THEMOVE - The Vuelta is Decided on the Bola del Mundo | Vuelta a España Stage 20 Analysis & Stage 21 Preview | THEMOVE+

Episode Date: September 13, 2025

Johan Bruyneel and Spencer Martin break down Jonas Vingegaard's statement victory on Stage 20 to seal his overall Vuelta a España win over João Almeida, along with the GC action further down the leaderboard on the brutal Bola del Mundo climb. They analyze UAE's strategy throughout the stage and why Jonas Vingegaard was ultimately able to withstand their pace. Before they go, they preview tomorrow’s final stage in Madrid, discussing how it could play out and who is best positioned to take the stage win. Hims: Start your free online visit today at https://hims.com/themove for your personalized hair loss treatment options. Results vary. Based on studies of topical and oral minoxidil and finasteride. Prescription products require an online consultation with a healthcare provider who will determine if a prescription is appropriate. Mint Mobile: This year, skip breaking a sweat AND breaking the bank. Get this new customer offer and your 3-month Unlimited wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month at https://mintmobile.com/themove. Upfront payment of $45 required (equivalent to $15/mo.) Limited-time new customer offer for the first 3 months only. Speeds may slow above 35GB on Unlimited plan. Taxes & fees extra. See MINT MOBILE for details. Use our special link to see where you can bet in your area and claim the best sign-up offers https://nxtbets.com/betoutcomes/

Spencer, listen, tomorrow, so tomorrow, the last day of the Vuelta, I mean, we all think, you know, if we think about what happened in the past, you know, I think we all think it's a lot closer, a lot more recent. It's going to be 30 years ago when I was on the podium of the final GCC and the Vuelta. 30 years ago, 1995, almost half of my life ago. That's crazy. Crazy. Everybody, welcome back to the Move Plus.

I'm Spencer Martin. I'm here with Johan Brunel. We are breaking down stage 20 of the Volta, Espagna, won by Jonas Vindigard over Supkous, his teammate, Jai Henley, 3rd, Tom Pickcock, 4th, Jualimata 5th. He extends his G.C. lead slightly. He'll win the overall, essentially. Well, there's just a ceremonial stage left.

He's once he finishes the stage 116 over Jolamata, 311 over Tom Pitca. who holds off Jai Henley, 341, back in fourth place. And then further down, Matthew Rickettello jumped Giulio Pellazari to finish fifth overall and finally get that white jersey. I was quite excited about that, Johan, since I took a big bet out on that. That's big for Matthew in his career. And then when we're done, breaking that down, we'll preview tomorrow's stage 21.

If it happens, a few quick race notes before we get your take, Johan. The day started pretty straightforward. I was thrown for a loop. They didn't put anyone in the breakaway. They sat back, just set a hard pace. The breakaway never got much of an advantage. They were just, it was like watching Visima in the tour. If you remember, like, Plata Bay stage in the Pyrenees two years ago, just riding real hard.

The whole stage, trying to put kilojoules and Jonas Vinegard's legs. They crests the second to last climb. It was like a minute back from the breakaway. They go into the valley before they go up the brutal final climb. There was some protesters on route. actually got it was kind of dicey they were hiding and then they kind of surprised the police there was nothing the police really could do they held them off best they could people got through a movie star rider got held up now it ended up being okay but it was pretty scary to watch they get to the

final climb uaee j vines leading it out he pulls off and we kind of immediately see jollamate is probably not going to have the legs to drop yonis vintagard because yonis it kind of wondered looked like, I wonder what I should do here. Jai Henley attacks to try to drop Pitcock. Jonas follows him. Almeida goes into defensive mode. So it's about with three-ish K to go. And you kind of right there knew that Jonas Vinegarde's going to win this race.

