Stanley St. Social | Cycling News and Interviews

Max Gawn punctures in the final single track at Titan Forest Patagonia and tries to run his bike to the line. Ed Langdon joins Alex Clements after stage two, presented by Zwift, as the new leader of the Stanley St. Social Cup.

The Chileans don’t do steady climbs. They go 1%, 8%, 3%, 25%. This stage had a concrete wall at 25%, an aid station halfway up a 15% gravel climb, and a farm-track single track that was no place for a gravel bike. Jake Lever came off six times, once after his front wheel dropped into a gap in a slatted bridge. Then there was the 15km headwind across the valley at 11km/h, where Sean’s hip gave out right as his turn came up. Max ran down part of the single track before taking the car for the last kilometre. That makes him officially a DNF, but he’s third on bunch time in the Stanley Street Social Cup. Max also tells the Titan doco crew why Patagonia is a poor man’s Queenstown, and better for it.

Presented by Zwift. Ed’s training before the Everest was a few Zwift rides at home, and he rates the setup.

Thanks to our Patagonia partner UFinancial: financial advice, mortgage broking and financial planning under one roof on St Kilda Road.

The dailies are back. Alex Clements and Max Gawn report from day one of Titan Forest Patagonia, presented by Zwift, with Ed Langdon, Jake Lever, Nick from St Cloud and Sean riding for Team Stanley Street Social.

It was 120km on Giant Revolts, finishing with a 10km climb where the Garmin read 5km/h. Max rode tempo at the back all day and still finished a minute behind Alex, Ed and Nick. Also in this one: 10km of roadworks Max swears was Roubaix, a camp where the showers run cold and one charger blew the village’s power, the Colombian tentmate who moved out overnight, and Max’s two bikes getting searched at Santiago customs.

Presented by Zwift. Max does his training on Zwift at home, and it’s what got him race-ready for Patagonia.

Welcome UFinancial, our new partner for the Patagonia trip. Financial advice, mortgage broking and financial planning all under one roof on St Kilda Road, and Max has been with them for years.

Description

Max Gawn joins from Thailand for a Wednesday Social Club. He reckons if Pogačar comes to the Tour Down Under, he falls in love with it and comes back three years running. And if anyone has the mail, it's Michael Matthews.

We unpack the points system and why being a top-three ProTeam is now the money spot in cycling. That brings in Euskaltel's late points dash for Mikel Landa, and the Oceania Champs heading to Adelaide in January with 250 UCI points up for grabs.

Also in this episode:

The Social Club is presented by Giant.

Max Gawn sits down with Santos Tour Down Under race director Stuart O’Grady to go through the 2027 route, stage by stage, the morning after Max and Ed Langdon Everested Willunga Hill.

They talk leaving Willunga out of his first race as director. O'Grady explains how the men’s and women’s races will run on the same day, on the same course, for the first time in the Australian summer.

In this episode:

CPA president Adam Hansen joins us fresh from the first UCI cycling reform meeting to talk rider safety, salaries and anti-doping from the inside.

Heads up: the audio isn’t our usual standard, but what he shares is well worth pushing through for.

Adam takes us through what was discussed at the reform table, and how rolling road closures actually work after a week of vehicles on course in the Italian races.

He lays out his top five safety priorities, from GPS trackers and hookless tyres to helmets only rated to around 22 km/h, and why he expects trackers in every race by mid-next year.

We also get into the ITA night tests on Tadej and Jonas at the Tour, the flaws in the ADAMS whereabouts system that riders fear more than testing itself, why he believes the peloton is clean, and where airbags fit into the future of racing.

Max Gawn's top five transfers of the trade period so far, from Giulio Ciccone to Q36.5 and Filippo Ganna to Lidl-Trek to Ben Turner at Soudal Quick-Step.

Plus Paul Seixas wins Il Lombardia, Per Strand Hagenes takes Paris-Tours, and Plappy is out of Guangxi with a fractured wrist.

In this Social Club:

The Social Club is presented by Giant. Max's Giant garage now runs to two Propels, two TCRs, an Anthem, a Fathom and a Revolt.

Max is back on Zwift since his Everest, right next to the sauna.

Max Gawn has Everested Willunga Hill: 39 and a half laps, 8,851 metres, no power meter and 115 kilos, alongside Ed Langdon and Hamish Blake.

Plus Plappy on crashes and police motorbikes on the course in Italy, Remco v Ciccone at the Euros, and who wins Il Lombardia.

In this Social Club:

The Social Club is presented by Giant. Max rode his Everest on the Giant Defy.

Former GreenEDGE rider Sam Bewley joins us for a look at what goes on behind the scenes at a WorldTour team. Sam is now Head Sports Director at NSN. His job covers race strategy from the car, deciding which DS goes to which race, and helping recruit the riders who will shape the squad in 2028.

We talk about how NSN is rebuilding into a balanced team after Derek Gee's departure, and how you create a single culture across 25 nationalities. Sam also explains why race calendars and support riders often matter more than salary to young leaders, and how the invite system can leave teams stuck at races they no longer want.

He goes inside Biniam Girmay's Tour de France campaign and explains why the team stayed motivated without a stage win. He also remembers his first race as a DS, directing Chris Froome at the Tour Down Under, and shares the beer-with-the-mechanics approach he took to building trust in the job.

Brandon McNulty is the 2026 road world champion. Team USA's 8-man squad outplayed Mathieu van der Poel, Remco Evenepoel and Wout van Aert at the UCI Road World Championships in Montreal, and Michael Matthews rode to a heroic silver for Australia with almost no team support.

On this week's Social Club, Alex Clements and AFL captain Max Gawn break down the most chaotic Worlds road race in years. We cover how the race unfolded and how Team USA used their numbers perfectly, with Matteo Jorgensen and Quinn Simmons setting up McNulty's winning attack. We also get into why Belgium's plan fell apart, Isaac del Toro's huge workload for Mexico, and Tom Pidcock's late move. And we ask the big question: should Australia have sent a full team to back Bling?

