THEMOVE - Breaking Down What We Learned at the UAE Tour, Volta ao Algarve & Ruta del Sol | THEMOVE

Episode Date: February 24, 2025

Johan Bruyneel, George Hincapie, and Spencer Martin break down the big picture takeaways from the last weekend of racing, from Tadej Pogačar's dominance at the UAE Tour, Jonas Vingegaard's time trial masterclass to win the Volta ao Algarve, and Pavel Sivakov's win at Ruta del Sol before debating if Visma is losing ground to the absurdly deep superteam UAE has assembled over the last few off-seasons. Become a WEDŪ Member Today to Unlock VIP Access : 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://www.piquelife.com/themove and feel the difference on your next ride. Maui Nui: 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  

I know we're not going to talk so much about the other races, but seeing other teams that in the last year, last year, had hard seasons. Baharan, you know, we saw them starting to come back and looking good this season. Ineos winning the time trial in UAE with Josh Charlin. So it's just a lot of, of course, we have the dominant Pogacar, but I like to look at the other side stories as well.

And it's shaping up to be a really interesting season, in my opinion everybody welcome back to the move we are running down the uae tour the volta volta algarve the ruta del sol volta and lucia whatever they're calling it these days this flurry of stage racing we had this past weekend i'm spencer martin i have Johan Bernil and George Hincapie here with me to break it all down. But first, let's talk about our sponsors for today's episode. The first one is Peak, and they have Peak Poor Tees. As cyclists, we know that energy, endurance, and digestion can make or break performance. But one of the big differentiators in modern cycling is gut issues.

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I'm sure you guys were up early, 3, 4 a.m. this morning, just crunching tape from the three. We actually had four stage races, but we're just going to pick a few of the top moments from each one. But UAE Tour, let's start with that one because it's a world tour race and had the world's best rider in it. Saturday, stage six, Tim earlier won. Really impressive sprint finish, like came from so far down and they were probably

going 55k an hour he just stepped out past everybody won the sprint stage seven summit finish jabal hafid which is the i guess the famous summit finish at the ue tour this one was the one i want to talk the most about because it breaks up early like 145k to go pagacha makes the split he made it he probably wasn't going to miss it, but it shows you how he could lose that race. Like if it happened, this is how it would happen. And then he keeps rolling through with a few teammates. Doesn't have enough though to pull on the climb.

You knew exactly what was going to happen. The last one pulled off at 7K to go. He attacks, wins by 32 seconds over Giulio Ciccone, 35 seconds over Pelo Bilbao, wins the GC by 114 over julio chaconne 35 seconds over pelo bilbao wins the gc by 114 over chaconne biggest margin of victory at the ua tour of all time pelo bilbao third at 119 johan george i this maybe didn't look like a lot if you just look at the results but this a this is the second longest solo ride in the history of the UA tour. And it's the largest margin of victory in the GC ever.

I mean, I think if you came away from this race with any conclusion that other than Pagacar left off right where, or picked up right where he left off in 2014, I don't know what to tell you. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I think it was a,

like you said, Spencer, a dominant performance. I read somewhere where he did 490 Watts for five over five minutes on that one portion of that climb, which is outstanding. Just really dominant the whole way had fun along the way, did some crazy attack 10 K into one of the stages, which we never see, which probably angered a bunch of the guys in the Peloton. But it's just cool.

It's exciting to see, you know, the high level racing back in the game and seeing other teams. I know we're not going to talk so much about the other races, but seeing other teams that in the last year, last year, had hard seasons. Baharan, you know, we saw them starting to come back and looking good this season. Ineos

winning the time trial in UAE with Josh Charlin so it's just a lot of of course we have the dominant Pogacar but I like to look at the other side stories as well and it's a it's shaping up to be a really interesting season in my opinion yeah yeah I mean you know we all we all knew that Pogacar was the favorite. So there's no surprise there. I mean, I don't know what you guys think though. And we always have to, you know, measure Pogacar based on the competition, right? So it's against Ciccone and Bilbao.

They're really good riders, but they're not his main rivals in the Grand Tours. But I think he's already in really good shape. He did an amazing time trial, I think, flat 12 kilometers. Only lost, I think, 15 seconds or so to Josh Darling, which was a great performance. Then won the stage, the first uphill finish, which was not a very hard one, but he won that really dominantly.