Eventually, Vineyard attacks on one of the steepest parts. I mean, these pitches were like 17, 18, 19 percent. It was sustained, kind of unbelievable, terrible, terrible asphalt, too. Someone texted me calling it cement climb. And I had to agree with that. And then Vinegard held them off, wins the stage. pretty impressive that SEPCUS's teammate is the closest one, Henley, Pitcock, Almeda. Johan, what, and Jonas wraps up his third career grant tour win behind his two tour

state, behind his two overall tour wins. But, Johan, what is your takeaway of the day? Yeah, takeaway of the day, I mean, the best rider won. And today, UAE did for the first time, I would say. What they should do, they work as a unit with just one goal, make the race hard and ride all, everybody for Java Al-Meda. Today has been proven, you know, that you can try to use whatever strategy you want. You know, if your leader doesn't have the legs, it doesn't matter how great of a job the team has done. I think today UAE did a perfect, perfect right, and, you know, the intention was that Java

would then set his pace as fast as possible on the last three kilometers. He started to do that. He did that like for one kilometer, but, you know, he couldn't do the damage they were hoping for. So strategy through the window. You know, I was thinking a bit, you know, like what UAE did today. I think it made sense. And also it also made sense in the sense that we've seen Almeida and Wingerhardt quite even, you know, that Jonas hadn't been dominating, except at one stage where he broke away, it was a stage nine or stage eight.

But, you know, it could have worked. You know, there's nothing to say, but it could have worked. But for Visma, it was actually a great day. And first of all, when they won the race, of course, but in other than that, they didn't have to do anything. UAE was doing the job for Vizma. Vizma was happy to see that breakaway go because, you know, in the case, they were equal. The bonifications were gone. But it turns out that after all the debates we have had and the criticism we had about the four seconds the other day and, you know, didn't really matter.

It doesn't come down to bonus seconds. It just comes down to having good legs on the days that matter. And Jonas won today and deservedly won the Vuelta, I would think. You know, it's clear that this was not the Jonas Wingerhardt of his best days in the tour. But as we said, numerous times, it was definitely good enough to win the tour of Spain. Yeah. I mean, he did say he was sick too, which is kind of curious. You don't really know what that means.

And if you're really sick, do you say you're sick? Jonas Finnegard. And so if you're UAE, I don't hate the ADO, right? Like, he's been sick. Maybe we can crack him. We took time on him in the time trial. Who knows how he is? I think they did everything they could.

We saw some from the chatter class, Johan, there was some criticism that UAE should have put people up the road so they could make the race harder in the final valley and have more teammates there to work so they didn't have to burn Mark Salare so early. Mark Saler, by the way, he finally got a turn on the front in the GC group after three weeks. He did it. But what do you think about that? Like, should they approach this differently and put riders into the breakaway? No, no, I don't think so. Today, definitely didn't make any sense. You know, having riders up front, what they call satellite riders, it only makes sense

if the valleys are important and if there's damage done already on the second last climb um today the stage was not appropriate for it and uh even if i mean suppose you had you have let's say olivera and um michael bierk in the break and they have them in the valley between the second last climb and the last climb. And anyway, Mikhailibir was there anyways at the bottom of the last climb. Yeah. But it would not have made, it makes no difference. It makes no difference, especially for these kind of stages,

you absolutely know where it's going to happen. And, you know, the difference is so small between the first and the second and, I mean, especially the first and the second. And then the third and the fourth was equally the difference, very tiny difference in terms of their level, that I really don't see what a rider up front, having a teammate up front in the case of UE, what they could have brought to the table more than what they have done today. I think it was just, the best was just tried to have a hard pace in the Peloton and then hope that your leader can finish it off. and, you know, Almeida just didn't have it today.

He tried. He tried. I mean, I think they wrote perfectly today, UAE. Just didn't work out because Jonas was, I mean, he's a tough guy to beat. You know what I mean? This guy won't the tour to France twice already. And it was second in almost all of his other grand tours, I would think. He's not finished below second in a grand tour since 2020, his first grand tour.

Yeah. Well, try to shake that. try to break that guy. I mean, it's like, and not being Tadapagachar, you know? Yeah. I mean,

you could have, I have a, I have strong feelings about, I think satellite writers are like, it's like, people overuse. It's like, Americans will know what I mean,

the bubble screen and football where they throw this wide receiver screen. Every one in 100 times, it's a big play. And then the rest, you're like, why are you doing this? It's just a wasted play.

Satellite writers, here's the thing. Like, sometimes it works. Like, Wow, Bernard at the Gero, stage 20.

That's perfect. tonic example of it working because he's a big rider gets over a climb can work for smaller rider in a valley pulls them away from the smaller riders behind that's a very unique situation because if you have to put someone in the breakaway to get up the road it means they're not a strong enough climber to do work on the climb and put other people in trouble so it just has to be a unique and oftentimes you catch these guys like sepcus or the dauphinay and they're so wrecked from being in the breakaway they can't work for the leader and the leader's going faster than he has to leave them.

