THEMOVE - Cobbles, Crashes & Chaos | Giro d'Italia 2026 | THEMOVE+

Episode Date: May 14, 2026

Johan Bruyneel and Spencer Martin break down David Ballerini's unexpected stage win on Stage 6 in the heart of Naples after a late crash on the cobbled finishing straight took down the day's top contenders. They debate if the finish was safe, and discuss how GC teams are taking safety into their own hands in these sprint finishes, as well as how aggressive tire choices could be to blame for these crashes on wet days. They then preview tomorrow's Stage 7, which serves up a brutal summit finish at Blockhaus, which is sure to create gaps amongst the top GC contenders. Listen in to see what the duo thinks of the stage, how the action will play out tomorrow, who will come out on top, and which riders present the best betting value. Become a WEDŪ Member Today to Unlock VIP Access & Benefits: https://access.wedu.team  

Naito Kintana won on Blockhouse and ended up winning the GEC. And 2022, Jay Hindley won the stage on Blockhouse and ended up winning the Giro. So I guess the guy who wins tomorrow, if it's one of the favorites, is winning the Giro. And I'm probably going to predict that's going to be Jonas Wingergaard. Hey, everybody, welcome back to the Move Plus. I'm Spencer Martin. I'm here with Johann Bernille. We are breaking down stage six of the Giro de Talia, a 141. kilometer sprint stage into naples i believe the fifth consecutive year perhaps joan that we've

we've done at some version of the stage just maybe was the the most boring of that but there was still action at the end all it was won by david a ballerini from x ds ds astana not the winner we thought not how we thought it would play out i he he i mean talk about just being there being ready grabbing the opportunity when it comes it's astana's second win in six stages of this year to tell you pretty impressive um this stage started pretty calmly there was a the alpison do an alpison duo got away just like that tour de front stage with matthew van der paul the last year it was luca virgateli and edward plankart get away kind of strange though because there's no none of these smaller teams are there it seemed like they missed an opportunity they realize that they bridge up there's a

two Bardiani riders, a Pulti visit Malta rider go up. And then I couldn't quite figure this out. There was just, there was no sprint teams pulling. It was GC teams at the front, all lined out across the road. But the gap never got that big. It was never more than a minute, it seemed like. It was between 35 seconds and 15 seconds for a lot of the stage. I couldn't quite tell how fast they were going.

It didn't seem like they were going so fast. Probably everybody was quite exhausted from yesterday's five-hour stage for the cold and the rain. Eventually, the sprint teams come to the front. They're positioning as we get closer to Naples. The GC teams Visma fell back really early, like 50K to go. Visma is the back, even with some strong wind. Apparently, they're not worried about crosswinds. Other GC teams were a little more skittish to do.

So eventually they all go back. They're riding a few seconds off the back of the Peloton by the time they get into Naples, assuming that if they lose time, they all lose time together, probably the right thing to do. Unibet came to the front with Dylan Grunov. and Unibet Rockets come to the front. They looked fantastic. They're going into the final corner.

It was 180 degree turn on wet cobblestones because it had been raining on and off all day. And they look like they have the perfect line. And then you see the lead out rider go down. And then once someone goes down, everybody goes down. Ballerini was on the inside line, slightly more traction on those cobbles. If you look closely, he gets through. He sprints away, holds off Jasper Stovin for the win. Paul Monnier, who had to dismount, and he did not crash, but he had to dismount and stop,

gets back on and goes unbelievable. He was flying up that climb. Finish his third, super impressive. We'll have points classification implications. Looks pretty disappointed. I think he would have won that stage running away with it had nothing happened. But, Johan, there are not much to talk about other than this finish. What were your takeaways from the stage?

Yeah. Well, Spencer, first of all, I mean, takeaway is, of course, the way it ended, right? And the crash, I think I think what I was really impressed with is the leadout of Unibet Rose Rockets. That was really impressive. They had five, then four. I mean, they had it completely under control. It was perfect. Until that corner.

You could also argue, you know, that they went too fast in the corner because it was wet. It was, it was, it was, it's, it was starting to rain lightly and, you know, the, the, the, the cobbles were wet. So it was, you know, whatever happened. You could clearly see that it was like an ice skating track because the two first guys went down and then 10, 15 riders behind. They went down already. Just watching, watching them crash break, they were going down. But, but, but my big takeaway of today is the, the incredible performance of Paul Manier. I don't know if we can put up the picture here that, I mean, credit to Vellon for sending us, sending us all these stats and that information. But if you look at the speed of Paul Manier in the last 300 meters compared to the other guy. So Ballerini, I mean, it was slightly uphill, right, the last 300 meters on the commas. So Ballerini did 38, Stuyven did 39.1 because he came from behind. Paul Manier, that's kilometers per hour, average speed. Paul Manier did 43, 42.3 kilometers per hour.

