Women's cycling grew 80% last year - here's what's next ft. Kate Veronneau - Domestique Hotseat Podcast

Kate Veronneau joins Aidan Burgess for a wide-ranging chat that covers everything from the moment London landed the 2027 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift Grand Départ to why Zwift made the heartbreaking call to walk away from Paris-Roubaix Femmes sponsorship.
Kate explains why bringing the race to Greater London's 15 million dwarfs even Rotterdam's 650,000 roadside fans, how a random Richmond ride with Maloko Cycling pulled nearly 70 people on a weeknight, and why the UK broadcast paywall means even a home Grand Départ might not hit the mainstream eyeballs it deserves. She also opens up about coming from basketball – not cycling – and why Zwift has positioned itself as the "Switzerland" of the industry, the one brand that can get SRAM, Shimano, Canyon and Factor to play nice at the same table.
From there it gets spicy. They break down the 70% viewership spike at Paris-Roubaix Femmes and why the "what the fuck" outrage (Kate's words) was the best thing that could have happened, the 148 million global viewing hours sponsors still aren't acting on, and whether women's cycling should copy the broken men's model or go full franchise à la Bas Tietema and Jonathan Vaughters.
The episode wraps with a 2026 route preview through Switzerland, Mont Ventoux and Nice. Also discussed: the "Watch the Femme" hat, Orla being worth every penny of the TNT paywall, Nike and Red Bull sniffing around, and why Pogi winning everything is doing women's cycling a massive favour.