THEMOVE - A Brutal Stage Reshapes the GC | Giro d'Italia 2026 | THEMOVE+

Episode Date: May 23, 2026

Johan Bruyneel and Spencer Martin break down Jonas Vingegaard's incredible ride to win a brutal mountain stage at the Giro d'Italia, and finally take control of the race's overall lead. They discuss and debate what his rivals can and should do from here until Rome, and how they expect the battle to play out. They also look forward to tomorrow's Stage 15, discussing which sprinters will recover best and give their picks for the win. Become a WEDŪ Member Today to Unlock VIP Access & Benefits: https://access.wedu.team  

He was really, really, really on the limit to Gonzoli, but it's obviously that, you know, he's in amazing shape. I think he's discovering himself as a writer, obviously, I think, surpassing what he thought he could do at this level. And of course, you know, it's an Italian writer. He's in the zone. There's the Tifosi, the Italian fans called Tifosi there, you know, shouting.

You kind of get caught up in that and, you know, you ride up the mountain with, you know, with goosebumps. I think that's probably contributing a little bit to the excitement of Paganzoli. But after the stage, he was clear that they had a plan today. They executed exactly the plan like they said, you know, to perfection. And he actually said that he wasn't writing for G.C. Everybody, welcome back to the move plus. I'm Spencer Martin.

I'm here with Johan Bernal. We are breaking down stage 14 of this year at Italia. And then we'll preview tomorrow's stage 15 at the end of the episode. stage 14 won by Jonas Finnegard from Team Lisa Fisma Lisa bike with Phyllis call coming in

second 49 seconds down Jai Henley 58 seconds down the top three is now Yonis Vindigard finally takes the race lead with former race leader Afonzo Ullalio still in second place

226 behind Felix Gall and third to 50 back Timon Aronsman 303 Jai Henley looking good surging in fifth at 343 back. Johan, I'll give us a brief overview of the stage.

It was very simple stage. It was five categorized climbs over 133 kilometers. So just doing the math there, there's not a lot of flat kilometers left. The breakaway goes early. Big group, strong group, some outside, like if you squint GC contenders, like Jan Hurd up the road.

But Visma just controls it. Visma clearly had a plan for today. They control it from the gun. The gap gets out to around three and a half, minutes and then visma starts pulling it back they have tim rex doing really strong polls for multiple climbs then bart lemon who gives way to victor campanards who takes the front at the bottom of the final climb he pulls for seven kilometers and then sepkus comes forward you know you know you have a talented roster when sepkus winner of the wealth of spania is not even your last leadout man on a climb

and then david de p gonzoli comes forward launches yonis vindigard at 4.7k to go the steepest part of the climb. He attacks solo, does not stand up. It was a very controlled effort, 390 watts. So that's 6.7 watts per kilo for the final 12 minutes. He comes in kind of unbothered to win the stage and take the race lead. But behind it, it is a hot battle for the podium with Gall, Henley, Pellizari, Arendzman, and Ullalio all fighting for second through third. But Johan, what was your takeaway from the stage? Yeah, Spencer, I think, you know, there was no surprises today. It was a very predictable stage.

You know, if we looked at the stage yesterday, this was kind of the scenario we talked about, if I remember correctly, but also, I mean, even less of a surprise, Jonas yesterday had already said that tomorrow's the day they looked at. They want to take control of the race. This is the stage that they have circled

to execute a plan. So everything happened the way Yonas had and Visma had planned it. Big group, obviously, the 25 riders, there was a lot of good climbers in there, but the moment you saw that Visma and Bahrain, Bahrain, you know, like, hats off to them, you know,

like they had the jersey and they were collaborating, although they were almost sure that they would lose the jersey today. But they did control. And, you know, good for them. O'Lali stays in second for the moment, so it's pretty good. But, you know, the potential success of the breakaway

really depended on the ambitions of Jonas and Visma. And that's exactly what we saw. You know, not a lot of things happened. There was a strong breakaway with some really good climbers. And Rick Maas, Chikone, Rubio, Walt Pools, and, you know, some other guys. But you could see they had no chance. I mean, they started the last climb of 16 kilometers with two minutes, 15 seconds,

which you could say, well, you know, it's a pretty decent gap, but still, if you know that Jonas would take almost two minutes on everybody, but the top three, four riders. And then the riders of the breakaway, of course, they're super tired. It was never a question, I think, on the last climb that the stage victory would come from the breakaway. I don't know how you saw that. But movie started, I think, a good job. They're trying, but unfortunately it doesn't work out for them.

