This week, Abby talked to Gracia Sotomayor, the artistic cyclist from Peru. Sotomayor grew up knowing that, as a woman in a man's world, she had to be a certain way and do certain things. She had it all – a stable, good job, a home, and a partner to take care of her, but she was unhappy. When she started riding her fixed gear bike, everything changed. A few years later, Sotomayor was living in Germany, training to become Peru's first artistic cyclist on the world stage. Now, she inspires Spanish speakers everywhere to gain confidence and independence through cycling.

You could make a Bingo game out of how many times Gracie, Loren, Georgia, or Abby bring up the development problem in women's cycling – the lack of lower-level races and teams, WorldTour teams signing riders too young, etc. But we aren't the only ones constantly harping on about these issues. This week, Loren and Abby sat down with someone who has been pinpointing these problems for years and is actively working to combat the lack of development on a daily basis: Natascha Knaven-den Ouden.

If you follow her on social media, you'll know she has come head-to-head with a lot of the challenges currently facing the lower levels of women's road cycling, and as the General Manager for NXTG Racing, she's guiding the next generation through the growing landscape.

This week, Abby handed the mic over to Matt de Neef, who got the chance to catch up with one of Australia's up-and-coming talents, Talia Appleton. Appleton has been upping her game every season, but broke through in earnest this year with a podium finish at Tour de l'Avenir and a stellar ride at the World Championships. Matt sat down with her to talk about how she felt this season and what she's eyeing in the coming years.

Make sure to read Matt's written piece here.

This week on the Wheel Talk Podcast, Abby chats with road cycling legend Tiffany Cromwell about her split focus on road and gravel with Canyon-SRAM-zondacrypto, the future of gravel and how the discipline can improve, and what it's like to be a race promoter in gravel right now.

In their final group show of the season (maybe), Loren, Gracie, and Abby talk about their top moments of the year, their favourite riders, and their favourite teams. They also answer some questions sent in by listeners about the best staff members of teams, best domestiques, and more.

You can send in your own question for the team to answer, just head on over to this link to record an audio message.

This week, we take a detour from chatting about the 2025 season to talk next summer. The ASO unveiled the route for the 2026 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift last Thursday, and it has everything. Iconic climbs, a legit time trial, plenty of opportunities for the opportunists, and a leg-breaking circuit race to end the nine-stage week. One thing missing? Sprint stages. Abby sits down with Kate Veronneau to talk about next year's Tour, what they are excited about (everything), and Zwift's decision to continue sponsorship of the race for four more years.

This week on the podcast Abby, Loren, Gracie, and Georgie talk about the races in China – the Tour of Chongming Island and the Tour of Guangxi – and how they might better fit in the calendar. They discuss Liv AlUla Jayco's Continental team and what they're doing right, Mavi García's departure from the team, the importance of a social media presence for riders, and the death of the long time trial in women's cycling.

Next week we are going to talk about the season as a whole, so if you've got any topics you want us to touch on or questions for us, you can submit those and tag us on the Wheel Talk Discord or leave a voice memo HERE. If you leave us a vocie message, make sure to select "Wheel Talk" from the dropdown menu.

Gracie, Georgie and Abby try to figure out what on earth happened at the Gravel World Championships over the weekend and discuss the Lorena Wiebes win rate from 2025 and more in this week's Wheel Talk Podcast episode.

With a cameo from Heidi Franz, who finished thirteenth at the Gravel Worlds on Saturday.