THEMOVE - Another Young GC Star Emerges | La Vuelta a España 2026 Stage 12 | THEMOVE

Episode Date: September 3, 2026

Johan Bruyneel and Spencer Martin break down Jakob Omrzel's incredible ride to win Stage 12 atop Calar Alto and Enric Mas' attack to distance the rest of the GC contenders. Plus, they preview tomorrow's Stage 13, which promises a tough day pivotal for the Green and KOM jerseys. Become a WEDŪ Member Today to Unlock VIP Access & Benefits: https://access.wedu.team Ultra Pouches: Ultra is the ultimate guilt-free pouch — delivering instant focus and mental clarity, without nicotine or caffeine. New customers can use code THEMOVE to get 15% off at https://TakeUltra.com. After you purchase, they will ask you where you heard about them. PLEASE support our show and tell them our show sent you. Eight Sleep: Use code THEMOVE at https://eightsleep.com/themove for up to $350 off. 30 days to try it at home. Free returns if it's not for you.

No, he just didn't care. He could not care less. He could not care less. Fonderpool is a rider who gets a kick out of winning. Meaning, winning is crossing the line and raising your arms. Nothing else counts. No, G.C. couldn't be bothered. Doesn't even really do that many stages if you think about it.

Yeah. He's won some GCs, but he does not get adrenaline, and rush from it, you know. Everybody, welcome back to the Move podcast. I'm Spencer Martin. I'm here with Johann Bernil. We're breaking down stage 12 of La Vuelta, as well as previewing tomorrow's stage 13

with our outcome stage preview at the end of the show. Stage 12 was won by Jacob Ormazel from Slovenia on Bahrain, victorious, from the breakaway 20-year-old youngest rider in the race doing his first grand tour, gets a stage went on one of the hardest stages, not too bad, with Urko Berada, Berade from Equipo, Conforma, and second, Santiago, Bucrogo, and third from Bahrain, victorious in the G.C. action behind, Enric Moss ripped clear of the group after DeCathlon set up an attack. We didn't learn anything new, Johan, but we keep learning that Enric Moss is probably the strongest climber in the race. Phyllis Gahl and Primos Roglitch were chasing behind, kind of bail.

out by having teammates fall back to pace them. Oscar Onley, who crashed earlier in the stage, was he lost contact at the bottom, steep part of the climb, and then he did not have the benefit of having a group or teammates with him. Lost a significant amount of time. I'm just looking at the GC gaps here. So Roglich and Gall lose 27 seconds to Enric Moss. That's actually not a bad loss considering how far out Moss went. And then Oscar Onley is 209 behind Moss.

So he's the big GC loser of the day. I'm very curious to hear your move of the day. Our move of the day is brought to you by eight sleep. If you want a mattress top or just like UAE has throughout this welta and the entire year, helping them sleep. I cannot wait to get their sleep stats. They're updated week two sleep stats tomorrow. I want that sent through so we can look at it.

Go to eight sleep.com slash the move for $350 off. Your eight sleep, I believe yours and Bradley Wiggins. are in the mail, Johan. So you guys will have those. For the third week of the grand third week at the Vuelta, you'll be sleeping better. But what is your eight sleep move of the day, Johan? Spencer, eight sleep move of the day.

By the way, my eight sleep did arrive today. I got it. I got it. So, yeah. Has to be Jacob Omersel, 20-year-old baby face. Jacob Omersel. What a ride, man.

I remember, was it last year, I think two years ago, I was speaking to Yanni Breikovych, Slovenian pioneer, actually, one of the very first Slovenian cyclists on the world tour with us with Discovery Channel, postal radio shack. He already named Jacob Omersel. He said, Jakob Omersel is the next Slovenian guy. This is two or three years ago. last year we saw him already coming to the front he he won the baby Giro what is it

called no it's called Giro Gen Z or Gero next gen next gen next gen yeah I keep calling it baby Giro it's you know it's probably for Omersel I mean that guy looks like a real baby by the way I mean on the podium he is he looks so young so yeah for sure this is this is my a sleep move of the day also the way way they rode. You know, like I think, I think Bahrain Victorius rode an unbelievable race. They had three riders in the break, big group, and they went

full gas for Omersel. Peo Bilbao did an amazing job. Santiago Bistrargo from Bahrain Victorius, took the KOM points, is now pretty solidly in the KOM. Third on the stage. So

what a day for them, but definitely, you know, youngest rider in the race, first grand tour and first pro victory. He already won the national champions elite last year. So last year he was at 19 years old, he was Slovenian champion professionals. But it's not, I mean, you can't count it as a world tour or a first level victory, of course. And then especially Spencer, the way he was so composed after the finish, his interview.

