THEMOVE - Seixas Fires a Warning Shot | Flèche Wallonne & Tour of the Alps | THEMOVE

Episode Date: April 22, 2026

Johan Bruyneel and Spencer Martin break down Paul Seixas' dominant win at today's La Flèche Wallonne to become the youngest rider in the history of the race and signal he is ready for Sunday's superstar showdown against Remco Evenepoel and Tadej Pogačar at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. They also go through the opening three stages of the ongoing Tour of the Alps, discussing Tom Pidcock's surprise stage win, the tightly packed GC picture, who they expect to come out on top, and what it means for the upcoming Giro d'Italia. Become a WEDŪ Member Today to Unlock VIP Access & Benefits: https://access.wedu.team Saily: Get an exclusive 15% discount on Saily data plans! Use code THEMOVE at checkout. Download Saily app or go to https://saily.com/THEMOVE   

Listen, it's going to be an amazing test and an amazing thing to watch for all of us, to see how good Paul Sexas is compared to Talé Pogacar. For the moment, there's been one confrontation, Trave Bianca. I don't know if you could say easy, but he dropped, Pogacar dropped Paul Seixas from the wheel. And then Seizsas finished second. And in the meantime, what happened with the condition? Was Pogacha already 100% in Strada Bianca? Was Pogesas 100%.

Are they both better now? We don't know. To me, it seems like they're always on a really, really high level the whole season round. There's never any moment where they look a little off form. But, you know, tomorrow's the big, no, on Sunday, it's the big test, you know, to see where we can rate Paul Sexas compared to today. Hey everybody, welcome back to The Move. I'm Spencer Martin.

I'm here with Johan Bernal. We are popping in midweek to break down Flesh Wallone, which we just watched, which we just saw Paul Sixthus win 19 years old, youngest winner ever in the history of the race. We'll talk about what it means for the upcoming Leage Best on Leage. We'll also check in with the tour of the Alps, three stages in, two more to go. Pickack, just won today's stage looking good for liege on Sunday.

Johan, let's start with Flesh Malone since we just watched it and it is fresh in our mind. Before we get into that, is there someone with you that wants to say hello to the listeners? Yeah, at general request also over audience, Mr. Bobby is back. Back on the show. There he is. You know, he's keeping an eye on everything and Bobby, did you enjoy Flesh Wallone? What did you think? Not much.

That sums it up. That's a pretty good summation of the race. Say something, Bobby. He wants to go back. He just woke him up from a nap. Okay. Yeah. All right.

Good. Yeah, Spencer, listen, I think, you know, the results, as we expected, although, you know, it still had to be. be done, right? I mean, we're all, you know, we'll say suss, obviously. But let's not forget, you know, as you said, the kid, and I think we should call him still a kid. He's 19 years old, had never raced or trained or seen the mural of Hui. That's impressive. Before, two days ago, when they did a recall, you know, he remembers it from sitting on the sofa and watching his idols race it. that's the that's the impression he had for you know and it's of course it looks super super

hard on tv it's a lot harder uh in real life but um but yeah i mean listen the legs the legs do the talking right and on on murdo we especially if it's a traditional final a traditional approach as we have seen today um he's the best and especially on in this field you know Pogacar's not there. Jonas, who's, you know, an incredible climber is not there. Remko's not there. But there's others there. You know, Scalmoser, for example, who was second in Amstall and one Amstall last year was there.

You know, ex-winners were there, right? You know, like Hirschi and Al-Filippe, who unfortunately both of them abandoned one of them to a crash. I don't know what was wrong with Al-A-Felip. but listen incredible performance as I said you know as expected but you know the pressure on this guy must must be big because everybody expected him to do what he did today and he did it so hats off to him congratulations post success yeah and it seems straightforward you're right it it looks straightforward wow boring race we should say we were talking about this in the pre-show it's 200k long four and a half hours so it's not the longest race ever but it's four and a half

of racing with 3,000 meters of vertical gain. That's 10,000 feet, basically. And so there is load going into your legs as this is happening. And you also have to manage the final climb right. You have to go in in good position. Like Kevin Vachlan runner up the past two years, I believe, just was in poor position, never recovered, was also on his teammates bike, which cannot help those guys. I assume they're pretty dialed in on their bike fits.

