Tour de France 2024 Preview Show | The Gruppetto

It’s finally here, the 2024 Tour de France is about to begin. Rob Hatch has the routes and stages to look out for ahead of the race. Also on this week’s episode of The Gruppetto, Rob is joined by Mitch Docker, ex pro and Life In The Peloton podcast host! 🙌

News and coverage from the #1 sports destination and the #HomeofCycling in Europe. Watch Eurosport anytime, anywhere via: https://bit.ly/3boIVvd

Welcome 0:00
Race Highlights Recap 0:38
National Championships round-up 2:02
Tour de France 2024 Route 3:57
Tour de France 2024 Favourites 7:02
Where to watch Tour de France 7:53
Mitch Docker on The Gruppetto 8:37
Tour de France Stage 1 prediction 44:35
How to watch the Tour de France 45:51

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[Music] the countdown is on the racing is approaching as you watch this all the best riders in the world are on their way to Florence for the start of the tour to France we’ll be endeavoring to take you as close to them as possible over the best part of the next month including a trip each and every week through the peltin talking to people stars and reviewing the action on the gretto let’s get underway then this week we’ve got a short recap of not too much racing but a bit of Nationals we’ll have a nice long chat with Mitch stalker before all the chaos of the tour begins first though let’s go and have a look at the highlights the final days is Altitude a few days at home some off riding the national championships it’s been a quieter week of racing for the pro peltin but that is about to change Monday did see one World Tour race finish and it was another demolition job at the tour to Swiss yes following was the winner of three of the four stages the race began with one of those mega short but firework filled Mountain stages less than 60 km and finishing with the Dutch woman beating Gia realini the a work Superstar then won a time trial on the same V long climb that she’d won on the day before and then she extended her GC lead a day later she’ let the Breakaway pop the cork in champag the Swiss version that is Australian NE Bradbury taking the honors there normal service was resumed for following on the fourth and final day she finished first from a four Rider super group in front the 27-year-old tour and Welter winners recent stage race record is nothing short of phenomenal four races this season stage wins for fun and all of the GC prizes for the record that’s now 12 wins from 29 race days over a quarter of her career palarz in the past two months alone it’s been national championships Elsewhere for most Nations now if we took you around the entire Globe we’d be here all week so here’s a quick Roundup of the Riders we saw win on Euros Sport and Discovery plus last week we told you about Uso aasa’s first pro wins guess what in Spain she picked up one more plus a national champions Jersey to wear for the next year in Italy Elisa Longo borghini took a fifth National Title in just 8 years that’s also four in the last five by the way the little treack star beat in form karat coni Julet laus took her first win of the season to take the French title and her DSM fic postnl te mate Fifer Georgy was at it yet G in Great Britain with a third National Championship win a second in a row the British men’s race in the northeast of England Was Won by inos Grenadier Ethan hater after he was pushed all away by Lis as Mau star made it a one-w in Spain Alex uru winning finally after having had to settle for third in each of the three previous editions last year’s Champion o Lasana was second and it was a seventh Podium appearance for former two-time winner Paul won at home in Normandy after all the script said that this had to be the year that the infinitely improved dick a team took the French Jersey and continuing the home winner theme Alberto bettiol rode away on the final climb to win in Tuscany his native region taking the title just outside of Florence next week the tuskan tour the France start will see a local boy ride in the Italian Champions Jersey well I’m in the office in the studio at the minute putting the finishing touches to something that started almost in fact just over half a year ago preparation for the tour to France all of our streaming television and digital coverage is coming up we’ve got to be ready for that we of course have studied the route just like you have let’s remind ourselves One Last Time what awaits Us in July well the race will roll out of the Renaissance City of Florence on Saturday it’s the 20 6th foreign start but perhaps surprisingly just the first from Italy Florence Denise through Italy San Marino Monaco and of course France not a typical clockwise or anticlockwise Loop more of a journey to the Alps VI the appenines the Pyrenees with a quick Excursion into the massive sentral and then a return to the Alps a very exciting one at that looking at the map it’s an atypical tour isn’t it not structured in the habitual way not exactly what we’ve come to expect it’s the first time that there won’t be a finish in Paris for example the start is mightily hard and that sets the tone for the rest of the race almost 4,000 m Are Climbing on day one as the race crosses to Amilia Roma then a finish in its gastronomic Duel of a city bologna the famous San Luca climb sees a meaty menu on stage two the first of possibly eight chances for the sprinters comes in chin the following day before entry to France and a trip to the galib never ever has the tour to France climbed so high so early in the race the first of two time trials takes place around The Vineyards of burgundy before week one ends in the Champagne region Riders will be hoping that it’s the corks and not the tires that will be popping over very difficult sectors of gravel 14 of them in total the rest oron is the closest that the Riders will get to Paris this year the French Capital preparing itself for the Olympic Games which is coming hot on the hills of the tour of course after crosswind opportunities the next tough hilly test comes in the massive sentral if it hasn’t quite come alive by this point it certainly will here then it’s all about the final week one Sprint opportunity four Mountain stages at a final time trial packed with climbing among the many mountains the race will touch the sky at 2,800 