Of course, he was super happy, but he was, it was like, okay, you know, Ix. I expected that this was going to come, maybe not so fast, but I've been working towards this. And this is my plan. This was my plan. So I knew it was going to happen sooner or later. That's amazing to see that from such a young rider. That is amazing. That's an amazing amount of confidence.

He's now sixth in G.C. He's 4.59 behind Inric Moss, but he's only 30 seconds behind Oscar Anley for the white jersey. So not impossible that he rolls up to his first grand tour, wins a stage, wins the white Jersey. Am I out of line here for saying, does this remind us of another 20-year-old Slovenian at the Vuelta? Probably not the same. I think, I think, you know, now Omerzell is in sixth, but of course it's thanks to the breakaway and the eight-minute gap they got at some point, or almost eight-minute gap. I expect that when these three, four, five riders really go for it, that he's going to be six, seven or eight.

The thing is, Oscar only went down today. He crashed, unfortunately. So I suspect that he felt that at the end. And it's also the question, okay, how is this going to have an impact on the next few days, right? I mean, if you crash, it's never good. It didn't look like it was a big deal. But at the end, he was paying for that consequences of that crash, I think. So, yeah, it would not be, it would not be surprising to see Omerzell staying up there,

seven or eight, which would be already amazing. I don't think you can compare with Pulachar. You know, if we think about Pulachar at that age, his first tour of Spain, won three stages. But the three stages he won were each time from the group of favorites, not from a breakaway. So I think that's the difference with a bigger gap than the one before. which is pretty impressive in retrospect and knowing what we know now about his training. I mean, did you see this interview with you knew, you called this like a few years ago, but it was with George Bennett.

He was talking about how much beer, pagacha was drinking at the time, and that he was not really taking the sport that seriously. And he was still doing that. That's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. By the way, by the way, nice to see that his girlfriend, I don't know if his girlfriend, why they're not married.

No, it was anyway. Urukasigart posted a picture of Ocatchar coming out of the hospital with a friend looks banged up, but, you know, he was walking. He looked okay. I mean, under considering the circumstances. So nice to see that he's walking and that he's, he left the hospital. Yeah, walking arm and sling actually looked better than you would think. Yeah, I thought.

Yeah, I thought so. I thought so, too. Yeah. I was watching Slovenian State Television and they asked the coach, the Slovenian national coach, if he's going to race and he said not possible for World Championship. So you probably won't be out there. I think that's the, yeah, that's the, I think it should be, you know, considering how hard he went down and considering the concussion, you know, the cervical fracture. and it should be mandatory that he's not allowed to race, I think. And Pugacar knows, I think.

Well, you said it, I think, yesterday sounds crazy to say. It doesn't really change anything for him. If he races and wins, races and doesn't win, it doesn't really matter, right? Like, Pagaccharide into another world title like he needs a hole in the head. It doesn't move the needle for him. I know it's crazy to think about, but sure he would potentially win three in a row. but I think you even said a few months ago that this might not be a slam dunk course

for him even in the best of times. Yeah, I mean, I think it's probably a course that is also, you know, doable for the others with the distinction. And I think Bogacha would still have one. That is, what is it? 260, 270 kilometers. That's the big difference of a world championships, right?

I mean, that's what makes it really, really hard. So, yeah, I think he would still have one. But now I think somebody else is going to win. So curious to see what's going to happen. Lasgo, the mean people were calling it Criterium World Championships because it was like a crick course. And it was the three strongest guys alone, you know? Yeah. Even on a course without a big climb, it tends to happen.

If you watch the beginning of the stage, some interesting stuff happened. Oscar on lead crashed. It's a fast start to the stage. The breakaway cannot get away. Riders are trying to get in the break. I think it was around a hundred. How long was the stage? 166K.

