THEMOVE - The Greatest Race in Modern Cycling? | Milan-Sanremo 2026 Breakdown | THEMOVE

Episode Date: March 21, 2026

George Hincapié and Spencer Martin break down Tadej Pogačar's win at the 2026 Milan–Sanremo, where he captured one of the only Monuments he had yet to win after recovering from a hard crash in the finale and delivering one of the greatest comeback performances in modern cycling history. They discuss the key moments of the race, how the crash may have actually aided UAE's plans to attack on the Cipressa, the standout rides behind, and what rivals can do to stop Pogačar in the upcoming Cobbled Classics. Become a WEDŪ Member Today to Unlock VIP Access & Benefits: https://access.wedu.team Rag & Bone: Upgrade your denim game with Rag & Bone! Get 20% off sitewide with code THEMOVE at https://www.rag-bone.com #ragandbonepod

They took the race the bull by the horn, so to speak, and they did the job. And Van der Pojillo was there right at the end. I had a bad moment on the pojo. Still ended up eighth place, but also came back from a crash, which is such a hard thing to do. I mean, yes, Pocotra made it look easy. Van Hart made it look easy. But I just, as somebody has done the race so many times, I just, I'm so in awe and so much respect to what these guys are doing right now.

Everybody, welcome back to The Move. I'm Spencer Martin. I'm here with George Hank Happy for a very special post-race edition of Milan San Remo, Tadipagacar, just won his first career edition of the race after a crash right before the Chappressa. All the plans is UAE plans up in smoke, came back. One of the most impressive victories we've ever seen from him. And personally, I've ever seen from anyone. It's the worst monument for him.

He crashes and still makes it happen beats Tom Piccock in a two. up sprint finish thrilling sprint finish on the Via Roma in San Remo with Wild Benarck coming in four seconds later for third Mads Pedersen 4th with a super impressive fourth place come back after breaking his wrist and collarbone in different arms Corbin strong fifth Matthew Vanderpull went with the group the Pagachar Pitca Group was dropped on the Pogio a lot to cover here George this is like the parents are out of town and the teenagers are left at home for the weekend Johan Bruniel he's he's tied up at a bike

race currently. Lance Armstrong's on spring break. It's just us holding down the fort. But what did you think of this fantastic win from Pagachar? Well, it's kind of funny because you all in texting me, like typical Spanish style like 1230 at night saying, hey, I'm middle of nowhere, Spain. And I don't think I have Wi-Fi. Can you cover it? Because he's at his son's race. And I'm like, well, I'm in the same predicament. I'm in Belgium. But fortunately, we have a lot better Wi-Fi. watching my son race, his race here near Bruges. But yeah, kind of funny, like, we're all over the place, but we still get it done, and I got to watch the race.

And we're actually super exciting race. I mean, it's one of the most exciting Milan San Remo's that we've seen in a long time, and I know we're going to break it down. But, I mean, cycling just continues to surprise me, everything that we've been seeing as of late, and it's just incredible what these guys are doing, and super fun to watch. for sure.

Well, you won this race with the team. So in 2009, you were on HGC Columbia. You, your teammate, Mark Cavendish, wins. And what I thought then was the most thrilling finish of San Ramo had ever seen. You didn't say maybe the Kiakoski, what was that? It was the three-up sprint with Sagan, Kievkoski, and Al-Falip. That was incredible. This might have topped it, but it is wild to think Mark Cavendish got over those climbs.

Did you look at these climbing times today on the Trapressa? I clocked it at 840, which is almost 20 seconds faster than last year, which was the record of 859. And then the Pogio was 542, which was significantly fast than the last year. These climbs just kept faster and faster every year. But Pagotcher's had to change the race in order to win it because this was a sprinters classic. Lest we forget, just a few, like a decade ago. It was considered the classic for the sprinters. Now we have the world's best climber win.

winning it. It is incredible. I mean, who did you think was going to win when they came down for that two-up sprint? I thought for sure Pitcock had it and was going to take the biggest win of his career and kind of validate, you know, he's won two, you know, two Olympic mountain bike champs. That's incredible. But there's just like, he's paid a lot of money, one of the highest paid riders in the sport. A lot of turbulence around his team change last year goes over to the small Q-36.5 team. I think I said out loud like, man, it's sunny day. in Italy, he's on a Penerello on his own team. Like, life's pretty good for Pitcock.

And then I thought for sure he was going to win that two-up sprint. But what were you thinking when they came into the final few hundred meters? Yeah, I actually, I was sitting with a buddy in mine in a cafe here in Rouge, and I said, Pitcaught's got it. I mean, he was riding super smart. He missed a couple of pulls leading into the pogeo. You know, and of course, he pulled through on the sand, which you're not really spending much energy. But for sure, I thought he had it.

But going back, 30K to go. I actually said that I need to retire from the podcast and business because I don't know if I've ever, if we've ever witnessed somebody crashing with 30 kilometers to go, not only one guy, but like two guys in the top three, we're 45 seconds behind before the start of the Pogia, or suppressor, sorry. Yeah. And they somehow managed to claw their way back. I don't remember ever seeing that. And I'm not as astute in cycling history as you are, Spencer. but if you can remind me of somebody crashing 30 kilometers to go in Melonser Mimo and still winning, please remind me because I don't think we've ever seen anything like that before.

