150. Brian Smith: National champ, racing with Lance, saying no to EPO, and snakes in showers

About this episode

Brian Smith discusses his cycling career, experiences with doping, and his current role as a commentator.

This week, James and Will are joined by Scottish ex-pro turned team manager, commentator and pundit, Brian Smith. Brian cut his teeth in the 1980s at the school of cycling hardknocks, ACBB – Athletic Club de Boulogne-Billancourt – in Paris, whose alumni include Jacques Anquetil, Stephen Roche and Pippa York, before turning pro with the legendary British Banana team in 1991. Three successful seasons followed including his first British national road race title, which led to Brian catching the eye of the Motorola team bosses. He signed for the American outfit in 1994, and went on to race alongside Lance Armstrong, Andy Hampsten and Phil Anderson. Brian won his second British national road race title that same year, but as we discuss in our chat, despite such success he found himself disillusioned and on the outside of a sport he loved as cycling embroiled itself in its darkest doping years – something Brian wanted no part of. He hung up his racing wheels in 1996 but returned to the pro-peloton in 2011 as directeur sportif for Endura Racing, where he stayed as it evolved into MTN-Qhubeka then Dimension Data, before retiring in 2014. Today, Brian can be found with a microphone in…

People in this episode

Hosts: James, Will

Guest: Brian Smith

Topics covered

• cycling
• doping
• professional sports
• commentary
• team management

Keywords

• Brian Smith
• cycling
• doping
• Eurosport
• Tour of Hellas
• professional cycling
• commentary

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: ACBB, Motorola, Eurosport, Endura Racing, MTN-Qhubeka, Dimension Data

Places: Greece

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