Brake goes with 1206K to go. So that's a long fight for the break. The thing that kind of split it off is Oscar Onley crashes going through a roundabout. High speed. Road looked a little slippery because of just like dust on the road, really bad luck. Things kind of slow up in the GC group when this happens. And you get a, there's a three-rider move away with Auxel Laurents and two of the riders. And then a chase group comes across with Walt Minard in it.

which was important because he takes the point for the intermediate sprint and then sits up. But what we didn't know at the time is something really important was happening in that break because there was two Movistar riders. There was a couple Decafalon riders and there was at least one Red Bull rider, Luke Tuckwell. This comes into play on the final climb when Enric Moss, I mean, it was beautiful to see. He attacks with 14K to go. Ish, is that right? No, Felix Gall attacked with 13K to go. 13K to go.

And Eric Moss attacked with 11K to go. 11.2K to go. intercourse attacks and then bridges up to his teammate who pulls him along. Works perfectly because it's a steep climb going into a less deep climb so you want a teammate. And also Luke Takwell and

Leo Bissue Bissio dropped back from the break to pull their G.C. leaders, Fielis Gahl and Primos Rocklitch in the chase group. I thought they could have dropped back a little bit earlier. Those guys needed some help. Gahl was pulling for a long time.

But this, this, This is kind of sneaky, massive. Because with 2.7K to go, Moss has 41 seconds. Like, he was piling time on these guys, especially in that steep kicker we talked about. And then by the finish, it's down to 27 seconds. Yeah. So those teammates are key.

Yeah. Yeah, they were key. They were also key for Enigmas, by the way. You know, like Castrillo. I mean, by the way, today, today, Movi started an amazing job. Actually, yesterday, I think I told you off camera. I had a coffee with the brother of Raul Garcia Pierna, Carlos. And I asked, so there are two brothers, right?

The Movistar guy and then his brother is on Burgos. He's not writing the Vuelta. And I asked him, I said, what do you think about movie star? He said, they're going to be fine. I think they're going to be fine. He was right. They did amazing today. having these two riders in the break

we kind of knew that if you attack on the first part of the last climb then you have these rollers that's the terrain where really it's important to have somebody and then that last kicker with 3K to go

and I mean yeah I think Enric Muss was just a bit too strong for Raul for Raul Garcia you know Raul did an amazing job but Enric Maas has such strong legs, so good legs that he took a few pulls

and basically put Raoul Garcia on the limit and then he couldn't do it anymore. So that was the difference. You know, like on the other hand, if you think, you know, Gall and Roglidge were not able to react at all when they didn't even try. I mean, it's like they had no legs to react

when Enrique Mas attacked. And Felix Gall has done a lot of work, man, He was, he was, Roglidge hasn't taken a single pole. No. A single one. No. So it shows that he was on the limit.

And, you know, from 45 seconds to 27 seconds, it's, I mean, it's still important, you know. I mean, they could kind of limit the damages a bit. But still, I think today we see who is the strongest climber, you know, especially with Alto de la Pander. is the next big, big uphill finish, which is really, really hard, steep. That's another few, whatever, 15, 20 seconds for Enrique Mas, I think. So, you know, bit by bit, he's adding up time.

And it looks like, for the moment, I don't know what you think, Spencer, but, you know, Roglidge seems that he's on his limit. You know, I don't think he has the legs to kind of come back or make the difference. He's one minute 45 down now, still not. not a disaster, but it starts to add up. If Enric Moss takes two times more in two stages, 20 seconds, there's no way Iroclos can make this up in the time trial. Yeah, and he was playing that.

Obviously, he played at KG. Like, he did not offer any polls. Probably was the right. He couldn't. He couldn't. He was on the limit. Yeah. And then he, I mean, he's good for a reason, right?

He actually minimizes his time losses pretty well, didn't blow up. Like, did you see Gall dropped him in Carapaz before the finish? And then they re- And then he came back. Yeah. Yeah. So he clearly manages perfectly. But the problem is, and I think I said it yesterday, if Moss puts time into these guys today, just mathematically, it starts to get really hard. Yeah.