Well, we used to, I can't think of it either, Georgia. We used to see if you crashed, it's the fastest part of the race. It's a mad dash to the Trapressa. It used to be game over, right? You have a little problem, positioned wrong. You're done. These guys are standing on the side of the road. Wait for new bikes.

You're done. I mean, as a fan now, as a spectator, watching. watching the race, you don't quite get to appreciate how hard they're going up, the capo Mella, the capo Melli, the capo Berta, they're going as hard as you can possibly imagine in a group of a hundred guys. Like, you're doing more watch than you ever can imagine doing. And then you descend down the cap of Melli. You're heading down to the espresso where it kind of narrows down.

Everybody wants to be at the front. And then Pocatechart is on the ground. For me, the race was over. Like, Pocachar is not winning this race at 30K to go. based on my experience. There's no way I can physically imagine somebody coming back from that.

And then you see him clawing his way back. Brandon McDowley, VIP of the race, in my opinion, bringing them back, getting him to the front of the suppressa, setting the pace. I mean, it was like the most exciting in San Remo that I've seen in a long time.

And I just don't know how these guys do it. I cannot sit here as an expert podcaster and tell you how they had. did it. It was super incredible to watch and witness what they did today. You know, it's really weird is the last, we've seen the last two years, that they're a yard sale on the Chappresso. You can't get it right. You know, they just, they're never positioned correctly. Pagotcha's left alone at the front. It's almost like this crash helped them, because they're coming from behind. Del Toro, he does not sit up. He stays at the front. He struggles

with positioning more than anyone in like the elite group of that team, which means he's already at the front when Pugatra gets up there. He doesn't have to fight for position as much. And the pace kind of came off. They were helped by that. Enios and J.co were at the front. Like, what are we supposed to do here? We were waiting for UAE to attack.

Now no one's attacking. Pagotcher zooms up the side and he's, yeah, with McNulty was key. Because McNulty's with him. They're moving up so fast. They hit right at the Chappresso, like right where they want to be at the front. With Brandon McNulty, one of the strong, this guy is unbelievably strong. With him leading, he's not even the last. That's the leadout because then they have Del Toro there who comes in.

It is almost like it worked better for them the last few years because of the crash because it shuffled the deck, let them move up at their own pace versus trying to fight for position at the front. It sounds weird because you think chasing would be worse, but they came into that climb with so much speed versus the blob at the front. It looked, I give a stressful to even look at it and it looked like they were almost going slower versus the group at the back. and when I said the time on the suppress, I clocked, put God charred that

because he went in slightly later. But just to back people up, I said it in my preview, do not watch this race before 30K to go. I should have said 40K to go because that's when it started. But just to give you like a feel for how hard they're going leading to this, 130K to go, Alpison's on the front.

Poor Sylvan Dilliate. The man must have been on the front. The last two years combined like seven hours at this race. He's at the front for Alpison Premier Tech riding. I would guess 381. watts for three and a half hours at a time. The gap to the, you could tell there was nervousness going in to the Turchino Mountain Pass.

It's like the biggest mountain pass. Tops out about 120K from the finish. There's nervousness coming in there and the gap is quite small to the breakaway. UA is threatening. You know, they're like sitting their whole team right behind Alpison. It looks like they're going to make it hard note. It's a fake.

They go back. The gap blows out to the breakaway with, you know, 109K to go, it's five minutes. With 50K to go, no, 81K to go, UAE finally comes to the front with Dominoback and the gap is at seven minutes. UA gets the front so hard, like with 50K to go, they have Felix, Felix Groschartner pushing 460 watts, just like that's the pace he setting on the front. The gap goes from seven minutes to one minute at the cap of Bertha with 40K to go. It's down to one minute.

So it's a cut in what, the course of 40K, it's cut by six minutes. That's how hard they were going. And then as you say, yeah, Pagotcha crashes. It's like, well, this is, they're done. Van Ard's on the ground. And then if you noticed, I didn't see him go down, but Matthew Venterpole's hand was all cut up. So he must have gone down as well. He chases back on.

They get to the Chippresa. Pagac gets to the front. He kind of gets back to where he wants to be. Del Toro launches him with like around 24K to go. Bogotcher goes, were you shocked by the gap between, it was Bogotcher, Pitcock, and Vanderpull were the three at the front. And it looked like the rest of the group took a wrong turn. The gap was so big.

I could not believe it. Yeah, it's these guys that Bogotra's head over heels, different level than anybody else in the Peloton. And you watch, like, let's just back up a little bit. Sylvan Deliate, like, what he did, people are like, oh, he's pulling the front. like he has been preparing for this all season thus far. Like we saw, I was in UAE with my team. He was in the breakaway every day doing solo like crazy breakaways.