And then, yeah, I mean, once the two Belgians, the two new recruits of UAE, Florian Vermeersch and Aruna Garehoff, the Belgians pulled off on the last climb, it was probably about a little less than eight kilometers to go. He already went. And we all know that these kind of efforts, especially at the beginning of the season when it's your first race, you're a bit in the unknown. But it was clear that as soon as he went, I mean, he wins the stage with 33 seconds,

but it could have been easily a minute because I think he paced himself quite smartly and he sat up at the end also. So yeah, great performance. There's one thing though, I would like to ask your guys' opinion on. Something I noted. I think he's been doing all the stages,

except the time trial, on the new Colnago aero bike, right? I note it. I think he's been doing all the stages, except the time trial, on the new Colnago aero bike, right? The much-talked-of new technology and reportedly the fastest bike in the world right now for road bikes, or at least that's what Colnago claims. I don't think he looks the same on this bike. It's a different position. Um, what do you guys think? I mean, I mean, it's hard to, it's hard to judge if, because the frame is so unconventional that it's, it's,

it's difficult to have a real idea, but he looks different to me on that bike. What do you think? I didn't see some comparison. Uh, I don't know where I saw it, but like over the years of his, how slightly there was changes in his position. I did see that somewhere. I didn't really notice it on a personal level, but I mean, like you said, it doesn't seem to be affecting him negatively in any way. Like he just continues to dominate.

And it's just, I feel like the differences between our era and this era is like, I don't remember Lance starting out the year was like having to, having to win a race like that, where you're like, you go to your home country race and he's got to, like there's no option there. He's at the UAE tour. I mean, he's got to show up firing on all pistons, but it's like, that's the new cycling.

Like these guys are so good all year long and they can win. They pick the races they want to win. And clearly he's not at his best form, but he's still riding away from the best, most of the best riders in the world. So I think, you know, I think I remember back in our day, we'd start off with like Rueda del Sol or Algarve. And like, maybe Lance would go for the time trial, you know,

maybe not, or maybe one mountain stage, but definitely not going for the, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not going for the overall win because we would, we would perceive that as being in way too good of a shape way too early on. It would be a negative. Yeah. Yeah. It would be right. Yeah. Good to early. That's that change. You know, also something that I really was surprised to see. And it's also, you know, also something that I really, um, was surprised to see. And it's also, you know, now it's, it's part of modern cycling. I'm still not convinced it's the best, but,

you know, with Pogacar special, so, you know, he can do anything. Uh, but so he's done this race now and he, uh, of course he wants to win the tour again, which is the main goal, I think, but he doesn't do any more stage races now until the Dauphiné. Yeah. I mean, it's like, what? I mean, it's like, okay, you, you kind of have to train your body for a multi-day event, including, you know, the, the pre-race, uh, preparation, then the record, the recovery during the in-between stages,

that's all gone now. um i personally think you know for a rider like pogacar uh the tour of uae he did the time trial full gas and he did this last climb probably not full gas but um you know it probably wouldn't have gone any harder in training but most of the other stages a training camp would have been harder for him than sitting in the bunch well those crosswinds were huge he was doing like 600 watts for multiple minutes in those crosswinds so that is not

sitting in the bunch really I mean who makes those decisions Johan does he make those decisions his trainer makes those decisions I mean going from his those decisions, Johan? Does he make those decisions? His trainer makes those decisions? I mean, going from his past seasons where he did the Giro and he did plenty of stage races beforehand, like this is almost unheard of where you're going to do two stage races leading up to the Tour de France to defend your Tour de France title.

How do you do that? Do you race races like Liège-Bastogne-Liège and then train hard the day before, train hard the day after? How are you going to be able to focus on these one-day races when we all know the ultimate goal is the Tour de France? It's a tricky one. I'm sure they got it all figured out. Yeah, George, but you know what? They've substituted a lot of races with altitude camp so I'm pretty sure like after the classics and I don't know what that means for Fogacar after classic is that

uh after Liesbos to Lies probably uh then it's you know it's all training camps it's multi-day you know efforts with the team also you know a lot of race simulation, I would guess. So, you know, we, I don't think we can, I mean, yeah. Races is, you know, at one point racing is good because you have the terrain you can, for example, Dauphiné, in my opinion, remains the best preparation for the Tour de France. But because, you know, you have the same style of roads, same style of climbs,

but you're kind of depending on what the peloton decides, right? So if you, if, if there's a day where the peloton decides, okay, it's not going to be hard, then you're sitting there and you say, and in Pogacar's case, you know, I'm pretty sure that they can simulate most of the efforts in races and training camps. It is mentally though, very hard mentally.

Yeah. Which should be in the past. He hasn't done that many altitude camps. Is that, is that correct? Or I feel like, I think last year was the, was the first time.

I mean, the year before he was, I mean, he was injured. So he was injured after the classic. i mean the year before he was i mean he was injured so he was injured after the classic so he had to miss the camps um you know he's an interesting guy you know it's it's like it doesn't nothing nothing of what we know or what we consider to be logical applies to him yeah agreed it is an interesting question of like, I understand like too early or you've got to do stage races,

but if you really examine that scientifically, I'm not sure it makes sense because a stage race is you're saying, Johan, what if a day, a day's canceled because of bad weather? We see that all the time. Now, what if it's a slow day?

