Life as a GCN presenter: Behind the scenes with Manon Lloyd at the Women's UAE Tour
From travelling to capturing key info for our videos, go behind the scenes with Manon Lloyd at the UAE Tour
Tom Hallam-Gravells
Online Production Editor
Our presenters are lucky enough to travel the world. From one date line to the next, they’ve been all over the globe.
Throughout these travels, our presenters have taken on gruelling challenges, toured major brands, explored the more niche sides of cycling, as well as covering the largest races in professional cycling.
While we put our presenters through plenty of cycling-based suffering - like this challenge where Alex Paton produced one of the most memorable bonks of all time - there are also more glamorous assignments, like visiting WorldTour races. At least, they appear to be glamorous from the outside looking in.
But, as our presenters are always at pains to tell us, it’s far from 'all play no work'. Virtually every second at a race is spent hunting for the coolest tech or interviewing riders, so that we can bring you the latest news and insights from the pro peloton.
To provide a glimpse into the life of a GCN presenter at a pro race, Manon Lloyd decided to vlog her recent trip to the Women’s UAE Tour. Starting from her home in the UK, join Manon as she guides you through the trip, starting off with a gruelling 14-hour journey before she jumps into action to capture lots of content, meeting plenty of interesting people behind the scenes along the way, including her former mechanic.
The race in question, the Women’s UAE Tour, is the first major stage race of the women’s WorldTour calendar. It carries plenty of prestige and with it attracts some of the top riders in the world.
It was won (spoiler alert!) by Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime), the current world champion whose bike Manon managed to get her hands on while at the race - check this out, and more, in the video at the top of the page.
Keep up to date with the latest news from the world of racing on the GCN website, linked here.