Finlay Pickering: Inside Vuelta's wildest stage - Domestique Hotseat Podcast

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He is honest about what went wrong. A good time trial, then a stomach that stopped working, then 30 minutes lost on stage 19 and a top 20 on general classification gone with it. His reason for staying out there is the best line in the episode: a DNF on ProCyclingStats is not something he wants next to his name.

There is a proper masterclass in here on racing in the heat. Pickering does not think the heat was his problem at all, and he has little patience with the idea that the Vuelta in August is a surprise. Saunas, a training block in Spain, 20 minutes at a time, every day, building slowly. He explains exactly how he does it and why most people get it wrong by cooking themselves once and never going back.

He also makes the case for Enric Mas. Pogačar crashing out changed the race, but Pickering argues the winner still had Roglič, Kuss, Carapaz and Gall to beat, and points back to the day Mas chased Pogačar down on the road. His view on racing the best rider in the world is simple: you do not want to fight a guy who is nought and 26.

Plus stage 20 from inside the bunch, Landa as a hero from his childhood, the Worlds without Pogačar, a losing bet on red at the Monaco start, and the supermarket start line in Granada.

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