The 2016 Giro d’Italia was the first edition covered end to end, on the ground, by The Cycling Podcast, and what a race it proved to be. A thrilling last week saw Steven Kruijswijk fall at the last hurdle, almost literally, and Vincenzo Nibali mount an extraordinary comeback. But neither of these stories could rival stage 15 to Alpe di Siusi and more specifically the victory of rank outsider Alexander Foliforov for sheer shock value.
Foliforov disappeared almost as quickly as he burst onto the scene, retiring two years after his Giro stage win. Since then he has become a meme, a sort of post-ironic legend, but above all an enigma: what mysterious force propelled him to victory that day, and where has he vanished to over the last ten years?
Exactly a decade on from the Russian’s greatest day, Daniel Friebe tracked him down and invited Foliforov to relive and explain one of the strangest days and results in recent Giro history.
One-Hit Wonder was written and produced by Daniel Friebe. Music is by Amaraterra.
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2026 Girovagando selection:
You can buy this year’s Girovagando wine selection here: https://dvinecellars.com/products/cycling-podcast-giro-26.
The wines with corresponding stage numbers are as follows:
Stage 3: Mixtape Red, Georgiev & Milkov, Plovdiv (red)
Stage 4: Tenuta del Conte, Calabria Rosso, Calabria (red)
Stage 5: Vigneti del Vulture, Pipoli, Aglianico del Vulture, Basilicata (red)
Stage 10: Bianco 'il Terraio’ Paterna, Tuscany (white)
Stage 14: Les Crêtes Mon Blanc, Valle D’Aosta (white)
Stage 20: Braida Antica Blanc, Russolo, Friuli Venezia-Giulia (white)
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The Cycling Podcast was founded in 2013 by Richard Moore, Daniel Friebe and Lionel Birnie.
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