They had Enric Muss and Aene Rubeo in there. Two really good climbers, but that's not even enough to have a chance. Shows you how difficult it is to win, you know, a stage in the Giro and even more a mountain stage, especially when their leader, I mean, the virtual leader or the favorite and the strongest team has other plans. I think today, you know, the doubts, I mean, doubts are not really doubts, but you could, I talked about, you know, the possibility of Visma lacking Kelderman, you know, being a little bit less strong. That didn't happen. I mean, Visma has this ability, Spencer.

I've seen this already also in the tour, you know. When a writer needs to be present, all of a sudden, this guy's there. Like today, Tim Rex, unbelievable. You know, young rider, first year professional, first year professional, 22 years old, young writer from Belgium. Two brothers, by the way. His older brother, Lawrence, Rex, right for Sudal. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't realize they're brothers. They're brothers, yeah, they're brothers. And they also come from the, you know, small German-speaking part of Belgium. and both of those writers are perfectly trilingual.

They speak perfect German, perfect Dutch and perfect French, Flemish and French. But man, that guy did an amazing job, Tim Rex, for a very, very long time, completely emptied himself. And then, you know, the ever-present, whenever he has to be there, Victor Campanards, you know, started at the bottom of the climb. It was still 15 kilometers to go. and I think he took a pull of almost seven kilometers. It shows you that these guys are super strong. Campanards, I mean, when Campan, I think Campanars was impressive because when he was doing the pull,

I saw writers like Derek G and Alfonso Ollario being in trouble. I mean, they were hanging on for dear life. So you could see that this was not just pacing. It was already pretty fast. And so, you know, when Campanars pulled off, St. Pus took over and they were down to, what, eight, nine writers, and they still had, and Vizma still had three writers there. So it was clear as it's going to be Jonas Wingergaard show today. And so it was. Yeah. And I mean, I just couldn't. I would say if I had one takeaway of the day, it was Vizma. So impressive.

I can't believe I ever doubted them or even considered that losing Wilco Kelderman would have been a problem. Yeah. I mean, today, they clearly, they just had a play. plan and they went out and they executed it perfectly. You could tell they had everyone, you know, they had it exactly where they wanted people to pace, how hard they wanted to pace and they did it to perfection. Yeah, with the time gap at the bottom of the climb, my wife was like, I don't think they're going to catch the breakaway. It's like if Yonis stands up, he's pulling two minutes back.

Like that gap is going to vaporize. Today was a particularly hard day for the breakaway because you could tell Vizma, I mean, Yonis said yesterday they wanted to win the stage. This has been a target. So right there, you know you don't have a chance. And they needed to take, they were not in the race lead. People forget that. They had to take the race lead.

They did it. They win the stage. From now on, it could be a little easier because, Johan, what, what does Visma do also? Did we mention Davidadad Paganzoli pulls off and does an incredible ride to finish fourth on the stage right behind Jai Henley in front of Giulio Palisari, who is his team's leader coming to this race ahead of time in armesman, who is net company Ennio's as leader.

So this is a guy who is pacing, pulled off, finished like with the best GC guys that are not Jonas Vindigard. Imagine how demoralizing that is for everybody else. But what is Vizma do? And they're doing that for safety reasons so that Jonas has a bike if he needs it. I mean, that's what they said a few days ago.

Today, I don't think that was the case because you could see us, Actually, I saw that as soon as Jonas had 20 seconds, the Vizma car was passing and was behind Jonas. So he had a bike straight away. Yeah, yeah. They also did ask Paganzoli, because now he moves into the top 10, they asked him if now he started to have, you know, ambitions to finish in the top 10.

He said, absolutely not. But for some reason, he kept going. I mean, it was telling to see that Paganzoli does that last. pool. You know, you kind of know when, okay, when Sepkus pulled off, that was already faster than P. Gonzalez starts, you know that that's the last pool that's normally going to be, you know, one to one and a half kilometer maximum, right? Because, I mean, what people need, sometimes people say, oh, you know, this, the last guy only pulled for eight or nine hundred meters. But, you know, the higher you get up the climb and the faster the pace goes, everybody's tired, including the domestics

who have to do the lead out. So that kilometer, at that, at higher speed is crucial. It's more difficult than doing a five-kilometer pace at a lower pace and a lower speed, right? So you know that Piganzoli is going to pull one to one and a half kilometer maximum. From there on, I think it was clear. Jonas was going to attack with about 5K to go. Turns out he attacked with 4.6 kilometers to go. But I think that it was telling to see Piganzoli.

