THEMOVE - Has Uno-X Hacked Pro Cycling? | La Vuelta a España 2026 Stage 7 | THEMOVE

Episode Date: August 28, 2026

Johan Bruyneel and Spencer Martin break down an incredible day from Uno-X, who scored first and second on the day, delivering Andreas Leknessund a much-deserved stage win ahead of his teammate Tobias Johannessen, and an impressive Wout van Aert, who came in third on a tough summit finish, going into the Green Jersey lead in the process. They also discuss the GC action behind, where Tadej Pogačar continued to build his lead after counter-attacking a move from Decathlon and Felix Gall, while the Austrian continued to chip time away from his podium rivals. They also go over Uno-X's unique recruitment and training strategy, the Green Jersey standings, and predict the outcome of tomorrow's Stage 8, which features a likely sprint finish. Become a WEDŪ Member Today to Unlock VIP Access & Benefits: https://access.wedu.team Ultra Pouches: Ultra is the ultimate guilt-free pouch — delivering instant focus and mental clarity, without nicotine or caffeine. New customers can use code THEMOVE to get 15% off at https://TakeUltra.com. After you purchase, they will ask you where you heard about them. PLEASE support our show and tell them our show sent you. Eight Sleep: Use code THEMOVE at https://eightsleep.com/themove for up to $350 off. 30 days to try it at home. Free returns if it's not for you. Hims: For simple, online access to personalized and affordable care for Hair Loss, ED, Weight Loss, and more, visit https://Hims.com/THEMOVE

Speaking of Pogat Char Spencer, you know, we always talk about, you know, he's very well liked, he's a super nice guy, you know, his interviews are great. Everybody likes Pogat Char, right? And he's very likable, right? He's a good guy. He's a really nice guy with men. Let me tell you, on a bike with a number on his back, that guy has no mercy. He's an assassin.

You know, he always, and, you know, that's, I think that's the nice thing about him. He's so strong and he shows that he's strong. and then he's a very, very nice guy, really nice, good personality, very friendly to everybody. But man, he's a competition animal. I love that. Everybody, welcome out to the Move podcast. I'm Spencer Martin. I'm here with Johann Bernal.

We are breaking down stage seven of the Volta, Espania, as well as previewing, predicting, doing our outcomes prediction for stage eight. We were not right today, Johan. Andreas Lechnitson from Unox Mobility. wins the stage from the breakaway. His teammate Tobion Holland, Johansen, finish the second. I never would have guessed that Johansen would finish behind Lickinson on this summit finish. With while adding to the confusion,

Wilde v. Wynard finishing third on the stage with a bunch of climbers behind them. A pretty interesting day was televised start to finish. Wild Vennart and Leknison got away, I believe with Milan Vader, Milan Vader. Early on stage. Voddard. He should go by Vader.

But they drop him and they're cruising. And then it is a crazy, crazy fight for the breakaway. But those two guys miss it all because they built up a two-minute advantage while the Peloton was kind of jockeying to see who was going to counterattack. And eventually they have some riders bridge up to them. But the whole group never catches them. There's a huge chase group behind. They get to the final climb still in the lead. But UnoX, I mean, UnoX playing this perfectly because they have two of the best climbers in the breakaway.

they have lectinson attack first Van Art and Lutzenko are chasing and Johansen just sits on them and then he counterattacks Van Art before the flat final K finish the second Van Art though probably happy to finish third because he gets the intermediate

sprint points 20 which I believe is what he was out there for and he went back to the car and I wonder what the car told him that they said hey man just keep going see what you can finish on the stage and he gets 15 points from the stage finish so now he is in the points jersey lead by two points over Taday Pagotcha.

Back in the G.C. group, DeCathlons set up an attack. Phyllis Gull attacked. He attacked Taday Pagotcha. Kind of interesting to see. You don't see this a lot of modern cycling. It was a good move. Pagotcher eventually counterattacks and drops him and puts, how many times?

He puts seven seconds, six seconds into Gaul with Inric Moss 10 seconds behind Gaul. Inrich Mos could not hold on to Gaul. Fields Skull, as we said yesterday, climbing pretty well at this Volta. And Moss pretty well, too, with the group of Roglach, Kus, and Oscar Anli, 13 seconds behind Enric Moss. So we're seeing. And then the big news is Richard Carapaz lost a minute with Mateo Scho-Mose. So Carapaz, probably out of the fight for the podium.