It's like, wouldn't you rather just be at altitude controlling every variable? It's like, we're going to prepare this way. I'm not going to go to the Algarve and we're going to send us the wrong way or there's a car on the road like i'm just going to do what i prepare perfectly and i can control everything versus going to do and i agree yeah the dauphin is different but but i mean also the guy's a one day racer that is he's moonlighting as a stage racer like he's he's now really focusing on one days and

he's like yeah i'll try to defend the tour title we'll see if that happens i'll probably win anyway but he's not really a full-time stage racer anymore no no i mean he's i mean i think he's the he's one of the very few grand tour riders who can win you know classics in my opinion he's the only rider right now who could win all five monuments um don't see anybody else capable of doing that and that's probably one of his goals you know i mean it seems to me like these guys the these you know except vingergaard who's really focusing on the tour doesn't seem to worry about anything else uh but the other guys they're they're basically worried about okay how can i check the boxes okay this one is done this one is done you know bogacar still needs um he needs milan san remo and parido bay i guess and that's it

this year. The other factor is with one-day races, we all know that they are most definitely more dangerous than stage races because everything is on the line. There's no margin for error. It's like you have one shot. So the risk, the riders take are a lot more. Unfortunately, we've seen riders like Pogacar get into trouble with that. Hopefully that doesn't happen this year. you know, unfortunately we've seen, you know, riders like Pogacar get into trouble with that. And they,

as long as, yeah, so hopefully that doesn't happen this year. We want to see the top favorites get to the tour without any sort of injuries. Well, although we already saw Remco had a bad crash in training, which is unfortunate, but in terms of these other two,

you know, top guys, you want to see them get there and really go mano a mano with perfect preparation each and see what happens be fun fun to watch that yo and also on the bike i don't think it's going to matter because i don't think you're going to see that bike the rest of the year that's my hot take i think that was as george said the uae tour was about impressing the sponsors i i don't know it didn't it looks like i mean don't i don't want to get like de-plat. It looked a bit like a hunk of junk.

Well, one thing is the way it looks, you know, I mean, listen, I mean, it looks heavy too. They're still in the business of, of, of, of winning bike races. Right. So, um, I was surprised to see Pugacar ride that bike on the last stage. Although it was, well, it shows you how confident he is too. Yeah. But also, I mean, you know, like, like if it's heavier and then you see the, also on the monster, like the super high wheels, like, like it's like, it doesn't seem to matter. Um, it's just an optical observation. I, I, I have, you know, I'm pretty sure the bike performs well.

They've done the research. They've put the resources in it to make it performing. It just looks a bit weird because the frame is so unconventional. To me, it looks like he's way more forward still on the bike compared to his usual position.

He's already positioned forward. On this bike compared to his usual position. He's already positioned for it on this bike. It was just, it looked like he was different, but Hey, you know, if, if the, the, the key points is the handlebars, the saddle and the bottom bracket, if they are the same geometry, there's not much, there's not much else to say, you know? Yeah. I mean, maybe I'll see it. Like sometimes Jonas or Walt will run the aero cervello on some tour stages and they go back and forth i'm curious to see it's funny you mentioned the wheels

uae it must be a theory they have they always everyone on the team always runs the same wheels and usually the same bike they never switch anything i wonder wonder if that's, they've decided just having everything be interchangeable, that adds more value than some slight of like marginal. It's funny though, because we heard about marginal gains for a decade and they're like, nah, we're just going to run this kind of on aero bike with deep dish wheels, even on mountain stages.

Until, until this year, UAE, they didn't have the choice because they didn't have an aero bike. So they were forced to ride always with the normal, the one, one bike, the one frame they had,

uh, and then the time trial frame, but you're right. You know, all, all of the mountain stages, uh, at least last year in the tour,

the whole team was on super high profile wheels all the time. Um, so, I mean, you know, pretty sure they're still super light they're like destroying the cycling industry is it everyone's they're going to show people they can just have one set of wheels and one bike george you mentioned josh tarling i was actually impressed at how good he was um he

did pop on jabal hafi i don't know if you noticed johan but florian vermes you mentioned him he started he was on the front at the start of the final climb on the final day. They just had him sit 500 watts until he couldn't ride anymore. That's what they're starting the climb at. And he's there for quite a while. And then, I mean, the, not the genius,

it's just what it is, but Pogacar is sitting zone two and he's doing that. So you can imagine how fatigued everybody is by the time he attacks it's really incredible to watch but that was a great pickup like i think i think what i was impressed about like i mean and i paid a bit more attention because it's two belgians you know these two new guys uh florian vermeers we already know him he was second in paris lubez once and but rune herrera is a relatively more unknown rider. And, you know, when he was pulling, when Vermeers pulled off