I don't know if he really pulled off. or if Jonas just decided, okay, now I'm going. But then the next, the closest rival and the guy who has been the closest to Jonas Wingergaard up until now and even today, Felix Gall, is, you know, taking his own tempo. And he cannot drop Big Gonzoli initially. That must be like, okay, what am I doing here? You know, it's like, let me just try to get rid of this guy and ride my own pace. So. And Biggadillo was in the drops out of the saddle.

Yeah. He was almost like he was messing with them. Like, what is going on here? He was really, really, really on the limit, Biganzoli. But it's obviously that, you know, he's in amazing shape. I think he's discovering himself as a writer. Obviously, I think surpassing what he thought he could do at this level.

And of course, you know, it's an Italian writer. He's in the zone. There's the Tifosi, the Italian fans called Tifosi. They're, you know, shouting. You kind of get called up in that. then you ride up the mountain with, you know, with goosebumps. I think that's probably contributing a little bit to the excitement of Pganzoli. But after the stage, he was clear that they had a plan today.

They executed exactly the plan like they said, you know, to perfection. And he actually said that he wasn't riding for GC. You know, if you're in great shape and you are the last domestic, you can end up in the top 10. Seb Custi at the Valta last year. Did he finish top 10? He was like seventh or something. And then they had Mateo Jorgensen in the top 10 too.

Yeah. You know, it's always, I mean, there's also the Team G.C. I'm going to guess, I'm going to guess, and I haven't checked yet, but I'm going to guess that Vizma is in the lead for Team GC. I'm not sure. Actually, last time I checked they were not. And I still don't fully understand team. They are in the lead now by 24 seconds.

Okay. Well, I mean, that can become a goal. But, I mean, it shouldn't. It shouldn't become a goal because it can be at the expense of whatever you need in the last week. But sometimes, you know, the team is so strong that they actually get it. I mean, it's all, it's every day the first free rider. So every day you start from zero, right? I mean, for people to understand it's not the first three riders in G.

It's every day the first free rider. So let's say in a team classification, if one day a team is, let's say, they're 10 minutes behind in second in GC, in Team GC. And there's a breakaway with two riders of that team in there. That breakaway takes seven minutes. They earn 14 minutes in the team classification. It's added every day. So it's a bit strange to calculate, but it could be. It could be one of the goals of Visma to be the best team.

They don't need to prove that because they are. And I think it's, I'm not a fan. I'm not a fan of this going for Team G.C. Because it costs a lot of energy. But anyways, if it's on mountain stages, you can say, okay, you know what? We have three really good climbers. It doesn't cost that much energy. But it starts to become a problem when breakaways go and you need to chase it down

because it's a goal. That should never be the goal of a team with the favorite to win the race. But it can also become an ally, you know, at some point. Let's say you're in the leading team, G.C. This is another scenario. You're in the leading team. Visma's in the leading team, GC. And the second team, you know, gets in a break.

You can, and I'm, you know, I'm not saying it happens. It probably doesn't happen anymore. But 15, 20 years ago, it did happen. Deals were made. Gentlemen agreements were made on the road where you kind of say, okay, you know, we don't fight for the team G.C. We let it have you. But, hey, stop messing with us.

You know, like there were certain teams that were difficult to control. I remember back in there. There was always the same team when it was, whether it was Bonesto or Cas de Parne, later movie star, they were a nightmare, you know, because they were attacking left, right and center for no reason because they were always going for Team G.C. But as a team who has the leader's jersey, it

makes the race difficult to control. And it was always for the team classification they were going. So we have sometimes ended up saying, okay, you know what? Don't worry about the Team GC. We don't want it. You know? We're not interested. Just you can have it. Yeah. I mean,

I don't even think it's going to get to that point. I think Vismic can do whatever they want. There's so strong. I mean, maybe Biggonsolius is having a good time. Like, it doesn't seem like anything they do from here on out is really going to matter. Now that they have the lead, how do

they play this the rest of the eight stages? I mean, it's still a long way to go. Jonas is not done, I think. But I also think, from now on, I think Jonas can start to, in Visma, they can start to really write a controlled race.

And, you know, not wanting to really exhaust all your resources because let's not forget that there's a big goal in July waiting for him and for the team. So they're in perfect position now. They can control. They have very few people to control and there's nobody stronger than Vingergaard on the climbs. So they're in a really great situation. They just have to try to avoid any, you know, extra race or extra sportive factors, crashes, punctures, illness. And normally then they win.

