THEMOVE - Breaking Down The Cobbled Classics Opening Weekend | THEMOVE

Episode Date: March 3, 2025

Johan Bruyneel, George Hincapie, and Spencer Martin break down the big picture takeaways from the opening weekend of Cobbled Classics racing, where Søren Wærenskjold unexpectedly won Saturday's Omloop Nieuwsblad, and Jasper Philipsen and his dominant Alpecin-Deceuninck took victory the following day at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne. In addition to dissecting how the races were won, the crew debates what to make of the disappointing showings from the sport's two top teams, UAE and Visma, and how much we should read into their opening weekend underperformance.   Become a WEDŪ Member Today to Unlock VIP Access and Join Johan & Spencer for an exclusive live members-only Q&A on Wednesday, March 5th, at 12:00 PM Central: https://access.wedu.team   Pique: For a limited time, get 20% off for life plus a free Starter Kit (rechargeable frother and glass beaker) when you grab the Pu'er Bundle. With Pique's 90-day money-back guarantee, you've got nothing to lose. Try it now at https://piquelife.com/themove and feel the difference on your next ride.   Maui Nui Venison: Maui Nui offers the only 100% Wild-Harvested meat that's completely stress-free and responsibly sourced. It's perfect for anyone looking to elevate their meals with delicious, high-quality protein.   Maui Nui Venison is offering THEMOVE listeners a limited collection of our favorite cuts and products. But...supply is limited by the nature of their work, so don't wait. Check them out.   https://mauinuivenison.com/lp/THEMOVE?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=show_notes&utm_campaign=THEMOVE&utm_term=THEMOVE&utm_content=landingpage   AG1: AG1 is offering new subscribers a FREE $76 gift when you sign up. You’ll get a Welcome Kit, a bottle of D3K2 AND 5 free travel packs in your first box. So make sure to check out. https://www.DrinkAG1.com/themove    OneSkin: OneSkin is the world's first skin longevity company, keeping your skin looking and acting younger for longer. Get started today with 15% off using code THEMOVE at https://oneskin.co          

We saw guys like Matteo Jurgensen. We saw guys from Quickstep. We saw guys from Copedis up there pulling. But really nobody from Uno X. And it ended up being arguably their biggest victory of the team's history. I mean, winning the opening weekend classic is a huge deal for that team. Yeah, it's just that's the type of racing it is. If it's a headwind, you can never give up in a race like tour flanders or headpokes because you can always come back

everybody welcome back to the move i'm spencer martin i'm here with george shinkapi and johan bernil and we are discussing the opening weekend of classics omloop y'all and i were debating this on friday what is this race called? It's called Omloop Newsblad now from Omloop Het Newsblad and Kern Brussels Kern, not Brussels anymore. They took that S off. Kern Brussels Kern on Sunday,

won by Jasper Philipson and Soren. If anyone wants to help me with this name, what's his last name, Johan, the winner of Omloop? Wearing skills. Oh, wow. That's okay. But, butan, the winner of Omloop? Werniskult. Oh, wow. But then there's

the other pronunciation like the Norwegian or same like we say Vingegaard and Vingego. There's another pronunciation of Werniskult, which right now I don't know. It's a bit different.

We just have to hope Soren never wins another race because this is getting ridiculous. These Scandinavian names are too difficult for my simple palate. But before we get into that and break it all down, let's talk about our sponsors today. The first one is Peak Tees with their Peak Poo-er Teas. And as cyclists, we know that energy, endurance, and digestion can make or break performance. And one of the biggest differentiators in modern cycling, probably what we saw over the weekend, you didn't see it, but it was there,

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but supply is limited by the nature of their work. So don't wait. Head to MauiNuiVenison.com slash The Move, spelled out just like the last one, to secure your access now. That's MauiNuiVenison, M-A-U-I-N-U-I, so like the island plus Nui, N-U-I, venison.com slash the move all right george johan people don't want to hear me talk about these races they want to hear you guys talk about it omloop was on saturday it feels like a lifetime ago at this point one in a i was surprised a shockingly large group it was like a 50 plus rider group sprinted the end I thought we were away from those days of racing, but what, I mean, as, as guys who have done these races, like what, what was your first take after watching this race? Were you surprised by the winner? Number one. I don't think you can be surprised.

I mean, he's, I mean, uh, after we look into his stats, you know, he had 14 wins already in professional cycling. And when it's a sprint with 50 guys and he's there, I think he had, he had his chances, but for sure there were other favorites, right? George, there were other, other names that came up before you would even think about certain where it's called. Yeah, for sure. And I, what, what makes these races so special is a, and it's called. Yeah, for sure. And what makes these races so special is Surin with, I think, 40K to go up the Molenberg. He basically had to stop

at his put down, caught behind the crash. But that's what makes these races so unique. You have one guy like Josh Towing away by 30 seconds up the road. Out between Phoenix,

a strong team up with four or five guys still represented over the top of the Mullenberg. And here he is. He's basically, most people would give up there. Okay. My foot's on the ground.

I got to basically, I don't even know how you get back on the bike on the Mullenberg. Cause it's so steep and so rough, but he got back on the bike and clawed his way back and ends up winning the whole damn race. I'm sure he was even shocked that he was in it for the win. But once you get back in it and a race like that, probably struggling up the mirror, definitely struggling up the Bosberg.

But the whole thing came back together. Like we saw. And then you're like, Oh shit, I got nothing to lose. I'm back in this race. I thought I was out of it 60 K ago. So it's just a lot less pressure at that point. Cause you're back in it sprinting for the win. And he showed uh that he's he's got the legs to finish it off yeah fun fact george uh you know we're in school was not even supposed to be in the race you know he was not he came as a substitute for a teammate who got sick or something he was basically gambling everything on kuna bristol kuna which is more suited for sprinters. Um, and so, um, and then also,

and also if you, if you, if you look, if you see me, you see it on the picture behind me, uh, he was not, I think he must have been a last minute call because he was, uh, it's strange to see a guy winning a classic with leg warmers. I was wondering about that. You know what the reason was? I had heard this. Yeah. He hadn't shaved his legs. He hadn't shaved his legs.