If we're being honest, now he's seventh overall. The G.C. is Pagachar, still in the race lead. Inric Moss second, Primos Raghich, fourth, a minute behind. Mas, Phyllisgall, 4th, SEPCUS 5th, Oscar on Lee 6th, Rich Kripatat, 7. But Johan, what is your 8-Sleep move of the day? And if you want an 8-Sleep mattress topper, just like Tadipagatara at this tour, which seems to be working out for them. Go to 8Sleep.com slash the move for $350 off through the end of the Vuelta.

But, Johan, what is your move of the day? Yeah, his sleep of the day is Leknesund, of course. I think, I mean, he was the guy with Von Hart. So he did most of the work with him was out there from the very beginning. I think Van Ard was the first attacker of the day. So obviously Van Ard was out for the sprint points. But Legnison attacking, I think his attack, his final attack of those, that five-mind group, was a tactical attack to set up Yohannison.

But nobody could react and he could keep it till the end. I mean, although Yohannison came back really close. Yeah, that's what I thought too. Yeah, Johannesen was keeping his legs still. You know, he was just sitting on Bonnard. And then whenever, it was quite steep, the second last kilometer, I think that's where he went. But yeah, Legnocent, listen, what a performance. Tall guy has been, you know, waiting a long time for a win.

This year only he was six times second. And three times of those, three of those times was in the Giro, actually. Three times second in the Giro stage, which is unbelievable. Remember, he was also second in Vuelta and the Lucia at the beginning of the season in the G.C. And in the stage. So, yeah, I mean, great win for one, two, for, you know, X. Also, you know, X wins stages now in Giro, Tour and Vuelta. They won a stage in the Giro with Henrik Dvernes.

if I'm, Vernes? Yeah, that's right. Dverseness. Certain Warnskilled won a sprint at the tour and now Lagnos and wins stage at the Vuelta. In their first year as a World Tour team, that's pretty significant.

That's very significant. Improving, improving, improving, and having in mind also. And that's kind of, I mean, it's kind of a limitation because, you know, for some, like, is it, principal reason they only have Norwegians and Danish riders

so there's not a big pool they can fish out, fishing, right, to have the talent. There's a lot of good Scandinavian riders, but there's also good Scandinavian riders that are on other teams. So yeah, I mean, crazy. Also, their general manager,

Torhussov was the last Norwegian rider to ever win a stage in the Vuelta. That's already since 2010. So the last 16 years, no Norwegian rider has won a stage in the Vuelta. No, it's, it's kind of interesting. You mentioned the limited pool. You would think it's a limitation, extreme limitation.

I almost think it helps them, though. It gives them a focus, like a focus of project. Think about this, like all those wins you mentioned in the three grand tour wins, three grand tour stage wins. Did they have the strongest rider in any of those stages? Definitely not, right? But yet they put themselves in position. where they're always maximizing the talent they have on the team to like if you mapped talent level to win,

they would have to be number one, I would think. I mean, they are, they are ringing every bit of talent out of everyone on the team and putting themselves in position to win. It's, it's really, really impressive. I can't say enough nice things about this team. Yeah. By the way, Spencer, a little stat now we're talking about the eight sleep move of the day. I got a stat here from, uh,

UAE yesterday's sleep in the Vuelta. It's interesting. So they all slept quite well. The guy who slept the least was Ivo Olivetta. He slept seven hours, 21 minutes. This is like so invasive. You can't read about these guys sleep. They published it.

So I'm not. And the guy who slept the most by miles is Tadepugachar. He slept nine hours, 34 minutes. Whoa. On a eight sleep pot at a temperature of 19.7 degrees. That's pretty cold. That's cold. It's pretty cold, yeah.

Jay Vine was Jake Vine beat him. 19.3 centigrade. And Pavel Zivakov, and he's from Russia, 18.7 degrees. That's like chilling. In my opinion, that's like cold. And then like a big cover, a big cover over you to, too. But anyways. I think he's from France, but yeah, his parents are from Russia.

I think he, Babel Sevokov grew up in France, right? Yeah, yeah. He's Russian blood, Russian DNA. But even Pogacar here, he's the number one. Nine hours, 34 minutes of sleep. That's pretty good, man. Does it say what time you went to bed? This is what you can get with eight sleep.

