THEMOVE - Are We Seeing the Best Wout van Aert Ever? | La Vuelta a España 2026 Stage 15 | THEMOVE

Episode Date: September 6, 2026

Johan Bruyneel and Spencer Martin break down Wout van Aert's impressive stage win, which came after bridging up to the day's early breakaway and driving it home to get his second win of this Vuelta and seal the Green Jersey classification. They discuss what this tells us about Van Aert's form and his chances at Worlds, which are looking better by the day. They also preview Tuesday's Stage 16, which will likely deliver a bunch sprint as the GC contenders look ahead to brutal mountain stages remaining. 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. Odoo: Stop paying for missing pieces. Go to https://Odoo.com Fatty15: Fatty15 is on a mission to support Healthy Aging for All, including all ages and stages of life. You can get an additional 15% off their 90-day subscription Starter Kit by going to https://fatty15.com/THEMOVE and using code THEMOVE at checkout. MOD: Visit https://MOD.com for a free consultation and get 10% off your first order PLUS free shipping with promo code THEMOVE. OneSkin: Get 15% off OneSkin with the code THEMOVE at https://www.oneskin.co/THEMOVE  #oneskinpod

What did you think of this little move, though, Johann? Second time we've seen it from Venet de Vulton in the last two years. The intermediate sprint comes up. Do people think he's just going for the points and they don't go with him? And then he says, well, if you're going to give me that much room, I'm going to go. Because that was the winning move of the day, the intermediate sprint point where he got the gap. Was that a bit of an oopsie-dazy from everybody else? Should they have gone with him?

I don't think so. I mean, the question we have to ask ourselves, you know, at this point in the race after 15 states, And I know the answer to that question, who has something left? There is something left to make it because obviously if they if they don't make it hard for him for the sprint points, which of course, this is not a contest anymore, he just goes to the front, gets the points. But there's not that many riders who have something left to go and breakaways. Everybody, welcome back to the Move podcast. I'm Spencer Martin. I'm here with Johan Bernil. We're breaking down stage 15. of the Vuelta, Spainia, and previewing Tuesdays after tomorrow's rest day, stage 16, with our outcomes stage preview, we'll get Johan's pick on who's going to win.

Johan, we were a little wrong today because we thought Matthew Brennan was going to take it from Vizumelisa bike. You said they were going to get their fifth stage win of this Welta. You were right about that. We were wrong about the winner, though. It was Wild Van Art from a late, late bridge to the early breakaway. The stage was only 110Ks long, though, because it was shortened due to extreme heat. I thought it made the race awesome.

It was like one of my favorite stages of any grand tour of the year. It was two and a half hours of line to line action with a breakaway going early, getting like an 11 rider breakaway, never a big gap because you had Vizma and Kofid is pacing behind. I thought for the sprint, but Watt Van Art went for the sprint points at the intermediate sprint. They gave him a gap from the Peloton. This happened back in 2024 on stage 10 and he just took that gap and wrote it all the way to the line.

Same thing happened today. He said, hey, if you're going to give me 20 meters, I'm going to bridge up to that break because it's only 25 seconds ahead. And that's what he did. And then he was kind of simple, Johan, no complex tactics today. Then he went up to the breakaway and he rode real hard on the front to make sure no one could catch him, even though there was a big chase group behind. And that the guys in the move, it was a five-rider move. It was Walthunard, Tibon, Rez, Rasmus de Broina, Andreas Lechnutson, and Alessandro Romale, Romale, who is a guy, who is a guy, who is a guy, who is a guy, who is a guy, who is a man, who is. a quick rider on XTS Astana. So is Tibo Nice. This was not a guaranteed sprint win for him, but he went to the line. Tebow Nees, maybe panicked a little bit, went a little early. And then while Bernard said, I'll get right in the slipstream, comes around for the stage win, second stage one of this Welta. Just a, just an all around impressive show of strength.

I know you said he's not getting stronger. He's just getting less worse, but he looks like he's getting stronger. And I think I know what it's going to be, but the eight sleep move of the day or the move of the day for this welta is brought to you by eight sleep used by UAE team UAE and tadate picotches probably using it right now in monaco as he recovers from his injuries from earlier in this velta it's a mattress topper can make a bed cooler make it warmer the perfect temperature for you to sleep if you want 350 dollars off through the end of this welta go to eight sleep dot com slash the move for $350 off.

