Jonas Vingegaard Is BACK & The Curious Doping Case Of Andrea Piccolo | GCN Racing News Show

This is a bumper edition of the Racing News Show! Jonas Vingegaard is back and he’s heading to the Tour De France. Dan also repots on the curious doping case of Andrea Piccolo of EF Education and we do a grand roundup from the national road champs. Grab yourself a big mug of tea and relax!

00:00 Welcome to the Racing News Show
00:28 This week in the world of racing
01:25 Jonas is back!
04:13 GCN French Collection
04:44 Curious Doping Case Of Andrea Piccolo
06:48 National Champs roundup
11:10 2026 Grand Depart
11:30 Katie Archibald out of Olympics
11:56 Anna Van De Breggen is back!
12:21 Romain Bardet to retire
12:33 Jasper Philipsen’s new contract
12:43 Michel Hessmann doping case

Useful Links:
Everything Cycling. All In One Place 👉 https://www.globalcyclingnetwork.com
Visit the GCN Shop 👉 https://gcn.eu/gcnshop
Join the GCN Club 👉 https://gcnclub.com
GCN Training Plans 👉 https://gcn.eu/gcntp
GCN WhatsApp Channel 👉 https://gcn.eu/GCNwhatsapp
GCN Instagram Broadcast Channel 👉 https://gcn.eu/instagrambroadcast

Let us know if you think Jonas will be tour ready in the comments 💬🇫🇷

🎵 Music – licensed by Epidemic Sound 🎵

📸 Photos – © Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images & © Sirotti Images

Brought to you by the world’s biggest cycling channel, the Global Cycling Network (GCN), GCN Racing brings you the best of the world’s bike races to your screens, wherever you are: the finest live race commentary, in-depth analysis and behind the scenes access from your favourite events are all here. So get involved, join us, and get ready to be in the thick of the action.

Engage with on the channel and across social media – we’re here to answer every question you’ve got on cycling racing.

Facebook: https://gcn.eu/FBGCNRacing
Instagram: https://gcn.eu/IG-GCNRacing
Twitter: https://gcn.eu/TW-GCNRacing

Watch our sister channels:
Global Cycling Network – https://www.youtube.com/@gcn
GCN Tech – https://www.youtube.com/@gcntech
GCN Racing – https://www.youtube.com/@gcnracing
Global Triathlon Network – https://www.youtube.com/@gtn
GCN Italia – https://www.youtube.com/@gcnitalia
GCN en Español – https://www.youtube.com/@gcnenespanol
GCN auf Deutsch – https://www.youtube.com/@gcnaufdeutsch
GCN en Français – https://www.youtube.com/@gcnenfrancais
GCN Training – https://www.youtube.com/@GCNTraining
Global Mountain Bike Network – https://youtube.com/@gmbn
GMBN Racing – https://youtube.com/@gmbnracing
GMBN Tech – https://www.youtube.com/@gmbntech
Electric Mountain Bike Network – https://www.youtube.com/@embn

