THEMOVE - Movistar Lights the Fuse While a Few Favorites Scramble | Giro d'Italia 2026 | THEMOVE+

Episode Date: May 12, 2026

Johan Bruyneel and Spencer Martin break down a furious day of racing that saw Movistar blow up the race on a mid-stage climb, only for UAE's Jhonatan Narváez to swoop and win the stage. They discuss how the Giro d'Italia stage win is a massive moment for Narváez, who just returned from a long recovery following a bad early-season crash, if Ineos made the right decision in sending stage contender Ben Turner back to pace a dropped Egan Bernal, and how Visma and Jonas Vingegaard looked unshakeable near the front all day. They then preview Wednesday's Stage 5, which serves up a tough mountain stage that could see GC action. Listen in to see what the duo thinks of the stage, how the action will play out tomorrow, who will come out on top, and which riders present the best betting value. Become a WEDŪ Member Today to Unlock VIP Access & Benefits: https://access.wedu.team  

And also really impressed with not advice, Spencer, you know, the level he has to come back. I mean, three months no racing after Down Under. That huge crash. That was really a bad crash. Three months preparing in Ecuador, he said. Then come back and straight away, actually, you know, from the first stages on, he was already up there. And then, yeah, you were he, man, turning it around. Five riders left in the race. you know, no more G.C. ambitions and first opportunity for all ambitions, they take it.

Everybody, welcome back to the Move Plus. I'm Spencer Martin. I'm here with Johan Bernil. We are breaking down stage four of the Gior d'Ote d'Ote d'ADIO'I's Jonathan Narvias. An incredible comeback from a terrible vertebrae fracture at the Tourdana under earlier this year. This is his first race back. Can't say enough nice things about this performance. It was pretty incredible. Beat or Lys Olar from Movistar and Giulio Chaconi from Little Trek, a stage that, Johan, I honestly was surprised by it. I thought we'd see just meandering through the absolutely beautiful southern Italian countryside.

Wow. To be back in Italy, it popped off the screen today. I was shocked at how much better it looked than the last few stages. But it was difficult. It seemed my teams were really worried about crosswinds because they had a long stretch along the coast. The crosswinds never really materialized, but they went into the day's single climb. An interesting course. I think I thought the course was poorly designed before the stage, after the stage,

actually pretty well designed because they had a 14 and a half kilometer climb, 6%. About 35 kilometers from the finish line, I thought nothing would happen. Movistar thought differently. They went to the front, absolutely blew the pellets on up, sent all the sprinters back, they're dropping back to benefit their sprinter, Ular, who seemed unbothered by the Lime, really impressive flying from him. They also distanced Egan Bernal from Net Company Ennio's foreseen net companies Eniose, Versatile Sprinterner to drop back to pace him.

Further helping Mobystar. Movistar keeps driving to the finish line. Luckily for Bernal, Derek G. West had a mechanical. So he drops back. He's in the Bernal group. Then they drop back Mateo Sobrero. And that once he was back there, he closed the gap in three kilometers. It was pretty impressive what he did.

They go into the finish, Jan Kristen from UAE attacks with about a kilometer and a half remaining. That forces, Moby started burn the rest of their lead out. Little Trek tape takes over on the front for Chaconay. But there was not a lot of seasoned or fast sprinters left. So Ular jumps early, 300 meters to go. Almost worked out for him. But Navaros was just too fast, blew by everybody on that great looking Colanago, aero bike, and just smoked them for the sprint win.

and then Julia Chaconi, Chaconi, since he got third on the stage, picked up enough time onus to take the Maglio Rosa ahead of Jan Christian and Florian Stork, who are now four seconds behind Chaconne. Eganl, despite as you would say subpar day, is still ahead in the G.C. of the other G.C. riders in fourth place.

Johan, what were your takeaways from the stage? Yes, Spencer. I mean, I was also surprised. I thought that this stage would play out differently, but this was not the idea of Movistar. I think Movistar was impressive today. 14 kilometer climb. You know, it's a long climb, and the first five, six kilometers were the steepest around six and a half, seven percent.