But Johan, what is your eight sleep move of the day? Yeah, well, you know, it's not going to be surprised, Spencer. He's not the way he won this stage, the way he had everything under control at any time. You know, the way he bridged up to the front. And then especially the way he managed to control whatever was happening, especially in the last few kilometers, was impressed. Yes, I said, you know, you're probably not getting stronger. He's incredibly strong.

I mean, it's unbelievable that you can feel the power, and that at any time he can correct the situation where others have to choose their moments. He just went after everything. And then, you know, at the end, made sure that the speed was high enough, and, I mean, the sprint was in Northern even a contest. So, man. Second stage win, I think it's not the last one.

Although there might be two other sprints and then, you know, the tantral and the mountain stages. But fifth statement from Vizma, as you said, green jersey, of course, not even in a contest. That's not a question. Walt Vonart looks in incredible shape. He's back to a super high level. And he's using this welta in full preparation for the world championships. Yeah. I think we have to start counting Walt Von Ard as one of the top favorites for the

world's. The course is for sure not an issue. You know, it's super, super accessible for Walt Von Art and his quality and especially the form he's in right now. So, yeah, he's training here for the world championships. But what I really take away from every time I've seen an interview of Wal-Vernard, especially after a win, is the way he looks. The way he is sharp, you know, you can see that he's really skinny, but being in shape, skinny, right?

And at the same time, looks strong. You know, the power just pours out of his body on the screen, whether it's on the bike or even in an interview, the way he talks, his energy is amazing. So, hats off to him. Also, you know, hats off to Visma, you know, a part of that one time, I think, think that they were trying to have, they wrote for Walt and it didn't work out, but every other stage they tried to execute a plan. They won. Five times already.

Five stage wins in 15 stages. So what have Welta for them? I know. Right? Like, that's pretty impressive. It does help when you show up with the fastest sprinter in the race and Walt and Art in really good shape. You're probably going to win some stages.

But I was impressed with them today because it, you know, it wasn't so easy with the, you would think the shortened stage would make it easier. I thought a really complicated thing. And if you watch this stage start to finish, finish, they were going all out from the gun, like all out. Like we're talking single file. Look like they're going to a bunch sprint, 5K into the race. So the breakway never really gets a big gap. Visma, it's on Visma to control it. And they're down to riders.

They don't have Ben Toulette. They don't have Christopla. They've gone home. That's, and two of your riders are SEPCUS, one of them is Matthew Brennan. They probably can't do any work either because SEPCUS, you know, even if he wanted to, like pulling on the flat to control an early break, probably not the best use of his energies. So they don't have a lot of riders. They have to control this extremely out of control hard day.

And you think, well, okay, just control it. Brennan Sprint win. But the closer, let's say they do that, the closer they get to the line, the harder that is going to be to control. because everyone's going to start attacking you. You have fewer and fewer riders to control things, but then by getting Van Art up the road, you flip everything. It's like, well, okay, we're fine if this break goes. Do you want to pull for us?

Kofidus? How do you feel about that? And Kofidus probably says, we don't really want to pull because we don't want to sprint against Matthew Brennan. And then if you're Red Bull, your spinner's been dropped because the stage is so hard, made partly so hard because the stage was shortened. So I really liked that. I really liked how they play it.

What did you think of this little move, though, Johan? Second time we've seen it from Venart DeVelt in the last two years. The intermediate sprint comes up. Do people think he's just going for the points and they don't go with him? And then he says, well, if you're going to give me that much room, I'm going to go. Because that was the winning move of the day, the intermediate sprint point where he got the gap. Was that a bit of an oopsie-dazy from everybody else? Should they have gone with him?

I don't think so. I mean, the question we have to ask ourselves, you know, at this point in the race after 15 stages, and I know the answer to that question, who has something left? There is something left to make it because obviously if they don't make it hard for him for the sprint points, which of course, this is not a contest anymore, he just goes to the front, gets the points. But there's not that many riders who have something left to go and breakaways. So, I mean, yeah, maybe two or three other guys could have paid more attention and also be in that group. But it was definitely never going to be the whole peloton.

