THEMOVE - An Incredible Comeback Victory in the Dolomites | Giro d'Italia 2026 | THEMOVE+

Episode Date: May 29, 2026

Johan Bruyneel and Spencer Martin break down Sepp Kuss' incredible stage win on the Queen Stage of the Giro d'Italia, with his teammate and race leader Jonas Vingegaard easily defending his lead behind. They break down how Kuss turned things around, what to make of Derek Gee's impressive day up the road, and where the overall podium stands now, before previewing tomorrow's Stage 20, another hard mountain stage, and the last chance for the GC contenders to shape the overall classification. See THEMOVE live in Belgium for the final Giro stage on May 31st https://www.myticketshop.be/event-details/wattage-festival-2026/777 Become a WEDŪ Member Today to Unlock VIP Access & Benefits: https://access.wedu.team Hims: For simple, online access to personalized and affordable care for Hair Loss, ED, Weight Loss, and more, visit https://Hims.com/THEMOVE  

Until now, I would say, you know, we haven't seen the sepicus we were used to see in the mountains. But today, man, he pulled it off. He won that stage and wrote smart, was very strong, has now won stages in all three ground tours. He's one of the few riders who has accomplished that now also. With today's stage, that's a huge one to put on your palmaris. Fifth stage win for Visva also already. everybody welcome back to the move plus i'm spencer martin i'm here with joan briniel we are breaking down stage 19 of the giro de talia which just wrapped up won by sepcus who didn't see that coming guys been

good all race with derrick g coming in second after getting another breakaway julio chocone third field scall leading the gc group home with only 39 seconds behind yonis vinaigard just behind him with jay henley a few seconds back after tailing off timon arsman who loses almost almost a minute, I guess just around a minute on Jai Henley. So Jai Henley moves into third, Fieless Gall still in second, Jonas Finnegard, third overall, just like Johan's prediction for the overall podium yesterday. They finished high, high in the Dolomites. It was a beautiful stage. It was incredibly hard, 151 kilometers with almost 5,000 meters of climbing and all of that crammed into the last 100 kilometers, basically. Johan, I'll just do a quick, a quick,

down we watched the stage together first spencer let's let's uh put everybody up to speed we talked about it briefly yesterday we are in the same building in the same hotel different rooms right now we have an event later tonight all together uh we'll be joined by bradley wiggins tonight and then uh tomorrow we have our usual normal podcast then on sunday we have the live show here in uh in belgium and Ostende for the first time ever the move is live in Europe in front of a life audience. So that's going to be cool. I'm excited about that with Bradley Wiggins. We are with Bradley Wiggins.

Yeah. It's going to be nerve-wracking. I'm not mentally prepared for that. But yes, we had lunch. We watched the stage. We met the royalty of Belgian cycling. And so, Johan, yeah, I am very excited. It should be a great evening tonight and should be a great show on Sunday.

The stage started. There were no breakaway really went on the flat because it was just flat leading into a very hard long climb. The main takeaways were, it was what we expected. Julia Chaconay had to get in the move. So he, he's on the front of the pelton. Someone's marking him. Like Vizmo was behind him and he said, I'm just going to keep riding hard until you either all come with me and we dropped your team or you let me in the break. And he was up there with Domina Caruso, Derek, and not Derek G.

with SEP Kuse. And then Derek G had to bridge up with the group with Michael Storer, gets up to the front of the Peloton, kind of notable because we've not seen, Vizma's not really let outside GC guys back into the race all day. They lost a rider early trying to hold things together. And then they send Kuse up the road. It must have just been a strategy of like,

well, if they're going to ride hard, get SEP Kuse up there, then I guess we have a man up front. We can call them back if we need to. It kind of keys, as it is on these hard. stages. This situation stays as is all day because Chaconay's going for the mountain points. He's sprinting at the top. The Peloton is cruising along, losing riders, but holding its form