Plus we recap Demi Vollering's thrilling win in the women's elite road race, Talia Appleton's fifth in the women's U23s, Jack Ward's top 10 in the men's U23s, the junior races, and the rest of the week in pro cycling.

Max is fresh off fourth in the Brownlow, the best vote count of his career, and a red carpet interview that started with a question about the world wheelchair championship. He also talks Everest prep: seven laps of Mount Dandenong, roughly 40 climbs to go in South Australia, and a possible pub stop for a parma halfway through.

Plappy's back in Spain after an underdone return in Italy, and he's lining up in China next month, where a certain mountain bike world champion has just appeared on the start list. He also walks through the mechanics' nightly group chat, chainrings, cassettes and the tyre pressures that will horrify anyone still running 120 psi.

Then it's Worlds. With Pogačar out and Carapaz withdrawn, the road race is wide open. We break down Belgium's two-leader plan, whether the French can make it hard enough to drop Van der Poel and Van Aert, and why Del Toro might beat Remco and Paul Seixas in a sprint. Max gives his tips, Alex backs Lorenzo Finn as a smokey, and Plappy is dreaming of a Van Aert rainbow jersey.

Plus: the TT verdict on Ganna's future, Felicity Wilson-Haffenden's junior title, the Oceania Championships landing in Adelaide in January, a transfer round-up including Gall, Mühlberger and a possible Welsford move to Jayco, and Max's Top Five presented by Pillar Performance: the best fluffers in cycling.

Aaron Gate made the WorldTour with Astana at 34. New Zealand's most decorated Commonwealth Games athlete joins us to talk through one of the most unlikely careers in the peloton. He won Olympic team pursuit bronze in London, then worked through a string of teams that folded underneath him, including Aqua Blue, which shut down with a single email in August, and Evo Pro, which still owes him half a season's pay.

Aaron takes us from hacksawing time trial bikes together before De Panne, to riding Madisons around Europe with Shane Archibald to qualify New Zealand for the worlds, to finally landing a WorldTour contract with Astana at 34. He also relives this year's Tour debut: a teammate's disc wheel flying at his head in the Barcelona team time trial, stitches in his face after stage two, then leading out sprints in the final kilometres. Plus Stefan Denifl, a voice note from Vinokourov, and whether LA 2028 is next.

Luke Tuckwell's first Grand Tour was a three-week apprenticeship. He rode the Vuelta a España as Primož Roglič's climbing support, spent most of it on his wheel, and came out the other side named in Australia's team for his first elite world championships. He's 22.

Roglič wanted him sitting behind rather than leading, which turned out to be the better classroom - Luke could watch where a nine-time Grand Tour podium finisher puts himself in a bunch, and when he spends energy and when he doesn't. By the final week the two of them had stopped needing to speak. He also gets into what Roglič passed on off the bike, the bus conversations, and why a rider that decorated was still thanking his teammates on stage 21.

Then Montreal. Luke wasn't expecting selection, what Matt Hayman told him about bringing young riders through early, and a very honest answer on why the green and gold never moved the needle at junior and U23 level — and why it does now. Plus why he thinks a chaotic race suits an Australian team without a superstar.

And the road that got him there: the Simon Clark message in 2021, an Italian team where nobody spoke English, learning how to train in Girona, and the night at the Baby Giro when Red Bull said his results didn't match his power numbers.

Australia's team for the world championships in Montreal has been announced, and there are a few names on it worth talking about — and a few that aren't on it at all. Alex and Max go through the selection rider by rider, look at how the squad might race in Canada, and get into a side of the selection process that doesn't get much airtime.

Then the Vuelta a España wrap. Movistar win a home Grand Tour with Enric Mas, Roglič takes second off a time trial he hadn't trained for, and Sepp Kuss sneaks into fifth. Mikel Landa and Eddie Dunbar both save their seasons in the final week, Uno-X put six riders into a 69-man breakaway on stage 20, and Max rates every team at the race from Tier 1 down to Tier 6 — with three big names in the bottom bracket.

Plus Max reports back from Amy's Gran Fondo: 122km, no training, a broken cassette 25km in, and a Top Five of everything he'd forgotten he hates about riding a bike. And a first look at Worlds off the back of Quebec and Montreal.

Max is back from the footy trip (alive) and Plappy's building form for Tour of Bright as the boys dive into a huge week of La Vuelta a España. They break down every stage from 9 to 16 - Van Aert's green jersey dominance, Movistar's masterclass in setting up Enric Mas, and Brenner's big win for the team. Plus: Max's off-the-red-eye top 5 (and honourable mentions) for the best under-25 riders in the world right now, Tour of Britain wrap, early Worlds selection chat for Belgium, Slovenia and the Aussies, and a fresh batch of transfer news.

Bling / Michael Matthews joins the podcast for a wide-ranging conversation spanning his entire career — from a motocross-obsessed kid in Canberra who stumbled into cycling, to Australian champion within six months, to a decade-plus at the top of the World Tour.

Bling opens up on the origin of his nickname, meeting Kobe Bryant in a hotel elevator during his first year as a pro, and the eerie parallel of watching LeBron James walk through a crowd in Paris untouched. He walks through the highs — winning the Green Jersey with Sunweb, the emotional 2017 Tour de France stage win in Rodez two years after breaking ribs on the same climb, the legendary Green Edge "Aussie rock star" era — and the lows, including a horror pre-Tour crash in 2014 and a brutal, injury-riddled run through the 2015 Tour just weeks before his wedding.

He also reflects candidly on team culture then versus now, what he sees of his younger self in Tadej Pogačar, the role his wife and daughter play in keeping him motivated at 35, and why the World Championships remains the one jersey that's slipped through his fingers — with Canada, a course that's been kind to him before, right around the corner.

Dr. David Spindler is a neuroscientist, cognitive performance strategist, and elite athlete wellbeing expert who's spent his career helping athletes and teams understand that brain chemicals matter. He's worked with some of the biggest names in professional sport, most famously alongside Mark Cavendish through the darkest years of his career, chronicled in Netflix's "Never Enough."

Three big segments in this one.