So he went four kilometers per hour faster than the stage one. The guy who won. You know, he was, I think he was like 60 meters behind. He had, he was, he didn't go down, but he had to dismount, had to get his, foot back in, start from zero and still gets stirred and gets really close. He did, let's see, he did four seconds

faster in the last 300 meters than the first two riders. It's clear to me that, you know, under normal circumstances, Paul Manier would have won this stage. It would not have been photo finish. It would have been, you know, nobody would have been on the picture with this kind of speed. So that was impressive.

Other than that, Spencer, you know, what else is there to say? You know, it was predictably a bunch print and not just, not just looking at the stage today. I think personally, and I would like to know your take on this, you know, when the course is designed, you know, you see the stages. And months before this stage, the Gero organization and whoever it is who makes this course, and checks the course and approves the course. Ultimately, there's always, apparently there's a protocol or there should be a protocol that there's somebody who has to approve this course. Whether that's, you know, it's somebody responsible within the UCI,

like a commissaire or responsible for the safety of the courses. In my opinion, this was not justified. even, I mean, you can't predict rain, right? But you kind of know that Napoli is there's always chaos. There's always something going on. And, you know, 180 degree turn on cobbles with 300 meters to go, I think, in today's cycling, especially take into account how the sport has changed, how the speeds have increased dramatically compared to whatever, 10 years ago.

They go five, six kilometers per hour faster now. It's kind of asking for trouble. You know it's going to be a bunch sprint. There's a hairpin, basically, 180 degree turn on cobbles with 300 meters to go. And I think, you know, was telling to see Jonathan Milan, who is a sprinter, who is Italian, who loves the Gero, who openly questioned the choice of this course. And he said, I don't get it. I don't understand why we have to do these kind of finishes.

you know there's a lot of things that come into play of course you know the stage is attributed to napoli so i'm just going to get take a wild guess napoli probably has something to say on where the finish should be but they don't get to dictate how they get there there's other ways to get to this finish other than you know a 180 degree on cobblos three enemies before the finish So what do you think, Spencer? Could this be avoided? Is it justified that the riders just have to accept this? Of course, it's easy to say now because it was wet, right?

It was wet. And if it's a bunch print and on wet, something's going to happen. You could say, well, the first two guys took too much risks. Listen, if they get true, there would have been a crash in fourth, fifth or sixth position. It was like soap on the road. What's your thoughts? Yeah, I agreed with Jonathan Mila. I was watching,

and why are we doing this with the chicanes? I looked at the course yesterday. It's actually pretty good little route through the city. They were going fast. It's fast. So that is dangerous, even if it's straight. I thought they just could have finished it right there on the road, on the approach.

The turns, I just thought it was unnecessary. Like a lot of turns inside the final kilometer, 180 degrees on cobbles. Even if it wasn't wet, did you notice there was big chunks of cobbles? missing. So, well, they would have been going faster. I didn't even think they're going that fast. I thought they were going pretty gingerly through the corner. I did think, I, I wonder if

they were worried. It looked like some guys were maybe moving up on the inside. I was like, ooh, Gros and Reagan's going to lose position here. He's got to be careful. But if it was dry, I just think they would have probably still had problems because there was, it just doesn't feel like it's befitting of a major world class sporting event. You're like, why are you going to this road? I just don't think that a state. I don't think that. stage, which is 95% sure going to be a bunch print in Napoli, knowing how the road's infrastructure is in that part of Italy, and especially in Napoli, should not be finishing on cobblestones. That's the first thing that you can avoid.

Yeah. And then on top of that, don't put that big turn 300 meters before the finish. Yeah, I mean, another thing, Spencer, I mean, I didn't, I wasn't able to get that information. information or I missed it, but was there from the UCI or the Giro, the Tour of Italy direction, any decision made in the final of the race that would say, okay, guys, there's chance of rain. They knew 20 minutes before the finish that it was going to start the rain. So, you know, you can kind of say, okay, hopefully it doesn't, but maybe it does. So out of precaution, I would think that there should.

have been a decision made that, okay, guys, there's going to be a stage, there's going to be a stage winner, but the times don't count for the GC because this is, and this takes already out of the equation, a lot of nerves from teams who have nothing to do there. They probably still would have crashed because the sprinters go full gas, they want to win the stage, they don't care about the time. But it would have calmed down the peloton, I think, unless I missed, and maybe there was that call from the race direction say, okay, the times are neutralized. Don't worry about it. Do you have any information about that?