welcome back to the gcn racing news show coming up this week yonas vinar is back I’ll be assessing his chances at the upcoming tour to France as well as looking into the Curious doping case of Andrea Piccolo plus a round up of the many national champs that took place last week and I’ll be celebrating the return of one of the biggest names in the sport this week in the world of racing we learned that Tom pitcocks to the Tour of France is a little bit different over the weekend he won the short track cross country in Crown Montana despite starting at the back and then yesterday he triumphed in the cross country over a minute ahead of his nearest Challenger it wasn’t without its hiccups though Tom pitock goes down seemingly out of nowhere loses the front end pops the cheeks the climbing on the course didn’t phase him but it did prove a little too much for his dogs post race [Music] we also learned that they weren’t the only Podium dogs last week Demi valerine brought her own to the podium of the tour to Swiss a race in which he won the overall along with three of the four stages voling will be back in action at the Olympic Games in a month’s time and then at the tour to France fam Avic zift in the Autumn ahead of that though the men’s tour to France which starts this coming Saturday the race received some great news last week when it was revealed that two-time defending Champion Jonas vineo will be on the start line this year his participation has been in question ever since a crash at the tour of the bass country in April left him with a collapsed lung several broken ribs and a broken collar bone after leaving hospital vinor spent some time at home in Denmark where he resumed riding before then heading to newor and finally to ten to meet up with his teammates on an altitude Camp an altitude camp that appears to have gone very well bisma Lisa bike had remained tight lipped for weeks over whether or not he would be able to race this year and understandably so both he and the team needed time to assess things to see how well he recovered from his injuries and to see how well he responded to the training after he’d done that clearly the results were good enough for his inclusion within the team but there has been a change of sentiment from them for a long time Vima Lisa B claimed that vineer would only start the tour if he was at 100% but last week after the announcement of his inclusion in the team Marine Z said that the aim for vinar was to be competitive how much can we read into that not an awful lot I mean I don’t think the team is going to tell us if he’s below expectations at this point whether he’s actually very close to the level he’s been at for the last two years either way his preparation has been far from ideal it’s not just the time off the bike but the energy his body and mind would have used to recover from those injuries that is in STK contrast to the last two years where to the best of our knowledge VOR had op optimal preparation in the weeks and months leading up to the tour to France one thing that’s not in his favor is that there’s a particularly hard start to this year’s race the opening two stages of the race are particularly tough but then already on stage four they’re going to be tackling the Gia in what is a really intense climbing day now it’s hard to imagine that his Rivals particularly patcha aren’t thinking about really putting him to the test in that first week I mean there’s no point in giving him the chance to ride himself into the race if you can put a nail in the coffin early on and that’s going to be one of the many fascinating plots to unfold over the next month I genuinely think this could be one of the best tours to France in recent Years I Can Feel It In My Bones anyway what do you think can yonas win a third successive title this year or is that too big of an ass given the injuries he sustained let me know in the comment section down below incidentally the team he has alongside him is W vanard Mato Jorgenson Yan tra tbote sepkus Kristoff laort and Wilco kelderman so a solid solid Squad you can watch the race from Saturday amongst the whole season of cycling over on Discovery plus our big preview of the tour to France will be out this week so stay tuned for that and speaking of France our French collection of t-shirts hoodies bottles and mugs is now available for purchase over at shop. Global cycling network.com now you may have seen our news last week that we are now independent again here at PSN and no longer owned by Warner Brothers Discovery so your support now is appreciated more than ever before right before I get onto to the national championships I’m going to talk about the Curious doping case of Andrea Piccolo his team EF education easy post put out a statement last week saying that they were terminating his contract with immediate effect so I’ll read the statement out in full Piccolo was suspended internally without pay in March after taking a sleeping that was not approved by the team though legal the team reported the usage to the UCI immediately but due to legal reasons surrounding the UCI standard Rider contract we were unable to terminate his contract at the time after serving his suspension he returned a competition at the jured Italia on June the 21st Pico was stopped by Italian authorities upon entering the country on suspicion of transporting human growth hormone our organization will cooperate fully with any investigation into the matter and we encourage Andrea to be open and truthful with the anti-doping authorities Escape Collective added further context to this having spoken to the team’s CEO Jonathan vs vs had received a text from Piccolo saying that he was aware that he had lost everything and that he’ taken four medications from Colombia that he didn’t want to name he went on to say that he takes his responsibility for this that they found and confiscated the substances at the airport vs told Escape Collective that after the sleeping pill incident he decided to give Piccolo a second chance I can sort of understand that I mean Piccolo is Young and the sleeping aid was legal it just contravened internal team rules however it does seem quite strange that the wording of the team statement suggest that they would have terminated Piccolo’s contract back in March were it not for legal reasons and yet he was then selected to ride one of the biggest races in the world the jro Italia that seems a really bizarre decision knowing what we know now it should be pointed out that the UCI is yet to pass comment on the case which came to light on Friday whatever the outcome it looks damning and it’s a big blow to EF who’ve prided themselves on their strict anti-doping policy over the last 15 years all right I’m now going to move on to the