Professional cycling calls itself a global sport, but its media coverage almost exclusively focuses on Western Europe. Dan Challis has taken a different approach. The journalist behind The Global Peloton – now at Escape Collective – joins the RIDING WITH podcast to talk about what it actually takes for a rider from Africa, Asia, or the Americas to break into the WorldTour — and why the formal pipelines that have worked in the past (Qhubeka in Africa, Androni and Colombia–Coldeportes in South America) keep collapsing rather than scaling. Why has Japan, despite wealth and a massive cycling culture, never produced a WorldTour rider, and why India’s 2.5-million-spectator Pune Grand Tour might be the start of something real. Of course, we cannot discuss these issues with diving into sportswashing and the financial chain reaction now destabilizing teams across the WorldTour, from Arkéa’s collapse to Movistar’s restructuring. Plus, they revisit the Vuelta a España protests, talk about the future of cycling journalism, and make some bold Tour de France predictions.

Dan Challis

You can find Dan on Instagram and LinkedIn.

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