And he's like, I'm just training. Like, why is this guy in the front of the race? Well, he's just training for moments like this where he can hold a breakaway of seven guys within four or five minutes on his own, essentially. But then you watch what, how UAE came together there in the finish. It was just, well, before, in the, on the suppressa. I actually cannot explain how they can, you, you mentioned it's been sure how they just,

it might have been better, but I'm not sure I agree with you because I cannot physically imagine doing the race. I've done the race 15 times. I didn't remember that. You pointed that out. But there's no way, no matter how fit I was, if I could start at the back of the suppress, I would get to the front. There's just no way.

Like, I just can't imagine because there's such a hard climb after, for the American viewers, what, 160 miles. Like, your legs are done at that point. You can move up through the Peloton of a, at that point, 60, 80, 100 guys relatively easy. I just, I can't envision that and then attack. It's like, it's like they planned it. But at the same point, I just, I can't imagine the strength of these guys

the way they do it. I mean, they just do it. It makes it look easy for the, for the spectator for the average fan that's watching it. Like, it just looks easy. But as somebody that's done the race that many times, I just cannot imagine how strong these guys are. It's incredible what they're doing.

I think Adam Blythe or someone was saying on the commentary that Sylvan Dillier, the work he's doing is physically changing his rider profile. Like he'll be able to ride sub 400, like right below 400 watts forever, right? He's going to be great at that. He's like almost permanently damaging his ability to go higher or lower than that though.

Like that's how, like that's how serious you have to be about setting pace like that. Like that's now the rest of his career. He can't go back to being a different type of writer. And then as you say with 50K to go, I think you could turn the TV on and say, oh, they're just up there. They're just set and pace. It's like,

they're going almost 500 watts on the front of this Peloton. Like they're flying. And it's not, the attacks aren't even starting. Yeah. And Sullivan, Dillian is going home tonight, knowing that he did the most amazing job for his team. His teammates are super appreciative. They know

how important his role was. And the fans will be like, well, Sylvan Dele, what did you do? You just pulled for 150,000. They don't really care, but like somebody who's been in the war and his teammates that were there, they are like so happy with the job that he did because they know it's on an easy job, one. They know it's a very selfless job, what he did. But as somebody who's done the race, know that it's a super important job to have somebody like that. And that's his only role. And he's on one of the best teams in the world. He's getting paid super well to do his job. He has won his, he's won his job.

Like he did the most amazing job today and he gets super, like he should get super a ton of accolades for what he did today. Why was he doing it? Is it because Vanderpull was technically the favorite for this race and Alpison just doesn't want the gap to the break to get so big? Like should they have forced UAE to do that work basically? Well, they probably came out that really won last year, so that it's kind of their responsibility to sort of... They've won the last three years, right? Yeah, they've won the last three years. It's their responsibility.

It's their role to sort of control that breakaway from getting away. And yeah, you can question whether or not UA should have done that, but I don't think it would have changed much. I mean, they have such a deep roster that they probably could have put one guy with Sylvan Delia. but they didn't. That's sort of the tactics, the calls on the road today, but they took the race, the bull by the horn, so to speak, and they did the job, and Vandipal was there right at the end. I had a bad moment on the pojo.

Still ended up eighth place, but also came back from a crash, which is such a hard thing to do. I mean, yes, Pogetra made it look easy. Van Hurt made it look easy, but I just, as somebody has done the race so many times, I just, I'm so in awe and so much respect to what these guys are doing right now. And I mean, so talk about the bad moment from Vanderpil. Let's give a little context for this.

So Pagotcha gets away on the trepessa with Vanderpillar and Pitcock. It looks like they're managing their effort. But if you looked at their power files, they're going all out, like really pushing it. They crest the climb. They get to the bottom of the descent. They have 30 seconds on the Peloton. It's not over yet. Like you easily could be lulled into thinking it's over because they have.

have from 18k to go to like 9k to go is a flat run into the pogeo there's only three of them at the front it's kind of a difficult decision they have here because they have little trek behind impressively intact with vizma chasing on so little track is mads peterson which i've no freaking idea how it's mads peterson who is a late entry into this race um who's been getting in surgery on his on his wrist and collarbone different arm different arms Couldn't wipe his butt, he said, just a few months ago. Now he's in the front chase group at San Ramo, but they're 30 seconds back. So they have to rotate the three of them at the front.

If you looked at their power when they were doing this, Pagachar was pulling at 460 watts, was sitting in at like 410 watts. So those guys, so Vanderpals doing even more because he's bigger. Those guys were going all out in the front, but also having to think, well, we still have one more climb. Is Pagacha going to attack us? What do we do? The gap's coming down because Little Trek's doing a great job.

It's 22 seconds with the 11K to go. Start of the Poggio, 9K to go. It's down to six seconds. Like the Peloton is right there. And as you said, I mean, Pitcock and Pagotra are really paying attention. Like they were doing the minimum amount of work while not getting caught because all they need is a little gap at the Pogio. Because no one's going to pull back six seconds plus than some on that front group. And then Vanderpenter and then Vanderpels dropped with the eight and a half K to go because of what we just like, because of the trip.