I mean, after some point, I mean, it's the same riders we're seeing, you know, like, Tipon Nice was already getting better. Lekneson has been in many moves. Romale is in great shape. And what, Van Arct is basically everywhere. So it's the typical ground tour, third week scenario, always the same riders in front. Walt Von Ard seems to be the best of those almost same riders on those kind of stages. I mean, you can almost see the fatigue at that point. It had only been 70K, but they were, it was all out for the 70K.

Those guys were, they were probably happy when they saw Walt Van Argoe, because I meant they could finally slow up and let the people that, we're silly enough to chase him go and i mean you're talking about the power it like it is impressive because he gets to the front you know when you're out on a bike ride we're all imagining we we are wow van art right like that's who you're emulating we're like i'm just putting out so much power like he immediately goes to the front of the talk for yourself speak for yourself but i'm not thinking speak for yourself banser that's no that i'm thinking and he immediately goes to the front of the group and the pace increases

10%. And then they don't attack them. And you might think, well, what are these idiots doing? They should attack them because he's attacking them. You know, he had the pace so hard between, let's say, 25K to go and 15K to go. No one could attack because they were doing everything. They could not to get dropped. So he's basically setting up his own setup. And then he gets to the last 15K. Well, now he's got to control attacks on the flats. He does that. Oh, now I'm my own lead out rider. He can do that. And then he wins the sprint. Not so easy to accomplish all of that. No, no, no.

I think we're seeing, you know, probably not the same anymore as we have, you've been used in the Tour de France where I walked on arc one, one sprints, a time trial, and a mountain stage, right? That's not happening anymore. But in terms of being in shape and, you know, winning races with pure power, this is prime. This is prime Walton Art shows you how

unbelievable big of an engine he has, how much hunger he still has to win stages and how much he enjoys winning. Because that's something I always ask myself, you know, when you have these guys who have won so much, you know, you can say Wolvernard has won world titles. He's won pari roulette.

He's won Milan San Remo. He's one through the front stages. The way they still can get pleasure out of, say, okay, only a Vuelta win, you know, with all due respect, but, you know, he's won so many times. Yeah, that's a good point. You see that pleasure coming back and back and back and how unbelievably excited he is when he crosses the line. That's nice to see, man. That's nice to see.

Yeah, I mean, it is the Volta. You know, we work with a guy who would probably say the Volta. Who cares about the Valta? But, you know, it's some of the best guys lacing it up to all win. And he's beating them. That's got to feel good, number one. And number two, you're right. This is he's building towards World Championships.

And this is all coming together pretty well. I think I thought this. I did not say this. Correct me if I'm repeating myself. But I looked at the course, world's not as hard as I thought because you think, well, it's in Montreal. It's going to be just like the Montreal race, right? Not really because it's longer. It's like 50 to 60K longer and it's almost 2,000 feet less of climbing.

So, you know, that's less climbing spread over a much longer race, which will make it far more accessible to someone like Walt Benard. I mean, that's great news for him. So it's a great course for him. Yeah. And also for for Wal-Bernard, it's also obviously really good news that the distance, you know, like there is a big difference between a 200-kilometer race and a 255, to 270 kilometers race it's a big difference and on top of that you know when it's laps and there's

repetition you know it does not need to be that hard to make it really really really really very difficult at the end you know look for example the the the world championships when it was in leuven right not a not a very hard course you know short clans yeah yeah that's a good point the repetition The repetition and the distance is what makes a world championships always hard. So I think the Montreal course, it's hard enough to make it really a race of attrition. And typically, in a world championships, anything that's above 250K, everybody's dragging themselves to the finish line. So it's the procession of dead bodies. It is weird.

