THEMOVE - Are Van der Poel & Van Aert Ready for Pogačar at Flanders? | Gent-Wevelgem & Catalunya Breakdown | THEMOVE

Episode Date: March 30, 2026

Spencer Martin, George Hincapie, and Johan Bruyneel break down Jasper Philipsen's win at Gent-Wevelgem, the battle between Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel, and what it may foreshadow for the Tour of Flanders, as well as Jonas Vingegaard's dominant victory at the Volta a Catalunya. They discuss the key moments from both races, how chasing pelotons are getting better at reeling in dangerous moves, and, most importantly, whether there's anything anyone can do to stop Pogačar in the upcoming races. Become a WEDŪ Member Today to Unlock VIP Access & Benefits: https://access.wedu.team Square: Get up to $200 off Square hardware when you sign up at https://square.com/go/themove! #squarepod    

I think we can all agree on that either way, it's actually super exciting racing. It's fun to watch. You don't know what's going to happen until the very end, E3 and get well, and I mean, in many ways, like, we haven't really seen that in the big one-day races lately. It's this very one guy dominating and riding away from everybody, which could at times get a little boring. But this was fun. I mean, this was exciting. You didn't know what was going to happen until the last 500 meters.

Everybody, welcome back to The Move. I'm Spencer Martin. I'm here with Johan Bernille. and George and Capi. We are breaking down Genuevelgum, which is not really called Genn Wevelgum anymore, but we will for just our purposes,

speak of it as such. And the final few stages of Volta Catalonia, won by Jonas Vindegard with a bit of ease, shall we say, if we're being kind. But first,

I'll just go through, quickly go through what happening at Gamwoogam as well as Catalonia, just in a minute, and then we'll get Johann and George's takes on how the race played out.

So at Gain Wevelgum, the big story is, Watt Van Art and Matthew Vanderpult broke away, two-man breakaway, dropped Florian Vermeish for Yopold. Vanderpult did this for the second time in three days. Questionable decision. They're polling. They look like they're going to stay away.

But for the Pelotons, they're learning. They're adapting. They didn't chase initially. They organized. They set up an organized chase pulled back Vanderpull and Wadbunart. There was a late attack from Alec Sejant. and then Jasper Philipson, who would have thought it wins in the sprint after kind of perfectly positioned himself to come around to buy his Lind Anderson

and hold off Christoph Leport for a win. He's quietly building up an incredible classics resume. Like if you go back and look at it, he's won Milan San Remo in 2024, second twice at Peru Bay, one Kern-Burne-Bussels Kern, one, Gent Wovegum, one Skeletal Price twice, one Eshborn Frankfurt, the biggest classic they say. third at Perry Tours. Very good sprinter, very versatile. Let's get into this race first, and then we'll talk about Catalonia.

But George is the former winner of this race in 2021, which 25 years ago now. 2001. 2001. That would be incredible if you won it. That would be incredible. I'd be like Tiger Woods coming back and winning the Masters in 2019 or whenever he did that. But what was your thought watching this race? What did you think of it?

Yeah, I mean, it was pretty quintessential. getting well-gum the favorites all presenting there on the Camelberg while Ben-Art was super strong the second to last time up and then of course Vanderpull looked to me a lot stronger

than Ben-Art the last time up it looked like Ben-Arts was just swinging on his wheel with everything he had and Van der Poe was super composed but honestly I was super surprised that they brought those guys back I mean you got 40 those guys some two strongest guys in the world 40 plus seconds.

Usually that's a tailwind section back back to the finish. And they seem to be working together pretty well. But then when you read the post-racer reports, it looked like maybe Van der Poe was holding some back. But, yeah, I was shocked to see them come back. Yeah, I think it is a long run to the finish, we should say. I think, George, for me, in my opinion,

you're right. and Walt said it clearly that he felt like Mathieu wasn't giving it 100%. And I think that kind of makes sense because you have Jasper Philipson in the back, although I think if it's Philharpulent Van Ard, the chances of the team are a lot bigger to win than a bunch of print

because a lot of things can go wrong. I think the big mistake was to leave Florian Vermeers behind on the last time of the Camelberg. You know, they were testing each. Sutter. I don't know if Fandr Poul wanted to drop Wout there and then go solo to the finish. That would also have been super difficult, especially after his long incredible ride on Friday in E3. So I think, I mean, obviously in hindsight, it's easy to say. But if they would have gone steady up that climb, they would have been the three of them together. And if it's if it's Wout and

Mathieu and Florian Vermeers, the chances of Van der Pruel, the chances of Van der Puele, are still the same to win. And they would have made it to the finish, for sure, with three guys. Don't you think? I don't know. I mean, in today's cycling, it's usually one guy that rides away with 40-50s to go

and nobody's catching them. So to see both of these guys that are so strong and haven't done that race so many times, I mean, that's just pretty much dead flat, a couple of rollers when you usually have the wind behind you. They can do a lot of damage with just two guys. So it must have been that Vanipal wasn't going all the way

because you saw the guy that birds across. I mean, how easily he jumped across when the grab was 12 seconds. Well, Vanderpola was definitely feathering it then, knowing that the catch was probably imminent and then knowing Philipsons, Johann would say, smoking cigars behind,

like didn't take a pull all day while Red Bull burns through their whole team. I was wondering about this too, Johan. So first time up the Kimmelberg, Vizma's also in shambles. Like, while it's fighting for a position by himself, they go up the Belvedere side, I guess. I'm not familiar.

with that side. They go up, Wow, pushes it. He kind of causes this split. It's for me The second. That's the second time. The second time. The first time that was on TV, is that correct? I mean, it was the whole, I saw it three times up TV. I mean, the first time they go up, it's Laporte who's pushing it, I think. And Van Ard was kind of caught behind the crash.

