During Payson’s trip to Italy last week to race The Hills, he stopped by the headquarters of his new tire sponsor, Pirelli, for a tour of the factory floor. Afterward, he sat down with Samuele Bressan, the company’s Head of Global Marketing for its cycling division. They discuss why Pirelli, which is primarily known for its high-performance tires for luxury sports cars and Formula 1 racing, decided to start making gravel tires back in 2018, and how their products in that area have evolved since then. They also talk about the testing process (one of their recent tires was tested in no fewer than four wind tunnels), the importance of tire compound in gravel, and Samuele’s history with freeriding and BMX. 

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After more than three decades in the sport, George Hincapie has started a new venture this year as the founder of the UCI Pro Road Team Modern Adventure Pro Cycling. It’s already gaining steam much faster than he expected — so fast, in fact, that they’re headed to the Volta a Catalunya and Paris Roubaix this year. George sat down with Payson this week to talk about why he wanted to start a new team, what he hopes they will achieve in the coming years, and why he almost turned down that Roubaix invite. He also talks about his storied racing career, from his early days with the Postal Service to his famous lead-out for Mark Cavendish at Milan-San Remo in 2009 that sealed his dramatic victory. Plus, he reveals the one race that still gives him nightmares.

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Alex Miller is a two-time Olympic XC racer from Namibia with multiple road and XC marathon national titles. These days, he lives in Girona and races for Swatt Club, splitting his schedule between gravel, road, and mountain bike races. He joins Payson this week to talk about growing up on a 49,000-acre farm in Namibia, his journey to becoming an XC Olympian, the time he beat Matt Beers in a sprint, and how he might have some sneaky WorldTour aspirations. 

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The last time we spoke to Luke Lamperti was two years ago, when he was just starting out as a WorldTour neo-pro with Quick-Step. This year, he’s switched to EF and has already racked up some impressive finishes. In fact, Payson ran into him just a day after he got back from snagging two top 10s at opening weekend of the Belgian Classics. Luke sat down with Payson to give the inside scoop on those races, as well as the carnage that was last year’s rider market, where he turns for marginal gains, and which side quest races he’s eyeing this year. 

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To close out our Sahara Gravel coverage, Payson sat down with race volunteer Leoni Kolberg, who has spent the past four years riding around the world, often solo and sleeping in a tent. Last year, she rode across South America. Before that, she rode across Iran and Pakistan. Leoni sat down with Payson amongst the sand dunes to talk about what it’s like to live on the road for so long, dealing with the solitude, perfecting the art of reading books while riding, and why she’s decided to change things up this year. 

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Stage 3 of Sahara Gravel took the riders away from the Atlas Mountains and towards the Sahara Desert, with 95 kilometers ending in a tailwind. Payson is joined by stage winner Eddy Le Huitouze to discuss how the race played out, but first, they do a little background on how he got here. The 22-year-old Frenchman just completed two years in the WorldTour with FDJ and has been racing bikes since the tender age of six. He talks about his time in the WorldTour, lining up for Flanders and Roubaix last year, and why he’s left the road behind to race gravel this year. 

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Stage 2 of Sahara Gravel comprised 105km and 1800 meters of climbing. To recap the day, Payson is joined by former WorldTour pro Nicolas Roche and mountain biker Marta Torà, who are taking on the race together in the pairs category. They talk about how they’ve worked out their pacing strategy, what they each bring to the table with their vastly different racing backgrounds, and the tight battle they had today with a pair of men. They also talk about how they’re using Sahara Gravel as training for the Cape Epic next month. 

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Stage 1 of Sahara Gravel was 99 kilometers in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. Payson is joined to recap the day by UK Gravel National Champ and today's stage winner, Lizzlie Hermolle. They discuss the profile of the route, an unexpected camel caravan, and the difficulty of riding through the desert sand. Lizzie also discusses her bike setup for the race and provides some background on her recent entry into the gravel world. 

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Caleb Swartz started racing cyclocross when he was eight years old, but the discipline has been dwindling in the US since the 2010s, and the writing has been on the wall for any American racers wanting to make a sustainable career from it. Last year, Caleb started branching out into a few gravel events just to see where it would take him, and he ended up with two standout performances at Grand Prix races — 11th at Little Sugar and 6th at Big Sugar. This year, he’s going all-in as one of the new faces on the GP roster. 

Payson sat down with Caleb after a surprise encounter in Girona to talk about how he’s navigating training for a season unlike any he’s ever done, how his years of hardscrabble work behind the scenes as a privateer have set him up for this moment, and the tough industry realities that have led him to transition away from cyclocross. They also talk about his collegiate racing days at Marian, graduating during the pandemic, and the high-speed crash he had at Big Sugar that didn’t stop him from nearly making the podium.

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You might have heard that Allied just released a new feather-light trail bike this week. The FITZ is new territory for the brand, so it seemed like a good opportunity to bring in Allied’s CEO Drew Medlock and Director of Product and Engineering Sam Pickman to talk about why they decided to add a trail bike to their lineup and what makes this one so unique. They discuss the nitty-gritty specs, of course, as well as the decision-making process and behind-the-scenes debates that went into it, but they also talk about their individual journeys with the bike, from defying the aging process to Payson's religious experience on a trail he's ridden countless times. 

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Most riders spend their first year in the Elite ranks just trying to find their feet, but Riley Amos was determined to be different. He had good reason for it. Not only did he have a dominant final season as a U23 in 2024, but he also finished 7th at the Paris Olympics, the highest an American male has ever finished in the Olympic XC race. Looking back on his mindset coming into 2025, though, he admits that he might have pushed himself a little too hard. 

Riley sat down with Payson in Girona this week to talk about how overtraining and back pain led to a somewhat disappointing 2025 and how observing fellow riders like Nino Schurter and Chris Blevins has changed his entire approach this year. Then, they get nerdy about product testing, specifically Riley’s relationship with Trek product development grandmaster Travis Brown and his years-long obsession with suspension. 

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