Sigma Sports presents Matt Stephens Unplugged

Tour De France Unplugged Stages 16 to 21 - The best Grand Tour ever?

Matt Stephens is back behind the scenes at the Tour de France with his portable recorder, capturing the sights and sounds of the race and the caravan. While dodging chicken goujons and other projectiles, he catches up with Hannah Walker, Adam Blythe and Alberto Contador as they review the feast of racing we’ve been treated to over the past three weeks. Matt also reflects on Tadej Pogačar’s scintillating performance, considering him to be the strongest rider he’s ever seen. Roll on 2025.

Tour De France Unplugged Stages 10 to 15 - Duelling GC maestros and moto madness!

From behind the scenes at le Tour de France, Matt Stephens has been having the time of his life reporting on the race from the back of a motorcycle for Eurosport WBD. As the Tour entered week two, Jonas Vingegaard completed his incredible comeback to put Tadej Pogacar under serious pressure for the GC. Meanwhile Matt has enjoyed an adrenaline fuelled reportage while sitting on the back of a motorcycle surging ahead of the peloton at breakneck speeds. 

Tour De France Unplugged Stages 1 to 9 - History made and records broken!

Matt Stephens reports from behind the scenes of the 2024 Tour de France, where history has been made and records have been smashed. On a week when Biniam Girmay became the first ever black African to win a stage of the Tour de France, and Mark Cavendish extended his record to 35 wins to go clear of Eddy Merckx - there was a lot to talk about! So if you like hearing about Cav, Biniam, and Bardet with a side order of good parking, nugget temptation, and butt-cheek numbness avoidance advice, then this is the podcast for you!

Luke Rowe on success, retirement and zero regrets

Matt Stephens chats to Luke Rowe about his decision to retire just months after signing a contract extension with team INEOS Grenadiers. Luke is candid and open, explaining how easy it was to make the decision following a chat with his neurologist. Ever the optimist, the Welshman has loved his career and knowing how hard successes are to come by, he offers some sage advice to enjoy every single thing you achieve. There’s a first in the Cardiff quiz when Luke phones a friend of his live on air - but will he know what Cardiff City football club were originally known as?!

Giro Unplugged 2024 Stages 16 to 21 - Reflecting on Tadej Pogacar’s dominance in la Maglia Rosa

Matt Stephens is back behind the scenes at the Giro d’Italia 2024 to bring us clips from his experiences in the final week of his favourite grand tour on the calendar. In this episode he encounters a garden gnome from the lofty heights of a scary chairlift, gets stuck on a mountain, manages to create a race with some team buses after stage 19, and takes us into the commentary booth to call the race home in Rome.

Giro Unplugged 2024 Stages 10 to 15 - Chainrings with 68 teeth and the Ambience Police

From behind the scenes of the second week of the Giro d’Italia, Matt Stephens brings us a mix of off-the-wall clips and considered race reviews. With his colleague and good friend Ned Boulting for company, the duo survive a night in a Snow White themed hotel, rescue Matteo Trentin, and as the fatigue sets in and food in the Italian mountains gets scarce, there’s a disturbing suggestion of cannibalism.

Giro Unplugged 2024 Stages 1 to 9 - Wild predictions and tame reflections

Matt Stephens is back at the Giro d’Italia bringing his trademark blend of unusual clips from behind the scenes. This bumper episode takes us from before stage 1 through to stage 9 with a short review of each stage mixed with whatever spontaneous nonsense unfurls around him. Matt bemuses his Eurosport colleague Ned Boulting with some outlandish predictions, and the pair bring us into the booth for some exciting stage finishes, then they encounter the best-resourced tax policing unit in Europe.

Rory Townsend on versatility, and racing efficiently to reach your potential

Matt Stephens chats to Rory Townsend about his versatility as a rider, both in terms of his ability to win one-day classics and stage race sprints, but also in terms of his flexibility within UCI ProTeam Q36.5. Being on a team with limited resources requires a range of skills that can be called upon at short notice - and at the time of recording, Rory was waiting to hear if he or teammate Szymon Sajnok would be required for Ronde Van Vlaanderen, just three days later! Matt was also keen to learn if the former Irish national road race champion would be targeting that title again this season, and what other goals he set himself.

Jasper Philipsen on how he’ll tackle Paris-Roubaix this weekend

Matt Stephens previews Paris Roubaix with the 2024 Milan San Remo champion, Jasper Philipsen. Arguably in the form of his life, the Belgian Alpecin - Deceuninck sprinter looks forward to racing with his ever-humble teammates, reflecting on how it feels to have Mathieu van der Poel leading him out, and how timing is 95% of the job. Touching on tactics and how training for the Classics differs from training for Grand Tours, this is an insightful chat right in time for what promises to be the best race of the classics season.

Rod Ellingworth on the impact of his success at British Cycling and Team Sky

Matt Stephens has a fascinating chat with Rod Ellingworth about his impact on British Cycling and how that helped lead to the period of dominant success at Team Sky in the mid 2010’s. The newly appointed race director for Tour of Britain explains how he had a holistic approach that valued the personality of the riders as much as their numbers, and shares some interesting stories about the likes of Mark Cavendish, Geraint Thomas and Bradley Wiggins. But how can such an intelligent man be so awful at quizzes?