and Herreholz did like, I don't know, a one and a half kilometer pull or something, I think there were like 10 or 12 riders left. That's supposed to be a non-climber. You know, these two guys were non-climbers and everybody else was already in the red when he pulled off. Yeah, but Johan, in a typical team situation and correct me if I'm wrong if you're pulling off with 8k to go you're like hold on a second I needed you but it's Pogacar we're talking about it so it made no difference but you know typically you'd be like well I needed you for a bit more case than that get me to at

least 3k to go or something like that but you know it's with fogey obviously it doesn't matter but still very impressive that he was able to pull that hard and like you said only 15 20 guys left on the wheel yeah yeah yeah george did you get a chance to watch any of before i do want to talk about bigger picture who could challenge but gotcha if he's this good all year but before we do that the sprints i'm just gonna list who won them stage one jonathan milan stage four jonathan milan stage five tim earlier stage six tim earlier and these were i would say the best sprinters in the world we're at this race this is like sprint world championships jasper philipson no win not a he's kind of a different type of sprinter but what are you guys thinking coming out of this?

Are these the two best sprinters in the world? Yeah. I mean, the way that, I mean, Milan, I read somewhere is doing over 1800 Watts in these sprints. Obviously he's a big guy, but the amount of power this dude has is super impressive. You know, actually, I think it was like the first stage you said he won when Pogacar kind of threw it out of there, out of nowhere,

which is also incredibly impressive that he's still there with three, 400 meters to go, but, and it was an uphill sprint as well. But Milan is a very, you know, diverse sprinter and super probably the most powerful sprinter in the Peloton. A guy like Malir is a bit more of a, you know, can, can find his own way. And you saw what he, you know, how, how he can position himself and get out of tight holes that a lot of guys can't do. But right now,

those two sprinters are got to be the top guys in the bunch. And it's, it's I think Philipson was a bit behind. He, he was close on one of the stages. Also seemed to be alone a lot. Wasn't getting a lot of the lead outs there in UAE where Milan was having good lead outs from his guys. It's going to be interesting to see these guys keep going head to head

especially once they get to the Tour de France which I think Milan is going to do his first tour this year from what I read. Milan, I think there's no doubt about that. We've already said it before, Spencer. He's not just a sprinter. Let's not forget he's the world champion four-kilometer pursuit.

He's the world record holder on four kilometers in 359 on the velodrome. So, you know, he's a lot more than a pure sprinter. Merlier, I would say he's more of a pure sprinter. I would say Milan is like the raw power. Merlier is more like the artist. You know, he of a pure sprinter. I would say Milan is like the raw power. Merlier is more like, he's more like the artist. You know, he's an artist sprinter. He's, you know, very savvy. Sometimes he gets out of situations where he has nobody around and you say,

well, I mean, with a kilometer to go, he's in 15, 20 position. And all of a sudden he's there. I mean, that stage six sprint was just pure. That was like Merlier trademark. He just went when everybody was still deciding where they want to go. And before they knew, I mean, of course, you have to have the power. But that was amazing the way he won that sprint.

You know, Philipson was thinking, OK, I'm going to go now. And he saw Merlier pass with like five kilometers faster that was that was an impressive impressive uh sprint from earlier and uh i've already said it many times you know he's he's an underrated undervalued sprinter uh everybody's i mean you know he's he's one of the best sprinters in the world you know how did that happen, Johan? I don't quite get it. Did he have one bad year, like in 2022 or something? Well, he was, he was, before he was on, on Alpecin, right? Together with Philipson.

Yeah. One, I think he won a stage in the Giro and he won a stage in the Tour also on Alpecin. So I don't really know. He's, he's, He's a different personality. He's very laid back, you know, not very prominent in the media either. I don't know if that's one of the reasons, but hey, Lefevre picked him up from Alpecin and he's been their most winning rider by far. On top of that European champion also, which is quite nice for a sprinter. So, yeah, I mean, I like Merlier.

He's a really, really good guy. In the winter, I do these big models to figure out, like, who's the best sprinter? And they're all objective. Like, who's the best sprinter? Who's the best GC rider? Who's the best Monday rider? And Merlier was, like, the best sprinter who then they're all objective like who's the best sprinter who's the best gc rider who's the best one day rider and merlier was like the best sprinter when he showed up but his biggest problem is just getting starts like he's only started one grand tour in two years um 32 years old you'd say kind of a little old but it's like he's almost the the up-and-comer sprinter of 2025 it feels like where he's coming out of it's like a cicada

coming out of hibernation or something if you look i mean i i don't know the the year now but i'm i'm gonna say 2018 2019 somewhere you know he was without a team he didn't have a team and uh the rotov brothers uh picked him up last minute as a cyclocross rider. Because I remember I went to a cyclocross race in Belgium to check as a spectator. And he was racing there in a black jersey, had no team. We picked up last moment. And then he won a race in the spring. And from then on, it was like...