Yeah. So that took a while. I mean, it's way too early anyway. But, I mean, that second time up the Camelberg was impressive performance from Van Art. only van derpool could follow and then finally you know that's how they get away with Vermeerche and and then they catch whatever it's left from the breakaway right but but why did van der Pol go why did he do that on the the final pass of the Kemmelberg on the steep part on the on the other side yeah why did he drop everybody what's what's the advantage to do that that's that's what I don't

understand I mean as George says you know I mean there's there are now guys who make it to the finish. Let's not forget, Peterson, for example, last year did whatever, 60K by himself. So, but I think, I think, and especially because these guys know each other so well since, I don't know how long, since they're juniors, right? After the second time over the Camelberg, I think Mathieu must have felt also that Walt was pretty good because, I mean, let's not forget, hey, it's been a while since Walt has been able to follow Matthew. And this was, again, the Von Art that we like to see. So after this, first of all, with the three guys and then, you know, basically them driving

the breakaway, you kind of feel how your rivals are, especially, you know, these two guys who know each other so well. So I don't know if he thought he could drop Walt. For sure, it was, you know, if you see Van Art going up to Camelberg, that was everything he had. but he he was not going to get dropped. He was not getting dropped there. So I also, I don't know. If it was another test, I think, you know,

he tested himself on Friday already. So he knows that legs are good. He tested himself, but then he got caught in the exact same thing that you just described, which like he dropped everybody. What else is he going to do? He's the strongest guy in the race.

It's not like you're doing getting well with him. It's not like he's doing it for training. He's going to go hard the last time up. and see who goes with him or if he goes alone. I think that was his only option. There's got to be other ways to win a race than going 40K solo, right? Yeah. Like he could go up with Vermeche Van Art himself.

He could try to drop Van Art when he doesn't drop Van Art. Don't you think he should have waited for Vermeche? He was just dangling right behind and then they have three engines to get to the finish. I mean, that's basically the decision of both of them. It's not just not you. I mean, I think if they see that Vermeer, because Vermeer stayed behind them like a 10 to half seconds, for a long time. Yeah.

Anyways, you know, it's easy for us to say this the day after, right? The day after. Yeah, I'm just surprised because it happened the same. He dropped stand to wolf on Friday and got caught. He wins. But I'm just wondering, like, why is he, is this just training? It's kind of what I'm wondering. No, he's not training.

It's not training. George. No, I don't know. I mean, yeah, I don't think it's training. He's definitely well trained. he's he's peaking for this time of this the year although he's been winning races the whole winner as well um i think he had to go he had to go all in and just see what he can do on that climb yeah i mean he's not a particularly arrow rider though that's what surprises me

like 40k solo against a peloton i mean maybe he stays away but he's done it he's done it before he's done it before so he's done it before but the most recent data point we we have is 460 watts for 90 minutes almost wasn't enough, you know. Do you think that those numbers are real, man? I mean, it's probably because there's probably right. George, what do you think? Is that, is that real? 460 watts for 90 minutes?

That's crazy. That is crazy. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I think, okay, this is a much different time. But like my best 20 minute or 30 minutes is maybe 40, 440, 450, for 20, 30 minutes. Like this is 90 minutes at 460 and he's probably maybe about the same weight I was at my peak. But like that's just crazy, crazy power.

Yeah, I mean, what you have to add with, and Spencer mentioned it already, what you have to add with Mathieu is that, you know, he is extremely powerful, but he is not arrow. Yeah. That's a huge difference. You know, like super wide shoulders, you know, doesn't ride with a narrow handlebars. You know, he's still one of the guys who ride with a 42 centimeter handlebars, one of the only ones.

It's shocking to see the width of Mathieu's handlebars in today's peloton. So, you know, if you look at that frontal surface, you know, the amount of extra watts he has to produce, it's considerable. I don't know if they have done tests. I mean, they probably did. I mean, he probably can't go more arrow than he is already in luckily for the other ones. But it takes that amount of power to go that fast. But anyways, you know, I mean, I saw.

460 for 90 minutes. That's like that's yeah, I've never seen this before. Well, Pagotra posted a rider earlier this year where he was, his FTP was around 450 and he's way lighter than Vanderpoll. Yeah, way lighter. So Vanderpil must have an FTP close to 500. Let me flip the question. You guys are the Alpsons directors. You're in the team car. You're going up to the final pass the Kimballberg. What are you telling Van der Pell to do? I don't think they say that much, you know, I mean, listen, I mean, there's, von der Prule definitely knows how to race, right? I mean, and I think that's one of the secrets also of Fondre Poole being on that team.

They just let him do his thing and follow his instinct and his feelings. He knows he can do these long solo rights. I would personally, I mean, both Alpacin and Vizma, I would personally have, you know, advice to wait for Vermeerche after the camel and then try to make it with the three of them. because Vermeer's is riding really strong.

He just doesn't have that punch to follow these two big powerhouses. I don't know. I think in today is what we've been watching in the last couple of years. I don't think anybody was thinking that they would come back. One, and also you're racing to the bottom of the Camelberg. I mean, you didn't quite get a good view of it on TV, but it's still a battle of a position you get there. You're going to go hard.

A guy like Van der Poul, he almost has to go hard. He's one of the best guys in the world. And he probably just, one test in his legs, testing his competition because he's got Dorr Flanders coming up next weekend. Who can actually hang with him on the Camelberg and then see who's with him at the top to see how far they can go. But I was shocked to see them get caught. I'll say it again.

I wasn't. Honestly, I wasn't. Especially, I was more shocked to see what happened in E-3 because, you know, it was all little groups, but it can't be able to get him, George. I mean, you've raced it many times. it is the ideal race for teams to gather again after the camelberg. And it was a peloton, right? It was not a small group behind them.