He shaved them for the day after. So, you know, I mean, you can, that's the proof that, you know, you can plan everything. You can have these strong teams with this strategic plan. And then this guy comes in, obviously he must be in good shape. And, and, uh, he comes in, you know, not planned. Okay. I'm going to do the race. No pressure.

Also probably with no expectations. And, and sometimes these kinds of races, especially the way this race has developed, you know, you save yourself so much because, you know, you don't have the confidence, you don't, I mean, you're okay. We'll see what'll see what we'll see what happens right and so you're sitting in the bunch okay you're not in the first group okay no problem maybe we come back but if not you know I'm gambling everything on tomorrow and finally he got lucky that it came back together and he was in those 40 50 guys uh and yeah the way he won was was was incredible was incredible, uh, huge power and, uh, took the inside also of the, the, the last, the last slight corner, the last slight bent and, and

won, um, won the race. Yeah. And, um, it didn't seem like they had much pressure in the last six, seven. Okay. We saw guys like Mateo Jorgensen. Um, we saw guys from, from quick step. We saw guys from Copitas up there pulling, but really nobody from Uno X and ended up being arguably their biggest victory

of the team's history. I mean, winning the opening weekend classic is a huge deal for that team. Um, yeah, it's just, uh, it's that, that's the type of racing it is. If it's a headwind and you can never give up in a race like tour Flanders or head folks, because you can always come back small roads, headwinds, the, the leaders, the favorites, the strong guys, oftentimes they kind of, they kind of just like, uh, shut each other off by being in the front group of seven, eight, nine, 10 guys.

They're not going to work together. So a lot of times like what we saw over the boss bird, they kind of just started attacking. They sit up, the rest of the field comes back. And also, also, I mean, if you, if you listen to Tom Pitcock's interview after the race, for example, you know, he said that, I mean, he didn't have a great day, but he was, you know, he's also said,

it's the first time that the big guys all are, the big teams are all racing together for in this kind of races. But he said, you know, the level has gone up once again, you know, the level is extremely high of the Peloton and there's, there's very little difference between, and especially, you know, when, when the big guys like, you know, Van der Poel and Pogacar and Remco and Jonas are not there. It's quite level, you know what I mean? There's a lot of guys who are not there, it's quite level.

You know, I mean, there's a lot of guys who are really close to the same level. And you can see before in the preview, Spencer and I, we talked about, you know, the two powerhouses, the two teams that we expected to dominate the race. You know, UAE on one hand with a very strong team and then Visma, Alisa Bike on the other hand. Well, it turned out that they were actually not a factor in the race. In my opinion, the strongest team by far

was Alpecin on Saturday. I mean, there was, after the Molenberg, there was a split of about 25 riders. They had five riders in there, Alpecin. And you know, Wismar only had one rider, was Matteo Jorgensen.

And UAE, I think, had one or two riders. So they were never, these two teams, whatever we have seen in the first few races, they have not been able to put their stamp on the race, which, you know, of course now with, with, with Bogacar coming in, in other races, it probably, but, and then we'll see what happens with Wismar is if Wout can improve a little bit, if Ambarla and Laporte can come in, but, you know, for all the other classics, I think we're going to see more of the same because,

and especially now also riders and teams are going to see, Hey, we can win. Actually, we can win against these, these teams. And it's possible, you know, it's, it's these classics are, you know, when, when there's not really one rider or two riders who stick out there, they become a lot more tactical and we can never predict the outcome. Yeah. I mean, we did see a team like UAE go to the front with 90K to go. I think I was on the hottest strata,

one of those sections. And yeah, that's arguably kind of early. They tried to display strength and dominance there. But when it came down to it, 40K to go and the approach to the Molenberg, which you and I know is very technical and very matter of fact. I mean, it's 40K to go, a very steep climb. It's almost assured.

Something is going to happen. The Peloton is going to get super strong out. There's most likely going to be a selection. Like you said, you're on Al-Basin Phoenix was really the only team with four or five guys up there before the section. And then after the section as well, which indicates how strong they actually were. And I did, I did, I did think Mateo jurgensen rode a great ride he was always up there always in the front of those climbs perhaps a lot on his own and perhaps working for a while more than he might have should have because he wasn't looking as good but i think

they have plenty of time to reach their peak before flanders i i agree i agree but i do i do think though however i mean you know initially I have said you know Spencer I know you after the race in Chayenne you said okay I'm worried about Van Aert I'm not worried but he doesn't look I mean at least in those two races he was always out of position whenever it matters. And that's a consequence of not having super legs. You know, like normally Van Aert would be in a lot better position at the Molenberg. And, you know, he was kind of in front, but he didn't make it. And then also on the Muir, he was top five at the start. And actually, I think he lost one or two positions. So that's not the super van art that we expect,

especially with in absence of on the pool and Bogacar. And I think he was also quite honest about that, that he said, okay, I felt okay, but didn't feel great. And so, so yeah, I mean, we'll, we'll, we'll see, maybe he needs a few more races to get into it, but it's not the Von Aert that I expected to see in the opening weekend. Yeah, not only that, with his guys doing so much work there at the end, in the final 600, 700 meters, he was completely on his own,