I'm going to say it's probably not... He's 32 now. 2018, 2019 it must have been. You can check it out afterwards, Spencer. He was a cyclocross rider before. He was very famous for having always no discussion, the best start. He was always the first, the first in the first quarter that was, you know, he was, he was a pure cyclocross rider.

It's funny you say that because I, in my notes here, I have Milan stage six, was where he maybe got exposed. Cause his one weakness appears to be, when things break down he can't improvise quite as well but merlier like that's when he's at his best like he can ride him he could ride himself out of anything um let's read let's talk about our remaining sponsors and then we'll get into volta algarve which i think if uae is the best star then visma is now the rebel alliance and we'll talk about what they did while Pogacar was scaring everybody at the UAE tour. But our next partner is AG1.

And everyone knows if you've listened to the show, you know, Lance does not like to eat greens. I'm the same way. Terrible about it. Been terrible about it my whole life. But AG1 provides me with an easy way to get all the greens and nutrition i need first thing in the morning before i have coffee i come down have my ag1 and i feel great i'm on a fitness journey in 2025 johan and i are are trying to outright each other within the george i mean george is in another league but we might be coming for you george this year george i'm

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And they are offering the move listeners a special deal. You can get 15% off using the code, using code, the move at one skin.co. That's.co not.com 15% off one skin.co with the code, the move. All right. So if UAE, if the UAE is freaking us all out, we're a little worried about the rest of the year. Volta Algarve in Southern portugal i guess offered a glimpse of hope i don't know how close you guys watched it most this race will mostly be remembered for the debacle on stage one where ghana was robbed of a victory johan and i will say forever but on stage on stage four the one thing to say say about stage four kofidis won the stage which is important

because they're in like the secret battle of the year is the points battle between Astana and Cofidis and Astana has been racking them up. So that was, that was interesting. And then it finished on a time trial, really interesting TT, 19.6 K long, the last mainly rolling to flat until 17 K to go. And then it was 9% for the last bit. It looked like, wow, Vinart was going to win the stage i thought he had it and then jonas vindigo starts and you know really comes out strong wins the stage wins the overall he i think he had a 16 second deficit to uh joao almeida and a 20 second deficit to almeida's ua teammate young christian before the start of the stage because because he got dropped, I guess, distanced on stage two when Almeida gifted the win to Christian, which I think he shouldn't have done based on what we know now,

but the overall GC was Vindigo wins the overall Almeida second at 30 seconds back Lawrence. Wait, that can't be right. The plus third at 24 seconds back. Let me check this. I've written down. That's true.

That's correct. No, no. I think that's the stage because he's 15 seconds back in Let me check this. I've written down. That's true. That's correct. No, no. I think that's the stage. Cause he's 15 seconds back in the GC. Okay. Okay. Yeah.

Who's was third in the GC. Yeah. 24. Yeah. Plus is third. And Prima, if you might be thinking what I thought Prima's Roglic was at this race, he finishes a disappointing.

Can't even, can't even find him. I think he was. Yeah yeah 53 seconds back kind of a not a great time trial didn't look at his best out there but johan we were debating before this this episode you're like oh you're gonna be slamming almeida i mean i i think you said there's nothing he could do there's nothing he could have done in the tt he had a great climb like on the final climb he did it in 707 the second fastest interestingly was roglic at 718 jonas was 720 wow 748 just to give you an idea about how those guys finished on the stage and

did a bike change too and none of the other guys did but i made a he did and how madeida gifted the first stage to his teammate, giving up, I guess, a four second time bonus, loses the GC by 15 seconds. To me, that just highlights like that cannot happen in a well-run team. Like that's so baffling to me. Yeah, I think that's the decision. That's the decision Almeida made. You know, I mean, it's not the team's decision. And I think Almeida has shown that he's a team player.

He was the leader for this stage race for the team. The fact that he came up so fast and then said, last minute, because these are personal decisions. In a split second, you have to decide, okay, I'm going to let this

guy win. You don't know I'm going to let this guy, the win, um, you know, you don't know what's going to happen afterwards at the end of the day, is it going to change something for Almeida if he wins a stage in Algarve or not? He's, he was by far the most popular rider of the race. Um, but yeah, I mean, I applaud Almeida for doing this because this is going to come back to him at some point. You know, a guy like Kristen, young rider, super talented.

He's not going to forget this, especially now that Almeida didn't win the GC. He's going to say, hey, this guy let me win the stage or at least, you know, didn't pass me. I still owe him something. It's going to come back. I'm on the same page as you on like, in fact, like I see it as like a strong team dynamic that he's coming up so fast. His teammate had been in the breakaway, kind of done all the, you know, the legwork to get in the breakaway is about to like, to me,

it would have been a bad look if he biked through his teammate and won the stage. It would have been a bad look. I feel like that would have been a much worse of a look. And like Johan said, this isn't going to come back to him. I mean, it's a huge deal that he let him win the stage. And a guy like Frisian Zinn will put it all on the line when Almedia really needs it later on in the season. So I think that was fine.