Pressa was ridden at a record ascent time. And then it was not like easy time on the flats. They were cooking on the flats. The plan works. You always plan to kind of ride the Troprosa all out, force Vanderpull to do a lot of work in between. He's dropped. First obstacles done.

Pagotcha attacks are 7K to go. And he was getting steeper on the pogeo. Cannot drop Pitcock. The gap is like 20, it says 20 seconds, but you can see that peloton snaking right behind him, thrilling stuff. They get over the top. I was surprised Pagotcha.

Pickcock let Pagotcha go first on the descent, which to me was a big advantage to Pagotcha, because now Pitcock, the best dissender, maybe in the history of the sport, can't press it. But Pitcock seemed all in on the sprint. He got into the front for a little bit on the descent, but then push Pagotcha back through. Did not seem like he was trying to win the race there. Frankly, I thought he was going to win at this point because he's managing his effort so well. They go into the, you know, it says, down. Hill run through the city. It's like flat to downhill and they have just enough time.

Like they're both really paying attention to the gap. Just enough time. But they are like burning all the time they have because they're not, neither of them wants to overexpose themselves. Pagotcha pulls into the last K and I thought, oh, this is a mistake. And then Van Ard attacks from behind. So you have pressure from behind. Van Ard is cooking in that chain like the one man chase group staying up in front of the Peloton. Then Pagatra leads to the sprint out. I'm watching it. thought he lost it, but he won in a bike throw. He is torn up, by the way. Like, not just a crash. They look like a bad crash.

And then he beats Pitcock, who doesn't win, but gets, I would say, one of the most impressive results of his career. And then Van Art, with a pretty impressive third place, considering he just had surgery on his ankle earlier in 2026. But I thought that they both, like last year, I thought Pagachar did too much work with Vanderpull. Did you think he was doing it? Like, as it was happening in Georgia, G.

think he was doing a good job of managing his effort and kind of they were using that cushion they had pretty smartly and they used pretty much all of it because they only won by four seconds yeah i mean at that point when they when you commit on the suppressa like you got to keep it rolling and from experience like the section between suppressa and the pojo i mean it's not easy i've finished in the front group of the milan saramo maybe 10 times and i don't think i've ever remember being in the wind between the suppress and the pojo. Like you're trying to save as much energy as possible. Yeah.

And like trying to soak it all in, like following the wheels. And that's, that's a good morning. It's a dead flat. Like it's kind of a little bit rolling, but super twisty. But like you get a lot of advantage on the wheels. So when I saw like Trek, Bahrain behind chasing full gas, I thought they're going to get caught because the guys from Trek and the guys from Bahrain that were chasing, like, their finish of the race.

was the start of the pojo where the guys in the front their finish was at the finish line Matt Peterson, all these guys where the finish was actually at the finish line where you have some of the best riders in the world chasing full gas and they can just sit up on the pojo

and go as easy as they can. Yeah, yeah. And they still didn't close the gap. But they brought it from 30 to like what you said, six seconds. But like for me, in typical racing, like you close, that gap is going to be closed. But these guys are so strong

and are able to manage their walk in their effort so diligently more than we've ever seen in cycling history that is actually changing the game, it's changing the tactics. I've never seen anything like that where they can manage the gap between the breakaway and the peloton and still be able to roll away on the pojo. It's just, it's really hard to predict what's going to happen, but it makes it super exciting at the same time. Yeah, it's a very good point.

It's Little Trek's finish line was the bottom of the climb. the last climb. Yes. And the other guys had to manage their effort and they still got there. That's why you don't see many people ride clear on the Trapressa. We've seen it the last two years before that. I believe it was Johnny Booneo perhaps. I know.

It was like in the 90s. Was the last time it happened before last year. But let's take a quick ad break, George. And then I'm going to throw out some stats and we're going to talk about if this is maybe the best win we've seen from Baguagachar. This episode is brought to you by rag and bone. You have to choose between genes that look great and genes that actually like. lasted. With rag and bone infused denim, you finally get both. Rag and bone infused offers a range of fits tailored for any style and occasion from

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heard about him. Please say us to support the show. All right. Let's get back into it. Okay, George, so we're back. Pagachar has now has his, he wins this. San Ramo, first career, San Ramo win. I would say this is the classic least, the monument least suited to him. So now a sweep

looks like it's possible. All he needs now is Perry Rubei. What's the big deal? Just won't Perry Rubei. But Perry Rubei actually, for a guy that is that powerful and that good at Bikin Lane, he just needs like an off day from Bannertipal and he could win Rubet. I thought San Remo presented the most problems because as we were just talking about,

sure, you can attack further out, but then you got to work on the flat and then you have a group pulling behind. It's not that hard of a race. So you have a big Peloton chasing you. Well, he cracked that. Let's just assume he does Rubet. He gets the he gets the sweep. Now is 11 career monuments. That's second of all time. The only writer with Moore is that he merks with 19, I believe. and he's winning them at a pace of like two and a half a year. So if you figure, let's say he has 13 by the end of this year, then he needs six to tie Merks. He could have Merck's tied or beaten by the 2029 season,

assuming he keeps winning at this rate. I thought that was an impossible record to be already second and still be easy. He's at the age, I believe, when Lance won his second tutor friends. So we're talking about a guy that's got maybe some tread out in the tires. It's impressive. I think, though, just setting the numbers aside, I think this is the most impressive win I've ever seen from him,

maybe even more than the 2020 tour fronts, because there's no pressure on that, right? He just had to show up and do that time trial. Like, he doesn't win, it's not a big deal at all. Like, what an amazing result for a 21-year-old. This is a lot of pressure on him. You know, everyone's looking at him. His team has a plan.