So if that's going to be the case, I don't know. I think Jonas will still go for another stage win. But for now, what he has? He has three stage wins already? Three stage wins. Okay. Yeah. I mean, yeah.

I think they, well, it will. I think it might be taken care of for them because the Cathon still has to get rid of Ulalio. He's still in second. Phyllis Gawls in third. So they can't know it. People can't just sit back and sit. I think it's just a matter of time. Felix Gals definitely a better climber than Elalio.

And as I said, you know, we'll see now that Elalio is out of the pink jersey. How old is Alario? Is he going to be in white? He's in white. He's definitely, he's like 22 years old, so he's got to be in white, right? Let's see. Let's quickly have a look. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. Well, Pelazari's in white. So, Ula Lio's in white, Pelazari's 156 behind. He's only 347 behind. Maybe that's what's going on. So, okay, so he's still in a leader's jersey. It's still a big fight. So he has, you know, there's something to really fight for.

Yeah, listen, I think O'Larillo, the way he's riding, he's definitely going to stay up there. I don't know if it's podium or top five. But I think top five should be a reasonable objective for him, which would be amazing. And he just needs to now just, you know, write differently and just try to stay with, you know, his main rivals and it looks like Pilidzati is the main rival for the white jersey so I don't know I think Pilidzati probably is on the up

he's gone through a little a little dip and you know was struggling with some illness today I think he did a really really good race got better through the stage Jay Hindley also Jai Hindley sorry for our Australian listeners. Those two riders did a good job. I mean, they finished really strong, the Red Bull guys.

Taking out of the equation, Jonas, then they did really good, I think. And Pelazari was at the back for a lot of the stage, especially like 60K to go. He's last wheel on the Peloton. So I thought he was in big trouble. Maybe he just wasn't feeling good. He recovered, but he finished is great. He was dangling early.

As George would say, he was swinging. He's swinging. He's swinging on that climb and didn't seem to bother him. He just recovered, finish his fifth. Yeah, I mean, I thought Jai Henley, if I'm trying to podium at this race, I'm worried about Jai Henley. I'm not even worried about Yonis because Yonis is going to win. He's a strong three-week stage racer, you know, he's usually pretty strong in the last week. I think for now, the way it looks, I think Yonnas wins for sure.

Felix Gall, I think second. And I think Jai Hindley looks better than Aronsmann for the podium. I wouldn't rule out. So Phyllis Scull is 250 behind Jonas, Jai Hinley 343 behind. I would not rule out a potential assault on Mr. Gall, especially since Phelis Gull is now sitting third overall. I think people have noted he's going to have a target on him with these. You know, he's probably the highest profile GC rider to live.

lose a GC position just like a non-performance issue. I know, but you know, target, you know, the mountains are very honest. Whether you have a target or not, the mountains, it's, there's no hiding. And whatever stages, there's still to come. There's still a few really, really hard stages, like harder than today. Well, and I'm not trying to be unkind, but this guy is an unbelievable climber. he's never finished on the podium of grand tour and there's a reason for that that's true that's true but i think he's also in the form of his life spencer uh i don't think i don't think felix gal has ever

been in better shape than he's now um he actually said that himself in an interview that he's in amazing shape he's never felt better so if he can keep this you know a lot of things can change during three weeks you know but if he can uh he can he can fade away uh and also all of a sudden not recover. But, you know, usually at this point in the race, you know, the cards, the cards are played. You know, I mean, everybody knows where their spot is. And it's, you know, unless there's something really strange happening, things don't, don't change that much. I mean, I would, if I was Red Bull, I'm trying to attack them on the downhills on stage 19, probably. I'm sure that's what they're thinking. But yeah. So if you're Vismo, I would say, you look at the standings, you say,

well, we're 226 up. We don't have to do anything. The only thing about that is, you know, it's always this thought of, you're in the lead. You don't have to do anything. But look at Paul Sikis at the Basque Country. He kept piling on the time. And then the final stage was crazy, right? If he wouldn't have struck while the iron was hot, he probably loses Bass Country overall

because he would have lost so much time on the final day when things went sideways. Does he only try to pad this lead to as a hedge against? But I mean, by pad, like, let's go to stage 16 up. finish, brutal uphill finish. Does he sit in the group or is he just like, I'm going to win this and take more time on everybody? No, I mean, I think from now on, Spencer, what Jonas can do is just, you know, what I would do is you just, you control your rivals. You know, make sure that nobody gets in breaks. That's definitely not going to happen because let's not forget the game, the battle is now on also for podium and for top five and top 10.

and he just needs to stay there and whatever uphill finish, he can he can just get little bits of time here and there 20 seconds, 30 seconds with a two kilometer effort. That's, I would not do anything else. Yeah, yeah. Okay. I totally agree with that. I think that's the right decision.