I got in an argument with a pro cyclist about this. was saying that like oh the distance doesn't matter right 150 200 250 300 it's all the same but you actually once you get over 250 it is a small pool of riders that win like if i laid out for you everyone that wins 250 and below and then everyone that wins 250 and above you'd be shocked at how few riders actually can even contest those wins yeah so there must be something to the distance right yeah yeah yeah well i think i'm going to guess i don't know who it is but i'm going to guess that pro cyclist is not a first level pro cyclist and for sure he's never been well in races of much more than 200 kilometers it's actually not it's more in i don't want to say more let's just

say they're an olympic gold medalist in cycling but i don't want i don't want people to be able to guess who it is i think their take is is incorrect on this but yeah it's actually it was not it was not i'm sure about that okay yeah okay which makes it even more baffling. I don't understand your argument. But let's take a quick break and I have some questions for you actually about this very topic that I'm going to ask you on the side. Okay. Everybody this episode is brought to by Ultra Pouches with the Vulta in its third week. Let's take a little time to talk about our presenting sponsor that made this all possible ultra pouches. If you're someone who needs a coffee every couple hours just to feel normal,

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about them please support our show and tell them we sent you okay yohan I have two main questions I have three main questions for you first of all you're in that group today how do you beat waltvin art or what what's your best chance yeah I mean late attack late attack and and some some hesitation but you know Walt von arct with these kind of legs there has never been hesitation. He just decided, okay, last 4 or 5K, I'm just going after everything. It's up to me.

I'm just closing everything down. You can't be the guy like that. And then your hope can be, for example, in the case of Thibonais or Romale, who are also fast riders, your hope can be that he has been so confident that when he really needs to go super hard for the sprint,

all of a sudden, he needs to sit down. because the power's gone or he gets cramps or whatever. It has happened, but not with this vulvan art. Not with this vauburn. Today he said, okay, I'm winning this. Nothing is going to happen. Try, try, try. You could see, you know, there was kind of one time, a moment of hesitation.

I think when people next went away with another guy. He let another guy, I think he let Romilly first pull a little bit, and then he looked. When Romilly couldn't close it, he just, decided, okay, the difference in power that was there between Van Art and the other five was remarkable. Yeah, the only way you can beat him is a surprise attack, which was not going to happen because he has decided that it was not going to happen.

And then, you know, just what I just said, Bob Van Ard all of a sudden, you know, realizing when he has to really get out of the saddle, Oh, shit. My legs are gone. Well, yeah, it's a super interesting thing. That's the answer. I was hoping I was getting. I mean, on the attacks, it'd be like if me, you and Christian, we're out with Pagachar and we're

like, all right, we're going to attack him one after another. It's like, well, he's just going to close us down every time. It's not going to work. And at some point, Spencer, you know, like if you have a dominant writer like this world of an art in these five guys, I was actually waiting and I would not have been surprised if Wauvinard closed one goes one of those gaps down and just went by himself. I just went. I envisioned that scenario possible.

And I'm sure that's what they were afraid of. So then it's incentivizing them to wait because we've seen Wabinar. I think of Nielsen Palace at was that Dwarz, Doris d'Orvlander and where you're, you know, you're right. He can't quite sprint. He sits down. The power's not there. So you're thinking, if you're T.

Bonaise, you're thinking, may I could win a sprint here. So then you're not going to attack as much. What do you think about this theory? Like the Wild Van Ard, we've seen him lose sprints like this. Today he did not lose it. Two days ago, he did not even come close to losing it.

Is that just the level? Like the lower your fitness, the more likely you are to lose a sprint. It's not really about the sprint being there or not. It's like a fitness question. Yeah, yeah, for sure. For sure. Also, you know, it was a short stage today.

Like whenever that just happened to Walt Vonnart, it was in the spring. Spring Classics burning out of energy because you've done so much in a 110-kilometer stage, that was not going to happen. Yes, that's a very good point, especially, yeah, a Spring Classic in the middle of the week in the middle of Spring Classics. You're probably not at your freshest. Yeah.

Second question of the day, should all races be shorter? This was pretty good. Like if you think about, well, if they kept the original quarter, course, that would have been kind of boring. Like, I don't know what that would have added. Or is this just kind of a unique situation where in this scenario, it produced a better race? I mean, I liked it. I liked it.