There was like rumors all day that it was going to happen and then it didn't happen and they were speculating on. I thought that would have made a lot of sense and you do see it. You know, sometimes it's like, oh, it's too, we're going through middle of a big city, like a huge city, let's neutralize the GC time. It's been done in multiple grant tours. Yeah. There was speculation on the broadcast that they didn't want to do it because they didn't

want Naples to fight them. You know, I probably would be worried about that. Like, are we then violating the contract? It must be a huge contract they have with the city, like a multi-year deal to do this. And they didn't want to nullify the state. Like, if they nullified the GC standings or the GC implications, are they then breaking their contract? That was the...

Is that a rumor? Is it a pure speculation? I'm having a hard time to believe that, Spencer. That cannot be the case. I mean, the safety takes, you know, anyways, then the other question is, you know, what's the worth of a contract with Napoli? Are they going to respect it? Are they going to do what the contract says?

Or are you just hoping and crossing your fingers that they're going to respect? There was a lot of flying around on the broadcast too. We want to tread lightly here. We don't want to be. Yeah. Yeah, but yeah, I think it's pure speculation, Spencer. I would even dare to argue that if you make a decision based on safety for safety reasons, the contract is still valid.

You would imagine that's in there, right? Like that yeah, that in the in the case of unsafe conditions, yeah, it happens like all the time. But I could imagine sitting in a meeting with non-cycling people because, the finish. It was, it was dramatic, we should say. Like, I like the uphill cobbles. I liked the view. You could imagine sitting in a meeting and like it's local politicians, people from the UCI, and they're like, oh, it's going to be a beautiful finish. You're like, it looks great. Let's do it. People love cobblestones. They love Perry Rubet. This is going to be great. So you can kind of imagine how this came to be. I don't think it was probably the right decision. But who inspects

the course? Like, who is this advanced team that does this? That's the constant question, you know, and there's nobody who can give an answer. I'm pretty sure that this, you know, whatever official inspector, it's just, I don't know, it's something that is there, but, you know, listen, if it's somebody or a group of people, because, you know, one inspector cannot be everywhere. If it's a group of people, they basically are, you know, officials, you call them government officials from the UCI who do a job, do a job for their remineration. And in my opinion, it has to be ex-cyclists who have been there and see the danger because any other person will never see what a guy who has been there many times and sees, you know, after the corners or, or, or, or,

okay guys this is this is not this is not good this we cannot allow this this is asking for problems unfortunately uh we don't know how that protocol works and then what i also see a lot spencer i mean we don't want to get off topic here but you know there are there are certain ex-cyclists ex-professional cyclists even big names who when i see that they get a function at the ucily die, it seems like they forgot they've been a cyclist. It's like, okay, you know, I'm a politician now and this is what I have to do. And, you know, there are people. Like, for example, I think I think the CPA, the, you know, the, the writers union and

Adam Hansen, I think is, they're doing a really good job. They voice their concerns. They are present at meetings. My question is, how much is their voice taken into? account. You know, it seems to me like they listen to them and then they just keep doing whatever they want anyways. I've hardly seen, you know, small organizers sometimes get punished for a lack of safety. Never seen a big organizer. Never RCS, never ASO, not Flanders Classics. The powerful organizations, you know, but ultimately it should it should be the UCI who is

or somebody from the UCI who is responsible for approving that course. And then when there's problems and there are so many criticisms and, you know, complaints, then that person should be held accountable. And ultimately, it's the UCI who appoints somebody to approve. And they have to take their responsibility. It's easy to always push it away on, you know, and now you know what's going to happen, Spencer?

whoever, whether it's RCS or the UCI, they're going to say, well, you know, it's the rider's fault. They went too fast through the corner. Yes, maybe, but this could have been avoided, guys. This could have been avoided. Just make it safer because if there's a race to be won, they're going to take risks. So make sure that when they take risks, it's as safe as possible. I actually would be curious of anyone. I mean, maybe they are inspecting it.

It's not clear to me anyone is physically looking at these finishes because it feels like every year we get here. And it's two days before, a day before the morning of. And it's like, oh, this isn't safe. It's like, well, did no one look at it until now? Like, how is this now just becoming an issue? Shouldn't this been? Yeah. I don't know.

I don't really know enough about how the minutia of the course are created and when they're submitted. And also, you know, what I also think is that some of these ex-cyclists who have now this leading role, whether it's with race organizers or with the UCI, you know, I'm not saying they can always do what they want. They're under pressure. I'm just going to give you an example, right? So stage two, we have this massive crash. The race is shortly neutralized until everybody's back until their ambulances again. We've seen riders talk to the race director while they were going slowly. I've seen a quote from Jasper Stuyven, who was talking, and I saw this on screen, he was talking to the, to the, to the race directors and he was, you know, trying to convince them to say, okay, you know what,

let's just neutralize everything till the finish. The guy, I forgot who it was now, it was an ex-cyclist. The guy who was in there, he was, you know, pretending he was listening to him, you know, and said, okay, I'm going to consult, you know, I'm going to consult in the car. And next thing, Stephen knows, I mean, he's, he's gone public with this, so I can say it. He says the guy just, you know, all of a sudden just put his head in the car, was hiding and just wave the flag. Okay, race is back on. So that's probably not what this guy wants, but that's what they told him to do.

