{"podcast":{"title":"The Real Science of Sport Podcast","slug":"the-real-science-of-sport-podcast-495514","podcast_index_feed_id":495514,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/f3fb5c75-b943-4f5d-bd87-27c91611dd24","website_url":"https://play.acast.com/s/realscienceofsport","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/6100856531fd81f125b34dac/1764253945895-a1ed9fa9-2a2e-4594-8b95-1aba16461fd4.jpeg","author":"Mike Finch","episode_count":338,"summary":"World-renowned sports scientist Professor Ross Tucker and veteran sports journalist Mike Finch break down the myths, practices and controversies from the world of sport. From athletics to rugby, soccer, cycling and more, the two delve into the most recent research, unearth lessons from the pros and host exclusive interviews with some of the world's leading sporting experts. For those who love sport. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-21T08:19:01.121416+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-real-science-of-sport-podcast-495514"},"episode":{"title":"Sleeping Your Way to More EPO / Grand Slam Chaos / The UCI's Expensive Regulatory Defeat and a Weighing Scandal","slug":"sleeping-your-way-to-more-epo-grand-slam-chaos-the-uci-s-expensive-regulatory-defeat-and-a-weighing-scandal","published_at":"2026-06-03T09:20:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-real-science-of-sport-podcast-495514/sleeping-your-way-to-more-epo-grand-slam-chaos-the-uci-s-expensive-regulatory-defeat-and-a-weighing-scandal","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-real-science-of-sport-podcast-495514","url":"https://shows.acast.com/realscienceofsport/episodes/sleeping-your-way-to-more-epo-grand-slam-chaos-the-ucis-expe","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/acast/s/realscienceofsport/e/6a1fefdbd610a77403d53ba8/media.mp3","summary":"Join The Real Science of Sport Supporters club for ad-free listening and our exclusive weekly Applied Science show ! A monthly donation is all takes! This week's Spotlight opens in Paris, where Roland Garros has delivered one of the most chaotic and compelling Grand Slams in recent memory, and ends on a Las Vegas track with a promise of $10 million unlikely to be fulfilled. Along the way, we explore retirements and comebacks, bike weight scandals, regulatory issues and a surprising way to boost your red blood cells. In today's Show: For the first time in the Open era, not a single former Grand Slam champion reached the men's round of 16. Ross and Gareth try to make sense of a tournament turned on its head by epically long five-set matches, multiple two-set-up defeats, and the emergence of potential new stars to challenge the duopoly atop men's tennis Sinner is gone, Djokovic is gone, and the heat played a starring role. We revisit our applied show on heat adaptation to explain exactly why Sinner's implosion was both predictable physiologically, but surprising in its speed and persistence Serena Williams has accepted a wildcard to play doubles at Queen's at 44 . We explore the motivations for her return, and discuss why elite athletes retire in the first place? A thread on Discourse sparked by James gets us exploring the psychology and physiology of retirement , and why the grind we don't see is often the cause In cycling, Lorena Wiebes was disqualified from the women's Giro after her bike allegedly weighed in 20 grams under the UCI's 6.8kg minimum . Was the punishment proportionate? Is the UCI's measurement process up to the required standard? Are SD Worx guilty of playing it too close to the limit? We discuss. A Belgian court has ruled against the UCI's attempt to imp…","meta_description":"Join The Real Science of Sport Supporters club for ad-free listening and our exclusive weekly Applied Science show ! A monthly donation is all takes! This…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3609,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-real-science-of-sport-podcast-495514/episodes/sleeping-your-way-to-more-epo-grand-slam-chaos-the-uci-s-expensive-regulatory-defeat-and-a-weighing-scandal/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-real-science-of-sport-podcast-495514/sleeping-your-way-to-more-epo-grand-slam-chaos-the-uci-s-expensive-regulatory-defeat-and-a-weighing-scandal.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}