Like, when are you going to take the time back? It's now 145 to Roglitch. That's too much for the time trial. So. Well, right now, I think what they need to hope for is that Andrew Moss has a bad day, which doesn't tend to happen. Enric Mast is growing in confidence. I mean, we've seen on Aitana

was the first time ever in his career that Enric Muss attacked with confidence. Like with super confidence, like being the first one to attack. And before we've always seen Rik Mast attack on counterattacks. Like coming back and this time he took the initiative. He got that confidence when he reels Bogacharin on what was it called Alto de Bartolo with the gravel

that's where he got his confidence and he's growing in today that attack with 11k to go man you have to have some balls to do that it's like okay this can go wrong this can go wrong okay he did have Raul Garcia in the front but still you must feel really confident you must feel like you have an extra gear compared to Felix Gall who was pulling

And then what to say, Spencer, about, again, Decaplon. I don't know. There's not much else they can do, but I think they are getting ahead of themselves, man. They had four guys for one and a half kilometer. And then FedExGal already went. Shouldn't you try to use your team longer? That's what I was wondering. Yeah.

Yeah. And then you have nobody. It's like, well, have you not just negated your biggest advantage, which is your riders? The thing is, which is also very telling is if you look at the interview of Felix Gall after the stage, he says, you know, well, you know, I'm satisfied with today's results. Okay, I do, I lose 27 seconds, but our goal was to eliminate one of the other podium contenders. In this case, Felix Gall, Oscar Rodley. You know, I mean, you're not going to win the Vuelta if we did mindsize like that. You know, and especially, I mean, I, I, okay, obviously, listen, they all know the little differences in their strength.

They know and they feel that Ennigmas is the strongest rider. There's no doubt about that. They're the first ones who feel it. We see it, but they feel it, right? And they, whenever they're on the limit, you hear the breathing, you know, you can see, okay, this guy has another gear and I don't. So, but still, you know, Felix Gall and especially Deccatlum, that strong team, their strategy is the podium. It's not to win.

It's not to win the Valta, which at this point maybe is the right way to do because they know better than us how strong Enric Maas is right now. When you're going up against a proven winner like Enric Maas, he has one tour of Bongchi. people forget that you've got to go for the scraps i mean my must does like amazing it's hard to imagine him having a bad day right i told you i told you yesterday spencer when when and dick must said you know when when when he was asked who's the favorite he says i'm the favorite today already he proved that that's that's his mindset you know that's that's that's the way he's racing that's the

way he's thinking yes yeah i was thinking today do you think cany and had it in their uh their book that they were going to win a grand tour this year? Well, it's not over yet. It's not over yet, but it started to look really, really good. No, definitely not. I don't think so. Yeah. Talk about found money for that team.

And then another thing, Spencer, if you remember correctly, I mean, this. So, Eric Must, they decided not to do the tour. So he went to the Gero. Let's not forget he had issues. He had injuries. He had surgeries. He had surgery. Yeah.

Last year, you know, so he came late into the season, into action. and then kind of was going to try for GC in the Gero completely failed. And there was this famous interview from the team management. It was saying, you know, like publicly saying, well, you know, we are super disappointed with Enric Mas. He's not delivering, basically saying, you know, we're not getting what we pay for. That's hard for a writer, man, to hear that in public. I mean, read it in the media.

I wonder what they're saying now. Yeah. I don't know. It was hacked. I don't know what happened. I thought he had a pretty good ride. It was AI. AI. Yeah. That was me. I thought he had a pretty good ride at the zero considering he was coming off varicose vein surgery, which is that's on your legs. Like that's not going to help you ride so fast. Like you're going to take some time off using some breakways. Obviously that's not what you're looking for from a GC rider. But consider it like it worked. Right. He went there and he he got. and breakaways and he got back in shape and now he looks great. You went to take a quick break and then we'll talk about a few other. Moves Star handled this stage pretty well. There's a few other things we should talk about like Carapaz attacking and and etc. But we'll be right back.

Everybody, this Welta, Spain, coverage is brought to you by a presenting sponsor, Ultra Focus Pouches. Do you desperately need a nicotine pouch every 15 minutes just to feel normal? How many pouches, cups of coffee and or energy drinks per day? Do you need to stop yourself from crashing? or even feeling nicotine withdrawal. And a suboptimal thing about using these things is they're going to make you feel anxious. They're going to make you feel on edge when you have them and when you don't.

