THEMOVE - Ranking 2025s Best Moments Season Highlights 2025 Themove

Episode Date: January 11, 2026

Spencer, George, and Johan rank and debate their favorite and most memorable moments from the 2025 cycling season. Listen in to hear what they are, what they thought the best races of the year were, and how Tadej Pogačar's dominant season compares to his historic campaign in 2024. Become a WEDŪ Member Today to Unlock VIP Access & Benefits: https://access.wedu.team Huel: Huel makes healthy eating simple. They also just launched into Target stores nationwide! Try both products today with FIFTEEN PERCENT off your purchase for New Customers with our exclusive code THEMOVE at https://www.huel.com/THEMOVE. ROKA: Listeners can enter code THEMOVE at checkout to receive a 20% discount on their first order at https://www.roka.com/themove AG1:  AG1 is offering new subscribers a FREE $76 gift when you sign up. You'll get a Welcome Kit, a bottle of D3K2 AND 5 free travel packs in your first box. So make sure to check out. https://www.DrinkAG1.com/themove Hollow Socks: For a limited time Hollow Socks is having a Buy 2, Get 2 Free Sale. Head to https://Hollowsocks.com today to check out their huge sale. #Hollow Sockspod Tushy: Give the gift of practical luxury that benefits everyone in your household. Go to https://www.hellotushy.com/THEMOVE now to grab your deal before it's gone!    

We also saw the emergence of a potential, you know, historical figure in cycling with Del Toro. Of course, he didn't win it. But the way he dominated the whole Giro was being such a young rider. And then again, at the end of the year, winning, you know, four to five races in a row. It was just exciting to watch the emergence of American or Mexican superstar that wouldn't be watching for a long time. Everybody, welcome back to the Move Podcast. I'm Spencer Martin. I'm here with Johan Bruneele and George Hincappy.

We are going through our season, highlights of the 2025 season. We're going to do a little bit of a structured format this year. We have, George and I have our three favorite moments from the year. And Johan is going to critique and add to it as we go through our list. We're also going to talk about our favorite races that we don't cover in that and just talk about the main story of the season, unfortunately. Or I guess fortunately, if you like them, Taday-Pagachar won a lot. So we're going to talk about how much he won and really put into context. what he is doing. Before we do that, let's take a quick moment to talk about our partners for today's

episode. Then we'll be right back. Everybody, this episode is brought to by Huell. Even if my kids off school for the week, my mornings are still incredibly busy, if not busier than normal, because I've been running around, going to and from the airport, and to make sure I'm getting the breakfast I need. I'm reaching for Huell's Black Edition, high protein, on the go, complete meal replacement. It's got 35 grams of protein, 27 essential vitamins and minerals. and it's gluten-free with no artificial sweeteners. Basically, a complete meal that's ready to go. My go-to favor right now is iced coffee, smooth, not too sweet, and keeps me going all morning.

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That's h-u-e-l-com slash the move for 15% off today. Everybody, this episode is brought to by Roka. Roka has invented a completely new class of eyewear. Glass is optimized for performance. No other eyewear brand can keep up with what these guys are doing. They just keep making their stuff better and better. And their prescription glasses have the exact same technology as their performance sunglasses, which is key for someone like me. I can't see anything without my

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temps and staying on insecure, even in the crazy battle for the crosswinds. Also, their hand-built in the move in Lanses hometown of Austin, Texas. And new at Roka is their try-on program for their optical frames. You can try at home before you buy. That's key for me. I love doing that. and they have snow goggles. They took everything they know about performance I wear and built a world-class product. Best magnetic lenses I've ever seen. It's about ski season.

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fast and difficult riding this weekend atl tour to tusson johan you didn't you should be happy you missed out on it you can say i probably would have won that because i'm belgian i would have dominated the cross wins um well george and i saw i checked out i checked out both of your strava and i saw the average speed there is no weight for me what was my average speed i didn't look at it i bet it was 21 points 40 over 40 kilometers you're crazy george you're still i mean you're still a professional cyclist yeah I was dying. I haven't ridden 100 miles in a long time. I know, it's got riding fast. 160 kilometers at more than 40 kilometers average.

I don't know. And I guess it was not flat. Yeah, it's rolling, but there's no big mountains. They're all big chaining, but yeah, it was hard. Do you know who George beat? Quinn Simmons. Oh, yeah, he was riding with his wife, though. He still would, he's finished like 10 minutes behind me.

I mean, the guy probably. average 23 miles an hour like with his wife. I think he did like two more hours after that, which I actually would say I was thinking about that on the run into Tucson. It was so hard. And I was like, man, if I was a pro, I left to tack on two more hours to get a good workout. And I was really at my limit. It was a humbling experience. Reminder that cycling is suffering. There's no way around it. But before we get into this, I'm just going to recap the season really quick in the quickest way possible, like in a minute. So if you don't remember the monuments kicked off.

Well, Strata Bianchi, not a monument. Tadipagia won it. No spoilers for next year, too. Sorry. Tom Pickock was second. Milana San Ramo rolls around. Matthew Vanderpull takes first blood. He wins the first monument of the year.

Felipe, Ghana, second, which I honestly forgot about, went back and watch that race this morning. Very good finale. Pagachar third. Tour of Flanders, Tadda Pagacha wins. Maddie Petterson second, Vanderpull, third. Peiroube, Matthew Vanderpul wins after Pagacha rides into the ditch on the cobbles. Pagotcha still

finishes second. Mads Pedersen, third. Mads Pedersen, very good year. Leage Best on Liage, Matt Taddy Pagacchar wins. Giulio Chacone second. Ben Healy third. I, Lombardia, Tadipacra wins. Rimco Evinnepal second. Michael Stor third. The Grand Tours. Simon Yates wins the Giro de Taya.