Yeah. You know, it's complicated. It's not easy. But I'm sure that this guy, I mean, he's not so long out of cycling yet. But he can't decide. Well, that was a different situation too. the race was happening they were approaching the final climb this was not this was a static situation they could have decided i it's not i i would love to know when these courses are

seen because it seems like every year the morning up is when it's it's like whoa this is what we're finishing holy smokes but i i'm i'm not even sure anyone's looking at this you know the teams the teams yes because you know you can't you can't preview all the all the stages yeah because And it's also the middle of a city, right? So the course doesn't even exist. So they see the course or they know the course like when they look at the roadbook and then they look on Velo Viewer and they all know it's going to be dangerous. And on top of that, you know, they're all sending people up front.

So they communicate with people who are at the finish. So everybody knows. But there's still a race going on. And there are a lot of things that can be avoided. And unfortunately, it doesn't happen enough. I think I'm with Milan. I mean, I think, you know, Milan is, you know, the best voice you can listen to because he's a sprinter. He knew he was going to be up there.

He's Italian. Goes there with an ambition and says openly, I don't get why we have to do this. You know, why they keep pushing us in doing this. I will say just to play devil's advocate, a sprint, a sprint, sorry, a straight sprint is not always a safe sprint. And if they crash going like a hundred. K an hour. People are there. Why did they add a turn in there?

What were they thinking? Yeah. So, I mean, sometimes I do like a turn. 180 feels a little, uh, maybe try a 90, 90 degree turn could be. Yeah. But this was, this was, I mean, they came with a lot of speed. It was like slightly downhill on cobbles. And then there was this, this turn and it's, it went uphill.

So, um, anyways, uh, it happened. You know, the advantage, Spencer is that if there's a crash like this, normally, it's, it's It's very slippery, but nobody really gets hurt badly. They slide, you know. It's better on like this on cobbles than on normal road, because this is a lot more slippery. Right, it looked so slippery. Like, unbelievably. And we should talk about it is interesting that, so unsafe, et cetera, et cetera.

GC teams have just decided it's neutralized. Like there's no jockeying for position from GC teams anymore. Is this a good idea? Do you think this is smart? They just sit back and there's, remember there was this, it was like a decade of get to the front, get to the front, get to the front. Like BMC was obsessive about this. Get to the front. Yeah.

And then because they don't want to lose time, I guess there's been a material change because now it has to be a three second gap before there's a time. A time gap is counted. So how often are you going to be more than three seconds behind? And it kind of makes me think, man, that was pretty stupid. Like why were teams doing that? GC contenders were getting in huge crashes for years because of this. Yeah, I mean, yeah. I mean, on a stage like today, for example, I mean, you can kind of,

especially with that approach and having the weather forecast, you can kind of calculate, okay, there's a 75% chance of crash here. And once the crash occurs, then. Yeah, then you're fine. Then you're fine about, yeah. I guess, but what happens if you were deemed off the back before the crash? No, no, no, no. No, you need to be attached to the group, but you can be in the back.

Then, of course, you have the risk that there's a gap already. And anyways. I mean, they had 141 riders counted on the same time today. So I don't think they're being sticklers about the gaps. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And so it is, I think it's a very good idea. I mean, Visma,

Visma is like almost move the needle on this. They're like, hey, we're going to sit at the back. They were at the back with 50K to go. It does stand a reason. If you're with your team, what is the worst that's going to happen?

You have seven strong riders at your disposal to chase down a move, even if you are caught out, so you're probably okay. And you do save so much energy. So much. Plus the helpers also. You know, the teammates also save a lot of energy because there's no stress.

You just stay united and whatever happens, then you move to the front. Yeah, it's not a bad idea. It depends on the course. It depends on how the final is. But what Visma, I mean, there's one of the team directors who went on record with this, that this is their plan and they're going to do that for whatever stage they think is suitable for this. It's part of their strategy. Yeah, and it is dependent.

Like think of stage one of the tour last year. That was just so crazy that maybe you do want to be at the front. This year is a little bit different. David de Ballerini wins the stage. Do you know the last time he won a World Tour race? Don't tell me it was Omlob with Newsblood. Yeah, 2012. Wow.

So it's been a minute. That's a long time ago. A strong writer, though. Yeah. He was, you know, you know, in his last grand tour, he finished second on the last stage in Paris behind the World of L'Art. Wait, wait. He was part of that group.

