BeSpoke

What a year it’s been. A clean sweep for British riders of the three Grand Tours in Geraint Thomas, Chris Froome and Simon Yates, but who will the BeSpoke team pick as the best rider of 2018? Tom Fordyce gets the band back together and is joined by Rob Hayles, Jeremy Whittle and Gareth Rhys Owen – the team that covered the Tour de France for BeSpoke. As well as rider of the year, awards are also dished out for the best day’s racing, most thrilling moment, and biggest inspiration.

He cried on his wedding day and when he won the greatest prize in cycling, but listen to Geraint Thomas as you’ve never heard him before in this BeSpoke special. With his wife Sara alongside him, the 2018 Tour de France winner talks to Tom Fordyce about how he overcame mountains and a sore bum on the eve of the world’s biggest race to get the better of his teammate Chris Froome. Thomas's year was capped off by winning the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year award in December.

In this week’s episode, Ben Croucher and the team discuss whether Mark Cavendish’s latest health problems will stop him breaking Eddy Merckx’s famous Tour de France record. They also discuss Chris Froome’s chances of winning the upcoming Tour of Britain, and ask if Simon Yates is learning from his mistakes at the Giro d’Italia to become a contender at the Vuelta a Espana.

On a mountain steeper and longer than Alpe D’Huez, Geraint Thomas takes an iron grip on the yellow jersey as Chris Froome cedes precious time and possible team leadership. Meanwhile, Tom and the team take a fruitless cable-car ride and encounter a frustrating buffering issue.

Geraint Thomas joins Tom Fordyce to chat about his win at the Criterium du Dauphine, his hopes for being a co-leader at the Tour de France, and his plans for the future. Plus, Tom and the team assess the form of fellow Brit Mark Cavendish ahead of the Tour.