And it really was uneventful in terms of his overall finish at the final stage. So I think it was a good call by him. And I think it, it, it, it, it made the team look even stronger to me. Do you guys feel like sometimes they have a hard time picking a leader? Like even at the tour last year where I used to felt like he was doing his own thing. Well, that was a personal decision. I wasn't, I mean,

it was clear who was the leader. I used to didn't agree that. I mean, I didn't, I don't think he was disputing the fact that Pog personal decision. I mean, it was clear who was the leader. Ayuso didn't agree. I mean, I don't think he was disputing the fact that Pogacar was the leader, but he was kind of saying, okay, you know, I also want to go my own. So he didn't want to pull on the Galibier, or at least not until Almeida called him. That looked really bad. But, yeah, I mean, I think there, probably, it's a bit of a lack of

firm instructions from the car because, you know, if you get to the Galibier on that particular stage, and I think it was Adam Yates who first pulled because Ayuso was hanging in the back, and you know, I

think that's more of a machine issue. If he was in the car, I think he was in the car saying, Hey, you know, are you so just go to the front and do your work? You know, it's not like, okay, try to hang in there. That's because it was clear that he was able to do it because he was, I think he was fourth or fifth on the top of the, of the Gallipierre. But overall, I mean, listen,

they, they, they have a, they have a super strong team. That was exceptional in the Tour de France because usually the things I see that are strange in terms of team dynamics are in the races where Pogacar is not present. Whenever he's present, it's very clear what the tactics are yeah if you're not clear if you're not clear what the

tactics are when bogacha is there you might need to have a visit to like a reality you might have to have a reality check because that guy's pretty good um if you think you're the leader you i have news for you you're not what do you guys think what was the deal with the bike change did wow change the bike to give data back to vindigo on if he should do a bike change it's a pretty steep climb but i mean jonas didn't seem that bothered by having the tt bike on it well everybody climbed everybody feels different on their tt bikes and more people are, some guys are more confident climbing on their TT bikes

than others. I think Wild probably felt like he was going to climb a lot faster on his road bike where we've seen Vindigo win, you know, a stage in the time trial in a very dominant fashion,

keeping his TT bike. I think he's really comfortable climbing on his TT bike. And like you said, comfortable climbing on a CT bike. And, uh, and like you said, he just, he, he, even though he would have saved some weight, he didn't think he can make up the difference by stopping and losing 15 to 20 seconds. I think that was the call. It was interesting that while it was the only guy that had actually changed, but, um, it was a great time trial by both of them.

Yeah. Well, um, I mean, I don't know if it was, I mean, listen, Walt was definitely going for the win. You know, bike change. It's hard to do it under without losing 20 seconds. You know, I mean, 20 seconds later on. That's that's a big ask. That's a big ask because you've been in that super, super aggressive time propositions for such a long time. On the other hand, you know, he went super, super fast on the flat,

faster than anybody else. And then lost, you have to calculate 20 seconds for the back. He lost 28 to Jonas. On the climb. Yeah. Okay. 20 of that's the bike change. Probably.

Yeah. Oh man. Yeah. We were, we were pulling hard for him and then we got we got the world's biggest walt van art fan in the house and so this was like crushing a crushing defeat for us confused why his teammate beat him but i he was yonas pretty good like cruises through the flat section of that time trial i was really impressed wins just did just enough it's like the kansas city chiefs you're like no way he wins this and then he pulls it out at the end wins wins the the gc reminds everyone why he's yonas and they're not clearly not on the same level as pagachar he does this in a more normal this is like normally what you would want to see from a gc contender time. You're like pretty, pretty good.

Not at his best. Here's a, here's a concern I have though. So Wout van Aert also very good. I was, Johan, were you surprised he was that good in the TT? Like he must be flying too. You know, for some reason, the sprints didn't work out for him. You know, the, the, the, the uphill finish. I kind of got his wheel chopped.

Did you see that? Okay, I'll go I'm going to reference your point there because Bobby Julek said the same thing to me like a good wild Van Aert is not getting his wheel chopped. He's anticipating any sort of movement like that. He's going before he's going to get boxed in

like he wasn't at his are you saying I'm bullshit or are you saying that Bobby covered this bullshit? No, that was that's my you saying I'm bullshit or are you saying Bobby's covered this bullshit that's my comment I'm saying a good Wild Van Aert is going to be anticipating any kind of wheel chop or any kind of boxing and he's just going to go

so I feel maybe he wasn't at his best in the sprints but that time trial was incredible in fact super impressive with an uphill finish like that so you know maybe his his aerobic power is much better than his actual sprinting power at the moment but he's clearly in good shape but george i've said it spencer you know you said you know worried for one hour he's gonna he's gonna i felt i felt a little silly after this i was

thinking about that comment johan but But George, just to run with this, he was so out of position. So I was going to say, Jonas, wow, they look great. The rest of the team, where are they? Like, wow, Vinart was so out of position going into that sprint. Like, it just feels like they're increasingly relying on, it's like, think about last year at the tour.