So it's enough, it's long enough. I mean, those six, seven, seven kilometers end up seven percent to put all the majority of the sprinters in trouble. And on top of that, they must have had, and rightfully so. A huge confidence in Orlois Orlar. Is he Venezuelan champion? That is a great question.

I believe he is Venezuelan. Yes. No, I think it's Ecuadorian. No, we're getting our stage guys mixed up because Narvaeis is Ecuadorian. Venezuela champion and Narvaise is Ecuadorian. Okay. Yeah. I mean, it was a matter of South American writers today first and second.

But yeah, I mean, that was impressive from Movistar. And, yeah, to see almost all these sprinters dropped, you know, Milan was, I think, was one of the first ones to go, which was a bit of a surprise. But anyways, then we saw Paul Manier in trouble and many others. So Olaar was actually the only real sprinter who was still there, I think. I think you can hardly say that Narvaise is a real sprinter. But yeah, I'm also really impressed with Narvaise, Spencer. You know, the level he has to come back.

I mean, three months no racing after Down Under. That huge crash. That was really a bad crash. Three months preparing in Ecuador, he said. Then come back. And straight away, actually, you know, from the first stages on, he was already up there. And then, yeah, UAE, man, turning it around. Five riders left in the race.

You know, no more G.C. ambitions. And the first opportunity for own ambitions, they take it. And they could actually have also had the pink jersey because young Kristen did a late attack. He sprinted for bonuses. Had those six bonus, six seconds bonus. Then, you know, if he stays away, he takes pink. but anyways well actually

Chikona got the pink jersey thanks to the bonification if I'm not mistaken because he got third in the stage right third in the stage so he got four seconds and then you're right he gets two seconds at the Red Bull kilometer yeah so

so yeah I mean also nice for Chikone you know I mean it's always nice to get the leaders jersey in a ground tour but man if for an Italian La Mali Rosa is something special. You could clearly see his, I mean, he didn't know.

He had to wait a little bit after the finish to know that he was in pink. And he said, you know, he could not believe it. It's, I mean, it's, it's unique for an Italian cyclist to wear the pink jersey there. That's something, you know, it's a sacred, sacred jersey for them. First day back in Italy, too, Italian and the Megalio Rosa. I mean, I'm looking it up right now. So he's never been, he's never had a grand tour leader's jersey. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Has he? Oh, wait, tour de France, 2019. Yeah, the yellow jersey. Whoa. On Plateau de Bay. Man. I think on the Plateau de Janeiro jersey. What a crazy.

What a crazy tour de France. Let's just talk about the 2019 Tour de France, this podcast. That was a wild race. But yes, big, big from Chicona. He's got to be very excited. about that. I mean, a much needed morale boost for little trek as well. Like, things

have not been going their way since the second month of the season. So second month of the year, first month of the season. So I'm sure they're excited about that. Yeah, yeah. I mean, were you? Yeah, but also, Spencer, I mean, like, okay, not vice wins the stage. It was clear he had the best

legs. You know, it was, what was it, 35, 40 riders left? Yes. It was all lined up. So, you know, it was basically, it came down to the strength. And I think Orlyso-Laar launched too early. I think he went with 300 meters to go,

which way too early, especially on a slightly uphill sprint. But, you know, he must have been incredibly strong because he still finished a second. And there was other riders on his wheel who were not able to pass him. So O'Lar was really,

he had great legs today. And he looked on that, climb when a lot of really, really good riders were swinging in the back of that group. He was sitting comfortably in second and third position. Was never even in trouble. So yeah, I mean, really, really great race for a movie star. It's been a while since we've seen them so dominant and so it's so much confidence. Yes.

So what do they say? When in doubt lead it out, especially on an uphill sprint like that, sometimes if you're the fastest rider, even if it's too far, just go. Oftentimes, the biggest regret you'll have is I should have gone earlier. I liked it. I liked where he went. He didn't really have any other options because Jan Kristen's attack forced Mobystar to burn. I mean, they were doing a lot of work all day. They had nobody left. He had to go. He went and would have won if Narvaeus wasn't amazing and wasn't there. What did you think of Jan Kristen's attack? I thought it worked out pretty well for Narvaeus perfectly, actually. And then Narvaez said in the post-race interview, what do you say?