Team culture. David breaks down the actual neurochemistry behind why old-school GreenEDGE had that "I'd do anything for my mate next to me" quality — it comes down to oxytocin, the same bonding chemical released when a parent holds their newborn, and why some teams manufacture it constantly while others can't buy it no matter how much they spend. He and Alex build an entire hypothetical Australian WorldTour team from a blank sheet of paper — values, non-negotiables, culture — and get into why "old school Green Edge" gets thrown around constantly but almost nobody can actually define what it means.

Concussion. A proper breakdown of concussion protocols in the peloton and why cycling is dangerously behind rugby and the NFL on brain safety — including the messy legal reason nobody wants to call an impact sensor a "concussion sensor," and who actually carries liability when a rider gets hurt.

Training the brain. David explains the real neuroscience of reactionary decision-making, why riders like Tadej Pogačar seem to have supernatural crash radar, and the actual mechanics of how he trains neural efficiency in elite endurance athletes to extend time to exhaustion — plus how his own PhD on decision-making under physiological load in professional cyclists led him down this path in the first place.

The boys have a plan to get Tadej Pogačar down under.

Meanwhile the Vuelta has completely flipped on its head, someone's playing it ice cold in the red jersey, and the mountain bike world championships produced one of the most ridiculous rides of the year from a guy who basically chose to start from the back. Max's new top five ranks the teams he'd actually send a rider to and there's a brand new segment debuting this week that involves some very confident guesswork about riders' salaries.

We're (Alex is) sorry — Monday's show fell apart in a car park in Stage 3, so here's the make-up episode. Max's 9th All Australian jacket, plus Ed hard-launches the next cycling project: an Everesting attempt in October with zero training.:Max's Top 5 on fixing cycling coverage and a full Vuelta recap.

Alex sits down with Matthew Richardson at his home in Manchester for his most open interview yet. The world's fastest man over 200m takes us inside the Japanese Keirin World Series — the deliberate hit that broke his scapula and put him in a Tokyo hospital, body armour, betting culture, and three days locked away with no phone and a stack of second-hand DVDs.

Then, the full story of the switch: deciding on Christmas Day to leave Australia for Great Britain, telling AusCycling after winning silver in Paris, the equipment saga, the two-year ban threat that became a lifetime ban, and why he'd do it all again. Plus 240kg squats, why he never trains his upper body, creatine, LA 2028, and a golf handicap that shouldn't be ten.

Keeno's back from 44 days in France. Matthew Keenan, Max and Alex wrap the Tour and TDFF. We preview the Vuelta a España — UAE's three-headed monster, Gall, Onley, Landa's last World Tour Grand Tour, Tuckwell's GT debut — and run through Hamburg, Czech Tour, Norway (Uno-X, obviously), Del Toro's deal to 2031 and the transfer whirl. Max's Top 5 commentators, with Keeno sitting right there. We also pay tribute to Finlay Tarling.

Wednesday: Team GB sprinter Matthew Richardson.

James Moran is Head of Nutrition at Uno-X Mobility, joining the team in December 2019 as a consultant when they were still a Conti squad, before building the entire nutrition program from the ground up as they turned WorldTour. What began with just a list of riders and no instructions beyond "teach them about nutrition," has grown into three full-time chefs and nutritionists across the men's and women's programs. He works closely with nutrition partner Mauten on carbohydrate absorption research and oral microbiome testing, and was central to Jonas Abrahamsen's transformation from 68kg to 78kg - one of the team's biggest nutrition success stories. Before cycling, James worked in track cycling with British Cycling, and has also consulted across boxing, tennis, and rugby.

Plappy's back from San Sebastián.

Max's off-season plans hinge on one thing: Melbourne's finals run. Either he's playing in a grand final, or he's Everesting a climb in South Australia with Ed Langdon — completely untrained, in the hunt to be the heaviest person to ever do it. Also floated: getting Plappy to hand down one of his old sports cars as the podcast's official team car.

On the bike: Wout van Aert's Denmark treble, Jensen's cruel near-miss ("biggest blue balls of my life" per his own Instagram), Marco Brenner's Poland win, Remco's record San Sebastián, and Felix Gall's Burgos victory — with Oscar Onley's return to form the one Plappy was happiest to see. Gianni Moscon adds another line to the rap sheet with a fresh DQ.

Max builds out his All-Australian squad (37 riders deep and counting, no room for Uno-X yet despite their stacked year) and floats basing a second Aussie team in Asia. Plus Max's Pillar Performance Top 5 out-of-contract riders — Danny van Poppel, Habats, Christophe Laporte, Toms Skujiņš and Laurens De Plus — a Comm Games track wrap, and the reveal of the TDF Femmes Zwift prize winner, a 26-year-old triathlete lawyer from Adelaide who couldn't have written a better use for it himself.

Plus your voicenotes.

🎧 Subscribe for daily cycling news & interviews💬 Got a question or comment? Leave us a voice message: https://www.speakpipe.com/stanleystsocial

The final episode of an incredible nine days — Max makes his case for "Team FDJ," a 2024 grudge resurfaces, and one mid-race turn from an unlikely rider blows the whole GC group apart before the decisive finale.

In this episode:

🚴‍♀️ Tour de France Femmes 2026 coverage with Max Gawn & Amy Jones — thanks for following along all nine days
🎧 Zwift smart trainer winner announced on tomorrow's Social Club episode
🎙️ Send us your voice notes — link in bio, speakpipe.com/stanleystsocial

#TourDeFranceFemmes #TDFF2026 #StanleyStSocial #CyclingPodcast

Will Max's solo laptop-battery monologue finally sees the light of day? Alex rides Ventoux himself, and a genuinely controversial corner sparks the most heated debate of the whole Tour — was it a block, or just racing?

In this episode:

🚴‍♀️ Daily Tour de France Femmes coverage with Max Gawn & Amy Jones🎧 New episode every stage — follow so you don't miss one🎙️ Send us your voice notes — link in bio, speakpipe.com/stanleystsocial🕶️ Final stage prizes: Oakley Metas, a TDU hamper, and the GC comp winner revealed

#TourDeFranceFemmes #TDFF2026 #StanleyStSocial #CyclingPodcast

A stacked breakaway, a young French rider given the hometown blessing to attack, a runaway neutral service motorbike causing chaos, and a proper GC scare for one of the favourites heading straight into the Queen Stage.