And if you look, for example, at Decathlon, they rode perfectly with that in mind. They were not going to send anybody anywhere, and they all stayed around. And that almost works because he almost won. So I think Gendwevlogam is the perfect race to get organized and have a peloton. and then you have you had Red Bull who obviously were very motivated with with Jordan Mills.

So if you have a couple of teams, yeah, I would not that surprise, actually. I think we can all agree on that either way. It's actually super exciting racing. It's fun to watch. You don't know what's going to happen until the very end, E3 and Genwellving. And I mean, in many ways, like we haven't really seen that in the big one-day races lately. is this very one guy dominating and riding away from anybody, which could at times get a little boring,

but this was fun. I mean, this was exciting. You didn't know what was going to happen until the last 500 meters. Yeah. And big applause for Alex Segar, you know, I mean,

that performance, you know, okay, they were obviously already. I mean, then afterwards we heard from Von Hart that he felt like Mathieu was not giving it all, but still there was almost nobody who can make, who can bridge to those guys on his own.

this guy is on big form showed it already he won the Nain he was you know he almost won Nokker great time prowess and obviously now changing teams from Lotto to Bahrain

yeah I think I think Seigart is going to be one of the guys we need to watch him for Pari Roube if that guy goes in an early break

yeah he's going to go far well we should say super strong guy obviously I feel like he's one of the only riders in the Peloton that's correctly calculating on the fly basically why would I sit in this group

I have nothing to gain by saying I'm not going to win a sprint against Jordy Mayos Christopal of Laporte yesper Phillips and I've got like he's done this week after week he just does these really calculated smart move so very strong obviously but very impressive what he's doing

like you can see him he's correctly weighing the balance Like I thought he attacked it just right time then he attacked with a K to go off those guys and they got caught Vanderpil kind of kept the pace high. We should say I think Vanderpil was soft pacing at a certain point And he went maybe they left for Mish maybe that was a mistake, but it all worked out perfectly for Alpison I mean to have Vanderpull up the road and then Philipson sitting in the wheels the whole chase Like that's that's impressive teamwork and it is impressive to see a guy They're both big stars big personalities and they buy in

of this this teamwork perfectly. So we should applaud that. Yeah. And also 60th victory in his career for Yosper Philipson already, 6-0. Well, it's pretty, pretty impressive. Here's the question we keep, we keep asking you, Johan. And you're not convinced. Is he the best sprinter in the sport right now?

I mean, it's difficult to say who's the best sprinter. I'm going to say he's the best sprinter when it really matters. Yeah. Yeah. After Hard Race and after Classic, he can win and the tour he's always there. I think he's the most complete sprinter of the four or five top guys. What do you think, George? Yeah, I mean, winning Milan Zan Remo second place in Roubaix two times.

He can easily get top five, maybe top three in Flanders as well. I mean, very complete sprinter. I'd say he's definitely one of the most complete, well, the most complete sprinter we have out there. Well, you can throw in Mads Peterson also who can win sprint, field sprints in the Tour de France and, you know, go solo in a race like in Welvigam and, you know. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

So those guys are pretty similar in that respect. It is crazy with like Phillips and how much better he is than everybody else. When it, as you say, Yohan, when it matters, like to be able to pull out, I mean, he has 10 two to front stages since 2022. There's nobody. There's like Tim, Tim, Tim Merlier's not doing that.

Jonathan Malon's not doing that. that. And here's here's some stats for you guys. This is kind of, I do think we're seeing a change, a trend change. We were hinting at it earlier with the solo breakaways being common. So 2024, E3, Vanderpull went solo by 131. Again, Wevelgum, if you remember, it was Mads Pedersen, Van der Leppelsohn, Van der Perel, two-up sprint, like what we didn't see yesterday. Flanders was solo, Van der Leopard, Rubei solo, Van der Poe. 2025, E3, Vanderpull, is pretty good writer, by the way, when you go back and look at this. Vanderpulls solo by over a minute,

Gant Wovellum, Mads Pedersen solo by 49 seconds. But even right there, Johan, you're seeing, it's what you're saying. Gant Wovogam, it's harder to build up these gaps

just because of the course. Flanders, Bagotra solo by over a minute, Rubei, Vanderpull solo by 118. This year rolls around. Like, we saw it,

San Remo, if you remember George, like little track was chasing well. Like they almost caught that group that was doing the Trapressa and Pogio record times. So that shows us right there. Like they're getting better and smarter at these chases. E3 Vanderpull is caught. Caught, not caught. It's a solo win, but he did get caught. I was shocked to see that. Again, Wevelgum, Vanderpull, and Watt Van Ard caught and then reduced

bunch sprint. So I do think we're seeing a trend change there. And I think it's because the Peloton has realized, like we can't panic. We can't try to chase. We have to work together to close them. Now, my question for you guys, is that a good decision? Or did everyone make them mistake pulling that back for the sprint when then Phillips and sitting in the wheels or do you have to do that because you don't have another option you got to do it I mean they were either racing for third or they're racing for first so the teams that did not have anybody in the breakway it's their responsibility to chase it down yeah I mean you know if you want to win the race you have to first make sure that you get to the finish for first place very good point yeah a lot of teams

forget that I mean people forgot that for a decade right no one could chase anything It's just like, oh, someone's up the road, let's not chase it. But that serves you the beauty of Sagarne's attack. He's not a sprinter, but he sits in that group, waits until the right time, then attacks. And Red Bull did have bad luck, right? They chased really hard, and then their spinner. Do you see collided with Laport? Yeah, with Laport.

