With Classics season in the rearview mirror, Kit Nicholson, Dane Cash, and Ronan Mc Laughlin join Caley Fretz on this week's Placeholders to ponder whether anything can or should be done to make it harder for riders to attack from so far out.

Gracie and Abby are joined this week by Rebecca Charlton to break down La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège and lament the end of the Spring season. But don’t despair! La Vuelta España Femenina kicks off on Sunday and Escape Collective is running a fantasy competition just for you! One more reason to text your cycling group chat, subscribe to the Wheel Talk Newsletter and keep an eye on your inbox to sign up.

Cosmo Catalano and Dane Cash discuss La Flèche Wallonne, where the weather made for a more interesting men's race than we often get while the women's race ended with a long-awaited win, and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, where one rider's dominance made for a less intriguing finish than we might have hoped on the men's side while the women kept it suspenseful to the very end.

In this episode, Jack takes some time to reflect on a difficult few weeks. Pro cycling has ups and downs, and the entry to spring was a down. How does one get through such a period?

Death, taxes, and wild tech at Paris-Roubaix used to be the three certainties in life, but if the 2024 edition of the Queen of the cobbles taught us anything, it's that the days of wild Roubaix-specific bikes and tech are a thing of the past. In this Performance Process episode of two halves, Ronan is first joined by the crew at Specialized to talk through how the World Tour pros optimise for Paris-Roubaix in 2024 and how that compares to just a few years ago. In the second half, Ronan welcomes Swiss Side's JP Ballard onto the show once again to wrap all the cobbled classics campaign and tackle some of the more general tech questions the 2024 campaign threw up.

In this jam-packed episode, James and Dave discuss a handful of new gravel and road bikes that caught their attention during the week. Trek enters the rear Radar game to compete with Garmin, yet James’ early impressions of the CarBack raises more questions than answers. DT Swiss has just released a new mountain bike rear hub with a wholly new ratchet system, you can read about the new 240 DEG hub at escapecollective.com, and a bonus episode of Geek Warning with DT Swiss is also available, too. Meanwhile the coverage of new products from EVT, Fox, RockShox, and more continues at the end of the episode. On our mind and over the heads of the geek's families is the topic of gravel suspension. The geeks discuss who it’s for (and who it’s not), and why it’s proving to be more than a gimmick. Plus there’s a PSA, which is likely a repeat on something previously discussed, but that only makes it more important. Time stamps: 3:00 - Kona’s new gravel bike for mountain bikers 6:30 - FiftyOne’s new Sika road bike 11:55 - Parlee’s new and unexpectedly-European-made Ouray road bike 15:40 - Trek enters the rear radar game with its CarBack 23:15 - DT Swiss’ 240 Ratchet DEG hub 26:30 - Chatting all things gravel suspension (including Cane Creek’s Inverted answer to the space) 43:25 - PSA: Your dropper needs love 47:50 - Classified adds Enve to its partners list 49:25 - New RockShox things 50:40 - Fox overhauls its Transfer dropper 53:00 - EVT enters the portable repair stand game 55:10 - OnGaurd’s new RockSolid angle-grinder-resistant lock

It’s time for another bonus episode of the Geek Warning podcast. Typically only Escape Collective members have access to the full versions of these, but this week we’re feeling generous. This episode coincides with the release of DT Swiss’ Ratchet DEG system (link to review), effectively an oversized 90T version of the famous Star Ratchet design. Here, tech editor Dave Rome interviews Friso Lorscheider and Brandon Wold from DT Swiss about this new mountain bike rear hub and how it fits into the company’s modern line-up. The discussion then turns to new spokes, how to choose spokes, and an explainer on understanding DT Swiss’ wheel range names. Geek Warning, indeed. A special thank you to our members for helping to fund deep dives like this. If you're not already a member, then joining Escape Collective will help us to create more good things and provide you with access to experience it.

Jonny Long, Kit Nicholson, and Dane Cash join Caley Fretz to ponder whether the Ardennes Classics might merit some reevaluation, to discuss World Cup mountain bike racing and the NCL going on hiauts, and to look ahead to a clash between Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar.

Gracie, Loren, and Abby call in back up in the form of Matt de Neef to try and figure out what exactly happened on Sunday at the Amstel Gold Race. The shortened race impacted some teams more than others, and a top rider learned a tough lesson.

Dane Cash and Cosmo Catalano discuss just exactly how the men's Amstel Gold Race was won, and how the riders who finished both first and second did lots of things right, whereas the rider whose shadow loomed large at the start only finished 22nd.