In this episode:

🚴‍♀️ Daily Tour de France Femmes coverage with Amy Jones🎧 New episode every stage — follow so you don't miss one🎙️ Send us your voice notes — link in bio, speakpipe.com/stanleystsocial🔦 Comment your Stage 7 tip for a shot at Nog Lights💻 Tip the most stage winners across the Tour for a chance to win a Zwift smart trainer setup

#TourDeFranceFemmes #TDFF2026 #StanleyStSocial #CyclingPodcast

Description

Amy makes her BBC radio debut talking bra-gate, and back on the bike a genuinely brutal stage separates the real GC contenders from the pretenders — including one honest, disarming post-race quote that stuck with everyone.

In this episode:

🚴‍♀️ Daily Tour de France Femmes coverage with Max Gawn & Amy Jones
🎧 New episode every stage — follow so you don't miss one
🎙️ Send us your voice notes — link in bio, speakpipe.com/stanleystsocial
👟 Comment your Stage 7 tip for a shot at Giant shoes (Australia only)
💻 Tip the most stage winners across the Tour for a chance to win a Zwift smart trainer setup

#TourDeFranceFemmes #TDFF2026 #StanleyStSocial #CyclingPodcast

Max is back from a Gold Coast win and straight into it — Pauline Ferrand-Prévot's baffling time trial position gets torn apart, a fresh UAE leadership headache deepens, and a UCI aerodynamics scandal that's somehow gone properly mainstream.

In this episode:

🚴‍♀️ Daily Tour de France Femmes coverage with Amy Jones
🎧 New episode every stage — follow so you don't miss one
🎙️ Send us your voice notes — link in bio, speakpipe.com/stanleystsocial
👟 Comment your Stage 5 tip for a shot at Giant shoes (Australia only)
💻 Tip the most stage winners across the Tour for a chance to win a Zwift smart trainer setup

#TourDeFranceFemmes #TDFF2026 #StanleyStSocial #CyclingPodcast

Amy's Women's Cycling Weekly origin story, another round of the broadcast coverage debate, and a proper "why wasn't anyone else in the move" session for the teams who missed their shot on a day that opened right up.

In this episode:

🚴‍♀️ Daily Tour de France Femmes coverage with Amy Jones
🎧 New episode every stage — follow so you don't miss one
🎙️ Send us your voice notes — link in bio, speakpipe.com/stanleystsocial
👟 Comment your Stage 4 tip for a shot at Giant shoes (Australia only)
💻 Tip the most stage winners across the Tour for a chance to win a Zwift smart trainer setup

Amy's substack: https://mamilrepeller.substack.com/

#TourDeFranceFemmes #TDFF2026 #StanleyStSocial #CyclingPodcast

The Blasi contract drama just got a lot juicier — a 100K buyout clause, a "stupid mistake" quote, and a team principal stepping down mid-Tour. Plus a genuinely brutal blow for the Australian contingent, and a deep dive into why some stages get full broadcast coverage and others don't.

In this episode:

🚴‍♀️ Daily Tour de France Femmes coverage with Amy Jones
🎧 New episode every stage — follow so you don't miss one
🎙️ Send us your voice notes — link in bio, speakpipe.com/stanleystsocial
🕶️ Comment your Stage 3 tip for a shot at our last pair of Tour de France edition Oakleys
💻 Tip the most stage winners across the Tour for a chance to win a Zwift smart trainer setup

#TourDeFranceFemmes #TDFF2026 #StanleyStSocial #CyclingPodcast

Title Options — no spoilers

Primary (recommended):Six Minutes, No Panic | Tour de France Femmes Stage 1 Recap

Alternates:

Amy Jones joins Alex for the Tour de France Femmes Stage 1 debrief — a stacked GC group, a genuinely savage post-crash quote, and real intrigue brewing over Paula Blasi's future at UAE.

In this episode:

🚴‍♀️ Daily Tour de France Femmes coverage with Amy Jones🎧 New episode every stage — follow so you don't miss one🎙️ Send us your voice notes — link in bio, speakpipe.com/stanleystsocial💻 Tip the most stage winners across the Tour for a chance to win a Zwift smart trainer setup, thanks to our friends at Zwift🎽 Comment your Stage 2 tip for a shot at a Café du Cycliste kit

#TourDeFranceFemmes #TDFF2026 #StanleyStSocial #CyclingPodcast

We're joined by a brand-new voice on the podcast — cycling journalist Amy Gaze, who's covered the Tour de France Femmes since its inaugural edition in 2022 (ex-Cyclingtips, Rouleur, and her own Substack), to break down everything you need to know before the race hits the road.

Alex and Max sit down with Amy for a full Tour de France Femmes preview: a history lesson on every edition so far (Annemiek van Vleuten's dominant 2022, Vollering's 2023 win, Niewiadoma's four-second 2024 thriller, and Ferrand-Prévot's statement 2025), a deep dive into this year's GC favourites (Demi Vollering, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, Kasia Niewiadoma, Marlen Reusser, Elisa Longo Borghini and Paula Blasi), the first-ever ascent of Mont Ventoux on Stage 7, sprinter and breakaway watch, the Aussie and Kiwi riders to follow, and each host's stage one and GC podium picks.

Luke Plapp is back on the pod straight off the back of the Tour de France, and we're running through everything from the final week. Plappy takes us inside Stage 21's new Montmartre circuit (better than Alpe d'Huez?), what it's actually like riding through the crowds at Alpe d'Huez when you're not racing for GC, and why this year's race stayed relatively crash-free.

We break down Max's Legs Not Names and Names Not Legs rider ratings, build our Tour de France dream teams, and rank every team's tour from top tier to bottom of the class. Plus: how prize money actually gets split between riders and staff, why an Aussie WorldTour team needs to happen, a preview of the Tour de Femmes kicking off Saturday, and the usual chaos in between.