Yeah, with La Port. Kind of had words after the race. I don't know what that was about. But looking ahead to Flanders, what are you guys thinking about Flanders after watching getting a bubble gum? You go first, Johan. It's different. It's different with Pogacres there.

I mean, obviously, as we said, you know, Flanders and Rubet, it's a different race because there are always other factors coming into play than just being the strongest. You know, there's the positioning. There's, you know, they're bumping each other. They're quacking, you know, can lose position. You can get pushed into a ditch. Very easy to send something to happen like that. But I think personally, if everything goes to plan,

Bogachar wins solo. It's a much harder race than whatever we have seen until now. You would say, for example, I mean, in Flanders, it would probably only be Van der Poul, who couldn't try to follow him. Last year, we can say, yeah, he couldn't follow him because Fonderval was already involved in a crash before. Apparently, you know, he was not 100%,

had been a bit sick also before the race. This year, I was surprised to see Van der Poole getting dropped on the pojo. I did not see that coming. I was convinced, you know, especially seeing his level in Tireno, that he would stay with Tadei Poglachar. So if you're not able to follow Pogacar in Milan San Remo, where the climbs are longer, but sitting on the wheel is a lot easier. And I think after a hard race of attrition in Flanders,

Pulitzer goes by himself and nobody can follow him on the Quaramount. Yeah, I mean, it's hard to argue with that one, Joanne. I mean, how strong, what he did in San Remo was something we've never witnessed in cycling.

And of course, after the race, Van der Pol said that he had a lot of trouble getting out of the saddle with his hand injury. But you saw Pochartre was just as messy and bloody everywhere else. So, I mean, it's hard to say. I would love to see a bit more competitive of a race because it's such a, like you said, the hardest race we've seen thus far this year. But, you know, perhaps we see some sort of tactic change where they make UAE do all the work

instead of teams like Alpacine Phoenix and Vizmo helping out. And maybe they just risk it all and say, this is all on you guys. You guys have to do the work. You won. And then you might see some like an exciting dynamic start happening throughout the day where some, you know, some of the second tier riders may have a chance for the win. because of the way of the tactics to play now. So it could be an interesting race.

It's a long race. Lots can happen. So yeah, we'll see. But I'm definitely excited to watch it. I think you're right, George. I think the scenario we could foresee for Pulachar not to win, would probably come from, you know, an underdog. Another dog who goes in between climbs, you know,

and it's part of a breakaway and it's strong enough to make it. And UAE runs out of guys. Yeah. I mean, we don't wish it to anybody, but let's say there's problems in the first few climbs. UAE has two guys involved in a crash. You're down to five. You know, things like that happen in Flanders, right? I personally think if it's the favorites racing for the win, I don't see who can follow Pogachar.

Well, then also, and then you might see the same thing with all the favorites. You know, this election happens before the final time up, the Quaramont, or the final. or the final time up they go up to Pottersburg at the end too right? Yeah, Potterberg. So the other scenarios, you see the favorites the second time up,

they all get away with Pochartre and then they're like, well, we're not going to pull through as hard as we normally would because you're most likely going to drop us. So they start sandbagging. And like you said, that's maybe when the the underdogs catch back up. So that would be a potentially very exciting scenario. I don't know about that.

Underdogs catch, I mean like Madd Patterson is an underdog maybe if that's oh no there's no question these are still rock star cycles yeah compared to what's happened lately in flanders and also scenario you can see somebody else get up the road yeah that's also george you know okay we have poggat char now we have let's say we have on the pool uh vonart and peterson you know the thing is that these guys once they're ahead with it's not in their DNA do not work no they always work you know they prefer to be up front and minimize the, you know, factors that you can't control. Yeah.

So, you know, that's the beauty also of these guys, but it kind of makes it a bit, I mean, I'm going to say boring. It's still exciting, but it makes it a bit easier for Bogachar and his team. Yes, I agree. It was harder back in the day, like Peter Sagan, right? Everyone raced tactically against them, and then that doesn't seem to happen anymore. I kind of like it from a logic standpoint. I do think it's better just to be up the road.

you're minimizing variables. I'm surprised you guys didn't. I think Vanderpull, I'm going to take the opposite view here and say pretty impressive. Like 90 minute power? Like, he can't,

the problem is if he's not dropping Van Art, how is he going to drop Pagachar? That's kind of an issue. I guess he doesn't have to drop Pagatcha. He doesn't have to drop him. You know, he needs to try to stay with him. Yeah.

It's, what do you, I think Vanderpull is very, very fit. Maybe, maybe he could stay with Pagachar. Maybe. But what do you guys think about Van Hart?

I think a pretty impressive form considering what I've seen the last years. Yeah, he's coming around for sure and made the selection on the second and last time of the Camel. Was the only guy able to hang on Van der Poe's wheel. Pull for pole with him the whole run into the finish. And he seems to be on, you know, getting better and better each race he does. And also, you know, let's not forget, we haven't talked about him a lot. But, you know, what Walt Vonnard did in Milan San Remo is equal. impressive, you know, I mean, he was involved in that crash, had to wait much longer,

had to get another bike, was not there on the pojo, and then comes back and finishes third. So that's already an indication that he's definitely better than what we've seen in the, in the springs, the last two, three years. Wait, not there on the pogeo. Wait, did he catch on before the pogeo? He must have. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but he was not, yeah, but he was, he was not in front of the group. I mean, He was in that group. Yeah, he was not in front. When they got to the top, he was in the middle towards the back of the first,

of the first group behind the leaders. I mean, and they, like, even we don't remember it as such, but they went up really fast, right? So to go up the pogeo that fast and then move up on this. And he almost wins San Remo. Like, we won't remember it that way, but he was close to a few decisions go a different way. He wins that race. It's pretty impressive.

