THEMOVE - Giro d'Italia Stage 5 Analysis & Stage 6 Preview | THEMOVE+

Episode Date: May 14, 2025

Johan Bruyneel and Spencer Martin break down Mads Pedersen's surprise stage win in Matera, which came after a difficult finale where his Lidl-Trek team impressively controlled the front group. They discuss how Pedersen's teammate Mathias Vacek put in a herculean effort to set him up for the win, and the GC jostling we saw on the final climb between UAE's impressive-looking team and Primož Roglič. Before they take off, they preview Thursday's Stage 6, a likely sprint stage before things get harder heading into the weekend. They predict who will win, how the action will play out, and which riders present the best betting value. Join Cycling: THEMOVE listeners get 30 days for free. The link to access that free trial is here: https://join.cc/themove

Already the three stages that Pedersen won is Matias Vácek, but today was exceptional. It looks like he doesn't feel the pedals, you know, he, Matias Vácek at the moment does not know how strong he is. He had the whole final under control by himself, was still able to lounge the sprint for Pedersen once he was back in his wheel. I mean, I want needing a race. He's going to get a race. He's I mean, they're going to fight, fight, fight to to keep this guy for a long time. Everybody, welcome back to the move. Plus, I'm Spencer Martin. I'm here with Johan Bernil. We are analyzing stage five of the Giro d'Italia and then predicting

tomorrow's stage six on stage five, which was 151 kilometers finishing on the, I'd say stunning cliffside, hillside town of Matera, one by Mads Pedersen in a reduced difficult sprint over Eduardo Zambanini and who didn't see that coming and Tom Pitcock and third, Johan big notes from the day. I mean, first we should, I guess we should describe the course, the parkour. It was, I would say like debatable difficulty. It depended what profile you were looking at. We'll have our producer Gabriel throw a profile right now so you can look at it

for yourself. But the RCS one looked a little bit more mild. The one on pro cycling stats looked a little bit more extreme but really the cliff notes are there were three sprints throughout the day. Two for points for the point jersey, one for time bonuses. There was a breakaway up the road though so it soaked up all those time bonuses. Mads Pedersen took the intermediate sprints from the peloton for those two. Pretty impressive actually the way he did it and then there was a steep Mads Pedersen took the intermediate sprints from the Peloton for those two. Pretty impressive actually, the way he did it. And then there was a steep category four climb, three K long at eight and a half,

9% average. We're not quite sure. It was difficult, very difficult. And then two climbs up to Matera. They went up to Matera, descended down, went back up. Very difficult, very difficult, like I guess finale we'll say Mads Pedersen wins the sprint. Looks like he was barely holding on, almost got caught by, passed by Zambini. Pitcock looked okay. I want to talk about that with you, but what were your big takeaways other than Matthias Vycek should get a raise on little track from this? Yeah, it was, it was a very difficult finale. Um, as you say, Spencer,

three guys go from the gun. Nobody even tried, uh, to go with them. So it was clear that this was a TV attack. They, they made it very, very deep into the race. I mean, they, they, they got caught really in the end. Um, but the Peloton had perfectly on the control, of course, uh, three man breakaway at the end. There was onlyoton had it perfectly on the control, of course, three-man breakaway. At the end, there was only one rider left. Other than that, that climb with about 30km to go was hard. But the bunch was probably reduced to about 80, 90 riders on the climb, very stretched out, then a very tricky downhill where the peloton even split more. And then you could clearly see that

in the last five, six kilometers, there were some guys who were fighting to come back or fighting to hold on, they got dropped. So ultimately it was a group of like 50 plus 56, 57 riders to the finish. So you know that everybody has tired legs if that's the case. The sprinters who are there, even complete sprinters, I would say like a guy like Mats Pedersen, they had a hard time. We could see on the steep climb with 30K to go, Pedersen already had difficulties, especially after UAE took over on the top. He went back quite a few places, but came back and never got dropped. But especially at the end, man, I mean, this, this, uh, little attack of, uh, Primoz Roglic, who, you know, was in the front and kind of

tested his legs a little bit, or, uh, in my opinion, that acceleration was purely to make sure that he was in front, that the Peloton didn't bunch up and that he could keep a good position because you never know if there's going to be gaps in a final stretch with, you know, three, four percent, three percent in this case. And then, yeah, Pedersen was struggling. He's a fighter. And then as you say, MVP, most valuable player of the day, and not just today, already the three stages that Peterson won is Matias Vácek. But today was exceptional.

