158. Magdeleine Vallieres, World Champion

0:00It kind of pains me to admit this as a cyclist, but I rather like cars. And I think I've just been driving around in the nicest car I will ever, ever drive. And that's the Maserati Gricali, which it turns out is what happens if an Italian supercar company designed an SUV for people like me, for cyclists. Now, the Gricali is fast, like 0-60 in 4.1 seconds fast, but it is also, it's just delightful to sit in. It has the legroom of a first-class flight to Singapore. it's arguably more luxurious inside than my own house. And yet, I kind of can't believe I'm saying it because of what it is. It's a genuinely practical car.

0:36I could happily chuck a dirty bike in the back of it, then do the shopping, and then go and pick up the rest of the family. Now, I've been driving the electric Fulgori version, which has the equivalent of a 557 brake horsepower dual electric motor with a 360 mile range, which sounds incredibly impressive, I know, but let's just put that in cycling terms, which we actually understand. That is the same power output as a thousand Tadej Pogacchas all racing Milan-San Remo at once and then racing back again. Now, as well as the electric version, there are multiple engine options too, and prices start from£59 ,990, which, when you think about it, is something of a bargain given Pogaccha's Tour de France winning Colnago from last year sold at auction for£143 ,000.

1:23You could have bought two brand new Maserati Gricalis for that. Now you can find out more and also find out where your local Maserati dealer is at maserati.com where else. So that's maserati.com and check out the Maserati Gricali. So fun pub quiz fact. The processor in the Hammerhead Karoo bike computer is about a thousand times faster than the one that put man on the moon and it also has 64 gigs of storage to store global maps and ride data which is literally a million times more than the Apollo 11 guidance computer had. And yet it's smaller than the bar of soap and weighs just 118 grams, slightly less than the Apollo system, which I think was 29.5 kilos.

2:06To be fair, it took eight days to get to the moon and back as it's about 380 ,000 kilometers, which is only slightly longer than most Audaxes. And the crew is good for up to 35 hours. But I still reckon Neil and Buzz's minds would have been blown by the crew's detailed but simple mapping. It's all free to download. It's available offline and it includes base maps, heat maps, popular routes, topography and even the surface you're riding on. The crew can flag up upcoming gravel sections as part of its turn by turn navigation. It also does loads more besides. I mean, I don't know if Apollo 11 ran Spotify or could connect to Bluetooth headphones.

2:43So check out our full review of the Hammerhead crew at cyclist.co.uk and see why we gave it our cyclist recommended award. Then head over to hammerhead.io and use the code cyclist to get a free heart rate strap with every Karoo purchase. Just be sure to add the strap to your cart, then apply the code at checkout.

3:08Hello and welcome back to the Cyclist Magazine podcast. I'm Will Strix and I'm joined today by the semi-star of today's show, Robin Davison. The interview that we'll get to later is Robin's solar mission with world champion Magdalene Valliers. Robin, how are you doing today? Post-interview, obviously the interview already in the bag. I'm doing very good, thank you. Better than this weather, it's like it's April, but it's not. It keeps flicking between really sunny and then suddenly really hailey. And I have to mute my mic because the hail is so loud. Anyway. Yeah, I've got blue sky outside at the moment.