And he was in the last tour that he did. Last year's two, the France. Holy smokes. If you look, Mallorini was second in the last stage. That is a crazy trivia question. Who's going to get that right? He was, he was up there. I mean, first of all, he was strong enough to stay with those three, four guys.

So it's strong rider, you know. Today, it was his opportunity. He was there at the right moment. And he was not even the protected rider. He was on lead out duty for Malou, Shelley, he found himself in that situation. And yeah. And he went through so slowly and on the inside, which was a little less warm.

So that probably helped him. But he almost like a cross rider going through like a muddy off camber turn. I think even Stuyven had a foot out of the pedals. Yeah, Stuyven had a foot out in the corner, yeah, in the corner. So he couldn't make that up. He couldn't make up. I mean, he kind of got back to the wheel, but initially I thought Steven would win it, but ballerini is fast too, you know.

Yeah. I mean, I think he won, I think he won a stage in the tour of Turkey just before the, yeah, maybe just before the Gero. Before this started, right? Hold on. Yeah. Yeah. Is that this year?

He did. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Spring stage. I didn't. Hmm. He beat Tom Crab.

Yeah. Tom Crabe? He was good. Yeah. man he beat a Fernando Gaviria forgot that guy was still pro but this means

now Paul Monnier 130 points in the points classification Jonathan Milan 64 that's already really far down also troubling for Jonathan Milan we might not have a sprint stage until stage 15 in Milan and then stage 21 in Rome

so it's really only two sprint stages left in this race two likely sprint stages is little trek in panic mode? What is the mood at that team right now? I mean, there's not much they can do. I mean, today they were there. Would Milan have won today?

I don't know. After what I've seen from Manier, I have doubts that he could have had a chance. But hey, you have to try. He seemed like he was happy about his form and his legs today compared to other days. So, but what's for sure is that it's definitely for the moment, not the Giro that Jonathan Milan and Littl track have wished for him in the sprint stages. But anyways, you know, any other sprint stages is different. Although I do think that the way University Rose Rockets is riding, I think I think Runevigan has a stage within the legs too.

Yes. I mean, they look like the dominant sprint team. Also, for Milan, on paper, maybe it looked good, but a lot of these sprints haven't been great from. You had the cobbled sprint on stage three. You had the cobbled uphill, a cobbled uphill sprint. It's not even really a pure sprint finish. Like you'd see at the two to France. And then you have maybe two more. It's not actually the slam dunk parkours that I thought it was when I glanced at the stage list.

And then, yeah, his team is splitting between Derek G and the GC. and then him in the sprints so they don't have, they're not the dominant sprint team, even though they have the dominant sprinter. Yeah, it's a tricky situation. And you think, let's say he leaves this race without a stage win. That's a season done then. Is that going to the tour?

Were they not? No, he's not going to the tour. Man. So this is a lot of pressure on him to get a result here. Yeah, but hey, cycling is not exact mathematics, you know. Sometimes it doesn't work the way you wanted to work. I mean, a lot of times, most of the times, if you're not Bogachar or Wingergaard or Paul Sakesas, most of the times it doesn't work the way you wanted to go.

Yeah. I mean, you could definitely tell he was frustrated at the end of the stage. Like, why did we just do that? What have you done to me? No change in the G.C. But before we go to where it would, hopefully we have a change in the G.C. tomorrow. That would be shocking if we don't.

Before we preview tomorrow's stage, do we want to talk about 10%? tires really quick. You have some tire info to share with us. Yes. Yes. I've seen some information on social media about the tire choice of UAE. Initially, the first report I saw, I said, that's not too bad. But then I heard Grain Thomas and Luke Roe talk about it on their podcast. So it's about the tires of UAE. They ride with continental tires. We all know, you know, everybody who's a cyclist knows that these GP-5,000 model is a really good tire. And there's different models in that.

So there's a special model for time trials. It's called GP-5,000 TT. And that's apparently their tire of choice for almost all the stages, because, you know, they're supposedly faster. and lighter than the other models. I saw some pictures from stage two. Adam Yates went down and he was on time trial tires. I don't know what the width is. I'm going to guess 28.

And then yesterday, Arieta went down in that corner. Okay, of course, it's raining again as possible. you know, Ullalio is not on continental tires. I don't think so. But he went also down, right? But then we all saw that when Areta came back after that wrong turn, his tire was slipping on a straight.

So I've been doing some research. I mean, I've spoken to somebody from inside continental. And I asked him, I said, Do you know if the GP 500,000 TT model has less grip than the S model or the AS model, which is the S is the race tire by choice, and then the AS is all season, which is a bit heavier. All of us who are not racing, we should all ride with AS all season. It's a really good tire. You almost never puncture.

And he says, for Pari du Bé, AS is the best because of puncture protection, but not used very much. in races. The fastest tire is the Arrow 111. And the second best is the TT. But the S model is the best for everything, also for grip. So, I mean, he doesn't necessarily say that the TT has less grip, but it's a lighter tire. So you have more possibilities of puncturing.