somewhat. Enios did try what I suggested. They went to the front. They tried to drop field scall and descent. Didn't work. He was distanced a little, but he caught back on. His team was there all day in force. DeCathlone looked amazing. The notable thing from the breakway is on the second to last climb, there's a time bonus. So there's a red, bowl time bonus sprint point. Derek G. goes for it. Sprents away. Arna Rubio, who's been setting pace, is upset about this. I don't know if he was upset about Derricki sprinting or he thought he sprinted

too hard and disrupted the pace and maybe attack too hard. He's yelling at Derek G. They get to the top of the climb at where the Kowin points are. Rubio sprints for them and beats Chaconay for basically no reason other than to say, screw you, little track for sprinting when I didn't want you to. because he's third behind Vindigard and Chaconay, not even really close in the KOM classification. Chaconi gets mad,

attacks on the downhill, gets away, leaves G. So like now he's probably hurt his chances of winning the day. And now G's not getting all the time he could because his teammates up the road. It kind of looks like he's going to hold off the Peloton and win the stage on the final 5K climb.

But then SEPCuse, I mean, just a really controlled ride. He just started chipping away at the lead, catches him, attacks them, drops them, wins by 13 seconds over Derek G with Chaconne 36 seconds back. What were, and then the GC group splits up with Arnsman losing a minute. But what was your takeaway from the day, Johan?

Yeah, Spencer, for me, the takeaway of the day is the way Vizma planned this stage by, and, you know, Sepkus said it in his race, after the race interview, and actually Jonas mentioned it in the pre-stage interview. that Seppcus was going to be allowed to have freedom and, if possible, go for the stage win. And that's exactly how they did it and a textbook strategy, actually, of how you can overcome these last few stages if you're strong enough. Of course, listen, I mean, normally we would say, well, Sepkus is the third best climber of the Visma, you know, it's Cus, Paganzoli and Jonas. But, you know, Jonas is so strong that he doesn't really need anybody anymore on that last climb. But what they did was brilliant.

You know, they sent Seppkuz in the breakaway. You know, you're there. Seppqus, of course, does not have any responsibility. He doesn't have to contribute to anything. But at this point in a grand tour, there will be a lot of different interests in that breakaway. There was Chicone for the Mounts Jersey. It's clear that Vizma and Jonas, they don't care about this at all. but it serves

it serves for another purpose you have something going on in the front Derek G was there a really good move I guess Vizma didn't count on that but that's not really their problem it's other team's problem mainly it's Red Bulls problem and Decatlons problem and so

you create a situation where you're comfortable in the front there's a lot of different interests going on which none of them are a threat for you and you have other teams reacting to those threats that are for them, for the podium of Hindley and Gal were worried that their G would come too close for the podium. So it was really an amazing day for Visma, having SEPCUS there. And then, you know, once you get to the bottom of the last climb, you assess the situation.

And you say, okay, I'm fine here. we saw it straight away that Declan was having big ambitions on that last climb to get rid of Aronsmann and so was Red Bull by the way because Aronsman I mean still is in contention but today he lost some time that will be difficult to recuperate now

for the podium so I think that whole strategy is fascinating you know being in the lead of course you have the strongest rider you have the strongest team And then you have one of your strongest riders in the breakaway. Not much can go wrong. But it's still up to Seppcus to be the strongest guy of the breakaway,

even if he hasn't been pulling. But, you know, you need to be strong. Until now, I would say, you know, we haven't seen the Seppikus we were used to see in the mountains. But today, man, he pulled it off. He won that stage and wrote smart. was very strong, has now won stages in all three grand tours. He's one of the few riders who has accomplished that now also. With today's stage, that's a huge one to put on your, on your Palmaris.

Fifth stage win for Visva also already. Initially we thought, okay, it's going to be five or six for Wingerard. It's now with Kus, but it doesn't really matter. It's better. It's better for the team because it's better for the atmosphere of the team. you could see how happy Jonas Wingergaard was for Sepkus's win. And then it was also super nice to see that Seppkuz's mom was waiting at the finish line. And so she came into the post-stage interview to say hi to him in congratulations.