3:46Oh, that's nice. I don't want to make you jealous. Thanks, Will. Love that. What else are colleagues for? The most exciting thing, though, about the day is not the blue sky, although the blue sky is very good. The most exciting thing is that as this episode's coming out, as you're listening to this, the Women's Giro d 'Italia is very close, or maybe it already has started if you're getting to this late. But if you listen to when it comes out, which I think most people do, the Women's Giro starts on 30th of May. Surprisingly, it's in Italy. but the big thing about this race is that really it will be decided on the color de la finestre which um as we all saw in the men's gira last year it could change everything even in a men in when there's way more mountains but that is the big mountain stage finishing in cestria so it was going to be a big mountain test as we're recording this we've very recently seen a similar root-ish kind of thing the women's vuelta with the anglery deciding it so it's very exciting and it's with good reason then that today's guest is is well is riding the Giro and hopefully will be will be one of the stars of the show on the gravel of the Fenestra Robin what I want to know when we're going to get to predictions later on the on the website which should be out tomorrow if you're listening to this when it comes out on cyclist.co.uk but I want to put you on the spot now and we don't actually have much of a start list at the moment either but yeah how do we how do we play this one but women's gero fenestra who's who's gonna win okay i would say vollerin however we are seeing potential for sarah gigante to be on the start list she's always very exciting yeah will's like rubbing his little hands together like yes yes she is i would like this and so i will hazard a guess and i mean watch in like two weeks she won't be on the start list i'll say gigante right now and if this comebacks to bite me so be it or it could be the world champion that we have on our podcast today that would be that would be a real turn out for for our listening figures i swear with gigante i feel like she should have done the world to over the jira i feel like finishing on on the anglery rather than having to do a descent after the finestra i think is gonna it's gonna be tricky one might maybe look out for a little giantly moment getting coat on i think we'd all quite like to see that i don't think voleric's gonna win no okay who's your pick of like the five people on the start list Yeah, that's the really tricky thing, is playing with nothing.

6:33But we've seen most of the time in Volle-Ring, when she did the Vuelta in recent years, she's won that. So that does make my point kind of silly. But people like Nivi Doma and Pauline van Preveau, at these earlier Grand Tours, they're a little bit undercut because they're peaking for Tour de France, have not done their bigger altitude training. And as we speak, Volle-Ring is altitude, so that's not really a great sign for this prediction. So you're just talking yourself out of it? yes and i've always been a big big demi-vollering believer not that it takes much belief because she just wins all the races but um i think we're seeing a bit of a change in the kind of rider that's winning these races when there's not big time trial or lots of smaller things to decide it and but we just wear this gigante thing is a good call but i think with a bit of a descent i think it makes it tricky i we're really playing with not much on this you're the one that started this conversation i know i know i've already dug myself a hole i've got no idea who's doing this race it's not going to be london balguini she's going to get absolutely rinsed oh i'm gonna have to go following on i know gonna gonna stay true no i didn't i genuinely have no idea because i'm gonna go with you robin i'm gonna say no i'm gonna say valia i'm changing my mind for the podcast i thought that i thought that i was like a random pick then and i was like your pick is very misplaced if you think i'm getting up well i mean our predictions already this year are going a bit a bit awry given that we made our predictions for the volta feminina when they said the white jersey competition was for riders that were born after the first of january 2005 and then the moment the race started i know actually 2004 so some some of you made a prediction that was actually ended up being right because you didn't know the rules in first place because the rules actually even the rules didn't know the rules in the first place whereas i made a different prediction and therefore got it wrong but i got the second place rider so i'm actually really happy with laura discappa and she now has a new big fan but she's on the same team as sarah gigante so i think if she's in the race i think with team gigante and you've also interviewed gigante before people can people can find that one on cyclist.co.uk and they should i'm collecting them like infinity you stones maybe by the by the end of this year i think maybe you have the whole gyro podium let's see let's see depends who it is maybe you already have them could be anyway should we get into your i would say i'm going to guarantee valiers is on the podium and with that we're going to get into your i've not listened to it but what i imagine is an excellent interview with world champion don't forget it magdalene valiers

9:16Welcome to the Cyclist Magazine podcast to Magdalena Valliere's meal. Now, obviously, the first thing that we have to talk about today will be the incredible rainbow jersey ride at the World Championships. So take me back to Kigali last year. How were you envisioning the race unfolding on the morning of? Yeah, for sure. I had prepared quite a lot for it. So I was really excited and I knew my form was good but to be honest for sure I didn't expect the result in the end to win but yeah I was for sure a bit nervous but really excited and yeah I the days before it was quite hard because I think for everyone like with the weather the air and the altitude like I think no one felt really really good over there so I felt not so good and the effort I did before I was like oh I don't know how it will be but yeah I decided to use it more as a positive way like everyone will suffer and then yeah I so yeah for sure I was quite excited and yeah in a good mindset I would say and obviously it's sort of a different racing environment when you're racing for a national team what was the I guess intended race strategy because as you're saying it's such a kind of different environment like how do you go through that yeah well uh the ds uh said before the race like the day before like uh what are you girls all looking for like for to get out of this race and everyone started to see like they were here for the experience and they wanted to come and help me get the best result possible so that gave me a lot of confidence because normally i'm i'm the one that's there to help the others so that they all had like that they came all the way to Rwanda to come and help me was because we also we pay our way to go there being like from Canada so for sure I was like oh wow like they they really like decided to come and help me so yeah that gave me a lot of confidence and so yeah the plan was to help me as long as possible and position me into the climb as best as possible and keep me Yeah, calm and yeah.