It's pretty impressive. Can't wait to try mine. It's on the way, by the way, Spencer. Yeah. I mean, if we're just diving into an ad for 8-Sleep, but it's kind of a crazy thing. I was, I blew someone's mind last night. We were talking about the UK. There's no AC anywhere. It's like, whoa, there's a new product that where your bed is air-conditioned. And that's way easier than installing AC in your home for like the three hot weeks a year. Definitely is a bit of a hack if you live in a place that doesn't have great air conditioning or even like my house in the U.S. has air conditioning quite hot a lot of the times at night, eight sleep. Or in the winter heating, right? Yeah, it can heat it up. You don't have to put the hot water bottle in the bed. Yeah.

It's an amazing, even if they weren't sponsoring the podcast, it's an amazing product. Love the product. You can't say enough nice things about it. But, yeah, that is interesting. I was thinking about this too. By the way, that's crazy actually. So it's pretty hot in Spain, right? So Dominovac slept for seven hours, 50 minutes.

He had his temperature of his pot at 27 degrees. Whoa. Don't me. 27 degrees. What? Yeah. Well, you know what that could be is my theory on that is you're sharing, he's sharing a hotel room with someone who wants the AC very cold. And he's like, it's too cold.

I can't sleep. And then he heats us up. But kind of an interesting thing to. I was thinking about this. So Spain's hot, right? It's hot at this. Wellta. Almost better than the tour, though, because in the tour, it can be hot outside and hot in

your hotel room, but if you go south enough in Europe, you're going to have AC in every, like in every hotel, every time you're inside, your body's cooling down versus in France at times. You're like, you're never cooling down and you're just overheating that through each straight. Already, already in general, the hotel infrastructure overall in Spain is so much better quality than in France. That is true. Yes. You have, you know, there's a lot of relatively new four-star hotels, which are really quite

nice for sure all of them have have a C nice rooms you know so uh that's definitely an advantage to raise the tour of Spain compared to the tour of France it's like an ad for Spain but it is a country with a lot of nice hotels very easy to travel around in as well but yoan what were your uh any any other notes on on how this played out I mean pretty impressive from uno X because van art and leitin first two riders away I'm a little unclear to me why this happened they get away I think smart, smart decision. They get a two minute gap.

And the Peloton is just kind of sitting there feeling it out. Why did not, why did fewer, why did not as, why did so few people attack and more riders didn't try to go right from kilometer zero? Well, then everybody who saw that the break was kind of given some freedom. Then they went in that second group, right?

There was a lot. And there was some good climbers in there. Pari Panther was in there, Leo Bizio was in there, Johannesen, who came from the back. You know, so first it was, it was Van Ard and Lechnizant and Milan Viler, Vowler got dropped and then Lutzenko and Johaneson

and who was the third guy, Eddie Dunbar, yeah. Yeah, so once those five guys were ahead, yeah, the guys who missed it from that second group were kind of sitting there, oh wow, you know, these are, I mean, there was five big, engines there in front.

So UAE controls the stage then, let the brake go. Smart decision, I think. And then, you know, nothing happened on the last climb until, once again, Descartlon goes to the front, ups the pace, fast pace, you know, first with who's this guy, Calum Scotson, I think, then Milberger. And then Felix Cowell accelerates, not to attack Bogachar, of course, but to try to distance the guys for the podium and he succeeded you know he dropped onli and sepkus and carapas and roglish so that was a good move uh not big gaps not big gaps but then finally

pogacha went to the front set tempo got out of the saddle a few times and just i think today's today's move of pogacha was a short statement a short statement to say hey guys don't go of what you saw yesterday. Yesterday was a confusing day. I was not aware. I'm doing what I want. And Enrique Mas paid a little bit for

the efforts of yesterday, I think. And also, Spencer, you know, an interesting observation I had today, but it's in general, often the case. When it's really steep, like yesterday, was really, really steep, right? Super steep.

the differences tend to be a lot less in time compared to climbs that are at higher speeds. Yes. You know, so Pogacar today, when he went, and he didn't push it at the end. At the end, in the last kilometer he was talking in the radio, right? So it was clear that he just wanted to make a statement. But it's often like this, you know, like even on a climb, in my opinion, probably the hardest climb in all of cycling that Angli-Ru. The differences are not that big time-wise,

because everybody has, you cannot go so much faster. When you're a good climber and it's a climb with seven, nine, below 10%, the speeds are higher and you can take more time compared to a super steep climb at low speed. That's usually what happens. Yeah, it's counterintuitive. If you remember the, oh, man, I don't know if I can remember the name of this mountain, but there was a time trial in the Gertitalia, the second to last day,