And I'm personally going to think that the TT has less grip. I think it's not a great decision. to to ride with time travel because they're fast. I know the riders will probably want them because you can feel the difference. When it's a super fast tire, you know, tires are often underestimated, the advantage of having a fast tire. It's, it's amazing. But man, on rainy days, it brought me back to, I don't remember.

I think it was 2003. We went with postal, we had this. And I, you know, I was always back back in the days, we were riding 23 millimeter tubulars for the road stages. And then there was special time trial tubulars, which were 21 and sometimes even 19 for like smooth. I mean, it's unthinkable nowadays. But back then, that was the standard. And I remember, you know, I made the decision like in time trials and especially in team time trials to avoid any risk. we're always going to ride with the normal road tubulars,

the all-rounders, the 23-millimeter Hutchinson's that we were riding. And there were teams, you know, and some of our biggest competitors, they were obsessed with these time trial tires. I remember one time, the team time trial in 2003. I don't remember where it was, but we won this time trial on our usual normal road tires. And our two rival teams,

which were CSC and Phonak, they were convinced that they had to be on time trial tires. Well, guess what? They both had crashes. It was also raining. Their guys went down, you know? I mean, it's not the same as now, but there was already, there was a difference

between the normal road tire and the time trial tire in terms of grip. And I mean, it's probably less of a difference now because the time trial tires, are not also the same width as the road tire, but the difference in the different components, the composition of the rubber is probably making a difference. So, I mean, this guy here from within Continental told me that the S, the Continental GP-5,000S is the best tire, and they should always use that in road stages and not the time trial tire. Well, I've been, you just handed me a bike with like, just their stock set up on it.

And so it was the, it's like the aerobike that they all ride with the TT tires. It is very, they're very fast. So I guess we should say that. They're very fast. I just replaced, they just ran out, you know, they run out. Like they just fall apart on you. You can tell they're meant for speed, not for durability. I put the AS on, the 5,000 AS, great tire.

You can feel it's heavier. So you could. Yeah. Right. But yeah, right. For most of us, like, we just don't want to flat. That's great for anyone that's not trying to win a professional bike race. I guess my one pushback would be, would the riders say, like, well, it doesn't matter

if I don't crash because I'm just going to get dropped. So I need to have these super fast tires. That must be what they're thinking. Grant Thomas, I mean, he went pretty in detail. Like he said that they had continental tires also on Ineos. And they had been riding on the time trial tires, the TT tires. and once you get used to it, it's hard to say, okay, I don't want the TT tire because it's going to be

rougher terrain or maybe the rain. I want a different tire. But they did end up switching for stages where there was possibility of rain. Yeah, I mean, listen, they've probably done their research and they must have a reason to use them. But I think sometimes, you know, giving a little bit in in terms of performance and going for safety is probably sometimes worth, especially in a grand tour.

Yeah. I mean, yes, not crashing is big. These tires, they also, they have no grip in the wet. So it is a little crazy to me that they would run them on a wet stage. As Garan Thomas said, it is a little bit like doing drugs. You get a little bit, you can't stop. So maybe that's what's going on there. Yeah, don't crash is pretty good.

That's a pretty good strategy in a grand tour. Try not to crash on a wet stage, maybe use grippier tires. Well, I mean, it's strange to be, it's strange to, to understand because I think that the design and the profile, these, you know, it's the same kind of, it's their slick tires and then they have this designs on it, you know, to kind of get more grip or get the water evacuated faster. And it seems to me like they're all the same. same. They all have the same design on the roller, on the rolling surface. Yeah. Yeah, there's a lot about

tires. I don't understand. And like sometimes the speed and the grip is not related to the actual physical structure of the tire, but how it gets formed on the road. And yeah, I think too, if it's if it's just a big chunk of rubber, like a chunkier rubber, then that design is going to have more effect than the TT one, which you do feel like is is kind of thin. It was the First of you, I'm just giving, I'm just giving my thoughts based on, you know, like, just my own. I mean, I have no scientific evidence at all, you know, from the difference. I mean, and I'm sure that at UAE, they've done the research. They've definitely done the research.

They've tested all the tires. But, you know, yeah, I mean, I'm going off what this guy from Inside Continental says also that, the S and the AS have more grip than the TT. I mean, you can feel it when you ride them. The AS way grippier than the time trial. I mean, I'm only riding ASO. I love it. I mean, you can.

It's like an ad for Continental. Yeah. It is a great tire. I mean, I really like the tire. And you can lean, you know, like you can feel in corners. I mean, not in the wet because I never ride in the wet. But you can feel the difference. I mean, I have not tried the S or the TT, but they're all roads, their all season tire is a really good tire.

