Orla Chennaoui didn’t just rise through the ranks of sports media — she cut her own path. From reading traffic reports and covering sports for Sky News to anchoring coverage of cycling’s biggest races, she’s now the voice of cycling on TNT Sports and a defining presence in the sport.

While TNT Sports airs in the UK and Ireland, cycling fans in the United States who subscribe to MAX (formerly HBO) can watch her pre- and post-race coverage of some of cycling’s biggest races.

Today, Chennaoui is more than a journalist — she’s a global brand.

She frequently engages with her audience on social media — she has more than 125,000 followers alone on Instagram — where she chronicles her life as mother, journalist, and health, fitness, and wellness advocate. She’s an advocate for people, especially women, battling depression, anxiety, and addiction.

Our conversation focuses on her career in journalism, why she loves covering cycling, and her predictions for who will win the 2025 Tour de France.

You can follow Chennaoui on Instagram | YouTube | Ten Times Braver.

The New York Times shuttered its sports section in 2023 and it had stopped covering professional cycling and the Tour de France years earlier.

That did not mean the Times would stop covering sports. In 2022, it had purchased The Athletic for $550 million. Now, if you subscribe to the Times, you can read The Athletic.

Cycling fans are lucky to have an enterprising young journalist, Jacob Whitehead, who normally covers football—or what Americans call soccer.

Fortunately, he’s expanded his beat to include cycling.

Whitehead’s first story examined how Remco Evenopeol would be starting for Belgium's national soccer team if he had not started racing a bike.

Last summer, Whitehead gave voice to Muriel Furrer, who was killed following a crash at the Women’s Junior Road Race World Championships in Zurich. The tragedy was compounded by the fact that nobody—neither her team nor race officials—knew where she was for 90 minutes. Hopefully, in time, his story will lead to improvements in rider safety.

Whitehead and I talk about his path to The Athletic, his love of sports, and predictions about who will win the Tour de France.

You can connect with Jacob on BlueSky and X.

“Go F— Yourself.”

That’s the last thing Lance Armstrong ever said to investigative journalist and author Reed Albergotti.

Albergotti, a longtime investigative reporter, spent several years uncovering the vast doping conspiracy in professional cycling. Wheelmen is one of the best books about cycling – and sport – ever written. It’s not just about cycling, but about business, the law, and ethics.

Albergotti and I talk about the process of reporting out stories, writing the book, and what the doping scandals have meant for cycling, especially in the United States.

Follow Reed on X or go to his website and Semafor to learn more about his work.

Subscribe to RIDING WITH on SubstackConnect with Jonathan on Instagram | LinkedInFollow on Apple Podcast | Spotify

RIDING WITH is produced and edited by the team at Palm Tree Pod Co.

RIDING WITH is a reader-supported publication. Please become a paid subscriber.