Primus Roglich versus Garin Thomas. It was super steep in parts. And you would think that's where the difference would be made because it's harder. But their times were almost exactly the same. And then Roglach only gained time when it flattened out. At the end. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Because you can go faster so the differences are bigger. Like today, Pagotcha gets six seconds on goal. That's pretty small. 16 seconds on Moss, you know, that's, that's, that's real cheddar. And then almost half a minute on Pramus Roggwitch, on a climb that you would not consider that difficult, that's potentially more time than they'll take on much steeper summit finishes later. So also in the, you know, like in the mafia when you go to prison and you come out, you got to

show your face around to the people that owe you money so that they know they got to pay you. It's kind of like today. It's like, I got to show my face. I don't want these guys getting ideas about what they can do. Like the boss is still around. I do think there was a bit of that. No, I think it was telling that, you know, the last 500 meters, he was kind of looking behind. Okay, you know, no need to push talking on the radio.

It was just a matter of showing who's the boss. And nobody should get any weird ideas that, you know, they can beat him or drop him. Or I think today that was his invention. It also shows you, I mean, this could work out perfectly for him, where like decathlon today is essentially doing his bidding because they're making it so hard on the climb. There's no funny business. It's just very straightforward. And you're going to have all these teams like DeCathlon and Mobystar are going to make it as hard as possible to drop the other guys to try to get time before the time trial because they still need time on Rogglich.

And that's going to help Pagachar control the race. It's perfect for him. Yeah. But also, I mean like speaking of Pugachar Spencer, you know, we always talk about. he's very well liked he's a super nice guy you know his interviews are great everybody likes poggat char right and he's very likable right he's a good guy he's a really nice guy but man let me tell you on a bike with a with a number on his back that guy has no mercy he's an assassin you know he always and you know that's i think that's that's the nice thing about him he's so strong

and he shows that he's strong um and then he's a very very nice guy really nice good personality very friendly to everybody and but uh man he's a competition animal i love that yeah he is you think like well what does he have to prove at this point but he he died every day he's like i got i got to show him like why they don't they know that you're strong i don't think you have to show him but no i do love that about him should we take a quick break and then come back and talk about everyone's favorite topic math and waltvin art so if you don't love waltvin art you're going to love the math if you don't love math, you're going to love Waltvin Art. We'll be right back, Johan. Everybody, this Welto-Spagna coverage is brought to you by our presenting sponsor, Ultra Focus Pouches. Do you

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Make sure you check them out because you don't want to miss this and you don't want to miss that 15% off opportunity. So Van Arr gets into the breakaway, the tax first. I mean, perfect, absolutely perfect. You knew exactly it was doing. stays away. I think he was just trying to get to the intermediate sprint point, takes 20 points at the intermediate. That's big.

And then what do you think the decision was to keep pushing on? Because I thought he would sit up after that. But then is he just thinking, well, I mean, you never seed ground. I'm up here. I have a nice little lead on the group behind. I'll just keep pushing and see how I do on the summit finish. I was surprised he did that. Yeah.

I mean, obviously the intention for him was to go in the break for the sprint points. Probably not initially thinking that he could make it to the top. But it shows that, you know, he's in really good shape. I think Walt Von Art is going to keep growing also in this Valta, you know, a little bit like two years ago. Was it two years ago or three years ago? Two years ago. When he crashed out, was it two years ago?

Kind of similar, actually, because, yeah, we are, it almost looked like he got in shape during the stage today. Yeah, you could see him growing throughout the stage. Yeah, but it was nice to see him up there. He was strong, man. He was strong on that climb also. Of course, Johanison is a much better climber than him. And he attacked him in the last one and a half kilometers.

But shows that Van Hart is really, really motivated for the Ponce jersey. He's now officially also wearing it. Today he was wearing it on behalf. of Tadeepugacar. By the way, today also another little incident. Enrique Vas is wearing the pocket of jersey on behalf of Tadipugachar. Did you see what happened? No.

