On this week's Placeholders, Kit Nicholson and Jonny Long join Caley Fretz to talk Tadej Pogačar's Giro approach, Demi Vollering's Nike deal, and more.

Escape Collective's podcasts are made possible by our members. Head on over to escapecollective.com/member to support this show and everything else on our podcast network.

Loren, Gracie and Abby have a lot to say about this year’s La Vuelta España Femenina. They discuss the final two stages, but also general takeaway from a week of racing in Spain and what it could mean for the rest of the season.

The episode includes audio diaries from Maike van der Duin of Canyon-SRAM, Brodie Chapman of Lidl-Trek, Kim Cadzow of EF Education-Cannondale, Alessia Vigilia of FDJ-Suez, and Georgia Baker of Liv AlUla Jayco.

Obsessions this week: Abby - The Idea of You on Amazon Prime, Loren - Low Tox Life, Gracie - The Giro! (catch her on the first 8 stages of SBS commentary).

Dane Cash and Cosmo Catalano break down the action from the first few stages of the 2024 Giro d'Italia and also discuss the Vuelta España Femenina, a bit of Eschborn-Frankfurt, and what's coming up at the Giro.

Escape Collective's podcasts are made possible by our members. Head on over to escapecollective.com/join to support this show and everything else on our podcast network.

Dan Bigham once said something along the lines of, get aero and train the body to sustain it: it's easier than getting stronger. As much as that makes sense, it's also not how we have typically thought of bike fitting. Our focus has typically been on comfort, power production, perhaps symmetry. But like so much in cycling, how we think about bike fitting is changing.

In this episode of Performance Process episode Ronan is joined by Daniel Schade, CEO of Gebiomized and the fitter working with Bigham at at the Ineos Grenadiers to find a balance in those aero positions , to discuss how bike fitting is changing and the pros and cons of some of the current trends.

Escape Collective's podcasts are made possible by our members. Head on over to escapecollective.com/join to support this show and everything else on our podcast network.

On this special episode of the Wheel Talk podcast, Abby calls up Matt de Neef to briefly discuss stages 5 and 6 of La Vuelta España Femenina, with audio diaries from Alessia Vigilia (FDJ-Suez), Kim Cadzow (EF Education-Cannondale), Georgia Baker (Liv AlUla Jayco) and Elynor Backstedt (Lidl-Trek).

Escape Collective's podcasts are made possible by our members. Head on over to escapecollective.com/join to support this show and everything else on our podcast network.

The Sea Otter Classic just wrapped up literally a few days ago, but clearly someone forgot to turn off the tap of new bikes and gear. Cervelo just announced a redesign of its ultra-popular Aspero gravel bike, and clearly put a lot of thought into what needed to change – and perhaps more importantly, what didn’t. Colnago also just dropped a new gravel bike of its own, the G4X, and Giant finally revamped its Trinity TT bike – no more rim brakes! Dave and James also chat about the eight billion tubeless valve stems out on the market, our favorite mountain bike computer mounts, and some of the latest happenings on the industry side.

Escape Collective's podcasts are made possible by our members. Head on over to escapecollective.com/join to support this show and everything else on our podcast network.

Timestamps:

3:17 – Cervelo’s ultra-popular Aspero gravel bike gets a careful redesign
10:50 – Zwift has added a whole bunch of new features, and some of them sound pretty sweet
15:15 – What’s up with seemingly everyone having their own high-flow tubeless valves now?
28:11 – Pick one! Our favorite mountain bike computer mounts
38:54 – A dirty cassette can easily turn into a skipping chain
43:22 – Colnago announces its new G4X gravel race bike
58:54 – The last holdout of rim brakes in the pro peloton is no more
59:30 – Enve Composites has been sold
1:01:07 – What the heck is going on at Rapha?
1:06:29 – More industry layoffs, this time at Cannondale

On this week's podcast, the crew looks ahead to the Giro d'Italia, where Tadej Pogačar looks like the favorite on a course that should provide wire-to-wire excitement.

Escape Collective's podcasts are made possible by our members. Head on over to escapecollective.com/join to support this show and everything else on our podcast network.

In this two part-episode Loren, Gracie and Abby chat about the opening TTT of La Vuelta and what it might mean for the stages coming up.

In the second segment, Abby and Loren check back in after the second stage with some audio diaries from riders on the ground including Maike van der Duin (Canyon-SRAM), Alessia Vigilia (FDJ-Suez), Georgia Baker (Liv AlUla Jayco) and Brodie Chapman (Lidl-Trek).