sort of in the wind and trying to just, you're not used to seeing a rider of that caliber with being on one of the best teams in the world alone like that just you're not used to seeing a rider of that caliber with uh being on one of the best teams in the world alone like that with 700 meters to go but clearly he didn't have the legs anyway but it was it was kind of interesting to see that well he was okay johan it was not maybe the disaster i was worried about at high end but yeah i don't know it was weird because you're saying oh without pagacha there it's equal but it's like well it probably shouldn't be equal if walt van art is there

because when matthew vanderpoel rolls up to these classics it's not equal like he's he just steam rolled through them last year but the the main thing i'm worried about with visma and van art is did you know this it was this weird trend of like i went back and watched the omloop and kern from last year last night it's like a different team i mean they were so dominant as george said like uau was at the front with 90k to go on saturday and it didn't work out they just went to the front they were blowing these races up what's weird about this weekend is like mateo was the strongest rider on the team but then he was also working for himself. He would be on the front on the early climbs

to set up an attack from Mateo later, where it's like, well, that shouldn't be happening. Like there should be teammates working for him. Like the whole thing just felt disjointed. It was really, when you go back and watch last year's early classics, it is shocking to see the contrast there. Yeah, you're right, Spencer.

I was actually surprised to see Mateo totally on his own before the Muir. Basically just floating around in the first three, four, five guys, but totally on his own. A rider like that, with good help, with good positioning from his teammates, can certainly make a difference if he's got the legs on a climb like the Muir and bring it down to three or four guys. But I think he had to do a bit too much work before the actual climb and just kind of held his position.

And also, George, you know, the fact that they missed that split on the Molenberg. Normally, you would have Tiesch-Penot at least in the final. But Tiesch-Penot had to burn himself already to bring Van Aert back. Yeah. And that chase took a Yeah. And that, that chase took a while, you know, I think it was about 15,

20 kilometers after the Molenberg until they made it back. And obviously that takes out of you, you know, and so that's why, that's why, I mean, I guess they had three guys still, I think Benot was still there at the end,

but you know, obviously burned all the matches. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, um, the two teams that we thought that would dominate this race were actually not that dominating, dominating. So I think that's, that's good to see. Um, and then another thing I would like to point out, uh, you know, he, we didn't see, he didn't have a strong result at the end, but hey, Matias Vacek on Little Trek

was, in my opinion, the strongest rider by far individually, both on the Muir and the Bosberg. So I think this guy, we need to really put a little cross next to him, a little circle around his name for the classics, because he's going to be he's gonna be one of the guys he was yeah he certainly had a big effort there in the mirror uh essentially almost rode everybody off his wheel and i had to ask you on who he was quite quite impressive going up that but already last year he was already last very strong last year year and the year before. I mean,

wasn't he second in the opening time trial in the Vuelta, Spencer? Yeah. And he, I think he got another second too. He was in a lot of breakaways, kind of like a Derek G 2023 Giro-esque performance. Very,

very strong rider, very strong rider, great time trialist also, and, and still quite young. So definitely one of the guys for a little track for, uh, for the classics. Um, yeah, it was, it was nice to see some new names, you know, one of the weirder races was Philipson. That gives you, you're talking about the climb. He looked amazing on the climbs. Like I was shocked,

like third, second wheel on the toughest climbs his team split the race up caught van aard out couldn't be better and then it's kind of twisting in the wind there the last 200 meters doesn't win the sprint bike throws really early i don't know if you guys noticed that he biked through like while everyone else was still pedaling i don't think he would have won anyway i mean is there anything to read out of that or it's just like race didn't really just weird things happened in the inside the last kilometer and i mean we don't want to spoil kern but he did uh right the ship later in the weekend yeah i think in my opinion we saw him a lot on the climbs you know we saw him at the front of the front of the climbs positioning before the climbs where in turn i don't think we saw uh what the guy who won it much at all

on the climbs i mean he was hiding all day sort of just hanging on but saving energy um probably more of a matter of not being that confident himself and actually struggling on a lot of these climbs but ultimately saving a lot of energy and putting it all on the line in the final 200 meters where he had absolutely nothing to lose where phillipson came in with a lot of energy and putting it all on the line in the final 200 meters where he had absolutely nothing to lose, where Phillipson came in with a lot more pressure, had to be at the front, had to go with a lot of these selected times. He had to be one of the guys going. So perhaps he burned a lot of matches doing that, in my opinion.

Yeah, he was strong. He was strong. I mean, we'll talk about Kieran a little bit later, but if you look, we've said that in, we've said, you know, that in the, in UAE, he didn't win a stage. He was close a few times, but it shows that he's, you know, he has prepared really well for the classics. The guys just, you know, he, I saw an interview somewhere. He says he only cares about monuments and ground tour stages. So, you know, he's a strong rider.

And also, it doesn't mean because you could say, okay, he's the fastest sprinter of that bunch. But, you know, after a race like this, like this is a mini tour of Flanders, basically, right? More or less the same climbs, shorter, 200K. But it's not necessarily the fastest sprinter that's going to win on paper. There's a lot of other things that come into the play. But I agree, George.