That's why focus, ultra pouches are incredible. First off, they're completely nicotine and caffeine-free. So you're probably thinking if they don't have nicotine or caffeine, what exactly is in them? Well, it's a great question. Because ultra-partnered with the leading neuroscientists to design these pouches, they use clinically proven neutropics and adaptogens to deliver immediate focus in smooth energy that last one to two hours. They also have multiple incredible flavors

like cool, winter green, tropical watermelon, blue raz. Ultimate is the ultimate guilt-free pouch, delivering instant focus and mental clarity without nicotine or caffeine. And new customers can use code the move to get 15% off at take ultra.com. That's take ultra.com with code,

the move for 15% off. Make sure you check them out because you don't want to miss this and you don't want to miss that 15% off opportunity. So, Johan, we are back. Before we talk about Carapaz's attack, Enric Maas, great. We was great. Movistar, they were great. This is a lot of work for 27 seconds. Like, think about stage two sprint. It is. It is. Yeah. Felix Gall loses 18 seconds on a sprint stage. And then this isn't that much more of a time loss. And I mean, what, what if he attacked with

11K to go, it's like a 30 minute effort, something like that, right? Yeah, but that's, but that's At the same time, Spencer, you know, it's, yeah, I was expecting it to be 45 seconds. Okay, it's 27 seconds in the end. It doesn't make that much of a difference. I think it's more symbolic. It's a statement. Plus, you know, he keeps adding time, not too much, but the others are the guys who need to take time back on him. Yeah.

Especially Felix Gall, because Felix Gall is a worst time trialist than Enrique Mas. so not too bad you know I think I think they even would have taken a status quo today I think but yeah I mean I think he went where he had to go you know if he would have waited

and just stayed with Gall and Rogledge it would have become tactical at the same time you know it wouldn't be that difficult because these are the only two riders he need to look at. So they were not going to go right away from him. But it was a risk.

It was, you know, going with 11K to go. It's a big effort. It's a long effort. At the end, it's 27 seconds. But, hey, it's better to gain 27 seconds than to lose 15. That's true. It's just something to keep in mind when first week of a grand tour, you know, riders are picking up time, time bonuses, et cetera.

And everyone always says, well, well, it's early. They're going to get to the mountains. Gaps are going to be minutes. You back to stage nine. That's one of the hardest stages you can imagine. Same time as Oscar Only 12 seconds to Prima's Rogglich. And then today, I mean, that was a big, big stage, hard funnel climb. Long, long, long breakaway, 27 seconds to Primus Roglich.

So it just. And also, you know what, Spencer, the Vuelta is never won with a big gap. That's true. Like ever. No, look, last year, Jonas Wingerard won on Joe Almeida with one six. 16 and Rick Moss is now 145 ahead of the second guy. And Jonas won with one minute, 16 seconds on the second rider. Let's go back and look at time gaps.

It's kind of interesting. So yeah, 116, 236 the year before, 17 seconds in 2023, 202 in 2022, 442 in 2021. 442 in 2021. That was the blowout, Roglach over Moss. And then 24 seconds in 2020. Yeah. So it is a tight. So, you know, he's already, he's already after 12 stages.

He's already in pretty good position, you know? Yeah. That is crazy. Since 2020, we've had two VALTAs decided by less than 30 seconds. Crazy. Wild stuff. Which also shows you kind of, you know, when, when Gaul lost that time early, it shows you probably was not mentally switched on for the win.

Because you can't just be thrown away 18 seconds at the Valta. Literally, that's been. more than the time between the winner and the loser in recent years. No, and also today, if you see the interview, it's, you know, it's not a winner mentality interview, you know. It's, okay, you know, you're kind of resigned in my opinion. Okay, I'm going to be in the podium. I'm going to try to do everything I can do to be on the podium. That's my goal.

Probably already accepted that Enigmas has incredible legs, which is obvious. and all they can hope for is a bad day or something else that happens. The crash, nobody wants that, but it can happen. Yeah, it can't happen. I guess we've proven that. Seeing what I've been seeing, like, it looks like Primos doesn't, for the moment, doesn't have the legs. You know, he did not get, like, a single pole.