m above sea level that on stage 19 it’s no coincidence that with the concentration of final few stages in the southeast of France and the close reconnaissance opportunities a lot of teams have had their June altitude camps up at is or in now habitual climbs toini and are the final Road ascents taken on but the last day sees the favorites have to rely on legs Monaco toce against the clock with climbs including a it’s the race of Truth in its most authentic form you can’t get trer than a test of legs at the end of a grueling 3 weeks so who’s there then the GC favorites of course the big four as they’ve been known recently there’s the likes of vigore two-time Defending Champion he’s made it his former teammate RIT is there as well EV naul makes his debut and how could we forget Paul gachard who’s hoping to be the first man to do the Jiro t double in a quarter of a century however there’s lots of potential Stars starting on a secondary step too aiming to shock and and surprise their way to the top Cavendish is there for the Sprint streaming of number 35 but he will have a lot of competition including Philipa who took the green jersey also there too in the Sprints pson Bennett and new Belgian Champion dly plus the stage hunting Stars such as F Paul fard Matthews Mich will all be there to make it entertaining every day as well we’ll have all of our experts on in the coverage so where can you watch it well we’ll be live on demand and in highlight form every day on the Telly on Eurosport on our streaming platform Discovery plus you won’t miss a minute you’ll be to live rewind as well use the tickers and the stage markers with all the action if you see a crash or an attack or a win you’ll be to rewind to it and press the markers you’ll be able to see what you want when you want afterwards too we’ll have the short highlights each and every evening they’ll be up soon after the stage that’s our at Euros Sports cycling YouTube channel make sure you subscribe and let us know Below in the comments what you’d like to see from us at the group petto 2 every Monday there will be a show throughout this tour to France now this time next week we’ll be back in the business of telling you about everything that’s happened over the opening couple of stages of the tour to France it gets busy doesn’t it so much going on so much content to watch as well so we thought we’d have a quieter one this week now we’ve seen the route now we’ve seen the recap we’ll park the tour for the moment time to have a chat with Mitch docker who was ready to take our call on the other side of the world well I’m with bike rider podcaster all around top block and our author Mitch Docker I can see he’s in his life in the pelan studio his cave over there it’s very late for him it’s pretty early for me how’s it going Mitch well it’s it’s a good time to recall pods cuz it’s beer o’ CL and this is um coffee here yeah I I always find that funny you guys are cranking into you know a brew in the morning and I’m sort of dropping into a cold this is this is sort of it’s it’s good and bad I underestimated um how many times I’d be doing meetings late at night moving back to Australia so my nights are sort of killed but you know I’m always talking to good people and um it’s a pleasure to be on the podcast talking to you mate thanks nice to have you on well I mentioned the last thing there author how did the book come about well here it is this is it um the life in the peleton the book um look it it came about you know everyone sort of got up to something during Co and and I was sitting there twiddling my thumbs and you know we created a new series called talking Loft which has been around for a little while but in that time I sitting back and I was thinking you know all this stuff that I’ve learned I wish there was actually something out there that I had when I was coming I was actually more when I was coming through the peleton you know when I was already Pro things little tidbits that I had to work out the hard way and sometimes put myself in a bit of a hole for a couple of years or you know a few patches where I was like well that director sport tip’s written me off for a long while or you know I buggered it up with that mechanic looks like I’m going to have to change teams before that gets figured out and I was just thinking you know it’d be cool if there was some kind of you know dummies guide to being pro I sort of started and it started off that way and when we sort of broken down it became too much of a handbook of a dummy guy and I was like I don’t know if this is really the right angle I was like I think we need to sort of relate it and use some of my story cuz I was I was sort of dead against doing a biography I was just trying to think well who am I to have a biography like who wants to sort of hear about you know Mitch docker’s T come on come on no no but you know what I mean like the guys who do biographies are like you know the David Millers the Lance Armstrongs guys who like sort of win the Tour to France and yeah look I know I’ve been racing in the in the prop pelaton but I felt like you sort of needed like a real clink sort of gripping story to get everyone in look I’ve got some stories and I thought well maybe some of my stories need to be put in this book too so the way we’ve done it is and that’s one thing I haven’t mentioned one of the best parts about the book is I went away and I thought well look I’m not very good at English I might be able to string a few words together on the podcast but when it comes to writing something I scrape my way through school I would struggle to do that so I’ve got a good friend and you know him Tom suam who is an author he’s already the author of um Charlie W Gus’s great book The domestique which I read and um I sort of thought it’d be cool to write this with someone um not only to help me with the English side of things but it’d be cool to sort of bounce ideas off you know talk about it work on something with someone um and so I thought oh do I go to Tom Tom was the obvious choice a mate someone who I knew who could ride but I thought is this risky do I do a project like this with a mate and potentially wreck our friendship the complete opposite thing happened we got better friends from it because well from my side anyway maybe Tom’s got a different story