The Flanders Cycling School

Archive: First released in 2018

This is The Flanders Cycling School: Cobbles, crosswinds and contracts. In 2018, Richard Moore travelled to East Flanders to stay with former professional Tim Harris and his partner Joscelin Ryan. For almost fifteen years Harris and Ryan have been putting up young cyclists with dreams of turning pro.

Over the years guests in the Harris/Ryan home – they actually have two houses, one entirely occupied by riders – have included Mark Cavendish, Lizzie Armitstead, Chris Froome and Fernando Gaviria. There have been lots of others and while a few have made it, most have not.

In this episode, we hear from Tim and Joscelin and from some of the young riders who will be living with them this year. We also hear from John Barclay, one of the great unsung heroes of the sport who, for over forty years, has been taking bike riders to Belgium. Now 88, Barclay still takes aspiring cyclists, most of them up to 70 years his junior, to race in Belgium most weekends.

Run time: 1hr 29mins