It looks like he doesn't feel the pedals. Matias Vácek at the moment does not know how strong he is. He had the whole final under control by himself. Was still able to launch the sprint for Pedersen once he was back in his wheel. I mean, needing a race, he's going to get a race. I mean, they're going to fight, fight, fight to keep this guy for a long time. By the way, I think it's good to mention also today, news of the day also today is that

Mats Pedersen has signed an extension with Little Trek indefinitely. So he's going to finish his career at Little Trek. As long as he wants to race, he will be on that team. So it's I think it's the third one. No, first one was was Walt Von Aert with Wismar. I think also Marianne Vos did the same. Also lifetime contract with Visma.

Now Pedersen. Then we have Pogacar who signed until 2030, which is also basically a lifetime contract. So it's a trend. But yeah, I mean, I think Little Trek does the right thing. I mean, he's definitely the guy of the team. And yeah, how things can change also, no, in a few months, because I remember a few months ago, I'm not going to say complaints, but some unease at Little Drekken with Mats Pedersen

because they chose Jonathan Milan over Mats Pedersen for the tour. And then Pedersen, I don't exactly know, of course, the discussions that have happened within the team, but it looked to me that Pedersen was not completely satisfied with that. That he was focusing on the Giro and the Vuelta. Um, but I think it's, I think it turns out really well for him. Yeah. Right. A former world champion in the prime of his career. Like he is, he is better right now than he's ever been.

He might be the best writer in the world currently, if we just assume that Pogacar doesn't exist for one, but he's very good. And then to not be going to the tour and then it's like, well, is Jonathan Milan always going to be going to the tour? When am I going to go to the tour? I thought that was just an unsolvable problem that he would just have to leave. No, I think it's a, I think it's a choice. It's a choice that crack makes. It's not, it's not stupid. You know, uh, uh, if they go to the tour, they don't

have, they assuming they have nobody for GC really for, for a top place, like a podium, um, well, you know, you have, you have scale moles and you have Theo Gegenhardt, uh, but you know, there's for podium candidates, there's also other guys, so taking your fastest sprinter, it's probably also the proof that, you know, it's probably not a right combination to take both. I would dare to take both to the tour. That's what Alpha is doing.

For the moment, Spencer, listen, they win three out of five stages. Cannot be better. You know, uh, this is, this is something that all the teams would dream off. Not, not, not most of the teams, all the teams dream off this scenario. Yeah. The final kilometer, we should mention it because I was just rewatching it before we recorded. Pedersen is pretty far down with the K to go. Um, 30 places down.

Yeah. And it is because Jay Vine like leading into these, we'll call it just like the hill section, the hill zone at the end. Jay Vine is on the front and they have his power, this real power on the screen. It's going between about 480 Watts and 510 Watts and Jay Vine is 68 kilograms. So that's seven Watts per kilo on climbs. Like that is really hard that is extremely hard pace Pederson slipping down you think I don't know I don't know about this yeah you said he's 30 30 spots down but the climber to go it looks like there's no chance yeah and then yeah pulls himself up