What do you do if you're decathlon? I would try to get in second. I would go for second place and, you know, if it's, if it's a, an honest race and nothing strange happens. I think, uh, look who's back, look who's back, by the way. This guy, he's been, he's been claiming, he's been asking for my attention for like 10 minutes now. He, uh, he doesn't seem to agree that Felix Gall is fighting for second position.

Bobby, Bobby, I don't think Philo Scull is, I don't think he's going to win this thing. Bobby, Bobby, I'm, I'm, I, Spencer, today, I was on a long bike ride in the mountains. I'm kind of low on energy. I'm sure the writers in the Gero are that Bobby did not do a mountain stage today. He's full of energy and wants attention. So he just wanted to come say hi to everybody. Hey Bobby. Hey, Bobby.

Is DeKathleen going to have to be pacing on these stages? I mean, it depends what happens, right? I mean, if there's this from now on, I think with, and Vizma can perfectly, play this this game you know they they can they are they should let riders go who can get in the top 10 or can get in the top five and then you're fine you know you're you get you get the assistance you need without asking for it because people will start to fight for whatever they have right now for certain riders i mean look for example barang right i mean they already had a hell of a zero right i mean nine days in pink i guess eight days nine days nine days in pink

Yeah. A stadium. But now they're going to fight for top five. That's a goal. And so if somebody from outside of the top 10 gets in breakaways and they start to threaten top five, top six, Bahrain will be there. You know, that's all they have left to do. And they will do it.

Red Bull, I don't know Red Bull. Red Bull has two guys up there. I mean, fifth place means nothing for Red Bull. They need to be on the podium, right? So, so, yeah, we'll see. I think Visma's in a great position. I mean, I was just thinking, how do I make this more interesting? Because this is going to be probably a snooose fest for the rest of the race.

What if the team that's in the lead, they have to surrender a rider for every minute they're in the lead. So Visma would have to send two riders home tonight. We might have to start doing this, Johan. I worry that there's just so there's a handful of riders that are just so much better than everybody else. It's a little demoralizing. I mean, Visma with, you know, with Piganzoli and Sepp Kuz, and then, you know, Victor was always there when he needs to be there. And who was the guy before Victor? It was Bart Lemon.

We haven't even mentioned him. He was incredible. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, the whole team, I don't think they would miss two guys. I think they'd be fine. No, I mean, yeah, I mean, we've seen, we've seen, you know, ground tours when teams in the lead lost riders and then finally they, they managed to control it with five riders.

It's possible. I mean, of course, you know, it's better to keep you guys. But also, Spencer, what I really, what I wanted to talk a little bit about, I mean, I don't know if you saw the same thing, but, you know, when, when, obviously, when Jonas went, you know, nobody could react. We could see it was game over. To me, what really caught my attention was the, you know, the visual, very obvious and clear difference between Jonas and all the other guys like Gall and Arnzman and Pelizari, Paganzoli

was all over the place, you know, the style. I mean, I'm often trying to, I mean, I have difficulties to explain. it, but I can, I remember what it feels like and what, you know, there's a difference between a guy who is riding smoothly up a climb and a rider who is climbing the climb as a climber, working on the bike. Today, for me, Jonas was unbelievable. It looked like he was, Jonas, his pedal stroke, was fluid. He timed trowed up that climb. This difference in speed was obviously,

but especially visually the difference in style. And you could see it was such a controlled effort. It was smooth. You can have Felix Gall who was working when the style is different. I mean, styles are different. But Jonas looked so much in control. Like really, you know, of completely, even effort.

The moment he went, he just paced. And it was, to me, it looked like he, I think Jonas did not go full gas. He went fast, obviously, but the way he looked after the finish, the way he looked during the race, his face was completely, like, focused. No, not a suffering face.

He was obviously going hard. And, you know, he was riding within his limits, but he was not, suffering extremely. And the other guys, I mean, then the way he finishes, then straight away after the finish, I always look at people,

when they cross the finish line, and they get in the arms of their soigneurs. And, you know, Jonas was like, a minute after he was fine. And all the other guys dragged themselves to the finish. We're completely empty, exhausted. Gal Aronsman,

Hindley, Paganzoli. I think the contrast was very obvious. So I think that says a lot about the difference in level. Today, I think, is the first time we see why Wingergaard was such a heavy favorite, the only favorite. He performs to the expectations.