At the same time, you know, I also think that a grant tour needs to have stages that are long and are weighing you out because it's a race who also recovers the best and you need longer stages. You can't have all short stages like this. I think I don't know what it would do. It would increase the speeds overall if it's all really short stages. But once in a while I think I like it. I'm still baffled about the fact that they started at 3 p.m. however, it's with the heat there. It was so hot, by the way. It was absolutely 43 degrees at 3 p.m. Yeah. And you know, southern Spain, it's like where I It can be really hot, but in the shoulder times, it's not that bad. You know, you get started in the morning, and it's not like Kansas heat, where it's just always, like, you know, it's hot at midnight.

It's hot at four in the morning. Like, they could have played, done this. I mean, it gets tough with the TV schedule. I did hear a theory today, just run it in the morning and air it later in the day. Just pretend it happened later in the day. Yeah. It'd be kind of weird, but it's not a terrible solution, actually. Yeah, yeah.

But, you know, I got some messages from our listeners. Also, for example, one brought up a really good point. You know, an Iron Man, you know, is they started 6 in the morning. It's true. It's a little extreme. Lots of people are watching it, you know? Well, the women is not a great, not a great example to cite for watching for viewers, but the women at Philly last weekend, they went at like 9 in the morning.

So, like, clearly it's possible, right? And they got far better weather than the men did for that race because they had to go so early before the men went. But next question. I do think you're right. I think there can be strategic trimming of some of these stages to create better entertainment products. But you need longer, at least a few longer stages,

to really, like the cream comes to the top. When the stages you get really hard. But don't be like the Gero and just throw like a 200, 150K stage out at random between two towns because it's convenient. That's probably not the best for the entertainment product. But second stage, kind of an odd rhythm of the race. At the Gert Italia earlier this year, we had a stage 15 that started in like a suburb of Milan, finished in Milan, was not a G.C. stage.

It's these stages that are leading into the third week on a weekend, prime time viewing, and they're completely disconnected from the GC battle, kind of a strange thing to do that I don't really understand. But those are two of my favorite stages of the year. I thought they were quite good. And we saw on them where riders, this was a little different because it had hills. That was a flat stage and the break did win. But you look at like Rasmus de Broina and Andreas Slightninson.

They're competing for the stage win and they jumped in the early breakaway on stage 15. Probably would go against conventional wisdom. But just definitely something to flag. there. Like, well, like if you, if you want to contest these jump in the breakaway. But what do you think about these stage 15s? This is very unorthodox, I feel like, unless I miss remembering. I feel like the weekends always used to be saved for big GC set pieces. Like, what do you, what do you think about these kind of oddball stage 15s we've had? Yeah. I mean, definitely. If it's on a weekend, I would personally also probably decide if I could design a course. That would be a big stage. I would think so. Yeah. The spectators on the road, you know, it's, I don't know, man. I don't know. I mean, this was an interesting stage. And the fact that at the end, it was, you know, reduced to 110 kilometers, made it

very interesting. I wonder what would have happened. It was, what was it initially? 160. It was like 190 almost. It was like 107K. Wow. Okay.

Yeah. You know what? If it would have been 190, I think we'll probably have been a boring stage with a break It takes a lot of time. Yeah. Well, a stage like that, I mean, today's stage, I didn't, I didn't really mind it was on the weekend because it's super entertaining. I know. I thought it was like a great piece of entertainment.

Yeah. But a 190 kilometer stage like this with that kind of profile, we probably have been sitting there. You know, big group going away, six, seven, eight minutes. Okay. And then just wait for the final to see. how the race for the stage when develops. So yeah, it's, it's, I'm, I still think that the weekends should probably look for the big mountain stages.

My guess as to why this is happening is they're working backwards from like stage 20 basically. Yeah. So at this race, stage 21 is actually really interesting. I'm excited to watch it. Normally though, stage 21 is throwaway. But Saturday, next Saturday, stage 20, huge day. Next Friday, stage 19, really big, tough mountain day.

Thursday is time trial. So right there, that's the race. That's a GC race. Like Thursday, Friday, Saturday, we'll decide the GC. And then you kind of get, you know, if you go to a mountain stage today, is that asking too much of the riders. That must be what they're thinking, right? Or it's not going to be as exciting as you want it to be because they're fatigued.

