Rapha recently celebrated its 20-year anniversary and for the majority of that time it was the darling brand of cycling. Everything Rapha touched turned to gold. Founder Simon Mottram saw cycling apparel differently than anyone else and created an entirely new market for people who connected with his vision.

In 2017, RZC, the Walton brothers’ investment arm, bought a majority stake in Rapha. Things began to change, and not in a way their customers and community hoped. In 2021, Mottram stepped down as CEO and the business has gone through two (or three, depending on how you count) CEOs since. Not only have they had to deal with the lasting effects of COVID, but many customers will say that the brand is not what it used to be.

Last year, in August 2024, Fran Millar stepped into the role of CEO. She has a wide array of experience that has prepared her for this unique challenge, most recently turning around the struggling British heritage brand, Belstaff. Earlier, she was instrumental in starting and running Team Sky, organising Eliud Kipchoge’s sub-two-hour marathon project, and many other career achievements.

In this wide-ranging interview with Millar, we talk about what she intends on fixing at Rapha, how she’s going to go about that, and what her long-term vision is for the business.

Welcome to this special episode where we dive deep into one of cycling's oldest, most fascinating, and perhaps largely unknown stories - how a single French family, best known as their business entity the Amaury Sporting Organisation or ASO, came to control the Tour de France, the world's most famous bicycle race. Because, if you recall, they didn’t invent the TdF. A little french newspaper called L’Auto did.

Today we're exploring this remarkable story detailed in Alex Duff's book "Le Fric" (which is slang in french for The Money) and we’ll be speaking with Alex himself about this incredible saga of family, power, and money. Alex is a UK born sports journalist and author of 3 books who has spent much of his career covering the intersection of business, money, and sports.

To understand the ASO and the grip they have on the crown jewel of professional cycling, you need to understand the history of the Tour de France and how the Amaury family acquired it. History, national pride, politics and legacy mean so much more than money to this family, and is why the Tour de France will likely never have a price tag put on it.

The Cape Epic is widely regarded as the crown jewel in mountain bike stage racing. Many notable legends of the sport have called it the Tour de France of mountain biking. So how did Kevin Vermaak, a 30-year-old man new to mountain biking create a cultural phenomenon in the MTB world in the far away land of South Africa? This is his remarkable story...

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