It was a rare treat for the sprinters: a flattish stage that was duly controlled by the sprinters’ teams and won by Ireland’s Sam Bennett, his second stage win at this year’s Vuelta a España.

Richard Moore and Lionel Birnie discuss the stage and we hear once again from our audio diarists, James Knox and Nick Schultz. There’s also an interview with Deceuninck-Quick Step domestique Tim Declercq and with one of the riders who featured in the breakaway, Harm Vanhoucke. 

Vanhoucke was a good friend and Lotto-Soudal teammate of Bjorg Lambrecht, who tragically died after crashing at last month’s Tour of Poland. He replaced Lambrecht in the Vuelta team and tells us what it means to him to race in honour of his late friend. 

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Rapha and Science in Sport

Rapha has launched its new custom kit giving you the chance to design your own Rapha kit. Begin your journey now. Choose from the varied set of templates, pick your colours and add your logos. Make your mark with Rapha Custom at https://www.rapha.cc/gb/en/custom/

Pédaleur and pédaleuse de charme t-shirts, caps, and jerseys are in stock in all sizes on the Rapha website https://www.rapha.cc/fr/en/stories/the-cycling-podcast-rapha

You can nominate a rider for the Pédaleur de Charme award throughout the Vuelta a España.

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In November, we will be going on a Grand Tour, with live events scheduled in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland. We still have a couple of dates to confirm but the schedule so far will take us to Bristol, Cardiff, Worcester, Dublin, Belfast, London, Edinburgh, Leicester and Manchester. For tickets to any of these shows – or our event in Harrogate during the World Championships – go to https://thecyclingpodcast.com/live-events

The music in this episode is by Más y Más.