Spectacular race with Isaac Deltoro. Second. Richard Carapas third. Tour de France. Tata Pagachar wins. Jonas Vindegarde second. Florine Lipwood's third. Volta Espania. Jonas Findergarde wins. Juala made a second.

Tom Pitcock, third. Pretty impressive right there. Looking, reflecting on that. But George, what was your favorite moment of the 2025 season? Well, you named some of them. It's now in the first minute of the show. But chronologically, I'd start out with San Remo. You know, there was a big talk about Pocaharch going for it.

We finally saw maybe the team not executing a perfect ride, getting to the suppressor with one or two guys instead of the whole team. They're strong guys. We saw Vanderpoll not backing down from the domination. Prokuchar showed the last couple of years attacking them over the top of the Prokotchar. Like you mentioned, Ghana's ride coming back and holding his pace, steady pace throughout the first two climbs, coming back and being in contention for the win with the two icons of the sport. So for me, that was certainly the most exciting, well, along with my other two that I'm going to pick, but one of the three top moments of the year, in my opinion. I agree. I thought this was the best race of the year and actually made me question if races should be easier.

Like all these monuments are so hard. It kind of makes them boring. And then you'd think, I always thought San Remo was a snooze fest up until a few years ago. It's like, man, like nothing happens. but it's perfect because all these guys, like you, Philippe Pagana, going against Tide Pagaccha, going against Matthew Vanderpull.

I mean, Johan, what did you think about Sin Ramo this year? Yeah, I had it written down here as my best one-day race of the year also. Wow, we're all green. Yeah, if you look at Flanders, okay, very hard, Pogacar wins. Lillet Buston Lilliers, very hard, Pogacar wins. Lombardy, very hard, Pogachar wins. And then Rubet, you know, he was an experience, but he was up there. So, I mean, I think Milan San Remo was the most exciting one-day race of the season, in my opinion,

because we didn't know who was going to win until they got to the finish, basically, because at the end Ghana came back. So he had still an option that was this suspense if Bogacha was going to be able to shake off Vanderpul or not, and Vanderpul counterattacks on the top of the podjo. So I think it was the most exciting one-day race of the season. by far. And not that, I mean, listen, I like also when the strongest guy wins and dominates and shows, you know, a demonstration of power. I like that too, but, you know, I'm not going to lie if, you know, Milan San Remo was, was nail biting until the finish. Yeah, I think it was the first

time that season, like this season that we saw somebody overtaking Pocetra and attacking him when he was clearly at the limit where everybody was like, whoa, what just happened? You know, so that was really exciting to watch that. And like you mentioned, I mean, Vanipold leading the sprint out with 250 meters to go with, you know, Ghana and Pocotra is sitting on his wheel. So the amount of confidence and power he displayed there at the finish was just really incredible to watch. Yeah. I mean, George, do you watch, I was shocked rewatching the race, like how early it's kicking off. Like those guys going away on the Trapressa. And it like almost doesn't resemble the Lansan Ramo that you won with that or that you took you know Mark Kavanaugh to the finish and then he

won like do you watch that and you're like I don't even know what I'm looking at here yeah I mean it's a suppress I mean it's just if you do this suppress on training it's like you barely even notice it's you know four or five percent not very difficult at all but once you get there after you know 230 kilometers it's a whole different story and just to watch the aggression that these guys go into it at I mean, not to mention, you just said a few minutes ago how San Remo was a snoo. It's a snooze fest. If anybody, and Johan knows, I think he'll back me up.

Riding San Remo is far from a snoo fest. It is so scary, so stressful. I mean, once you get to the Coast Road, you're going 50K an hour plus, the windy roads. Everybody knows exactly when they need to be the front. So that makes the fight a lot worse. You know, there's just, it's, I still have nightmares waking out from the position battle to the pressa and it's just one of the most of the spread it's also it's also george one of the reasons why i mean you just said or was it spencer who said you know they didn't have an ideal position uae i mean that's

the reason you know this this approach to the chepressa everybody knows it no most of the teams and most of the riders have done it multiple times they've all done it in recon several times but then you get there at race speed and it's never the same it's there's always different things happening and you may be as strong as you want there is no way you can have all of your guys at the bottom of the Chippresa in the first 20 riders. That's never going to happen. Yeah. So, you know, by definition, UAE, they have to kind of initially slow down a bit to have

a few guys come up again because they've lost position. And, you know, before you know it, you're on the top of the Chippresa. But still, they were still able to do that and still Bougatja attacked and made that, made that split, you know. So, so yeah. I mean, I think in this peloton and with this, especially with the strength of Pogacar, I agree with you, Spencer. Milan San Remo is actually a course which is hard enough because of the distance and the hills,

but it's also accessible to a lot of people. And at the end, it's, I mean, the last few years is still probably always the strongest guy who wins. Yeah, we always say San Remo is one of the hardest races in the world to win, but the easiest World Cup to finish. Oh yeah. Because you can just, if you're just floating there and you're using it for miles, you can just get to the suppressor, ride your pace, and ride into the perpetual. It's not like Flanders where it's just climb after climb over bay where it's section

after section, just getting beat down like San Remo. You can just ride the 300 kilometers. In fact, back in our day, there was a lot of the GC riders would just ride it to get a big day in and not even worry about. Yeah, crazy. But to go for the wind is a completely different story. Do you guys remember Silva and Delier was on the front for like four hours? this race. I'd forgotten that. It's like, wow. That's a turn of work. I remember Spencer.

