Mike Ashley buys Wiggle CRC: Ex-employee talks “shock” at retail giant’s demise and staff’s “hard and fast goodbye”, plus THAT Visma Giro helmet discussed

While the two topics discussed on episode 72 of the road.cc Podcast are both high on the cycling world’s list of talking points this week, they notably sit at opposite ends of the seriousness spectrum (unless you take your time trial helmet debates very seriously, of course). 

In part one, George and Ryan are joined by a former Wiggle Chain Reaction Cycles employee, one of the 450-odd staff members laid off as part of the online retailer’s demise and recent rumoured purchase by Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group, who discussed what life was like behind the scenes at the beleaguered brand as Wiggle CRC lurched from crisis to crisis in recent months following the collapse of its parent company. 

The ex-employee also chats about the contrast between Wiggle’s grand expansion plans and the struggling state of the bike industry, the “shock” of the company’s collapse (amid hopes that it could continue on), and the abrupt, “hard and fast goodbye” dished out to its staff, and the future for Wiggle’s house brands such as Vitus and dhb.

Meanwhile, in an altogether more frivolous part two, Ryan and Jamie sit down to discuss the topic that’s dominated the agenda at Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico this week: Visma-Lease a Bike’s bonkers new Giro Aerohead time trial helmets (oh, and Bahrain-Victorious’ fire service-style helmets, too). We ask the important questions: Has helmet design finally jumped the shark? Do these increasingly extravagant air-cheating shapes actually make a difference? Will the UCI ban Giro’s bold new look? And, finally, was it designed by a five-year-old?