He crashes. He gets dinged up. That was not a light crash. And then he comes back and wins. And someone texts him right after you crash. If he had texted like he's going to win, like he's going to win now. And they're like, this is the most impressive win I've ever seen if he does. And he does it.

I mean, we're talking like the stuff that you would not think is possible. He's now doing on a routine basis. Do you think this is the most impressive pagetra win you'd ever seen? And do you think it's the most impressive one day when you've ever seen? Setting aside your get Wolfgang win. I would have to say 100%. I mean, going back, it's not like it's not like it was a weird. crash like he just crashed on his own like he crashed with the favorites of the race binger

gourmetre d'all bernardt i think correct me if i'm wrong uh vanderpull was in that crash as well or got yeah yeah so like the favorites of the race except for tom pickack were in that crash and like i mentioned earlier in the show there's no way you're coming back than that so the fact that he came back and did the majority of the work from from basically the bottom of the espresso after Brendan McNulty and Isaac Del Toro pulled off to the finish line. And we talk about

like how do we change the tactics? How do the riders change the tactics? How do the team change the tactics to beat him? Tom Pickack did the absolute perfect race. Actually, in fact, I texted the owner of his team, Ivan Glassburg, said he's riding amazing. Like, you can't ride a better race

than what he's doing right now. He's kind of missed a couple of pulls going into the poachio. Only did the work on the downhill, which you're not spending much, Energy has one Amphil Gold Race against one of the best sprinters in the world where I've been art. So he has an amazing sprint.

So he was going in super confident. Like there's nothing different that he could have done to win that race. And Pocetra still wins it with a crash. So it's just, I just don't know how you can beat this guy. Like he is just essentially unbeatable. People were saying that, well, wait till San Remo. He's going to get beat at San Ramo. I really thought that we should shout out,

Johann Bernille, he said in the preview, he said, Pitcock is classy. You rarely see a rider like this and he's on form. I said, I don't know about that. Tom Pitcock climbs this shallow. I think he doesn't have the power. Johan was right because as you say, Pitcock looked like he was riding the perfect race. He looked unshakable. I would say they don't win, but Penerello, Pintero 6.5, your good buddy must feel good

because this is a big result for a non. They're a second division team. same division as your team. I mean, imagine if modern adventures got second San Remo, that'd be quite the result. They are a very well-funded second division team. This isn't like a mom-and-pop shop. But that's huge for them.

We should also say, Wow, Van Art, it's his first monument podium since 2023. So this is a big result for Wow, even though he doesn't win. I mean, he actually was a few, like he was a few decisions from the front too, away from potentially winning this race.

I'm still in awe of how him and Matt's Patterson did at this race coming off injuries earlier this spring where I kind of wrote them off for the monument season. And then I would say Vanderpull eighth place that this is probably, I don't have, I should have it pulled up, it might be as worst result in a monument like a long time. But that's more of a testament to Vanderpull because we've gotten used to him winning or finishing on the podium of every monument. He starts.

But George, how do you feel going in? The next, we kind of have a little bit of a break with vast country, and then we go into the cobbled monuments. Like if you're Pitcock, if you're Van Ard, if you're Vanderpull, what are you feeling as you have to go up against this guy who seems like he can win anything whenever he wants? Yeah, I mean, just let's back up a little bit. Matt Peterson, like you said, I mean, he essentially has not raised his bike for six months.

He did one race in Spain, broke his elbow. hand. Yeah, first race of the year. First race of the year, getting fourth place in San Remo, while the whole team behind him, I mean, total rock star, right? He's got to come out with confidence. The team has got to come out with confidence. I mean, they lost John DeMilan due to the illness a couple of days ago, who could have probably most likely been there as well. So they're going to go into the next block of the Caval races with a ton of confidence, knowing that they got Mads back. I'm sure Jonathan Milan will be back. While Ben Hart was also in that crash coming. and back getting third place. He was with

Mateo Jorgensen. I mean, the team really came together to bring them all back where it was like you should not be able to come back after a crash like that. So all these guys did an incredible ride, but as you said, I mean, Pocotacic are just just continues to impress. And it's like

we can keep saying the same thing like this is the rider, the best rider we've seen in a long time or maybe perhaps in the history of cycling. But what he did today, I don't think we've seen something like that. in cycling and I don't remember ever seen anything

like that. I mean 30K to go on Sam we're coming back and winning the race. Crashing is incredible. Cut up in the World Champion's jersey. It was one of these things that you read about. You need to read about from the Merck's times and you can think, well, that doesn't sound right? Or how is that possible?