And it was not because he didn't want to. He just couldn't. He couldn't. also trying to insure the podium. Yeah, and you're playing the game of, let's say, he stays in second. Let's say Enric Moss crashes. Now he's winning, right? I think not that he's hoping for that,

but he's smart enough to know that second place is a pretty good spot to be. What did you think of, so second to last climb, hard climb, very hard climb, like 13K, 7.5% average. They call it the up to the west of Spain. Oh, yeah, and it does look like up to us. Yeah, it's a lot of switchbacks, you know, 13 and a half kilometers, about 7.5%. It's a great. I mean, this was the hardest climb of the day, by the way, harder than Calar Alto,

but the fact that it was the second last climb, we didn't see any action. But really, really nice climb. Nice pavement also. What did we? Actually, today I spoke with someone, so I'm, you know, I know somebody who organizes this. these events, the Everesting events. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, and so they're looking for climbs in Spain.

And I thought that could be a really good climb to do the Everest thing. You know, it's, it's, you know, constant. It's, you can, of course, you would have to do it, I don't know, seven or eight times up and down. But that's what you have to do if you do an Everest thing, right? So if you do, if you have one thousand meters of elevation. Unless you climb out Everest, you do have to go up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if it's steep enough. There's definitely a calculation. Yeah, it is. I guess you want the highest possible maim. Yeah, but still, Updu Es would also be great for an Everest thing. And this climb is exactly the same as Abduas in terms of steepness and difficulty. Got to get Jack Burke out there.

So apparently they call this climb the sky of Europe or also window to the universe. Well, apparently they They discover planets up there With telescopes That's from Calar Alto Okay, not the first time That was, it was, it's now Spanish But it was a German

German base Have you seen all these telescopes up there? Yeah Yeah, it's like a moon landscape there It's completely open. There's nothing, nothing, nothing there. It's pure desert I assume nothing for a long way, right?

No, no, nothing. Nothing. That's kind of a lot of it. So Velafike, the Porto de Velifique, which is the second last climb, there's a little town at the bottom called Velifike. 200, 200 habitants.

Whoa. Whoa. You're not getting Sunday night dinner there. You better plan ahead with that. Yeah, yeah. But Richard Carapaz attacks on that second of the last climb. I thought Movis Star handled this perfectly.

I mean, yeah. Carapaz looked like he was flying, which tends to happen. I was going to say, Spencer, you know, it's always the same with Carapas, you know, like he goes like he's, it's spectacular, right? He looks like he's in a sprint finish. He's moving. That's the thing with Carapas, his style, you know, he's like, oh, like this.

And you say, well, I mean, he's flying. And then you look, he's 15 seconds ahead all the time. You know? Yeah. I don't know what he was trying to accomplish, actually. It was, you know, that I don't think it was a smart move. And on the other hand, you have to say, he's incredibly strong because. because he recovered from that attack

and could stay, it comes in together with Phoenix, Gall and Roglitz. That's pretty impressive, man. That was going to be my follow-up question. Very impressive finish. If he just uses that energy, on the final climb, is he with Enric Moss? Probably

not, but he would maybe be able to get away from Roglich and Gull. Probably imagine so, right? He said, he said, you know, his plan was, to attack there see what happened and then you know whatever happened he knew that the last climb he just have to ride his own pace which he did he was dropped and then he came back he was with

mulberger right yes yeah and they dropped he dropped oscar only so yeah he had a good pace man he's back he's in fort now in gc probably not gonna get on the podium but that man that guy in the last part of a grand tour, he's just unbelievable. He just gets better and better. He's, you know, it's crazy. He's very impressive. It did make me wonder, what is that conversation like at EF? So you have a climb.

Movistar has, it's not like there's no Movis Star teammates. There's Movis Star teammates there. So let's say he gets over that climb solo. What's the plan then? I don't know. I don't know why he attacked. I don't know. I don't know what he was trying to accomplish.

with that attack. I mean, I don't know, try to, I mean, maybe the same, you know, maybe, you know, trying to eliminate somebody from the podium. But, you know, it's Masse Rogelich and Felix Gall. You're not going to, you're not going to get much out of that attacking on the second last climb compared to those guys. Yeah, and I thought when he attacked, I was like, well, he's going to blow up, right? And no, he rode pretty well. He did not blow up.

That's the most impressive. He did not blow up. Yeah. So it was pretty, very impressive. that he finishes. Think about that 27 seconds behind Interkmas after all that. Yeah. Yeah. That shows you like today I thought was a little silly and maybe not that well planned. But it I would circle him is a concern because if he's crazy enough to do that today, who knows what he's going to do the rest of this. And he has like the legs to back it up and finish with the GC group.