We, when I was at Once in 95, Milan Saint-Rémo, we, you know, we had Laurentia LaGelle who was in amazing shape. He was the favorite of the race. He was our team leader. And we with team onse, we took, I mean, there was a breakaway and then we took control of the race after 40K or something and wrote the whole day. The whole day was one rider of our team, one rider. He did one pull of 200 kilometers. That's crazy. Man. And then, yeah, and then, you know, still it didn't break, you know,

and there was still typical approach to the pojo and Angela Baer attacked with von der Leicester, I guess, and won in the sprint against von der Leest. What would you guys, so Pagacha, he wants to win this sometime. It's, as you said, the Trapressets are really hard because you can't get your team where you want them to be. and George noted that it's not that steep. Also, there was like a cycling journalist who didn't race. He was like, you know, you ride these climbs are not that hard. Like, I don't know what the big deal is.

Like, yeah, dude, do him at 600 watts. And I didn't tell me how hard it feels. But what advice, like, how does he crack this nut? Like, how's he going to win this race? I mean, it's got to be, it's not like he was far off of the wind. I mean, he was still there and right there fighting for the finish. But I don't think he could have race a different. the race any differently maybe like we mentioned you could have had more guys directly at the

bottom of the suppressor but van der poe was so strong that i don't think that would have even made much of a difference yeah it's got to be the wind condition's got to be perfect perhaps a tail win on the suppressa and bogeo um but i mean if van der paul shows up like like the way he did this season it'd be tough to beat him again i think one of the one of the scenarios could be George, I don't know if you agree with me, but, you know, to make Milanamo harder could be, for example, if it rains all day. Yeah. Really bad weather. Yeah.

Bogacha is really good and bad weather and that wears you off more. And that in that way, maybe he can get away on the pojo. That's basically the only thing I can see because even if he could, let's say if Vanderpoul is a little bit less. I mean, and every year, you know, they're always going to show up in some kind of different form. but you know right now it's pretty clear uh pogacha's going to attack on the chippresa and van the pool and the rest is going to try to follow him if they can't follow him he's still not gone because that that's actually the hard part if he if he gets away on the chipresa it's not he's not won yet you know it's i think it's going to be more difficult because then there's going to be organization

behind so i think if it's really bad weather conditions that might be one of the scenarios that he can drop everybody on the pocho And if we look already, I mean, it was bad weather conditions at the start this year. But it's such a long race. And you basically go from one, you know, atmosphere to another. And the weather changes all the time. So, but like you said, if it rained the whole time, it'd be a different story. Yeah.

It could be some cloud seating, UAE invested in cloud seating on the Mediterranean coast. But I tried to pick stuff that I thought George would not pick. So my favorite, my favorite is probably San Remo. But my favorite for this exercise, stage nine of the Girod Italia, that was the Strata Bianchi stage. Absolute bananas was actually key for the final, how things played out in the final week. Walt Vannert beats Isaac Deltoro. I mean, at the time, I was thinking, man, Deltor was unbeatable. He gets stuck on the front end up to pull.

Looking back, you're like, well, that was key for the, for the G.C. He almost wins. There was a moment where I thought he wins the Giro de Italia because he goes away with fan art. looks back, claims he doesn't see his teammate, his teammates on the ground, Juan Yuso rides away from him, just the drama there. And then Van Arte winning the sprint up into the iconic finish and C&O was just incredible.

I thought that was, there's actually another stage from this race that is also thrilling. But that was the first moment of the season in Grand Tours, at least where I was like, wow, like this is, this is Ciclesmo. It's happening right now. The season's alive. I thought that was a great stage. Yeah, I would agree with you. That was super exciting. And also it was, you know, the first day that Ben-Ard actually, you know, came across the line with a win. I mean, he went, he was so good in the classics, but just not quite good enough. I mean, top four and basically the biggest one-day risk in the world, like always there, always fighting. So I think as a fan of the sport, it was great to see him get the win in the arguably one of the most iconic stages of the Giro de Italia. And you can see how excited he was about it.

Yeah, I was going to say, George, you could see what it meant to him. You know, like you could say, well, it's only a stage in a ground tour. You know, Walt Von Art has won many stages in ground tours, but this meant the world to him. You know, first of all, to win there and then, you know, to win after having struggled to come back after many crashes. No, I think, I agree. It was quite an iconic stage that one, one to remember. I'm a huge Van Art fan. I got to admit, I thought he was toast.

I was like, he's going to get dropped by Dol Toro. on this climb. It was awesome. Yeah, you can see how hard he actually went. I mean, he was on the full limit staying on his wheel. But he knew if he can just get over the top of him, the chance of him winning are going to be really high, which is much easier said than done on that climb because I've done it a couple times. It's super steep, super hard. But yeah, he pulled off a great victory. Also on that stage, right of the day, nobody noticed at the time. I actually met this man in real life last week. Simon Yates gets fifth, a minute behind Van Art. Like, looking back, you're like, well, that's, that's as you're to tell you when he ride right there.

Because he finishes ahead of, you know, finishes ahead of Iuso who didn't end up factoring. But like Bernal, his brother, Adam Yates, all those guys are further back. Simon Yates limits losses to Del Toro on a stage that you would think would cause him a lot of problems. But he did a great job there. George, what is your second pick? Second pick, I'm got to go with the obvious choice, Paris Rebaix. Like you said, you watched San Remo. I watched both San Remo and Rubig again this morning

and just again going back to the aggression. These guys, they go so early now. They go all in, like already at the Arenberg, which is over 80 kilometers ago. You see Vanderpull at the front, him and Pogochar just going at each other, like a boxing match. Really interesting, tactical dynamic

when Phillips and Bridges back up after his crash, all of a sudden it's two teammates against one. Then, of course, Pochachar makes that, one mistake on the right hand turn with 20k to go or something like that. But that's Roubae. I mean, at that point in such a hard, I think the hardest race in the world, like you make those small mistakes that you're not used to seeing a guy like Pocchar make. And, you know, chain popped off.

