the team’s transfer policy this year.

WiV SunGod’s Jake Scott won two jerseys in last year’s Tour of Britain and was a feature of almost every break. He tells whether jersey-bagging will be another aim of his this year.

And his team manager, Tim Elverson, looks back on a successful year for the team and tells us what success would look like for the team at the race.

And, stop the press, we also have a late entry from Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling DS Colin Sturgess, who we’re delighted to say will be sending us dispatches throughout the race again this year.
Each of our guests also looks forward to the stage 1  ski centre summit finish. The consensus seems to be that the climb is hard enough to break the peloton up, but not so hard that it will be decisive for GC. They all agree too that the weather could up the ante and make the finish much harder than it looks on paper. 
We want a say a big thanks to HUNT bike wheels who are supporting this Tour of Britain podcast diary series. HUNT have been long-time supporters of The British Continental website – and the domestic scene more generally – so we’re chuffed that they are also backing the podcast this week. Their man Ollie Gray is embedded in the race this week, so he'll be helping to bring us interviews with riders and staff as the week progresses. 
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In today's episode we bring you audio dispatches from Colin Sturgess, Oscar Onley, Matthew Teggart and Steve Lampier as they reflect on how stage 1 at the 2022 Tour of Britain went, and what stage 2 holds in store.


Stage 1 went from Aberdeen to Glenshee Ski Centre covering 181.3 kilometres and taking in 2,516 metres of elevation. The weather was grim, so grim in fact that the conditions delayed the live TV coverage for 90 minutes. 


While we were waiting for pictures to appear, a five-rider break formed of Uno-X Pro Cycling rider Martin Urianstad, WiV SunGod duo Jake Scott and Matt Teggart, and Human Powered Health pairing of Matt Gibson and Stephen Bassett. Gibson, of course, was a teammate of Scott and Teggart earlier this year until his mid-season switch to Human Powered Health.


The quintet were out front for much of the day, enjoying a lead of up to five minutes at one point. 


Bassett took the ŠKODA King of the Mountains jersey while Teggart picked up the Sportsbreaks.com Sprints jersey, while Gibson won the Adyen Combativity Award.


The five made it until the higher slopes of the climb up to the Glenshee Ski Centre. TRINITY Racing’s Thomas Gloag then made a jump, catching the break and briefly threatening to go away before the bunch reeled everyone in with 1.6 kilometres to go.


As the peloton closed in on the finish, INEOS Grenadiers’ Omar Fraile struck out first but Israel-Premier Tech’s Corbin Strong timed his sprint to perfection to take his first pro win and with it, the leader’s jersey.


 Tom Pidcock was the highest-placed Brit in 5th, while our diarist Oscar Onley, just 19, finished an impressive 8th in the reduced bunch finish. WiV SunGod’s Irish road race champion Rory Townsend was the best-placed domestic team rider in 13th.


Stage 2 starts in Hawich and finishes in Duns. It covers just over 175 kilometres and features three punchy climbs in the final 30 kilometres which should make for some aggressive racing in the closing stages.

Show supported by HUNT Bike Wheels.


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In this edition, we welcome back our now-regular trio Colin Sturgess, Oscar Onley and Steve Lampier, who are joined by WiV SunGod’s young sprinter Jim Brown.
Stage 2 began in Hawich and ended in Duns. The early part of the stage was marked by a six-man break which featured brothers Harry and Charlie Tanfield from Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling, Saint Piran’s Adam Lewis, Travis Stedman of Team Qhubeka, Ukko Peltonen of Global 6 Cycling, and Sportsbreaks.com sprints competition leader Matthew Teggart (WiV SunGod). 
Teggart dominated the three intermediate sprints to extend his lead in the competition to 12 points. The peloton then sparked into action in the final 30 kilometres as the race took on a trio of late ŠKODA King of the Mountains climbs. Teggart was the last of the break to survive as they hit the first climb of Wanside Rigg, and was briefly joined by Human Powered Health’s Stephen Bassett, who struck out for more KOM points, but the pair were caught just after the summit.
INEOS Grenadiers then controlled the race on the narrow roads across the open moorland onto the second climb, with Jacob Scott (Wiv SunGod) jumping away near the top of Mainslaughter Law to secure enough points to move into the lead of the ŠKODA King of the Mountains competition.
Davide Gabburo (Bardiani CSF Faizanè) went clear on the descent, building a 30-second lead.  The Italian was caught approaching the top of the final climb of Hardens Hill, with German champion Nils Politt (BORA – hansgrohe) driving over the top and briefly going clear before Dylan Teuns (Israel – Premier Tech) countered.
 The Belgian was caught  by Magnus Sheffield (INEOS Grenadiers),  and then a Team DSM-led peloton mopped them up as they raced toward the finish in Duns.
DSM put their sprinter Cees Bol into a good position but an inspired late charge from the Great Britain team looked as if it was going to deliver Jake Stewart to victory, only for the Coventry rider to be pipped by millimetres by a late-charging Bol. Race leader Corbin Strong ((Israel-Premier Tech) finished third to take more bonus seconds on the line.
TRINITY Racing's Luke Lamperti was the best rider from the domestic teams in a very solid 5th, while WiV SunGod's Jim Brown and Saint Piran's Harry Birchill were 9th and 11th respectively. 
Strong still leads the race, extending his lead to 8 seconds, while Jake Stewart is second overall now. 
This year’s race ventures onto English soil for the first time on stage three, which takes place between Durham and Sunderland. It covers a distance of 163.6 kilometres and takes in 2,478 metres of elevation, including the first category Chapel Fell climb, which begins just 40 kilometres into the stage.

Show sponsored by HUNT Bike Wheels.
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The British Continental. Proudly presented by Le Col, supported by Pro-Noctis