So, yeah, great day for Seppkuz and great day for Visba today. Yeah, so pretty impressive. And I guess at first I thought, well, that's, you know, because Yonis runs out of guys when Beconzoli's dropped. And I'm thinking, that's kind of risky. But I guess A, Yonis is not going to need help, frankly. Like he looked, he was celebrating crossing the finish line in the GZ group as everyone was going as hard as they possibly could to distance each other. So he was always going to be fine.

But I guess you can always drop Kuse back, right? Like once he's up there, it then is an insurance policy basically. At that point you don't really need anybody anymore. On climbs like this also, the cars are there, right? The cars are there on that last climb because it was already a big selection before that. I think also, I mean, it's a great job today by Decathlon and Felix Gall. They took it all on that last climb.

Big confidence in him. It paid off. At the same time, when Gall accelerated. straight away, Arnsman got in trouble. Hindley initially a little bit, but then could stay with them. And when Hindley saw that Arnsman was in trouble, he had Pilitzeri, who came back from the front group and did an amazing job for Jay Hindley. All this while, Jonas basically was, you know, smoking a cigar in the wheel of Phyllis Gall.

He was very comfortable and everything was under control. And he was just waiting to pass the finish line to be able to congratulate SEPCUS, did not sprint for bonification, doesn't need to. So, uh, perfect day for that. Yeah, it was,

that, that is a great example of using like, you know, why are they putting these riders in the, in the breakaway? They're never going to use them on these steep climbs. And then it actually turned out they did, they didn't need Pelazari because Henley was dropped.

They caught him at just the right time. And then Pelazari put an impressive turn of work in to, yeah, who knows? I mean, I guess what do you think they're going, 20K an hour on a 10%? climb. So there probably is a draft effect. And then also just mentally having a teammate there,

he immediately gets to the front of the peloton starts hammering. Great for Jonas. Couldn't be better for Jonas because they're trying to distance Hornsman. So kudos de Vizma. They interviewed Jonas before the start of the stage and they're like, hey, do you want to win another stage? And he's like, oh, you know, I'd prefer my teammate. Like, Sep Kus won. I'm thinking like, what are you talking about? Like, we've not seen anything from Sep Kus that would suggest he could win the hardest stage this race and then lo and behold it happened so it's clearly a thought they had i mean were you surprised to see coos turn this around or at this point this is kind of what he can get he can modulate his form seemingly throughout a grant he has done it before but you know as i said you know until now in this zero we

hadn't seen any anything that would indicate that there was a guarantee that sepkus would be the strongest climber in the breakaway and that was a strong group you know i mean stuhrer was there uh Derek G was there. Chaconna was there. I mean, Ruvio looked really strong all day. Yeah. Yeah.

Also, I mean, great end of the Gero for Derek G. Uh, moves up a spot, passes Ollalu. He's now in fifth. Um, he is a minute behind Aronsmont now for fourth place. That's not going to be easy after today's effort. But still, uh, this is what, where Derek G is supposed to be. You know, he was fourth last. year, he's fifth now, didn't have a great start of the Gero.

But I think, after all, for G.C., I think that's as good as they can hope for a little track. Of course, they want it more. They want it probably podium and a few stage wins. But, you know, it's not always working out that way. The only battle that I still see, okay, Arnsman is now off the podium, right? So it is a minute 30 behind Felix Gall and a minute or 29 seconds behind Jay Hindley. Tomorrow can change. You know, it's the last mountain stage.

Everybody's tired. But usually, you know, what we see in the last week, these little tiny lit differences are an indication of where everybody is. So I think this is the podium, Vingerard, Gull and Hindley. And then the battle for the way. white jersey is still interesting because Zoli is now one minute, three seconds behind Olladio. So tomorrow, that could be an interesting battle. Yeah.

I'm just, it could be. It could be. And it's a fun. When we preview the stage, we'll talk about it. It's not totally straightforward. You would attack that, but I'm curious to get your thoughts on it. Derek G. This is a great way for him to finish the race.