11:35And did the riders pay their own way for the World Championships with Canada? Yeah, we pay to go to Worlds normally, yeah. I see. And as well, you obviously attacked at the bottom of the last climb to go solo. At what moment did you kind of have that belief of, oh my God, I'm going to be the World Champion? I think a few days after. Took me a while. Still feels a bit unreal, to be honest, even now wearing it for a while. But yeah, I think even when I crossed the line, I was still thinking like, for sure, there's a mistake. There's someone ahead. I don't know. But yeah, it was really a special, special moment.

12:23And did you know at the time as well that you would be Canada's first elite road race gold medalist? Because I didn't know that until a little bit after the finish line. Was that something that, I mean, I don't know what was going through your mind, if anything, but were you aware of that? Yeah, I mean, I knew that we never had like a road race world champion, elite, like men and women. but yeah it's not something I was thinking about I think in the moment I kind of realized it a bit later but yeah I knew that we didn't have one before but yeah. How was the reaction back at home to not only your performance but like as we say like for it being a first for Canada?

13:11Yeah well first my family was quite excited I think my dad is the first one I called after the race and yeah he told me like he couldn't even sit on the couch like he was like walking everywhere like a bit like stress uh but yeah at home has been really good and we have the world championship next year in montreal two hours from my hometown so yeah i think it gave a lot of like also like excitement for next year and i heard also like a lot of girls are joining more uh the clubs at home so yeah I think it's it's really cool yeah that's amazing because I wanted to ask as well what is the road racing scene like where you where you live but I love the fact that more girls are getting involved now yeah yeah and in the end that's the goal also for me yeah to like try to get a little bit more girls on the bike and yeah that they can also share this passion that I also have for cycling but uh yeah uh we have like quite a lot of racing but only like it's far to get to europe so like it's only like between us i guess and yeah i think when i was growing up i had a well we had some races but i think we were maybe 30 40 on the start line so for sure it's a bit different when you come over and it's a hundred something um but yeah it's growing it's getting better every year so yeah more and more projects so yeah and you I mean obviously we were talking about other riders riding in in the service of you at this race how does it compare I guess being it's such an individual victory but it's also such a team victory at at the same time yeah I mean for me uh like you can never do it alone uh like it's definitely a team win uh for sure like yeah i could not have done it if they didn't like give me this confidence before and also position me into the climb so that i could be as fresh as possible when was the moment to go so yeah for me yeah it's it's a team win and yeah i think we like celebrated a bit in the afterwards like we had all dinner together and i think it's super special to like share this with with the girls that were there so yeah i was gonna say how how did you celebrate i'm not someone that like uh does so much celebration like parties and things so it was quite a quiet one i would say but uh yeah we had like champagne for everyone uh like the mechanics soignard also like everyone from the logistic team um because in the end like it's also their win so uh and the girls and then the other like also the other categories we all were together and then yeah we had some cake and yeah that's that's pretty much it yeah and speaking of this year obviously Montreal you have to be going for the defense surely surely you can't not yeah for sure it's gonna be a big goal this year and yeah for sure it's at home so in any case whatever happened will be like a super special edition and yeah for sure I'm really looking forward to it.