because you know we just got a lot more time to spend together you know how things go these days you’re doing one thing and another and you don’t end up speaking to your mates for weeks on end well sou and I we had to talk so much the last three years about this bloody book um we enjoyed a laugh over it we enjoyed way too many cold beers about it but to rewind what I was talking about the came the idea came well let’s get different stories different stories from my career to understand what the weird world of procycling is because look you you understand it but I guess as you come into it from the outside even people who are watching a lot of racing even the Tour of France still sometimes I think are left guessing going I don’t really understand what is really going on I don’t really understand how these guys get to the tour to France get to the start line so I thought cool let’s unpack this let’s unpack this with stories from me also from other pros and also Tom saam as well was Tom there with you sort of in situ because I know he spends a lot of time in Australia doesn’t it and and one thing I didn’t know about you and Tom is that you rolled together at Dre pack really early on didn’t you for a year well that’s where we first met so he came back from bow world and um he he’d racked it and then somehow when he was living up in Bendigo the um Sports director um Scott mcgi somehow twisted his arm and said can we squeeze one more season out of you he he saw this gold nugget of talent and um Scott mcgoy was sort of you know he he’d raced Pro in um in Europe as well so he understood the pro world and US young Australians were sort of just like amateur is amateur and he was trying to get us to be Pro we’re going over to race races like tour of Austria we did the bricks year tour and he’s like we just need some European influence apart from me I need someone to back me up and I guess he got Tom sou involved I don’t know how he twisted his arm because sou was pretty much done and dusted at that point but he got him back involved and look I’m only speaking from my side I think it rekindled his love for cycling again he mucked around with us and he saw us sort of being a bit foolish and going God these guys are absolute idiots and you know at the at the time I was like who’s this southern guy thinking he’s too cool for school because we thought we were better than you know as you are as a young amateur you think you’re better than you are you’re like oh we’re we’re winning the you know the national series in Australia and all this stuff you know we’re going to go pro we’re going to set the world on fire and Southern’s probably sitting there going well boys you got a long road in front of you but you know he never let on um and we we sort of started our friendship there and you know just sort of it just got stronger as we went on over the years it took a long time to sort of understand him and work out his path over in Europe he’s we met up again when he was riding for Rafa Condor and I was over in scho Shimano at that point um and we always stayed in touch over the years and we just kept crossing over he was director at draftback eventually living in Australia his wife’s Australia now they they live not too far from me so things just look good we just got to get him back here now hopefully he retires soon and we can get him back in Melbourne well you mentioned retire soon because it’s funny because you you sort of ended your career with him as well as starting with it because he was a sports director still is at EF ation easy post you mentioned the other book that he wrote with Charlie Tom and Charlie two of the nicest people I think I’ve ever come across in the world of cycling in that in between part though what happened you talked about going to Europe Phil is in maybe for new viewers we know new viewers he join us us all the time on Euros Sport and Discovery plus to of France coming up you know a lot of people who don’t watch other races throughout the years how did your career go because you at drave back which was a continental domestic team in Australia then you ended up at skill Shimano in the Netherlands one of the top teams sort of second division move and they were on their way up they’ve now become what is now DSM fic postl if you like and then the move to Green Edge before EF how how did your career go how do you see your career yeah it was a bit of a different um way and look there is a bit of that explained in the book um you know I definitely took a different path and there’s there is a story in there where I had the opportunity I st and if you could call it a s I raced One race with ag at the herald s tour a race in Australia saw garens came back and he said look we just need a couple of riders to fill up the roster and I was lucky enough to get a set of Nicks and Jersey and start with an absolute Rockstar ag2r team you know niik paal was there andy Flickinger was there and we had KY put step and we had also Simon of course he won um the um the sour as well he was on his way up he won the two Down Under the next year and look I didn’t think anything of it I just thought cool I’ve got a set of Knicks and Jersey I never thought I was going to go pro from there it was just ni experience I didn’t know who these guys were I didn’t know they were all time going to be alltime Legends or already were I think flick had already won um uh what’s it called um the one day race in France um was a few of them uh the big one at the end of the year right right before H around Hamburg time um pla he’d already won pla I think at that that point and um anyway I I I rolled away from that I had an amazing sun to I end up finishing top 10 working for Simon garens and you know just I I even think back on those times I’m like how was I even able to do that stuff but you I think back as a young writer and I love seeing Young Writers come into the Pelon because they don’t don’t have a ceiling yet on their own ability this is It’s just endless just do what you want and you know sometimes towards the end of your career being experienced and knowing how the Pelon works and knowing how you work is a great thing you know how to get through hard moments you know how to you know reserve and you know preserve and and get through a grand tour and get through a whole season pretty