THEMOVE - Flèche Wallonne 2025 Breakdown | THEMOVE

Episode Date: April 23, 2025

Lance, George, and Johan break down Tadej Pogačar's statement win at today's 2025 edition of Flèche Wallonne, which saw him take a dominant victory over Kévin Vauquelin and Tom Pidcock after surgin...g clear on the uber-steep Mur de Huy following a hard day of racing in wet and rainy conditions. The group talks about the key moments of the race, how Pogačar could potentially be winning at an even greater rate if he continues to race with the level of maturity and restraint he showed today, and what this means for Sunday's looming clash between Remco Evenepoel, Pidcock, and Pogačar at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. 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 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. Square: Square keeps up so you don’t have to slow down. Get everything you need to run and grow your business—without any long-term commitments. And why wait? Right now, you can get up to $200 off Square hardware at https://square.com/go/THEMOVE. Run your business smarter with Square. Get started today. 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

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Yeah, I think today Pogacar raced the perfect race. You know, he didn't want to set up like a big show, no attack from long away. I mean, I think if he would have attacked, it would probably have been him and Remco who would have gone and then it would have been on the mirror. But he relied on his team for as long as he had guys. And then just did one attack. And I've said, you know, if Pogacar would,
Starting point is 00:00:26 and obviously would not be as nice of see the bike races as a spectator, but if he would race like he did today, every single time, he would almost not lose any race. All right, everybody. Welcome back to the MOVE Podcast. Talking today about Fleshwalone, the 89th running of Fleshwalone. Of course, and my wife was so confused by this because she's like, why are you doing a podcast in the middle of the week? Well, it's one of these, it's a semi classic. So as you know, you have things like Gantt Wevelgem and Fleshwalone that do come in the
Starting point is 00:01:03 middle of the week. I would know. I won this race back. Boy, 29 years ago now. How about that guys? Was it not 96? 1996. Well, 1996. Of course I am joined by Mr. George Hincapie. It looks like he's down out on the patio at the Hotel Domastique outside of Greenville.
Starting point is 00:01:29 Was it raining the day you won? Was it raining? It was 29 years ago, so it's, I'd have to go back and watch on YouTube. It wasn't raining. It, I don't, it might, we had some rain. It was cold. I remember being cold watching it on TV. Yeah, it was cold.
Starting point is 00:01:46 And we're going to talk about the weather because finally. The weather might have been a factor in a spring classic. It has been a minute. We talked about it every show we've done. By the way, I checked the weather for Liege, best only as this weekend appears to be sunny and 65. So back to what back to the new norm also to joined by Johan Brunel over there in Madrid.
Starting point is 00:02:08 Johan was out on a training ride this morning. This is cool. And sends me a picture runs into Pedro Delgado. How cool is that? I mean, just rolling around Madrid with it. What's up? Yeah, well, he lives in Madrid. So I mean, I know. I mean, there's a lot of people that live in Madrid
Starting point is 00:02:24 and there's a lot of people who ride bikes in Madrid and you don't just run into. Yeah. The thing is, you know, I mean, the good thing about this area where I live is like, I live about 10 kilometers away from a bike path that goes from Madrid to the mountains and it's an 80 kilometer bike path. Wow. So that's like, that's where all the cyclists are. And so I ran it. I met him there. So wait, 80 kilometers that is folks. That's 50 miles one way or, or round trip. I think it's about, yeah, it's no, it's about 80 K. Yeah. From Madrid to Navarra Serrata to Miraflores where the mountains start and no
Starting point is 00:03:04 stops, no cars. No, that's unbelievable. That really is. Yeah. Wow. I would kill if I had one of those in Austin, I'd I would ride my bike a lot more. Is it slightly uphill the whole way out? Or it's hard. It's it's like, you know, like it's a rolling, but it's a few climbs and. I thought. Oh, we are once again also going to talk about the exceptional performance of one Tade Pogachar
Starting point is 00:03:27 who just continues to demonstrate that, as I said, and I do believe several weeks ago is when it's all said and done, it's going to be recognized as the greatest of all time. He just doesn't let up. Exceptional performance. Before we get into all the action today, show brought to you by Maui Nui. Now, I told you all the other day, I'm headed to Hawaii. I'm leaving tomorrow morning, heading over to the big island. It's been a few days there. Then I'm going to head over to Kauai. I'm hoping to run into these Maui Nui guys.