Send us a voicenote: https://www.speakpipe.com/stanleystsocial

🚴 Listener voice notes🏆 Rider & team power rankings💰 Inside the numbers on Tour prize money🇦🇺 The case for an Australian WorldTour team

Follow Stanley St. Social for daily coverage through the Tour de Femmes.

That's a wrap on the 2026 Tour de France! Max Gawn and Alex close out three weeks of daily coverage with the final stage into Paris — Mathieu van der Poel's incredible late attack on Montmartre, Jasper Philipsen's runner-up salute, and Tadej Pogačar sealing his dominant overall win. They reflect on the best Tour in years, run through the tip competition winners, and look ahead to the Tour de France Femmes starting next weekend.

Massive thanks to everyone who tuned in daily — you guys are the best. This community made three weeks of racing even better.

In this episode:

Thanks to our partners: Giant, Pillar Performance, Café du Cycliste, Knog, Oakley, Quad Lock, and TDU.

Week three legs are separating the field, the Alpe d'Huez debate isn't going anywhere, and the mailbag has thoughts on both. Chalk lines vs rope vs barriers, plus one photo of Pascal Ackermann that needs no further explanation. And yes, there was also a Queen Stage.

In this episode:

Genuinely one of the wildest days of the Tour — a stacked breakaway, a three-way GC battle up the road, and a mountain scene so chaotic it's sparked a real debate about barriers, cars, and the future of racing on Alpe d'Huez. Plus Max stays up staring at the ceiling and lives to tell the tale.

In this episode:

🚴 Daily Tour de France coverage with Max Gawn & Luke Plapp
🎧 New episode every stage — follow so you don't miss one
🎙️ Send us your voice note for the show at speakpipe.com/stanleystsocial
🎽 Comment your Stage 20 tip on our Instagram post for a shot at a Café du Cycliste kit

#TourDeFrance #TDF2026 #StanleyStSocial #CyclingPodcast

Look deeper, Alex — Max wants his flowers. Sore leg, black nicks, an unconvincing podium smile. Gross Hartner suddenly does it all. Parapant's 11-0 in polka dot sprints and nobody can explain why Carapaz keeps trying. Mauro Schmid, absolute bargain. Feud with the rivals, officially over.

In this episode:

A genuinely wild green jersey day — Trek let a 40-point lead shrink to 7 in the space of one stage, while a mystery illness in the UAE camp opens the door for Red Bull to make a real move. Plus Max makes his TV debut alongside Mick Molloy and the Aussie Uno-X sponsorship pitch takes a turn into tax policy.

In this episode:

🚴 Daily Tour de France coverage with Max Gawn & Luke Plapp
🎧 New episode every stage — follow so you don't miss one
🎙️ Send us your voice note for the show at speakpipe.com/stanleystsocial
🎽 Comment your Stage 18 tip on our Instagram post for a shot at a Café du Cycliste kit

The doping-testing saga refuses to die down — this time it's Mahorič calling out the inconsistency, and Adam Hansen weighing in on the financial and mental toll testing takes on riders. Plus a brutal blow for Red Bull-BORA on an otherwise huge day, a teams classification battle down to 20 seconds, and Alex and Max genuinely can't get enough of the listener voice notes flooding in.

In this episode:

🎧 New episode every stage — follow so you don't miss one
🎙️ Send us your voice note for the show at speakpipe.com/stanleystsocial
🕶️ Comment your Stage 17 tip on our Instagram post for a shot at Tour de France edition Oakleys

Rest day, and it's a big one — 43 voice notes to get through and only twenty minutes of the show that were meant for them.

Max and Alex start on the 2am testing saga engulfing the GC battle — Vingegaard and Pogačar's out-of-hours tests, the ITA's "severe suspicions" line, and a very direct take from a rider with history on the subject that's got Max rethinking the whole thing.

From there it's full voice note mode: Remco's TT gap, the AFL/cycling crossover conversation (yes, we're drafting Buddy Franklin onto a WorldTour team), an A2 Milk pitch for the show, and Max's top ten Melbourne sandwiches — Barry's Garage gets the nod.

Big one: we're doing a Tour de France Femmes show starting August 1, and we need a co-host who actually knows the peloton. Got a suggestion? Get into our DMs.

Plus — Max explains why he'd never marry Peter Sagan, does some very rough maths on how fast he could hold 30 minutes at threshold, and there's a Triple M cameo before sign-off.

A stage that flipped the entire Tour on its head — Jonas Vingegaard's race-ending crash, a wild UAE tactical scramble, and Max eating a full plate of humble pie after his breakaway predictions blew up spectacularly.

In this episode:

🎙️ Send us your voice note for the show at speakpipe.com/stanleystsocial

A wild one from the mountains — Carapaz nearly stole the stage before Vingegaard, of all people, paced Pogačar back into contention. Alex and Max break down a genuinely funny piece of race tactics, a big GC shakeup, and one more sad Charmig update before previewing a brand new climb for Stage 15.

In this episode:

The stage everyone had circled finally arrived — a massive breakaway, a genuine tactical masterclass from Jayco AlUla, and Luke Plapp officially graduating from "names not legs" to the real deal.

In this episode:

- New episode every stage - make sure you follow the show- Send us your hot take: speakpipe.com/stanleystsocial- Comment your Stage 14 tip on our Instagram post for a shot at Tour de France edition Oakleys

Genuinely the pick of the Tour so far — a stacked breakaway attempt, a chaotic finale, and yet another sprint jury controversy. Plus, Max has done his homework and built an actual Australian/Kiwi Uno-X-style dream team, position by position.

In this episode:

What if Australia had its own Uno-X? Alex and Max go deep on why national-identity teams like Uno-X actually work — and make a genuine, semi-serious pitch to Australia's richest people to fund the next one. Oh, and there was also a Tour stage today, and it was the best sprint finish of the race so far.