And as you said, you know, unfortunately for the Giro, I think it can start to become boring now. it was Jonas who was going to win this and unless something, you know, unfortunate happens, he is going to win the Giro. So from now on, what is it? It's a week to go, right? I mean, we have tomorrow and then we still have six stages. So it's going to be a long last week, man. Yeah, but RCS in their infinite wisdom has thrown a lot of dead stages in there.

So there's going to be a lot of nothing stages that, like tomorrow. But you're right. The Jonas was writing, I was just thinking about it during the stage. He was within himself and everyone else was very much outside of themselves. You know, like literally just you could tell like flailing, like looking in pain. He looks fully in control. I'm not trying to be unkind to the other riders. But he kind of, if you're a pro and you go back to your hometown and you're on a group ride,

it's kind of what he looks like. He's just, he's so, his pedal stroke, as you say, is just so much more efficient than everyone else. He's never looks uncomfortable. He's never out of, like he's never out of his body. He's always right there. I don't know if we said the power numbers on the show, but he's the 390 watts for the last 12 minutes. That's 6.7 watts per kilo. So pretty good numbers.

I mean, that does compare Blockhouse was he was about 6.6 watts per kilo for the whole climb. So it's less. But today, I don't think we mentioned this was very hot, brutally hot all day. And also on the whole day. He looked completely different than on blockhouse. Blockhouse, he was going full and was struggling to keep the difference. You know, turned out he got, what, 13, 12 seconds on Felix Gall. Today, no question.

He was in control. He looked, you know, completely, how I say that, stoic, stoic. Is that a word? Stoic. Stoic, stoic. Stoic. It looked like he was time trawling up a false flat. Well, he was going 13 miles an hour, up at 8% climb.

And by the way, single chain ring. One chain ring and I'm going to guess 13 speed in the back, but still, I mean, in a mountain stage with 4,300 meters, just, you know, being, that's, man, that's having absolute confidence. Obviously, you do have the gear range, but, you know, you know, I mean, if you're not sure and if you kind of doubting, it's kind of nice to have two chain rings, to have that minimum. middle, you know, middle gear. You always, you know, you never find the perfect gear. If you have two chain rings, you can play with that a lot more. Yeah. Yeah.

If you have one chain ring, I mean, today Jonas was on a single chain ring. That's, uh, that's having absolute confidence in no, okay, I'm going to do this. The other thing I was thinking about during the stage is these guys, they have good days, they have bad days. All of them, Phil Schall, Jai Henley, my, Aronsman store. Does Vendigard ever have a. and I mean truly bad day is he's potentially the most consistent writer we've ever seen

I've seen him have bad days I've seen him have bad days Spencer but the four about the European championships last year okay we're taking one day races out of that in a stage race when the last time you saw capitulate I mean yeah I mean listen he's bad day you know you could say was was uh Otakam last year. He finished second on the stage, right?

He did finish that's not a bad day. It's not a great day because, you know, Florian Lipowitz was making up a lot of time on him. But it's kind of harsh, harsh from us to say, hey, you know, Jonas had a bad day because Lipovitz was coming back. He was still second. He almost set the record on Otocom.

And second in the GC. So he's very consistent. for him, you know, it's unfortunate that there's Padet Pogacar. Otherwise, he would be the emperor of cycling in stage races. What's crazy is he more consistent than Pagacchar in stage racing. You know, Pagacchar has had these moments where he explodes, but Vindigard never has that. It's been a while, Spencer. It's been a while, but it does. It is on the record, but it's like Vunegard is a more consistent stage racer.

I mean, yeah. I mean, if you look at, if you look at the last four years, four or five years, like he's never had that cold. A lot of his moment. What's that? You know, like Lowe's where Pagatra is like 30 minutes behind. Yeah. Okay. With that. Spencer, come on. Not 30 minutes. Come on. However far back he was. He was not competitive on that stage. Well, he still finished second in the Tour de France. well that mean okay but that was a bad day you would say that was definitely bad day it was definitely

bad day but yonis is just i don't know if ever seen anyone like that it's really crazy it's almost to me to me it's very very telling to see his interview yesterday i don't know if it was before the stage or after the stage but he looked so confident like you could feel the energy you know that something had shifted you know he said he had been fighting a little illness. I don't exactly know what it was if it was a cold. But you could feel like he was, he made the change yesterday. And the interview was pure confidence. Like he already made it clear, okay, tomorrow, it's my day. We'll go for it. I'll do this. Yeah. I mean, because his problem, his problem is only ever just not having the octane, like having the firepower. It's never

falling apart. Like he just never is leading. It's like, oh, I just had a bad day. I lost the tour. lost the VELTA, I lost the Giro. He just is freakishly consistent. So, yeah, that's unfortunate if you're trying to beat him at this race. Other notes from the stage, we said, good, big losers would be Ben O'Connor, Derek G. West. Bad days for them. Big winners. Big losers.