And I was just thinking even before all of this came up, I think tires are probably the biggest gain that's happened in the last 10 years. You know, it's like speeds have increased. Obviously, arrow is important and all that. These tires are really fast. Like even for us, I feel like I noticed. myself going faster with less fitness because of the tires. So the tires are super important. The thing that nobody thinks about.

Could it also be a sebo and psychological and just the feeling? It could be. I definitely see it like I did. We are too far in the weeds. I did a group ride on a course where I've done like a thousand versions of this ride. And this is the most unfit I've probably ever been on that course. And it was the fastest I wrote it. But you also have the fastest bike in years.

That's true. The bike is faster. But we just, because we always talk like, how could we possibly, what could possibly be that much faster about the bike? And I do think the tires and the fact that it's tubeless, it's a big fat tubeless tire. I think that is quite a bit less rolling resistance than when think about the rolling resistance of 120 PSI, like 23 mil tire, probably pretty low. Probably not great. Yeah, back in the days, we thought that that was, that had to be, you know. That's how you go fast.

If you were only six and a half, seven bar, that was like not enough. You're getting air like on a, yeah, anytime you go over a bump. Let's take a quick break and then we'll preview tomorrow's super important stage. Okay, Johan, stage seven tomorrow. This is crazy. We had to look at this twice because I thought it was a mistake. This is the first big GC stage. Summit finish at Blockhouse.

244 kilometers stage. It's like a monument inside of a grant tour, 4,400 meters of climbing. and then the final climb blockhouse, 13 kilometers at 8.5%. So it's long and steep. I mean, we were comparing it to alpine climbs yesterday. It's steeper. It's as long and steeper than Alpduez. So it's a very serious climb.

By the way, it's like 15,000 feet of climbing instead of meters. So very hard stage. The two big questions. The first question, who's going to win? The second question is, is a breakaway? What is a breakaway going to win? because the stage is so long, it's also laid out very oddly. It has a slight kicker to start, descent, and then rolling terrain for 133K, which is the length,

almost the length of today's entire stage. And then we start climbing. We have a cat to climb. We have an uncategorized climb that's 10K at 5%. Not quite sure how that's not categorized. Then we descend, and then we have a 7K long climb at 6.5%. Then we have a bunch more uncategorized climbs that. are pretty hard. Then we descend down and then Summit finish at Blockhouse, Red Bull

kilometer halfway up. I would bet a breakaway takes those bonus seconds. I don't think they'll be. Sorry, it's like not halfway up. I misspoke. It's probably an eighth of the way up. So breakaway probably takes that. And then Summit finish. How does this play out and who do you think is going to win? Well, I mean, the first question is, can a breakaway make it, right? It depends who's in the breakaway. But I'm going to say the breakaway doesn't make it because, in my opinion, Bahrain is going to control this stage. They want to keep O'Lallio in the jersey. And he's capable of staying in the jersey.

He has a six-something minute lead on Jonas. And how much does he have on Arieta? A minute? Three minutes, basically. 257. On Arieta? Yeah, is that crazy? Okay.

So who's the closest? Arieta. Okay. So he's 251 now. He's picked up some bonus seconds. Yeah. So he's not, I think, I think Olaio tomorrow loses between two and three minutes. Worst case, he's a good climber and he's in good shape.

So, and he's riding for, you know, the fame of his life, right? So I don't think he's going to get out of pink. I think personally that Jonas wins solo. on a climb like this 13 and a half kilometers, 8.5%. I don't think anybody can stay with Jonas. Depends on the wind, but still, I think Jonas wins. I mean, Blockhouse is, it's a very important climb. You know, when it was first featured in the Giro?

1952. to 1968. 1968. And a young writer, a young writer, won that stage. That young writer was Eddie Merck. It must have been like what his first year pro or something, 1968. No, no, no, no, no. He was in 1968, he was, yeah, he had been world champion already, but he was not world champion then, I think.

He was on, I think he was on Faiema. Actually, yes, he was on Faiema. It was his first Gero that he won. Actually, I should know this because funny, you know, side note, 1968 is the first grand tour that Eddie Merck won, the Gero. I've always known about this because my father, when I was, when I was little, you know, he was always talking about Eddie Merck's and the stage to Trecimi di Lavaredo, which he won. which was there's epic images of that stage in the snow.

So I've always heard about this. Eddie Merck's won also on on Blockhouse, ended up winning the, winning that zero. I actually, I mean, I actually, you know, I have a passion for vintage bikes. And I actually possess the original bike of 1968 of Eddie Merck's, which we, which he won.