Starting point is 00:04:04 Everything about that state of the chain of islands, Hawaii is just so special. I had a house there for many years and of course, spent years and years doing triathlons there. It's just a special place. And this is not I'm not working for the Chamber of Commerce for Hawaii, but it is. And in the Hawaiians, they call it the mana, right? So the mana is the spirit that just special. And all the folks at Maui Nui know all about what I'm talking about.
Starting point is 00:04:35 Here's the thing too, is it's a long ways to get there. So my backpack's gonna be full of all kinds of snacks. Never trust that funky airplane food. I'm not flying George style, right? I'm sitting with other people eating food that who knows where it came from, not me. I'll be rocking down the Maui Nui snacks. It is a great snack for on the go,
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Starting point is 00:07:35 we never really did get to the bottom of whether or not that was a nutrition or fueling issue, but nonetheless, Tadej Pogachar comes back and just, and by the way, too, the team exceptional, tactics perfect. I mean, it did look like a UAE, Sudol sort of head to head, but was it? I mean, he was just so good. He was just waiting. And it is that style of race. You just wait in that race. I mean, this is, imagine what percentage of the times weight in that race. I mean, this is imagine what percentage of the times this thing has ever been decided in a breakaway. Very few. Uh, it's just that hard. When you, when you won Lance, you, you, you,
Starting point is 00:08:16 you guys were gone before the mural. We were gone before the mural. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I think, I think today, um, well, that char raised the perfect race. You know, he didn't want to set up like a big show, no attack from long away. I mean, I think if he would have attacked, it would probably have been him and Remco who would have gone and then it would have been on the mirror, but he relied on his team for as long as he had guys
Starting point is 00:08:38 and then just did one attack. And I've said, you know, if Pogacar would, you know, obviously it would not be as nice of the bike races as a spectator, but if he would race like he did today, every single time he would almost not lose any race. Um, I think, you know, these, these long attacks, it's, it's risky, you know, it, it works and sometimes it doesn't work, but if he would race like today, man, I mean, I think it obviously also had an impact that he did,
Starting point is 00:09:09 Armstead and he has Liege coming up. So he wanted to win, but spending, spending as less possible energy. So now, I mean, masterpiece today of UAE, I think. I might slightly disagree with you, Johan. I mean, sometimes he has to go. For instance, if he raised like he did today in tour of calendars, he would have gotten beat by Mads Peterson or Matteo van der Pol. So it's sort of a situational circumstantial, depending
Starting point is 00:09:36 on the course. But what a dominant performance we saw today. I think we finally thought on Sunday, did we see a dent in the armor? Like is he starting to get a little bit tired, which is more of like a human thing. Like is this, is he an actual human, not a robot? But today he showed the world again that he's still the top of his game, not tired one bit from the effort on Sunday. And yeah, just rode away from everything. The team, like you said, road to perfection. And what a lot of people don't realize is how much the rain adds to the stress on a day like today. I mean, you saw guys like Skellemose sliding out. I mean, those classes crashes, they may look like
Starting point is 00:10:18 what just happened there. They're inevitable. I mean, they just slide out. You're so stressed out fighting for position all day, coldivering, body doesn't react the same. I mean, that's, and poker chart makes it look easy, but we can assure you all the viewers that it is far from easy what he did today. And when it comes to the weather, I think the weather is a, uh, is an interesting thing to talk about, not just the weather itself, but also how you, how you just prepare for that in the race, whether, you know, clothing, rain jackets, vests, gloves, et cetera.
Starting point is 00:10:51 But when it comes to the weather, not everybody is built the same. I mean, there are some folks that were absolutely shivering today and might be sick tonight, but when they're shivering, everything is affected, right? Their braking is affected, their handling is affected, their shifting is affected. And then there are others that just tolerate the weather better.
Starting point is 00:11:12 And I think the easy thing to say is, oh, you know, and we saw, of course, all the early breakaway with so many Norwegians represented, it's easy to look at that and say, well, they're Norwegians. They're supposed to be in the break. They're not even cold. Maybe. They're Norwegians. They're supposed to be in the break weather. They're not even cold. Maybe. But there's just, and I speak from experience.