So you have to go in correctly. De Cathlon gets them there perfectly. A little like they kind of botched it at the base. They have a teammate way off the front, pulling people off, but it's fine. Seishas has, I guess, are we calling them Seishas or Seixos? Well, I mean, he should practice that. He pronounces his name Paul Sexas. If you, I've heard and people have been writing in, as we said, you know,

it has Portuguese roots. apparently in Portuguese it would be Seychas, Seychas. Interesting. Okay. But, you know, Paul is French. So his dad is French? I think his grandparents were probably Portuguese. And so, yeah, it's Paul Seix.

Yeah, I mean, I guess I'm saying my name incorrectly if I think about it. But I should change to Spencer Martine. So he keeps, he keeps open. space in front of them early on the climb. You could imagine watching it and saying, wow, he's gone too early. But in reality of the climb like this, probably the mistake you would make is going in too far back. If you are the strongest rider and you have open space in front of you, as long as you're

not just sprinting all out and then exploding, you're probably going to be okay. It kind of reminded me, Johan, like a really good boxer, just holding, holding people off just enough and then knocking them out at the very end. He didn't look too bothered, which is impressive since we're talking about a 19-year-old who had not seen the climb before two days ago. Just in general, his poise and ability to control these races, that's what impresses be more than the raw numbers, which we did some calculations in the pre-show. Well, I mean, you know, on the mirror that we, it's very simple, Spencer.

You know, the moment, the moment you could see, I mean, there was, there was an attack of success, but, you know, everybody, including him, they were already at the limit. They were at their maximum. So usually it's the guy who has the strongest legs. There's no draft because it's so steep. And he just rode away from them because he was more powerful. He had better legs. He was stronger.

There's not much tactics. You know, I mean, especially because I think he went with like, he really went with 300 meters to go. He accelerated a bit in the saddle, I think, with 500 meters to go, and then you could see it already. So Schmidt, actually, Schmidt was the fourth guy initially, and he got a bit of space. You know, he got dropped a bit. Finally, he finished the second because he's the guy who had most left in the last 50 meters, I think. And then Ben Tulette and Ben-Wacos Nefra were third and fourth. So Schmidt really, I mean, speaking about Marlboro Schmidt, Spencer, I mean, great second.

I mean, he already has, he's been in front the whole season already since Down Under. He was up there, right? I think he was second and down under, right? Second and down under and then fourth at Cadellivan's Greater Ocean Road Race and then wins the Moosecott Classic. Coming straight from Australia. Yeah. Yeah. And so he has, he rode an incredible smart race.

you know flesh for alone is one of those races it's it's it's it's draining it's you know there's there's there's it's not just the mirror of we right i mean there's there's they do three times the mirror of we but in between there's other climbs i mean otherwise you don't get to three thousand meters of elevation with these short climbs because the movie is only a kilometer long a kilometer 100 long um and uh it's constantly you know there's also narrow roads the teams are lining up, they're bringing their leaders to the front. It's a battle, a constant battle, which costs a lot of energy

for the teams, but also for the leaders. Mauder Schmidt, if you go back and watch the race, he has ridden the whole race in the last 10 guys of the Peloton and just made one move between, you know, just made sure that on the second last climb

he was moved up and then made one move on the bottom of Murdovi. You have to be strong to do that, of course, right? but he did not fight for position at any point during the race and finish a second. So pretty smart race. Yeah, well, it's probably the one race you can be confident. You're not going to get caught out in a split because when's the last time we even saw this thing split up?

I mean, especially if it's good weather. Yeah. You know, it wasn't a bit windy. But, you know, if you're in good condition, you make sure, I mean, I'm saying in the last, he was often seen when the cameras were filming the, the peloton from behind, he was often seen. there. But he's never been, you know, after some climbs when it lined up,

he was never in the last five or ten guys, you know, that tail of the peloton that, you know, everybody's on the limit and then they get dropped. He was not there. Obviously, you know, if you're strong enough,

you kind of move up a little bit on those climbs and you're always in that pack, right? But strong performance of him too. Yeah. And we should also say Ben Tulett, getting third, super impressive performance. I didn't,

I didn't see that coming. Tullet looked like he looked. I didn't think he was going to win, but I thought, man, is Paul Sishat going to drop this guy? He ended up getting a gap, but man, he was strong. Schmidt and Toulet were really good. He was the last guy to stay with Seixas, right? And then, I mean, for some reason, I think he must have been sick or out with an injury because I saw that he did not start in Amstall Gold Race.