Yon's a strong kid, but he's got to learn how to race his bike. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I don't disagree with that. You know, he's a bit of a loose cannon, young Chris. Definitely huge talent, big potential. You know, like he has this acceleration. But it was too early. It was 1.5k to go when he went. You could see also that, I mean, Movistar had worked very hard to get there. So they were definitely not going to give that away so easily.

And it was actually Enric Mas himself who kept the gap really close. Enric Moss is the only one of the four Movistar riders who hadn't been doing any pulse. At least I haven't seen them do it. It was all it was Nelson Rodriguez and Eno Rubio, I think, who were doing the majority of the work. on that climb. So, Eric Musk kept it close. And then, yeah, I mean, then it was Matteo Sobrero, who closed the last gap for Chicone. And Arvice took advantage of it.

So now, anyway, he was the strongest in the final, Arvice. Great power. I mean, we've seen him already do unbelievable things, right? So sometimes in the classics, we've seen him follow. I still remember, man, when he was on Ineos, following Van der Poul on one of those cobbled climbs. That was Jonathan Narvaise, five, six, six years ago, probably. Then we all remember what he did in the tour.

Remember that unbelievable pull he did at the bottom of Otakam? Yes. Where he almost dropped Pogacar. You know, so the guy definitely has, you know, this this quality potential for for certain special things also two years ago the one of the only riders who beat progachar man to man in stage one of the Gero years ago you got the got the got the got the leaders from Pagachar yeah not many riders can say they've never done that but think in the last three years how many guys have beaten Pagachar in a one-up situation like that there's

There's not many like, Walt Van Artax and Matthew Vanderpull. That might be it. I guess Jonas Finnegard at the... Two de France later that year. Schalmosa? Yep. It's a very limited list. He's a great writer because he can win like today.

It looks great. But he can also, outside of that, he can provide... He's good in stage races, like winning stages and stage races, good in the classics. Not many riders can do that. And he's also an indispensable teammate for GC contenders. So he's occupying three roles in one. You would think UAE would want to hold on to him. Do we want to talk about the rumors we've heard that he's leaving UAE that I don't really understand?

I've seen several reports already. So I think it must be true that he's actually going back to where he comes from, to now net company, Ineos. So he comes from there. What will he have been two years only at UAE? Yeah, two-year, like, gap. Like a two-year study abroad and now he's going home. Yeah. Well, listen, you know, definitely good for, definitely good for net company.

In Neos, it's for sure going to be good for Narvaise also because it's going to be an improved contract, in my opinion. And probably, probably have more opportunities for himself than at UAE. Yeah, especially in the classics. Everybody wins. Yeah. I mean, I liked his move to UAE because my theory was if you want to beat Pagachar, the best place to be is the eye of the hurricane. So just be on the same team as Pagachar and then sometimes you'll win.

But I also think it's, you know, cool that he's going back. He's going to probably be a designated leader at a lot of one-day races. No one's told me this. This is just my own thinking. If I was net company Enios, I would also think you could go to Paul Six Us and say, hey, you know, this guy, Tadei Pagotra, he's pretty good. He's won a couple races. Do you know who's helped him win his biggest races?

Narvaeus. Guess what team he's on now? Net company, Ineos, do you want to come join our team? I would imagine that's pretty appealing to someone that wants to be a GC leader. Yeah, I don't think, I don't think Paul Sechast thinks that way, though. He's got to think at some point, like God didn't either team. I've seen, I've just seen an interview of him, you know, talking about the two of the France. The guys, he's, you know, full guys in. He wants to go for GC. You know, he's loudly,

openly talking about podium. Guy knows what he wants, you know. And it's, it's, you know, it's maybe going to happen. So he thinks that way yet. Keeps adding 20 watts to his FTP a month. He'll be on that podium with the tour de France. Just so cut like the G.C. action from the day. It was obviously limited. I would just say quick notes, Vizma, Jonas Venergarde, no notes on them. Wow. They were just in the right place all day. They lose Wilco Kelderman before the start of the stage. He leaves, I guess, complications due to crash on stage two. They didn't miss a beat, though. I mean, to me, if I was trying to win this race and I was not on Vizma, I would have been a little despondent from today because just as they were just

parked right where they needed to be. The team is working as one. Jonas looks incredible. And they were all there. They were all there. I mean, I haven't counted them. But, you know, there were so many yellow guys there. Yeah.