16:26And what does it mean as well being only a couple of hours from from where you grew up as you were saying it must be such a like unique perspective to a world championships. Yeah because also like we never race like big races like this at home like yeah last time I only go back for like I only do the national national championship races normally at home now in the last few years so yeah to race actually like worlds will be insane um yeah super excited and also like all my family friends will be there cheering so yeah yeah it obviously it must be easier for them to travel a couple of hours as opposed to a different continent entirely for the world championships yeah yeah it's gonna be a lot closer um yeah and they they weren't in rwanda so i think now they really want to be here in montreal yeah because it was so far to go and but now it's gonna be really close so it's gonna be really good and in terms of your specialties as a rider you clearly excel in like the hilly one-day races would you ever um in the future want to challenge for gc at say grand tours like the gyros or the tours like where do you see your future um yeah at the moment i think i'm learning to be in this new role because yeah i've been a more uh helping my teammate win than like trying to win the races uh so yeah at the moment i'm more learning this new role and yeah the one day races like more hilly are normally more my specialty i would say But for sure, I've always loved the Grand Tours.

18:11But it depends how I develop also because it's kind of quite a different effort. But for sure, it would be nice. But it always depends on how I develop and what my strengths become. And in terms of this season, your first race out in the Rainbow Jersey was the Tour Down Under. And you did a mammoth pull for your teammate, Roy. how was your first outing in the rainbow jersey were you just like ready to get going you were like let me out there yeah it was really cool uh also i mean we cannot really start the season better with the a tool down on the win uh noemi was like really really strong and i yeah i was glad to be there and be able to support her like in it so yeah to win the first race i think yeah couldn't be a better start in the rainbow and with the team uh yeah was perfect and then And Valenciana as well.

19:06That was so hard to say for some reason. Valenciana, you were the best place rider on the team, sixth place. And it's, I think I'm right in saying your best stage race result so far. What worked for you here in Valenciana? Yeah, well, it was the first time I tried going for GC or like, yeah, something like this. So it was more like about learning and like trying to follow. but yeah I had a lot of learning and yeah I was quite happy with like yeah for a first time I think yeah I'm quite quite happy with it. Is it easy for you as well to sort of switch from stage races to one day races like as they're coming on the calendar or does it take like a little kind of adjustment?

19:52No not so much because I think in like let's say Valencia was only four days which in the end was three days because one day was cancelled but yeah I think you kind of have to see it also a bit as one day every day um yeah for me yeah I I did quite a few stage races so far and I I do enjoy like that every day you go again so yeah yeah I like that every day is every day is kind of a new day yeah yeah and obviously for people who are listening or watching whatever it is we're speaking now close to the beginning of the classic season you've obviously finished fifth at Strada Bianchi. What would be, if you had to pick one classic, what would be the dream one for you to win?

20:40I think Liège, Bastogne-Liège would be, yeah, the one I would really like. But Strada Bianchi is also one of, like, the most special to my heart, I think, in the races because it's such an epic one. I think it's always a really hard day. And with the gravel, I mean, it's quite a fun one. I enjoy it yeah Liege and Strada would be the ones it's two I guess but yeah yeah Strada is so unique isn't it like I mean I know they cut a couple of the gravel sections this year but did you still feel like there was still quite a lot of gravel to contend with yeah I actually was looking forward to the gravel sectors every time so because I just enjoy riding the gravel but yeah it could be more gravel but I think it was still a hard hard course even with a few less so yeah and where do you stand on gravel in grand tours I know for some it's pretty a pretty divisive hot topic issue yeah I think yeah for sure it makes it tricky if you're going for GC like a lot can go wrong and for sure it's quite stressful um but yeah also I guess it brings out a bit all like strange from everyone like a GC rider that can do absolutely everything but yeah it's also a bit about luck and the gravel so I guess I'm I I would like to race them but I'm also not going for GC so much so that's also different and I I know as well that you did cyclocross and mountain biking as well obviously this is an area that that helps on the gravel but do you ever find yourself wanting to race some of them a little bit more or are you like strictly road uh at the moment just road I always thought like when I decide to finish road then I would go on the gravel yeah because that's a bit how I started I guess and I do enjoy it and the atmosphere also a lot so yeah but for the moment only road and on strada the gravel yeah have you ever have you ever done any track cycling uh i did one race uh but that was also the first time i got on a track bike and it was a race and i would not recommend doing the first time on it a race yeah yeah a bunch race it's not my yeah not your style you're like I'm fine with the road thank you yeah I prefer being in the nature and yeah in the mountains and yeah on the track oh god the nature in Canada must be absolutely incredible yeah we have some really nice road a lot more straight than here it's mostly straight but yeah really really nice yeah I miss some time riding in the summer there but yeah do you get back like it's obviously there's such a big oh what's the word uh distance distance amazing uh such a big distance to Canada and Europe do you do you get to go back um maybe a couple times a year like when do you go back to Canada there yeah I normally go back for the national championship and then a little bit in the off season but yeah that's pretty much it yeah and where are you based in Europe uh in Andorra ah okay how uh how are you finding it in Andorra sorry my signal kind of cut out a little bit weird there but how do you like Andorra I I really I really like it I I just moved there and And yeah, I really like being in the mountain.

