TOTPOD 4: CHRIS BOARDMAN

There are few people who’ve had the lifelong impact on the sport of cycling like Chris Boardman. As a rider he won an Olympic gold medal on the track, set multiple hour records and became known as the king of the prologue - winning three of them at the Tour de France and carrying the yellow jersey on his back for six days.

His impressive palmares however, has been dwarfed by his work since retiring. Building on the innovation that became a mainstay of his work as a rider, he led the technical squad behind Team GB’s cycling team. The revolution was instantaneous - they earned two gold medals, a silver and a bronze at his first Olympics - where they won seven of the ten gold’s available on the track. Alongside his work for team GB, his self-named Boardman bikes have been a powerful force in the consumer cycling market for many years - with more than 50,000 sales a year. But now Chris is becoming a well known force for improving cyclist’s life outside the cycling bubble - operating as the cycling tsar in Manchester before moving to a larger role in England - overseeing a budget of billions and offering solutions for how to protect cyclists and pedestrians. He also acts as chairman for another multimillion pound organisation - Sport England - which looks to build grassroots sports in his home country.

But aside from that impressive CV - Chris is also Bobby and Jens’ former teammate - and as you can hear straight away - Chris was in great form with his former teammates as they tried to work out his new titles…

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