Weichach pulls him into position leads him out somehow as you the energy left to do that which is mind-blowing and then it was a long sprint. It was not a short tap in. And slightly uphill. Yeah. Yes. Which if you look at it from the overhead, Pitcock looks like he is the perfect slingshot. Like Pitcock's coming right around him. Doesn't get around. I think he kind of, if you notice, he drifts a little over and then Eduardo Zambinini can come through against the barriers. Like probably in theory, he should have stayed against

the barriers. So he wasn't vulnerable to that ended up not mattering wins the stage, but that's not an easy effort to do. Like that is No, I mean, in the case of Patterson, let's say, you know, under normal circumstances, this type of finish and in this field, he is unbeatable. The fact that he was suffering twice so hard on the, on the climate 30 K to go, he was suffering a bit. And then especially on that last time where, where Roglic attacked and, uh, and where Vács, such an, such an

amazing base there, he was really, really, really struggling, uh, hard. Uh, and to come back from that, it took, it took a lot of effort because he had nobody to bring him back. He did it on his own. Um, I think that why it was so close normally. A super fresh or a fresh, uh, Pedersen would win this with, with a bike length at least. I saw an interview of Pitcock who was disappointed.

I mean, he is usually disappointed when he doesn't win. You know, he has this winner's mentality. And he said, you know, no, he thought that Pedersen would have a harder kick and that he, uh, he waited a little bit too long. Um, anyway, I don't, I think it would have been difficult for pitcock to beat Peterson. Uh, even in, even in, under these circumstances, but, uh, another third place for pitcock. It's not bad. You know, I mean, he's not a sprinter. Yeah.

Well, I would push back on that because it's not like, oh, if that was 50 meters longer, pitcocks winning, like pitcock was fading at the end. So I don't know if that's. He's not a sprint. He's not a sprinter for these guys. I mean, if, if, if pitcock is a pitcock in sprinting groups of like five, six, seven riders after a hard stage, normally under these circumstances, there's always going to be guys who are faster than him.

But if pitcocks not winning these sprints, they're going to be faster than And then there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of, you know,

there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of, you know,

there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of, you know, there I mean, listen, I mean, ground tours are not easy, you know, and opportunities are not there all the time. Um, he's racing for the DC, right? So he's not going to be able to get in breakaway. I don't know if he's racing for GC.

I mean, I think he's going to try to race for GC. Um, in my opinion, he didn't prepare for GC. Um, in my opinion, he didn't prepare for GC. I mean, he didn't prepare for this year of the race for GC. I mean, they didn't look like, they didn't do the, the altitude camps like, like Roglic and Ayuso and others that go for GC. So, um, I think he's just taking it day by day. He will try to be in GC, but there's no guarantee. He didn't, uh, he didn't prepare for this because he did the classics. It just makes it really hard to get wins when you don't like you see Pelo Bilbao today, just like sitting up losing as much time as he possibly can.

Cause he's smart. Cause he's going to try to win a stage later. If you're not doing that, it makes it difficult. Yeah, yeah, it is. Yeah. You're stuck in no, it makes it difficult. Yeah, it is. Yeah. You're stuck in no man's land quite easily. But just before we move on, you mentioned Pedersen suffering the first time on that cat four climb. I mean, we don't know how accurate this is, but they're on pro cycling stats and the live feed.

It's a decent calculation. It looks like we don't know about the weights, but it has them putting out 508 Watts for seven and a half minutes on that climb. And that, you know, that was not explosive racing. That was just like everyone holding serve. Yeah. That's over seven Watts per kilo for seven minutes just to get to the point where you need to start riding hard to get to the sprint. So that was not an easy finish.

It's crazy. The level, the level is crazy. I mean, there's not much, I mean, listen, if, if, if that's what you have to do to stay in contention, there's only a few, a few who really have an extra gear who can, who can maybe make a difference at some point. I want to mention also, UAE today, UAE, they were, they took lead of the race on, on the last 500 meters of that hard climb. Um, I think, uh, it was Jay Vine, Jay, Jay Vine by himself with, with the others in the wheel. I think it was purely because, uh, there was a risky downhill and the Peloton was broken in several pieces after that downhill. The thing I noticed is that I haven't seen one I used to with them. He was, there was five riders of UAE.