So I would have a little bit of concern. Richard Kappas would be giving me anxiety. if I was working for Movistar right now. Yeah. And the thing is also, I've said a few times already, Spencer, you know, Carapas doesn't have the legs to be with the top four or five guys. Well, you know, he's getting there. Yeah. By elimination, okay, Sep.

Seppkus, you know, has dropped off the pace. Also was in the crash with Bogachar, by the way. So that's probably still bothering him. Oscar only crashed. You know, he's off the pace now. So Carapass is step by step. initially he was sixth, seventh, right? Now he's in fourth.

Yeah, he's right there, like, off the podium. He tends to ride. He has really good rides to the Valta. Like, you remember he was on the podium, fourth or third a few years ago, and then... Second. He was second. No, I think Ben O'Connor was second. No, no, no.

Carapas was second, too. In 2024? No, no, no. In Rogelich won, I think. Carapagos was definitely... He's been second to Roglidge, but in 2024, after we thought he was done as a GC rider, he gets fourth at this race. Okay, okay. And then, you know, in that Remco year where he was out of the GC, oh my lord, I think he won three stages just three stages and three stages and the king of the mountains.

Yeah. So should we take a quick break and we'll talk about tomorrow, which is actually a really tricky stage. We'll be right back. All right. We are back, Johan. So tomorrow's stage, I believe we are on, we're finally on the southern coast. we're taken off from the coastline, south of Spain. 192K, 193K really.

So long stage, super hot, like temperatures in the mid to high 30s, which is like 100 degrees Fahrenheit, one to three categorized climbs, but then flat to downhill final 40K. How does this stage play out and who is going to win? Yeah, I think it's more than 3,000 meters of elevation. So it's a hard stage. first a cat one climb

the hardest climb of the day Cops at the beginning so obviously big breakaway with strong climbers and then two cat two climbs breakaway makes it to the finish in my opinion a big group again Movistar will try to create the same situation

tomorrow it's probably not a good idea to send riders in the break for them because they need everybody in the Pelotol and yeah let's just see what happens with those riders who are now, you know, like just outside the top 10. These are the days that these guys come into play, you know, guys that are outside of top

10, they're 12, 13 minutes down. They get five, six minutes, which is also what Movistar will want to create because that automatically then turns into some help for somebody who's now starting to defend their top 10 plays. let's have a quick look at the top 10 right now. So we have Carapas in Ford, Oscar only, Omerzeld and Skel Mozae. Doesn't look like he's having the legs, Sebkus, Mulberg and Tejada. Yeah, I mean, I can only see Bahrain here trying to defend.

And maybe, maybe Ineos, Oscar only's top five. The other riders, I don't think, so Kelmoza, I don't think he will, he will try to I mean little track would probably not care if skittemosa is seventh or ninth that makes no difference. Mureberg is in nine so that's not that's not a factor because it's all about Felix Gall, Seppkouz whether he's eight, ninth or tenth does really matter either I think and then maybe Tejada. Ravtejada who's in 10th place that could be something that the Khada himself or Astana or XDS

Astana wants to write for. But, you know, it's five minutes from 10 to 11th place. Yeah. So, no, then it's a five minutes and then it goes to eight minutes. So, yeah, it needs to be a big break with a big gap. But I think tomorrow the breakaway makes it to the finish. Walt Von Arta is going to be in the break. I mean, this would be.

We know that. If he wants to win a stage at this, Welta, it kind of has to be, day like today because if it's easier then Brennan's going to win, right? Well, Brennan is not making it tomorrow in the break. But that's why it's perfect. Like, Van Ard kind of has to win this, not this stage specifically,

but this style of stage. Because anything easier, it's Brennan. Yeah. And he can't beat Brennan. Okay, let's go for Walt Von Art. As you say, I mean, who in their right mind would work with him? But you remember the stage at the tour

where Bannerpool wins? you know so like clearly people are working with him to take him to the line so it does happen and like guavinar looks so good today in the break like it might not matter if anyone's working with him like obviously people are going to go up the road you're going to have guys try to get in the top 10 overall so you're going to have somebody setting by the way also also sprinting for the KOM points yes yes I mean unfortunately for him you know betrago stayed in front and a lot of points he's in second. Now in the KOM.