He loses 30 seconds instantly. And Vandipold just rides away from him. But technically, Vandipold could have made that same mistake because he was on his wheel. He could have followed him. But he corrected and won the race right there in that right hand turn. So for me, it was just the drama of the crashes, the how hard it was, the team dynamics. Again, Wild Bernard sliding into fourth place, is always there fighting and out with Matt Pearson for the sprint. Just people coming in on fumes.

I mean, there's no other race like it where you just see riders, the best riders in the world coming in one by one by one. Yeah. It speaks a lot to Pogacchar, George. I mean, who would have ever predicted a guy who does it the first time? a grand tour rider right i mean okay he's more than a grand tour rider but you know pari roubet is probably the most specialist race in the world you know you can't come you can say flanders you know if you're a really good rider you can get away because it's so hard you know there's climbs if you're positioned properly but parridobe is special it's a different kind of cycling but yet pogghar gets in there

and he's up there straight away with the best in the world and is in a position to win it you know I personally think, I don't know what you think, George. I mean, without the crash, it would still have been Matthew von der Pooh, who won it, probably in the sprint. I don't think they would have been able to drop each other. But I think now we have to seriously consider, I mean, I think it's a fact that Bagua is going to win one day Pariubé. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I agree. I think they would have probably gotten to the line together, although that's what makes Perry Rebe so special is, you know, you have to have so much luck as well.

saw Vanipole 10K later have to get changes bikes. Yeah. Most likely if Poca Chard did not crash, would it be weighted? Probably not because your bike has to stand up to it as well. So it could have been a whole different race without that one little mistake on that right-hand turn. So I couldn't say that Van der Pocahaw was better than Pogacar. I mean, I think they would have arrived together. Yeah.

Yeah. And yeah, I think Johan's right. I think there's a path. There's a clear path for Pagacho winning Rubet versus. versus San Remo, which is crazy to think or to say. And that's probably the worst he'll ever be at Rubay, because this is his first time doing it. He's only going to get better. You could just see how physically, like, beat up he was compared to Vanderpull,

who's very used to riding that. Did you see or how on the race was? I think the first three guys leaving the Arnberg Forest were Vanderpull in this order. I think it was Vanderpull Pagachar-Peterson. And that's the final three. That is unbelievable. That's like essentially the selection has made 100. 100 kilometers in the finish.

Yeah. And don't forget, we lost Pedersen because it's also a mechanical. He got a flat tire. He could have most likely been there as well. With the classics, he was riding, how strong he was. I ended up getting third. But, you know, he got that flat tire at the worst time. Going back to the season, he's actually not secretly because we noticed him doing it,

but he had a very good year. I would almost say underrated. My second pick that I don't think George's picked is stage 21 of the Tour de France. I thought what's funny is we watched that together and you're like, you're excited because it's at the end of the tour. It's like last day of school feeling. And then I just thought that stage was unbelievable. The changes they made like made it come alive and then to have Pagachar in the yellow jersey.

I know he wasn't, it's not a fair fight, but it was the only time of the year he's dropped and he's dropped by Walt Van Art who then solos to the finish for the win. I thought that was an incredible stage. And then so for Van Art to have Mateo Jorgensen and Victor, Campan Arts in that front group working with them. Like I thought that was an incredible team effort. Great stage. One of the most brilliant stages of the year.

Yeah, I would agree. That was really exciting to watch. You can look at it. There are a couple of different ways where a lot of, I would say 70% of the riders came in thinking, if they neutralized this race, we're not even going to bother racing. So in that sense, maybe perhaps it took a little bit away from it.

But I mean, a guy like, well, that course is made for a guy like, well, Venar, and he really, the team really needed that victory to come out, you know, with confidence and just come out with another success. And it was, like you said, just super exciting to watch the amount of people watching, you know, seeing Jorgensen up there and helping him out. It was a great stage. Yeah, I agree. I agree. It's, you know, well, I kind of, I mean, you said it, Spencer, you know, it was probably not a fair fight. You know, people say, well, the only time that Pogacra was dropped was by Wob Van Art. It's true, but we all know that Pogacar has been giving everything for the last week

and Wout has been working towards this stage, you know. But still, what he couldn't do, for example, in the gravel stage in the Giro, he had to hang on for dear life with Deltoro. He turned it around and in that stage in the tour, he dropped Tare Pogacar. think for the confidence of what van art that stage is a milestone in my opinion. You know, it's the power, the power he demonstrated that they went with that attack. And I mean, if you look at those legs, those quads, I mean, they were on the verge of exploding. But man, you could see the power out of every pedal stroke. And yeah, I was really happy to see him take that stage.

It was, you know, I think the whole peloton. I mean, if you, then if you see after the finish, a lot of riders of other teams go and congratulate a writer like Walt Von Art that speaks volumes for the kind of guy he is. Yeah, not only that, but visually, you know, coming on to the most iconic avenue in the entire world or one of them

on a race that typically is a sprint or perhaps some years of time trial coming in solo. There's probably very few feelings where you can get that, you know, sort of adrenaline going where the whole world is watching you come on to the Chamblese solo winning what

probably the hardest stage of the hardest last stage of the tour tour de France in a long time. And with 70% of the riders sitting up, it actually kind of gave it a weird, almost dystopian future feel where if you were an ultra-capitalist watching this, like, ooh, this could be like a version of cycling where we have like the six best riders duking it out

without all the other riders in the way. Like it had a kind of, it did have kind of a strange feel to it, but just with all, all the fans. there packing. I mean, that neighborhood is like so iconic and beautiful where you're what it Wiggins call the church. He called it like the museum. He's like, of course, and they're going by the museum. But up by the museum with all those people, it was just like so cool. Yeah. But you know that the format, Spencer, the format you just said, you know, the best writers amongst each other, you know, it's funny enough. I mean, I just watched that little video. I don't know if you saw the little video they they published it today of that form. man raised they did in Andorra. Yeah.