much but also that holds you back in a lot of ways you also go well you know what that breaks 30 seconds up the road I’m not going to try and jump across to that because I know I’m not going to get there I’ve tried that you know five times before blah blah blah you don’t even think it’s just Instinct now as a young guy you’re like sweet I’ll just jump I’ll just go into the wind I’ll just throw caution to the wind and see what happens and I think that’s what was happening back in those days in the sun tour at least I was just throwing caution in the wind I was racing until I was dead and I was doing amazing things and you know Simon um I haven’t heard his exact theory about this but he went back to to Europe and he gave me a call from Europe he said hey Mitch look I’ve got you a start in um one of the amateur teams that I came through in um in France and I’d love you to come across and and let’s go this is the pathway had you been abroad before then I hadn’t I was still I was I was in draak and draak was at that point it was maybe it wasn’t even Continental it was Continental maybe but it was just very like you know very very basic um it was in the very early phases we might have even had five or six writers and we were just sort of grouping together with this long-term plan of what it became and um look and the whole idea of draak was you know just very quickly is it was about education Michael draak who created the the program was we want you guys to finish your schooling want you guys to go to university once you get an education and at the same time we’ll support you financially and take that pressure away so you can ride when you get time in your uni breaks after uni after school put it full in but when you’re at school 100% back at school and um great Theory very hard to do um but I I I fully embraced it I loved it because at that very time when Simon was calling me I was just starting University and I was I was actually loving life University life I was like how cool is this you know I can go to UNI I could go to my my lecture I could break out with the boys at lunch go and you know have a few pots come back in and uh finish the finish the rest of my lecture and then go home and do training the afternoon it was sort of that freedom I really needed after schooling to sort of find out who I was so look when this offer came from Simon much as his surprise I was sort of like I don’t think I want to mate I think I think I’ve got my idea what I want to do and he was probably literally hanging out the phone going who does this guy think he is like I just presented him with a golden ticket um not necessarily you know the the the road to be not necessarily the ticket to go pro but a really good road um and look it’s a very long answer to your question but that was sort of the early parts of draak um from there we we we the idea was we’re going to go to Europe in your University breaks we’re going to race these races and I did allude to our first trip to Europe we came across this very green and we did tour of Austria bricks year tour um we did what else did we do we did holler and gorum in Belgium and it’s actually quite a funny story because we came across we did a couple of kermes and we just came out we’re all going really good and Kisa suit Australians you know it’s we do handicaps in Australia hard sort of racing and we go and do these kisas and that was super hard they proas but I think we won one I got second or third in one and I was like yeah I think this is going to happen I think I’m going to go pro here you know we went to hollering gorum the next week and one of our guys got on the podium there were like oh Europe like this this is really happening and I remember we went to tr of Austria and um alen Piper was the director sportive of um T-Mobile at the time and he was speaking of Scott mcgi and mcgory said look got a couple young guys theyve been going well in Belgium um look out for them this week you know what’s the chances they could sort of jump across and and Piper’s probably sitting there going oh yeah all right well look if one of them finishes top 10 this week let’s have a chat on the GC and uh we get this news and I’m thinking you know I reckon top 10 is like it’s probably possible you know like top 10 it’s going to be hard top 10 in Austria I reckon we can probably do that second day we lost five Riders the three other riders that we had there we sat second last third last second last and last for the rest of the two it was so hard we could not even move and I remember looking across I was one of the three guys that got through look across the Australian champion at the time Darren lapthorne and we just looked at each other and laughed and thought who were we to even think we could even do something in the Pro world and look we we really did come home scarred from that thinking and we went to Brix here T the next week which is also ferociously hard race and we’re just like look this Pro thing this is over who do we even think we are there is no way we can make it like we can’t even hang on to the wheel in front let alone race with these guys work in work out so look that that really was such a great experience because it really allowed me to come back and go what I used to think was hard throw that out the window I’ve got a new level of hard and I need to push it and I think it was just really what got the train going is that did that sort of provoke you to to train more live better you know all the sort of things that you’re told to do I guess once you got to the pro ranks and you got to skill shimal well I think what happened there was I just had a new idea of where I wanted to go and and it actually really sort of put the gas into the fire I was like I actually really want to be there it scared me and I don’t know if I can there but I loved everything about it we hung out with a bunch of Aussies at the back of tour of Austria and then when that stuff got hard they moved to the front and we stayed back there it was like Nick Gates and um Matt white was there and I don’t think Robbie was there who else was there Ellen Davis maybe and we just sort of I was like this is cool these guys are cool this looks so fun and ultimately they pissed off when it got really hard and they actually raced the race but you know these are back in