Trecimitti Lavaredo with, which is, you know, a super, super nice piece of history. But so, yeah, ADMirks won the first time. And then there's two other riders. I mean, there's many other, there's been other times. But 2014, Nairo Quintana won on Blockhouse and ended up winning the G.C. And 2022, Jay Hindley won the stage on Blockhouse and ended up winning the Giro. So I guess the guy who wins tomorrow, if it's one of the favorites, is winning the Giro. And I'm probably going to predict that's going to be Jonas Wingergaard.

I hate to be a buzzkill. But I don't think they did this in 2014. I think they did it in 2017 when Nairo won and then remember he narrowly lost to Dumont. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 2017 yeah sorry sorry but he was and ended up winning the winning the GC yeah 2017 sorry well in 2014 he wins the GC

2017 he wins on blockhouse but loses GC by 31 seconds but it was close it was a close loss to Dumoulon that was the famous infamous year that everyone remembers well Dumoulin had to stop for an issue in the Dolomites Oh, is that already, are you telling me that Tom Dunelan won? Almost 10 years ago. 10 years ago? Yeah, it's messed up.

That's crazy. It's crazy, man. We're getting old, Spencer. We are ready. I know. It's pretty messed up, dude. I remember watching that Giro so vividly, and it's a decade ago, basically. That's crazy.

It's crazy. But you're right. There's like no, you rarely get outlier wins on this climb in the last time. My mistake, I thought it was 2014. Kintana. I just didn't want our comments section to get loved. Won the G.C. But it's, yeah, he didn't win.

Okay. He won in 2017. Well, it is actually hard to map out a scenario where Yonis doesn't win because if you think about a breakaway, just crunching numbers. The Strava KOM on this climb is 40 minutes, Steve O'Pino. You said the fastest ever time is like 3957 by Nairo. He's, he's, well, I mean, the, Kintana has the fastest time. of the last few years

in the last few years it's already 10 years ago but he's like 39 50 something tell me get on Straber it didn't happen but let's assume Jonas does 38 minutes tomorrow gets the record by about a minute then a good GC rider like our Olario let's say he loses

three minutes so 41 minutes a guy in the breakaway for 24K is you going to lose seven minutes you think eight minutes and then you'd still be in the top 10 of the Strava segment so that's like still climbing very fast it's just hard to imagine a breakway having eight minutes at the base of the final climb i don't think it's going to happen

draft kings doesn't think it's going to happen either because these are the odds of the stage you're just finnigard minus 250 pelozari plus 500 felix gall plus 1600 Coney plus 2,000, Jai Henley plus 3,000. Disrespect for Jai Henley. I know Rubio plus 3,000. I'm going to go with you, Johan. I think Yoness Fendergad wins the stage. And I think the best we can hope for is it's a small win and it's still competitive

by the end because part of me, these guys look, do you think they look very unbothered by this entire race so far, that entire team? It just, it feels like it's a joke to them. Yeah. Yeah. And also having mine, Spencer, tomorrow. is going to be very hard on the riders because, you know, a lot of riders have not recovered from yesterday's efforts. Yeah.

It's, you know, the horrible day in the rain and the cold and the hail. It takes its toll. And tomorrow we're going to see some dead bodies after 244 kilometers tomorrow. Wow. I mean, the bright. Yeah. They weren't even chasing. It's probably the longest stage of all the ground tours in the last long time.

I don't know. Yeah. Time wise, it might not. be unbelievably long because it is flat for the first half. And not flat. It's rolling for the first half. So there may, you know,

there's probably been Alpine mountain stages that are up and down the whole time that have taken a very long time in recent years. So maybe this is done in like, I don't know, what do you think, six hours, six and a half? Six.

Four thousand four hundred meters. Yeah. It's going to think more than six hours. This is too long. This stage is too long. How did this get approved? It's crazy. But that's the Gero man,

old school. Old school. But you could tell they're messed. They're messed up because no one's really chasing the breakaway today. The gap is not going out. First of all, the teams that we're supposed to be in it didn't even getting it. The gap isn't going out. And there's guys getting dropped from the break while they get, there's no one chasing.

The gap isn't going up. And there's people getting dropped from the breakaway today. So I think, yeah, I think you're right. People are on their knees already. from the stage on stage. A lot of writers said it was the hardest stage that ever done in their life. Like it was that draining.

I've seen images from writers, you know, like shivering. Like they didn't, they couldn't talk. You know, they were, they were, it was horrible. And then I saw an interview of Tom, who was at the finish. And he said, man, he said, I feel for these guys. I said, he said, you know, I have never in my life been in a situation like this that it was so hard, so cold.

Maybe he forgot already, but yeah, it was horrible. And then, you know, some riders will pay the price from the yesterday's efforts. Well, I think you're right. I think Jonas Benegro that's going to win and we'll be here to talk about it right after the stage show. Yeah. To join us. Okay. All right.

Thanks, Joe. Thanks, thanks, then. Bye.