They also had to cut the legs. They cut the legs during the stage. He went back to the car, the mechanic. The mechanic came out of the window with scissors and cut in the back, not as obvious as the one that, that, what's his name? Ethan Hater. Ethan Hater was wearing, but still, I think it's a small, for sure, it's a small.

I mean, there's almost nothing left of Enric Mas. He's so skinny. No. Yeah. But there must be some issue with the model of Santini. I don't know if, I mean, it's, it's, I mean, all these brands, they have different sizes, right? And they're sized differently, a small in whatever, what is, What are they wearing Gobic?

I think they're wearing Gobic and Movistar is probably not the same as a small and Santini, but still, I mean, Walt Von Arte doesn't seem to have an issue. He's not wearing a small, by the way. He's wearing a medium, large, I think. I mean, sometimes with these brands, even within the same brand, batches can be quite different sizes. I don't know what's going on here, but they got to dial in these leaders skin suits. But so, yeah, you're right. Van Art has the jersey, 104 to Pernard. Pugachar 102.

I mean, he's going to need to get in the breakaway. He needs to go on breakaways and get those prints. He needs to go and breakaways and get those prints. Otherwise, it's Pugachars. Yeah. Which shows, I think, supports the decision to not go all in on Brennan. Because do you think Brennan could have done what Van Arte did today? I would say no, right?

No, no, no, no. No, no. I think it's perfect. You know, Brennan for stage wins, Van Art for the green jersey. I think it's perfect for them. It is perfect. And then like tomorrow, then Brennan doesn't have to go for the intermediate sprint points. Van Art does, but then Van Art doesn't have to worry about the sprint at the end.

Anything else? Should we say the Norwegian king died this morning? Yeah, Norwegian king died today, 89 years old. So there was a minute of silence of all the Norwegian riders in front, I think, because apparently it was very cycling, a big cycling fan, I think. the king of norway so they were all all the all the you know ex-riders were wearing the the black the black uh in in memory of their king um so yeah nice nice day to win a stage and dedicated to uh to the king of the king of norway who passed away sadly this morning yeah sad to hear that definitely seemed like it meant a lot to the team so good day for them to finish first and second

I mean, I still can't believe, I still can't believe they won stages in every grand tour. Their first year is a world tour team. Yeah. Extremely, extremely difficult. Also shows you how deep of a team you have to have, right? To be performant in those three grand tours, many teams are struggling to put three really competitive teams together for the three ground tours. And they, yeah, they seem to really, yeah, be on top of their game. They almost have no duds on the team.

You know, a lot of teams, everyone looks like a superstar in November, December, like when you're putting the team on paper. And then you're like, like, if we're being, like, Victor LaFay, has he even raced a single race for the Rockets? Remember he was like a big signing for them. And he won't race a single race this year. He's, I don't know. There's either an injury or a virus.

And then I think it's also, you know, he's apparently he's a very, awkward personality. So I don't know. I mean, if I remember correctly, he's when he was on COVID, he went to Deccatlon, right? And then after one year, Decatlon, I mean, he signed a big, I mean, it was a big contract, I think. It's like a big contract. He won that, you know, he won that stage in the tour, uh, in San Sebastian and

signed a big contract and then all of a sudden said, yeah, you know, I'm not, I'm not going to go on with cycling. I'm going to go, I'm going to make cheese and import it to Japan. That was his plan. And then he changed his mind and races, races for Unibat. Which like that could be a fantastic idea. Like I don't want to yuck anyone's yum. But just as a team manager, when you hear that that's the alternative, I'd start to have concerns.

But they don't, InoX doesn't seem to have anyone like that. Like they sign these riders. Who would look at Torsten Train and be like, that guy, auto yellow jersey. He's going to wear the yellow jersey at the tour. Like not an obvious outcome when you sign him, but they just get the most out of everyone they pick up. I would love to do a deep dive with that team and figure out what exactly is going on there. It's also. But Torsten Train already had the leaders jersey in the Volta, by the way, before.

True. There's a lot of guys, though, that remember there was a Scandinavian guy at the, Velt a few years ago who had a run and red and odd Christian Eiking. Do you remember him? Yeah. Who's now on Unibet, by the way. Has completely disappeared. Yes.

Just like, you see that a lot. Like where the leader jersey and then disappear? Well, and then also you have to ask you to have the question, Spencer. You know, if you're, if you're a really good Scandinavian writer, you know, if you're on Unibet rockets, okay, they're, they're an upcoming team. but, you know, if you're that good, why are you not on the Unix? There's something there. You know, something to think about.