I think probably the fact that he was there whenever the selection was. He was there on the Molenberg, he was there on the Muir, and he was there on the Bosberg with the first 10 riders every time. That's probably why he didn't win the sprint in the end compared to where it's called. And let's not forget to talk about Paul Magnier, 20 years old. We talked about him in our up-and-comer show. I said, you know, this rider, we're going to talk a lot about this year. He already won two races, I think until now, but in his first ever classic, so to call being second, by far the fastest sprinter,

if you see where he comes from, from the back. I think that's um i mean i saw an interview today of eve lampard his teammate and he already said it in several uh interviews that he says he he really reminds him of the young tom bonham uh same kind of power same kind of flair uh personality wise and uh super fast sprinter. Yeah. And we were talking on Friday, Johan, and I was like, Oh,

Paul Monnier. And you're like, Oh, we can't win. Cause he doesn't have the experience. And then he, he damn near one super impressive. I mean,

on Philipson, he loses the battle, but kind of wins the war because, okay, he doesn't win this race, but if he's climbing that well, like he was, he just presents problems for Visma because you get to the top of a hard

climb and a classic and it's like, well, Philipson's still here. So. Not only climbing that well, but clearly he's prepared super well for the beginning of the season because he is one of the few guys that got third on Saturday and one on Sunday. A lot of these guys, like the guy won on Saturday was nowhere to be seen. I mean, that's a big effort that one day race and I'm like, it takes a lot out of your legs and a lot of the guys aren't recovering, but clearly Philipson has put a lot of work in this early season and was ready

for like those big endurance style, selective races, uh, all throughout the classics. Yeah. Here's a crazy stat before we move on phillipson pretty big guy 75 kilos you know like for a pro cyclist that's heavy almost 20 kilos lighter than the winner of this race who's who's listed at 92 kilograms i don't know if that's true that would be 95 no yeah very tall almost two meters tall and that's, six for Americans. That's like 202 pounds. That is wild. So if you're, if you're getting dropped and you're complaining, oh, my bike's too heavy.

I'm, I'm too fat. It's like, no, that's not just put out more power. That's the answer. That was the, that's how he solved the problem on Saturday. Just get an FTP of five 50. What's the problem here, folks. But we'll talk about Kern. Do you guys have anything else to talk about? Yeah. Just a real quick mention about, uh, the women race.

Oh yeah. Um, you know, uh, I I've never seen this in, in women's cycling. There was, I think, six or seven riders initially in the breakaway. They got 14 minutes. By the time the race, the final started, I think, with 30k to go, they still had eight minutes. Then they started to basically set the pace in the peloton a little bit before the Muir, which is still 30k to go. So there was of course no way they could catch them. Two riders of that breakaway made it and

31-year-old Belgian was, what's her name? Lotte. Lotte, I don't know her last name anymore now. But also Lotte, like Lotte Kopecky but another Lotte. Lotte, I don't know her last name anymore now. But also Lotte, like Lotte Kopecky, but another Lotte. From Arkea, won the race.

I think her first race ever, she won at 31 years old and straight away, home run with Nilsblad. That's a big win. What's going on in the team car, Johan? I don't fully understand how this could have happened. Well, this is clear. I mean, to me, it's clearly the rivalry between FDG and SDWorks.

That's, you know, those are the two strong teams. None of both wanted to take the responsibility. Apparently, I've heard some interviews. None of the directors talk to each other. I mean, you know, you can't let that happen. That's, that's, you know, that's, you're never going to win. So, you know, as he works, they were there. I mean, their strongest rider was Lorena Weebus. So they said, yeah, okay. You know,

we didn't want to take the risk because we didn't know if Lorena could make it over the mirror close enough to Demi Vollering. Demi Vollering X as he works now with FDG. So obviously there's a huge rivalry there. And it seems like on this first occasion, they prefer not to help each other and let another team win rather than have their options for the win. Demi Vollering finished third. win rather than have their options for the, for the win. Um, then we've all ring finished third. Finally, she showed she was the strongest, uh, of the, of all the rest, but, uh, yeah, she came for third place. So it's not good enough. Strange.

So they caught the whole breakaway except for the two girls. Yeah. Yeah. They had three minutes at the end. So it wasn't particularly close. Like it's not like oh it was a 15 second miscalculation i i respect the pettiness i mean that's the only answer is that there's like sd works is like yeah we're not going to help you so is your new team going to do it they sacrificed a race essentially as we said spencer in the in the Spencer, before the show, Demi Vollering left SD Works not in great circumstances. She has been relatively critical in the offseason about SD Works

and her relationship with Lotto Copecchi. So there's definitely, you know, it's not a love affair anymore. There's some revenge feelings and, um, you know, let's hope it doesn't, uh, go on through the whole season, but the first race was definitely not, uh, you know, very, it was not a good promotion for women cycling. I don't know. I would say I'm, I'm, I'm having so much. I thought it was amazing. You like rarely, it was like a meltdown of the matrix. You don't expect to I would say I'm, I'm, I'm having so much. I thought it was amazing. You're like, rarely it was like a meltdown of the matrix.

You don't expect to see this. And then what's even more fun is SD works is trying to win the women's tour with a lot of Kopecky. So I was like, it's a rivalry is only going to build. And Kopecky wasn't even at this race, right? It's like,

it's just like the shadow looms large season later. I think our first race is going to be Milan San Remo, which is new, correct? Cause I don't ever remember. Yeah, it is new. A women's months in Remo.

Uh, is it new? Yeah, it has to be right. I don't ever recall. Okay. Okay. Um,

yeah, but I mean, it's also completely different approach for Lotto Kopecky. Uh, first time she, she, uh, I mean, she's won basically everything already except the Tour. And she wants to see. And I think, you know, let's also wait and see how good Anna van der Brink is later on in the season.

Reportedly, she's on a very high level already and um so those two together versus uh demi volering that's going to be interesting george you know this story do you know who demi who had i don't know if she was her coach but she definitely had access to her training peaks last year anna vanna bregan had access to demi volarin's training peaks oh really and was planning a comeback and didn't tell her so like demi volarin read about it in the news that her director and coach was then going to be a rival next year like pretty i wonder about the ethics of that it'd be like if rimco was coaching yeah caddy and then was like actually i'm racing you so yeah yo and i'm very excited to see how that plays out. I don't think it matters that much. I don't think it matters that much.