While, you know, I thought Red Bull, Bora, Hansgrove looked pretty good. I mean, we should say, Julio Chaconay sprints. Jonas went for the Red Bull kilometer sprint. Didn't get it. Chikone get, not Chikone. But Zipalizari gets second behind Jan Kristen. So he gets four seconds, right? Yeah, four seconds.

So he moves up. He's now four seconds in front of those guys. Obviously, I think that probably means nothing in the grand scheme of things, but it just shows he's strong. He's on the front foot. His team was there. But when you think about a team like Net Company Enios, where they only had Time and Arnsman,

who's a G.C. leader for them, Ben Turner and Egan Bernal at one point on that climb. And then Bernal's dropped. And then they're stuck with a really tough decision. What do we do with Ben Turner? you're not going to send arundsman back so you either leave bernall alone like flailing in the wind that's not a great look for a gc guy even if we think maybe he has a limited gc ceiling he might not win this race are you really going to just leave him there to fight for himself on stage four so they send ben turner back ben turner paces them back on they actually looked like they were kind of having a hard time closing the gap until derrick g west has a mechanical best thing that happened to net company in a a a all day he goes back and then he's they send Mateo Sabreiro back who did an incredible turn of work to close that gap. But Johan, let's say you're director of Net Company Enos for today's stage.

What would you have done in that situation? Well, first of all, Spencer, I was surprised to see Bernal getting dropped there. That was not normal for him. I mean, normally, but now, even if he's, you know, people say, yeah, you know, he has problems the day after a rest day. It's possible. You know, even Bernal on a not very good day, cannot get dropped from a group of 40 riders. especially looking at everybody who was there.

So I don't know, you might be sick. That's another possibility. I agree. You know, it's, I mean, yeah, it was their only choice, their only chance to let Ben Turner drop back. I mean, I saw the interview of Ben Turner. He was not happy. Super disappointed.

And, you know, I think it was, with reason to be disappointed because if you see that he still finishes Ford in the stage, after all the work he has done and they have to write so hard to get back. Yeah, so hard. And Ben Turner did the majority of the work there.

So, yeah, they couldn't have done anything else, Spencer. They had to send Ben Turner back. You know, you can't leave one of your two. I mean, I still think Bernal, has a better pedigree in Grand Tours than Taman Arensman. So I don't know. Also, we don't know what they know, right? I mean, if Bernal's sick today and, you know, they think that he's going to get better,

well, you can't just leave him out there by yourself. You know, Ben Turner was there, but, you know, there was no guarantee he was going to win the stage. So it's a trade-off. It's a difficult decision to make, but I think they made the right. right decision. I think he wouldn't have won the stage. I mean, I would respect if someone did think he would have won, but I thought Nervaius was too fast.

He was fast, but Ben Turner strong, man. Ben Turner won straight up bunch sprint in the Giro, in the Vuelta. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was like early in the Valta last year, yeah. And so this was a good finish for him. But, yeah, I think I think he could have won. I think he could have won. But that's in hindsight, of course. In the moment you have to make that decision,

you just have to think, you know, very calculated and say, okay, we can't let Egan Bernal by himself here. We don't know. We're going to try to save the situation. We don't win the stage. Okay, fine. But, you know, at least we keep our options intact. And let's see tomorrow's another day.

I fear, though, I fear for Bernal. If this is, this happens today, we're going to talk about the morrow stage a little later on, but tomorrow is a very hard stage. Very hard stage. It's a very hard climb at the end. And if Bernal gets dropped today, I think tomorrow's the same is going to happen, but he's not coming back tomorrow. Yeah, that's correct. I also fear for him tomorrow. I think though it's this simple.

So Time and Aronsman, guys, looks to be on the form of his life, right? So he's, let's just say, okay, maybe Bernal's not on his best at this year or there's some issue. Well, we're backing timing. Well, Time and Arnsman chances are better if Egan Bernal's not. He would have lost three or four minutes today if they wouldn't have dropped Ben Turner back. That does not advance. That doesn't help Time and Arnsman at all. In fact, that hurts them.