Why are you not? Yeah, why is Jonas Minigard not on UnoX? Is there something wrong there? Well, that's different. That's different. Will they sign him eventually? I think so. Yeah, me too.

That would be. I mean, I don't know. It's going to depend on Jonas and I know how much he wants to go on. And probably also what his wife wants, right? Right. Well, the local team, honey. Maybe I don't want to get killed by, you know, for for the attack on, on his, on Jonas's wife. But she seems to have a big say in the decisions.

Well, she's as a manager. Is she not? Is she? I don't know. Okay. I don't know. I thought she might be. But it's funny you mentioned that.

I don't know if Uno X would be a good fit because they're known for, they do these extreme altitude camps. Like they were at altitude from November to like mid-January. That's crazy. And so maybe that would, but it seems to have worked. Like they're performing extremely well. You kind of wonder, like, have they, like, they're at the cutting edge of training. Yeah, for sure.

I mean, they have, what's his name? This guy, is it Blow or Blue or the trainer? Alexander Boo. He was like a genius trainer. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So he comes from track and field. is Blumenfeld's trainer, no?

Yep. Yeah. So the Norwegian scientific training approach has obviously been transferred to cycling with UnoX. Not that there's any secrets. You know, everybody knows more or less the same thing. But yeah, I mean, in endurance sports, the Norwegian athletes are outstanding. Yeah.

Yeah, everyone knows the same thing. It's about execution. And then someone like UnoX, they don't have a lot. an endless budget. So if they spend five weeks at altitude early in the year, that's a big expenditure for them. And they just have to make sure they're getting everything out of it. Probably just comes down to like institutional excellence. But anything else, Johan, on the day before we go to preview tomorrow. No, I think that's it. All right. Well, we'll be right back to talk about tomorrow stage. Okay, Johan, so tomorrow, stage eight, 171 kilometers

through, this is going to be familiar for a lot of the riders because they're going right to the coast of Blanca. They start north of Valencia, go right around Valencia and end right along the coast, probably close to where a lot of the guys have spent many weeks in the offseason training. 1,200 meters of climbing over 171 kilometers. The big feature is there's a cat three climb, just under 20K before the, sorry, just over 20K before the finish, 8.6 kilometers long at 3.8% average. I don't think it will give any serious sprinters that much trouble.

But how do you think this plays out and who is going to win? Yeah, for sure. It's going to be a bunch, Prince Spencer, you know. It's from Pusole to Xero, in the Valencian area. That's a climb, it's cat tree climb, but it's, I mean, I check the, the percentages. It's, what is it, like eight, eight and a half kilometers. It's a drag. It doesn't go over 5%.

And yet the last part of the climb is quite easy. So the climbers are, the sprinters are making it. Bunchprint, I think, a flat punchprint this time. So different to the two sprints we've seen. Matthew Brennan is fast. Can sprinters like Jordie Meos beat him in a flat sprint? I'm going to go Jordi Meos for tomorrow. So the odds for the stage,

Matthew Brennan, minus 160, Jordy Meyos plus 480, so that's a good pick right there. Plus 480, okay. Plus 650. Caden Groves plus 2,000. I would not bet on Caden Groves. Mads Pedersen plus 2,000. Alessandro Romali plus 3,000.

Romerole. What team is he on? Astana. Astana. Christoph LePort plus 3,000, Ben Turner plus 4,500. Pal McHell plus 5,500. This is a, this is a wide.

wild odds board. But I think Jordy Meos is a very good pick. I was before you said that, I was about to say, this is exactly the type of stage where Matthew Brennan would lose and someone like Jordy Meos would win because it's a completely flat sprint. Going of what we've seen for now, I think Brennan is the fastest. He has that extra punch. But the fact that it's flat, the fact that Visma is the favorite, the fact that they will have to control everything. If Mayo's gets on the wheel of Brennan. The thing is, you know, the problem to beat to beat Brennan in this race is, if he has Laporte and Bernard doing the lead out, they leave him so, so late to start his

sprint that there's basically no more time to pass him. You know, once he go, I mean, 100, 120 meters to go and that's when LaPort peels off. Yeah. So it's very little time to. you know, so you kind of have to anticipate the sprint, which I don't know if you're the mails. They did have doing that sometimes. Yeah.