You know, it has never happened in a ground tour, Spencer, that a guy who was not a GC rider has won the points and the KOM together. It has never happened in any ground tour. So it has happened that a guy wins yellow and wins also green. But somebody who is not a GC rider who wins the points classification and the KOM has never happened. And he would have done it a few years ago. It would have done it.

Yeah. Yeah. I think with Butrago, it's a tough client. It's a tough, a tough rival he has there. 32 points, good climber. It's his main goal now. I don't think, I don't think it's going to be possible for doing the KOM. I would say Butrago, not on his usual form, though.

No, no, no, no, for sure not. You know? So, I mean, well, okay, now that you say that, he's not that far back. So he's 22 points back. Yeah. Tomorrow has a lot of points available. But tomorrow needs to be in. But Vitago is going to be in the, you know,

there's a cat one climb at the beginning. So if Petrago wants to be in the break, he will be in the break. Yes. Well. Yeah. And on the cat one climb normally, Bitrago gets it. I mean, depends how. I don't think so.

Well, let's see. Like if there's, if it's a, it's not. that steep at the top. It's kind of flatish at the top. Yeah, 9.2 kilometers at 6% Yeah, Walt could get it.

But then Betrago's going to be second. Yes, and he would need a stage like He needs a stage where Petrago is not in the breakaway to win the KOM. It could be, there's actually some interesting stages coming up

where I mean, like stage 14, it probably doesn't make sense for Butrago to be in the breakaway. Yeah. I mean, it all depends also how much of a goal he wants to make it, like Van Art. He's sprinting for it when he's in breakaways. But is it really that important? You know, he said unfinished business. So is that the unfinished business, the green and the Pocod jersey?

Or is it just the Pocod jersey? Well, is he ever won green here? No. No, so maybe that's the unfinished. Has Vanderpull ever won a leader's jersey at a grand tour? No. No. No.

Kind of a big gap in the palm, right? It doesn't really fit his personality, though. No, he just didn't care. He could not care less. He could not care less. Vanderpul is a rider who gets a kick out of winning, meaning winning is crossing the line and raising your arms. That's nothing else counts. No, G.C.

couldn't be bothered. Doesn't even really do that many stages if you think about it. Yeah. He's won some GCs, but, but, you know, it's not, he does not get an adrenaline rush from it, you know? No. Well, I, I think you got to go with Van Art

for today, obvious, or for tomorrow. There's going to be plenty of riders that could beat him and could beat him, but I just thought he looked, when he was in the break today, he kind of looked like, like a parent would be like, I want to see his birth certificate. He's too old to be racing with these guys. He looked really strong

compared to the rest of that move. Yeah. Well, the odds are not up yet. I would imagine he's going to be the favorite. But I'm going to put a little money on Van Art. I think tomorrow's the day. If he wants to win a stage, it's got to be a day like that.

And he's going to be up there. And also, Von Arndt is, you know, like you can see he's really, like I'm watching some interviews from Belgian TV. he looks really good. He looks fresh. He looks happy.

He really looks like he's enjoying racing his bike, which is something that, you know, you can see it when a rider is feeling good about what he's doing. And so, and also he's here to prepare for the world, you know? Yeah, yeah, it's true. So he's going to be in the break just for training purposes.

Yeah. But even today, like today was so hard to get in the move. He attacks early. doesn't get away. Then he just sits, you know, and there's moves going up the road. He's not worried about him. And then when he sees the big move go, he just jumps in. But, you know, everybody wants everybody wanted to be there, but it's very hard to be there. But he just has the strength to be like, I'll just sit back and let let the move form. And then I'll jump across the last second. You have to be in very good shape to do that,

extremely good shape. So he's on the form that he could win a stage like that. I think it's time. I think it happens tomorrow. Yeah. Up until final ramp too. Yeah. Too hard for Matthew Brennan. That's now my only concern. Yeah, I don't think Matthew Brennan would make it over that cat one climb.

Maybe I'm underestimating him. I'm thinking now. I agree with you. I don't think so. Yeah, but I'm thinking back now on what he did on Porto de Valida in Andorra. That was pretty impressive also. I know. I know.

It's like if Matthew Brennan makes it over that cat one climb, people, problems. It could be just pack it in, like not just for this Volta, but for every race. Like he's just going to win everything now. But Johan, we'll be back to break down stage 30 tomorrow and preview stage 14 and have a good evening.