It helps him to have another rider up there in the GC. We also know Bernal's not out of shape because he was second at Tour of the Alps. He looked great. He looked great in every race he's been in. He has fit that Leage Best Own the age. That was what, just two weeks ago? So you know he's not unfit. So this must be a bad patch or illness.

I think as much as it hurts, as much as it said, to be frank, yeah, it would sting if you're Ben Turner. He probably thinks he could have won the stage. He ruined his chance to win the stage. but I think you have to do it because you don't know what's going to happen at the end of the week likely as you say might not

be good but you just cannot let someone he would have lost minutes free minutes basically this early in the race I think you have to keep him in the running as as bad you could also see some like one of these like PlayStation cycling guys on Twitter being like no just

leave them back there but that also is a bad look don't you think if you just have you get Murnall you can't do that I know at this, not at this stage in the race. No, not after stage four. No, stage four. Yeah. It's this.

No, no, you can't. Plus, listen, at the end of the day, you also have to respect the pedigree of a writer like Bernal. You know, let's not forget that this is a two or the France winner, a Gero winner, a guy who is extremely respected within the team. And, you know, I've also read some reports, for example, that, I mean, I think Bernal has renewed, right? With Ineos?

I read the same thing. It's not official, but... I've also seen rumors that Ben Turner has not renewed and is looking elsewhere. So, you know, all these things come into play. Whether we like it or not, that just plays a role. Because at the end of the day, of course, Ben Turner wants to win a stage in the Gero. For, you know, your personal Palmaris as a writer like Bernard Turner, that's incredible to win a stage in a ground tour. does it make a difference for in aos?

It doesn't make a difference at all. They've won seven, eight or nine or ten grand tours already. So it doesn't make its difference if they're going to win a zero stage or not. So I think they, for me, it was the right call. Yeah, I can definitely see that. I understand, I could understand if Ben Turner is listening to this thing. You guys don't know what you're talking about. I would have won it.

I totally get it. But I think they had to. make that call is as difficult it is it is didn't they what do they win i was thinking about the city that did team sky wins seven tours and seven tours and eight years with four different riders is that right one two three four five six seven tours in four years with one two three four different riders that's pretty impressive think about it through mernall thrum bernal garret thomas bradley wiggins oh okay yeah yeah bradley wiggins yeah he was the first one Yeah, that guy. Remember that guy, Bradley Wiggins?

So, yeah, they probably, you're right. It's not moving the needle, winning a stage four. As nice as that would have been. That's not ultimately what they're here for. You know, in the, for the pedigree and the history of the team, it makes no difference. But, you know, you have to, you have to respect your leader or one of your leaders. Yeah. And while we're on the topic. Tomorrow, tomorrow is different. tomorrow if Bernal gets dropped on that steep climb. Anyways,

tomorrow, Ben Turner is also not going to make it over that climb. Well, I think the bigger issue about today, well, the biggest issue is Ingham Bernal. I should say that. But another big issue is the fact that Ben Turner was the only non-leader in that group, especially when you said Vizma had pretty much their whole team up there. There are other riders.

For example, I would at least have expected Magnus Sheffield to be there. Or Jack Hague. Oh, Jack Hague, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, listen, Philippa O'Gana, okay, you can say, yeah. No, it's, it was not a hard climb. It was too fast. So great, you know. But, yeah, Jack Hagan and Magnus Sheffield should have been there before Ben Turner.

So obviously, it's not a reason for Ben Turner to be frustrated because the fact that he was there means that he has incredible form. That's like incredible, man. His interview, I mean, initially his interview was like he was emotional. He was and then he kind of realized that he was being too negative and, you know, he kind of corrected himself and said, you know, that it was normal to stay with Bernal. They know he has the form and he said something that he, you know, in the sense that he sometimes feels bad after arresting or something. But that was after first he voiced his initial emotional frustration of not having the chance to go for the stagement. I mean, it is the ride of a lifetime.