Big bunch of help from UnoX last time. Like if they don't get that, it could be a little harder. And the last kilometer is completely straight. Like just straight. Could be chaotic. It could be chaotic. So that's not easy to, you know, if you only have two riders left, which until now, that has been the case, right?

They only had Laporte and Van Art left. plus add to the fact that it's an easier stage tomorrow. So normally almost nobody will be dropped. So there will be more presence of riders who want to contest the sprint. Although there's no real sprinters, but it will be more, it will be busier in the last kilometer than usual. And at 16K per hour crosswind in the final straight, you're going to want to hug the right side barrier. I don't know, this feels like a Jordy Meos win to me. I think I would back him as well.

If Matthew Brennan wins this, I mean, I'm not saying he can't win it. If he does win it, that's incredibly impressive because... Yeah, I mean, I don't think we should be surprised. You know, he definitely has the legs and the team to do it. But do not always choose the same guy. Let's choose Jordy Meos for the win tomorrow. Well, in Jordy Meos came to this race exactly for this type of state. right yeah there's not many better stages than tomorrow stage for him so would also be a good way to

give like a goodbye present to his team you know because he's he's he's leaving for little track man little what what's the plan there though like who's lead out lead out for milan interesting well yeah hmm well well i don't like that though he's shifting a lead out from a sprinter I don't know. Where is it, where is his head going to be? But I think there's a, there's a big contract attached to it. Be sure of that. That is the type of guy of Milan needs. That's a perfect sign of them. I think plus 480, you got to go with Jordy Mayos. I'm going to go with him as well. No, G.C. action. We don't expect the climb to be significant for no, anyone, including the

sprinters. Plus, it's today, it's the day tomorrow that, you know, there's teams who, I mean, let's not exclude a bud sprint, Spencer, because it's all going to come down to Visma, who else is going to control. Let's not, a breakaway could have chances, maybe, if they're not able to control it. Depends on how big it is.

A lot of guys are going to try. So if it's a big group, GC won't do, GC teams won't do anything because it's the day before, potentially the hardest stage of the Hall of VELTA, stage nine. 5,000 meters of climbing, I think, on stage nine in total, to Aitana. So, breakaway, I don't know.

Who else is going to collaborate with Visma, honestly? Well, Red Bull. Red Bull will probably put two guys. You know, they also have climbers in, guys to protect the G.C. of Roglitz. So they didn't necessarily come here with a team around Jordy Meals. What about Alpacin? I don't think they have the confidence in Caden Groves to win the sprint.

But if you don't work on tomorrow's stage, is that too much of a message sent to Caden Groves? Like, do you have to try to keep his confidence up by putting someone in the front? Well, I mean, you know, he's here obviously for a reason. you never know in what mindset they're going to show up. I personally think Caden Groves, I don't know, it doesn't look like it's the Caden Groves we know from other races. Definitely not the Caden Groves we've seen in several Vultas. But who knows?

You know, he's a sprinter. So if tomorrow's not a difficult stage, maybe, maybe, I don't know. I think probably that Alpersin will more take the approach of going and breakaways. with what about cofittes are they going to pull for kukard no i mean no they i'm not asking if they should but it will they i think i think what they probably do is they they don't pull and and then they they save two guys to bring him in good position and potentially have a top five but i don't think kokar will win a sprint like this when has kukar last one a pure bunch sprint it's been i mean

it's a potentially like never happened he does get he gets second a lot but he did win a stage 24 tour of switzerland beats michael matthews in a bunch sprint oh yeah and ardoly but that's that's a pretty good result actually he got second he's actually has a shocking shockingly few number of world tour sprint wins i think he has three in his career and one of them toured on under 2023 and then tour down under 2025. He is won in Europe. He did have a wealth of stage where he was very close to winning.

That might be like three years ago at this point, though. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe not a good idea. Maybe don't pull for him. Maybe just see what happens at the end. You never, because you never know, right? If cofitt is, if he sprints to a win here,

that's huge for cofittus. That's a race done. And a guy like that, I mean, I guess in theory, you could do it. But I think it will not be a breakaway. I think it will get pulled back. Yeah, no, it should be, it should be, it should be a bunch print. Will Johan, anything else before we go?

That's it, Spencer. Thanks. All right. We'll talk to you tomorrow and we'll preview the big stage on Sunday.