In this episode:

Rest day brought its own chaos — a rogue podcast drop, hotel horror stories, and Alex's mountaintop stakeout for a Plappy stage win that never came. Back racing, Bastille Day delivered exactly the kind of Pogačar dominance we've come to expect, but Alex and Max dig into the smaller battles hiding underneath it.

In this episode:

A special one for rest day — Alex and Matthew Keenan sit down with Caleb Ewan for a wide-ranging chat covering team identity in the pro peloton, the reality of stepping into the commentary box, and Keno's incredible 20th Tour de France milestone.

In this episode:

Stage 9 brought the biggest breakaway fight of the race so far, a genuinely baffling UAE tactical decision, and a redemption stage win for MVDP heading into the first rest day. Alex and Max break down the chaos and set up week two.

In this episode:

Stage 8 delivered another Tim Merlier masterclass — this time with no lead-out at all, bridging a gap solo and still finding the win. Alex and Max break down a wild finale, a genuinely funny Patrick Lefevere quote about Remco Evenepoel, and preview a Stage 9 that could produce one of the biggest breakaways of the race.

In this episode:

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Stage 7 gave us a genuine bunch sprint for the first time this Tour, and Merlier proved once again why he might be the fastest man in the race. But this episode goes deeper than the finish line - Alex and Max take a hard look at cycling's concussion protocol after two riders in three stages passed roadside checks only to be pulled with head injuries hours later.

In this episode:

Pogačar went at the 42.7km mark — Del Toro went with him, did a turn, then cracked human — and from there it was just Tadej riding away to a 2:40 stage win and the yellow jersey. But the real drama wasn't even the stage win. Remco Evenepoel stopped for a nature break, got dropped, had to chase back on — and then used the press conference to publicly rinse teammate Florian Lipowitz for not doing a one-K leadout back in Catalunya, months after the fact. Meanwhile Lipowitz quietly had one of his best days in ages, matching Pogačar and Del Toro's pace up the Tourmalet — so who's actually in the right here? We break down the team tension, the brutal end to Torstein Træen's day in yellow (crash, concussion questions and all), Ben O'Connor's early move, and Huub Artz's handlebar saga (spoiler: no fine, just a very public argument). Plus — we look ahead to tomorrow's pancake sprint into Bordeaux, who our on-the-ground sources say might actually have calm conditions (despite what the previews are saying), and hand out today's prize winners.

Stage 5 was billed as the big sprint showdown, but it played out more like a quiet day in the legs — and Alex and Max dig into whether that was fatigue, tactics, or something closer to a protest ahead of tomorrow's Tourmalet.

In this episode:

Stage 4 was run in genuinely brutal conditions — 44 degrees on the road, no heat protocol in effect, and a peloton that paid for it. Alex and Max break down a day where the tactics mattered as much as the legs.

In this episode:

Stage 3 into the Pyrenees delivered exactly what a first mountain day should — a mass crash inside the opening 15km, an hour-long fight to form the breakaway, and a GC shakeup as the race hit altitude in 41-degree heat.

In this episode, Alex and Max break down:

Barcelona put on an absolute show — 36 degrees, brutal wind, and a street circuit that turned into a proper GC selection race. Alex was trackside for the carnage, Max is calling it from Melbourne, and this one's got everything.

In this episode:

Vingegaard draws first blood. Visma smash the Barcelona TTT to snatch yellow off Pogačar on day one - but it's Ineos who'll be gutted, with Vauquelin's puncture undoing a near-perfect ride and leaving Ganna to drag them home solo. Alex and Max break down the TTT chaos: Movistar's Uijtdebroeks losing over a minute, two crashes inside the neutral zone, and why the new individual-time format just changed team tactics forever.

Plus — Stage 2 preview. Three trips up the brutal Montjuïc climb (9.3% average, kicking to 13%) sets up a puncher's paradise from Tarragona to Barcelona. Could we get a Van der Poel–Pogačar rematch of last year's sprint finish? Plappy gives his read on who thrives when the road tilts up three times in the closing kays.

Daily comp is live — check our Instagram for how to enter and what's up for grabs.

Three YouTubers and a PowerPoint presentation. That's how Unibet Rose Rockets started in 2023 — and this year they lined up at the Giro d'Italia.

Bas Tietema sits down with Max and Alex to unpack how a content-first team cracked professional cycling: signing Dylan Groenewegen, chasing UCI ranking points to guarantee a Tour de France start, why most WorldTour teams still don't understand content, and the uncomfortable truth about whether cycling teams can ever actually make money.

Plus: a rapid-fire round covering dream signings, favourite races, and the one UCI rule Bas would scrap.

New episodes every Monday and Wednesday, with daily coverage through the Tour de France.

The last Social Club before we go daily for the Tour. Matthew Keenan joins Max and Alex for the full Tour de France 2026 preview — Pogačar, Vingegaard, Remco, Del Toro, Ben O'Connor and Luke Plapp, team-by-team, with GC tips and every jersey battle.

From UAE's B-team being better than everyone's A-team to Caja Rural's 39-year comeback. The Paul Seixas v Del Toro white jersey scrap, green, polka dots, and who's actually winning the stages. Plus the national champs wash-up, the Matt Hauser and Jimmy Whelan interviews, and a Top 5 current Aussie riders that left Bling off. Sorry, Bling.

Jimmy Whelan's back for a third time on the show — except he's not a bike rider anymore.

Last time he was on EF. Now he's a full-time pro runner, banging out 200km a week off the back of treadmill sessions in Barcelona, chasing LA 2028.

We chat professional cycling, the bunch challenges, learning from the sport, 2nd place to Plappy at Nationals, the Queen stage win at the Volta a Portugal and the Dauphiné crash that finally killed the fire.

Then the second act: the viral 20x400 session, the Salomon deal to 2028, 'brand Jimmy' and why running barely tests anyone for doping.

Plus the marathon debut he's deciding on right now — and whether that means taking on Kipchoge at the MCG.

Recorded up in Andorra, where he used to train on the bike.

Twelve days from the Tour and the big one lands live on the pod. Luke Plapp gets the call pre-episode to confirm he's officially in the Tour de France team. We get into his week off the bike, the Girona TTT camp, and how the build's shaping up.