Like what he did was so impressive and then no one will remember it because he was fourth. But if you really think about a sprinter being in that group, not only being in that group, dropping back to help their GC leader doing a ton of work. The climb crested with 35-ish K to go, 40K to go. and he basically pulled until 16K to go, which is when they got back on. And then he was, he was,

he was at the back from 16K to go to 8K to go. And then only then he started to move up. So what he did was super impressive. Unfortunately, he's not going to have anything, but the memory, he'll have our respect, Johan.

And that's really what matters. Good job, Ben Turner. We respect you. Let's take a quick break and then we'll talk about tomorrow stage. Okay, Johan, do you have any lingering thoughts? I probably cut you off to her. there have any linking thoughts on the stage it was kind of you know the writing was on the wall

arnold ali abandoned uh sick did not recover you know he got we know he got sick after that race in belgium together with a few other teammates they tried everything to get him to the start but you know it was clear from the start he was struggling did not recover you can't recover in a in a grand tour and so abandoned also katyn groves had to abandon consequences of the crash on stage one, I think. So, yeah. Cain Gros crashed on stage one. Yes, yeah.

And the final, he probably was running that pile up. Yeah. Yeah. So I don't know, maybe he was in stage three also. It was also involved. I don't know. But, but yeah, I mean, that makes, there's a lot of riders abandoned already, man.

Like, after four stages, I think we were already, probably like 10 riders already are out of the race. Yeah, especially. Did we already talk about this? Maybe this was off mic. But you what UAE loses three riders. They have five riders left. And then today they win the stage and they almost get the leaders jersey. And they're missing a significant portion of their team, including their GC leader. So that's a pretty impressive

recovery. But yeah, I mean, Wilco Calderman, do you think him leaving is going to affect Bisma? It's not good. You know, it's not good. I mean, especially since in which I've always said, you know, like ground tours, they had, they, they should have stick with, stuck with nine, with nine riders, you know, three weeks, nine riders. It's not easy. I mean, it's, look, you a, three riders in one stage, they're down to five.

I mean, two and a half weeks with five riders. That's, that's, it's a long time, a long time, you know, there's three empty spaces in the bus. There's three empty spaces at the dinner table. You have to send staff home, you know, because there's once, one year too much. You know, there's people, there's too many staff or if you if you lose three riders there's too much stuff do will they do that

you think will they send staff home usually that's usually that's the case yeah i guess yeah and then the staff gets extra rest so yeah be bummer if you're swanie you've blocked out the whole month sorry you're going home that is a long way to go basically a full grand tour with five riders ouch not fun um i mean you'll see i think there was a year where jaco had like two or three riders left by the end of might have been this year to tell you that would be hard for morale i feel like it happens a lot in the vuelta you know in the vuelta it's the third round tour at the end of the season i mean french teams typically french teams you know right you know riders who don't want to be there um some guys finish with two riders um so yeah that's that must be hard so tomorrow

we have another 200 plus kilometer stage so this will be our second one in five days. We're going to Potenza, still southern Italy. I thought, man, I don't want to be ragging on Bulgaria too much. Holy smokes. Whatever, whatever, what, Calabria is where we are, whatever they paid for this, Giritae is worth it. Because I was watching the stage and again, I would go on vacation in any of these spots where they are riding through. Two hundred and three kilometers, a lot of climbing. We start on a catrider, a third cat climb, then we kind of go through a saddle. It's just exactly what it looks like on the profile and then a second cat climb.

The Red Bull, it's kind of rolling spiky terrain, Red Bull Time Bonus Sprint, descent down and then a 12% average climb, I believe, and then they descend down to the finish. It's not even categorized though, so it's going to sneak up, probably sneak up on people, maybe not.

Wait, no, it's 9.2% average, 12% maximum, but it has multiple kilometers above 10% average. So a really hard climb at the finish. The last climb you mean. Yeah, the uncategorized one. Oh, the uncategorized climb, because the categorized climb, the second climb, it's that's 6.6 kilometers at 9.2% average.

Okay, sorry, that's the one I was looking at. That has multiple kilometers over 10%. So, you know, it's 48K to the finish, but of those 48K, there's a lot of, you know, rolling terrain. There's not a straightaway. There's not a downhill straight away. No. Yeah, tomorrow's a GC day, man, in my opinion.

