23. The World Championships in the desert

October 12 | In the latest Telegraph Cycling Podcast, Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe discuss the world championships in Qatar, look ahead to the weekend’s men’s and women’s road races, and examine the latest developments in the controversy involving Sir Bradley Wiggins and Team Sky.

Qatar was a controversial choice for the sport’s showpiece event and the team time trial and time trials have highlighted one of the anticipated problems – the lack of spectators. Tony Martin of Germany and Amber Neben of the USA won the men’s and women’s time trials, following on from the victories by Etixx-QuickStep and Boels-Dolmans in the men’s and women’s team trials, in front of only a handful of supporters.

Both men’s and women’s road races are expected to be sprinters’ affairs, with Andre Greipel, Mark Cavendish and defending champion Peter Sagan among the favourites in the men’s race, and Chloe Hosking and Kirsten Wild among those fancied for the women’s title.

In part three the podcast team return to one of the stories currently dominating the sports pages in the UK: the ongoing controversy over Wiggins’ therapeutic use exemptions and a mystery package, thought to be delivered to him, at the 2011 Dauphiné Libéré.

The Telegraph Cycling Podcast is supported by Rapha and Eurosport.