This week we talk our way through Plouay and what the world cups have been like this year (hint: they’ve been amazing!). Then we talk about the Para-cycling Road World Championships in Greenville, South Carolina. And proving that it’s been another action packed week of women’s cycling, we then turn our attention to the Tour de l’Ardeche and Boels Rental Ladies Tour, both of which started during the week. Of course it wouldn’t be a podcast if there wasn’t a bit of mountain biking and a whole lot of insanity in there too (so there is). We talk about our most amazing bits of transfer news and of course rumours. It’s a big episode and there’s something in it for (literally) everyone, so if you’re an everyone, or related to an everyone, you should probably listen up. (1:33:59 MIN / 90.23 MB)

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Last week’s racing

GP de Plouay World Cup

Videos and things from the final round of the Road World Cup here – including the full hour and a half live coverage. And wow:

In her chase for #victory in #Plouay #raboliv cyclist @lucinda_brand reached a top speed of 91.8km/h #nofear #speedy pic.twitter.com/1F66lZnxrH

— pioneercyclo (@pioneercyclo) August 31, 2014

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Para-Cycling Road World Championships

All the results, and photos – or it might be easier to follow them via Sarah’s Tumblr, where she’s titled photos and matched them with results.  Aussie tricyclist Carol Cooke blogged about her ITT (scary anxiety dream!) and road race, and this is our favourite photo, the tandem road race photo-finish:

Bit of a close finish yesterday, never has a lunge been so important! Thanks again for all the lovely messages! pic.twitter.com/ehLJRXwI04 — Corrine Hall (@Corrinehall) September 1, 2014

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Boels Rental Ladies Tour and the Tour de l’Ardèche

Both started yesterday, and already there’s tons of interesting stuff about them.  Check out Sarah’s post on Podium Café, which has videos and links and a kind of preview, but if you want to know what they’re like, Velofocus has previews of BRLT and l’Ardèche, and if you only want one thing from each of their first stages, we like Chloe Hosking’s blog from Stage 1 of l’Ardèche, where she unbelievably ended up in the Queen of the Mountains jersey, and video highlights from BRLT Stage 1

More BRLT videos – interviews with Ellen van Dijk, Lisa Brennauer and Elisa Longo Borghini.

UPDATE!  Oh, and Wiggle Honda’s cameraman, Aaron, is at l’Ardèche – here’s their Stage 1 video

(Since Sarah gathered these links, Day 2 of each race is over, so some more…..  Chloe Hosking’s excellent blog on l’Ardèche Stage 3 suicide attacks and being a sprinter in the hills; and video with Carmen Small talking about the break that nearly succeeded in BRLT Stage 2

More BRLT Stage 2 videos – Lisa Brennauer’s win, and her interview in excellent Dutch; Jolien D’Hoore on coming second; and Wiggle Honda’s l’Ardèche Stage 2 & 3 video)

L’Ardèche Stage 3?  It’ll be like this:

/\/\/\/\/\/\/ Today’s stage #TourArdeche

— rachel neylan (@rachneylan) September 4, 2014

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It was the green mountain Stage Race over in the USA – read the Optum/Kelly Benefit blog about it!

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News and Stuff

It’s transfer time!  Check out Sarah’s women’s cycling transfer carousel on Podium Café to keep up-to-date, but here’s this week’s big news…

Happy and proud to announce that I will ride for Team @Hitec_Products in 2015! — Kirsten Wild (@kirsten_wild) September 1, 2014

Very proud to announce that Laura Trott is joining the team for 2015. We can’t wait to work with her. @LauraTrott31 #matrixvulpine — On The Drops (@onthedrops) September 2, 2014

Here’s a video with Laura Trott talking about that move.

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We told you last week about Amber Pierce‘s Network for Advancing Athletes initiative – here are three answers to a young college athlete asking about depression and sport, including Ina-Yoko Teutenberg.

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Video from Liv-Giant about Shannon Galpin’s work on women’s cycling in Afghanistan

Southern Spin’s interview with Anna Meares on why she shaved her head (and much more!) – and their interview with the UCI’s Tracey Gaudry.

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If you haven’t read Nicole Cooke‘s book, The Breakaway, and are wondering whether you should Feargal McKay has reviewed in on Podium Café – read Part 1, which includes the history of the Grand Boucle, and Part 2.

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Brazilian cyclist Flávia Oliveira is chasing UCI points to try to get to race her home Olympics in Rio – but she needs to fund it herself, and is crowd-sourcing support.  Can you help?  She’s just $500 away from her $3,000 goal, and any little bit helps.  Find out more.

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Riders who win the Novilon Eurocup, part of the Drenthe week of racing, get a luxury floor as their prize, and it always makes Sarah happy to see them claim it!

Dit wordt ‘m! Heel mooie Novilon vloer uitgezocht bij @forboflooring . Topsponsor van de @RondevDrenthe ! pic.twitter.com/vIwnd96d52

— Kirsten Wild (@kirsten_wild) September 3, 2014

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Thankyou to everyone who nominated us for a BikeBiz Cycling Media Award!

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Upcoming racing

2014 MTB World Championships – 6th & 7th September – how to watch live.  Of course Sarah loves this GoPro video of Kathrin Stirnemann‘s winning Eliminator run:

and here’s the video from the XCo team relay (1 junior, u23 and elite man and one woman in each team)