Jonas will attack on that climb for sure. We'll probably get away by himself. I don't see him stay away for 48 kilometers. But, you know, it's going to be the same people we saw on that, what was it, three kilometer climb the other day on stage two. Yeah, like three and a half kilometers. So this is longer and harder. Yeah, more, I mean, 3,725 meters of elevation.

That's, you know, that's a mountain stage in terms of elevation. Yeah, tomorrow's DC, in my opinion. I would say the only pushback on that is, do we see our first big breakaway stage? Yeah, breakaway could be, yeah. yeah although I you know the strength of Visma I think

I think Visma keeps it within reach they're super strong and Jonas wins it the attacks on the final climb you know who's on unbelievable form once again is Victor Kampanards dude

Victor Kampanards is worth three or four riders just him by himself and yeah i think yon has goals for it tomorrow man i got to say hand up just so people know i'm an idiot when they signed him i didn't get it i was like what what is like he's a he's not going to win big time trials but he's a time trialist like what why are you doing this and he has been he's talk about a professional just shows up to every target race in great shape and he has transformed He has transformed from a pure time trialist into a super domestic who is, you know, can do everything.

Basically, he can go on breaks. He can ride on the flat. When he needs to, and when some of the climbers fail, who's there? Victor Campanard's as the last man standing. We saw this in the Tour de France. Yeah. So, so yeah, I mean, Chapo to him, he's, yeah, I mean, any team wants Victor Campanard's. And from what I see on social media, he's really good for the atmosphere and the ambience in the bubble.

So funny, he's kind of a content machine too. He's very, he also, I remember too, I thought he was bouncing around a little bit. Remember, I think he got re-signed by Lotto, but it wasn't a big contract. And it was like a one-year deal. And then now, in addition to all the work, he's very handy in the Peloton. He's the one who brought Jonas around for the sprint today. He just always seems to be in the right place. I mean, it clearly studies, like he studies the sport a lot and kind of knows what's going to happen before it happens.

The big. No, definitely. He's Mr. World Captain for sure. And the more I look at these GC standings, the thing that would make it a GC day and not a big breakaway day is someone like Giulio Chaconne. I would probably pick from the breakaway. but he's leading the race. So he's not going to be in the breakaway. Florian Stork, he's third overall.

He's not going to be in the breakaway. Liner Venet felt he's not going to be in the breakaway. There's just too many guys who would be the motor, for a breakaway to stay away on a day like tomorrow, they have to be really, really good. I think, I think, you know, also out of respect for the Malia Rosa, the Pink Jersey, and being in Italian,

I think Little Trek will control the race tomorrow because there is a chance, that Chikona makes it and keeps the jersey. You know, if he makes it close enough over that steep climb, he can come back and it's a great finish for him. Oh, yeah. It's slightly uphill. I could definitely see him.

Being in pink, he will, I mean, he will improve 10% overnight with the morale of the pink jersey. I mean, they'll be, I think not only will he hold the jersey. And you and I both know he's not going to win this race. We know that well. But I think he'll hold the jersey and you're going to start. There'll be a whisper campaign of like, ooh, Chaconne, is he going to win this Euro? Oh, we've underestimated them for years.

I think that's what's going to happen. I also think, yeah, answer me this question. So there's a prominent podcaster who always says, you should never defend the jersey. It's stupid to defend the jersey. Screw respect. what is keeping a team from just being like yeah we're not going to work like what do you mean by respect the jersey because in this case it does seem like they should they have a lot to gain by defending it right why would you not defend the jersey like let's just say paul manier just an example

i don't want to throw him under the bus but paul moni it's it's it is benji it is benj it is Benji, but I'm just going to use the example he used because it's a pretty good one. Paul Manier stage two, should Sudaw Quick Step work on that stage knowing they can't defend the jersey? No. No. Okay. No.