You know, wouldn't you just pile it on though? You'd be like, you should be doing 50 hours a week, 5,000 TSS weeks for four months. Whatever, whatever, whatever they publish on Strava, you mean like, you know, you can extract the data you need basically, you know, whether you have training peaks or not. It doesn't really matter that much. It's three of the strongest riders. So and then you have Kasia Nivadoma next.

You know, we forget. Let's not forget about her. So, yeah, I'm really interested to see the comeback of Anna van der Breggen. I mean, she was already third in one of the stages in Spain, no? Yeah, and she was with Demi and then got popped. Actually, that's the problem here. Demi Volnering looks pretty clinical, except for this meltdown. I'm impressed.

Her ability just to train and then show up and be like, yeah, I'm going to drop everybody when I need to. Like it doesn't bode well for the rest of the competition. Yeah, yeah. So let's move on to Kern Brussels Kern.

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has climbing but the climbing is kind of it's like huddled together in the middle and then it's flatter 40, 50 final kilometers to the finish line. And embarrassingly, I did not know George had won this in 2005. Johan had to break this news to me before we started this episode. So George, you certainly are an expert on this. It was won by jasper phillipson over olaf coy and hugo hofstetter and third i mean more just you read that it's more of a sprint like traditional sprinter top three george would you is it fair to say this is like a it's the weekend race of this opening weekend that's better for sprinters yeah a lot a lot of the sprinters usually hold back just for that uh just for that lot a lot of the sprinters usually hold back just

for that uh just for that day a lot of them opt out of the head fold the um loop the day before just to save energy um but it's still a hard race and windy it's um technical on the circuits are always a little bit um exposed as well and we saw a lot of aggression a lot of attacks while vennard trying to get up the road but ultimately ended up uh, we saw a lot of aggression, a lot of attacks while Ben are trying to get up the road. Um, but ultimately ended up being a sprint with a lot of the top sprinters. And it was interesting to see guys like Milan and Malia nowhere near the, the mix there, so to speak. And Philipson taking the, his first win of the year and a big win,

especially after getting third place in on loop. Um, it was an exciting race, but definitely one that's, uh, catered towards the sprinters. And I know like the, uh, we didn't talk about it at on loop, but Tim Merlier and Jonathan Milan, the two guys that were faster than Phillipson last week at the UA tour were at this race. They were not an on loop Merlier, I guess took a wrong turn inside the final kilometer. Johan, I saw someone go kind of wrong way. He didn't take the wrong turn, but he got

like, I mean, in the last corner, there's a, there's a little traffic Island and he was on the wrong side of the traffic Island, which I don't understand because he, you know, he knows this race very well. Uh, they've passed there already on beforehand. They did one of one other lap. You know, he got, he got boxed in basically, and it was forced on the right side. So, you know, from the last quarter on he was, he was finished. He had no choice, no chance anymore. But still, I think Philipson again, his team did a perfect lead out. They didn't work too much during the race, but they came at the right moment just before the last corner. They brought him with three guys.

And then, you know, I mean, if you have as your last lead out guy, a guy like Caden Gross, who's probably the second or the third or the fourth best sprinter in this peloton. Yeah. You know, he basically dropped him off, went to the left, and Merlier was, I think Merlier was 80 meters in the wind, I saw. So, you know, nice win on his birthday.

He's 27 years old now. First win for him. Also, first win for the team. I mean, that's quite unusual. But I have to say, you's quite unusual, but, um, I have to say, you know, this, this Alpecin team, they keep being there when they, when, when it really matters, you know, they, uh, and the two first races in Belgium, they were, in my opinion,

the strongest team of the whole race. And, um, you know, especially with, with, uh with winning against Olaf Kooij and then having Merlier there, who was not in the game, and then Milan, who was, I think he was just top 10, but was never, never really a factor. Really, really great, great win for him. And as I said, you know, his team was amazing. I think for Alpecin having this opening weekend in Belgium,

so successful and without Mathieu van der Poel is super important. Very important. Yeah. Yeah. I was going to say like, they looked incredible and it's like, guess what? Their best riders not even here. Like that's gotta be discouraging for the rest of the Peloton. And you mentioned Milan. He did get sixth. He had a clear run at the line, but he just looked, A, I mean, this race is, you mentioned in the pre-show, much harder than UAE Tour.

So Milan's like supreme power matters less because they're all more tired. Philipson's probably fitter and a better classics rider, especially over the climbs. But man, that lead out just like Philipson's probably fitter and a better classics rider especially over the climbs but man that lead out just like philipson was right there so he just has to sprint around his teammate to win milan would have to come from like 40 meters back in the peloton to even get even with them so that's not a good place to start i also i time all of philipson's wins like so he sprints it for seven seconds in the win here like he averages something that's like eight seconds a sprint every time he wins which tells you like alphason is dropping him up so close to the line it's it's unbelievable yeah yeah like johan mentioned a guy like caden groves one of the top sprinters in the world leading you out and his other wins in the tour de france and all

that got mandipole leading him out. He's got an incredible lead-out team. And just like you guys said, without Van Der Poel there, they're shaping up to be maybe the top team of the classics. So far, they're looking like that. Yeah. Speaking of Van Der Poel, I don't know if you guys saw the news. Today, he announced

unexpectedly that he's starting his season tomorrow. There's a race's a race, uh, in Belgium, and like unexpectedly, uh, you know, there's one rider who is not, not able to race. Uh, it's bad weather in Spain, uh, where he lives. And so, uh, he asked, you know, to, uh, to start the season earlier. So all of a sudden he shows up in, in La Samane tomorrow, tomorrow we're going to see the first time. Matthew on the pool in the race.

I had no idea. That's exciting. Crazy. That's, that's got cobblestones, hasn't it? Johan? It does have cobblestones,

you know, but it's also, I mean, it's, yeah, it's, it's, there's laps at the end.