The 2024 Sea Otter Classic hasn’t even kicked off yet, but the Geek Warning crew has already got a ton of new bikes and gear to talk about this week. All-road/endurance road bikes are clearly enjoying a moment in the sun with the launch of the new BMC Roadmachine and Enve Fray, and Liv has another fresh full-suspension mountain bike landing in shops. Fox has also completely revamped its range of suspension forks for MY2025, Dave and James chat about why they’re big fans of Project321’s third-generation hubs, and James makes a desperate plea for folks to properly wash their water bottles – because mold isn’t an energy drink. Also: more product news from Chris King, Fizik, Castelli, and a neat little photo stick (you know, for the ‘gram). Timestamps: 2:42 - BMC’s new RoadMachine gets more endurance’y 5:43 – Another endurance/all-road bike, but this time from Enve 11:52 – Another new bike from Liv that’s yet to be released by Giant 15:20 – Fox revamps its entire premium fork line-up for 2025 25:00 – New hubs from Project 321 are on our mind 36:05 – a PSA related to drinking germs 40:25 – Chris King expands its range of internal headsets (which will fit many existing bikes) 41:45 - Velcro remains Fizik’s lightest option 43:20 – New Castelli Gabba for soggy days 44:30 – The most niche of products: a bike photo stick

Loren is back in the studio this time with Abby and Gracie to take a deeper dive into the racing at Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift and look ahead to the upcoming Ardennes.

Caley Fretz, Jonny Long, and Kit Nicholson talk through some of the side stories that came out of the last weekend of cobbled classics and wonder aloud what can be done to make the sport safer and less full of dumb people who want to throw things at bike racers. Plus, Iain Treloar interviews two confused deer mascots.

Cosmo Catalano and Dane Cash break down Mathieu van der Poel's dominant display (again) on the cobbles, his team's spectacular showing to support him, and the battle for the podium at Paris-Roubaix, and also the crash-marred Itzulia Basque Country.

Welcome to the second episode of The Rest Day with Jack Haig. In this week's show, Jack catches up with Pavel Sivakov to talk Catalunya and the UAE Tour. They talk changing teams (from Ineos to UAE), what it's like riding for Pogacar, and more.

From next to the Arenberg and inside the velodrome, the Placeholders crew brings you an episode from the ground at Paris-Roubaix. What happened to Quickstep? Will Belgium be mad? What about two world champs winning in one weekend? That was neat. And lots of more, of course.

Cyclings Holy Week is all about Tour of Flanders and Paris Roubaix, but sandwiched between those two monuments is the sprinters classic, Scheldeprijs. Escape Collective was on the ground for the Week and took a trip to Terneuzen for the start of the race named after the river Schelde to record a Performance Process pit walk special. In this episode, Ronan and Caley take us on a roam around the Scheldeprijs start area, talking flat race bike optimisation, the one bike they’d pick, and much more.

Loren Rowney, Matt de Neef, and special guests bring you all the action from the infield at the Roubaix Velodrome, as the fourth edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift comes to a thrilling close.

From a bar in Belgium straight to your ears: The Placeholders crew preview both of this weekend's Paris-Roubaix races, discuss the Arenberg chicane and the crashes in the Basque Country, and we hear from Emma Norsgaard on what Roubaix means and how to ride it.

Whew, so much new product news to discuss today, and Sea Otter is still two weeks away! Shimano looks to strengthen its stranglehold on the entry-level market with a new range called Essa, while some updates to the CUES collection may provide some hints at higher-end bits to come, too. Campagnolo finally announces a power meter to go along with the Super Record Wireless groupset launched last year, there’s turmoil at Scott Sports, and some hooked wheel companies are out for blood. Dave and James also discuss the pros and cons of on-bike tool storage along with a PSA that’ll hopefully save you from being awkwardly stuck to your bike, and there’s a whole bunch of new stuff on the way from Rene Herse, Vittoria, Gore Wear, Enve, Hutchinson, Feedback Sports, and Robert Axle. Timestamps: 1:15 – Dave has some thoughts on T47 5:42 – Shimano is smart to not ignore the entry level market 17:00 – Campagnolo finally announces its Super Record power meter 22:47 – Scott Sports’ CEO is out – or is he? Depends on who you ask. 26:35 – Hooked road wheel companies smell blood in the water 31:16 – On-bike tool storage is a trend we can get behind 38:13 – Check your cleat bolts! 43:50 – Rene Herse now has TPU inner tubes – and they have metal valve stems! 44:30 – Vittoria is getting into running 45:34 – Gore Wear is stepping up its clothing game 46:48 – Enve’s new race day road tires are “like crack” 48:06 – Hutchinson is hoping its new Blackbird road tire can take flight 50:38 – Feedback Sports is almost old enough to buy alcohol in the US 53:10 – Want a nicer Universal Derailleur Hanger? Robert Axle has got you