Then the usual Monday wrap:

Then Max's Top 5 cycling formats, presented by Pillar Performance — and yes, he's got gravel at number two. Take it up with him.

Coming up this week: Jimmy Whelan on the pod this arvo, and Bass from the Unibet Rockets later in the week. Missed Matt Hauser last week?

World triathlon champion Matt Hauser sits down with us in Andorra mid-altitude camp — three weeks of climbing, dodging PlayStation hours and chasing the 1-percenters that turned a 'part-time athlete' into the bloke who ended Australia's 20-year world title drought in Wollongong.

We chat, why triathletes are 'too dumb to be cyclists' and just drill it on the front, what 15 hours a week up Pas de la Casa actually does to your engine, racing crits on the Gold Coast, the brutal first five minutes out of T1, and why working harder on the bike makes the run easier.

Plus the mental side - owning the work, the keywords he leans on when he's staring down the barrel above threshold, and the very real question of going head-to-head with Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde off the bike at LA 2028 and Brisbane 2032.

Plappy's back in the Social Club fresh off the Dauphiné, and not in the best conditioning, battling gastro and a flu two weeks out from the Tour. Alex, Maxi and Plappy break down a strange eight days of racing: the team time trial's return, breakaways staying away everywhere you look, Luke Tuckwell's stunning ride into the yellow jersey (and Paul's post-race disrespect), Del Toro cruising to the win, and whether the Dauphiné was actually any good to watch this year.

Plus: the inside word on Green Edge's Tour long list and TTT prep, Max slides into LeBron James' DMs, the Luke Lamperti crit appreciation society, wraps on the Copenhagen Sprint, GP Cycling and Circuit Franco-Belge, and Max's Top 5 — riders who still haven't won a World Tour race (you'll be surprised who's number one).

American sprinter Luke Lamperti joins us on Stanley St Social for a ride through one of cycling's most intriguing young careers. We go back to the beginning — growing up in Sonoma County, California, swapping motocross dirt bikes for road cycling at age 11, and the junior racing days that put him on the map (including that top-10 at Paris-Roubaix Juniors).

Luke takes us through his Trinity Racing apprenticeship alongside future stars like Ben Healy, his big move to the Belgian Wolfpack at Soudal Quick-Step, a Giro d'Italia debut, and the leap of faith that took him to the American outfit at EF Education-EasyPost for 2026 — a switch that's already paid off with a stunning Stage 1 win at Paris-Nice.

We chat sprinting, the cobbled classics he loves, what it's like racing for an American team as an American rider, and where his monument dreams might take him.

Fresh off an eight-point King's Birthday win over Collingwood at a packed MCG, Max Gawn and Ed Langdon join Alex.

We map out our daily TDF coverage plan, break down the big four (and why there's no head-to-head showdown before Paris this year), and dig into a chaotic stage at the Dauphiné where Plappy snuck into the move and finished seventh. Plus: the latest batch of UCI rule changes that have Max fired up again, Arnaud De Lie's thousand-watt heroics at Wallonie, the Lidl-Trek shake-up, transfer whispers, and Max's Top Five one-week stage races.

Finn Fisher-Black is a professional road cyclist from New Zealand, currently riding for Red Bull–BORA–Hansgrohe. A former junior world record holder in the 3000m pursuit, he turned heads across the cycling world as a teenager before signing with UAE Team Emirates alongside Tadej Pogačar. Winner of the Muscat Classic and a stage at the Tour of Oman, he is widely regarded as one of the most versatile and exciting young talents in the WorldTour.

Giro d'Italia 2026 final week recap with Matthew Keenan: Vingegaard's five-stage dominance, the Ciccone vs Rubio KOM feud, Sepp Kuss's historic stage win, and Milan's Rome sprint. Plus a Neil Danaher tribute, Kooij's return, and Max's UCI rules Top Five.

Tobias Foss joins the Stanley St. Social to talk Norwegian culture, his career, and what it takes to reach the top. The Netcompany INEOS rider and 2021 World Time Trial Champion opens up about life in Andorra, the Epstein-Barr diagnosis, and why he believes his best racing is still ahead. He breaks down Norwegian cycling's rise, the Uno-X effect, double session training, lactate testing, and what Dave Brailsford's return means for Ineos.

Alex Clement joins Plappy from 2,450m up in the Andorran mountains while Max Gawn holds it down in Melbourne, as the boys break down a massive week in cycling.

This week: the Giro d'Italia's wild Stage 15 neutralisation controversy in Milan, Ghana's dominant 42km TT win and what watts-per-CDA actually means, Alex Segaert perfectly planned stage 12 attack, Visma's textbook Stage 14 domination, and Uno X sneaking a stage win. Plus - Max's Top 5 Most Underrated Things in Cycling.

Melbourne Football Club captain and cycling analyst Max Gawn joins his pod to go deep on his cycling journey, his leadership journey, and the practices he'd apply to build a winning cycling team culture - when (not if) Stanley St. Social gets a WorldTour squad.

From accidentally discovering the Tour de France on SBS as a kid to breaking down monument tactics and GC battles, Max traces how he became one of AFL's most genuine cycling obsessives. Then he gets honest about leadership - what it really took to become Melbourne's captain, the late Jim Stynes' influence on embracing his difference, and why the best culture he's ever been part of was built in the hard years, not the good ones.

And then we build the team. Max lays out exactly how he'd approach culture, connection and leadership in a WorldTour cycling squad - and it's more practical than you'd expect.

We chat:

Luke Plapp calls in fresh off a third place finish at the Tour de Hungary — long travel, wet roads, and a GC that got away thanks to a cancelled stage and 50km/h crosswinds. We break down the drama of stage four, the cinema of stage five, and what Cosnefroy bonus second dominance.

Then it's a full Giro d'Italia wrap through stage nine — Narvaez back to winning ways, the Arrieta and Afonso cobblestone chaos, Felix Gall's blockhouse charge, Ciccone in pink, and why Jumbo-Visma look completely dialled in. Plus the transfer rumour mill is spinning — Hindley to Visma, Turner to Soudal, Frigo to UAE and more.