Starting point is 00:11:30 I found, although I did have, I did tend to have some of my best performances in cold, wet weather, I always remember being miserable and just thinking, is everybody as cold as I am? And it got harder as I got older. And as I continue to ride today, I mean, there's just, today was 49 degrees and raining. Not for all the King's horses would I go ride my bike in 49 degrees and rain today.
Starting point is 00:12:01 I just wouldn't. So it's very individual. And then the last thing on that is just what they showed a ton of on the coverage is just trying to manage the clothing. Of course you start the race with as much stuff as you can because you don't want to get wet. You don't want to get cold early. So whether that's gloves, shoe covers, leg warmers, I mean, it's an endless list.
Starting point is 00:12:25 But at some point, right, that stuff as the race heats up and the race gets faster, then you start to sweat. You just do, right? So then you're trying to manage the cold temperatures, the rain, and also perspiration. So you saw guys trying to get the balance right of they would have a vest under the raincoat, they take off the raincoat so they could take off the vest. And then they put the raincoat back on. I mean, they're just sitting there trying to find the balance.
Starting point is 00:12:51 And of course, raincoats today are infinitely better than what they were like when we used to race. But there is no perfect answer. Right. Unless you're just one of these freaks who just doesn't get cold. Well, I think I think, you know, considering, and we all know how it feels to race in this kind of weather. For example, you can see T-Bone nice. I read an interview of him, hypothermia, almost the whole race.
Starting point is 00:13:16 Still managed to be eight. But I think it shows how strong Bogacar really was, because you all know how difficult it is to, you know, change those clothes, get them off. And in a blink of an eye, all of a sudden, nobody, Bogacar was raised ready, everything off, ready to go. You know, and that shows that you're in control, that you are- Johan, let me ask you a question. When he, I think it was like, what, the last climb with 4K to go and he's sort of in the front on the wind. I mean, is that sort of you think he's just trying to not get cold again?
Starting point is 00:13:48 Because he had his shorts on and race fit saving it all for the mirror. But it's so cold out that, you know, there's a fine line of getting cold or being ready for the finish. Well, I mean, I don't know. I mean, obviously from there on, you have to be in the front. That was basically get to the top, the downhill. And you could see, I mean, it's, it's, I've never seen or hardly seen a flash wall on where there was so little fighting to be in position before the last climb. Everybody was dead already. You know, they were, they were, they were on the limit. Um, but, um, but yeah,
Starting point is 00:14:20 I mean, he had the team up there on the, last time, hard pace. It was not an attack. And then I guess he wanted to just take the descent in the front. Remco took over and descended in front, but it looked from there. I mean, ultimately, I think we should also talk about Remco, I mean, disappointing results, but he did a good race until the last time. Um, but it looked like it was going to be them and everybody else was just looking at what they were going to do. Uh, and those two teams took control of the whole race also. But, uh, but to come back on Pogacar, I mean, the way he, all of a sudden was, you know, in the rainbow, in the white rainbow, instead of the black rainbow, uh, and ready to go,
Starting point is 00:15:04 it was, you know, that means that you are, you're so good. You're okay. You're just waiting. You're not suffering. Everything, you know, normally you're struggling with the clothing. If you're, you know, you can see, and especially nowadays, the, the, these rain clothes are tight, you know, to get a raincoat on nowadays, it's not, it's not easy and even to get them.
Starting point is 00:15:21 I mean, no matter how good you're feeling, I mean, you still get cold and you still suffer in the cold. And a lot of people don't realize or understand that Bogatrar is suffering in the cold as much as everybody else, but somehow he's just able to not let it affect them. Well, I'm really, really surprised to see these guys. I mean, you know, they, they raised it, they raised it skin suits, man. They have no undershirts on. If you see these guys arriving, it's, you know, you raise the arms.