They're still up there, you know, in the top 10. But obviously. That's not what they came for, though. I think their chances for the podium start after today start to be really not looking good anymore. I mean, Derek G. West is barely in front of Paganzoli. Yeah. You know what, Spencer, you can't really say it's a surprise, you know, because as we said already, we haven't seen anything before the Gero of Derek G to point in direction, okay, you're going to be top three or top five.

There was nothing there to, to maybe they know more. Maybe they know, you know that he was, you know, he came short in form and, you know, but there was nothing to say. hey, you know, Derek G is going to do a great G.C. O'Connor, kind of the same thing, I think. You know, it's not, there's not been much there to... In his defense, so there's never anything there to suggest he's about to have a good race. You know? O'Connor.

O'Connor. He just comes out of nowhere and he's like, oh, he's second at the welta. I don't know if there's any pattern. He's like, Betty-all. I was like, where did this come from? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like if you look at, he got second at the 2004 Volta. I guess he was, yeah, he was 11th.

Did he get third or fourth at the, at the Gero? Yeah, fourth at the Gero. Twice or once. No recollection of him even racing that year to tell you. Yeah. I don't know if he's gotten top five at the zero before that. Yeah, yeah, for sure. He got fourth.

I think the same year he got fourth in the tour. He got fourth in the Gero. Really? If I'm 2021 Have a look No no no So he

He raised like Dofine He didn't do this year Two or double He did like Romindy Dofine What about the year before He got Well that was a weird year

But he got 20th at the Giro 22 I might not have Raced the Gero very much I think I think to remember him Fourth of the Giro For some reason I don't remember

Well he was for the Gero in 2024. Okay. The year that, you know, Primos and Garenth Thomas. Sorry, no. No, no, this is why you remember this, because he's fourth in 2024 and fourth in 20203 at the zero.

Okay, okay. See? So two times fourth. Sorry, I'm still messing this up. Wait, I don't, wait a second. What's going on here? I knew this. But now I can't confirm it.

Tour de France. Wait a second. Wait a second. He was four at the first. tour. He was fourth at the tour. I know for sure he was one time four at the Diro and he was second in the Gwalta. So not a bad stage race, you know? Yeah, but no, not bad, but he didn't really have performances going into those that would tell you he was about to have performance. That's what I don't really get about Ben O'Connor. But he can, I mean, who knows? You can still finish podium at this

race. You never know what that guy. Big winners would be Vindigard, Ullalio. Jai Henley, Pellazzari, question Mark. But it's Dari, I think it's hopeful for him. You know, I mean, like, getting better through a stage is a good sign. You know, you're not falling apart. I think that the Red Bull got, those two guys are in for a good last week, in my opinion. And something nobody noticed on the stage was, do you know who has the points jersey now? Jonas.

Jonathan Arvias. Jonathan Norvice. He got into the breakaway and won the intermediate sprint. The guy is incredible. You know how hard that is on that stage? Wow. Yeah. So he's in the points jersey.

So that puts a lot of... And he's going to fight for that one, for sure. I'm going to go in breaks and take points. Well, they had a whole, like, UA's whole day was built around that. You know, they put multiple riders up there to help them win that sprint to get that, the points. which wasn't even that, it's not even that many points. It's 12 points. I feel like they should have more points at the intermediate sprint.

But we can talk about how we think Paul Monnier is going to do tomorrow. Also, Christian Scroni left the race today. He lost time yesterday. I didn't really understand why. He must not be feeling well, which is why I lost the time. He did have a crash a few days ago. So maybe it's the consequences of the crash. I don't know.

Could be. Yeah, crash was really good at right after the crash and then never recovered. Also, we only have six teams. We still only have 16s winning stages. UAE have four, Astana 3, Visma 3, Siddal Quick Step 2, Ennis 1, Bahrain 1. Tough pickings for everybody. Giulio Chaconi looked incredibly strong in the breakaway. Unfortunately, the breakaway never really had a chance.