the times when you used to be a to sit at the back and the directors weren’t buzzing down your ear but I really got the if I didn’t already have the bug I really got the bug like I I really want to be there and how am I going to get there and I started to formulate this plan of you know it was a bit subconscious I think it wasn’t like oh yeah that’s what I need to do Here There and Everywhere but I knew that I need to perform when I’m in Europe so the next year when we went back I really made sure I was in the best possible shape because it didn’t matter what I did in Australia I realized that really quickly if I won you know the Fred Ike open down the road in Keswick or you know the Rob Vernon handicap up in Bendigo they had great races here but no one cares in Europe and I thought I need to do something when I’m in Europe so the next year when I went back I really made my mark and luckily I talk caught the sort of the eye of a director from sko Shimano Rudy kemna who used to be a pro as well and with the help of my team really sort of pushing my name towards him and look I really didn’t set the world on fire I think it was just that consistent result always having my name in the mix and he just went you know what we’ll give this bloody young young O A go um and luckily for me I I sort of got that ticket and sort of just kept evolving as and that’s I think that’s the key in in Pro cycling you’ve just got to continually evolve as you come into a team you’re one person look unless you’re a superstar like Pacha when you’re sort of the rest of us you got to continually evolve and understand what your team needs in a team you know obviously you can’t just become a grand tour Rider the next day but I mean you know I came in as a as a sort of a sprinter and you know then I had to invol evolve to a lead out man into a Classics man into a road Captain into you know you sort of can evolve as much as you can and just realize holy hell there’s someone else that can do that better in my team I better find another job that needs doing really fast really quick because otherwise the team’s not going to need me anymore so that was sort of my career in a nutshell understanding what was needed from me what I could do and trying to keep myself motivated every year how can I be better how can I be more useful to this team how can I stay in the Pelon you did stay in the pon and you went on to form part of the first big International Aussie team how has that experience green Edge beginning you being there and staying there you know quite a while for for certainly the first very successful years of the project it was super exciting you know skill Shimano was was a real baptism of fire and um only looking back I realized it was the perfect thing for me at the time it was very harsh in the very rigid Dutch way but that set me up for a long career um and I you know no one’s ever going to take that path and go to a Pro Continental team if they’ve got the choice of a world to a team I didn’t have that choice but it was perfect by the time it came to Green Edge I was ready for that next step I’d sort of done my first couple of years or three years in Europe learning all those hard things setting up all the logistics so when I came to Green Edge I was like cool we’re at the next level and the biggest thing I noticed was coming to Green Edge and this was definitely no disrespect to sko Shimano but it was sko Shimano was a team about taking opportunities and getting in the break was a big Focus for us and I became very good at getting the Breakaway and that was a big success and we tried to have guys in Sprints and go for small results when we could I always remember the first meeting when I came to Green Edge and whatever race it was I can’t remember exactly but it’s reminds in my head was like all right we’re going to do this um we’re going to set this guy up here at the start we’re going to block this and then we’re going to do this for the win and some um Mitch you’re going to do this and Lead You Know lead gosy out here and I was like so who’s jumping for the break like what’s com with the Breakaway they’re like what are you even talking about we’re winning this race today I was like ah right we’re going for the win and that was sort of a meeting that we’d never really had in scho Shimano it was just like this whole focus on this is what we’re doing to win the race who cares about the Breakaway like they’re just for the not for the losers but you know what I mean they’re for the teams that need that but we’re here to win and this is what we’re doing for that and it was it just like a switch in my mind I’m in the big leagues now I’m wearing a jersey that’s a world tour Jersey and I really noticed it too in the bunch different things you know you could you could got a slight bit more respect with the world tour Jersey and you know it was harder to get up the road I couldn’t get in breakaways anymore I’m like what the hell let me go up the road maybe it wasn’t that good at getting in breakaways in scho Shimano maybe it was the Jersey you know and little things like that so I I had to just once again step up I got thrown this role at leading Alan Davis out in my first grand tour of the wter Spen and I was like I’m not ready for this Neil Stevens he’s called me up he goes yeah mate you’ll be right I’m thinking what the hell this and Julian Dean was there leading me out so it was it was really cool because you know there was numerous other names guys i’ looked up to my whole career you know ogrady mckuin Lancaster was there it was just a star struck field and I was star field team sorry and I was just in the mix and then suddenly just your mates so it was really cool you had to really just switch make that switch all right these aren’t sort of my Idols anymore these are just my mates don’t put the signature book Away incredible and you know you were all successful right from the very start really you know there were Monument wins in the first few years of course gos down at at Sano you had garens winning as well in Le and places like that grand tour successful team time traling was a big thing for you guys as well remember it seemed like every year at the jeto used to turn up for the first few stages and not quite dominate but certainly be one of the teams um and then it continued