It's like that, we watch something like that happen where you would not think it's possible and it happened. I mean, I would say it's maybe it's a good thing, Johan's, it doesn't have Wi-Fi because personally, I think there's no debate anymore. I think this is, I think this is the best of all time. Oh, yeah. I mean, you can't, it's almost without a doubt. Not only that, but like the calls I've got to go on in the race cars when that happens. Like, okay, DeLitori, you stay in the front

just in case you can hang with the best guys, keep McNulty back with you, keep a couple of his teammates back with him, and just sort of pace yourself way through the Peloton, when they're going full gas. Like, I'll, I never, I still remember super vividly, like the train station on the left turn, on the left, when you got to take a right turn to go to the suppressa. Like, that's like what you keep an eye up for and you're going 60K an hour after Capa Malay to get to the Supressa. Like, at least 60K, you probably can look it up, but the average speed from the top of Capamela to the bottom of the suppressa has to be way over 50K an hour. So the fact that he's behind. He's behind there and trying to work his way back.

I mean, think about his speeds. Think about his power that he's putting in before he actually gets to the suppressa and is able to attack halfway up to the suppressa. I don't ever remember seeing anything like that. And the crazy thing to me is they keep a teammate up there. Talk about confidence. He's like, don't even come back because he's going to make it stay up there. That was kind of the key too because we were talking about that little.

They had a little bit of a gap going into the pojo, not mainly, but it definitely was a factor that Del Toro was in the chase group. But you saw he was rotating through and he would rotate through, sit up. It just kind of disrupted the chase a little bit. I mean, Del Toro was super impressive and you'd think, well, someone's as good as Pagotchar. That's not great for everybody else. And then you're like, well, guess what? They have a rider that's five years younger or six years younger that is almost just as good.

And he's going to be in the second group of every one day race, gumming up your chase. good luck with that. Very hard to beat that. We should say, though, yeah, you mentioned Little Trek. I must think Little Trek, as crazy as it is, it is almost the team of the day. I could not believe how well they did, how well they got over the Trapressa. And if you noticed when those three went away, I mentioned the big gap. It's almost like that, that was pre-planned.

It's like, don't even follow them. Like, don't lose the team, manage the effort, and then ride as hard as you can in the valley or the coastal road between the two climbs. Yeah, I think once we get to the Belgian classics coming up here in a few weeks, you got to put a lot of confidence in Matt's Peterson. I mean, not racing for six months, essentially, and getting fourth place today in a 300-kilometer race,

and he's about to hit his arguably, like, what he's really good at in the classics, Belgian classics, it's going to be a big battle between Mads Peterson, Vandipoll and Poguchar as well. Yeah, I agree. Let's take another quick break and then I have a few random shoutouts

for people I was surprised we're in the front group and I do want to get your thoughts and a few of the Cobble classics before you have to run. George, we're back. You mentioned the Cobble classics. I do think

today I would say, the most impressive victory I've ever seen. So that's on one side of the tally mark. The other is I would not say I predicted it our, Johann and I did a prediction show before 2026.

I predicted that Pagachar would win every monument of the year. That is a possibility, but I would come away from this race. Yes, on one hand, Pagachar is amazing, almost unbeatable. The other hand, we have better competition than I thought, because Pitcock looks like he's on career best form. He's finally, he's what, 26 years old. I thought today was the biggest, I know he's won two World Olympic Championships. at least on the road the biggest day of his career anyone on opt-to-es but that going toe to toe with the best guys being undropable like that is not that is something tom pickock is up there now wow vinar looks good mad's peterson looks good but matthew bannertull is always going to look good that guy's unshakable and i mean yasper stoivant in seventh as well like you you actually have a lot of strong classic contenders here like so let's say we have a little bit of a break so we have bass country and then early April we're at Flanders and then a week later we're at Brubay.

Like who do you, who would you pick from this group to like, I guess we also have Gettwebelgum, E3, like who do you think is going to shine in those cobbled races later in the year? That's a tough one. But I'm going to see what Matt Peterson did today in his first race back. Arguably one of the most technical races in terms of like fighting for position, longest World Cups of the year. and coming, you know, coming out of essentially no racing,

I'm going to put my money on him to be super successful in the next three weeks. I was going to say if, if I take a walk down to the local bookie and maybe put a little bit of money on Pedersen to win route back. Yeah. Because he was. John DeMilan will be back. Yeah. His team, they had four or five, maybe five guys there before the pojo.

And like their team is super strong. Yes, they didn't come away with the win. But I think they're going home tonight and going, okay, we're ready. We're ready for the. Big classics coming up. Yeah, and I don't know about the classics, but this guy has been everywhere this year. Tobias Sloan-Danderson finishes 13th in the front group from the Cathlon.