I think the Lee won that race already once or twice. Um, so, I mean, another guy that was kind of disappointing in, in, uh, in Omlo. You know, he was, he had a, he had a mechanical, but then he came back and, you know, was never, never back in the race anymore. Um, but anyway, George, maybe you can, uh, I mean, we've said that you want it. So you want Kuna, maybe you can, uh, refresh our memory a little bit. I, you know, I have to be honest. I, uh, I saw that you won, but it was out of my memory. I, I, I had completely forgotten about that. I mean, for some reason, I mean, I associate you with your win, but, uh, the win in Kuna in Kutner was really not present in my mind.

How did that win? Everyone forgot. It was 2005. It was a very, very cold Belgian day. It actually snowed about 100 K in, and the whole peloton, like not the whole peloton, I'd say 70% of the peloton started protesting, like, we can't race, I'd say 70% of the Peloton was started protesting. Like we can't race in it.

We can't race in it. And my teammate, your team rider, Stein DeVolder attacks while half the Peloton is saying, no, no, we got to stop. So everybody had to go after them. Then it was game on, like full on aggression, lots of attacks, very, very cold, very windy. And I think we got to the circuits with like 40 guys.

So it was a smaller group. And then just, there was no like real sprint routine to control the 40 guys. And there's a bunch of attacks. And I ended up getting away with, I think a lap or under a lap to go with four guys. And then I won the sprint with those guys. It was kind of one of those,

a little bit lucky to make the breakaway, but was there when the selection went and ended up winning Kerna. Yeah, it was fun. Were you one of the guys who wanted to stop because of the snow? Yeah, I was actually. That's really funny. I was like, I don't want to ride in the snow. Then it

totally came on and I ended up winning. So first, I'm going to guess you were angry at staying the Volver and then you, Oh yeah, for sure. So because of you, the race went on and I won. Yeah. And Stein and I were actually in the finals election. He, he and I were attacking a bunch and I ended up making the final move,

but yeah, it was a, it was a fun day. Then unfortunately the Volver went on to nothing else after that he won flanders i think he won it two years in a row right yeah yeah crazy yeah yeah like talk about uh if you're gonna have two victories that's that's not a bad one but just to drag you guys back into the weeds of this i have a few questions and this is another one of these races you watched last year, you watched this year. It's shocking. So like 96 K to go last year, Visman was on the front foot this year. Like Van Aert was so far back, like almost last wheel, 83 K to go. This Mont Saint Laurent climb. I mean, that's how you would say it in France.

I guess I don't know how they say it in Belgium. It's correct. It's correct. Yeah. And that's where Van Aert split the race last year. You know, it's tough cobbles. He rips, rips off the front with Los Cano and maybe Tim Wellens last year to two other riders. I forget. And then also another guy, Lawrence Pithy who got dropped. Oh, Pithy. Yes, yes, yes. So this year, well, as is the front attacking Van Aerts,

like again, deep, deep in the bunch, you know, nowhere to be seen. So you're like, well, he's not in good form, which, you know, maybe is true. But then 72K to go. He's on a paved climb. He's attacking. You know, he does some damage, but it's too fast. It's like too fast over the top. People can draft.

He can't get away. Then Tim Wellens and Stefan Bissinger, like really good move, attack up to the breakaway because at this point they're like, oh, this is probably going to the bunch sprint. How can we win? We got to get up to the break. They bridge up. Van Aert doesn't go with them. And then he attacks and tries to go up, but he's marked by Roger

Adria, I believe on Red Bull Bora who refuses to work with them. A little strange because even if they have Jordi Meos there, wouldn't they rather have a rider up the road so they cannot work? They don't make it back. But I keep coming back to George's point from last week about the chopped wheel at Andalusia. Or was that Algarve?

Like a strong van art. Does a strong van art care that a guy is sitting on his wheel or does he just motor across to the breakaway? Like 20 gap not a problem i'm going across just like the whole thing like you know why is he out of position when it's actually better for attacking why is he attacking when it's not good for attacking and letting guys go across and then trying to chase them it's all it's reactive you know he's like constantly on the back foot yeah which i guess could just be a form issue no this is this is definitely not you know prime uh well done art so that's for sure and he's uh you know he said that too um he was he was out of position too many times uh and that's

you know that's a sign that you're not you don't have super legs but still you know let's say let's not forget both of those races he did he was two times

in the final I mean he was the last or the second last lead out guy for Olaf Koi I guess in Kyrne

and in he was there you know sprinting for the win I mean until 200 meters to go so

but I think it's the whole team. The whole team is definitely not the same as last year yet. If that's going to keep being the case, we don't know. As I said, they're missing a few strong riders,

but still, a team like Wismar, they should have depth enough even without Van Barle and without Laporte. They still should have enough strength to be one of the strongest teams, and they were not. Any word on Laporte and Van Barle? Are they coming back for the other classics, or is that kind of unknown? Well, I think Laporte, it's an illness issue.

So I don't know what's, what's the problem there. So, um, I, I've seen somewhere that he's out for the classics. Von Barla, I think is going to be part of the classics. He broke his collarbone and down under, but has started racing again already. He was in the two races in France. So I think from Barla is going to be part of the classics team for at least for, uh, probably Milan, San Remo, Flanders, and then Ruben. Um, but, but yeah, I mean, um, they're, they're not,

they're not dominant as last year. You know, who they really miss is Nathan Van Hooydonk. Yeah. It's just, there's a Nathan Van Hooydonk. Yeah. It's just, there's a Nathan Van Hooydonk sized hole in this classics team. Yeah. Yeah. Van Hooydonk and Eintracht Nick. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, or even did you like, you know, Tim Van Dyke following Van Aert's move. It's like, well, that'd be nice to have that guy on your team.

