The Cafe Ride – A Sigma Sports Production
After a gruelling almost two-year hiatus, Sigma Sports are proud to relaunch their project ‘The Cafe Ride’.
Featuring British former professional road racing cyclist, Matt Stephens. The series follows Stephens who is joined by a special guest each episode as they embark on a ‘casual coffee run.’ The series aims to capture the enjoyment of a ride spent with friends, through casual and relaxed conversation, venturing away from the normal interview techniques of restrained and calculated conversation.
The route along with the coffee stops are chosen by the guest, with the intention of giving some insight into them even before the conversation starts flowing.
Similar in tone and style to Jerry Seinfeld’s ‘Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee’ the conversation in each episode takes inspiration from whatever the guest and Stephens feel to be a relevant topic while also addressing where and why each guest rides a bike.
The series relaunched on the 30th December 2021 after an almost two-year hiatus, where Stephens was joined by Scottish journalist and former professional road racing cyclist, Phillipa York. The episode sees Stephens join York as they ride her old training loop to the South West of Glasgow.
One of Britain’s most successful cyclists of all time Phillipa York was the first to win a major Tour classification, when competing as Robert Millar, she brought home the polka-dot jersey from the 1984 Tour De France. York has since established herself as a top broadcaster, and her career in Cycling Media continues to grow. They reminisce stories from her heyday in the peloton as a teammate of Greg LeMond and discuss the inclusion of transgender athletes with one of the few top athletes to have an informed opinion based on experience.
Matt Stephens rode professionally between 1998 and 2011. He represented Great Britain at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona finishing 61st in the road race. He became the British National Road Race Champion in 1998 after which he turned professional with the British-based Harrods team. He rode for Sigma Sport between 2001 and 2011, acting as rider/manager from 2010 onwards.
Watch Stephens join previous guests Mark Cavendish on the Isle of Man, head to Switzerland to meet former Olympic and World Champion, Fabian Cancellara and venture to the Liege region of Belgium to meet Elynor Backstedt. All episodes are available to watch on the Sigma Sports Youtube channel.