24:24So for me, it's really great. And it's quite quiet. Like, I mean, when you're out there in the mountain, there's not much. So yeah, I like the calm and just riding hard in the mountain is quite nice. Are you thinking about anything on training rides? Or are you very kind of like your brain almost shuts off? It depends on the day. I think it goes a bit all around. yeah depends on the training as well if it's really hard sometimes you can't really think too much uh but yeah on an endurance ride for sure my mind goes a bit everywhere yeah and obviously with the classics as well there are calls some of them from me for there to be a women's lombardia as well and it does seem like potentially if if a route was made that it would be an area that suits you what what's your opinion on that or or are you wanting the women to kind of make their own races and make their own history I think Lombardia for the women would be really good uh would be really nice for sure uh yeah I think it depends on the organizer if like they make a woman edition but that would for sure be like uh I mean it's a yeah it's a historical race And I think I rode a bit on those roads last year at the end of the season.

25:50And yeah, it's really nice. So yeah, for sure, it would be an interesting race to have also on a calendar. What do you make of the Cipressa Poggio kind of double punch? Yeah, it's good ones. I think it would be a good course. Yeah, it would be hard. but yeah. And in terms of this season what do you have highlighted on your calendar? Obviously we spoke about the world championships but what are the races that you're looking at? Yeah the Ardennes I think will be my next big goal and yeah I'm doing the Giro so yeah looking forward to yeah and the Tour probably will be the and the Worlds will be the main goals I think this year yeah and with the women's grand tours they're obviously developing more every year there's more stages there's big mountains this year we see the likes of the angleroo the fenestra does it make you excited to to tackle these climbs yeah yeah super excited i we're gonna do some recon in the next week to go see a few of the climb and yeah excited to be able to ride them and yeah see what they're about you hear a lot about them but yeah to ride them i think will be cool and do you have a favorite climb uh yeah well i always say the climb next to my house in quebec it's called the dunam it's like a super super steep climb like it's less than 2k but it's like 15 percent yeah it's super yeah because we have no long climbs but a lot of like very steep one and no flat so it's always like very steep up or down that's pretty much it but yeah I think that's why maybe I like the punchier climb so yeah I was gonna say well that makes a lot of sense you grew up around all these punchy climbs yeah yeah yeah I had no choice to go up them so

27:57so fun pub quiz fact the processor in the hammerhead karoo bike computer is about a thousand times faster than the one that put man on the moon and it also has 64 gigs of storage to store global maps and ride data which is literally a million times more than the apollo 11 guidance computer had and yet it's smaller than a bar of soap and weighs just 118 grams slightly less than the Apollo system which I think was 29.5 kilos. To be fair it took eight days to get to the moon and back as it's about 380 ,000 kilometers which is only slightly longer than most Audaxes and the crew is good for up to 35 hours but I still reckon Neil and Buzz's minds would have been blown by the crew's detailed but simple mapping.

28:44It's all free to download, it's available offline and it includes base maps, heat maps, popular routes, topography and even the surface you're riding on. The Karoo can flag up upcoming gravel sections as part of its turn-by-turn navigation. It also does loads more besides. I mean, I don't know if Apollo 11 ran Spotify or could connect to Bluetooth headphones. So check out our full review of the Hammerhead Karoo at cyclist.co.uk and see why we gave it our Cyclist Recommended Award. Then head over to hammerhead.io and use the code cyclist to get a free heart rate strap with every Karoo purchase.