Starting point is 00:15:46 You can see the wire of the radio on the skin. There's, there's nothing. I mean, it's, it's, it's unbelievable. Um, I guess today, you know, I think after I'm still, there was a certain trend of saying, okay, maybe, maybe he's getting a little weaker. Maybe he's getting a bit tired. I think today everybody's back with both feet on the ground. And Bogotar is the king. By the way, whoever said that is a fool. That was so clearly an issue.
Starting point is 00:16:19 It was either one of two things. And that's all it can be was a fueling issue. Or by the way, the guy is human. Yeah. I think it was more, it was more a recovery recovery issue from, from party to bed. Okay. Well then the folks sitting around, I mean, you better go wish for
Starting point is 00:16:34 something else that is not happening. It will happen at some point, right? Of course. But it is not yet now, now how he manages the season and are these efforts early in the season going to take it out of him for the month of July? That's a different thing. But overall, right, pound for pound and day for day, this kid isn't slowing down right now. No, no.
Starting point is 00:16:58 Let's keep talking about all the action. But before we do, today's episode is supported by Square. From point of sale systems and payments to inventory and customer tools, Square brings everything together in one simple platform. So you can stay organized, sell anywhere and keep things moving. Whether you're running a bike shop, a coffee shop or a restaurant or something entirely your own.
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Starting point is 00:18:10 That's square.com slash go slash the move. Run your business smarter with Square. Get started today. Also today brought to you by One Skin Dry Skin. Deeper wrinkles,, Creepiness. These are just a few of the visible signs of aging. I'm starting to notice some of this stuff. So I'm going extra hard on the One Skin.
Starting point is 00:18:34 Right? They know all about this. Now, and I say this as somebody who's not, I don't sit around like others, not to name names, who are concerned with their aesthetics. And I'm not looking at you, Johan. Right? No. I know, I know. But I do want to keep my skin healthy as I get older.
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Starting point is 00:19:46 Use the code, the move. All right, back to the race. Before we keep talking about the finishing all that, I do want to give a special shout out. I thought we were going to talk about your aesthetics. Oh, the aesthetics as well. I'm a huge fan of the one skin. We know that.
Starting point is 00:20:00 But anyway, And your aesthetics. And I don't know about that, but I do try to maintain some sort of look. George, listen, anybody who looks at your profile pictures on any kind of social media understands how you're concerned with your aesthetics and presenting your image. Thank you, Jan. I appreciate you noticing that. I do want to give a special shout out to Artem Smith, made the breakaway. I mean, that is no easy task in itself.
Starting point is 00:20:34 He's a local rider from Atlanta, has trained in these mountains that I'm looking at right here for the last couple of years. Great kid, hard worker, 20, 20 years old and, you know, battling it out. Not only that, but a lot of it, I mean, not a lot, but Brandon McNulty was one of the last guys for, for Pogachar American ride. A great, great, great ride. And Magnus Sheffield was in there till, you know, till the very end as well. So I love seeing the Americans up there with the best in the world. Yep. That's right.
Starting point is 00:21:02 Um, let's talk about this. the guy who came second. Yeah. Kevin Wachala. Kevin Wachala. And we talked about it. We spent a considerable amount of time talking about him last July during the tour when of course he won a stage. He just has something. He's on a smaller team,
Starting point is 00:21:20 which you guys alerted me in the pre-show that that team is now going away. So he is at the end of his contract. You can see him being a sought after acquisition this off season. He's got it. By the way, was he second or third year last year as well? Second. So two times second.
Starting point is 00:21:42 I don't know. He's just, he's got a good way about him. He's got a good style. His stage went at the tour last summer was hella impressive. Yeah. He's going to be a big target now. I don't know. Uh, Johan, you, you seem to have a good pulse on these things, but I mean,
Starting point is 00:22:01 these are going to be the bigs, right? I mean, he's definitely not going to have problems finding a team. No, no, no. And, uh, the big teams are going to be the bigs, right? I mean, he's definitely not going to have problems finding a team. The big teams are going to go after him for sure. Um, don't know who his agent is, but I don't really think he needs an agent right now. Um, you know, they're going to come after him. And it's, so it's probably already happened, you know, I mean even before today's second place, um, they all know the quality of this guy.