national championships as ever there were so many to report on I won’t be able to mention every single one but I’ll go through some of the bigger and more surprising ones first up France where the cathlon ad2 are to their first victory at the race since 2007 their winning streak continues and the man is going to be wearing the blue blony Rouge for the next 12 months is Paul laa who’s been one of the revelations of this season he outsprinted Leal track Julian Bernard and with toetal Thomas ginard in third it meant that group Arma missed out on the podium completely in the women’s fdj took second third and fourth but not the win Julia labu of Team DSM took the win there but she is rumored to be joining fdj Suz next year Audrey Kono and Bruno armoray won the TTS down in Spain M Star retained the title last year’s winner Oya lascano finished runner up to his teammate Alex aramburu whil usoa Osa won the women’s hot off the heels of winning the tour of the Pyrenees there was a bit of an upset in the women’s road race in Luxembourg Christine murus had won her 29th successive National Title in the time trial earlier in the week but she didn’t win the road race Maria shriber is the new national champion and that’s the first time MZ will have been out of that Jersey since 2009 it might be a smaller cycling Nation but that’s an incredible record that’s just been broken there was a surprise winner in Denmark in the form of rasma seberg the 21y old R for the castle on 82 hours development team and he beat Casper asra to win the elite National Championship so well done to him incidentally as green said in his postra interview on Danish TV that he hasn’t been selected for the tour to France this year which is a massive surprise now there was some controversy in the men’s time tral up in Denmark Johan price pet sir was the quickest Rider on the day two seconds ahead of Matia skilos sir but he was subsequently disqualified for riding on the bike path and it caused a bit of an uproar in Danish cycling circles skel mosa who was given the title has said he’s going to give price Peter the jersey and the medal from the day as he believed he’s the rightful winner going back to multiple titles there was a sixth consecutive TT title for keki in Belgium who also won the road race by over three minutes as she’s on another level at the moment isn’t she that was her 23rd national title across different disciplines Alisa Longo borghini took her fifth Elite Road title in Italy but she was beaten by Victoria guini in the time TR filipo Gana took the men’s 24 seconds in front of AI whilst Alberto Beto took a solo win in the road race watch out for him on the opening couple of stages of the tour France here in the UK fif for Georgie took her third Elite women’s Road Race title beating Anna Henderson who’d won the time trial earlier in the week J Tarling took the men’s TT here and Enos doubled up in the road race with a win for Ethan hater that was his first win in over a year incident in the Belgian men’s Aro Dee was back to his very best so the race finished in a bunt Sprint after what was a particularly aggressive race we don’t have the right to show the footage unfortunately but Delise Sprint was exceptionally impressive so he started it with 200 meters to go he had yasper philipson Tim malier W vanard and YY Mees on his wheel but nobody could come around him he had a tough spring of course but that’s going to give him a lot of confidence going into his first tour to France Tim willins won the individual time TR in Belgium matate maharic is the new TT champion of Slovenia but he was third in the road race won by Derman Novak urar Zar won the women’s TT there by over four minutes minutes and the road race by over 10 in the Netherlands Shantel vanen Brook black took her first pro win since giving birth to her first child that’s her third Elite title whilst D krovan took his second Title by outsprinting Olaf Coy in the men’s Dan Ola took the TT by a single second over Mick van dijker whilst Rihanna Marcus visma won the women’s Mara Schmidt won in Switzerland whilst anah keyen Hofer took her second Austrian title well done two to ruy Costa Kevin jenet Marco Brena Olivia baril blank of Ash AA vouter and all the other national champions as I said impossible to go through every single one but congratulations to all on to other news now and the grand Depart of the tour to France will be in catalunia in 2026 the opening stage will be in Barcelona which played host of the startup lab Welter last year it’s going to be the fourth foreign Grand depart in 5 years and the region will host three stage starts and two stage finishes a horrible accident has ruled KY Arch B out of the Olympics so she tripped over a step in her garden and dislocated her ankle broke her tibia and fibula and ripped two ligaments off the bone I cannot imagine how distraught she is right now I’m distraught for her thoughts are with you Katie get well soon so who then is the big name Rider coming out of retirement and returning to professional cycling Anna fer Breer not news that I had seen coming I’ve got to say the shock announcement came last last week so the 34 year-old retired at the end of 2021 and took up a position in the management team of SD works well she’s going to be back riding for them next year and hopefully lining up for her first ever Tour of France fam a zwift that’s going to be interesting to watch particularly as her prology Demi voling is moving away from that team Roman B has announced that he will retire after the doof a next year the Frenchman who’s shortly going to be riding his final tour to France will compete at the jro again next year but hang up his wheels at the end of June yasper philipson has renewed his contract at alperson De kernik which means that both he and Vanderpool will remain at that team until at least the end of 2028 and finally there’s been a conclusion to the Michelle hesman doping case a substance called caldone was found in his uring during an out of competition control on the 14th of June last year but German anti-doping Authority NADA has concluded it’s plausible that hesman took a contaminated medicine such as paracetamol ipren or naproxen however they also stated that the responsibility lies with the athlete and have therefore proposed the lightest possible suspension of four months to hesman with a retroactive effect of 3 months on their website visma Leisa bike said that they will now discuss how to proceed once the suspension comes to an end in A month’s time right that is all for this week don’t forget to check out our big tour of France preview which will be out on Wednesday and I’ll be back on Monday to wrap up the first weekend of the Tour of France I can’t believe it’s already here I’ll see you then