Now he's on the, now he's on Red Bull. Like the, yeah yeah i don't know i get worried in sports in general you look at their there's classics team it's a lot of three it starts with threes the ages do like you don't want too many of those like a bunch of guys in their 30s and especially if you start missing years even for problems that are just like you know you're gonna virus you break a bone it's like well then you're 32 what are you 33 by the next classic season and it starts to get the math starts to get tough on that but who knows i mean they've also potentially been too strong at these races

in the last few years and then it's almost like they're running out of gas by flanders and ruby so who knows like i don't want to say like bury them they're done and then they're winning flanders and ruby and we look like fools. So I I'm, I'm monitoring the situation. Another question, George, what's your opinion, uh, on this? I mean, uh, you've done all these classics. I think it's not the first time, but at least the first time we see the majority of the team, uh, at least little track, but I think Visma also, uh, are racing these classics with, uh, one chain ring in the front. Yes.

Then 13, the, the, the gravel cassettes and the gravel rear derailleur of SRAM in the back. Um, that must be, I mean, going up the mirror and the big chain ring, even if you have a 44 or 46, it's, uh, I mean, you, you have to be sure that you have really good legs to make it. Well, I mean, these one-bys now, they have 30s, 32s in the back. So, I mean, the gearing is there. No, no, they have 46 in the back. 46, exactly.

So they have a 44 in the front, 46 in the back. That's plenty of gears. That's why you're seeing a lot of these guys not having any issues with the wet cobbles. Before, we saw a lot more people have to run up these hills because the gearing was so low. But I'm telling you, with these wider tires, less air pressure, bigger gears, these climbs are completely different than back in our day. I mean, completely different. But it's just an evolution. And I like you know,

I like the game changing in terms of technology and it's, it's just interesting to see which, what are the teams are using these days. Yeah. And then another thing, another thing I saw, and you know, I have my opinion on it. I don't know what you guys think. We saw the crash in, in Kyrgyzstan of the, this guy from Bahrain, Govekar. There was a sign there, a signpost there, but if you see just before that, his tire explodes.

I'm not sure, but I'm pretty confident it was a hookless rim and tubeless tire. Personally, I think the hookless technology should not be allowed in racing. I think there's a risk. I totally agree. Even if you just have a puncture or your tire explodes, the tire goes off, right? So what do you guys think about that?

George, what do you think? I've heard some of the teams say that, but I think more, the more and more using them, I know everybody in gravel races using them. I think it's an, it's an abnormal thing that can happen, but when it does, it could be quite a catastrophic like we saw. Um, but I think it's not the normality for those things to blow up. And I think that's, that's sort for those things to blow up and I think that's sort of the

riders prefer like a smoother ride, lower air pressure, better rolling resistance and they're going to go with that nine times out of ten. I agree tubeless yes but not hookless someone died last year from it at the Tour of Austria the tire

hooked to the rim because the hookless is just the tire that expands. Yeah. Right. And, um, I mean, I I've, I've heard that most of the manufacturers, they do it because it's cheaper, uh, to make, uh, it's less complicated of course, but, but if it's really about security, I think there should, you know, should be investigated. And for now I would say hookless is not safe. It's not, it's not safe enough. I'm riding hookless too. Yeah. I was just going to say, yeah, I totally agree with you. And you know what I'm going to go ride later today. Hookless rims.

Spencer, we don't put that kind of strain on the equipment like these guys, you know what I mean? We we're not, yeah, exactly. Not the same. Yeah. I mean, even the thing I'm, I'm very anal about my air pressure. Cause like it's,

these teams are having problems. They'll like air up the tires. They'll put them in the sun. They start popping off the rim because it heats it up to a point that you're not supposed to go above like 75 PSI. So it's like, you really have to be careful about the PSI you're putting in. Cause if you're out on a hot day, it could,

your effective PSI could get too high and then your, your tires blowing off. Remember the sprint? It was like two weeks ago, Johan, someone had a hookless rim pop off the wheel or hookless. Yeah. Tire pop off their rim. Yeah. But you know, nowadays, Spencer, the tire pressures have gone. I've spoken to mechanics. It's, it's, you know nowadays spencer the tire pressures have gone i've spoken to mechanics it's it's you know it's five five and a half maximum you know there's not nothing

nobody puts six and a half seven anymore that's those those times are gone i don't know what we're ever thinking like when you actually spell it out it's like yeah let's get that uh that's as high as you can and it's i remember george watching a documentary with you about the classics and you were like oh it's too low you were saying like the air pressure is too low you're dragging which i like i know that feeling and so it's crazy now to think that they're going even lower than probably what you were at when you thought it was too low yeah well the tires are totally different too i mean uh they're they're built for lower air pressure and they're just it's a completely different feel on the cobbles now even for riders like us when we go around like wow this isn't as

bad as i remember nine bar 21 millimeters why is this so uncomfortable um just as johan's note i'm stealing it but you saw this is pretty weird the bore was running higher profile rims in the front than the back which is could could make sense but johan we were talking like you would never do that i guess recreationally because you think the handling wouldn't be as good well i, I think it's purely for aerodynamics in my opinion. Um, unless, unless, you know, you could also say, okay, well, are these bikes so light that they can actually allow to put some weight on, you know, maybe they're at the, at the UCI limit or under the limit, but I think, I think it's, uh, aerodynamics. Um, so higher rim in the front and also high profile but a less less high profile in the back uh there was at least three or four riders of uh red bull bora riding uh in in the

envelope at least so um i don't know if that's a trend we're gonna see uh in the future but uh it was an interesting interesting new tech that uh it's the first time I'm seeing this in road races. And we, we, one of us has to go. We won't say who. No, I think I have to, I've got school pickup bearing down on me. I cannot miss that. Now it wouldn't, I would never be allowed back on this podcast, but just before we go, O'Gran Camino, the stage race, five day race wrapped up.