29:19Just be sure to add the strap to your cart, then apply the code at checkout.

29:26It kind of pains me to admit this as a cyclist, but I rather like cars. And I think I've just been driving around in the nicest car I will ever, ever drive. And that's the Maserati Gricali, which it turns out is what happens if an Italian supercar company designed an SUV for people like me, for cyclists. Now the Gricali is fast, like 0-60 in 4.1 seconds fast. But it is also, it's just delightful to sit in. It has the legroom of a first class flight to Singapore. It's arguably more luxurious inside than my own house. And yet, I kind of can't believe I'm saying it because of what it is. It's a genuinely practical car.

30:03I could happily chuck a dirty bike in the back of it, then do the shopping and then go and pick up the rest of the family. Now, I've been driving the electric Fulgori version, which has the equivalent of a 557 brake horsepower dual electric motor with a 360 mile range, which sounds incredibly impressive, I know, but let's just put that in cycling terms, which we actually understand. That is the same power output as a thousand Tadej Pogacchas all racing Milan San Remo at once and then racing back again. Now, as well as the electric version, there are multiple engine options too, and prices start from£59 ,990, which, when you think about it, it's something of a bargain given Pogaccia's Tour de France winning Colnago from last year sold at auction for£143 ,000.

30:50You could have bought two brand new Maserati Gricalis for that. Now you can find out more and also find out where your local Maserati dealer is at maserati.com where else. So that's maserati.com and check out the Maserati Gricali.

31:09and actually touching on that a little bit I read an article and it said um that your passion for cycling it was helped by a nine-day 1 ,000 kilometer bikepacking trip with your dad what was your favorite memory from that trip like where did you go as well yeah well we started from my hometown and we went to visit my mom that lived a thousand kilometer away so we yeah we rode there with like her baggage and everything doing like camping on the way and yeah we were going really slow uh but in the end riding the whole day and yeah it's just a great time with my dad and also that's how yeah i fell in love with the sport and you see so many things and I mean so I think it's a special feeling to like ride the bike from point A to B and like get where you want to go yeah I think I just fell in love with it and my dad made it nice like for sure if you think like oh wow that's a bit crazy at nine years old like to make a child do this but in the end like it probably was harder on him because probably I was like talking quite a bit but yeah he made it super nice for me so yeah that's how I fell in love in this part yeah that's beautiful and what is what is something that maybe you took with that that you still carry with you I mean your love of cycling clearly one of them yeah I think already back then one day we did 132 kilometers and the next day I was like oh we need to do longer you know so we did 135 the next day uh so i think i i'm still like a bit like the same like as the child i was like still always wanting to do a little bit more um yeah i love that so much it's such a nice story yeah it's a it's a bit of a crazy one if but i think i would recommend it to uh anyone uh then you know if you like it or not yeah yeah would you ever like to do sort of more bike packing in the future?

33:16Yeah, for sure. It's a bit hard now with the season because the season is quite long and then the time you could do it, you need a break. And then when you restart at home, it's snow. So for sure in the future, I want to do more of these trips. Which country would you go to first, maybe? I think I would like to redo that trip I did when I started would be my first backpacking trip but do it like quite fast like in maybe three days or something um yeah do it something a bit crazy but yeah that trip I would redo somewhere in Canada I would like to to yeah to ride a bit more home do a trip there yeah yeah oh that's that's lovely and obviously back to to road cycling you recently extended with EF what what made you kind of continue your stay there yeah I this was like my first professional team I've been on for sure was a bit of a different team the first two years but yeah I just feel home and I know they they want to develop me and we have a bit the same vision of like where I want to go and where they want me to go so and I know I'm happy there so for me there is no no reason to change so yeah I was happy that they wanted to also keep me so we yeah it's a good agreement yeah and in terms of your future say a time of maybe like three years where do you see yourself I don't mean team wise I mean like as a rider yeah I but I want to be in the finals and I want to be like a quite an aggressive rider that you know that every race that I do that you know I yeah I will be in the final.