Starting point is 00:22:26 They know that Arkea is disappearing. So I can see him end up in like Visma or even UAE or, or Ineos, who knows? I don't know. Or Red Bull. Or Decaplin. I mean, they got a big budget now too. They're going to want a French rider. Decathlon should definitely, I mean, they're going to go after him big time. They need, they need a French big rider. That's true. And it's not, um, apparently it's not done deal. The team is over, but he is very, uh, concerned about his current sponsorship and he needs, he needs a commitment by a big sponsor. I think by June, he said, or otherwise he needs to pull the plug on a team. Yeah. Well, the team is, he's going to be out and even if Arkea would keep going, they will
Starting point is 00:23:10 be out of the world tour. So they would not be a world tour team. So that already, even if he would have a contract for next year, it would free him. Because if a team doesn't just remain world tour, there's a clause in there that you can leave if you're that type of rider. So the guy can time trial too. The guy can climb in time trial. I mean, he's not at the level yet to be like a Grand Tour contender, but I can see him
Starting point is 00:23:37 evolve into initially a top 10 rider and probably top five rider in the future. So you say they're out of the World Tour, even if they got a sponsor, but what about, what if he continues to get these big results does not not put them further up the ladder or is it? No, they have no more chance. They're, they're already too far down. Too far down. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:23:54 Also young, 23 years old. Yeah. This is it. I mean, this is, this is, I think we'd all be surprised if we looked up somebody's bio and saw God forbid it's at 29. We'd be like, oh, probably not a lot of people interested in him. 23.
Starting point is 00:24:12 I mean, look at the, if we just average the ages of the folks that we've talked about today, it's right around 21. Yeah. Yeah. Young Christian, 20 years old, the guy who worked for Lenny Martinez. I think he's 21. You know, Yeah. Well also it was, seemed to be struggling with the cold. Yeah. Yeah. Um, Lenny Martinez,
Starting point is 00:24:35 21 years old. Yeah. Fourth place today. Yeah. Great ride. So, so yeah. And then, uh, another guy I would like to give a shout out is Tom Pitcock, third place in flesh for alone. Um, obviously his form is on the up. Um, you know, he started again in flesh Brabant song, didn't, wasn't able to follow one art and, and even a pool. He was up there in Amphil, but not really a factor today. Uh, he was up there. So I think he's for the, he's also a podium contender for next Sunday. And
Starting point is 00:25:09 you know what, what a way for him to step up and basically, you know, lead that team to 36.5 and then you don't have the whole team around him for him at a really, a much higher level than they were in the past. Yep. Now you look at I mean, when I think of Q36.5, I can't help myself, but to also think about the other new sort of Swiss startup, Tudor. I think this is the Yankees and the bad news bears. This is in similar paths.
Starting point is 00:25:43 They just won yesterday. I'm talking about, I don't watch those races, as you know. I watch the races that everybody else watches. I don't like go skeezing on the internet looking for pirate feeds to watch some third category race. Now, having said that, similar paths, right? Q36.5 snags, a pitcock, two door snags, alaphilippe and here she and here she and, and so far it's, it's working out for them.
Starting point is 00:26:12 Yeah. So I think, I think Tudor is, I mean, this Tudor is, is also, I mean, it's a great organization there. It's well run and they're actually points wise, they're ahead of Q36.5, but the transfer of Pitcock turns out to be a lot more successful than the transfer of both Alaphilippe and Hirschi together for now, right, for now. But I think nobody doubts about the qualities and the talent of Pitcock.
Starting point is 00:26:39 He's an exceptional talent. Well, speaking of consistency, my man, Benaly is just, he's always this, this kid and y'all know, just quit laughing, George. I mean, it takes a lot for me to say anything nice about anything related to what you call the team. Uh, but I love this guy all over the bike. He tried, at least it looks, he's trying so hard. He's just always there.
Starting point is 00:27:02 Even look at your backdrop, Johan. Right? What do you see? I mean, the first thing I see is, is Tadej Pogatar has his glasses in his mouth, which, all right, folks. I think they're hanging on his collar. They're hanging on his jersey.