on until you then left for EF education easy post how did that transfer come about well I think the team eventually evolved you know and um they made room for for New Riders and the classics team I was a big part of the classics of being well the classics are pretty much my career you know it’s something I really loved even though I aspired for good and bad I I guess you should remind the viewers as well because there’s that that shocking crash I’m sure you you get reminded of it far more often than you would like but because it forms a big big part of how we on this side watching on the Telly see your story there was that shocking crashing r as well wasn’t it exactly you know a race that I love and um you know pretty much speak about every other day um and it’s it’s weird that that that was probably the turning point for me in my career sort of Midway through my career it comes a point in I think everyone’s career where you are sort of coasting in a way um you’ve got your program you know how it works the and flow of the Season you’re still pushing hard don’t get me wrong you can’t just Coast through but you’re never sort of striving like you like I said to you before like a young guy you know pushing the boundaries pushing the ceiling you sort of know what you can do and this crash really Shook Me Up physically obviously but it just sort of put me in the hospital bed and maybe sort of view things and go all right this is had a massive effect on you sure but look at all the other people around you that are supporting you family friends even just people I didn’t know that well you know and I I saw it and I was like well who are you doing this for you know what are you doing this for do you still want to do this you know is this just a job that you’re doing because it’s it’s a hell of a lot of sacrifice a lot of these people on the road for you as well other I had that moment there to go all right if I come back I’m doing this I’m really doing this for me and you know I had one more year left at Green Edge I still had six months of that and one more and I thought okay cool I’ve got this contract I really thought that was it let’s just finish this out let’s just go for it let’s just you know and it’s an old saying let’s turn every you know leave no stone unturned let’s just seriously go for it I changed coaches nothing wrong with my old coach but I said I just needed he wasn’t listening like I need a fresh start I need to go hard I need to literally every training ride feel like I’m giving it all and um it really just gave me a new perspective and I I felt like I just went in a New Direction and and then the team change was perfect it came at a time where you know Green Edge actually weren’t looking to renew me as well they were trying to get Mato Trent in they’re making room for you know better Classics Riders I was like oh what am I going to do and the the EF contract came up really late I was over in cubec sort of grasping for anything but it was just perfect when I came into the team I had a conversation with Charlie wus and he was asking me questions I’d never been asked in greenedge before he’s asking me about advice about training camps what do you think we should do these writers how do you think we should approach these Classics and I’m thinking what’s he asking me for I was like hang on I hav been Pro for about 10 years already I’m like I maybe it’s just asking a guy who’s got experience but because I’d been at greenage for so long I think I was still viewed as one of those young guys and when I came to EF I was viewed as a guy who had been in the Pilon for you know at that point I think 10 years and I was like hang on and I really embraced that I’m like hang on I do have experience here and I can I can maybe start spreading the love you know start giving that experience back into the team and sort of took on a new role there and um that actually reinvigorated me to be better to lead by example how can I be instructing these guys or telling guys where to be if I’m actually not there myself you know if I’m getting dropped on the climbs and going hey who’s following that break up the front there we need to be in that where are you I’m back in the you know in the in the SAG wagon just watching it from here I need to be there too I need to be the one following the break and going hey guys I’m up here where the hell are the rest of you I mean there’s there’s so much that happened I mean in the world never mind in Pro cycling during during your period in Cur and it’s the same for everyone there’s there’s um you know someone starts they’ll be riding for 10 15 years and there’s that thing isn’t that change it happens all the time it’s Evolution it continues I guess from from Charlie walus perspective he wanted to know how it changed so I mean from our perspec Ive how did Pro cycling change for you during your time as Pro well probably look it was a very slow change until 2020 and it was just a natural progression and I was ready for that you know when I talk about the training look when I came to school Shimano I had a power meter but I didn’t even download it it was just pretty much there for looks um and we trained you know just really off time and and we it was a bit old school you know we went on climbs and I wrote things down in a diary and that sort of style and I had a great trainer my trainer was morang Zan who was you know ended up going to yam Mo visma and um he was a great trainer and I liked working with him but it was more on the sort of old school way we’ talk about stuff and talk about how the training ride went um and as things progressed to Green Edge you know the training change and I try to move with the with the times and I’m well and truly behind the times now but I think the biggest the biggest change was 2020 coming back from Co and I’ve told the story a few times but like everyone in that time we got a chance to train and get ready for the first races strata banke was my first race it was the first race back and I went you know what I’m going to train harder than anyone ever knows and I remember hearing about V and doing 50 hour weeks and all this sort of stuff and I was like look I can’t do that but I’ll do 40 hour weeks man Mike Woods and I we were just turning the screws what would you been doing normally before Co sorry