35:02I will try something that's win more races, but I want to do it in a in a cool way. Yeah. And I saw that you grew up in, and I think I will have to check for the correct pronunciation again, in Sherbrooke. Yeah, yeah. Perfect. Good job. Thank you so much. and I saw that there was a lot of athletes involved in winter sports there were you ever a winter sport person growing up or was it like cycling from when you were nine uh well I did a bit of skiing but never racing uh just just for fun and then a lot of fat bike but that's also the bike I guess so yeah and what do you do in your in your downtime now uh I like to read a lot and I'm studying in business so I like really really really slow uh on the side so yeah do a little bit of this yeah amazing like like part-time studying yeah but really really small part-time that's incredible yeah that's so cool what got you into business uh yeah I used to own a bike shop and to be better at it and to like learn more and yeah be more good at it I guess I I went into it uh in university and then yeah I I don't have the bike shop anymore but uh that was the reason and I always wanted to be to have a business uh yeah so probably after cycling we'll yeah we'll start something I don't know what yet but yeah so that's why that's incredible I didn't know that you owned a bike shop where when was this uh 2021 to 2022 oh incredible was that um in andorra or back in canada uh back in canada yes oh okay yeah that's yeah that's so cool i didn't know that yeah yeah yeah i don't talk about it so much but yeah i yeah was that when you were balancing the um sort of protein side of things or was that before you got into sort of the more professional aspect of cycling i was already in europe uh yeah it was like in between I would say yeah uh Conti and then the first year world tour I see yeah yeah has it closed down now or does someone else own it uh yeah I sold it uh yeah fair enough yeah I also read that you're I mean for for not being a track cyclist this is incredible I tried to say impressive and incredible at the same time and I said incredible that's maybe the new word I was trying to say uh your hidden talent apparently is track stands what is the longest that you've been able to hold that for well I I can hold quite I think I could hold pretty much until I decide it's it's done yeah because that's cool we had like a competition and then because I was in a sports study uh so like every morning from eight to ten we would like ride our bike so then we had the challenge like who can do the track stand the longest and then at some point you have to stop because you have to go to class so yeah so that's probably the longest it's probably close to two hours I guess but yeah at some point also you get a bit bored uh yeah yeah that's true like actually I could do something else yeah we're not moving so much so yeah and something I love asking is what is something about yourself that people might not know that you want them to know doesn't have to get too personal oh I don't know I I don't know if I have that many special things about me yeah I'm not sure so I will make something up yeah okay good you can make something up I say it's true it's okay and one of my I don't want this interview to land but some of my last questions for you it's who is your favorite teammate to train with favorite teammate to train with um well I trained a lot with Noemi in training camps and we are quite similar in our trainings uh so sometimes we do like quite the same kind of effort so yeah and we're both like uh we had some fun uh dying together in some training camp so what's been the hardest day on the bike for you then uh with noemi or hardest day ever uh let's go both okay well noemi is uh two years ago uh we had a camp in in spain and every day was like a lot of intensity and quite a lot of hours and this was like the last day and we had like two time five minutes of 30 30s that we were doing like one against each other and then we had five time two time five time one minute pretty much all out in a five hour at like as the last day of a block and I remember we were both like super cooked and at the end like we couldn't do like just next to each other because we didn't we don't like to like compete against each other so in the end I was like okay you go 30 seconds and then I will go and then we were keeping each other a bit of a gap yeah so I think that's that was where I remember when we came back and we were a roommate uh so yeah we were a bit cracked because that was a good day yeah hardest day on the bike yeah I guess like when my coach puts me a race simulation and I just have to go as hard as I can in these like types of effort but like it's like as hard as you make it so yeah I would say yeah race simulation that sounds hard to me yeah training wise I guess races are also really hard but I was talking more about training yeah yeah and my final question for you insert insert sad noises in the background what is one thing that you would like to change about professional cycling and it could be anything yeah i would like it if it was easier for uh the like country like that it's because at the moment it's really like concentrated in europe i would say it would be nice if like there is more opportunities for let's say like riders from canada or like riders from rwanda let's say that they want to like do more like higher level or like like develop in the sport i think because it's a it's a hard jump to come to europe i don't know for me it was a hard jump to to come and a lot of like investing in yourself so yeah to make it a bit easier um for them would be nice that's been to be honest a very common theme like when i've asked people i know that cassie and iwidoma also said uh that she would like it to sort of be less uh europe-centered and kind of branch out especially on the back of Rwanda.