It was, yeah. No. I don't want more of that. No, no. Yeah, was Roglidge, Polachar, Jonas and Del Toro? No, no. It's, there's no excitement there. No more of that, please.

They're probably going to do it again, but I know. Half of Hondora was on the streets. Well, it's not. nothing to do. If you live in Indora, you're coming out for that race. But let's take a quick mid-show ad break and then we'll get George's third pick. Everybody, today's partner is AG1, the daily foundational nutrition supplement that supports whole body health. I drink it literally every day. I gave AG1 to try because I was tired of juggling so many different supplements and wanted a single solution that covered all my bases. I wanted better gut health, steady energy,

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We do 10. And that's the number 10, 10. We do 10. All right, back to the episode. All right, we're back. George, what is your third highlight of the season? So I've pretty much focused my top three moments of the year. in the first, like the first real month of racing, which is, you know, March, April.

So my third one was going to be, well, is Amstelgoal race. Just because we, we saw what we thought was going to be another domination by Poca Char. Then all of a sudden, as you start seeing some kinks in his armor and Remko, second race back after, you know, coming back from a horrible crash in the winter, slowly clawing his way back. And the guy that nobody expected to win wins the race, Gilmost wins, wins. the race in a super exciting sprint. So I chose the ones that were, you know, we saw Pogatra most likely going to be one of the guys to winning,

but ended up being not really a surprise, but didn't get the victory. I thought that Skilmos getting that obstacle race was massive for his team, exciting for all the classics fans out there, and seeing Remko come back to such a high level after being, you know, coming back from such a bad injury. It was super exciting as well. Yeah, huge. I mean, huge for Skull-Mos. That's a good pick, by the way.

That's one I probably would have glossed over, but was the last 40K was, you could argue, maybe some of the most exciting race and we saw all season just in terms of we didn't know what was going to happen. And we're all texts, and George is like, he's good. Remko's got him. What's crazy is Remko mows him down and then doesn't, and he would have lost the race, if not for Skelmoza. Like, Sklmos is the forgot man there, Pogatcher did an amazing job for that, with that sprint.

But if you think of the right, so who beat Pagachar in 2025? It was Vanderpull, Van Art, and the race we just talked about, which wasn't really a fair fight, but still a big win. Evanapole and the TTs,

he's probably maybe the best time trust of all time. And then Schalmosa. I mean, that is like elite company he put himself into as he's in kind of a battle with his team at the moment, leadership battle with the team.

Like, that's a pretty good feather to have in the cap. Hey, I went toe to toe with Pagachar and won. in a one-day race, by the way, just if you're wondering who to select for the two of friends. Yeah, which we've seen the guys like Remko and Pogochar beat, you know, a week before we saw Remko beat Van Art and a one-up sprint. I mean, one of the best sprinters in the world.

Yeah. We've seen Pogachar beat Vanderpola and sprints. I mean, these guys are clearly very sprint savvy. And I just didn't even know Skalmo's can sprint. I know. When he came around these guys, we were all kind of in shock. He didn't even think of himself. I think, I remember.

After the stage, I mean, me, my son, my son came with this clip, you know, like, I think he said it like five times. He said, I think I won. I think I won. I think I won. He could not believe it. My name was amazing victory. Amazing victory. So my third pick, and I swear I'm not trying to get a job at the UCI, a highly paid, very easy job with this.

And this is an odd ball pick. A lot of good stuff that we'll talk about before we go. promotion relegation, I thought was pretty interesting. It might have been me and four other people that enjoyed this. But before the season started, I was very dismissive of Astana's chances to even stay in the world tour. And they crushed it. Like one of the best teams of the season of the year, they hired these people to go through. It's a pretty interesting idea, actually.

And you take like, okay, these are your best riders at five minutes. These riders are best at five minute power. put them in races where their five-minute power can help them get points. Like, it's all about points all the time. And so they completely retooled the way they are doing team selection. It worked. They stay in the World Tour easily, like cruising. And then UnoX, I thought it was amazing to see that team.

Obviously, did it at the expense of Kofidis. Sad for Kofidis. But, George, your friend, Tour Shop, put together a pretty good program there. And I personally think, like, what they're doing is everything I like about. cycling. And they're very analytical about it, but then they're not overly analytical. And they tell you exactly what they're doing, which is, which I think shows confidence because it's like, oh, like they published before the tour, it was like 30 pages of their thesis going into the race, their equipment. And it's like, well, we don't care if you know because we think we can execute

better than you. So I thought that watching those two teams stay in the world tour, then one, get into the world tour. That was a great season long narrative. Yeah, I would agree. I mean, Astana ended up finishing, what, like fifth place? I think they might have even been higher than that. Yeah. In this year, I think this year, they were the fourth team. This is the fourth best team. Do you know where they were last year? Going from just, you know, like you said, Benz was hanging on for dear life to being well into the ranks.

The fourth team, obviously they put a lot of emphasis on getting points and sending the right riders there. And it's changing a lot of the strategies in terms of the way teams select riders to go to race. and it's going to be interesting to watch in the years to come. Yeah. So if you see where Astana is at the beginning of the season, especially looking at their roster, I think, you know, if you look at what the program they have to do, all the world two races, it was going to be very difficult. But, you know, I agree, Spencer. They definitely turned it around. They went to the right races with the right riders. And they were, I mean, they also, I mean, they were in the obligation, obviously, to, you know, go to a few very important races,

with a weak roster and then sent their strongest roster to other races where they were sure to score points. But yeah, I've said it already many times, Spencer. You know, I think Vinokurov has more lives than a cat. You know, is it seven or nine lives that a cat has? I think it's nine. Vinikrov might have more. Vinikov has an undetermined amount of lives. He's a survivor.