He was planned to do that race. and then in his post-race interview he said that you know this morning he almost didn't know if he was going to start so maybe he was coming back from illness and also his first ever podium in a world two race so important important day for him um you know obviously a really good writer and and a guy who takes his opportunities when the big leaders of visma are not there yes yeah i mean and also vizma like just just they've really a simple a good team without spending an overwhelming amount of money. They had no big stars here. And they have a guy in third on the podium of a world tour race of an Arden's classic. So kudos to Visma for putting this team together. We should say so Paul success wins. Only by three seconds.

Wow, we could have done better. No, I mean, that's a big gap for flush below. Just for the people who want to know the numbers, the last K was about two minutes, 43 seconds. I estimate them at 573 watts, so 9 watts per kilo. That's impressive, right? That looks good. But short, but the crazy thing about it is it's not really a climb that's that great for him. Like this is not what he's best at, and he still looked this in control.

That's what moving away. I think I think, I think sex is probably better on, you know, 10, 15, 20 minute efforts rather than three-minute efforts. You know, and then also, Spencer, you know, I just want to, I mean, before, I'm sure we're going to see, you know, on social media, people who are comparing the times. One second. Bobby is asking for attention. He's back.

He's just going to stay here with me. So he did 243, right? Sex, us. People are always comparing times, right? And they can say, oh, you know, he's the best. Pogacchar last year won in 255. you know, bad weather, a different race. He's washed up.

Steve Williams, where's that guy, by the way? Hasn't raced since May of last year. Knee injury, apparently, a very, very nagging knee injury. Three minutes, 11, even worse weather. It was terribly cold. I mean, you remember those guys shaking and falling off their bikes after the finish. Steve Williams won it with a rain jacket, by the way. And so, you know, he's now the third fastest rider.

He is so faster than last year's time of Pugacier, faster than when Pugacha won in 2003. There's 243 is the third fastest time. There's only Valverde and Al-A-Philippe, who have done it in 241. But again, you know, before people start to come to conclusions, you cannot compare times. It's fast. It's super fast. Also, if you look, Spencer, the third and the fourth, the second, the third and the fourth have also gone faster than Pogacar's best time. And so, and you know, and compared to last year's time of Pugachar,

the top 12 has done faster than Pugacar. So he got kind of trouble, man. He's going to, is he even going to top 10 to two of friends? You cannot, you cannot compare times of a race. You know, weather conditions are different. And then especially also the way their race has developed. This was a fast race overall in 43.5 kilometers average, 3,000 meters of elevation. That's super fast, the whole race. And then also the approach, especially for a short effort like this, if it's a kilometer, the first 200 meters of that climb are super important.

You know, because usually you get to, you get to mirror the wee and there's already, it's lined up and people are looking. This time they came as a bunch like basically being drawn into the beginning and the first 200 meters were super fast. So, you know, you can't compare. But anyway, he's up there with the fastest times, which is impressive.

Yeah. But if you look, for example, look, you go back to 2004, which is 22 years ago. What, Bobby? What? What? sorry about that. 22 years ago, David Rebellin won. May his soul rest in peace in 247.

Only four seconds slower than today's winner. And this is 22 years ago. Imagine the bikes, you know, the, I mean, the whole peloton was definitely not trained and optimized like today. And still, you know, you have. Tires were inflated too. probably 18 millimeter wide tires and the bikes the weight the wheels you know the wheels nobody was riding on arrow wheels back then you know usually back then it was okay it's a hilly race low profile

wheels that was the standard you know yet that's funny yesterday i was with with uh somebody who does biomechanical studies for a world tour team and uh he said that uh you know it's that the bikes are so arrow now and especially in the wheels that nobody is considering even for mountain stages to use the climbing. Climbing bass are history. They're done. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. So much difference. As soon as you go over 40 kilometers per hour, which the pros are almost always doing. You know, and even on the climbs, they're doing 30 kilometers per hour if it's not super steep. An aerobike and arrow wheels are always. going to be faster.

Yeah, I came away from this last winter. I was a little shocked, actually, at how fast this has happened. But essentially, the climbing bike has been killed in the last 12 months. It's all aerobikes. But, I mean, yeah, we shouldn't like, comparing times has its limitations. Paul Success, great ride. He doesn't even, he ties Mike Woods for the KOM on the climb, on Strava. We can't just say like, oh, Mike Woods would have won today.

Like, it's just a different, it's different races, different speeds. It's still impressive. But just to give people an example of how fast this is, that's 15 miles an hour. And if you've ever seen this climb, it is like unbelievably steep. It's crazy. Yeah, yeah. The speeds are crazy. The speeds are crazy.

Paul Sixthuss in his last, going back to Strata Bianchi, he's done eight World Tour races. And he's won five, he has five World Tour wins since Strata Bianchi. That is crazy. Oh, yeah. That's three stages, three stages and the overall in the Basque country, right? Yeah, plus today. Yeah. So that's like more World Tour wins.

To put that into perspective, that's more than probably, like most, the vast majority of professionals will never win five World Tour races in a year. I mean, that is, it's unbelievable. The vast majority of pro riders will never win five World Two races in their whole career. Yeah. Yeah. only give them to a few, you know? Yeah.

You're like, let's go back to last year. Wins, 2025. These are just wins. This isn't even world tour wins. How many riders had more than, only 34 riders scored more than five professional wins last year? No. Okay.

Less than that. Less than that. Yeah. A second. It'd be, no. Oh, wow. 23 riders scored more than five. Tom Pickcock had five pro wins last year. And Paul

Sixthaus says five World Tour wins since Strata Bianchi. It's unbelievable what he's doing. It's crazy. But what is, before we go to Tour the Alps, what does this mean for what do we make of this for Sunday for L'Ais Abbas-Li-H? I mean, obviously, you know, he's the second favorite. Pugacha remains the heavy favorites. He's the same. He's the same. second one. I think, you know, it would be, it would be nice if he can stay with Pogacar on on Laredud, this is typically always where Pagacar makes the difference. And then, you know, we'd be curious to see what, what he does if he collaborates or not. Because after Laredud, it's Laroche Foucon, which is a climb that, again, I think

La Roche-Faucon suits Paul's success better than Laudadotte. I personally think that Pogacar is a bit more powerful. So on Laudadotte, I think he can make the difference. But in this, I mean, let's wait. It's a monument, Spencer. You know, how long is Léz, Bastogne-Eche-260? Yeah, it's really long. Hold on a second.

Is it, yeah, it's got to be 260? Let me click on it. 260 hold on oh my god where's the thing 2509 so yeah almost exactly 60 yeah it's different you know so that that's obviously a bit in his disadvantage but uh you know with this condition you know he's going to be up there with the three favorites um i think if i'm you know if i'm you know if i Of the top of my mind, I think it's, you know, it's Pogacar, Sexas and Remko, the three top favorites. So it's going to be an interesting, that's obviously a lot better field than today. I mean, you know, if you look, Sexas is where we expected him to be still.

As a young guy, you need to, you know, be able to deal with the pressure, the expectations, winning. But with all due respect, Mourouro Schmidt, Ventilat and Ben-Nanfra, or not of the level of Pogacarajar. and Remko and Jonas, for example. Well, let's say, is Paul Seizos a better climber than Remko having a pole right now? Like, if Remko was here today at Flesh Malone, he wasn't, he's preparing for Sunday, how would he've done? What do you have one? Sixthas would still have one.

Yeah, so. Remko would probably have been top three, but I don't think he would have been at Paul Sexas, especially also because it's so steep. You know, if you look at the morphology of, do you say that morphology in English? The built, somebody probably does. I'm sure people say it. I don't really say it, though. I do sometimes make up words, but I'm going to check off if morphology is an English word.

I'm pretty sure it is. The way he's built, Postexas, is better for. climbs than Remko Yeah, it is Remko could beat Paul Sishas on Sunday. Paul could beat him. I do think we should keep in mind. Remko already won twice.

Yeah, that's a good point. I do think, though, we tend to people suffer from object permanence. When Pagaccha's not here, you're like, oh man, these guys are going to beat Pagachar. And then he shows up and we remember how good he is. So this is impressive. I think Remko and Paul Sechats are going to do great on Sunday.

I think we tend to forget how good Tadipagacar. Yeah. Listen, it's going to be an amazing test and an amazing, you know, thing to watch for all of us. You know, to see how good Paul Sechats is compared to Tadayapagachar. For the moment, there's been one confrontation, Stradabianke. I don't know if you could say easy, but, you know, he dropped Pogastroa. dropped Paul Seixas from the wheel.

And then Sexas finished second. In the meantime, what happened with the condition? Was Pogacha already 100% in Stradabianke? Was Paul Sexas 100%. Are they both better now? We don't know. To me, it seems like they're always on a really, really high level the whole season round. There's never any moment where they look a little off form.

But, you know, tomorrow is the big, no, on Sunday, it's the big, it's the big test, you know, to see where we can rate both like Soss compared to today. Before we take an ad break, this is just, this is nuts. So 2025, World Tour wins. Like, if, if the season was done now, then Paul Success's Hall of World Tour wins would have them eight overall. That's crazy. the Peloton. And right now he's second overall in 2026 in terms of World Tour wins. Do you know who is

first? Another guy we forget about. We forget how good he is. Jonas. Yonis. Six World Tour wins so far. The Quiet Assassin man. Yeah. Forget about that. Yeah, I mean, but in East and Basque Country, right? No, Catalonia, sorry. Catalonia, yeah. Yeah, he's won two

World Tour stage races with a bunch of stage wins. along the way. Guys pretty good at stage racing, but let's take a quick break, and then we'll talk about Tour of the Alps and Tom Pitcock and how he might do at Sunday at the age when we come back.

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So state, we've had three stages of the tour of the Alps. If you're wondering what is Tour of the Alps, it used to be called Giro del Trinino. Is that correct? Yeah. And it is the probably part of the name changes. It doesn't just take place in Trentino. It's now kind of a pan-Trolean race where it goes from T-Role in Austria to South T-Role in Italy. The language gets quite political up there.

So I'm sure part of the rebrand was we're just going to call it tour of the Alps instead deciding what language, German, Italian, laden. We can't decide. So we'll go English. I find it to be a very, it's a very good race, five stages, very. Very beautiful terrain. Just nice to have the TV on. But through three stages you've had. Also, you know, great preparation for the guys who do the Gero.

Yes, great, great Gero preparation. Same region and good climbing. And it's kind of, they engineer it. They start in like a low altitude valley. So around Innsbruck and Balzano, which, you know, Balzano has palm trees, but you're in the mountains. But you can do a lot of longish climbing without getting up to snowy, Alpine peaks. So it is a great place to be to be riding this time of year. It's also finishes on

Saturday or on Friday. So technically you can do the stage race and then go to Léist Bastille, and you've got nice five days of racing in. You get one day off, then you race. We had kind of a sprintish stage on Monday, won by a continental, a Italian rider on a continental team. Thomaso. Meaning division three. Division three. Yeah. Like you're one step. I'm very familiar with that level of writing. You are one step above amateur racing. Thomas O'Dadi. And then stage two was a G.C. Day, Julio Pellizari won.

Great showing from Red Bull. Also good showing from Ineos, time and ours. It's been Igor and all looking really good. And then today was a reduced sprint stage. One by Tom Piccock, almost won by Thomas O'Dadi. Almost getting the second win of this race. Pitcock looked good. I mean, none of these races are easy.

Like today was 37. 100 meters of vertical gain over 174 kilometers. So even these sprint stages are really hard. The G.C. is Pelazari's and first time and Aronsman from Ineus and second four seconds back. This is all time bonus splits, by the way. Egan Bernal, third, six seconds back. Alexander Vlasov, fifth, by the way, 10 seconds back, looking like Alexander Vlasov of old at this race.

But what have been your impression so far of this race, Johan? Yeah. First stage, I mean, first of all, talking. about Pitcock. He won today, which I think is incredibly, it's another proof of his incredible natural talent. Let's not forget, Pitcock had this crash with pretty serious consequences in Catalonia, in the downhill.

I think his knee was, his knee or his tie. There was something really, really bad. Had to be off the bike. was not feeling good. I mean, he barely made it to the start of this race. Obviously, after that crash, he hasn't been training a lot. So gets comes back to this race to get his form back in a bit to try to make it to Liesbaston Liesch, which was one of his objectives.

Felt terrible the first day. Yesterday was not there. Lost a lot of time. And then today, wins, you know, there are not many riders in the peloton who can win races when they're not on the top of their form. And Pitcock is one of them. He can win. You know, he has that natural talent and this way to know how to win. I mean, if you saw the way he raised in the final, you know, I think it's, it's, it's, yeah, another proof of his of his pure class. Now, if you ask me, is he going to be,

ready for Liesbaston Liesz, I'm going to say no. Yeah, you can't fake that. He's not going to be in the final of Liesbaston Lijs, in my opinion. But he's using this race to get back. And yeah, what a nice win today. And then to come back on the G.C., I think Pelligzari is the big favorite. Has a strong team. I think, you know, it was clear already yesterday that he was the designated leader.

We had young, another young writer to follow, Lorenzo Finn. was still on the Red Bull rookie team doing a few races with the pros was, you know, one of the best three riders in the stage yesterday, went away, then did the work for for Pellizari and Pellizari won in the sprint. And I don't know, there was a big crash today, I assume, and I saw that he, D&F did not finish. So he must have been involved in that crash. But it's one of those riders. We have talked about him in our up-and-comer show.

I think this year or last year, I don't remember. I think it was last year. He was, he's two consecutive years world champion. He won the world championships junior in his second year junior. And then last year being the first year, 123, he won the world championship. I believe the youngest rider in that race. The youngest rider in the race. And is in Kigali.

So he's now, I think he's 19 also. So he's still part of the development team of Red Bull, but with these new rules that they can switch over riders to the pro races, as long as not world two races. I think it's great. A big future for that guy, man. I just wish, you know, he has one problem. He needs to work on his aerodynamics.

It's like, it's like, what's his name? Michael Sturrer. Michael Stewart. I think it's partly because these guys are so good. There's like no pressure for them to work on it. I have a funny story about Lorenzo Finn. Maybe I've told this before. I was talking to it. You met him, right?

Yeah, because I was like into Benji, your best friend. And this kid comes up. I thought he was a fan of, I thought he was just a fan of Benji. Like he looks so young. And it was Lorenzo Finn, you 23 world champion. I mean, in the final group on stage two, two. You had three Red Bulls, Lorenzo Finn, Alexander Blasoff, Pelasari, and then two,

and so that's impressive for Medbilt. They were racing really well. And then two Ennis writers, Time and Aronsman, Igan, Bernal. And then did you notice this guy, Mateo Garfuri on Pondi Post-N-L? This guy is on picnic. He was. He did the, was he not like the, I mean, he was a staguer, I think on Pulte. And then, but I think he's, he's in a famous,

either from Zwift or from the Grand Fondos in Italy. One of the two, I don't remember now. He did the Zwift Academy. He qualified for the final three and he went to the Alpacin team camp. Okay. Didn't make the cut. And then one of the other riders to do that was he's on Visma now. He just came up from like the amateur level last year.

His name is what is his name is Anton Schiffer was another one of those guys who didn't make the cut. But man, that was. That's an impressive ride from... Yeah, I mean, he was the whole day in the breakaway, then didn't get dropped from Pelizari at first. And then stayed with them and finished, what, third for it? Third on the stage. Yeah, that was nothing.

Yeah. And now in G.C. We have 19-year-old or 20-year-old, whatever, Lorenzo Finn. And then a few seconds behind on a really hard stage, like a really hard stage, 43-year-old, Dominico, Potos of Venn. I forgot he was racing. Making his comeback after a year out of,

so he, he, he was on, he was on a small Italian team. He was on VF. Yeah, Bardiani. But now he's on another,

he's on solution tech, something. It's a different, even smaller team. Yeah. But obviously the statistics already, I mean, these people have, this is not a publicity stunt.

The guy is on a super high level because he got, He got all the KOMs on the Strava segments in the neighborhood. And he just kept training like crazy. Man, I remember seeing Domenico Potsovivo in, I don't remember which year, maybe 2008, seeing him in the Gino de Italia. Or maybe before, I don't remember. He was on a small team. and the guy looked like a, you know, a school kid, like a guy who went to primary school. He looked so young.

And now he looks a bit older, but he still doesn't look old. I mean, he still looks, yes, he still looks really, really young. He's very small, very tiny. But, man, that's impressive. He's, yeah, I think he's on the same level as he's always been in his last few years, a strange comeback at 43, but I incorrectly thought he retired because he took a year off for me. He didn't retire because they didn't have a team. Was he?

He didn't have a team last year. It wasn't on a pro team. Yeah. The year, I think the year before they also, there's a few times that they signed him like in February or March. I think he wrote for Israel also, I think. Yeah, it was like multiple years in a row. So 2022, he's a late signing to Intermarche. 2023 he's a late signy to Israel. And then last year he's a late signy to VF. Barreani. 2004, right?

Yeah, yeah. Oh, no, sorry, two years ago. Doesn't have a team last year. And then this year he's a late signing to solution tech, Nippo Raleigh. Raleigh? Like, that is pretty impressive. Here's a crazy stat. So the rider he finishes behind.

Jakop Omrizal. Or Moselle. Winner of the Giro, winner of the Giro, no? The baby Giro. Baby Gero, yeah. So there's more time has passed since Posovo was born and he was born. Then age gap between them is larger than... 23 years.

23 years. Then Yacup is only 20 years old. If Posovo could have had him at 20, he could be a son. And also, especially, especially. I mean, he finished just behind him, but actually on the climb, he dropped, Posavivo dropped Omersel. Omersel is seen as an incredible big talent. Yeah, like huge talent, huge talent.

And I mean, this groupie's in as wild. Michael Storres in there. Chris Harper's in there. Like, those are really good riders. Chris Harper won the Queen stage of the Jiro last year. So, yeah, hats off to Dominico Posabivo. Pozabivo. Also, Egan Bernal, don't look now, but that guy's looking good.

Yeah. They're in the GC every day. On a good level, even if they got third in the sprinting. Yeah. You know, it's always a sign that you're good if, you know, like if without it being a stage for you. Because obviously, Pitcock, there was no way he's going to lose this. The way he was moving at the end and the way his team was riding. But, you know, for Bernal to be third in a sprint, it means that he's in good shape.

He brought Arringman back yesterday also to the. but yeah it was weird because he's kind of working for arnizman but he looks at times to be stronger than arnizman so i had the same thought yohan we've been hanging out too much i said this morning i said hey if you can do well on a stage it's not for you that means you're in pretty good shape because to see him up there in a sprint but also sean quinn american who's been off the bike with a knee injury i believe six place so way to go sean quinn looking good it's team he's on e f i believe is in the last year of his contract potentially being targeted by moderate adventures post-cycling though

as far as what I've been reading. But the fact that it actually shows you there's quite a bit of talent out there. I mean, well, none of these guys can be that expensive. Like Mateo Garfoli, Domenico Pozovivo, they can't be costing these teams a lot of money and they're getting good results at big races. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

You know who's not doing it? Potsovivo's price is not going to go up anymore. more, Spencer. Well, so we talked a lot about over the off season. We could not believe the price for some of these writers. One of them in particular, Derek G. West, he finished half a minute behind Posovo, more than half a minute behind him. Did he have an injury?

What is going on? He's not been racing that much, although I do seem to remember him in Catalonia. Yeah, he didn't start like the last week. weekend. Okay. So, you know, something must have been wrong. I mean, it's, I mean, I'm assuming he goes to the Gero, no, to do the leader of of little track. It's not great if you're, if you're not in good shape in the tour of the Alps. It's still, there's still time, you know, I mean, obviously nobody is expecting Derek G to be, you know, podium in the Gero. Maybe he himself does, but let's not forget, you know, this guy didn't have a quiet and peaceful.