how many hours big big big weeks with 30 you know you you’d heard about some people doing 30 35s you know but not consistent 40 hour weeks I’m like let’s do it let’s just do I if I’m going to Andora I’ll ride to Andor and then I’ll do training up there and I’ll ride back you know and um I was like cool I’m just going to hit it because we didn’t know was strata ban going to happen and then all shut down again why is going to Milan Sendo be the next race and then shut down we’ve got one race I thought well I got one race and that’s it I’m going top 10 at strata and you know I get to strata be Yankee and I was I was gone I was going real good numbers were great and all this stuff but everyone had been training on everyone had the same idea oh yeah and I was exactly where I was before and I wasn’t bad but I was just exactly where I was I could do my job and I got dropped when I normally would get dropped and I just rolled in and as I was and I was so deflated I was like what is going on and I was like that’s okay cool next race same thing next same thing I was like okay get to the end of that season that was crazy who cares about that let’s start the new season and I started at huvar early in the year and we just kicked off and I was like what is going on I got dropped in the first 5k on this Mountain Stage I’m like this is hudar like I know I’m not a climber but come on and this was like parin e and everyone’s like M what was that I’m like I don’t know what is going on and it just never stopped and that was obviously my last year um 2021 and I just sort of I the writing sort of was on the wall for me I went I need to commit more I need to sacrifice more to stay in the Pelon to do what I do I was like I just I don’t think I really want to anymore I was like that’s great where it’s going I just I can’t do that you know it’s it’s a crazy world and look just speaking I was speaking to Garen Thomas um he’s coming out on my podcast today actually oh brilliant that’s the life in the pelan podcast that will be out by the time that everybody’s watching this yes exactly um have a listen and I said to him you turned Pro 2 years before me you’ve gone on 3 years after me how the hell are you dealing with it and you’re not just in the bunch like I was you’re at the front um and it’s just I he said look it’s it’s changed from when you left a hell of a lot more so I can’t even imagine what’s going on now I think um it’s just it’s it’s really intense out there and these guys they’re really they’re really racing full gas so you mentioned that first week back in 2020 I think it was one of the worst crashes we’ve seen in recent history in professional cycling there with Fabio yakob so he of course reacted rather like you were saying you know got ever better than before took fantastic victories at the tour to France I mean it’s not the same for everyone though that I mean just if you can open the window for us looking into to what happens mentally because it it must be a a strange place to be in I mean a horrific place to be in yeah like he’s yeah that’s true I never really thought about it like and I think obviously not everybody reacts the same way do they not everybody’s programmed to react the same way no and like there there definitely is I I definitely said to myself look there’s there’s a really good out for the Pelon people might not understand this but maybe this is not true for everyone but I sort of felt like I couldn’t retire without a reason does that make sense yeah because I would have been a failure and everyone would be like oh yeah couldn’t hack it didn’t get resigned and you know and I was like I and the Crash was sort of like it was like a was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders I’m like oh you can retire now if you want no like you’ve got a reason but then that also opened up the door to hey you’ve got a choice now do you which which road do you want and I sort of felt like I was on this train because I’d done so much to get to turn pro and I was just trying to keep doing it because was it was I doing it for me anymore I didn’t really know and this crashed and I think maybe this is also Fabian he got the chance to sort of go hey you really get this really eye opening thing go this is seriously dangerous what you’re doing and it’s not just like I said it’s not just about you so you got make the choice and if you do come back do it for you and it gives you this like this inner sort of motivation you’re doing it for no one else at that point because you decided in that hospital bed I want to come back and I don’t know if that was the same for him and if someone else told him I don’t think the motivation would be as strong you would never do it as much as if it’s not for you and so that’s the thing that one of those situations gives you and maybe some people take the other choice and there’s nothing wrong with that either they go you know what it’s not for me but that’s cool cuz theyve got to make that choice on their own I guess family as well come into it to a certain point but again you’re the one who has to live with yourself with ever whichever decision you take on whatever you wanted to get out of your your sporting career but does Age come into it as well you know if you have a young family if you’re married those sorts of things as well I think look for me I think it’s it’s different for everyone too but um for me the end of my career as I was talking about before that sacrifice and making that next step I’d already been at altitude all these times to prepare for that Strat of Yankee and I saw potentially what the future looked like and I was like I’ve got two young kids I was like do I literally want to be up at a mountain missing them and I really just didn’t want to do it it was really clear to me it just came crystal clear and I didn’t even have to think twice I was like you know what I don’t um I’ve loved everything I’ve got out of it but I I don’t want to do that and but some people you know Yen vo I don’t know what he is what his decision around it was he was probably like great I can get up there I’ve got six crying kids here I can go to for a week um you know like it’s different for everyone and definitely I heard this thing about having your first child it does bring you motivation and you want to do sort of stuff because