Andy Schleck was one of the brightest Tour of France riders of his generation. His battles with Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador, especially in the mountains, kept the Tour alive. He won the race in 2010 and finished second in 2009 and 2011. Before turning 30, Andy hung the bike because of a knee injury remedied at the 2014 Tour de France. How did he manage to come to terms with the premature exit from a sport in which he was so successful? How did he manage to look ahead? Dan Lloyd went to meet him, six years after his retirement, to reflect on his illustrious career, his precore retirement from racing, and how he managed to take new paths.
Fabian Cancellara is one of the greatest Classics cyclists ever, with three victories at the Tour of Flanders and three at the Paris-Roubaix. He also won the Time Trial World Championship four times and took eight stage wins at the Tour de France, wearing the yellow jersey for a total of 29 days. She hung up her bike in 2016, after winning her second Olympic gold medal. Dan Lloyd is in Switzerland to ski with him and find out more about the lesser-known sides of the Swiss legend of Spartacus.
During a stellar career, Andrea Tafi became a charismatic hero of the classics, the Gladiator. With the Mapei super-team, he became the first Italian to win both the Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders. These days, he lives the dolce vita by growing olives in his native Tuscany. GCN presenter Dan Lloyd joined him at home for a ride and to pick some olives in the sun.
Johan Museeuw, 'The Lion of Flanders' was the strongest Classics cyclist of his time. Over the course of his 17-year career, the 'King of the Bergs' has made Belgium's most brutal cobblestone climbs his own. With three victories at Flanders and Roubaix, many other Classics won and a World Road Title, Johan is a true legend in the sport. Bernie Eisel cycled along with the Flemish legend along his favorite routes to talk to him about the races, his rituals and how he managed to develop a mental strength that humans can only imagine.
Marcel Kittel is known to everyone for absolute dominance at the Tour de France, where he won 14 stages, 2 of them on the famous Champs-Élysées. A sprinter who has won almost 100 races, Marcel has had several ups and downs over the course of his career and the announcement of his retirement at just 31 surprised everyone. What made the powerful German, famous for his stature and engine, take the decision to retire when he was still in top form? Bernie Eisel is in Switzerland to find out and he met Marcel at his home on Lake Constance to talk about his extraordinary career, and to understand from his words the reason for his premature retirement at 31.
In 1992 the Olympic gold medal changed Chris Boardman's life, and helped the UK become a cycling superpower. Boardman was known to be an innovator, whose knowledge of training and aerodynamics was several years ahead. Oliver Bridgewood met the time trial legend who broke three hour records and dressed the yellow Tour de France jersey three times.
Dame Sarah Storey is one of the most decorated bike racers on the planet, with 14 Paralympic Gold medals and 29 World Champion titles. Sarah's competed at seven Paralympics on the road, on the track, and even in the pool! With phenomenal versatility across all cycling disciplines, Sarah's been dominating elite sport for three decades and, at 43 years old, shows no signs of slowing down. Join Manon Lloyd as we learn more about Dame Sarah Storey's sporting achievements, her journey to the top, and what makes her such a phenomenon.
Bike designer, Mike Burrows, has spent more than 40 years driving forward the evolution of bike design. From his pioneering carbon monocoque frame design in the early 80s, which paved the way for the Lotus 108, to his work on the Giant TCR with its revolutionary sloping top tube, his innovations have changed the face of the modern road bike. Some of his bikes are as famous as the athletes who rode them, and some were banned because they didn’t look like bikes at all. This controversial maverick is one of most influential bike designers of the past half century.
Alberto Contador was one of the greatest runners of his generation; one of only seven runners to have won all three Grand Tours: the Giro d'Italia, the Vuelta España and the Tour de France. His selling point was the explosive power on the climbs, but his career was built on something much more than just physical ability. Contador's success came thanks to his mental strength. In 15 years of a top career, he suffered from a near-fatal brain problem, struggled with bitter rivals such as Andy Schleck, Chris Froome and Lance Armstrong, and was embroiled in scandals and controversy. Bernie Eisel meets Alberto in his hometown, Pinto, Spain; he sees his life after retirement and spends time knowing his truth behind the headlines, to learn more about this true cycling legend.
Bernie Eisel goes to Spain to meet his former Mapei teammate and three-time World Championship winner Oscar Freire with the aim of finding out more about the most successful Spanish sprinter. Starting from Torrelavega, Bernie joins Oscar for a ride around his hometown and learns how his childhood helped him become a famous sprinter, later he will follow Oscar in one of his training rides through the beautiful mountains of Cantabria, thus discovering the secret of his success. The pair will then look to Oscar victories including three editions of the Milan-Sanremo, three World Championships and his successes at the Tour de France. We will then listen to a former Mapei partner, and longtime friend, Pedro Horrillo - who will explain why Oscar is known in the world of cycling as 'The Cat'.
Meet the man who excited a cycling nation during the two periods when he wore the yellow jersey at the Tour de France. Thomas Voeckler was a brave runner and striker who faced the strength of Lance Armstrong, Cadel Evans and the Schleck brothers, and his exploits at “La Grand Boucle” left a long legacy on French cycling, inspiring the generation of runners of today like Julian Alaphilippe. In this "Legends" footage, GCN en Français presenter Florian Chabbal spends some time with Voeckler at his home in the Vendée and meets the men who have been by his side during the two attempts to conquer the "yellow mesh".
Alan Marangoni meets former team mate, two-time Giro d’Italia winner, and cycling legend; Ivan Basso, to learn more about a career that scaled the highest highs and lowest lows. ‘Ivan the Terrible’ was one of the great all-rounders of the noughties peloton, twice finishing on the podium of the Tour de France and taking more than 30 career victories. In the later part of his career, he raced with Alberto Contador, forging a friendship which led to their ownership of the Eolo-Kometa professional team. We hear from a fellow legend, Alberto Contador, while Alan and Ivan go blackberry picking on his farm before heading out to race up the local climbs. It is an intimate, honest portrait of an Italian cycling icon.
When Philippe Gilbert completed a clean sweep of the Ardennes one day classics in 2011, he wrote himself into the history books as just the second man, and first Belgian, to achieve the feat. Now, the King of the Ardennes is the King of the Côte d’Azur, and Dan Lloyd is heading out to Monaco to meet him. Gilbert was one of the great entertainers, mixing raw power and ability with a panache and attacking instinct that thrilled fans and proved an inspiration to a whole generation of cyclists. As Dan spends time with Gilbert at his bike shop and in the hills around his adopted home, Dan gets the inside story from Gilbert’s victories in four of pro cycling’s five monuments, and a world championship; a record unmatched in the modern era.
Sean Kelly. The King. Possibly the greatest Classics rider of all time. Beginning with his iconic wins on the cobblestones of Flanders in the mid 80s, Kelly went on a winning streak like no other rider of his era, including one crazy summer in 1986 where he seemed to win almost everything. Dan Lloyd joins Sean in Ireland to celebrate his greatest triumphs, reminisce about the ones that got away, and find out about his formative years growing up on a farm.