Jostling For Position: Insights and First-Hand Accounts From the Golden Years of Spanish Cycling

Product Information

Since I was a child I have had a special love for communications. Photography, music, movies, writing and every single way you can express something with it. I attended media studies and my intention was not to focus on journalism. In 2006 my plan had been to move to Cuba for a couple of months for a course of Direction of Photography for the film industry. But I started working for a new company and I suddenly understood the power of sport and everything changed. During the year Meseguer was on maternity leave with her first child, a wave of Spain's celebrated cyclists, who had been integral to the country's golden era in the sport, chose to retire. “The guys I met from this generation were all retiring,” Meseguer said, putting her head into her hands. “It was a kind of grief.” Sheree: It’s been four years since your first Vuelta for Eurosport and now you’re very much a key part of the Eurosport family. As for Landa? ‘I don’t know if I’m able to lead a team for a victory in the Tour de France,’ he told me.‘But for sure, I hope to lead a victory in another Grand Tour’. One of them they had a leader for the 2007 Tour de France and they wanted me to be their domestique. “Maybe you think I’m a head in the clouds because I have only raced one Tour,” I told the manager, “but I think I’m in condition to win next year’s Tour de France.” And that’s exactly how it went.’

Never! I think Fabian Cancellera deserves to be there a lot more than me. If you ask me, I don't think that the any journalist should be on the front cover.

MENU

Laura: Well, I would love it. But all of us also have a life outside of cycling even though we are all passionate about what we do. I really love what I do and, at least for me, it’s easy to spend as much time as I can with the peloton because I’ve already been following their stories all year so I understand very well their position and how they are. But the cycling calendar is so long, it’s so big and with so many races. I’d have to do some serious negotiations with home! But, of course, who wouldn’t love to cover more and more cycling? Let's stop seeing mothers as heroines even though they are tremendously admirable. Let's normalise motherhood and protect it. How society treats sportswomen who are mothers is important, because sport is still a reflection of our society, and that is why these women are such fundamental and powerful agents for change.

Every stage of both competitions will be available on Eurosport, discovery+*, the Eurosport App and GCN+ across Europe, with GCN+ also showing coverage in the Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and North Africa regions. It’s always a pleasure to catch up with Laura Meseguer, one of the hardest working and busiest journalists in the pro peloton, who I last interviewed four years ago. She graces Eurosport’s coverage of cycling for at least 90 days per annum. But is that enough? We’ll find out. There are not too many cons this year; I think the same as always. Too many transfers and maybe a very hard race for the rides. By the way, it was a very good show. Related: "It's where we came from but hopefully it's in the past" Anna van der Breggen on how women's cycling has changed Local studio shows, in the UK (The Breakaway), France (Les Rois de la Pédale), Spain (La Montonera) and Italy (Tour 360), will offer further analysis of the action.Perhaps we will see a similar story with Mikel Landa, who was only a single second from the podium this year despite having devoted much of his efforts to helping Froome’s yellow jersey bid over his own. He has been a very unique rider, and this is not said just by Spanish journalists. I mean, if you go inside the peloton and ask about this, you’ll hear the respect they have because no one better than a cyclist understands how much it takes to race and win this or that,” she said. “He’s a unique rider, not only because of his achievements, but the way he sees and enjoys cycling. He loves his bike so much, he doesn’t understand his life without it.

PEZ: In Spain we saw you on TV commentating on the Giro d’Italia, was that scary and is it something you would like to do more of? Sheree: This year thanks to USADA’s ‘reasoned decision’ on Lance Armstrong the cycling off-season was uncharacteristically busy. A number of notable Spanish riders such as Miguel Indurain, Samuel Sanchez, Alberto Contador and Alejandro Valverde expressed their surprise at Lance being busted for a ‘non-analytical positive’. This wasn’t well received by the majority of cycling fans who’ve interpreted it as support for Lance. Can you perhaps throw some light on their reactions? Warner Bros. Discovery’s broadcasts will have analysis from three-time overall winner Alberto Contador, and seven-time stage winner Phillipe Gilbert. There will also be reporting from Sander Kleikers, Laura Meseguer and Louis Pierre Frileux. Qué grandes conversadores y qué buena gente. Estábamos los tres felices por el encuentro a pesar de que la lluvia nos hacía cambiar de ubicación a cada instante. Me encanta la gente que cuando habla rezuma entusiasmo y alegría, como hacen Igor y Pedro. The Cycling Podcast returned to the Tour de France with sponsorship from Jaguar and Eurosport. The Telegraph became a media partner. 2015Once Meseguer started to gain more and more interest in cycling, her dad tried to steer her away from the sport, encouraging her to get a job in communications, as she had done previously. However, undeterred, she remained on a mission to make her own path in cycling. For riders and commentators, the question of shortening the stages of the Tour was also discussed a great deal. The Tour demands everything from you" | Column "Surviving Le Tour". From 2015 copy and paste for 2016 https://t.co/KF0WK6drTl #TDF2016 The Cycling Podcast began life as the Humans Invent Cycling Podcast, with sponsorship from Sharp. Richard, Lionel and Daniel recorded the first episode in a London park before releasing daily shows from the Tour de France. After the Tour it continued as a weekly show. 2014 If Marcel Kittel and Mark Cavendish had also been there, would we have seen a dramatic head-to-head on the Champs Elysèes between the two fastest sprinters in recent Tour history? An open race

Laura quizzing the soon-to-be world champion PhilGil at the Vuelta (image courtesy of Laura Meseguer) https://lnkd.in/dp4tzVPt #ciclismo #IgorAntón #BajoelMaillot #PedroHorrillo #LauraMeseguer #periodismo Como en todos los inicios, cualquier empujón es bueno, así que no dudéis en compartir con vuestros amig@s apasionad@s del ciclismo para ir creciendo poquito a poco. As with everything, there is a moment in time when the older generation clears a path for those younger to fill its gap, and over the past few years there has been a changing of the guard for Spain’s professional cyclists. While there are riders such as Mikel Landa and Enric Mas stepping in for the now-retired golden era, they haven't yet replicated the winning streak that defined their legendary predecessors. However, two riders have been catching the attention of the Spanish fans – Juan Ayuso and Carlos Rodríguez. Aged 22, Rodríguez came fifth in this year’s Tour de France as well as taking a prestigious stage win. And Ayuso, only 20 years old, came third in last year’s Vuelta and second in this year’s Tour de Suisse.Fue un día increíble de rodaje. Primero con Igor Antón a solas y después acompañados por Pedro Horrillo. Flotaba en el ambiente esa sensación de buena onda, de sintonía perfecta y de querer que se alargue la tarde sin mirar el reloj.