But in this case... But in this case, it's different. You know what I mean? Listen, there's a decent chance. Of course, listen, if Jonas is in another league, which he is, and tomorrow he has this, the submission then Chikone will probably

but you know what I mean listen Chikone was up there also on that climb he was not too far no he was not too far away you know he's good on these types of climbs yeah tomorrow's harder though tomorrow's harder but

it's 48k to the finish so I would if I'm track little track tomorrow I mean listen what else do they have to do they're here to win stages with Milan which for the moment it's not working really well tomorrow is definitely not a Milan day,

I would definitely try to keep the breakaway under control and have my chance to still stay in pink. And also, you know, not so much out of respect for the jersey, but out of respect for Chicona, because Chikona is a very important

writer on Little Trek. He has had good results himself. He has been of incredible value for leaders already. You know, give the guy a chance to at least, you know, hang on to pink for another day or a few days. Yeah, no. If there's a realistic scenario in front of you,

you have to try to defend the jersey. Yeah. I mean, not. Here, I'm not going to say it yet. Who do you think is going to win the stage? Oh. I think Benizadezari tomorrow in the sprint. It was fast in that sprint today.

Yeah. He was what, fifth? on stage two. He's a good little sprinter. He was also, yeah, he was in the break. He was in the, not the break, the three. The front group. Yeah.

Yeah. You know, Vanitfeldt, also when he felt looks, you know, he has a strong finish, but I think Benizadezati is stronger. Where's Vanitville now in G. He's still up there. So he'll be in that. He's got to be in the, he can't be in the breakway. is 7th in GC 10 seconds down.

Okay. So if he wins a stage, in theory, he could get the jersey. Yeah, but then that means that Belizari and Belizari cannot have any bonification or young Christian. Well, I'm not young Christian on tomorrow. Sorry, I'm actually. No, no, no. Yeah.

Yeah, it would have to be everyone in front of them would have to not only get no bonification at the Red Bull, they would not get a bonification at the finish, which is unlikely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I think I think Pilizari is my favorite for tomorrow. I, we do not have the odds in front of us. They're not out yet. I think I independent, the odds could be really bad on this, but I wouldn't be shocked if Julio Chaconay wins. He's got very fast sprinter, as we saw today, who was at third and a little mini sprint today. I think he smokes these GC guys. If he's not dropped. Yeah. But he will get dropped at one point on that climb, but the question is how far. It's so far from the finish. You know, how far behind is he? Then also who is there with him to come

back? That's, that's the other, you know, today, today he had, uh, what's his name? The guy who's there? You're telling guy. Sobrero, Mateo Sabreiro. tomorrow probably won't be there so bledro Derek G might be there Derek G might be there but yeah then yeah this could actually be a problem because Derek G is probably not going to help him

but they're together yeah he will for sure I think I think 48K is too far away I also thought today was going to be easy so what do I know but I think 48K is too far from the finish I'm not saying I'm not saying Jonas goes by himself and takes it, but, you know, Chikone will be not far and come back. If it's Cicone and Jonas together, they're going to the finish.

Yes. And then Chaconay wins. Maybe. I would not pick Yonis because he just has to. Sorry, maybe it's Pellizari and Yonas. Well, yeah. Well, that's a good, because I mean, that's why Pellizari is a good pick for the win because he's so fast and he's probably not going to get dropped so it was someone who

have to out sprint him there's not many people that can outsprent him so if it's a gc group at the finish pelazari is a very good pick yeah i'm going to pick chaconin joe though just for fun because i think i want to see him defend it i want to see this i want to like lagazeta i want like cycling i don't if you've noticed the cycling has a hard time getting on the front of lagazata the delisport so i want to see chikonet let's have another bet spencer that's what are the of Chicone is showing up pink from top to toe tomorrow. It's not even on the board. It's going to be like minus 10,000 or something.

That would be nice to win in, you know, completely in pink. Yeah. You can throw its pink glasses away and get fun. This is awesome. You can just, it's kind of like Al-A-Filippa at the tour. So, you know, something like this builds and builds. And a rider of the Chicone level can just become very high profile from it. So I think it'd be fun to see.

I hope Chaconne wins tomorrow. pick them. Okay, good. All right, thanks, Johan. And we'll be back after tomorrow's stage. Tomorrow's very tough stage. Okay. Speak tomorrow as, okay.