On Friday, the first Grand Tour of the season rolls out from Bulgaria, not Italy – and, as always, we’ll be there, on the ground, to bring you all the action from the Giro d’Italia. This year’s “Corsa Rosa” starts here, with our race preview and the troika who’ll take you on the journey to Rome over the next three weeks: Daniel Friebe, Brian Nygaard and Michele Pelacci. Before sinking our teeth into the Giro, though, we discuss the first big headline of the week: Paul Seixas’s announcement that he’ll be riding the Tour de France. It’s then time to talk about the Giro, focusing first on the favourites, then moving into the beautiful canvas upon which Jonas Vingegaard et al. will hopefully create cycling art over the next three weeks. EPISODE SPONSORNordVPNGet NordVPN two-year plan + four months extra ➼ https://nordvpn.com/tcp It’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee.Follow us on social media:Twitter @cycling_podcastInstagram @thecyclingpodcastFriends of the PodcastSign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com to listen to new special episodes every month plus a back catalogue of more than 300 exclusive episodes.2026 Girovagando selection:You can buy this year’s Girovagando wine selection here: https://dvinecellars.com/products/cycling-podcast-giro-26. The wines with corresponding stage numbers are as follows: Stage 3: Mixtape Red, Georgiev & Milkov, Plovdiv (red) Stage 4: Tenuta del Conte, Calabria Rosso, Calabria (red) Stage 5: Vigneti del Vulture, Pipoli, Aglianico del Vulture, Basilicata (red)Stage 10: Bianco 'il Terraio’ Paterna, Tuscany (white)Stage 14: Les Crêtes Mon Blanc, Valle D’Aosta (white)Stage 20: Braida Antica Blanc, Russolo, Friuli Venezia-Giulia (white)The 11.01 CappuccinoOur regular email newsletter is now on Substack. Subscribe here for frothy, full-fat updates to enjoy any time (as long as it’s after 11am).The Cannibal & BadgerFriends of the Podcast can join the discussion at our virtual pub, The Cannibal & Badger. A friendly forum to talk about cycling and the podcast. Log in to your Friends of the Podcast account to join in.The Cycling Podcast is on StravaThe Cycling Podcast was founded in 2013 by Richard Moore, Daniel Friebe and Lionel Birnie.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.