I was, one of the, no, no, no, no. One of you just, so it was not one of those five. He was further back. I don't know if that's the deliberate choice. He, there was somebody with him, another writer with him, but it seems to me that he has a little bit of problems with positioning. Also when Roglic went, he should have been there. He was 10, 15 places back. He was not far back, but if your team takes control and goes to the front, and especially if it's with the intention to be in front for the downhill, then the leader, uh, of the team and one of the big favorites of the race has to be with them. So that's obviously

something that he needs to improve on. Um, so, so yeah, that's, uh, I want to just wanted to mention that. And they were looking back quite aggressively, I assume, wondering where is one of you. So, and I was pausing the TV, trying to figure out, because I didn't think I saw him. He is. No, no, he was not. He was not there. He was, he was like 15, 20 places behind those five guys. Um, with, with a UAE guy with him at least. So,'m not, I mean, I think it's not deliberate. It's just because I think he's still, you know, he's not the best at positioning.

He needs to be hard to be in good position, which, you know, later on in the race, he obviously will be in front when everybody's getting tired and it's the strongest guys, uh, they come to the front, but today was, it was not, um, yeah, it was not ideal. And you think UAE was at the front just to stay out of trouble. That's why they were doing that. Well, I think so.

I mean, there was, you could have thought also, well, they want to, they want to pace it and maybe have a chance with Del Toro. But I mean, for Del Tor total to win this stage, uh, he would have to probably have attacked on that steep 800 meter climb three K before the finish. Um, it wouldn't have one in the sprint. Is Del Toro stronger than Primoz Roglic because Primoz Roglic was putting out almost a thousand Watts on that thing. We didn't get any separation. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Primos was very,

very fast to realize that he wasn't going anywhere. And he just went to the, I mean, the guy's a calculator, you know, he just tries probably to stretch it out because at that point, what you don't want is that all of a sudden, everybody, you know, is super, super on the limit. It slows down and you have a little attack of three guys and, uh, nobody can close the gap. So, um, in Primoz's case, I think his move was to stay in front and make sure that there was no

unexpected attacks. And I mean, what did you think of the, you think the attack was just like defensive or maybe I can do something here. It was not really an attack. Uh, it was an acceleration, but not with the intention to get away. You know, he was in front, he went a bit faster. Um, who knows, who knows what it is. Uh, it didn't cost a lot of energy. And then he was, I mean, maybe he wanted to get away with a little group or maybe, I don't know,

maybe he had heard that I used to was out of position. That's also a possibility. Yeah. Yeah. Well, whatever the reason he looked pretty good, you know, Han and I bet he looks pretty good cause he's been training really hard. And you know how you can train hard, how all of us can train hard is our new partner, join cycling. I've been using their join app and it is really a game changer because it gives you dynamic up to date workouts. You just sync it to your Garmin connect.

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It's like something that's always bothered me about the training when I was training difficultly. Training difficultly, hard, however we want to say that, but with join, it's not difficult. It's very easy. And if you're traveling for work, if you're watching a lot of bike races, if you're doing podcasts and newsletters every day, maybe you don't have all the time to ride that you want. It doesn't matter. You just do what you can and join. We'll calibrate it based on that. It's, it's the responsiveness is incredible. And if you're serious about getting faster, you are in luck because the Move listeners

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If you like it, you can keep using it. But Johan, you know, who's not looking their best. Well, Vinart is, is he, what, what, what, what's going on there? Is he not feeling great? I heard an interview, I heard an interview of him before the stage with Belgian TV. Uh, and he just, you know, accepts the situation. He says, you know, he hopes he's getting better. His form is not great.

He says, he said the world for, before today's stage, he said the world of yesterday will not be in the final of today's stage. So we saw that he got in trouble on that climb, right? On that, uh, climb with 30 K to go the cat for climb. He made it back and then basically he took on, uh, domestic duties. He kept Simon Yates in the front. Uh, and that was it.

As soon as he saw that everything was going to be okay in the last five, six kilometers, he, he went backwards and he just sat up. So, he's physically not feeling a hundred percent. And he was very, very open and honest about it in the interview. It's actually shocking to see him now and to imagine that he got second on stage one. Yeah, that was more impressive. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, Ooh, maybe he's not in great shape. Look, he slipped back. It's like, well, maybe he just felt terrible. Like I actually can't believe he got over that climb now in retrospect.