Little track probably feeling the heat going into stage 15. Do you want to preview stage 15 or do you have more to say about stage 14? Yeah, no, I think there's not much to say about stage 15. Spencer, it's completely flat into Milan. it's going to be a bunch sprint. It has to be a bunch sprint. And I personally think at this point in the race, the stage tomorrow finishing in Milan is going to be won by Jonathan Milan.

That's my favorite. I was going to do an ad break before you said that. But if you want to hear how come back after the ad. Okay, Johan, so this is a really weird stage, we should say. I don't understand why this is here. How did this happen? It's 157 kilometer long, completely flat stage on a Sunday. It's basically a procession.

It does five laps in Milan. Why is this stage 15 of a grand tour? But with those circuits, are we sure it's a bunch of rent? Is this like a late attacker situation? No, not with a flat stay. I mean, there's, yeah, I mean, the late attacker situation is, It's when teams are running out of people to control. Sudak Quickstep, they still have, I mean, they have a lot of guys still.

And, you know, Manier is the leader. They're going to do everything. They can to be a bunch sprint. Little track is going to do the same. Then who else? I mean, like Picnic, Post and L, they have to do the same. You know, but even for a guy like Kasper Van Uden. I mean, Descatlone probably not for Anders Lund.

I mean, I think Lund is also also he's been sick or is sick, so he's not at this full potential. But anyway, Descartelons focused on Felix Gall. Who else have had printers? It's going to be Unabat with Grunneviggen would be the other big one. Yeah, of course, yeah, yeah, yeah, sorry, sorry. Yeah, I mean, it's a good stage for Grunovig. The question is, you know, at this point, these sprinters, and especially the guy like Grunovigan, who today will have suffered a lot more than anybody else of the sprinters, how much do they have left?

The team is going to be good. The team is going to be great, I think. The other day, they were really in control. They have a really good lead out team. The question is, how much does Grunovigin still having the legs to develop that super high speed to win the stage? It's possible. It's a great stage for him. It's really a, I can't get over this.

This looks like it should be the final day of a grand tour because it's completely straight from 5K into 2K. They go through a roundabout and then it's completely straight for the last 2K into the finish. So it's a pure sprint. One rider finished behind Dylan Gronauggan today. Do you know who it was? Tobias looned.

So maybe don't pick him. He's probably not feeling good if he finished behind him or their geniuses. And they're saving it. Paul Monnier is the favorite at plus 150, John of the Milan plus 170, Grunovigin plus 380, Tobias Loon plus 1100. Ethan Vernon plus 1400. It goes on and on. We'll call him out we need to.

Filippaena plus 4,000. That would be the late attacker. But I mean, when I describe that finish, that's not a great finish for a lone attacker. It's very hard to stay away. If it's completely straight and flat, it's, you know, it's difficult. If there's some turns, you can get out of sight a little bit. You can surprise them. It's going to be, you know, at this speed, Spencer, I mean, listen, the sprints nowadays, it's 70 kilometers per hour with the kind of gear.

It could be more than that. You can't, you can't escape, you know, you can't. So you're going Milan at plus 170? Yeah. I'm not feeling Montier. I think he's getting roughed up by this. I mean, it's hot day, really tough mountain stage. I don't think so.

I'm going to go, I'm going to go Dylan Gronevig and plus 380. The thing about Milan is Little Trek has got to get a win, and this is their best chance until they get to Rome. So they're obviously going to put a lot of resources into this. It is kind of hard to imagine how Milan would lose this. This is kind of the perfect setting aside the name of himself and the town. This is the perfect finish for him. So he probably will win, but I liked what I saw from Unabed in Naples. I'm going to pick Ronavigan.

Okay, I think it's a good pick. So Milan versus Grunewagan and then Manier depends how he feels. I think Manier starts to feel the two weeks. It's logical for a rider like him. He's done a good job already. Well, yeah, he's got nothing to fight for. I mean, I guess the points jersey. Yeah, I mean, he can get it back tomorrow.

You know, I mean, he should get it back tomorrow. He should. He's got in top three or top four. So that should be enough points not to get it back. Yeah, but then. then the real battle begins because then stage 16 rolls around and tomorrow's going to be in the breakaway that's a different that's a different problem to have yeah um the theory there's two guarantees for bunch of it's tomorrow it's tomorrow and and and all the other stages there's you know most

likely going to be breakaways or dc yeah no that's right and um i mean did you notice monnier the other day he was dropped before Milan on the climb yeah so Milan could be he could be coming in to form here so that's a very good pick we'll be back to break it down in detail I don't think we'll have much to say

but then we'll also do a week to recap as well with tomorrow's stage but thanks Johan and we'll be back soon I don't know.