Will Jonas Vingegaard defend his Tour de France title?

Defending Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard is talking up his chances of being at the Grand Départ of this year’s race in Florence on 29 June after the crash at Itzulia Basque Country that left him with serious injuries and complicated his Tour preparations hugely. But will he make it? And if he does, will he be in good enough shape to challenge for the yellow jersey yet again?

At the end of a week in which Vingegaard made his first outdoor foray on two wheels since that horrific crash, we hear from Frederik Gernigon, a journalist for the Danish newspaper BT Sport, who has been closely following the Visma | Lease a Bike leader's progress. Gernigon outlines Vingegaard's likely programme going into the Tour, the shocked reaction to his crash in Denmark, and the likelihood of the Dane defending his title.

We also speak to Israel-PremierTech coach Liam Holohan, who outlines the processes that comes into play when riders suffer serious injuries and are then guided back to the elite competitive level. Holohan explains why riders tend to push too hard too fast in these situations and how the backroom staff on pro teams ensure that riders recover fitness and form at a rate that doesn't affect their short- or long-term health.

Going into a big weekend of racing at the Giro d'Italia, we analyse who are likely to be the most satisfied campaigners come the first rest day at the start of next week – it'll be no surprise at all that we're all tipping Tadej Pogačar to have a very happy Monday. Plus, we hear from our diarist Lewis Askey, who talks through his first week at the Giro, admitting that he's learned an awful lot in seven days, and not only from his evening viewing of Clarkson's Farm with roommate Laurence Pithie.

While the Giro peloton were battling through the dust on Tuscany’s white roads, a few hundred kilometres away, at the Tour of Hungary, Mark Cavendish clinched his second victory of the season. In the wake of that timely success, we caught up with his coach and Astana team director Vasilis Anastopoulos, who reveals the Manx sprinter's recent struggles, details Cavendish's intense training and racing programme going into the Tour de France which includes a start at the Tour de Suisse, and explains why the British sprinter's Hungarian success is a boost for the whole Astana team.

In our regular "How to Make Cycling Better" feature, Soudal QuickStep sprinter Luke Lamperti proposes a radical way to make the action even more aggressive in stage races, a suggestion that will raise the hackles of fans of one particular racing discipline...

This podcast is brought to you with the support of our sponsor, Saddle Skedaddle. For details on how to save £100 on all of Skedaddle's Italian holidays during the Giro d'Italia, go to www.skedaddle.com/radiocycling

Music provided by HearWeGo 

Marion - High Hopes

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices