THEMOVE - Remco's Stage Race Struggles Continue as Del Toro & Seixas Rise | THEMOVE+

Episode Date: February 20, 2026

Spencer Martin and Johan Bruyneel break down the recent racing action, including Paul Seixas's impressive stage win at the Volta ao Algarve over Juan Ayuso and João Almeida, and the UAE Tour, where Isaac del Toro has flashed impressive form while Remco Evenepoel continues to struggle with stage-race consistency. They discuss what could be going on with Evenepoel, who has been dropped by the same group of riders he torched just last weekend, and what it means for Red Bull's GC plans later in the season. They also examine the recent revelation that Visma–Lease a Bike is on the hunt for a new title sponsor, and what it says about the financial instability of the sport and the ever-increasing salaries of its star riders. Become a WEDŪ Member Today to Unlock VIP Access & Benefits: https://access.wedu.team Caldera Lab: A small habit with big results. Go to https://CalderaLab.com/THEMOVE and use code THEMOVE for 20% off your first order.    

Today was definitely a demonstration of the class and the talent of Paul Sejas on all levels. You know, like strength-wise, race-savvy, the way he finished that stage by taking the last corners and closed. I mean, didn't close in, but he took the right line. Yeah, I mean, definitely a big, big, big victory and well-deserved for him. And I'm not saying he's going to be better than Teddy Pagacchar. I just want to. I want that out there. I will say at 19

he looks a lot more polished than Pagachar did. If you go back and watch those early Pagachar wins and successes, you kind of didn't know what he was doing it looked like. I feel like, yeah. I don't know, just ride away and win. Whoa, I won crazy.

Like this looked really studied and tactically astute. I was pretty impressed. Everybody, welcome back to the Move Plus. I'm Spencer Martin. I'm here with Johan Bernil for our weekly show where we go through the news in cycling

and as we get into the season, we're breaking down the flurry of racing that's that sprung up that's happening. We just watched the end of stage two of Volta Algarvae with Paul Seychas, beating Juana Yuso, Joalameda, and pretty thrilling. I would say best race we've seen all year. Uphill finish. We'll talk about the UA tour, Remcoe, Evanapole, what is going on with his GC issues, as well as the Ruta del Sol, Volta and of Lucia, Christophepp Leport winning, getting back in a form. Johan, before we get into that, though, you were just on. a little trip to the Costa Blanca. You went on some rides. You rode with an old

friend. Do you want to fill us in about who that was? How they're doing? Yeah, yeah. I was just the weekend. We were in Calpe. For the weekend, it's a four-hour drive, so it was bad weather here in Madrid. And yeah, by coincidence, I, you know, I met a group of

Irish guys and one of them, I mean, the guy who was leading them was Sean Kelly. So, yeah, I rode with him for four hours. man, he's still strong, man. He told me he turns 70 this year in a few months. And the guy, the guy still has it. He is incredibly fit.

It was nice to catch up with him. It's been a while since. I mean, I raced with Sean when I was a young professional. I think he stopped his career, probably 93. So I raised a few years with him. We've seen each other sporadically. But, but yeah, it was nice to. to ride with King Kelly, the legend.

Yeah. My son actually told me, second best rider of all times in the rankings. Really? Interesting. Well, if you look at all the points on, you know, stage races, one day races, it's Eddie Marks and the second guy is Sean Kelly.

Interesting. Interesting. What would Lance say about that? What do you agree, disagree? Do we know? I think, I mean, I mean, Yeah, I mean, I think he would agree. I mean, Kelly's a legend.

You know, he won all kinds of different races. You know, if I actually, I introduced him to my son. And my son knew who he was. He was actually the guy who says, you know, you know, he's second, second best writer of all time. Sean didn't know. I didn't know. Interesting. And the guy, I mean, he started being like a sprinter puncher.

Then he started, you know, he won stages at the tour, got the green jersey at the tour. Four times, green jersey winner. Okay, yeah, four times, okay. Won the Vuelta was fourth in the tour, won Paranis seven years in a row. Yeah, that's crazy, by the way. Seven years in a row. Plus, you know, Parirubei, Lombardy, whatever, all you name it, you know, all the big races. Milanson, Remo.

I think he won my name's Milanese on Remo twice, I think. Twice, Perry,ubei, twice, liege, twice. Lombardy three times. And he's not even really a stage racer and he won Barini seven times in a row. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, not being a stage racer and winning parixtaparine seven times

and winning the Vuelta. Yeah, you're a stage racer. He's like if Peter Sagan, I mean, yeah, people, I actually, it's not, it's funny Christian said that. He's answer way better than Peter Sagan. I mean, way better. It's almost like Larry Bird where the legend supersedes the results and then people underestimate how good.

they were because you know Sean Kelly like I met Sean Kelly in person last year like big you know he's a big personality super nice guy really nice guy like nicer than you would think for someone that accomplished but you forget your mind glosses over these results like we go back through and look like this guy he was he was almost like a proto pagachar like really was doing stuff that stretched the imagination yeah for sure I mean listen if you're second I mean this is the pro cycling stats ranking right but if you're second on that ranking it's not for nothing no it's because you've on you've done some amazing things. But anyways, it was nice to ride with him.

And he actually told me he bought a place there. So I'm going back tomorrow for a week. And yeah, we'll catch up a few times. We're not sponsored by the Costa Blanco. I just go out with him ride on my good days because he is still really, really strong on the bike. I think he rides in Richmond Park every day when he's doing like the Eurosport work. Like he's out there hammering. He rides all the time.

But anyways, you know. Let's not forget, he's almost 70 years old, and the old warrior still has it, man. Classy writer. Yeah. No other way to describe it. He also relayed some pretty interesting, helpful news for us and our viewers, listeners. He said, in terms of Spain and a lot of Europe, nothing's changing this year for broadcast. It's still on HBO Max.

Is that correct? Yeah. Yeah. And in the U.S., I've noticed, I think I said a few weeks ago that the RCS rights hadn't been sold in the U.S. yet. It looks like a deal has been done because I'm watching almost all these races on HBO Max. Flow is a, flow is in, what is flow? Or UAE is on HBO Max because it's an RCS race. So all these RCS races and some miscellaneous races are on HBO Max in the U.S., which means strata,

Milano, San Remo, and the Jira will be on HBO Max as well, which is good, because, I think it's a good service that is a clean interface. It's sad if you wanted everything on flow bikes or peacock, though. Yeah. But, Johan, speaking of the racing, we'll just start with the one we just watched. Volta Agarvae, this is in southern Portugal, the southernmost tip of Portugal. Stage one, Paul Manier wins. Pretty good little stage win for Paul Manier.

First win of the season for Sudal, Paul Manier. Interesting. Well, so Tim Ralear, we listed all their injuries last week. Tim Rolier's out. he's hurt so a lot's going to be on paul monnier's shoulders yeah because anyway how old is this guy 20 he's 20 years old right yeah i think he's i think he's i think he's only i think he's 21 or 22 uh anyway he's young 21 yeah he won he won 19 races last year i think he won a lot of races last year so yeah he's off to a good start i mean it's it's it's pretty impressive a young guy like that

okay you know the big sprinter of the team is out okay i'll stuff up, I'll take it, you know. And also, it keeps this, so there's been two stages at Volta-Garva, two French winners. Kind of interesting that Paul Manier, on a Belgian team, you see this sometimes, like, Alafilippe on Quickstep, what, how does that, why does that happen, like, that a French rider would choose to go to a Belgian team? I mean, I mean, usually, I mean, like, if you see Manier and then also, I was like, name. I mean, Al-A-Philippe, for example, you know, they were on the development teams.

They were on the development teams of Sudal, you know. Manier was also there, I think, one year. If I'm not mistaken, I think Manier was before, I think he was on Trinity Racing, the team of Andrew McQuate. Yeah, that's right, actually. Yeah. Yeah. And then I think he went one year to the development team of Sudal and then made the step to,

I mean, it's usually where, you know, on the development teams they are. But it also says a lot of. about because I'm pretty sure a guy like Paul Manier for his first year. And so this is this is a second year pro. This is a second year pro. No, or a third year pro? I think it's second year pro. Yeah.

Maybe third year pro already. But 2024. Yeah. Yeah. So this is a third year. Yeah. So to say no to the first, the first contract. Usually, you know, if you're a big talent and you're French, you're going to get offered a lot more

on a French team and on a Belgian team. So the guy knew what he was choosing. Well, yeah, to take, yeah, it's notable to me because it means you're making a sporting decision based on what you think is going to be good for your career, which is impressive and shows foresight. Speaking of someone making a lot of money on a French team, stage two, Volta Argarbe, uphill finish, Littletrek with their new signing, Juan Euso, absolutely rips it up this climb. They were flying at the front of that race.

It splits. But the rider who was in front a lot of times was Palses Chas, the 19-year-old on decathlon. And Aeuso and Ameda were with him in that front group. Al-Meda was the classic on the commentary. They're like, Al-Meda's dropped. It's like, come on, guys. He's not dropped. He's coming back.

We've seen this before. And then Oscar Onley, impressively, with Matthew Ricotelo, Matthew Rickettello, just often impressive win at Tour de la Provants over the weekend, bridge up to them. a group of five at the front. Almeda's really pressing inside the last kilometer. I thought maybe too much, but maybe he thought that was his best chance. He couldn't drop Ayuso. He was, Ayuso or Sechaseau, he was distancing the other two. And then Paul Seishas, it was a tricky little final few hundred meters. He gets to the front and he's sprinting up very fast. And the thing I was

most impressed with is I thought he kind of worked over. I use so. The older rider tactically, he's four years older than him and he was taking the better lines, pushing him into the barriers and holds off for a photo finish uphill sprint, up summit finish. First pro win of his career. I've been a little cool on Seishas the last few weeks

maybe on the show, but I thought this was a super impressive win. What about you? Yeah, I mean, you know, he was putting the hurt on the whole climb, I think. I saw an interview of him before Turovo Gavé sounded really confident.

And yeah, he delivered. First time that, you know, he's put in a position where he has to carry the weight of the team and deliver. He won this stage. Is it going to be enough for G.C.? We don't know. Tomorrow's time trial, right? So we'll see what happens there. Yeah.

But definitely, yeah. I mean, finally his first win, you know, let's not forget last year at the beginning of the season, he gave away that stage in Tour of the Alps to predominant. and didn't win a race anymore, except the Tour de Lavenier where he won a stage or a few stages and the GC. But in the pros, this is his first win, but definitely the last one, man. He's in great shape. Looks like he has made a step forward again because this is the real. I mean, these are, you know, if you're with Ayuso and Almeida and only these are the big names, you know.

the next level is Bogacha and Jonas and Del Toro. You know, that's it. There's nothing else close to this. Yeah, and it's true. Like below Vindigard,

this is them. This is the group. This was the first time that I really felt like, are we watching? So you have Pagachar and Jonas like in one generation. And then you have these under

the people hoping to be next. Why do you show, Juala, even though I made us kind of the same age. Oscar Onley, Matthew Rickettello, I guess. It was the first time I was like, oh, man, are these guys going to get skipped? Like this, Pagatra's going to retire and it's going to be del Toro and Seychas, and there's not going to be room for that middle generation.

It is very much possible, Spencer. It's very, it's very possible. Listen, today was definitely a demonstration of the class and the talent of Paul Seychas on all levels. You know, like strength-wise, race savvy, the way he finished that stage by taking the last corners and closed. I mean, didn't close in, but he took the right line. And yeah, I mean, definitely a big, big, big victory and well deserved for him. And I'm not saying he's going to be better than Teddy Fagachar.

I just want to, I want that out there. I will say at 19, he looks a lot more polished than Pagachar did. If you go back and watch those early Pagachar wins and successes, you kind of didn't know what he was doing. It looked like. I don't know, I'll just ride away and win. Whoa, I won crazy. Like, this looked really studied and tactically astute.

I was pretty impressed. I think Paul Sechaz is already fine-tuned. You know, he knows how to train, has his nutrition dial, and knows how to race. He's a big pro. You know, there's not much he has to learn except, you know, maybe learning his own body. And he's going to discover that over the years. But yeah, he's definitely on top of his game already. And we'll be back on Monday after the show, after this race is over to talk about it.

But who do you think, how do you think this TT tomorrow plays out? Who wins the overall? Well, Almeida is not a bad time trial list and he's in the same time. Yeah. Ayuso is a pretty good time. Very good time trialist, yeah. I would say, I mean, we don't. really know the strength of Seychas in the time trials.

But anyways, he's in great shape. So he's going to be up there. And then I didn't see the next ones. Who else? So the G.C. is, I use So Seishas tied on time. I made a seven seconds back. Oscar Onley, 14 seconds back. Matthew Ricotelo, 16 seconds back. Okay. And then six, seven, and eight. And who's that? You'd have like Danny Martinez and six, these 32 seconds back.

the only interesting one, the only one I would circle here, Kevin Vucklon, seventh place, 39 seconds back. Very good time trialist. Yeah, he's a good time trialist, yeah. But anyway, it's not as long as usual, I think, the time trial. So it's going to be 15, 20 seconds max, I think, between those big guys,

between the big favorites. I don't know, man. I'd say, I'd say, I would be tempted to say advantage Almeida, but he didn't do great time trial last year in Ongarve. Yeah, that's a good memory. I do remember that, but

it was an uphill finish. So I don't know what the time trial is tomorrow. It's it's just like a flat time trial. Flat 19 K. How long is it? 19 kilometers long. Oh, 19. Okay. 19 is not short. It's not short.

No, it's, I was surprised. And was Algarva the one where Yonis Finneux had won the overall and he got mowed down by al-meda on that up he'll finish do you remember yes yes yeah okay yeah um i thought i thought we might see the pulver the pulverization of the group by amata but maybe he needs to be behind for that to happen you can't do that from the front i just thought i think this is the race to circle and to watch i maybe i could be wrong but i thought this was the real first super exciting at least european race i've seen um oscar onley we should shout

out pretty good form for not knowing what team he was going to be on comes in late to eneos and looks like he hasn't skipped a beat back to the same form we saw early in 2025 yeah yeah he's right in he's right back into it you know i i was surprised to see that also i mean we didn't really know uh which which form he was going to be in and we all know that you know if you have those problems and troubles in the offseason it gets to you a little bit didn't seem to affect Oscar only and yeah he was he was up there so it's very promising for what to come yeah I thought I was impressed he's been in Australia for a while which does help because you're in the summer you would think it wouldn't like oh they're all professionals but something about being in the

summer being able to train he's racing tour right the very end of 2025 so um I but things are looking good for onley coming in he's maybe not going to slump um but We'll talk about Routedal Sol. We'll take a quick ad break. And then we'll get into the UAE tour and the big question about what is going on with from Kro, Evanapal. But Ruta del Sol, Volta and Aluccia, am I wrong in thinking, Johan? This used to be the premier race this time of year.

And now it feels like a distance. Yeah. It's been a long time ago, a long time ago. Anyway, it's a nice race. You know, it's a very nice race. Usually, usually always good weather. I mean, luckily, they have a time really right, because. it's been horrible weather in Andalusia until last week.

I've been flooding. I mean, there's been disasters in little villages. The weather seems to be nice from what I see on TV. Yeah. Finally, you know, Christopher Laporte back to winning. That was nice to see after, I mean, I would say last year, a really, really bad season, you know, was out for basically the whole season with a mystery virus. He came back at the end of the season and was in pretty good shape.

So, yeah, yesterday, that was a nice win for him. And then today, I don't know if you saw the stage, but the final between Ivan Romeo and Andreas Lechnesund, which was really nice from a breakaway. So they made it to the finish, Ivan Romeo, Spanish champion on Movistar, wins the stage, takes the leader's jersey. I haven't seen what, you know, I haven't looked in detail what the other stages. There's usually a hard stage.

So this is definitely not the final G.C. But yeah, and there's some really good riders. He's there with a strong team with Sivakov who won the race last year. The Pitcock is there with a strong team. I think those are the two favorites. So, yeah, we'll see what that brings still three stages to go. Second Movistar win of the year. Movistar off to a hot start.

And Romeo was the rider who won. before they won that race and Valenciana, that stage, that was the rider that had their last pro win, which was at the dauphiné of last year. Yeah, very good. Class rider, class rider. Very good. World champion time trial in 23 in Zurich.

Two years ago, right? Yeah, two years ago. Yep. 2024. U-23 World Champion Time Trial. Bradley Wiggins shouted them out in our Tour de France preview show. And then, I thought that was a good little pick. went on almost to win a stage and then crashed

and it was like a rainy descent unclear to me why like this break had two minutes to go or two minutes with like 13K to go and both of these guys are trucks like what what's happening behind like it's not shocking

to me they stayed away but I thought that was a little lackadaisical from the field I didn't fully understand that yeah but I mean those I mean initially there were three guys I think but anyway those two guys I mean, they're machines, as you say.

It was not going to be easy to reel them back in. As long as they worked together, it was not a flat stage. So the Peloton was not that big anymore. So a lot of teams didn't have many teammates. Yeah. Yeah. And so, yeah, because initially, I think what happened was that they got away. And then in the Peloton, there was a little bit of racing on a climb in the middle of the stage, but Visma

dropped back because Lapport was dropped. Vizma dropped back and brought him back. So as soon as they saw that Visma was bringing Lapport back, I think the Peloton kind of sat up a little bit and just let the break go too far. And then finally, yeah,

there was not enough manpower anymore left to bring them back at the end. These guys are so strong at the point with like 10K to go when you would expect, you know, that's usually when it starts to tick down. It was actually going up. That's not easy to do. That is a show of strength, that's for sure. Yeah. I mean, usually, you know, Spencer, when when a breakaway forms and there's four or five riders and you look at the

names, man, you know, if you see there's three big, big, you know, big engines in there. In the team cars, you know already, oh, man, this is not going to be easy today to bring those guys back. Yeah, when the two guys in front are stronger than anyone in the Peloton. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's not great. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry, I took an awkward time drink there.

But let's say anything else on and Lucia before we take a break and get into the UA tour. No. I mean, I think the hardest stage is still to come. So. Yeah. Interesting. Interesting stage is always. Jan Christian was third today also.

It was very, very strong sprint. He's printed straight this time. he's been getting a lot of he got fourth Alexander Aaron Burrow got third oh was Aramboot okay finally okay who got beat by yeah I mean to come

anyway Spencer to come back on that incident for the people who saw it you know like in the race in Gheyen so we had we had Tim Wellens who won and then there was Pitcock and Jan Kristen

and Maxim Van Gilles from Red Bull sprinting for second place Pitcock kind of got a way and then John Kristen deviated a bit from his line and von Gilles was basically stuck between him and the barriers crashed. Unfortunately, fractured his pelvis, which is a complicated injury. You know, Kristen got a lot of heat for it, you know, and he got disqualified, which I think I think was probably the right decision, but it was not a deliberately deliberate move.

I mean, he just followed them. I mean, he did deviate, but basically Pitcock went first to the left. So instinctively, you go in that direction too. Van Gilles happened to be, you know, next to the back wheel of Kristen. And, yeah, I think I didn't see any complaint of Van Gilles publicly. towards young Kristen. So that tells me that, you know, he, unfortunately, you know, for him it sucks because, listen, he crashed and has a big

injure fracture. But I think, I think everybody within the Peloton sees that, okay, this is not a deliberate move. Yes, it deserves disqualification, but it was not with bad intentions, I think. What do you think? I don't think so. I mean, it does stink for Van Hills, though, because this guy, had a bad 2025 and then was starting 2026 started it with a win that's never bad so his results for first place third place and then high end was his third race and he crashes out breaks his pelvis

that's that sucks for him where did he win uh trophya set salon salines it's in it's a town and it's like one of the stages at the challenge myorka the time trial oh the team time trial oh the team time okay yeah yeah and then he got third on one of the Evanapole days. Yeah, it's the climb towards the lighthouse. Yes. What's it called? Cabo, no.

It's, this one was. Cap Formantor. Towards Cap Formantor. It's the first climb. It's the road from Poyenza to Cap for Mentor, and it's the first climb, that's where the finish was. It's kind of a crazy stage.

It started on Enraise it started like outside of Palma and then snakes all the way over there through the mountains. Interesting. No, that's not, I don't know. Yeah, I don't. People lay off young Christian people. He's not. I didn't think it was intentional.

Just thought it was bad. No, for sure not. Yeah. And then Alex Anburrow lost to Morgado at the Figuro Champions Classic. the weekend. I'm pretty impressed because Alexanbrough is not a slow guy

and he just, it was two of them away and Morgado just said, I'm going to sprint from the front. I'm going to win this race. So it's pretty impressive to do. Yeah. What do we think? Strong Portuguese rider in Portugal,

difficult to beat. Second year in a row too that he won that. What do we think about Romero? Is he going to win the overall here? Because I don't think there's a time trial and there's no summit finishes. There's a tomorrow is like a uphill sprint.

Stage four is uphill sprint, perhaps. And then stage five is a climb. There's two climbs. It's like a lap. So it's two of the same climb, 3K long at 6% descent into the finish. I don't know if. He's been in great form already since the start of the season.

So he definitely has the condition to win it. And I think Movistar brought a pretty strong. strong team there too. It's important for Movist. You can win it. Definitely win it. Yeah. And I hesitate to say they need it, but it's important for them to get a stage racing win. Yeah.

So let's take a quick break and then we'll talk to a tour. We'll talk real business about Remkevin a poll. What's going on there on the other side? Everybody, this episode is brought to you by Caldera Lab. Caldera Lab makes high performance skin care design specifically for men's skin. This is important since men's skin is 25. percent thicker, oilier,

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It's lightweight, non-greasy locks and moisture all day and gives a healthier, more energized look. So a small habit with big results, go to caldera lab.com slash the move and use code the move for 20% off your first order. That's caldera lab.com slash the move and use code the move for 20% off your first order. Okay, Johan, so UAE tour, I guess technically the big race, the world tour race happening this week. It is a big race and it has been predictive of success later in the year. I would say how Garvey is maybe the better race. But we are four stages through this thing, just to back people up. Stage one, Isaac D'Otooro wins the uphill sprint.

John the Milan crashed for the K to go, so it wasn't involved. If you remember last year, Tata Pagaccha tried to break away here and win this uphill sprint. It did not work. Isaac Deltoro stayed up. He was sprinting. I timed it for 35 seconds and beat Sespol. I mean, it was a hard stage because Antonio Tiberi was third, which tells us maybe he's in very good shape.

Yeah, the sprinters, the sprinters were dead. I mean, the sprinters were all dying. I mean, I mean, I think even if Milan wouldn't have crashed Spencer, he wouldn't have won this. No, no. The way the sprint developed, I don't think Milan would have won it. There was a point where modern, modern adventure was on the front. I don't know if we should be the ones to be pegging this back. So that shows you everyone was, there wasn't a lot of organization, but I thought that was one of the most

impressive efforts I've seen in a while. Like that, he was out of the saddle. He was out of the saddle. He was out of the saddle. I mean, I would imagine his watts for that 35 seconds were through the roof. And that is so hard to stay away. My son knew how it was, uh, was, I mean, it was hard, but not, not that. I mean, I think it was 1,100 and something watts for 35 seconds.

29 seconds, yeah. We got to remember he's like 64 kilos. Yeah. He was like 10 kilos lighter than a Mads Pedersen or something like that is. Listen, the way he went, the way he went, it was like, okay, he saw, he was sitting there. He said, okay, everybody's dying. I'm going.

And he was gone. I love it 1100 watts for 30 seconds. The guy, the guy, he's a winner. You know, he knows how to win races this guy. He has this killer instinct. You know. Yeah. Well, the timing was perfect, too.

He saw it. Yeah. Saw the chance and went. Yeah. Yeah. That was an impressive start. Impressive start. And then the day after we have Remcoe, of course, winning the time trial,

um, 56. 56. K an hour. I think it was like 56. 56.1, basically. I think the fastest time trial of his career. I heard. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, we all expected him to win, of course. But, and then so we had, uh, We had Josh Tarling. Only five seconds back. So a really good result for him. Yeah. Yeah.

You know, and Del Toro loses 40-something seconds. I mean, I don't think that result was actually a real reflection of the difference. Because for some reason, I don't know why this is in the tour of UAE. Everybody can choose their time. You start, except the leader. So when Del Toro was off, there was more wind. There was definitely more wind, more headwinds because, I mean, he lost 30 something seconds in the first part and then only 10 seconds in the way back, on the way back.

So there was more headwind. But anyway, 42 seconds, you would think, okay, you know, it's going to be hard. He had 10 seconds of bonification, so brought it back to 32. But you would think, you would think that Remko, the form he has shown already, this. year in in myorka and in valencia uh that he would have been up there uh for the win maybe not winning the stage but at least you know for the win in uh in yesterday stage but man that climb was something else that's a new climb uh the last 6.7 kilometers were double digits you know i think 12% average um and um i mean yeah even a pool just didn't have it you know we could we could clearly see he initially he looked okay and then he blew up and lost two minutes if

I'm not mistaken yeah it might have been over two minutes um and we should say in the time trial I mean Evanable is not a power writer like he doesn't look he doesn't put out massive watts because he's he's not that heavy and he's really arrow he looked incredibly error and he was he was holding almost close to 500 watts for the whole time trial which is a lot for anybody a lot for Remko Evanapole. So he's in shape. Stage three rolls around. And yeah, unlike previous meltdowns on climbs,

it was different for Evan and Paul because he was responding to these initial moves. Felix Gall went. Antonio Teaburi went. Looked fantastic, by the way. Wins the stage. And Evanapole was with him. And then it's just the light switch turned out. And he's grabbing his leg.

He's cramping, which, you know, he could be cramping, but it's unclear to me why that's, happening, the climb was brutal. It's, I mean, the stats on it's 13K long, 8% average, but the first half of it's not nearly 8%. And the last half is about 12%. So, yeah, very steep. And then to add weirdness to it, Del Toro, I don't know if you saw this. He was at the back at the beginning of the climb and he looked like he was really struggling. I was thinking, wow, this guy, I got to, I got to trash my piece that I'm about to publish. This guy's, he's out, he's out the back. He's dropped. You know, like Evanapult's up there with the leaders. He's nowhere.

near it. And then he starts, Magnus Baxst noted on the commentary, he said, well, he is passing people, which is weird for a writer that's dropped. And he just kind of slowly, like, was chugging the pedals over, was in a really low gear. And then before you know it, Evanna pulls off the back, the Toro's at the front mowing down Tibery. Like the gap was going from 45 seconds to 30 seconds. And then by the end, 15 seconds. Linder Bennett felt third at 29 seconds. Yeah. And then Evanapole was two minutes back, 204 back. So he's out of the GC.

You know, Spencer, I've seen this before from Del Toro. He's done that before. Like, starting his own pace and in his interview, after the stage, he actually said, you know, this is the first time I'm really in a position, like before the start of the race that I didn't, you know, that I'm the leader of the team.

And the team expected a lot. So I didn't really know how to race this. But he definitely paste himself perfectly. I mean, I saw a stat somewhere in the last nine minutes, which is the last 2.7 kilometers. He did 470 watts average. Yeah, and that's a real, it's an RCS race. So they published their real watt. So that's not an estimation.

And so that's 7.4 watts per kilo. So he knew what he was doing. You know, it was not like he was getting dropped and then kind of all of a sudden started to feel better and could, you know, limit the losses. He knew what he was doing. the moment he went to the front you know you could see he took his glasses off and uh yeah focus focus focus and uh he was he was he was he was on a mission he was he was flying in the last yeah i mean to put out i mean that's impressive too if you did a 10 minute effort at 470 watts 7.4 watts per kilo that's

that's very good but you got to remember that's at the end of like a 30 minute climb so yeah You're already fatigued when that clock is starting. Super impressive effort. I mean, and too, just the fact that he was standing, like, oh, man, Tiberi's up there. I just got to stand and grind back. And he almost caught him. I would say, though, I think the revelation of this race for me is in tuning with Tiberi. This guy looks like he's going to win the overall.

I mean, he looks incredible. I don't think it's over. I don't think it's over yet, Spencer. Is it 22 seconds now? 21 seconds. It's definitely not over. In theory, the Toros could still win, but it's going to be very difficult because Dibri has been in great shape already. He was fourth in Valencia. And he's a class rider, you know.

I mean, looking back to this guy, you know, in 2019, this rider was world champion time trial juniors. And then went to the pros. you know, funny enough, such a good writer who has been top five already in Grand Tours, which I think he was top five in the Giro at one point. And maybe last year. It was the year that Pagachar won, I believe. So fifth, yeah, the Gero. This is only his third win as a pro.

Yeah, isn't that crazy? Actually, funny, I mean, funny stories, the guy was, the guy's actually most famous for killing a cat. Yeah, I was Not great to be known for that. No, but he's on fire, man. He's strong. And yeah, the way he's, the way his form is right now, it's not going to be easy to get him out of that leader's jersey.

Yeah, we should clarify, too, is the cat killing, if you don't know. He apparently had an air rifle, like a pellet gun and shot the cat. I don't have not seen any storking. statements on it. I don't know if he meant to do it. So I will say some. It was in San Marino. So in San Marino, which is like a little country within Italy, right? Where I think, actually, they'll do.

You know what? Him and Del Toro and who else, there's another rider. I don't remember. Yeah, I think they all live. Like they room together there. They live in the same building, actually. Yeah. Yeah. And so I think he was shooting at stuff and he killed a cat.

And it was the cat of the, of one. of the prime minister of the guy who runs the country of san marino um and then yeah he got fired over that man and track track fired him over that he went to Bahrain and um yeah um i mean i think the firing was a bit over the top i think uh yeah maybe you just go to like a sensitivity you suspend him for a few months he goes to a sensitivity training that's probably what i would have done yeah because they get rid of them and think they bring in i uso for for big, big money, huge fee, millions of euros to basically replace the same team anymore since.

You know, I mean, but now the team is owned by a little different. But yeah, they definitely lost a really, really good rider there who's coming to, you know, I think he's still, is he 24, 25? 24 years old. Wow, still young. Yeah, looks like he's taking a big step up. And the reason I mention this race at all is because you think, oh, this race doesn't matter. It's like an early season Middle East race, right?

That's how our minds think of a lot of these races. It's not really true anymore because there's been seven editions of this race. And five of those seven winners went on to podium at the Tour de France later that year. So this race actually, if you win it, it actually is quite predictive of how you're going to do later in the year. And then when we roll around to the Tour de France and we're talking about, you know, we're going to say, oh, pagatra's going to win. Jonas is going to get second. Who's going to get third?

I would remember this name. I think this is someone that could podium at the tour. Yeah, he's definitely a solid rider. Very, very, I mean, big endurance. Yeah, I like him. Yeah, it was super impressive. So the big question, I think he's looked at Toro. We were impressed by that.

I want to see how he does. There's one more, there's one more climb. We don't have Jabel Jais this year. I know they had some problems there with flooding. We have Jabal Hafit. Debel Hafit now, yeah. On stage 6, a little bit more mild, like 10K long, 11K long, really, at 7%. So a more mild climb.

That's where the race will be decided. Del Toro could win. Tiberi could win. Both would be worthy winners. Who will not win is Remko Evanapole, who came into this race as the heavy, heavy favorite, looked fantastic in the time trail. So we know the form is there. And then just caves on the climb.

The reason I bring this up is because this is the four, stage race in a row where this has happened the fourth world tour stage race. You go back to Romandy 2025. Wins the time trial dropped on the summit finish. Doesn't win the overall. Dofine, roast the time trial. Remember that? Everyone's saying,

Pagatra's washed up. He's done. Remco's here. Oh, two days later, he's dropped on the summit finish. Doesn't even finish on the podium of that race. Two to France, 2025. Wins the first week time trial and then dropped on Odecom, passed in the time trial, leaves the race. This is

now the fourth straight World Tour Stage Race where he's won the time trial dropped on a climb it has to be mental Johan right? Because we physically know he's in good shape from these time trials and then he's in the you said in our pre-show the last World Tour

stage race he won was UAE Tour 2023. So it's been a while and it shows regression like he's he now he can't win the UAE Tour. There's definitely something there. I mean I you know what? I don't know what it is and you know Like before, before I start to go into, you know, what I think, you know, let's not forget,

and this is not the case this season, but let's not forget that Remko Avenapool has had a trajectory with many ups and downs, and a lot of them are due to injuries and crashes. You had big crashes already. You know, you say Romandie, he won the time trial and then blew up, but he was, you know, It was his first stage race back after his... Yeah, we wouldn't really think much of it at the time because it's like, well, he's coming back. After his accident with the postcar. But there is definitely something.

I don't know what it is. And I cannot find a reason, Spencer, because he looked in great shape in Valencia. You know, he wrote Tiberi off his wheel on Cumberg. The same guy. A very steep climb, very steep climb shorter. So I'm tempted to think that. you know, he is explosive. He has big power.

But what I see is when it's steep and long, he has problems. Hmm. And I said it before in another podcast, right? We think about Remko, about, you know, about Tour de France. And he himself obviously sees him as a contender. And I think, you know, it's right to have that kind of ambition. After all, he was already on the podium of the tour. behind Tadei and Jonas, he already won the Vuelta.

But I come back to what I said earlier on. You know, I mean, if you look at these seven big one-week stage races, he hasn't won a single one of them. And he hasn't won that many GCs in stage races, or at least not World Tour stage races. He's been second in Parinis. He's been second in Tour of Catalonia. So, you know, it's hard to say he can't do it.

He definitely has the potential to do it. But for some reason, he hasn't done it yet. And with his Almaris, with his potential, with his power, and now obviously also with his experience after all those years, he should have had some of those wins in the bag already. And he hasn't. So I have no explanation why it is. Maybe he doesn't have it either. but but it's definitely it's obvious that you know he's stronger in one day performances and and some

exploits like on a particular day than in a general classification over over one week or over three weeks and i mean it's it sounds silly that i say that because you know he's won the velta and he was third in the tour so he's done it already it's just that that I can't find that consistency in that level. And I'm a bit puzzled up to, I mean, I can't find the reason why. Because, you know, 10 days ago, he, he wrote those guys off his wheel in Valencia. The same guys. Yeah, that's what's baffling. And they looked like they didn't belong in the same race as him.

We saw it, though, at the Bronx Appeal and Amstall Gold, where he looks like a motorbike out there. and then and then he doesn't and the thing that would concern me is it's going he's going backwards so these are these are his world tour stage race results from 2020 to 2023 first tour poland fourth basque country first welta as spania first uae tour um second catalunia so this third at tour de suisse these are his world tour stage race results post 2023 second perianese 2024 it's pretty good Third, two of France, which before, that's good. Fifth, Romandy, fourth,ophane. And then he's going to be out of the G.C. here.

So he's moving backwards in these stage races, which I don't understand. I mean, maybe it is something to do with the postal van crash, and he's never quite recovered from that. And the crash in the Basque Country. Let's not forget. He was very affected there, too. And so that was, just so I get this straight in my head, that was 2024, Basque Country crash. She comes back, finishes third at the tour.

That offseason hits a postal man before the 2025 season. Yeah. Yeah. It could be something to do with that. It's looking for some explanations. But, you know, and anyway, you know, maybe it was just a bad day yesterday. You know, he said he had cramps that, you know, he felt dehydrated. It is obviously the first time he's in the heat this season.

But it's the same for the others, right? Except for the total. Well, it's been trained in Mexico. Funny thing about the cramps is, like, where's the pickle juice? You know, because Piccatchar gets cramps too. You just care of the pickle juice. Drinks the pickle juice seems to be fine. Like, I don't, I would maybe just copy what he does.

There was a pro talking about he's doing some new training. There's an off-the-record conversation. Like some new training this year. And I'm thinking, like, man, I would just do what UAE is doing. Like, go listen to what they do and do that. is that seems you work in pretty good it's not mathematical spencer you know i mean i can let me tell you whatever pogacha does training wise no almost nobody can do that no that's a good point nobody can train so hard and then have a strong enough body to recover from that

assimilate that training and get better from that training most most people would just destroy themselves very good point like even right now if you put me if all three of us went to a training camp me you Lance Armstrong, I would just get worse because the training. I can tell you one guy I would get better. Lance. Yeah, like he would get better with the training. Always gets better. I mean, it's, it's typical for a champion with a big engine.

Even, even at to this day, Lance is now in his 50s. And I've seen him show up at events, you know, and not in great shape at the beginning. After three days, the guys already on a different level. It's crazy how fast these guys. improve with a little bit of training and where others, you know, just ride and ride themselves deeper and deeper into a hole. Yes. Yeah, it is actually really shocking to see. And Lance is like the ultimate example of that. He had some good results because of that. But like even Seamus McGrath, who is like a mountain bike world champion, I did a week long training camp with him when I was

like really seriously training. And I was just worse every day. And then Seamus could barely ride a bike the first day and then by the end he's dropping everybody like it's really shocking when you see it up close and you understand why the same guys tend to win all these races because they're just better you say bigger engine it's that simple i don't quite know the physiology behind it but that's what's happening but in terms of red bull where does this leave them so rimcoe evanipal was the big gc acquisition in the offseason to an already pretty good gc team what do they do here Do they just kind of keep going forward and maybe they bring two GC guys to these races? So Frimco has a problem.

They have someone else's backup. Is that what the plan is going to be? I mean, at this moment, I don't think with Remko, that should be another GC rider because Ramco is a natural leader. He wants to be the leader. I'm not sure that at this moment that would work. I think that's for later on for the tour. Listen, let's not draw conclusions too quickly.

You know, it's an off day. We'll see how he is on Jebel Hafit. I expect him to be better. I expect him to stay with those guys. I wouldn't be shocked if he wins, Jebel Hafit. I don't know if he can drop them, but, you know, if he attacks, he's not going to be as supervised as El Toro and Tiberi.

DeBeri and Del Toro won't let each other go. Renco could potentially profit from that. But no, I think Red Bull for the moment, they just need to keep focusing on, you know, Roglidge hasn't started racing yet. Lipowitz started today, not great, I think. In Lagarde, he was not in the front. I think he's somewhere around 15-20th place, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah.

Yeah, we'd have to go back. I know there was like my friend Kagan's swirbel crashed. I don't know if he was caught behind that. Yeah, McNulty crashed. Yeah. Yeah. But it's actually not worth a point in cycling where you see that. It's kind of ridiculous.

It's the first race of the season and he's off the pace. It's like, poof, I don't know if he can recover. You might be done. Stick a fork in him. He can recover for sure. Yeah. It's also not really a lip-of-way. It's not really his specialty, that type of thing.

No, no. He's only 29 seconds back. It's not like he's in the spirit world. But for the tour, they'll certainly bring two leaders, correct? Lipowitz. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

And then the Welta will be Roglidge. Yeah. The Giroz Pellazari and. And Henley. Henley. Yeah. Yeah. So, and I mean, the thing about Remko is you know he's going to be good.

And he's doing liege. He's doing flesh, Amstel gold, Lush Lige, like, you know he's going to be good in those one-day races. Like, he, what's weird is as he's getting worse at stage races, he's getting better at one-day races, which I don't fully understand. Yeah. Hang on, hang on a second. I have a guy here who's, I think he's, he's one invention.

Here, our star, Bobby, Bobby's back. He wants to be on camera. this is going to help the views this should be the thumbnail on youtube our audience loves bobby yeah they do they're getting we're in trouble we don't show them they asked me for him to come on the show so here he is he's back well yon before before we go quick quick question for you about vizma lisa bike quiet start to the season they win stage one ruta del soul good good win, second one of the year. The only problem is UAE,

their rival team, has 11 wins so far this year. So they have 18% of the wins as their main rival. Probably not panic time yet. The thing that concerns me is Vizma, their sponsor, their title sponsor, who they worked hard to get. Remember, they used to have it was a loto,

than it was Jumbo. Jumbo and then Jumbo Stembo. Vizma comes in and kind of saves the day. This was like two years ago, three years ago at this point. Vizma is going public. It's a Norwegian software company. Software's not been doing great with AI. There's been a global cooling of software stock.

So now they're delaying the IPO, which is something you don't really want to see. And they're reevaluating their marketing spend. They're probably trying to cut expenses prior to the IPO. So it looks better. Some of the financials look better. The quote on this is from, this is from a cycling weekly piece. quote from Richard Pluga is we're in a downward spiral as cycling. We like it or not. I think that's why for everyone, the urgency becomes bigger and bigger every day. That's not great to hear.

And then we also hear that Vizma is is look like reevaluating their commitment to the team and wanting to step back from the title sponsorship spot. So they probably won't leave them hanging. They're not just going to step away entirely. They want someone to come in and take over that title sponsorship slot. We went through their financials, the team's financials of, like at the end of last year, at the end of 2025. They have a big budget, like 50 million

euros or more. Can they find someone to come in and fill this? Like, what are the chances of that? This is not going to be easy. But listen, I mean, if a team like Vizma can't find a sponsor. No, yeah. And we'll find a sponsor,

Spencer. Maybe they'll have to scale back, you know, already if you, man, I think, okay, now we've heard of it. You know, we've heard about it now, but this is obviously not news that comes from one day to the other. Richard Plugger has known this for a while already, I think. And it's, you know, it's not a coincidence that expensive riders have left the team. You know, if you look, Fambardle left, Isbunot left, Olaf Koi left. And they, and I'm for sure, for, for, somebody else, I don't know, I mean, so another big writer.

And they haven't replaced them with equal, no, equal paid riders. So it could be, of course, you know, I think they have to kind of fill up that hole, although that we spoke about a few months ago. But I do think that they have this wealthy Dutch entrepreneur as a backer, who can then write a check, I think. But, yeah, I mean, maybe they will have to operate on a smaller scale. I don't know. It's clear that for the moment, how fast things can change, right?

I mean, we're talking about Visma now. And, you know, in the pre-show, we talked about, yeah, you know, they haven't won or they have to be concerned. Let's not forget, you know, this is a team that two years ago, they won the three ground tours. Of course, three years ago. They won the three grand tours. And last year, they won two grand tours and second in the tour. Yeah. You know?

Yeah. They're still, they're still one of the top teams, you know. So I wouldn't, I mean, what I think is they have, they have companies around them, in my opinion, who have the potential to either through their business relationships or through their own financial. possibilities to step up and and keep funding the team. You know, if you could leave Lisa bike, Lisa bike is just a name, a product of this big pawn company. Pond could sponsor this on their own if they want. And PON owns Cervello.

So it's the tie end. Their own Covelo and a lot of other brands. Yeah, like a lot. It's a huge Dutch conglomerate. Yeah. Big company. But you would say their vulnerability though is, Okay, so they get three podiums at Grand Tours last year, two wins,

but two of those podiums were one guy. Jonas Finnegard. The third win, the third podium, one of the wins was Simon Yates, who's no longer with the team. That's another writer who's out the door. Uda Brooks out the door. They've not, and they've not been active. Think of these big bidding wars.

Derek G. Oscar-onle. Wanda-Uso, Rem Covenant Pole. They're nowhere in these deals. And I don't, and on one level, I don't hate it. It's like, well, that feels like an overheated market to me. maybe that's fine to sit it out. But a lot of their strategy looks like right now, it's like, hey, Matthew Brennan, you want to go win some races?

It's just like what? The depth here looks a little thin. They do have Mateo Jorgensen. Gatos Finnegard will presumably be racing at some point. Well, Bernard, these are good riders. And they have brought in, like they've made good targeted signings. It's just not big money, probably because I know that they have to trim costs at some point. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah. For sure, they've been looking, they've been, they've not gone crazy. They've been calculating and they've done their homework properly to not overspent. I personally think that some of these teams, namely, to name two, I think Ineos and in, well, three actually, Ineos, Red Bull and Little Freck, they spent some crazy money, which is actually not. Yeah. I mean, it was, I think it was more. emotional spending than something else.

Because, you know, those amounts don't really make sense in cycling. It's also because, you know, obviously they have backers behind who don't really care. If it's 2 million more or 5 million more or 7 million more. Well, yeah. And if you and I are in a room with Red Bull executives and they say, hey, we want to be the, we're Red Bull. We want to be the best team.

Who is the best riders? Who should we sign? And it's like, forcaccio, he's not available. Vineyards, he's not available. It's like no one's available except a few of them. So if you need to make a really big name signing, you don't have a lot of options. Yeah, but then, okay, Spencer, but you know, okay, it's true. You look, okay, who's available?

But then the money needs to be accordingly. I mean, personally, I think, I think 10 million for Juan are you so is crazy. I do not understand that. whatever it is, 7 million euros for Remko is crazy, I think. 6 million for Oscar only is crazy. These are the buyouts, right? That's not even the salaries.

That's not including the salaries. Yeah, especially when you look at Tiberi. That guy was free. But then again, you know, I mean, compare this to football, for example, for example, for example, or in Europe. I mean, it's peanuts, you know. Well, those teams make a lot of money.

That would be they drive revenue from those signings. Yeah, exactly. But you know, Visma's got Louis Barre, so they got nothing to worry about. The signing of the season right there. This guy, he was what, fifth at Amstow Gold? I actually do love Louis Barre. But they make good signings. I do think some of those were a little kooky.

I think of Matthew Rickettello. He was in that front group today? Was he the only one not signed for a multi-million dollar transfer fee. He was a free transfer from his contract ran out at Israel. Yeah. Yeah. So I do think Vizma could be using a little bit more targeting shopping technique than perhaps. I still don't understand that the Lytle Trek Juan Euse is signing. That mystifies me a good writer. It's, I don't know, the 10 million. That's just crazy. You have to win the tour or else everything is a disappointment basically at that amount of money. Yeah. Well, Johan, do you have anything else? We'll be

back on Monday to talk about how these races wrap up. Maybe Remcoevenable comes back and wins the UA tour. We have to take everything back on Monday. But anything else before we take it? Not going to happen, Spencer. I don't think so. Yeah.

No, that's it for me. All right. Bobby, do you have something else to say? Are you going to be back on Monday? On Monday, we're going to be reporting from the Costa Blanca and Bobby's going to be there too. Oh, nice.

Maybe he's coming on the show again. Bobby. he's going to love Benadorm. Oh, no, no, that's not where you. My favorite town, Benadorn, Bobby. Bobby's going to love it, a lot of old people to pet him. No, I'm not going to stay. My son is going to stay in Benadorm with his team, but I'm not staying in Benadirom.

That's probably a good. I'm staying in beautiful Benisa. Well, thank you, Johan, and we'll talk soon. Okay, thanks. Bye.