Did he ultimately not get anything? out of that move, though. Was that? Did he, like, I mean, assuming he would have stayed in the G.C. group, I guess he still would have jumped up above Ullulio into fifth place. So at the end of the day, it's one of the most impressive moves that didn't technically move him up in the GCO. Yeah, well, I mean, I don't know. I mean, O'Lahio did not do bad.

He was only dropped. Did we say that right on the final climb, which I did not expect. He looks great. So, O'Lahlio, well, O'Lahliu finished six. 16 to 2 minutes 25 down. So he finishes a minute, what is it? A minute 35, minutes 40 behind the three guys from the podium. So it's to be seen if Derek G. would have been there, you know, with these guys. Yeah, maybe Derek G finishes with Arnsman and then.

Exactly. He's not far enough in front of Bulallio. Yeah. I think, I think that would have been the situation. finishes with Aronsman and yeah he's always been like close to the level of Arndtzman and Egan Bernal. Yeah. If Chikone doesn't attack is he is he knocking on the door at the podium? If he has a guy to pull him all the way to the bottom of the final climb.

No. I don't think so. No, the podium's quite a bit out of reach, I think, right? He is six. Well, he basically needed a minute and a half. It's a minute to Aronsman and a minute. and a half um no but i thought i mean chikona i don't i mean listen chikona's chikona right he's a great bike rider he has a lot of temperament gets upset a lot then does some things that like in the heat of

the moment with the adrenaline um he wanted to go for the stage win that's clear and and for the k o m um when g was there uh you know he was there uh you know he was once Chikone was in front, Derek G couldn't drive the break anymore. He had to sit on and wait, and then ultimately attack, but I personally don't think it would have changed that much. Okay.

And then so Chikone loses 10 KOMM points because of the getting pipped by Rubio. So he now is up by 200 or he's up by 57 points. So it really comes down to what Vindigar does tomorrow. Yeah. If it's another breakaway day, he could win KOM. And I guess feasibly, he could lose my two points. If Chikone is in the break, Spencer, and he gets the points the first time up,

Biancavalo, I guess he has it, no? He has it. Yep. It's really all about getting in that break. Yeah, yeah. Getting in these breaks, if he can get in the break again tomorrow, I mean, that is so impressive. Like after everything he gave to gave today and he's doing it pretty much every stage. He has he has the legs. He has the legs. It's, you know, it's for a reason why we always see the same

if we're, you know, I'm tired of saying it. But every round tour we say the same thing, you know, like the last 10 days, the last week. Okay, it's going to be a breakaway stage tomorrow. Okay, who's going to be in it? The same guys as today. It's the same guys. Yes. Exactly. Yeah. Well, it's, it's deceiving. You look at this peloton. You think, wow. there could be 50 guys competing for this stage today. And it's really 10, 10, you know. Yeah. There's just not that many with the legs, especially on the day like today.

Anything else on this stage before you preview tomorrow? I don't think so, Spencer. I think we've covered all of it. You know, I mean, it was a stage with a strong breakaway, but finally, you know, I mean, the fact that Sepp Kuss was in front is the reason why there was, why the, why the G. guys didn't have the opportunity to fight for the, for the, for the, for the victory because. And the only way that this that the, that the guy from the breakaway would not win was if Jonas was attack because he's the only guy who

can make that gap and close it far, close it fast. I mean, if you can see that the rhythm and the, the tempo of Felix Gall and Jay Hindley are kind of equal with the best climbers of the breakaways. Yeah. They don't get back much time. The only who couldn't get time back is Jonas Wingergaard. And obviously he was not going to attack today. Yeah. It is, I don't know if we've said it enough. It's an impressive finish of this race for Derek G.

Like all year, things have not looked good for him. Even at the end of last year, he was just in a really stressful, an uncertain situation. And now he's back maybe even more impressive than he was at the end of last year's Euro. You know, knocking on the door at fourth place, maybe third place. So it is like today. was a monster effort. Like I don't mean to disparage it by saying he didn't gain anything. And maybe he did. Maybe he wouldn't have got enough time to move up into fifth overall. But the fact that he's fifth after the first two weeks that he had is very impressive. Finish is really well.