I do, I do worry, though, that we're seeing. This is just the different speed on the climbs and we're going to see at Flanders from Pagachar, assuming he's healthy from his center. Where is he right now? Does anybody know? Where is he, Johann?

I think he's in Monaco. He's, he's been training. He's been, he's been doing some recon. I know he's been in Belgium. He's been in Paris Rubei, he's done a Pariubé recon with Vermeerche.

After Milan San Remo. So he's preparing. He's preparing, you know, he's preparing for Flanders and Rubet. And you see that Vanderpull flew a little private jet trip back to home in Spain in between now and Flanders on Sunday. I do. I think this is the right move, but it's definitely unorthodox, right? Were you guys just sticking around, George, when you were doing the classics?

If we had a week in between, I think I would normally go back. Don't you think you on? Yeah, a week. Yeah. It's also depending on weather, too. Like, if it's super cold up there, there's no reason. Yeah. But, you know, but the thing is, George, before, I mean, since they've, you know, switch those dates around.

There was never a week without race. Usually you had, I think Harlebeika was on a weekend. And then you had, you had Warragam, I think. Also in between. Yeah, you always had a Wednesday race. And then you had Flanders and Gant Bavlgam and Rubet in one week. So there was never a week without the race. Well, technically there is a race this week.

Dwarves, Dwar Flanderan, right? Dwarz de Vlander. Yeah. Yeah, so, but he's just smartly not doing that. I do, I love this, this like narrative of like, well, Vanderpull was, was tired from Friday. So he actually was, he was at a disadvantage compared to Vanar. He's like, well, he did that voluntarily. Presumably they're only doing this double if they think it's good for Flanders, right?

That should be the only calculation. I think also, Spencer, it makes a lot of sense. I mean, especially after the two performances and, you know, energy that he's, spent both on Friday in any tree and on Sunday in in Genduevigam. There's no way he should do Dwarflander. He needs to take this week off. He knows his form is there. Just go a week, you know, like charge the batteries.

And he's going to be full gas for Flanders. That's for sure. So, I mean, I think it's the right way. He knows that in Spain he can train properly. He doesn't need to train that much anymore this week. And I think I think he'll just come down on Friday evening. anything else george i'm getting well with gum before you move on no yeah like i said it was a great race to watch well let's take a quick break then we'll talk about volta catalonia might be a quick conversation pretty

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We're back. Volta Catalonia, seven-day stage race. We would, Johan, putting it in our list of top seven, our big seven, one-week stage races.

One by Jonas Finnegard by minute 22 over Lenny Martinez. That's a massive gap at this race because there's no time trial. Florine Lipowitz, third at 130, helped by Remko Evanaple, who fell out of the GC on the first mountain stage, back on Friday on stage nine, sorry, stage five,

which we talked about. What I didn't talk about is, Jonas Vinegard attacked and won that mountain stage without standing up on his bike. Stage six, Saturday stage was a little tougher. Red Bull really, they had Rimcoevenopo on the front,

oddly climbing really well. So, like, it's not a physical thing on the climbs. Apparently, it's got to be mental because he was pushing the pace, hard on the climbs leading into the final climb drop, Felix Scull, on a descent, I believe, which allowed Lenny Martinez to move into second, Florin Lipwitz to move in the third. Unfortunately, a byproduct of Rencoe Evanpoles incredible pacemaking was that it set up

Jonas Vindigard for a pretty devastating attack on the final climb. He wins, but just by 10 seconds over Lenny Martinez's second time, Lenny Martinez is stuck to Yunus Finnegard, and then Florin Lipowitz was third on the stage. Remko Evanipole held on for an impressive fifth, 27 seconds back, and then, stage seven in Barcelona, the Manjouet climb, doubly important this year because it is the venue for not only the first, but the second stage of the Tour de France. The first stage is going to be a team time trial up the climb, finishing up to climb, and then the second stage is basically the same circuit that we watched on stage seven. A lot of attacking, super aggressive racing.

Jonas Finnegarter got isolated just like he was on stage six. Isolated quite early. I was surprised by, but you can tell the guy knows what he's doing because he was just kicking. getting to the front, staying out of trouble, pushing the pace at times himself, only a 95 kilometer stage, by the way. That's hard. They test them. They can't drop him. He actually leads over the climb.

Oscar only tries to get away, but Vindigard leads down the descent after the final climb, and the Peloton slash Chase Group catches up to them. Brady Gilmore from NSN Pro Cycling wins the sprint ahead of Dorian Godin with Rimcoe Abinapole, who Red Bull works pretty hard to position for that sprint, gets Third would have been a taller order to beat guys like Brady Gilmore is just noticeably much bulkier than Remcoe Evan and Paul better spinner. I'd frankly not been following him closely. 24 year old Australian first year as a professional.

I mean, I guess it sounds ridiculous. Kind of late to turn pro, but gets a win at this race. NSN gets two wins with Ethan Vernon winning on stage four. George, you were at this race with your Monited Adventures Pro Cycling team. What did you think about this? What were your impressions from the race itself? Yeah, it was great to be at the race, our first world, World Tour European race.

So it was a big level up for us. The guys rode really well. We got two top tens. We were in like the significant breakaways in the first four or five stages. And we learned a lot. So for us, it was a great experience. I'm proud of the way the guys rode. But man, it was some hard racing.

They got the first stage when they started in St. Falu, Gislos just went through all the same roads that I spent most of my career on. So that was kind of fun to be in the car, watching them do all the climbs that we know so well. But as soon as they hit the coast road, it was just like mass carnage, which I think is a lot different. I mean, we did the Tour de France stage there in 2009. I don't know if you remember that. But, I mean, it was super fast, super strong out. But the field stays together.