Always gets back up. And they, I mean, they were in a bad spot too because the team XDS, the sponsor, wasn't going to renew if they weren't world tour. Essentially, everyone on the team was on a one-year deal, which probably helped, actually, as much as we don't, as much as you don't want to think it, being on a one-year deal probably does motivate you, whether that's good for you long-term. Don't put everyone on a one-year deal, George, thinking that that is a magic bullet. But I just thought that was an interesting twist of the season.

And then to kind of, before we get into, we should deep dive into Pagaccha's numbers before we But before we just to cover some of the bases, what was your guys' favorite grant tour of the season? For me, undoubtedly, the Giro. The Gero was the best race of the year, in my opinion. We didn't know until stage 20, who was going to win. And then a guy who nobody thought he could win, Simon Yates. And it's been a while. I think was his last grant two?

I mean, he won the Vuelta, right? He won the Vuelta in 2018. In 2018, so seven years ago. Yeah. And especially also because leading up to the Gero and during the Giro, he was there, but he's never been dominating. And that's also why I think both Carapas and El Toro, I think they underestimated Simon Yates because until that stage 20, he had never been able to put the hurt on those guys. He was there, lost a bit of time, but always close. And then he had that one incredible day.

And then of course, you know, having Walt Von Hart up front was key for the win. But man, what a what a story, on the same stage, on the same climb where he lost the Gero many years. Also in 2018, I think he lost the Gero there to Chris Frum, turns it around and wins the Gero in, you know, I would say in the fall of his career. basically. So, yeah, for me, that was, without a doubt, the most exciting and the most beautiful grand tour of the season. Yeah, I would have to agree with Johan, just watching that stage, perfect tactics by Bisma.

A lot of us fans watching, wondering how they can let him go with a guy like, a lot of, wow, Benard up the road waiting for him. You know, just so many different things going on. And we also sort of the emergence of a potential. you know, historical figure in cycling with Del Toro. Of course, he didn't win it, but the way he dominated the whole Giro was being such a young rider. And then again, at the end of the year, winning, you know, four to five races in a row. It was just exciting to watch the emergence of American or Mexican superstar that we're going to be watching for a long time.

And, of course, seeing Yates pull off the incredible victory, like Johan said, after such a devastating defeat to Frum, being able to come back and do that. the pink jersey on that stage was really iconic. Yeah, I agree. If we didn't agree on this, we've got problems. But yeah, this was by far the best grant tour. I just listened to Simon talk about it. It's kind of interesting. I thought, and he was right in many respects.

He's like, you know, I wasn't the strongest writer in the race. I needed them to hesitate and look at each other. He knew the moment they were together, that he had it. He thought having Mount Van Ard up the road cracked him. All of that's true. But it actually, if we think about it, Johan, was he just the best climber in the race? And it was that simple.

And that was the hardest climb in the race. And he went up it faster than anybody else. I think that day he was the best climber. But, I mean, because he wasn't the best. That's the tricky thing about this race. Yeah, he was not better than them before that. Or we can look at perhaps he learned from his mistakes. Think about Najiro when he lost the Frum,

how dominant he was throughout the whole three weeks. I mean, he showed his card. I think in the back of his mind, he's going to do the complete opposite of that, not show his cards, stay within fighting, you know, stay within a fighting chance

and put it all on the line for that stage. So I think he learned his lesson and played the whole race around that. Yeah. Yeah, I think, I mean, if you would ask him, I think it was,

I mean, it was in the back of their minds, but I think it was a surprise also. I wouldn't say he was much better than them on Gold de Finester, but we could all see that that Del Toro and Carapas were riding negatively

because let's not forget, he got dropped a few times. Now we don't know if he got dropped or if he just kept his own pace because he actually knew I think he was probably the only one of the three guys who did that climb in a race before. Yeah. Because not Carapas, neither Carapas or Del Toro had done it

in a race. They may have reconned it but again, you know, I mean, I repeat that the big mistake was both EF and UAE letting that group of Val-VANAR take such a big advantage. You know, once you see that Fanart is in that group and you're not, it's still okay as long as you don't give them that much time. I think the big mistake was to give them 10 minutes. If they keep that group at five minutes, VanArte would not have made it over the top with with the first with the with the with the favorites.

I still don't understand it. I don't really. And then Del Toro said he did. They didn't even tell him what Van Art was up the road. But that, well, yeah, I don't know.

I mean, I didn't hear that interview. I think he knew. That is a good point. We've gotten very skeptical of a lot of these poll quotes. Yeah, you know, I didn't listen to the whole interview.

But, but I think, I think initially he knew. And I mean, we all know. I mean, listen, if you're on the limit and you're cross-eyed, then you're focused on, okay, I have to be with Carapas here on the, on the finestra. That's an obsession.

And you kind of forget what's happening in the front, you know, and all of a sudden say, oh shit, Pan art is in the front. Anyways, I think, you know, I agree, George. I think we have witnessed the coming to the front of a writer. We're going to talk about a lot in the next coming years. I mean, there's this pure class. How many races did he win 18 races this year, I think? Yeah, that's something crazy.

18 races. I mean, it's, wow. And there's only two riders who won more races, I think. No, it's Bogachar and Merlir, probably. I think it's Paul Monnier, but those are not the same level of races. Yeah. Yeah. But I think did Bogachar and Merlir not win 20 races?

Merleir won 16 races. Oh, 16 races. Okay. He might have done 20 races total, so that's still an incredible one percentage. Tim Rler. That really is. But yeah, I mean, especially to do that after falling on your face a bit on that stage and you come back, almost didn't lose a race after that.