42:44Yeah. Is there anywhere that you would like to race like that now? Yeah. Les Grands Prix de Montréal et Québec, I've been trying to convince them to make a race for women also. Yeah. But yeah, they're needing a bit of more funding. That's, yeah, often. But now with Worlds, I think we'll be maybe the year after. We have to see. Yeah. Well, fingers crossed for a women's GP Montreal. And thank you for your time as well, Magdalena. This was wonderful to speak to you. Yeah, thank you for the invitation.

43:24Well, Robin, what a great interview that was. I'm sure you're still on Afterglow from that conversation. World champion. We don't get them on the podcast very often. What was your main takeaway? I know you mentioned to me her bikepacking journey. I feel like that's a long time to be riding by. She's like, what, eight or nine years old going on like a thousand kilometre bikepacking trip. I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa. That's incredible. So I would say that stands out. But also she's just such an interesting character. And yeah, the fact she's world champion, I'm now basking in the glow of the rainbow jersey.

44:09So it's very nice. It's always nice to interview people like that. Yeah, it was good. I feel like it was one of those things when she won, it was all like, oh my God, you know, we weren't expecting this, blah, blah, blah. But it wasn't like it was Keaton half an Olympic win. It was, you know, she won basically from the front of the race. Everyone knew she was there. And then it feels like this season so far, you've just sort of been waiting for her to have that big moment again to sort of, you know, the world, obviously Curse of the Rainbow jersey doesn't exist, but you're sort of waiting for that spark to come again.

44:40I feel like we're about to get it. Locked and loaded. Yeah, the more we speak, the more I'm locking myself in. That's always good. But, you know, EF, we've got a strong team, but they're with the strong riders. How do we do this? How do we approach this? Pick names out of a hat. Yeah, I think actually we should make the start list for Grand Tour. Actually, we just pick names out of a hat. I think you should suggest that. If any team is going to do it, I think it would be EF. Yeah, they'd be sick. They'd do it. Yeah, exactly. i'll slide into the dms and also worth a read for listeners who are fans of ef which i think is a lot of people think they've got a lot of fans but we uh recently had a profile of jonathan forters big boss of ef pro cycling generally in the magazine it's on the website if you're a subscriber you can read it if you're not subscribed but you can subscribe to read it and you will enjoy it and there's really nice pictures in there as well yeah those pictures are great i recommend it's got robin stamp of approval which is always important i'd like to know three things that you've given the robin stamp of approval to recently recently um let's see the stamp of approval it's it's tough um there's a really good chicken and anduja pasta from aldi that's got the robin stamp of approval um nice going to garden centers on weekends has the robin stamp of approval feel like that's had your stamp of approval for a long time yeah yeah and interviewing world champions that's my stamp of approval yes which is a good nod so as we as we record this we've just come off an interview with victoria pendleton former world and olympic track sprint champion and kieran so you can look forward to that interview coming up which which was which was fantastic so we could on a few weeks we've got james has recorded maybe like a thousand on interviews such as keep everyone entertained on however they listen to this on dog walks, car rides.

46:37Maybe I watch it on YouTube. Whoa. Yeah. But if you do, I recommend it because obviously, you know, you want to see our faces. Well, I don't know how much they want to see. Is this HD? I'm suddenly, I don't want to see this anymore. I think it's 4K, right? Oh, God. Well, you'd be able to see Magdalene Valliere's face. Anyway. That's the thing. You see her speak, which is good. Anyway, Robin, It's time to let you go and enjoy the sunshine, I think. The sunshine and hail of Bracknell. It'll come back. It'll come back. Well, we'll see. It'll almost be summer by the time this comes out. So spiritually, we're there.

47:16Exactly. Thank you, Will. Right. Enjoy the rest of your afternoon, Robin. Bye. See you soon. Thanks, everyone.