Starting point is 00:27:14 Okay, it was like, if they're hanging out of his mouth, that's crazy, because I didn't see that. But they look right there, there's Ben Healy. Yeah, yeah. Not only that, but no fear. I mean, he was at the front of the, I mean, he basically launched it before anybody else. And then of course,
Starting point is 00:27:29 Ogretar just rode away from anybody in the saddle. But yeah, no fear against these guys and always super aggressive and really fun to watch. So much, at least here on the Peacock coverage, Bob Roll and Christian Vanderbilt really got excited about him not getting out of the saddle, which I agree when you watch you're like, wow, he just rode away from them in the saddle, which you don't often see.
Starting point is 00:27:56 Now with Bogatyr, who knows? I mean, you can, no telling what you're going to see. Keep in mind, the roads are very wet. The climb is incredibly steep. And if you're watching the show, you can see in Johan's picture, there's paint on the road. So they painted names and we on there, which is the town that it finishes in. That paint is slippery. So yeah, you can stand up, but the chances that you start to slip are pretty high.
Starting point is 00:28:24 Especially where he attacked, Lance, he attacked in the deepest corner there. And especially with the rain, I agree. You have to sit down. I would have hated that. It was still impressive the way he accelerated. It was like, OK, he decided I'm going and everybody else was OK. OK, we're looking somebody disappear in the distance. This was no reaction. Nobody could react. Yeah. I mean, yeah, we're not used to seeing that. We're used to seeing somebody go
Starting point is 00:28:49 after that section with, you know, 200 meters to go and ride away, but this was a long ways to go. And especially George, usually when somebody who goes there pays for it in the last 100 meters. Exactly. Yeah. He won with 10 seconds and 10 seconds on the Murovuy is a lot. It's a lot. So that means the second place was the same time as when Lance won in 1996. Yeah. Yeah. 305. Yeah. So he did 255. It's,
Starting point is 00:29:15 it's, you know, um, the fastest times is, uh, it's Valverde and Alaphilippe 241, but it's dry circumstances. And also we need to see what happened before the Virofee, right? I mean, this was basically a drag race and everybody was worn out already. As we said, you know, there was no fighting for position. That means that everybody was on the limit already.
Starting point is 00:29:36 And I mean, 255 in those circumstances, I think it's very, very fast, super fast time. Yeah, considering. Yeah. Yeah. Considering, considering. Yeah. It's, I mean, this, this one kilometer of the mirror view is like, it's, there's so many data on that, you know, like the speeds we, I mean, we got this list that it goes back to what like 1992 or 91, I guess. Um, but yeah, I mean, Valverde and Valverde and and Alaphilippe to 241.
Starting point is 00:30:07 That's that's unbelievable. That's really fast. So 255, I think considering the circumstances, it's a great performance. To me, it looks like it was not he was not completely on the limit yet. Yeah, no, I think I think he knew exactly what he was doing. By the way, 16 seconds faster than winter last year. A lot. Well, now they get ready.
Starting point is 00:30:33 Last year was also really bad. Right. So just trying to compare apples and apples. Not a different, different, different riders. Very different. So now they get ready for Liège, they go back to their hotels. Nobody goes home. It's not enough time to go home. They now they get ready for Liège. They go back to their hotels. Nobody goes home. It's not enough time to go home. They got to do recon on the course. And I would imagine some tired bodies after today.
Starting point is 00:30:51 And that's for sure. You just glad to be done. Get as much, get as dry as you can, as fast as possible and get as warm as you can. But if you don't handle, that's an interesting, that hour after the race. Yeah. If you don't handle that right with interesting that hour after the race. Yeah. If you don't handle that right.
Starting point is 00:31:06 With the things that I just laid out, you can get sick and then then Leiaz just now. You know, that can affect anybody that can affect Bogachar or Remco or anybody that was in the race, but it's it's risky. You got it. You got to dial that because I mean, Leia is just such a hard race. If, if, if you're 1% off, then don't even start. Yeah. I think, I think, uh, Remco is going to be disappointed today. You know, which, which place did he get seven or eight or nine?