Maxi's top five this week? The most overrated things in cycling as a spectator — from "racing on instinct" to neutralised starts, the most combative rider award, and watts per kilo obsession.

Presented by Giant Bicycles and Pillar Performance — use code STANLEY15 for 15% off at Pillar Performance.

Heinrich Haussler is a Sports Director at Decathlon). We chat as the team prepares for the 2026 Giro d’Italia starting in Bulgaria. Haussler dives into the logistical challenges of the early Bulgarian stages and the transfer to Italy, the role of a DS handling logistics, hotels, vehicles, and performance, plus how the team has stayed injury-free heading into the Grand Tour. 

He breaks down Decathlon’s impressive 2026 classics campaign, the rapid rise of Tobias “Toby” Lund Andresen, the incredible maturity and potential of 19-year-old sensation Paul Seixas (already turning heads with podiums and massive watts), Felix Gall’s ambitions, and building a strong team culture with Luke Rowe and others. 

Topics include:

• Evolution of cobbled classics (nutrition, tubeless tyres, training, and why races are faster and harder)

• Creating a “Cervelo Test Team” style selfless atmosphere

• Differences between Red Bull and Decathlon environments

• Australian cycling

• Haussler’s hot takes on riders to watch, his favourite races, and bold Giro predictions for Toby and Felix

Ed Langdon join Max and Alex to review the first 3 stages of the Giro.

Zak Dempster is the Chief of Sports at Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe.

He raced at the WorldTour level for over a decade before transitioning into team management, rising quickly through roles at Israel Cycling Academy and INEOS Grenadiers to now oversee all sporting and performance operations for Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe.

Giro starts Friday.

Plappy's back after a top five at the Tour de Romandie, and we're getting into all of it. The watts, the motorbike chaos, Lipo refusing to ride with Pog, and exactly where Plappy lost time in the prologue - spoiler, it's the corners.

Then we preview the Giro. Vingegaard goes in as the overwhelming favourite for a race he's never done. The GC field's already missing Almeida and Carapaz. The sprint battle is stacked. And the Pillar Performance Top 5 Giro moments of the last decade. Tommy D taking a roadside squat in the pink jersey. Froome attacking from 80k out. Yates winning it back on the exact climb that broke him. It's all in there.

Patrick Eddy winning in the Australian jersey in Europe, Ineos's new money, and the teams that win table updated.

We get technical with Koen de Kort, Head of Innovation and Tech at Lidl-Trek. After 17 years racing at the highest level - 43 classics, 18 Grand Tours - Koen now sits on the other side of the sport, driving the technology that gives WorldTour riders their edge. We dig into his current projects, where the biggest performance gains are being found right now, how cycling tech has evolved from his days in the peloton, and what the future of race equipment, skin suits, aerodynamics and bikes looks like.

Matt Keenan joins Max Gawn and Alex Clements to break down the 2026 Liège-Bastogne-Liège, one of the biggest Ardennes Classics.

The crew review Tadej Pogačar’s dominant performance, discuss rising star Paul Seixas, and debate their Top 5 sprinters of the decade.

Kell O’Brien joins the social club to talk through a massive spring.

We chat about his classics block with Jayco-AlUla’s - Roubaix in particular, track - his Olympic campaigns and what's next, working for the different riders and much more.

Plappy joins the social club to check in after his altitude camp, review Amstel Gold, and preview the week ahead.

Gerry Ryan AO joins the social club to share his remarkable cycling journey, from sponsoring Kathy Watt’s 1992 Barcelona Olympic success to founding the Jayco team in 1993 and launching Australia’s first UCI WorldTour squad, GreenEDGE (now Jayco AlUla), in 2012. He discusses growing up in Bendigo, key milestones including the 2013 Tour de France team time trial win, the bus-gantry drama, 2018 Vuelta success and Giro heartbreak, the importance of Aussie DNA, caravan sales impact, and his broader sporting contributions. An inspiring conversation with one of Australian sport’s most influential figures.

Matt Kennan joins Max and Alex to review Paris Roubiax, Basque Country and the Sprinters World Champs. Plus Max's segments - The teams who win! & tops 5s.

Ed Langdon is a premiership-winning winger for the Melbourne Demons and regarded as one of the AFL's premier endurance athletes.

He joins the podcast to review Flanders and preview Roubaix and Basque country.

Jensen joins us after a massive week at Paris-Nice. We chat about:

Life at Alpecin-Deceuninck: Being within a major Belgian team and his role in the lead-out train.

The Aussie Summer: Reflecting on his good form back home, including a win at the National Criterium Championships.

The Giro: A look at his preparation and goals for the upcoming Giro d’Italia campaign.

Max's 250th, Catalunya, Belgium Racing and a look at this weekend.

George Bennett is New Zealand national champion, has ridden for the world’s most elite teams, been teammates of Roglič, Vingegaard, and Pogačar, and now rides for Team NSN.

Milan-San Remo, Pogi's new best friend, Catalunya preview, and Max launches his new segment.

Kenno joins the pod to discuss the two big tours from last week - Paris Nice and Tirreno Adriatico.

Strade Bianche, Paris-Nice, Tirreno–Adriatico, plus much more.

Max and Alex are in the new studio and Plappy was flying at UAE.

We're live at Motor Wine to unpack the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.

Plappy talks our through his / Jayco's Tour and Max gives us his best and worst performances of the TDU.

Plappy is on the ground at TDU and we go through the team sheets.

Mathew Keenan joins to pod to unpack his weekend in Perth and preview Adelaide.

Checking in on the Tour of Bright and Max's off season.

We run through the year and give out a lot of 1s.

We've missed a few races but we catch up on Il Lombardia, Worlds, and the off season.

Last round of footy, Max Gawn is ready to lock into the Vuelta.

A traditional episode, full team sheet, ranking each team's performance.

Plappy is hot off a huge TT!

Luke Plapp is through the first 10 days of the Tour de France and he joins us on a well deserved rest day.

Plappy just finished 9th on Stage 5 of Tour de France TT.