Like this year, we hit the coast and it's like 50 guys after like 5K in the coast. I mean, I don't know if it's faster or just people just sit up when they don't, you know, they're not feeling like they're in the front. But it was blown to pieces on the first stage already. Dorian Dugdon won the stage, which I just found out recently that he lives in Gerona also. Does he? Yeah, to learn how to be a physiotherapist, went to school in Gerona. So that's kind of a wild story. He's a French guy, but lives in Gerona.

So he knows the roads really well. And, of course, probably huge deal to win in his second home, so to speak. but yeah the racing was was uh was great to watch um it was uh really aggressive racing um some some interesting sprint sprint stages um yeah it was just a typical bolt of the catalonia in my opinion yeah yeah i mean it's it's it's a hard race um i would say i mean i would say compared to parinese tyeno dofinery tour the bas country probably a little bit less prestigious then I mean in terms of but it's one of those seven you know prime prime one week stage races so I think you know logic has been respected right Jonas we already saw how

Jonas was in Parisis I think this here in Catalonia he was stronger than Parinise you know the first mountain stage he won that was that was an impressive performance and then yeah that last stage six Spencer he didn't really have to you know he just a and then maintained it. Yeah, and then finish on Monjvig. I have a question for you guys. We're going to test your cycling historic knowledge. What's Montjuic that circuit famous for?

George, you can go first. The Olympics in 1992. For example, did you race there? Well, I did the team time trial, but I think the opening ceremony is right there. Yeah. The stadium is right there on the quarter, so it must be right yeah the Olympics 92 but also there's been two times world championships there

I don't remember the first year but I do remember there was huge scandal or drama in Belgium because there was four riders in front and two Belgians was Eddie Merck's Freddie Martin's Felici Jimondi and Luis Okanya and the Belgians didn't win and so because Felici DiMondi won and then in 1984, there was another world championships there, won by my later teammate, sadly passed away. Claudi Cricklion won their world championships there on the Montreux. And then finally, there was also, back in the days when we were pros, George, there was always the famous criterion there, Escalada de Montjuic at the end of the season.

It had all like 10 times of that climb. It was first there was a time trial of the climb and then, of course, 10 times of the climb, but famous, famous place. It's going to be interesting. Who won the stage in 2009? Without looking anything up. I'm not sure. Wait.

Zabo? No. Wait, 2009. We finished there. It would have been Thor Hussaud, right? Thor Hussoff. Okay. Yeah.

Yeah. Boring rain into Barcelona. Yeah. I remember it was slippery danger. Yeah, that was a big win for him. Yeah. Yeah, that was a big win for him. And they kind of...

I can't believe I just stumped the experts. I'm kind of proud of myself. You were at that. You were in the race. Drop the mic. And then was that the tour that he went on this crazy green jersey campaign? That must have been, right? Where he had to hold...

He was on a fellow test team then. Oh, yeah. I'm sure he was in there for the green as well. And he was like doing mountain breakaways because Cavendish was winning all the flats. sprints and tough times to be a sprinter and a peak

Cavendish era. And he had a great leadout guy. That's why he was so unbeatable. No one could get around George. But this race was kind of odd because it was like two races welded together. What you just described George

like the first four stages were kind of this exciting always on almost like one day races, four one day races consecutively. Like I would say quite excited. And then the last, the two of the last three stages, tough mountain stages, I would say quite boring, dare I say, because Jonas was just so much better than everybody else. Yesterday in Barcelona, Jonas is better than everybody else, but it was still, I thought it was actually pretty good racing, pretty fun to watch.

By the way, by the way, Spencer, sorry to interrupt before I forget, I don't know if you were at that stage, George, but one of the hardest climbs I've seen in the season, they did. this cold the Pradel. I heard, yeah. I know I flew home that day. But I, yeah. Unbelievable. Like for, for somebody who watches it on TV to really have a clear idea of how steep it is and it was, it was obvious from the guys.

Yeah. They were so, it was so steep. Do you know this climb called the parallel? I've never done it. No. It's, it's a horse category climb. Yeah. The last five kilometers at more than 12%.

That was brutal. Yeah. Yeah, brutal. And then, Johan, you were saying you had some stats about, which some of finish was it, that Vindigard, it's a little misleading. So the misleading part would be Jonas Vindigard crushes Taday Pagachar, what it's going to happen at the Tudor friends. But actually a bunch of guys in the front group beat Pagachar. Pogacchar on the climb. Which climb was that? Was that on Saturday? Was it called Keralt or something? Yes. Yes. It's that one.

Geralt, yeah. So I have the times here. So Pogacar won in 2024, two years ago, 14 minutes, 56 seconds. So it's a seven and a half, sorry, 5.8 kilometer climb at seven and a half percent. Jonas Lenny Martinez Lipowitz and Valatine Parapantra went faster than Pogachar you can't compare right

in the circumstances are different first of all the temperature this year was good weather I remember back then it was freezing cold and Pugachar was went up there in the final of the race after a 30 kilometer solo so that explains a lot

but yeah, I mean, just the peloton keeps improving. There's many, many riders on that climb on, was it Friday, right? Was it Friday? Yeah, I think it's Friday. That we're close to Bogachar's time. So every year, it's a percentage, one and a half percent that the level goes up. And that's why, you know, people who compare times on climbs that makes no sense. It's always different circumstances.

Yeah, the context is like hilariously different between these two performances. And they had Remco-Evnable pacing them at a perfect pace this year. It's different. This is kind of funny. Stage seven of the 2024 Catalonia final day, Pagachar wins. Do you know who got second? Dorian Godin. Sam, who got second this year.