Super impressive. I love Del Toro. I think he's the best. Watch Paul Sechoss be like the best writer ever. But I'm a del Toro man. in this house we're del toro fans but i'm just going to read and then i think we can agree probably stage 20 that's probably the best stage of the year don't you we should say it's a weird it's weird because how often pro cycling do you ever do an hour long climb and then now george has me thinking

yeah was he just riding his own pace knowing there's an hour long climb waiting at the end of this grant tour it's a very strange thing you would almost never do that in a professional bike race i could do an hour long climb whenever i want but these guys go so fast You just rarely get roads that long. But I think we can agree that's probably the best stage of the year. Yeah. Yeah. It's also, if you mean, I saw somewhere, Walt Van Art, to make it over the color of

Finestre, like in time to be with Simon Yates, did his best one hour effort of his life. And I would like to know that's altitude or adjusted or not because that's best. And this is a guy who won on Montvantou, eh? Yeah. Yeah. Just way lower altitude than Finestra. It's nuts. I'm going to read just some stats to you guys and then I want you to answer a question. I'm going to give you. And this is the Tadei Pagatra section of the podcast. So from my tally, so he won 20 races this year. He won 25 last year, but remember he did two grand tours, which gives you a lot more surface area. So 20 races, the races he targeted and did not win. According to my tally, Malano San Remo, Amst,

Gold, Perry Rubet, GP Montreal, which he gifted to a teammate, Brandon McNulty. So you almost don't count that one. Stages where races where he was dropped. Stage 21 at the tour, and I'm not counting Rubet where he rode off the road and was capped that way. So that's all impressive. And this to me is mind-blowing. He wins 40% of the, he has 50 race days with 20 wins.

So that's 40% win rate. 72% of the time he finished on the podium. he won. 56% of the races he started, he podiumed in. Podiums all five monuments, which is unbelievable. Here's his win percentage by month, February, wins 43% of the races he starts. March wins 50% of the races he starts.

April, wins 60% of the races he starts. May he doesn't race. June 50%, July of just a pedestrian 24%, because it's the tour. There's all the stages. September, terrible, 25%. October 100%. That's unbelievable. And then with this in mind, was this season better than 2024 where he had 25 wins,

two grand tours, and two monument wins. Obviously, he only did one grand tour this year, so he could only win one. And world champion. And world championship. Well, I guess those cancel. We'll just pencil that in forever year. That's like cancels itself out because he's going to win all of them. But so he wins one last grand tour, five fewer states.

ages or five fewer races, but he wins another monument and podiums. To me, podium, finishing on the podium of every monument is unbelievable. Here's another stat that kind of caught me off guard. These are World Tour one day wins. Pagachar is five. Vanderpull has three. No other rider has more than one. So like to win five when no one else has one is crazy. Well, when only one other rider has more than one is crazy. But what do you guys think? Is this better than 24 for Pagacchar. It's, I mean, they're both incredible seasons this year. The fact that he actually went for Rubin almost won it ended up getting second.

To me is super impressive. Like we keep mentioning, it's a completely different style of racing, you know, dead flat, not one climbing it, super technical, super rough on the body. Just went out there just to show that he is the best of the best in the history of cycling. Yeah, yeah. I have a feeling, I have a feeling that 2025, to me it feels better than last year because I don't know if it's because it's most more recent in my mind, but it felt like he was more dominant overall.

He basically did whatever he wanted, wherever he, you know, he just said it. He gave one world to race away to a teammate. And yeah, I mean, the others, he didn't win them because, I mean, which ones did he didn't know? In Amsterdam he was there to win. but he was there and all the other ones to win. So and the other one he was going to win, he gives away. So, um,

I think it's close. It's close. But, um, wait, I'm just thinking now, um, yeah, he didn't do liege last year because he did the Giro, right?

I, and that, I mean, could contribute because I have the same feeling, Johan. Yeah. And we forget in 2024, he did have to disappear for a little bit to prepare for this.

It's like, hold on, guys, I got to prepare for this grand tour that I'm going to dominate. And so it didn't feel like he was ever present because he did have to take a little break in the classics. I mean, if you look back now, I mean, I think last year he won six stages in the Gero and six in the tour. Yeah, that's crazy. Well, and we found out he was potentially had a hurt knee. And the world championships, he won with an attack of 100 kilometers.

No, maybe maybe 2004 was a bit better. It's difficult to say. I mean, listen, I mean, it's amazing. amazing. I'm just curious to see how this is going to go forward. You know, I mean, for the moment, I don't see anything slowing him down, if not him getting better.

You know, it seems like the team is getting better. The team is getting more and more used to racing as a team when Pogacar is there, at least. You know, when he's not there, it's a different story. It's also entertaining. But yeah, I think they're equal.

I think they're equal. I'm, you know, repeat the the the the the the world championships two years after each other that's that's also something uh and and and everything points into that next year it's going to be more of the same and with uh it's in montreal no yeah yeah well and then and then and then ozava the next year i mean is you don't have a non-pagatra course until and now there have you seen this rumors that uh is it 2008 it's in uae Yeah. Yeah.

They're talking about building a mountain, artificial mountain. Wow. I wouldn't be shocked. I mean, and Abu Dhabi. Yeah. They can do it. Another podcast, but poor sprinters, oof, that's a tough run of worlds. Here's another kind of, I was just sitting on the plane yesterday, meditating on, you know, everyone is like, I want to, I want a podium, a grand tour.

I want to win a grand tour. And you're like, okay, that sounds good. Here's the grand tour of winners from this year. Simon Yates, Tadipagachar. Jonas Finnegaard. And then even the podium, Simon Yates, Isaac Deltore, Richard Carapaz, Pagachar, Jonas Vindigard, Florin Lipowitz, Javala made a Tom Pitcock. Those are all very good riders.