It's like, hey, Jonas, we know you're in the hospital for three weeks but can you uh can you make something happen here for us like they're just going back to yonas and wow and i don't know if you guys follow soccer football but kind of reminds me of man city where it was this unbelievable team everyone clicks over into their 30s and then they it's just not quite able to keep up maybe this is wrong but I'm a little worried about the supporting cast like they just were not there to support either of those guys throughout the whole race

well okay okay but I I've I have another fact for another stat for you Johan because I knew you're going to say that in this, this is what concerns me about Envisma could show up to the tour, like their top seven, like they could be fantastic.

But one thing I'm concerned about UAE was unbelievable this week, all over the place, flooding the zone, deep teams at three stage races, wins two of the three could have won three of the three. Here's something crazy. So with riders under the age of 23, this is not 23 and under,

this is under the age of 23. Both teams have worked very hard to recruit them. Visma signed some big names. UAE signed some big names. UAE has 21 pro wins on like amongst riders, 22 and younger. Visma has, has three. 23 pro, 22 and younger. Visma has three. 23 pro, 22 pro wins over what?

Over the last few years or? Like since they turned pro. So if you're 22, they're probably three years pro max. Visma has three, they have three wins amongst their riders 22 and under. So I just worry that uae is replenishing the water like they're like stocking the pond so fast are they just going to overwhelm this older team i don't know i mean i feel there's something to that i feel like uh perhaps thesema is going to really just focus on going all in on their main

objectives, the one day classics and the tour de France where UAE has a bit more depth and they can really focus on like what we saw last week, all three stage races. They almost won them all. So definitely UAE has got more depth, but I think when it comes down to it, they're going to be pretty equal in terms of firepower amongst the teams at

Visma's main objectives, my opinion. I think so too. I would agree. I agree, George. Just, I kind of agree with you guys too,

but that's not fun. If I say that, like, let's say Isaac Del Toro or Juana Uso continues to get better. Just like hypothetically, is he, is Sepp Kuss a match for him at this year's tour or these like just like fill in

you a young UAE rider like will they essentially just become better versions of the Visma domestiques I mean first of all I think neither Ayuso or del Toro will be at the Tour de France this year I don't think so. That's what they say now.

I mean, let's not forget a good Sepp Kuss, Matteo Jorgensen, and Simon Yates. And that's a hard combo to be better than. So if those guys show up at the Tour de France in top fitness, certainly I would say that would be at least a match for whatever UAE brings them, or perhaps even a bit more. I mean, you mentioned Matteo, George, he's the big X factor. I think like he's turned into a legitimate star and could fix a lot of these problems when he's present.

Well, we're talking, so we're talking, we're trying to, you know, draw conclusions now when, for example, we just said, you know, the three guys, Simon Yates, Matteo Jorgensen and Sepp Kuss, they haven't even started racing yet. That's not true. Sepp Kuss has started racing. He's been in all these races. Yeah, Sepp Kuss was in Valencia, no? Was he not in Valencia? No, he was at Algarve and he was at...

Was he in Algarve? Okay, I didn't even... Yeah, you're proving my point. And he was at Classica High End. Okay, okay. It's not good. My bad. I mean, George, when's the last time we've seen a good Sepp Kuss? Oh, no. He had a much harder year last year.

But he's still Sepp Kuss whenever the tour of Spain. And, you know, I'm just, I wouldn't be surprised to see him get back to his level or even better. Let's just give it time. It was still very early season. And these races in a few months won't matter at all. I think Sepp Kuss to be at his best needs to have a leader at his best.

That's when he chose what he's able to do. You know, when Jonas is going to be top Sepp Kuss is going to be there he doesn't fail he can also look lost in the woods for six months and then he's one of these right you don't see them as much anymore they can just it's like Garrett Thomas you're like man this guy is off the pace and then he just shows up to his his uh target race and is great so it could could, it could be fine. I'm just, it's something I've noticed in other sports too. It's, it's a little uncomfortable for us all to talk about because we're not in our twenties.