Yeah. Goddano, he's a funny writer. You go through his Palmyras. He's like the forest gump of. sprinters. He's always kind of there and it's like, oh yeah, it makes sense that he's having a great year. I think we came away from this race thinking, wow, Yon and Svinaigar, it's pretty good and got to be the favorite for this year to tell you. Because one of his biggest competitors, Jualaam Meda looked awful, he crashed. And we, Yohan and I rode off his underperformance on the climbs from the crash.

And then he came out later after the race and said it's actually not the crash. I just don't feel good. I don't know what's going on. And Johan, you thought he didn't look, you know, quite like the Almeda were used to, even just physically. But I think it's, I mean, I don't think the meter has ever been more over on is Vindigard the favorite for the Giurna Taya right now? Because I was in the Almeda camp. I'm not feeling so good about that camp at the moment. We're suffering with flooding, rising seas on Joalameda Island right now. Yeah.

No, I think Yon is definitely the big favorite. You know, there's no doubt about it. Most likely, Jonas will win the Giro. I haven't seen the team yet they're bringing, but I think he has, you know, he has the stage racing pretty much dialed in. They're going to send a team that can support him. It would take a really, really good Almeida.

It would take a super pelizade. And still, I don't see how they can beat Jonas. I mean, if everything goes to plan, Jonas wins the zero, I think. I remember at the beginning of the season, you were worried about Jonas. I was worried. He was missing races.

It's like he set out, it's funny as you know, last year, the writer I was worried about was Valameda. Maybe I was a year off. But then he went on like an incredible run where he won three consecutive World Tour stage races and had like a career season. So you want me to be worried about you.

January because you're going to have the best season of your life. But yeah, I think you know, it's, I think second, probably second best writer, second best stage racer in the sport right now. I think he's held on to that crown looking good for the zero, looking good for the tour. Behind him, I'd say Lenny Martinez, which is quite impressive. We were singing Felix Gall's praises on Friday and then Felix Gall, went on to be dropped under the dissent and fall to six overall. Florian Lipowitz, I was a little concerned about him on,

Friday, but I thought he looked really good over the weekend. Florian Lipowitz is coming on. A diesel who doesn't disappoint. No, which is important for the Tour de France specifically. That's a great race for that type of rider. Any other G.C. thoughts you had, Johan. The crash of Pitcock, obviously, you know, I saw Pitcock was super motivated for this race. He even counted himself as one of the potential winners for the G.C.

had a bad crash in a downhill. You know, the best, arguably the best descendant of the whole Peloton crashed. He said it was his own fault, miscalculated while he was drinking. But, yeah, he finished that stage, but then the aftermath was not good. So he's recovering now. I don't know if the hilly classics like Amstall, Flesh and Liesch were on his program. But that's obviously not going to. going to be, I mean, a knee injury like this, you know, damaged ligaments and stuff like that,

that could take a while. So that's a bummer. Well, and I was curious to see how he's going to do in the GC. He was on career form and then now we don't know what would have happened with. I think he's not going to be Jonas, but I was, I thought he was going to do pretty well. Does that confirm he has damaged ligaments in his knee? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He had the whole explanation and he gave the whole medical report. So there's, there's, his knee was swarmed. And, yeah, it's going to take, it's going to take a few weeks before he can get back to the normal. Yeah, that's not good for the classics at all, because it was going for the Ardennes classics. Um, any thoughts on, the Remcoevenipal situation continues to befuddle me because on Friday, I was like, hey, he's just not a good climber anymore. Don't know what happened. And then on Saturday, I thought he looked unbelievable on the climbs. And, I mean, he gets distance at the end, but he'd done it. A huge turn of work.

I mean, leaving this race, like, what are you thinking about Remcoevenopal as a GC contender? I mean, because he's great as a domen. He looks great as a domestic. Didn't think he'd be that good as a domestic, but that's not what Red Bull's paying for. They did not buy a mountain domestic with Rencoeventipal. I'll let you go first, George. I mean, I believe we had the same conversation two or three years ago when he got third, the tour of France.

Like the guy is incredible. When he's on for him, he's on form. When he's not on form, he could still do things like what he did in stage three, Volta Catalonia, you know, ride everybody off his wheel on a flat stage. I mean,

he's got incredible power. I think he's just, I think he's just buying this time until he gets to the summer to really hone in on his climbing ability. That's my thoughts. But he certainly has the capability to climb amongst the top three, five guys in the world.

Yeah, yeah. But I agree, but that's not, you know, that's not good enough for Remko, for him in his mind. I'm analyzing, I'm analyzing his interviews after the stages, you know. And I, you know, he's, he was frustrated with, with, with, with Catalonia, you know, he, obviously there was this crash, which still is unexplainable how he crashed. I still don't know how he crashed. Yeah. Yeah. So he said that, you know, the day after he felt okay, usually two days after a crash,

he usually doesn't feel good. That makes sense. I mean, anybody who has crashed hard knows that two days after the crash is the worst day. Then he felt better again the day after. But I had the impression he was frustrated, not happy as work to do. But also we have to be realistic with Ramco, you know, I mean, even. even if he gets up a level and gets better, he's still not going to be anywhere close to Jonas and today.

To the France, third place is the maximum achievable, in my opinion. And then there's this big debate, and especially in Belgium, you know, in Belgium, the Belgian media, they're all, you know, it's crazy how, you know, they're applauding you and adoring you when you win. and then when you disappoint two or three times, they're kind of criticizing you. And now it's all, yeah, Remko should forget about the GCs and go for the classics.