you you want to impress them or I don’t know what it is but you you’re excited it gives you this new motivation but definitely when we had um I got a son and a daughter actually another daughter too now but when we had our second daughter our second child my daughter I was like I want to be here I want to be running around on the grass I don’t want to be that guy who has to put his legs up so for me it worked against me um but I’m happy about that brilliant brilliant well before you retired you were already doing other things as well you had your podcast life in the pelet it’s been a great listen over the years I mean um obviously we you know we’ve Ted plenty of time on the cycling podcast as well but I’ve always enjoyed listening to you Mitch I know that all the viewers have enjoyed listening to you and and you’ve been a great chat as well that’s what you’re doing next though isn’t it you’re off to the tour to France aren’t you for the cycling podcast tell us what it’s like sort of being on the other side of the fence now and watching on having to talk about people maybe who you might know and judge performances and all that things I mean it’s a different kind of difficult but I guess it’s not that easy either it isn’t and it is getting harder for me I’m actually putting more of the journalist hat on these days and less of the sort of cycling XPR where you can call on your mates cuz you know there less and less of my in the bunch now um and I’m actually having to learn a bit more about the Riders like you have to and understand them and and relearn these new guys in the Pelt on previous to now I was just sort of see them and I could pick the Riders straight away and I would know about them personal stuff and how they are or how they are to race against but it is really getting less and less so I’m starting to actually understand a little bit how hard it is you know the first the first year especially when I traveled I was still Pro and I went and did the tour to France in my last year um with Richard Mo and liel and um you know they were envious they’re like M you can’t heck all the Riders you can’t do that as a journal I’m like I can do what I want I know half for these BLS I said I’ll see them next week at the tour of Poland anyway so they’ll get their their’s back so but that’s that’s definitely changed and um I do I think it’s it’s fun to be on the other side of the fence cuz I have seen it how hard it is and I just sort of I just go wow that must have been a brutal day and thank God I’m not doing it so um I do I do love getting back to the tour not that I wrote it myself but I like being back around the atmosphere just to feel that that world that I was in for so long um not that I need to be back in it but it’s nice to get a little flavor of it again and go all right good luck with the rest of the season boys that was just enough for me well we look forward to hearing you on the cycling podcast of course you were talking about your life in the pelan episode with G Thomas I’m off straight away to listen to that as soon as we finish here just remind us when is the book out where can we get it Mitch yeah look this is the book If you’re looking at it on uh video this is it’s in our colors I do like the pink um it is being exclusively sold at map. CC they’re shipping all around the world a lot of people have had trouble buying it but they haven’t been able to change they haven’t changeed the store location that’s what we found has been the problem so if you’re listening to this and you want to buy one you go hey they’re not shipping to the UK go up and change your store to UK I made the issue the first time too so get one go and read it watch while you’re sitting there watching the tour listen to Rob commentate away and you can flick through the book and have a laugh about me or learn a little bit more about the pon there’s just a few days to go until the start now um one more thing before we go I want a prediction for the first stage because we’ve all seen it on paper now it’s up and down but you that little flat bit at the end we’re just a few days from that start now what’s going to happen on the opening day it’s a brutal day holy hell it is it’s 3,800 M of climbing it’s a lot it’s a lot it’s so hard I can’t believe that like just looking at it I think that descent like what about like a maharic or like even a Pitcock I’m going to throw pitock out there um for all the British viewers and listeners I think The Descent to the Finish is going to suit him 26k to go as the top of that climb he can get over that kind of terrain as well um um yeah I’m not going to go the the you know POG I think that’s too easy I’m going to go pitcock but it could quite easily be a day where poacha ends I guess as or starts again as he ended in Italy you can tell I haven’t rested from the jro yet with the yellow Jersey instead of the pink anyway Mitch it’s been an absolute pleasure talking to you really good luck with the book I hope it goes really really well and uh we look to hearing for you from your podcasts at the tour and how you see the race fascinating to hear from Mitch there he’s off to pack his bags and get to Europe for the tour the FR we’re already here and you can join us Saturday the 29th of June is when it all kicks off and we really look forward to your company how can you watch it well Euros sport will be showing each and every stage live you can see the race live and On Demand on our streaming platform on Discovery plus as well and here for any point if you have to miss any of it make sure you catch up on our at eurosports cycling YouTube channel go off and subscribe that’s down the bottom just next to the comments leave us a comment like share and subscribe as well plus you’ll also get any extra comment and content that you might see from our stars of the Breakaway yes AA and the Gang will be back with a few little changes towards the tour to France in the commentary box I’ll be joined by The Usual Suspects sha Kelly will be alongside me cotton Kirby will be on the commentary alongside me too we’ll have some special guests as well plus all the names and faces you’re used to seeing on the Breakaway that’s it then enjoy your last few tour free quieter cycling less days we cannot wait for it to start and we’ll see you in Florence on Saturday [Music]