Good sprinter. I mean, to get over those two climbs, four seconds back from Pagotra and Pitchcock, like he is, I think he already has three World Tour wins this year. That's somebody to keep an eye on. Let me look at his race schedule. Yeah, he's doing, he's doing the full,

the full Flander in. No, he races up to dwarves or Flanderan. But all these pre-Flanders races keeping on him. Also, do you know who finished in the front chase group, like the front group? I couldn't believe this. Mr. Pramos Roglitch. Where did that come from? Has he even started this race before?

Yeah, I was surprised. I saw him early on with like 200K to go sitting there in the front. I didn't realize Primos Rogelich was doing this race. But yeah, another guy, like this continues to impress for sure. Yeah, I'd assume it's part of some Well, I said it to someone earlier today I was like, you know, I think Pedersen just doing He's just trying to get race miles in his legs

That's what I thought That's why I thought he was starting this race And then he gets fourth But I'd assume Primo's I guess a lot of these guys Two live in Monaco Race finishes close to home Not too much of a heavy lift for the travel But I'm coming away with this thinking

Yeah, Pagotcha is probably the best we've ever seen This is unbelievable But we're going into what I think is going to be a great, great coppa classic season. I agree. I mean, Van Vandapol, like, let's not discount. He also crashed. He came back and was able to make the break with the final move with Pitcock and Poked Char and then still sprints for a place after getting caught by the Pelican. Like, most people don't understand like what it takes to actually get caught. You're dead 300K into a race and you're still sprinting for top 10. Like, I mean, he's going to have an incredible classics campaign.

as well. The crazy thing, too, he's setting probably personal records on all these climbs. So you're doing these climbs faster than you've done them when you won the race. Yeah. And you're in the front, you're just like getting swept up by a group. Like, what is going on here yet? And there's still be sprinting for eighth. There is probably a point of pride.

I don't know if you notice, but Jasper Phillips. And the last, so it's been Phillips. It's been Vanderpull, Philipson, Philipson, I believe. Yeah, Vanderpul, Phyllipson, Vanderpul. And then Pagacho won this year. So, sorry, I said that backwards. 2023 Vanderpil, 24 Phillips and 2025, Vanderpul, and then 2026, Pagot Char.

So Alpison, Premier Tech has won this race the last three years before this. Philipson, we won it in 2020, was the one doing the work to pull Vanderpull back into the group after he crashed. So he kind of sacrificed his chances to compete for the win, to get Vanderpull up there. That's how much confidence the team has in him. I was pretty impressed by that by guy who won the race just a few years. ago, who would have fed a decent chance probably if that came back together. So,

kudos to him. We may even start seeing like scenarios where what we saw today were the strongest guys in the race, Vanderpull, Boguchar, Pickcock, make this selection. And they still have 30K to go or whatever, 20K to go to the finish of the race. We may start seeing scenarios where they're just not going to work anymore, where they'll have a guy like Phillips in behind. or let's say somebody from Trexon in that selection and they have a guy like Matt's Peterson-Vyvine behind, they're not going to work anymore to guarantee their third place

because they know they might not be LV Pochotra. They might just sit on his wheel. So we might see scenarios where these guys will not work with Pogochar if they're with them. If they're able to hang with them on the second or last climb or the second last hard section, like teens may start saying, you know what, if you make the selection with Pogachar,

you cannot work with them. because we have to give our other guys a chance because you might not be able to beat them. I'm glad you bring that up because I'm sure people were screaming during the race and screaming at us during this podcast. It's like, why does anyone work with them? Don't work with them. Well, let's talk through that. So those three get away. Pitcock, Fanderpul, Pagachar.

Pitcock kind of has to work, right? Because he's even if he gets second, that's the biggest result of his, one of the biggest results of his career, one of the biggest recent results of his career. and he has a decent chance to win. You know, in a sprint against Pagotcha, like you can't, the team has no other option. So he kind of has to do work. Vanderpull,

I was thinking, I'm like, hmm, what if Vanderpul just sat on here? Like, what do you think would have happened if Vanderpul wouldn't have worked with those two? Well,

I mean, I'm saying as it from a director's standpoint, from a rider's standpoint, if you make it through, like, the stress of positioning and actually making that selection and you're guaranteed,

essentially guaranteed a top three, you're going to work. It's like you're going to want to work to get guaranteed that top free spot. But directors and sponsors may say at some point, like, there's no way we're going to win this unless we take a chance, sit on and give our guy, our sprinter, behind a chance. I'm just saying that might change the game in some sense, because currently what we're seeing is there's no way to beat Bogotaur.

Yes, yes, I do agree with you that from a high level, like a team strategy level, they might start pulling out. And you see this in other sports as well. Like in the modern game, people, I think of the Warriors with Steph Curry. It's almost hack it to the point, to the most extreme point.