True. And then, you know, as soon as something goes wrong, he must have had an injury or illness in Catalonia, because if he didn't start the last two days, something was wrong. Maybe he was in a crash hole, so I don't remember. So maybe he's using two of the Alps to get back into shape for the Gero. But obviously, he's not in the mix. and he's not going to be in the mix on the last day either. The last day is super hard.

It's the final, I mean, it's the decisive stage. We're going to see the same guys. You know, it's going to be Aronsman, Belizzi, Bernal, and whoever, guy from Tudor. What's this French guy's name from Tudor, Alex Rundell? Pretty good writer. Alex Rundel. Did we say Arnzman? I think Aronsman's going to be up there.

It's like the best we've seen. I said a long time. Okay. Yeah, I said, Belizari, Aronsman, Bernold. Yeah, Rondell from Tudor. Yeah. He is very good, actually. Eight that Perry Nice.

Young rider. 22 years old. Yeah, really good writer. No wins in his pro career. Interesting. These French teams, they can't be losing these guys. Yeah, you got to lock that down before he goes to Tudor. He wasn't even on a French pro team.

Interesting. Which team will be before, Two-Dor? It's like a club team. V.C. Paz Ludec. Ludec. Yeah, strange. She doesn't get picked up by either Deccatlon or Grupama.

Yeah. It's kind of weird. But yeah, super tough stage on Friday, final day. If you've ever been to Balzano, they have these huge climbs that don't go up that high in altitude, which means they won't be canceled due to weather. and like the second to last climb, it's a loop they do. So they do it two times.

They don't do the full climb both times. And then they just send down to Balzano to finish. But the first time up the climb, it's 12 and a half K and long at 7% average. That's a serious climb. And then they do the top part of that climb again. Then they descend down to the finish. So it will be one of those riders that wins the overall probably.

No TT either. So all climbing. Who do you think is going to win if you had to pick one? Pilizzari. Yes. And is he the main challenger for Jonas Vindigard at the Giro? I don't know. I don't think Pellizari is at that level.

I think Jonas is the big favorite and he's going to win. Without any unforeseen circumstances, Jonas at 80, 85% of his form wins the Gero. So if Jonas wins, I agree with you. If Jonas wins, who do you think it's second at the Giro right now? Billy Dari has, you know, he's obviously, is he going together with Hindley to the, to the Giro? I believe Henley.

It's him and Henley. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Hindley, you can never count him out, but, you know, it's been a while since he's been up there in the top. Today he was, I think he was the protected rider for Red Bull and he's not in the top 10, I see. So that's not, that's not good. But yeah, stage racing is different. I think Pilidzati and then, yeah, who else is going? I haven't, I haven't checked it. Who else is going?

It's supposed to be like Jemalameda, but I don't know. We don't know what's wrong with John with Omeida. Something is off. But still, I don't think Omeida is a match for Jonas. You know, if you think, I mean, last year in the Vuelta, You know, he was there, but, you know, Jonas won, I think, dominantly. And I don't think Jonas was at his stop in the WELTA. He was definitely not the same as in the tour, although he may say that he's always better. The second time he does a grand tour in a season. But he was not at the same level as the Tour de France, I think.

Do you remember who was fourth at the Welta? Jai Hintli. Jainly, okay. He can show up. Yeah, but not about that. Yeah, okay. Good, good, good. And he beat Pelazari.

Actually, do you know who I would like to see at the Giro? Who we won't see is much of it. I wish he was going. I think that would be a great race for him, especially the form he's in right now. Yeah. Come on, DeKathlons. Send him anything else, Johan. We'll be back on Friday to preview liege and then we'll be back on Sunday to talk about liege.

Yeah. No, I think we've covered most of it, Spencer. Yeah. So what's fun is when we come back Friday, we'll know how this plays out. We'll be able to talk about the end of the tour of the Alps and who wins it. So we'll see you soon. And thanks for joining us, Johan. And then we got some exciting racing coming up with liege on Sunday as well.

Okay. Thanks, Spencer. Speak soon. All right. Bye.