Welcome to Daniel Benson’s Cycling Substack
Taking you inside the world of professional cycling with exclusive interviews, breaking transfer news, race analysis and opinion-based stories laced with anecdotes from over 20 years in the sport.
If you’re looking for in-depth coverage of men’s and women’s cycling, then this is the place for you.
I’m Daniel Benson, and I’ve been writing about cycling since before power meters, marginal gains, social media, and even the internet. I’ve covered 16 editions of the Tour de France, the Olympic Games, every Spring Classic, and several World Championships. I’ve interviewed stars from Chris Froome to Lance Armstrong, Mark Cavendish to Alberto Contador, Lizzie Deignan, Annemiek van Vleuten, and Jonas Vingegaard.
From 2008 to 2022, I was the editor-in-chief at CyclingNews, then at VeloNews, and later at Global Cycling Network.
In June 2024, I went freelance, which meant putting my heart and soul into a project I had complete control over. Honestly, that’s incredibly scary but also quite exhilarating. Since then, I’ve broken transfer stories consistently and written 800 stories on Substack.
What I’m offering
I post content here several times a week, with a cadence of one to two stories a day, giving you an inside line on everything I can share related to the best sport in the world. From the outset, supporting subscribers can expect:
🚨 Latest updates, breaking news and analysis from the cycling transfer market
🚨 Stories that take you behind the scenes and share insight from the men’s and women’s WorldTour
🚨 Regular interviews with either a pro rider or high profile personality within cycling
🚨 Daily Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes insight and analysis
🚨 A monthly ‘Ask Me Anything’ about pro cycling, what goes on behind the scenes and what working with teams and riders is really like. Send your questions in and try not to get me sued. Please.
Why subscribe?
Being completely honest, I can’t do this without your support.
I’ve never embarked on a solo project like this, but I can say without any doubt that I’ll give everything to make this work by creating engaging, insightful and hopefully, on occasion, content that has previously been described in some quarters as ‘tolerable’.
So, if you want to read exclusive interviews and get the latest transfer stories, or if you want to read about the time a rider forced me to change hotel rooms; why an ex UCI President screamed at me in front of a hall full of dignitaries; when the organiser of one of the biggest races in the world absolutely lost it during a call; when an ex-rider tried to start a fight with me in a bar - maybe this is why I’m not employed - or any of the several times people in the sport have simply emailed me ‘fuck you, Benson’ then this is the Substack for you.
Will you see my byline anywhere else?
Sometimes, while Substack is a great new adventure, and I care passionately about providing you with great content, I still need to pay the bills. I’m basically including this because I don’t want you to feel disheartened if you see my name (on relatively rare occasions) on other titles.
Join The WhatsApp Community Group
I have established a WhatsApp Community Group for Substack founding members. I post interview recordings and breaking transfer news.
To sign up, subscribe or upgrade to Founding Member status. Once you’ve signed up, I’ll ask for your mobile number and add you to the group. This group is not for mainstream cycling press, full-time staff on cycling teams, team owners, or CEOs at cycling brands. Sorry. It’s just for the fans. Join today!