And you just have to do ridiculous stuff to stop it. Yeah, and having Matthew Interpol not pole in the front group might be one of those things. Probably hard to convince. Part of the beauty of cycling, though, is Pitcock and Vanderpul probably, when they're in that group,

I believe in their heart or heart, they're like, well, I'm going to smoke this guy. I got better than Pagat charts today. So managing that is probably difficult for a team as well. I agree. I agree. I'm just saying we might start seeing those scenarios, but I had my money on Pekak when I saw

that breakaway, when I saw how smartly he was riding and kind of sort of missing pulls here and there. And, you know, with the sprint that we all know he has, I had my money on Pekok, but it didn't happen. Yeah. I thought so, too. I thought that was about as good a shot as you. you're going to get it, Pagotcha.

I mean, if we really think about what do we do to beat this guy, he seems unbeatable. Today actually was a good scenario. It's not like strata Bianchi, where it's just like we're going to line up and he's going to ride away from us. I thought Piccock had it. I thought he did everything right.

You could see Pagatja looking back. He was worried about the chase group. He was working quite a bit to make sure, because as you say, you don't want to go through all of this to get away and get caught because then you're not going to beat Pedersen. You're not going to beat Van Ard.

These guys who do, didn't, Corbin Strong is going to beat you because he didn't make the effort to get away. So you kind of have to stay away. I thought Piccock had it. Chappot to him, though. Great race. Did you notice, though? Great race.

Italian monument. The two bikes, first, Colanooga, second, Pinterlo, two classic Italian bikes, top two steps of the podium. Yeah, good point. Yeah, pretty cool to see it actually up there. But, so you're over in Europe. You're in Belgium for Enzo had a race today, and then your team's race. you're seeing. What's your next big race on the calendar? Yeah, we have the vote of the Catalonia

starting Monday. So I'll be flying from Belgium back to Spain on tomorrow night. And we'll be starting off on Monday morning. Nice. Did you hear that best of luck. You guys have been doing great. It's been great to see. Also, did you see this guy Jonah Curie? Yohan and I were talking about him on the show the other day. This also might be tampering what we're doing right now. But I'd never heard of this guy. American writer, he's only been on French. And It's like French and Belgian club and continental level teams. And he was last man standing in the break. Yeah, he was,

he was away with one of my guys, Sean Christian. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, I was actually quite surprised myself. And I really, I'm excited to see another American rider up there. Jonah Killey is his name. But yeah, we shouted him out the last episode, let's shout him out again. That was super impressive. That's a hard career to take, by the way.

Yeah. But did you hear that some Remko Evanapult is supposed to be going to Catalonia to face off against? He's stuck in the snow. He's stuck in the snow on Mount Teed, which is not normally of snow. So might not be seeing a showdown there. Well, maybe that's one spot further up in the G.C. We can finish if he doesn't show up. But obviously, we want the best guys there.

Yeah, lock in second place for you. It is actually an exciting race. It starts on Monday. Jonas Vindigard, Remco Evernipold. Maybe, maybe not. Jole-Omeida, Tom Pickock, Jay Vine, Oscar Conley, Brandon McNulty, Julia Chaconan, Lenny Martinez. Very stacked field.

I'm excited to see that. Best of luck, George. Anything else before we take off? I think this is maybe the first time we've ever, this pairing of the move has ever happened. Yeah, no, you're right. Yeah, no, Johan today. He's somewhere in southern Spain without Wi-Fi. But, yeah, no, it's exciting.

Today, I got to say today was super exciting. I mean, the best rider in the world won. we didn't really know it until the last 50 meters of the race that he was going to win. It was down to the wire. And I think it was more exciting than the last World College we've watched. And hopefully we'll get more of that excitement in the next races to come. Yeah. I hope people don't because there's this narrative like, oh, Pagachar is making racing boring.

Today was one of the most exciting races ever. That was unbelievable. And what he's doing is he's raising the level of the rest of the sport. Like these guys are riding better than they would if he wasn't there. because they have to have a chance. So that's cool to see as well. Yeah, and going back, I know I mentioned it earlier, but seeing a guy like Brandon with Nulte and American guy,

like working his way through the Peloton and having a massive impact on Boguchar's win is for me, it's super exciting to witness as well. That was huge, huge turn of work from Brandon. And to have, I don't think people realize to have a quality of writer leading you out at that point is a huge advantage. Absolutely.

That guy is a thoroughbred. Unbelievable writer. Johann was telling me on the preview show, I said, oh, McNulty, he could play a part on the Chappresa. Johann said his handling's not good enough. He's not going to be there. Well, he proved Johan Ombuds. He was there.

He was there. I said, this guy, he's legit. But also, like we saw with Tiger Woods and golf, and you see it often with tennis and whatnot. Pagotra will, he will become a victim of this at a certain point. He is increasing the level in the sport. to the point that it will come back to Biden, basically. Because everyone's getting better.

He's going to have a down moment, and he's going to get swamped by all these writers who have gotten better because of him. That's kind of the cool thing about this. I agree. Yeah. Well, thanks so much, George. Best of luck at Catalonia.

And we'll have Johan back on this show next week to give his belated thoughts on San Rainbow. And Lance, we're going to have the A-Team lineup. We're going to have Lance, George, Johann, on the upcoming monuments as well, like Flanders and Ruben. so get excited for that. Awesome.

All right. Talk to you later. Thank you. Bye.