I am getting a little worried if modern, like is the modern sport landscape just, and you see it in the NBA too, like these 20 year old, you're like, what the heck is going on? Like, how is is how is Oklahoma City dominating the NBA and they have a bunch of like 22 to 25 year olds and it's because they can just move a lot faster and they're a lot physically more adept than these older riders that's older athletes so I'm just getting a little concerned about it happening in cycling I'm not I'm not a fan of it I don't want anything I'm so I want Visma to fall apart. I'm just worried about when you look at the two ages,

the ages of those two teams. Let's move to the third stage race real quick. Spencer, Ruta del Sol, Vuelta a la Lucia. You know, there's not much else to say since we last spoke, other than Sivakov sealed the deal. Didn't really get in problems anymore to, uh, to wins from breakaways. Right. Um, yeah. Well, yeah.

Is that weird in a five day race to have the last two days be breakaway days? I mean, kind of, uh, but I think it's also, you know, there was really only one team with a sprinter, with a real sprinter, which was Christoph. He won the sprint and then they had the riders in the breakaway, so they didn't chase. It was safe for UAE. I'm really happy that Sivakov won.

I mean, he's one of those guys man he deserves a win because he's so strong and he's like the super domestique you know like always there always sacrificing himself but he's so strong he could be a leader on any team well I guess technically he's a leader at this race for UAE

I mean I was impressed too and he won by because Van Heels and Pickcock were the main competition and they're punchy really explosive riders and he just was like I'm gonna go on the attack before they go on the attack and they they were riding up to him you know as opposed to attacking him just quite yeah like very smart rider and strong rider. His raw strength, like you, Johan, really impressed me this week. Like, that's a serious ride. And, I mean, that's another piece. That's a big piece of the UA puzzle as we get deeper into the year.

Was it two Basque wins to finish this? It was Diego or Uriarte? Both Basque. Yeah, both Basque. I mean, the last guy, Barrenechea is no doubt. And Uriarte is Basque as a name you can think of also. Yeah, two nice wins, especially once again, Kevin Farmer. You know, they're here to stay.

You know, these guys, they really showed their quality last year in the Vuelta with three stage wins, but they're doing really well. And by the way, their star rider from last year, Pablo Castrillo, now on Movistar, is proving to be amazingly strong. I mean, it's not like, you know, last year he was on amazing shape. He was super strong already in the Valencia races,

and now in Tour of the UAE. I mean, he crashed, but he did an amazing job. Yeah, he was really good. Yeah, Equipo Conforma, one stage four, Movistar, one stage five. I'm happy to see both of these teams win.

I'm happy to see Equipo Conforma doing well after the Vuelta. That would have been kind of disappointing if they just disappeared. But yeah, as you say, here to stay. Movistar, we can't give shout outs to every team that's impressing us but movie star wow like they they uh pick up pablo he's he's doing great but that's not it like they have like evan romeo romeo romeo yeah and then javier romo they're just like we're

it it feels to me like they're finally leaving as great as Valverde was and as great as he was for that team. They're like leaving that era and entering this exciting new youth driven team. Like it feels like a brand new team a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Ivan Romeo is only 20 years old, you know, world champion 123 in the time trial, but really, really strong rider. I mean, he was almost on the

podium right in uae i think he was he finished fourth but um yeah that's the big talent yeah and like like you said spencer the depth i mean they're they've been riding well since down under uh so it's a it's a it seems to be a completely different movie star team this year and led by young riders so it's going to be exciting to see their progress this year. They were fourth and seventh at UAE with Romeo and then Castrillo. What's funny is Rubio, I know Rubio, if you notice he got a flat on stage three on Jovel Jais, his bike was in the middle. It was just like consumer bike rack.

So they had to, they didn't have a wheel on it. They had to take his bike off and you're like, why wasn't his bike on the outside? But it's like the guy was probably the third option at that race. Like that's how deep the team was. Yeah. And they started the season really well. So I actually spoke to Eusebio Nzue last week for quite a bit on the phone.

And, and he confirmed, you know, I mean, he's, I think he's probably, I mean, if he's not 70, he must be close or in his seventies already. He's been over 45 years in pro cycling. Uh, and he said that, um, yeah, you know, he's still there, but it's really out of his, out of his hands. It's, it's changed completely. And, uh, but nice to see that he's still there running the team and the team is super competitive. They actually, I think they, they re-signed their sponsorship until 2029 with Movistar.

Crazy. Do you guys have anything to add before we take off? I think we've covered it all. No, George. Yep. Covered it all. Here's a fact just to leave you with before you leave. So this was the biggest margin of victory at UA tour. The second was 2020 Adam Yates won by a minute and one second over an unknown young rider named Taddei Pogacar. Like that just shows you how fast things can change.

I mean, in the later that year, he would go on to win the Tour de France, but it's just like, keep an eye out for these little trends that you're like, I don't know, Pagacar, he's going to be good in 10 years,

and then the guy is taking over the sport. So things can change when you least expect it. For sure. Okay, thanks, Spencer. All right, guys. Thank you.

All right, bye, guys. Bye, guys.