And then the time trial performance, not as bad as we thought based on this current fitness. It's a shame though, because the weekend is perfect for him. And I don't think he'll be ready to contest those stages, unfortunately. The thing is also what I fear a little bit, listen, it's Walt Van Aert, obviously he has a huge engine and these guys can take a lot, right? But usually, man, when you come into a grand tour and you're off like this because of an illness and you're on the limit and it's clear

it is on the limit in these first stages. It's difficult to improve, man. It's you recover. I mean, you get more tired, it's more difficult to recover. Again, you know, Wawenart is an exceptional writer. So if somebody can improve throughout a three week stage race, it's him, but it's not ideal, man.

It's not ideal. My last note for the day is Mads Pedersen. If you're not, if you're not watching these stages start to finish, he is smacking people down in the intermediate sprints. The first one he was like, he read Greg Lamont's bike racing manual front to back because he just went to the outside, accelerated through the corner and like he just coasted, he didn't win it because the breakaway took the first few spots, but he just coasted and he just went to the outside and he just went to the outside, accelerated through the corner and like he just coasted. He didn't win it because the breakaway took the first few spots, but he just coasted to the wind from the Peloton because he had put such a big gap in him and everybody else and then beat, uh,

Caden Groves is having like a lieutenant go up and sprint them for these intermediate sprints and he beat the lieutenant Jason Jensen Plowright. And then it's not seeming to affect him in the finish. So unless he crashes out, I don't seem losing this points race. Yeah, the points, the points jersey is obviously a big objective for Mats Patterson, and he's he's on. I mean, I think he has already 90 points advantage on the second after five stages.

So it's looking good for him. All right. Well, do you have anything before we go into tomorrow's prediction? There's nothing really other than the dimension. I think. No, no. I mean, again, again, a nice fourth place for Orluis Olar, who's there again. You know, it's a sprinter who's not well known, but you know, on those stages where it's difficult, he's there. One thing that surprises me, I mean, I don't know if there's something wrong there or not, or if it's deliberate. I don't think it's deliberate. But, and although we all know that Primoz Roglic is the big leader of Red Bull Boa, but Dani Martinez today again, six and a half minutes down. Let's not forget this guy was second in the Giro last year.

So that's a disappointment. We haven't, I mean, of course we have not been on his terrain, but, uh, not a good week, not a good first week for, for Danny Martinez. I hope he turns it around and that he can be of any significant help for, uh, for Roglic because he will need him. You know, yeah, that's good, good, good that you bring that up because he had a strange beginning of the year. His first race was basically bass country. He did the GP Miguel Indurain before it was terrible.

And then he got seventh at flesh, which, sorry, at Liège, which would suggest quite good form. And then he got dropped on day one. I think he lost time on the first stage here. So I don't quite understand. Did you hear anything about like, was he doing something differently to prepare for the season that he's? I don't know. I don't know. I mean, if you say, if you say he started in the tour of the bath country or in Durant just before he must have stayed for a very long time in Columbia,

I guess. So probably didn't attend any of the training camps of the team stayed in Columbia, trained there at the altitude normally, but I'm not a fan. I'm not a fan of, I mean, especially, you know, I've seen some Colombian writers, if they get, if they're given too much freedom, it's not always the right way. Uh, I I'm speaking from experience in the past. So, I don't know if this is exclusively a Colombian thing. I don't know if I would be,

it's just, I think, and I, I was thinking about this just last night, Yohan, because we were looking at results from a race I did actually. And there was two Visma writers in it. It was in like May, Sep Kusin, George Bennett at the time they were on V actually. And there was two Visma riders in it. So it was in like May, Sepp Kuss and George Bennett at the time, they were on Visma. And I was thinking, that's kind of funny that they were in the U S that used to be more the norm that people would stay Americans, North and South and Central Americans would stay in the Americas for longer and

then go over to race. But you don't see that so much anymore. Like it's a lot of these riders that have good seasons are there like November, December, January, ready to go. So yeah, yeah. I, I, I feel like we're in dicey territory talking about certain people from certain countries struggling after having too much freedom, but I, it does seem like it would be harder. I don't want to, I don't want to talk in general terms, but you know, my, my experience with, uh, with Latin, with South American riders, uh, I mean, I have a few Colombians and I've spoken with a lot of ex colleagues about, uh, Colombian riders, um, do not give them long-term contracts. The key.