And so you had no first time winners winning a grand tour. And the last time that happened was 2023. So it's like these riders are like monopolizing the best races. And I'd skip becoming like think about Inric Moss, Johann. Who was it in 2003? do you want to guess george 2003 first time grand tour winner

sepcos sepcos you know but then the year before that you had jai henley and rimcoe evanipal both become debutante winners and you had teo gaiganhart tad at pagachar in 2020 like it's not unusual this isn't normal that just you have

established guys winning every of all the same races yeah But it just makes like if you're in Rick Moss and you're you're charting out your year, it's like, well, I'll get third at the Valta. It's like, well, maybe not anymore because you're going to have like is Remko Evanapult getting third at the Vuelta, you know? Like it's getting harder and harder in these grant tours. Yeah, for sure. No, I mean, as long as today and Jonas are, I think it's safe to say they are a level above everybody else. There's, you know, there's no way, when Lippewitz was miles behind those. those two, even if Jonas was miles behind today, then after that, after that there's a big gap. But, you know, when they're not there, it's interesting, you know, I mean, if you look at the podium of the Giro, Simon Yates, Tiltoro, Carapas, and then you have Almeida and Pitcock on the podium of the tour of the future of Spain.

That was not interesting, though. Maybe a Vinegarter wouldn't have been there. That was one of my least for ever grant tours of all time. But yeah, I mean, especially also with the uncertainty of, you know, every stage was like, you know, we didn't know it was going to happen or not. But, but yeah, no, as long as Bogacha and Jonas are going for it, I mean, even, we're not even talking about Primos anymore. You know, he's not in that category anymore. He is, at best, a candidate for podium for third place if, if both of those riders are

there. And not even, not even, you know, he wasn't even able to do it this. year. Yeah, I still kind of wonder, is this all a trap to lower us asleep? And then he wins the Volta in 2026. This is where Primos wants us. And also, we spend a lot of time talking about, like, how do you want a grand tour? I want to win a grand tour. When's the last time you can remember a grand tour won by a rider that wasn't the best climber in the race? Is the secret to just be the best climber in the race? Like, it used to happen. It used to happen more often. You know, to have guys like take time and time trials.

Like was Ryder Hedol the best climber at the 2012 zero? Probably not, right? No, but he was the best overall. It was the most regular. Bradley Wiggins probably wasn't the best climber at the 2012 tour. He was the best time. Yeah. You know, I mean, you could say, people say, oh, people always say, yeah, Indurine.

Indurine was, you know, he was such a good time trialist, but he wasn't the best climber. I mean, he was a damn good climber. He didn't lose much time. I mean, and sometimes, I mean, he was always, almost always with the first guys, almost always with his direct rivals. The thing is that he never sprinted for the win in the, in the mountain stages. Yeah. He was there. He was there with them, you know?

It's kind of, yeah, kind of like a Chris, Chris Broom, I guess at times was not a better climber than Naurantana. But yeah, was that just because he wasn't sprinting for the wins? I don't know. But you do, because if you think about Rimco, like how does Rimco win? a grand tour. It's like he might just have to be the best climber and a grand tour he shows up to because I don't know if he can take enough time and time trials. When he won the Vuelta...

He was probably the best climber, right? He was good. He was strong and good. He was really strong. The only one you could argue was maybe stronger than him is time in Aronsman. But that was just one day, you know? When was that?

Or Richard actually was Richard Carapet. Oh, not Sierra Nevada? Yeah, Sarnavada. And was Richard Carapaz, the strongest climates? in that race. But that was third week. He was in his sister. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. But it does, like, you do tend to overcomplicate this. And then it's like, wait a second, you just be, just be the strongest climber. What's the, what's the problem? Well, I mean, nowadays, Spencer, you can't have to be the strongest climber because the time trials are so short now that, you know,

you can't take advantage anymore in the time trials. On top of that, the strongest climbers like today and Jonas are very, very good time trials. They lose very little time. So you have. You have to be the strongest climber to win. You know, where else are you going to win it? In the downhills already, that's a different, that's gone also. That doesn't happen anymore. I know. In the Valta used to have crazy crosswind days.

Yeah. Well, these guys that are winning the grand tours, I mentioned the other day, they're so good technically now, better than, you know, most of the hardcore classic one-day riders. I mean, they could ride crosswinds, they could ride flats, they can, you know, do all the technical stuff that typically, you know, back in the day, those guys didn't have that skill, but they do now. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Well, we got to let George get to his meetings, but do you guys have anything else on 2025 before we officially send it off into the sunset? No, I mean, yeah, I mean, I think we said it, you know, for me, the best, the best stage in a

ground tour was stage 20 of the Gero. And, you know, other than that, you know, I think we, We've tried to focus on races that were interesting and had a lot of suspense until the end. But if you do a recap of the season, it's basically, okay, that I'm Pogacar is the king. Of the season is the king of cycling for the moment. Yeah, like I came up with an objective where you put, I put in everyone's results and it's like an algorithm that spits out a number for their season quality score. And just to give you a perspective about how high, how far Pagachar is a high. head. His season quality score is 53. The second is Jonas Findergarde at 26. And that's a guy who won a grant tour and finished second at grand tour. So it's less than half. And then Del Toro's 22,

Pedersen's 18. Vanderpull 16, Evanapult's 14. I think it's it's kind of more, it's more less the same as, you know, if you look at the UCI points also, he has double. Usi points than the second guy. You know, it's it's mathematical. All right. Well, thank you guys. And Okay, guys. Thanks. We'll be back for Up and Commer show next month. Or no, trades and transfers and then up and comers in January. Okay.

Thanks. All right. Bye.