21. Fireworks at the Dauphiné Posted by cyclingpodcast Podcast in Audioboo

June 15 | This week’s Telegraph Cycling Podcast features interviews with Sir Dave Brailsford, who reflects on Sir Bradley Wiggins’ hour record, and Dani King, who looks ahead to the second Aviva Women’s Tour. “It was gritty,” said Brailsford on Wiggins’ record, set in the London velodrome last Sunday. “It was hard for him, he really had to grind it out, he had to dig very deep but he paced it well. It was great to be back in the track. It brought a lot of memories flooding back.”

Having been involved in so many of Wiggins’ successes, including his 2012 Tour de France win, Brailsford was reluctant to rank them in any order: “Each one is special in its own right, but the Tour was more like a test match – it dawned on everyone more slowly.”

The podcast team of Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe also discuss a thrilling Critérium du Dauphiné. The race see-sawed as reigning Tour de France champion Vincenzo Nibali claimed the lead with two days to go, only to relinquish it the following day to Teejay van Garderen. But in the end it was Chris Froome, the 2013 Tour champion who emerged as the victor with back-to-back stage wins in the high mountains.

Does this make Froome the favourite for the Tour, or is Nibali simply following a different path – as he did last year. Will Alberto Contador recover from the Giro d’Italia, and how is the form of Nairo Quintana, who returns at the Route du Sud after racing at the Tour de Romandie? We analyse the recent performances of the Tour favourites and look at what they mean as the Tour looms ever closer on the horizon.