So let's take a quick break and then we'll preview tomorrow. Everybody, this episode is brought you by Hymns. When your hair starts thinning, it's not just your hair that takes a hit. It can change how you feel day in and day out. Hems makes it simple to take control of hair regrowth with personalized care that fits your life. Hems offers convenience. need access to a range of prescription hair loss treatments with ingredients at work, including choose oral medications, serums, and sprays. Hems can help since doctor-trusted ingredients like finestoride and oxidil can stop further hair loss and regrow hair in as little as three to six months.

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and more, visit hymns.com slash the move. That's hymns.com slash the move for your free online visit, hymns.com slash the move. Feature products may include compounded drug products, which the FDA does not approve or verify for safety, effectiveness, or quality, prescription required, see website for full details, restrictions, and important safety information. Individual results may vary based on studies of topical and oral monoxide and finesteroide. Okay, Johan, so tomorrow, stage 20, 200 kilometers, there are no gifts from the race organizers for these guys. 200 kilometers, three categorized climbs. The problem is the last 70K is basically two ascents of Bianco Vala of 14 and a half

kilometer long, 8% climb. They go up, they go down, they go back up, and they finish. finish when they come back up. It's really a stage split in two. It's a 133 kilometer sprint ruler day and then a 70 kilometer mountain stage. Tacked under the end of that. How do you think this is going to play out and who's going to win this? Maybe breakaway. Maybe breakaway.

Listen, the success of the breakaway is, first of all, depending on what Visma wants to do. If Fismah wants to say one last time, okay, we're controlling this. We can control this last part. And Jonas wants to make a statement and win the last mountain stage in the pink jersey. Then that's what's going to happen. And then it depends of who is in the breakaway. What I think personally is that it makes it difficult for the breakaway

because almost for sure that's going to be somebody from the top 10 in the breakaway. And that will obviously compromise how far they can get before two times up, Piancavalo, because another team will pull. If it's not Decathlon, it's going to be Red Bull or even Tudor for the place of Michael Stur, for example. So I think that's, it's going to depend on who's in there. I do foresee a scenario though where the breakaway and somebody from the breakaway can win it because ultimately everything's going to fall into place. It's going to be the same guys.

Bar-Lemin? Who's going to win it from Bisma? No, no, I don't think Bisma will. I don't know. Sanchone looks good. He can win. Rubio has been trying all the time, all the time. It would be nice to see him being rewarded for once for all his efforts in this Giro.

But you really don't know. There's a lot of guys who can be in the breakaway. There's not many guys who can win from that breakaway. There's not many. I feel like Rubio's mind is not where it needs to be. I mean, he was probably the strongest climber on this stage that Michael Volgren won, but he was closing everything down. He was not patient enough.

And then today, it's just I still can't believe that. Like he, to get in that fight with Chaconay and then we have a stage on the line here, guys, what are we doing? Also, we should mention SEPCuse all day, was sitting in the back saying, sorry, guys, I got my team leader behind. So that was a doubly good situation for Visma since Coos could sit on up in the breakaway. I think, I think it's Chaconne, don't you? Chaconne, yeah, yeah. He was so strong today without, without Coos there. he still wins the stage even after everything that happens.

Yeah, because he maintained, I mean, he got in third place today. So obviously he kept pushing for the points. It's not easy for Chikono to get points on the last climb of a mountain stage. Chikoda has to be in there to get points on the first time over Piancavalo. If he gets those points, I mean, I would have to do the mat, but I think that that's pretty safe for him to then win the mountains jersey. It's pretty obviously Jonas doesn't care about it. He said he didn't like that type of color blue, no?

At some point he didn't like it. I think when he was wearing it on behalf of... It's not a great color. He's right about that. Yeah. See, I agree. Let's go for Chicone tomorrow. The only other choice.

