Chrissy Marshall-Bell
🎤 lnk.to/GhostInTheMachine Named among best podcasts 2024.
✍️ Journalist, podcaster, storyteller. Mostly but not limited to cycling.
⛷️Ski/cycling guide.
📍Valencia, España
cmb-reports.com
- I didn't expect Andrea Piccolo to feature quite so heavily in my week. On Monday I was reliably told there'll be news soon relating to his doping offences, and this morning it appears he's been arrested for hiding counterfeit notes in his Porsche. www.tuttobiciweb.it/article/2026...
- I was speaking with someone very well connected in the anti-doping world yesterday. They said: "In a lot of countries it's impossible to be caught. We're not going forwards but backwards." The feeling among most within the anti-doping movement is that it's facing its biggest ever crisis.
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- Personally, I don't see the problem. Improved power data absolutely *could* be the result of doping. Anti-doping agencies need as much help as they can get in identifying cheaters, and this helps. Anyway, three of the four teams volunteerng are Visma, Jayco and Picnic. Unsure on the fourth.
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- This race is worth keeping an eye on. Rumours (albeit without much substance) have regularly surfaced in the past year that various Indian billionaires are keeping tabs on the sport, weighing up possible investment. If this race goes down well with the local public, a new frontier could open up.
- There was only really one topic at Visma's media day yesterday: why did Simon Yates retire so suddenly. Everyone expressed shock and surprise, but not Owain Doull. According to him, Yates said he'd be finishing as soon as he won the Giro d'Italia. www.cyclingweekly.com/racing/he-to...
- Jonas Vingegaard was probably at his most revealing he's ever been yday. Admitted that he's been close to burning out – echoing his wife's comments from last year – and said he needs to ride the Giro-Tour double to freshen things up. I believe him when he says he feels more energy than ever before.
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- Economic and sporting structure reform in cycling is back on the table, out of the ashes of One Cycling. 💰led by billionaire team owners 🇿🇦Glasenberg the leader 📈 business model being drawn up 🇬🇧company to be formed possibly this week, probably in UK. escapecollective.com/exclusive-wo...
- Soudal extend partnership with the Quick-Step team to 2030. Big commitment. "This team is still going many places," company CEO says. Jurgen Foré, team CEO, notes that 95% of the team's revenues come via sponsorship. "This is an unsustainable model," he protests. But for now it's the only model.
- Paul Magnier v Tim Merlier v... some fan on an old Specialized Allez. Welcome to Soudal Quick-Step's 2026.
- The always excellent Marco Bonarrigo has written an article on a very worrying (and expensive) new drug that is concerning WADA and other anti-doping officials. TL;DR: if you've got the money, and access to the Chinese black market, here's an undetectable EPO drug. www.corriere.it/sport/25_dic...
- Enjoyed chatting* with Cian Uijtdebroeks recently. He's very impatient, very sure of his own capabilities. His Movistar move could be a total disaster, or perhaps he suits being a (relatively) big fish in a small pond. *didn't have time to ask him if Enric Mas still calls him Blo Blo Blo.
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- You thought the 2026 Giro was definitely going to start in Bulgaria, right? Perhaps not... escapecollective.com/political-tu...
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- Cycling Weekly's review of the year issue is excellent reading. We should cherish and support the print magazines that we still have. Proud to have contributed to this issue. My favourite article is the inside (and comical) story of the Vuelta podium. Buy here: www.magazine.co.uk/magazines/cy...
- This is truly disgusting, isn't it? The orange, alright, I can be swayed. But the white? It's totally transparent. You can see *everything*: the bib straps, the rib cage(!) and, yes, the other thing. Pre-Christmas horror.
- All about Tadej Pogačar today. Maybe I'll be proven wrong (and I hope so) but I have a growing sense that he'll never ride the Vuelta a España again. I *know* he must do so to complete the Grand Tour set, but the vibe I've been picking up for quite a while is that he's totally done with stage racing
- Day three of team media days and no team will rival Movistar's dedication to a bizarre but beautiful opening act. The rest of the event? Quite chaotic. I do hope Cian Uijtdebroeks is aware that Movistar isn't like Visma and Bora.
- I was at NSN's launch in Barcelona on Tuesday. It was... interesting and infuriating. NSN successfully dictated the narrative, achieving the mission of controlling the story, but the media failed in its mission. There remain a lot of unanswered questions. escapecollective.com/the-question...
- Good day at Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe's 2026 launch. Primoz Roglič insisting he's got no plans to retire at the end of the season, while Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz promise they can work together at the Tour. Hmm, not so sure on the last point.
- Iniesta's cycling idol was Miguel Indurain. As a child, he grew up watching mountain stages of the Giro, Tour and Vuelta with his grandfather. His favourite type of stage is a mountain time trial. Unfortunately for the World Cup winner, NSN will be a sprinter's team.