Like yesterday was a really hard summit finish. So I'm and you kind of get three oddball stages like today, Tuesday, Wednesday are all kind of disconnected from the G.C. Yeah. But it's because they want the final weekend to be all about the G.C. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. So, I mean, you can't put mountain stages every day. I don't, I don't dislike this.

You know, I personally thought, I mean, I just checked. I was convinced that the time trial was going to be the first after the rest of it. That's what I learned to. So it's now it turns out the stage 18 instead of stage 16. So yeah, 16 and 17 are going to be interesting to see how it develops. We're going to talk about that in a little bit. But I'm not necessarily against putting a few of these stages before the final weekend where in theory everything can still change.

Yes. And just before we go to the preview, this is the same. same this what's the name of this town how do you correctly pronounce it cordoba cordoba so known for two things two major things 24 wavinar one here so two consecutive wins for wavonart in this town also was like the seat of like the moorish empire which i only found out like a week ago but i was like oh i know this town and they were showing the super impressive palace grounds with the orange trees down there. But I thought I do think that I thought that Root was a little weird when I first saw I'm like, that's a lot of time in Southern Spain. Like basically we're there for a week and a half.

But it is kind of making me want to visit Southern Spain into Lucia. So I guess it's doing its job. It's accomplishing its goals, even with the extreme heat. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's a beautiful part of Spain. And it's actually, it could be a lot hotter. Yeah. Yeah. Although, you know, initially when we were looking at the weather reports a week ago, we said, oh, it's going to be fine. It's getting harder, yeah. It's getting into 38, 39 degree. It's hot, it's odd, which, you know, it's kind of normal. I mean, the country when we saw 29, 30, 31 degrees, that's not normal.

That's not normal for, you know, end of August, beginning of September in that area. So they're going to suffer, man. I mean, let's see if there is more of these kind of decisions to make stages short. I'm sure the guys have enjoyed it today to have to be only out for two and a half hours instead of, you know, four hours. Yeah. Apparently there's been a lot of rumbling from the Peloton that it's been too hot to. I mean, yeah, today probably it's still, you bring up a good point. Like, well, okay, you shortened it, but now it's at 3 p.m.

It's the hottest part of the day. Yeah, when you have four hours, five hours out and it's 100 degrees, 40 degrees the whole time, that's extremely difficult. I'm curious to see what they do with some of these stages. I mean, a lot of them, I guess once they get through the next three stages, though, a lot of it's at elevation, which I assume will be cooler, especially stage 20, maybe. Stage 21 will be hot, but that's short, that's another short stage, 112K, so that could work. But let's take a quick break and then we'll preview Tuesdays, stage 16, if that works. Okay, Johan, we are back. not tomorrow.

Don't tune in tomorrow to watch the vault until you get a day off. Tuesday, stage 16, 181 kilometers, another long stage. This is another one that, you know, it is point to point, harder to shorten than today's. But keep an eye on if they shorten this. There are zero categorized climbs. There are a few uncategorized climbs, though. But the final, let's say, 50K, 70K almost is basically flat. instead of saying how do you think this is going to play out and who do you think's going to win?

I'm just going to ask you, is this another Visma win or not? Or does somebody else win? I think it's a big possibility that Matthew Brennan win this stage. I think so, too. Although, although I have to, it's flat. You know, it's flat as far as I see the finishing straight is flat. So no really, no innovation at all in the last, I see here in the last, last, 65K

I think Bunch sprint Bunch sprint Matthew Brennan win number six for Vizma Well right now he is minus 105 for the stage win

we got burned with him today but that's pretty good price for a flat stage Jordy Mayus plus 500 Jordy Mayus definitely suffered today so I don't know I mean, that is the type of rider, though, that could come out of nowhere. You know, it's like a win in a third week.