Derek G won the overall. I mention this because I'm so impressed with Derek G. Magnus Kort won three stages. Not easily. I guess no win is easy. He made it look easy. But Derek G basically had one climb where he could drop Magnus Kort, and he had to drop Magnus Kort because Magnus Kort was always going to win the final day.

He only had a five-second lead. He just goes to the front, rides everybody off his wheel. Almost wins the sprint after riding on the front for the last 30 minutes, doesn't win the sprint, but it's close wins the overall. I was super impressed with Derek G there. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's the next, the next step in his career. You know what I mean? He was, he was, uh, we saw him for the first time two years ago in the Giro. I mean, I've seen, I had seen him before already on, on, on the, on the world cup track meetings, I guess. Yeah.

But you know, he's transformed into a really complete rider, great climber, great time trialist, first win in a, in a stage race for him now. So I think it's, it's, you know, his evolution keeps, uh, keeps going, um, really nice win. And as you say, Martin has scored three stage wins. Um, I think all three of them were, were quite impressive. I mean, if you see the last sprint, it was, it was unbelievable. He just waits until everybody starts to sprint. And then he just sprints away from everybody. Um, that was quite impressive. Why doesn't everyone try that? Just wait and then go and then pass everybody. It's easy. Um,

super, super impressive. He's found his form there in Uno X good, good weekend on the points, but you know who else had a good weekend on the points front S XDS Astana. I was just saying, Johan, on our last show, they're going to slow down, but there's these two, uh, Coupe de France one-day races, Fonard-Desch and then Fondrome. It's almost like a stage race,

but they're just back-to-back Saturday, Sunday. Romain Gregoire wins on Saturday. Astana gets third, fourth, and fifth, but only because half the guys in the front group went the wrong way around a roundabout, and it was similar to Kurno where they had been through. It was a circuit, so they had been through there multiple times. They just go the wrong way around a roundabout and it was similar to kerno where they had been through it was a circuit so they had been through there multiple times they just go the wrong way they're off course we keep seeing this over and over again kind of odd and then we saw juan uso on sunday just right away like little trek was setting up

an attack and then yeah i used to just 40 kilometers solo. 40 kilometers on his own. And you know, there was, there was, it was, uh, FDG chasing behind him and then a little track with, uh, I mean, it's really good rider. Yeah. Yeah. I also did a 40 kilometer solo, um, very, very strong performance. Been to let third. So that's a young Visma rider that's doing well. And then George, i don't know if you saw quinn simmons eighth his first weekend of racing of the year he's just been training i think in tucson by himself um just rocks up finishes eighth and he was the one he's always

doing this he was the one trying to respond to uh are you so and then couldn't but he's gonna keep doing it until he can i guess yeah he Yeah. He was strong. I was impressed with his, you know, his first, his first race. I think the first, the first day on Saturday, he did a lot of work for scale Mosa, like trying to set up an attack. You know, I, you'd have to, do you, do you have a contact with him, George? You'd have to ask. Yeah.

Why certain races? Because on Saturday he had the hair. Oh, it's all down. I think he had it in a ponytail. So you ask him why. I can ask him. Yeah.

Buckled. Serious. Really strong performance of, uh, of, uh, of Quinn Simmons in his first race. George, one question for you before we have to go

Quinn Simmons should he be a cobbled classics rider 73 kilos but he does he's like more of a dens racer I mean he came out in his first of his first year or two Johan where he was actually racing those races or planning on racing them and I yeah I mean he's I feel

like he's a very complete dynamic rider and can, whatever he decides to focus on, he can do well at. Um, but little track is obviously got a really strong classics team. So he might, he might just be looking to see where he can fit in, to get some more results on his own. Yeah, I agree. I agree. He could perfectly be in the classics. I think his first year,

he won a stage race in Belgium, but with some of those cobbled climbs to the Wallonie or something,

he was really impressive there. So I have no doubt that he could perfectly be in the, in the, in the team

for the classics for little Freck. By the way, by the way, Spencer, we'll leave it at that. I just checked, uh, certain words killed, told, uh, um, at the start of universal Cuna that the morning of envelope with four envelopes, but he was 92.3 kilos. Wow. So, wow. That's crazy. Wow. So, wow. That's crazy.

Wow. That is nuts. Yeah. That might be the biggest guy ever to win, uh, a classic. I don't, I don't know of anybody else. Yeah,

I know. All of that heavy. Uh, well, I think it's probably the heaviest guy. And I mean, maybe Magnus backstab. Oh yeah.

Maybe he was 90 ish kilos. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He was body to bear. Yeah. Yeah. A little bit flatter than there's some serious climbing at the end of this race. Yeah.

Wow. That's incredible. Okay. So like the copycat nature of pro cycling, everyone's going to be over 200 pounds next year. I was going to roll up to 20, just jacked for the Tour de France. All right. Well, thanks

guys. And we will be back next week, I think, Saturday. Day of for Strata Bianchi. Johan and I will have a preview show on Friday. And also, Johan and I have a Q&A on Wednesday, 12 p.m. Central for WeDoMembers only. So if you

are a WeDo member, we'll be in the members portal. Just click on the podcast, like the Q&A will be up there. You can watch us. You can ask us questions, email them in. If you want questions in before, info at wedo.team, 12 p.m. Central time U.S. So that's 7 p.m. Central European time, 11 a.m. Mountain, 10 a.m. Pacific. I think I got the time wrong in the last episode. So it is 12 p.m. Central. George, you can join if you want, but you don't have to. But it could be fun to have you.

7 p.m. Euro time. Yeah. All right. All right. Well, thank you so much. We'll talk soon. Bye.