November 7 | In this bumper episode of The Cycling Podcast, Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe look at the long-established route into the professional ranks for young riders – the stagiaire system – and hear an extended interview with Freddy Ovett, who rode as a stagiaire for BMC Racing earlier this year. Each year many of the World Tour teams offer stagiaire placements to young riders for a variety of reasons – to introduce a new signing to the team, to offer a taste of the pro peloton to a talented prospect or to make up their minds on a rider they’re not 100 per cent sure about. We discuss how the system works and look at success rate for riders who sample this kind of work experience or extended job interview. Then we hear from Freddy Ovett, who was in conversation with Richard earlier this year. His surname will be familiar to anyone who followed world-class athletics in the late 1970s and 1980s because Freddy’s father is 1980 Olympic 800m champion Steve Ovett. Freddy Ovett, who was also a talented runner, talks about how he switched to cycling and is still determined to make it into the pro ranks even if the stopwatch is starting to tick. With The Cycling Podcast set for a sell-out live show at the Clapham Grand theatre next week, and with a date at Cardiff’s St David’s Hall at the end of the month, we round off the episode with a couple of clips from one of our live shows in Edinburgh this spring, featuring Lionel and François Thomazeau. The Cycling Podcast is supported by **Rapha** and **Science in Sport**. **The Cycling Podcast Live shows** Tickets are available for our live show at St David's Hall in Cardiff on November 27\. To join Richard, Lionel and Orla, go to [thecyclingpodcast.com/live-events](thecyclingpodcast.com/live-events) to buy tickets. **Become a Friend of the Podcast** Become a Friend of The Cycling Podcast and get access to our library of feature-length special episodes. Recent highlights include the #NoGoTour with Conor Dunne and Larry Warbasse and an extended interview with Louison Bobet. Go to The Friends of The Cycling Podcast page at [thecyclingpodcast.com/friends](thecyclingpodcast.com/friends) **Thank you to our sponsors** Check out Rapha's new Explore range at [rapha.cc](rapha.cc) **Discount code:** Listeners to The Cycling Podcast can get 25% off their Science In Sport energy products by going to [scienceinsport.com](scienceinsport.com) and entering the code **SISCP25** on checkout. **Episode sponsor** Thank you to our episode sponsors, Harry's. If you would like to get a free Harry's razor trial set delivered to your door (for just £3.95 postage charge) go to [harrys.com/cycling](harrys.com/cycling) **Get in touch** We love hearing from our listeners. Send your questions and comments to us by email contact@thecyclingpodcast.com Find us on Facebook, Instagram or send us a tweet @cycling_podcast