Starting point is 00:31:37 Nine. So it just, but Johan, just real quick, I mean, you saw him, right? He, it, he almost tried to go and then you could tell just eased up a bit and then made, gave it another go. And then finally you saw him. He just set up and he just, yeah, didn't him matter if he got ninth or 90th. Yeah, of course. He just did not have it now. Historically he has been struggling on really steep sections in any other race. So I think from that point of view, I think Liège is better for him. But I still think that, you know, 100% Bogacar and the Remco that we see now who's still improving, I don't
Starting point is 00:32:20 think it's going to be a match. There's no way. I don't know. I'd like to, I'm going to say that maybe he was more affected by the weather today. Could be first race, you know, third race back after seven months off. Who knows what's going on with his body was probably in Spain most of that time. Warmer temperatures. What he did the other day after the crash and chasing for 30K and we all know 50, 50 we all know 15 15 K. OK, 15 K. But he said 30.
Starting point is 00:32:46 It's he said 30. But Strava says 15. But his result the other day was massively impressive. He's won the as before. So doll needs a result. They haven't done anything all spring. I don't know. I'm not counting them out. I think I think the race is going to be exciting on Sunday. You can't you can't. But, you know, logically, if it's a harder race, Pogacar should usually,
Starting point is 00:33:10 I mean, I think it's going to depend on how, where Pogacar decides to go. That's, that's the key. I mean, and normally he will go a lot of good. So from there on, I think he's done it already. Remco has done it already twice because the Remco won the edge twice. No, yeah, he did win it twice. Yeah. And, um, and Pogacar won it twice. So, um, yeah, it's going to be a match. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:33:37 And a match of those two teams. Also, and, and, you know, credit to Sudak, Wigstap, you know, we've said, So credit to Sudok Wikstep. We've said they've been in existing or non-existent in the Cobble classics. It's clear that they made the shift to build a team around Remco and now they have guys in the final. They have guys to support him. They are not even close to the quality of UAE, in my opinion, because the guys who support Remco are there to support him.
Starting point is 00:34:07 The UAE guys are there to decide the race. So Johan, real quick, you have these guys, you got that same exact team. Wouldn't you try to get like your second, third guys, instead of doing the work before Lara do, trying to get up the road in case Pogachar gets a little bit ahead of Remco so they can wait for Remco to work together. That wouldn't be part of it. What would be your tactics? I think that'd be really interesting to hear that. It's very difficult, especially for a one day race.
Starting point is 00:34:36 Stage races, I would have a tactic in mind. I actually have a tactic in mind how Pogacar could potentially be beaten. But for, for, uh, for the Eish, there's not much you can do with T-Main. And, um, it's... Best man wins. Once they get to Laradoute, it's man against man. Um, and, and, and also because these top guys are so much better than the rest, it doesn't even matter if you have a guy there, they're going to be dropped immediately. That's also why they like to race from so early on against each other,
Starting point is 00:35:09 because they want to eliminate the teammates around guys. Right. So let's say, for example, if, if Sudak Wigstapp tries to get a guy in the break, let's say, uh, Maury van Savenant or, um, who else is there? Mark Schachman, for example, who's, you know, pretty good shape. What is he going to do once Pogacar gets there with Remco? There's not much he can do. One attack is going to be dropped. Yeah. Hmm. Okay.
Starting point is 00:35:39 Well, we'll be seeing Lance at four in the morning. I know. I was tempted to go look on Peacock here and see what time the race starts. Because, you know, Hawaii is one of these. But they like Arizona and Nevada and parts of India. And like they don't know what time zone it's on now. But I fear that it's not four hours difference from Austin. It's five hours. I was going to make it even earlier.
Starting point is 00:36:08 Nonetheless, boys, I will be there, especially for Lae'esh, best known Lae'esh. I love that race. Yeah, nice race. Love it. As I said at the top of the show, weather seems to be improving, 65 degrees and partly cloudy, partly sunny.
Starting point is 00:36:22 Yeah. But TBD, partly sunny. Yeah. But TBD, long race. Yeah, super hard. One of the hardest of the season. Yes. In terms of difficulty of the terrain, that and the Tour of Lombardy. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:36:38 Climbing wise, it's the two hardest races and you have Flanders, but that's different. Yeah. The best guy will win the race. That's for sure. Especially if it's one of the two that we just talked about. I think that's safe to say. All right, guys. Well, everybody, thanks for tuning in. We will see you Sunday morning.
Starting point is 00:36:58 Thanks, guys. Thank you. Okay. bye.

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