- Start of my Fourth (or first?) Grand Tour: team media days. In Barcelona today for the launch of NSN, formerly Israel-Premier Tech. Will we get clarification on Sylvan Adams's role? What about Derek Gee? Will Biniam Girmay thrive here? Symbolic it's in Barcelona, too, with TdF 2026 starting here.
- New for @escapecollective.bsky.social Ineos head soigneur David Rozman isn't going anywhere, after revelations about his links to doping doctor Mark Schmidt. 🇸🇮what the Slovenian has been doing since 🇬🇧what he's been telling Ineos 📱his version of events escapecollective.com/david-rozman...
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- Protests against IPT eventually won, but what can cycling learn from the episode, and how can it avoid becoming entangled with geopolitical issues in the future? www.cyclingweekly.com/news/israel-...
- Alison Jackson's surprise move to St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93 has just made a bit more sense: Premier Tech confirms that it will sponsor the team for the next two years to further support Canadian cycling. Notably, not as a title sponsor, paving the way for naming rights at another team.
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- A deep dive into what's going on behind-the-scenes at Ineos Grenadiers. 📃What the financial accounts tell us 💶Ineos' 2026 budget 🇫🇷How much TotalEnergies is investing 🏉Why Ratcliffe's exit from other sports doesn't impact the cycling team 🔮What cycling's rumour bill suggests will happen in 2028/2029
- Allan Peiper teams up with Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe. One of cycling's good guys. A few years ago he gave me a very candid interview about his struggles with cancer. "People say they’re not scared of dying but then it confronts you and you shit yourself.” www.cyclingweekly.com/fitness/the-...
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- Major, major doubts now if a solution can be found for the proposed new guise of Israel-Premier Tech, now that Premier Tech has announced it will not support the team in 2026. It's November 7 – extremely, extremely difficult to find a sponsor to cough up minimum €20m in the next few weeks.
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- Put together this guide to understanding 'Caso Lazkano'. 👀Revealed: the ITA and UCI had been targeting Lazkano after becoming suspicious of his biological values and performances. ❌Lazkano's initial defence would almost certainly have failed 🇪🇸Big questions that need to be asked of Movistar
- Positive news: Jayco-AlUla will continue in 2026. "There is no doubt," riders on the men's and women's teams were told by manager Brent Copeland. Gerry Ryan will deposit the bank guarantee with the UCI before November 3. Full story here: escapecollective.com/jayco-saved/
- I understand there's a Zoom meeting with all Jayco-AlUla riders (men, women and U23) at 16:00 CET. Announcement will follow later. At the moment no word if Gerry Ryan has provided the bank guarantee. Riders were not aware that he hadn't until @escapecollective.bsky.social broke the news on Monday.
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- You may not know Emily Brammeier, but the 31yo has become an influential figure in recent years: vice president at the AIGCP since 2024, a member of the ITA’s Funding Commission, and now president of the Movement For Credible Cycling (MPCC). Her first interview here: www.rouleur.cc/blogs/the-ro...
- I understand there's a Zoom meeting with all Jayco-AlUla riders (men, women and U23) at 16:00 CET. Announcement will follow later. At the moment no word if Gerry Ryan has provided the bank guarantee. Riders were not aware that he hadn't until @escapecollective.bsky.social broke the news on Monday.
- A deep dive on cycling's changing business: ⛓️💥 why do riders keep breaking contracts? 💶how much are buyout clauses? 🇪🇺calls for teams to be registered in same nation ⚽a transfer market like football is "inevitable" 🏉could cycling adopt an NFL-style draft? escapecollective.com/why-are-more...
- Exclusive: Jayco-AlUla's future in the WorldTour isn't so certain. Team founder and owner Gerry Ryan hasn't provided the obligatory bank guarantee to the UCI. A big week ahead for the Australian team.
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- Really enjoyed chatting with Ide Schelling about his decision to retire from WorldTour racing aged 27. "I knew deep down if I continued like this, with more stress coming into the sport, I wasn’t going to be as happy as if I was doing something different.”
- Spoke with Lidl-Trek manager Luca Guercilena about Juan Ayuso's arrival for @rouleurmagazine.bsky.social. Interesting to note that despite paying millions for him, Trek aren't expecting immediate success. Notable line about Geoghegan Hart's future role, too. www.rouleur.cc/blogs/the-ro...
- A fortnight ago I spent an hour talking with Matt Dinham who last finished a race in Oct 2023. Since then he's been on crutches, and had weekly MRIs, scans, x-rays and hospital visits. This is his story of anguish, frustration and finally relief at racing once again. www.rouleur.cc/blogs/the-ro...