I will say one thing that I think it's like, do not give them long-term contracts. That's the key. I will say one thing that I think it's like, if you're at home, you're the man. Think you're like the man, right? Because you're so famous. And I would imagine it's kind of hard to lock in if you spend a lot of time in that environment. Cause you're like, why do I have to go train? Cause I'm awesome.

And everybody- Well, listen, we don't know. Listen, maybe Danny Martinez, there's something wrong. Maybe he's sick or, uh, we, we don't know, but it's, uh, it's, you know, it's not good. Uh, a guy like this should be at least with, uh, with the main group, you know, I mean, he's supposed to be, yeah. Really strange. I don't quite get that. Um, so we're going to take a quick ad break and then we'll predict stage six. Alright, Johan, tomorrow's stage, stage six from Potenza to Napoli. I feel like we've done this stage multiple years in a row, long, 230K long.

The Napoli stage has actually been quite, they did a circuit here a few years ago. And then I think the run in last year was quite interesting, but all this stuff. Is this not, is this not where Binyam Girmay won the Giro stage in Napoli? Oh man. Now you're, I don't, I don't know. I wait. I kind of think so. I think so. It's, you know, wasn't that like a, was that back in 2022 when he won a Giro stage? Could be, Could be. No, Jesse. Jesse. Jesse. Pescara to Jesse.

Okay. Okay. But the Napoli stage you're thinking of from that year was he was fifth in the breakaway. Thomas De Hint won that stage. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. And we were like banging the keyboard because we did not think that was going to happen. Yeah. Yeah. And then, yeah, it's, I mean, it's fun when they go into the city. It's, it's quite, I think there was like maybe last year, the year before Napoli had won Syria.

So there was banners everywhere. It's, one thing is sure normally when, when the Giro gets to Napoli, it's, it's going to be, I mean, it's already, I think it's one of the most chaotic cities in the whole world. Yes, it is. But when the Giro's there, it's going to be chaotic. There's always things go always. I mean, there's chaos and ultimately they figure it out right at the end.

That's, you know, it has to be like this in Napoli. So like, I think like Garret Thomas had to chase on and he got dinged because he was falling in his team car. Like I wouldn't be shocked if a GC contenderret Thomas had to chase on and he got dinged because he was falling in his team car. Like I wouldn't be shocked if a GC contender flats and has to chase on on this stage. But a professional gambler reached out to me, suggested bet 365 for the odds because it's available in Europe and the U S I checked, I could bet on it today. So I'm going to read the odds from bet 365 similar to Unibet, but it's available almost everywhere. Olaf Coy the favorite

plus 150 Mads Pedersen plus 600 Kaden Groves plus 600 Sam Bennett plus 800 Casper van Uden plus 800 Matteo Muschietti plus 1400 Milan Milan Fatton plus 1600 Paul Marnier plus 1600 Wout, Ben art plus 2800 Michael Zylard plus 3300 Gerben Tyson plus 4,000 max canter plus 5,000. It goes on and on, but the winner probably will come from one of those. How do you, I mean, assuming you think this is a bunch sprint, who do you think is going to win it? Yeah, I think it's going to be a bunch of prints, Spencer. Um, I can't see any other way. The final of the race, uh,

as we've seen on the profile, is quite easy, longer stage, probably an early breakaway with the typical suspects, right? The invited teams. Polti, Malta, Polti visit Malta and then Bardiani and then whoever. Not Tudor or not Q36.5 because they're invited, but they're racing for results, not for TV time. So yeah, bunch sprint. And I'm going to go for Olaf Koi. He's, in my opinion, the fastest pure sprinter. Um, not going to say he has a great team, uh, for the, for the lead out, but who has right in this, in this race? Um, I think, I think the team of, uh, Kasparov in the picnic, they had a good lead out the other day, but, um, I'm still going to go for, uh, for, uh, Olaf

Coy yesterday I was with my son in the car and I don't know the right number anymore. I think he has, I think this is his third season or third season and the guy has already 36 victories in professional cycling. Oh, love Koi. Yeah. He has more than 30. He has more. He has 36 or something or 37. Crazy. You're right. Yeah.