He's done it actually at the Tour de France. Brian Carcard, who I was impressed with today, the fact that he was even in that front front GC group is tough, plus 650. Yeah. Well, Van Arte, 800, Magnus Court plus 1900. Romaleigh plus 2,500. Only question, you know, I have about the bunch sprint and Brandon is, they're now a few.

rather short. So controlling it is not going to be easy. Where's the sprint points? Wait, let's see. Where's the sprint points in this stage? That's at the end. Okay. So Walt could be in the break again. He could. He could. He probably will. If you look at the pro, I mean, the way the profile runs that first part is not easy. There's a lot of, a lot of climbs, a lot of climbs that a lot of climbs that are also not qualified as a KOM. So breakaway will be got, there will be a breakaway.

Then it's the question, okay, at kilometer 97 where everything, all most of the elevation is done, that's half race. Which team will try to bring it back? Co-fit us. Co-fit us will definitely do it. Yeah, yeah. But the, you know, since there's so many, so many teams who haven't won any stage,

and the chances are less and less. You know, in the first part of the race of the stage, there's a lot of teams who will get the instructions against. I don't care what you do. Be in the break. Be in the break. We'll see what happens. This is now starting, you know, the last week,

all the teams who have had no results and there's, it's, it's stage 16 and stage 17. Those are the only two stages that it's possible. Yes. Yeah. That's a good point. Yeah, stage 16, 17, because then it's time trial, mountain, mountain. Yeah. Yeah. Tough day.

It's not a processional sprint day, so you don't even have a chance there. Yeah. Here's another concern, just another wrench in here. So we run point to point. We go north to south. We finish right on the coast, the southern coast of Spain. The wind is from the north, or at least forecast it at this point, from the northwest. west. So that means it's

tail to cross almost the entire day around 20 kilometers an hour. Are we worried about splits? I mean, if it's 20 kilometers per hour cross tailwind, it's nervous. Yeah, which I guess

increases the chances of a bunch sprint because the break will get pulled back by people just positioning. I don't think there's any terrain to really break the peloton and surprise one of the favorites. That's not going to happen. But it brings tension in the peloton. So, you know, the more, the more tension is there in the peloton, the faster the speed. So a break might not get much time. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, if you're a breakaway, that's not what you want to hear. Yeah. You know, nervous peloton, crosswinds, constant acceleration, constant speed from pace from the peloton because people are positioning. You don't even need a team to be dedicated to pull you back. I think that helps Brennan. And I think, let's say it does split up there's a good chance Brendan or Van Out, Van Art or both will be in the front split. So because they're both classics riders. I think it only helps Feismas chance of winning.

I do think it will make the day. I don't think we're actually not, there's not many days at this Welta where you just flip it on and they're chilling out. You know, it is like, something going on like every day. It's a lot of stress, a lot of pace, like either crashes or

risks of crosswinds, riders. You know, the zero, and Maybe this is a stereotype, but definitely it's true this year. Maybe a lot of days where guys are just cruising, you know, waiting for a set piece. It's not really like that at this wealth at all. Not at all, not at all. Which I guess has been the case to last the last few years where, you know, and the vault is notorious for, you know, like big crosswind days in the third week that,

that blow the race up. If you think about it, it's probably the most common there than any grant tour, but anything else, Johan, before we take off? I think we've covered everything of today's short stage, Spencer. Okay. And before we leave, so Santiago Bittrago, minus 550 for King of the Mountains,

Enric Maas plus 650, Walt Vennart plus 650. Who do you think wins the King of the Mountains? Vitrago. He has 69 points. Yesterday was a big day for him. He has 69 points while Barnard is 40. Technically is still possible, but.

Yeah. And not looking likely with, yeah. The thing is, it's, you know, any break, but Van Arte's in, Vitrago has to be in, and he will be in it also. So if Fanart wins those sprints for KOMs, Butrago's going to be second. I think he has,

I think it looks good for Betraco to be the KOM. Someone I would not bet on is Inric Moss, because as we saw on state, on yesterday stage, I think that's going to be the playbook. I think they're happy to let other people go, get those points, get the, means get those time bonuses yeah they're not going to chase them down yep all right joan well we'll

talk to we won't talk tomorrow but we will talk to you on tuesday breaking down stage 16 hopefully uh hopefully a visma win in some sort because i'm going to bet on both of those riders and then uh we'll preview stage 17 then we're in the in the in the end game of this volta if you can believe it pretty crazy yeah okay sponsor thanks okay bye