I think, I think, I think, I think that's not true. I think he, he's definitely a complete writer. And, you know, and I know on this podcast, sometimes I'm being criticized to be too soft on Remko. But, but I've been sometimes critical, but I repeat, I, I would like to see,

But again, this is an observation from the outside. I don't know exactly how it all works within the team and with his entourage. But I feel like Remko's always stressed. I can't see, never see him relaxed. And I think that's what he needs. He kind of needs to switch off, obsess less and just take things as it come and right on feeling a little bit. That's maybe going to work out better in the long run for GCs, right? But then again, I don't think that Remko is that kind of personality.

It seems to me that he has started cycling, focused on his, you know, his performances on analyzing his data. That's what he needs. And it's like if something's off a little bit, it's all of a sudden it's like a switch. And then you have this not so good performance. So again, you know, that's just the impression I have from the outside. I don't know enough of what happens there. But I would definitely, and I said this in the other podcast, Spencer, I would definitely try to, you know, take it a little bit differently.

Let's just say, okay, let's just take it as it is. You know, don't obsess about GCs, go for good performances, stage by stage, and a GC will come automatically. Well, yeah, I think we can all agree it's banana's idea to stop going for GCs and just focus on one day. When you're that kind of a time trials and that kind of a climber, and you're getting paid that much money you should probably go for some GCs. Don't just focus on one days.

What you said, George, let's just quickly touch on that. Hone in on his climbing for him. Then that's almost what seems to be happening and that is how the sport used to work. But why does it seem like Taday and Yonis, you could wake them up

at one in the morning and say in January and say climb up to us and they would go really fast? Why do they never have to hone in on their climbing for him. Yeah, that's, I don't have the answer to that. But my point was that we have seen Remko climb really well. We have seen him finish on mountaintops with guys like Jonas and now far away from Bogachar.

So it's within him. And so far the season, we haven't seen that. But I think that he can figure out what's going on and get back to that top level climbing for him. But then, George, an interesting observation. I don't know if you, if you have. looked at it, you know. Remco is,

does he start his seventh or his eight year professional now? He's still young, but he's... Yeah, eight year professional. Eight year professional. You know, with those qualities of a complete rider, my

constant, my observation is that of those seven important one week stage races, he still has not won a single one. And that's not normal. That is not normal.

For a guy with those capabilities, such a good time trialist who defends himself in the mountains, there are other riders who have won already multiple of them. For example, let's just say, Matteo Jorgensen, he has won twice Parinese. Don't tell me that Remko is not a better rider than Matteo, if you look at it, at the potential.

So why is it that Remco just has this, you know, problem of winning these important one-week stage races? I don't understand it. I agree with you, but at the same time being in Belgium, like winning as Best on Leis solo is more important than winning tour of Caledulia. It is, but he should be able to do both. Yeah, with the qualities, I agree with you should be able to do both.

The problem is usually can't contend for grand tours if you can't win Catalonia. If Catalonia is a problem, like you've got problems as a stage racer, in my opinion. You can't, the funny thing about that, Johann, Mateo Jorgensen, and won one of those stage races over and informed because he let him go when he shouldn't have let him go. It's fascinating actually.

Another, just quickly, Oscar-onle, Enios, did not have finished 12th overall, did not have the race he wanted from this. Do we think this has to do with, if you think back to Perry Nees was sick, crashed,

and like what should he be thinking come out of this race? Because he's got a lot of expectations on him as a GC leader for that team after getting forth at the tour last year. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, it's, you know, it's difficult to confirm, you know, I mean, obviously last year's fourth place was huge.

Now, the question is, is this his ceiling? Is this his maximum? Or will he be, I mean, he's still young. Let's not forget.

This is it. Yeah. We've seen no one to see you from. Let's not forget. He had a complicated winter, like insecurity. Yeah. Probably prepare,

you know, in all, you know, very peacefully. to the season, then he had the crash in Parinise. I would give him some credit. I think the guy has definitely the potential. For the moment, it's not such a big deal on Ineos, I think, because they are winning

races compared to other seasons where they hardly were winning races. They won in Italy again, two times I saw. So they have more races, they won more races already this season than in some seasons in the past. So things seem to be going good. so I would give him some time, Oscar only. Yeah, I was going to say the same thing. The team's on fire.

They keep winning. I think they're happy and they're probably just letting Oscar, you know, recover from his crashes there in Paris Nice and focus on what their main goals are for him. It also speaks to what fans never remember. If you just watch this, you'd be like, man, Oscar, what happened? This guy stinks. He got 12th. He's like, oh, well, two and a half weeks ago, he was sitting third overall at Peronese

and he was sick and crashed out of the race on a miserable day. Like there's things that actually affect your performance that people don't tend to give you credit for. Was he not top three in Algarve also? He was fourth in Algarve and he actually rode really well at O'Garve. So I would, I think he's actually having to get here. That's a tough series of stage races too.

As you say, Johan, not knowing what your future is and then you join a new team and then you're doing Algarve, Perrinis, just a miserable parinise, by the way. And then Catalonia. Yeah, that's, that's not easy. And his next race on his program is the dophine. Maybe I'll do something before then, but that's a long time off. That's crazy.

They might, I think Ennio's does like late start list, so maybe they'll fill that in. But anything else before we go, guys. No, I guess, you know, this week will just sit and wait and, yeah, Sunday is the big game. Sunday is the big day. It's the most important day of the cycling season. It's two of Flanders. That's such a Belgian day. Forget the Tour de France.

George, what do you think? I agree. I mean, that's one day race on the calendar. Yeah, it is a great race. I'm very excited. George is going to be back. The Alliance Armstrong, I hear, is going to be on that show. So join us next Sunday.

Johan and I will have our usual Friday show. We're going to predict what's going to happen to Flanders and talk about anything else that happens during the week. But thanks, guys, and we'll talk soon. Thank you. Okay, thanks.