As you were talking, the only other person I could see is, is Pellazari. Does he get in the move again? He's improved. He's improved. Although, you know, he did get dropped when Chicona and Rubio were going for it. But, you know, maybe with a newfound bit of confidence and some really good morale, you never know. I mean, it's important for somebody to feel good at the end of a big stage race. This is obviously Chicona is on the.

up again. I don't know if it was illness or just exhausted, but today he definitely looked really good. And they'll probably have to get away on the flats. The Giro loves this, loves making climbers get away on flat ground. I don't trust Pelazari to do it. I know Chacona and Little Trek can figure that riddle out, though, quite easily. That probably helps them quite a bit compared to other teams. Yeah.

Yeah, for sure. anything do you i mean for podium do you think this holds tomorrow yeah i think so i think henley i think uh it's just you know a preview of what we're going to see tomorrow it's the same thing biancan vallos also a hard climb it's it's

it's a better climb for arundsman than today's final climb that's for sure but now you know he needs to make up time which was already a challenge right uh one thing is holding on to it But, you know, but hey, I mean, one day is somebody strong in the day after they're feeling a little bit. I'm sure everybody gave a lot today. Jay Hindley obviously pushed it hard at the end because he was, you know, riding for that third spot.

And it could well be that tomorrow he pays the price for that. We never know. But I personally think that this is the podium. Yeah, I agree with you that it's better for Arnsman. It would be way better for him to defend on versus having to take time on Hindley. starts to get a little difficult to imagine. Yeah, I don't see it happening. I mean, it almost, if you were asking me, my honest opinion,

it'd almost have to win the stage and get the time bonuses to get enough. It's like, how much does he distance Henley by? Like, I don't know, maybe 20 seconds. And then the best case scenario. You also, you also need to have a really good day. And the other one needs to be an okay day, like just a normal day. Yeah. Usually by now, all the days they have, they're pretty, pretty like not so good. Everybody. And I mean, I'd have to go back and like put all of Jai Henley performances into a spreadsheet.

But he doesn't, I don't ever recall him when he has something on the line G.C. wise being randomly bad in the third week. Yeah. Maybe I'm wrong. But just thinking about it, he's, he's always pretty. consistent when everybody else is having a harder time. But we're excited to watch it, Johan. This is our last GC day. And then we have the procession in Rome on Sunday. I'm curious to see who wins it. I don't think Jonas is going to go for another win. Did you hear that he didn't shave his legs for this? He hasn't shaved his legs at this Euro. That's how seriously he's taking it. What's that about? Is that like a sign that, okay, I'm just here for training? I kind of think that's what that yeah and it's like a not not a warning shot to to tate but it's like this is how seriously

i'm taking this yeah training at the at the at the gero i've got another step to go after the gero like i've i have levels to go to that you haven't seen i hope so man i hope we get we get a great battle in july but let's first try to finish the gero ditalia spencer so we'll be back tomorrow it also just could be i don't who knows trying to decipher some of the sitch the hair situations at Vizma is a fool's errand. You got Campanard's saying you can't have facial hair, then he's got a mustache. You never know what's coming out over there. Yeah, Campanard says he says a mustache is okay, but everything that makes your face bigger.

Bigger. Yeah. It does not work. And then you have, you know, one of the two best time trials in the world, one of the most Arab guys who has a full beard all year long, Philippa O'Gana. As he said, the beard does, a beard slows you down. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I didn't connect that.

Then Ghana seems to be doing fine. Maybe he'd be better, though, without the beard. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what Victor would say, yeah, you know, he's good, but he would be better. It could be gamesmanship coming from Victor. Maybe it's the other way around. He's trying to get Gonna in the shape of the beard. You never know with Campan arts.

But I'll see you soon. We got to go to an event. Yeah, we have to get dressed very nicely and then go to the wheeler wattage dinner the night. So I'll introduce you to some more cycling celebrities tonight. Perfect. Everyone else is going with their significant other and it's me, you and Wiggins, going as a thruple.

We're special. We will stand out. We will stand out. We will indeed. We'll be back tomorrow to Breakdown Stage 20, Johan. See you then. Okay. Thanks, Spencer.

Bye.