13. In the Roubaix velodrome
April 13 | The latest Telegraph Cycling Podcast comes from the race known as the ‘Hell of the North', Paris-Roubaix, as Sir Bradley Wiggins brought down the curtain on his Team Sky career.
Richard Moore and Lionel Birnie report from the Roubaix velodrome, where John Degenkolb of Germany sprinted to his second Classic win of the year, having also claimed Milan-San Remo. There is an interview with his Giant-Alpecin teammate, Koen de Kort, who tells us about Degenkolb’s leadership qualities: “He’s an incredibly nice guy [and] you always really want to work for him. He really appreciates what we do and that’s the reason why it’s so easy to do what we do for him.”
While Wiggins didn’t quite go out in a blaze of glory, his young teammate Luke Rowe was an outstanding eighth. The 25-year-old Welshman tells us: “To finish like that is super for me. I can take a lot from it, I feel I’m starting to step up now. This is my dream – this is the biggest and best race by a million miles in my eyes. It’s my dream to one day be on that podium.”
There are also interviews wtih Andy Fenn, Mat Hayman, Jack Bauer and retired riders Erik Zabel and Dag Otto Lauritzen, who tell us what it is like to race over the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix. “It’s like slowly dying,” says Zabel.
The Telegraph Cycling Podcast is sponsored by Van Dessel Cycles and British Eurosport.