Wow. So, so yeah. So, uh, he's my favorite to win plus one. Well, he was really fast on stage for the concern with Koi is the team. I mean, he's going to have, um, Eduardo Afini to lead them out. We'll have anyone else unclear. I mean, normally he should have one art. Um, maybe, maybe well gets it right, you know, and, uh, and he's the

last lead out guy, so that would be, that would be nice. And the lead outs are important because I should have said this in the breakdown. So we've had five stages, four of them are sprints, unless I'm forgetting one. I believe the first rider to launch has won all of them. No one has passed anybody in a sprint yet. So that would tell us you probably want to be the rider to launch first. How do you be the rider to launch first? You have the best lead out. I'm going to go Caden groves plus six plus 600 because I think,

I don't think they have really any other objectives here. The team is here for Caden groves. So I think that that gives them an advantage. Yeah, I agree. I agree. And, uh, you know, he's also one of those pure sprinters who usually also gets better as, as long as, as he gets into the race. So, uh, so I think it's right to have those two guys, one and two. My wild card, you know, the Giro is known for sprinters sometimes who nobody expects,

especially because, and in this Giro, there is no real strong or dominant team that can put a train and line it up. So it's a bunched up. And it's great opportunities for sprinters who are really good at finding their position. So Matteo Moschetti plus 1400 is my wild card to maybe bring us a surprise and win the stage. to maybe bring us a surprise and win the stage. Of course, today was a low speed sprint and that can happen sometimes, but this is typical for the Giro.

These kinds of guys all of a sudden come out of nowhere and up there, they either win or second or third. Tomorrow we could see something similar with a guy like Muscati or Milan Frittin or someone else. Olar. I kind of like Mosquetti. That's, and that would be funny if Q36.5 wins the stage of this, Giro and Tom Pickock doesn't win one. But I mean, a guy like Mosquetti, actually saying this name reminded me, someone reached out to us, a listener reached out to us last

night and said, it's not Leque, it's leche. Ciao Spencer, my name is Francesco, I'm Italian, but I live in Los Angeles. And the CD that you guys were mentioning yesterday is leche, not leque. So yeah, the guys were in leche. Ciao. All right. We heard that. You know, Leche in Spanish is milk. Yeah, I guess like Cafe con Leche. Yeah, Cafe con Leche, Arroz con Leche. And then, so I guess it would be, we were talking about Riccatello. I guess Riccatello.

Riccatello, Riccatello. Yeah. Also, Luke Lampardi, I learned yesterday, name is not Luke. It's Luciano. Oh, I'm pretty. Yeah. Just goes by Luke because it's easier. He said, all right, any other things for tomorrow's stage? Also kind of a hard stage. I don't know if I mentioned that up top, there are multiple categorized climbs. It's not, it's not a flat roll in. So that would, that actually probably does help Kolei and Groves because the

harder it is, the, I don't want to call them higher quality, but like the bigger, the rider in terms of quality, the more likely they are to win. Well, it's 2,500 meters of elevation over 227 K. So not extremely hard, but also not easy. So, um, you need to be in good shape. Here's an idea. I just, I just thought of it. I stole it from Twitter. Someone said this on Twitter. Very good idea. I thought, should they put UCI points on offer at the intermediate sprints to incentivize riders to get into the breakaway. It's kind of an interesting thought.

All right. Why not? Like the whole co-fittest team would be like, I mean, I would be all over this. Yeah. It would be, actually be pretty interesting. That that was, I thought that was an interesting proposal. So, uh, random Twitter guy, please send that to the UCI immediately. All right, Johan, and we will be back tomorrow to break down this stage and then predict stage seven. So we'll talk then. Okay, thanks.

Okay.