But I think today, Johan, you could have given he could have raced with the entire UAE team. Everyone they have signed on their roster could have been his teammate today. And they're not cracking Jonas Vinegard. Because in cycling, if you're not stronger than your opponent,

you're going to have hard time winning on a big mountain stage. At the end of the day, Spencer, no matter what you do as a whole, as a team, you know, to put the hurt on your rivals, you also put the hurt on your leader. Yeah, because if it's to make the race hard, it's hard for everybody. You know, it's not like the leader of your team is in a sofa and the other guy who, by the way, is in the leader's jersey and is already 40 seconds ahead of you.

He's suffering and you're not suffering. You know, I mean, it's, it's, listen, tactics are overrated in today's cycling. I've said it already many times and today is the proof. They did a perfect tactic today. If you don't have the player at the end to finish the job, it doesn't really matter. Yeah. And making the race harder today would just have helped Jonas more because he was the strongest writer.

I feel like people forget that sometimes. I mean, you kind of probed this with Jonas. You were seen, and this is probably because tactics don't matter as much. The same riders win all the time. Like Jonas has not finished below second. And these are his grand tour results. Second, first, second, second, first, first, second, second, second, second, second, second. It's all but one of his career grand tours, which was his first ever in 2020.

The guy is like money for podium, oftentimes wins, only loses to Tata Pagachar and in the 2023 VELTA, his teammate, which he kind of sued over the race to, yeah. Other than that, like, it's kind of amazing to me. there's such a gulf between Jonas and then think of all these guys that are very good like jollam made a tom pittcock jai henley but it is it's like a grand canyon depth like there's almost nothing they can do to beat these top riders and the top riders and teams like run away with all the wins like why do you think we're getting much less wind variety than we used to yeah i mean listen if you look at all the grand tours lately it's you know it's Jonas and today they're the big dominators whatever they show up it's you know a race for

second you know then you have okay Simon Yates won the Gero um this year um by the way you know and i think we've talked about it already you know vizma they've of course it the season is always overshadowed if you don't win the tour right then this year they were they were second in the tour were beaten, you know, fair and square by many minutes, by Tade Pogacar. But they win two of the three Grand Tours and the second and the other one. Yeah, not bad. It's not, I'll take that, I'll take that, you know. It's not bad.

But even Simon Yeats of the Giro, he's a previous grand tour winner. Remember, week two of the Giro, we're like, wow, look at these sparkly young riders. Juano Yuso, he's like, Deltoro, there's the stars. Nope, Simon Yates, the guy who's already done it and wins again. It's kind of interesting. It's like if you've, and it feels, I mean, Joala made it getting second at this race. That's big for him. That's his best grand tour.

It's his best ever grand tour result. Yeah. Yeah. Huge. Right of his life. Unfortunately, he may never lead another grand tour because. Yeah. By the way, also today, I was surprised to hear that.

I mean, today after the, after the stage, he revealed also that he has been sick a little bit a little bit the last few days. It's like an S&L skid. I'm sick. No, I'm sick. No, I mean, listen, I definitely, I can definitely believe that you feel sick. It tends to happen, you know, after 10, 14 days in the heat, you know, lots of cooling down, ice. You get a sore throat. You get a runny nose. You get a little cough. I'm pretty sure, like, the last week of any grand tour, half of the Peloton is sick.

you know if you're sick obviously you can't be at a hundred percent then if you're lucky that your rivals are also a bit sick well that kind of evens it out a bit but yeah i mean uh i think it's for elmada it's as good as a result as it can be you know i mean he's he's never been second uh he's only been once on the podium in grand tour third in the jiro right was it was that when who won it was the zero Was that the year that Procycling stats is down

so we don't know anything We're just He's been He's been He's been third in the Gero I'm sure about that No it was when Primus Rockledge won against Grain Thomas

Omada was third Oh you know That was a bad Gero No wonder we don't remember that You're right Yeah It was that super steep It's a podium

It's a podium It's a podium You know It was the stage on Trecimmie de Lavaredo, I think he won him out on the stage, and then it was a super steep time probably at the end. Yeah, 2023. So, you know, third already in the past, second now.

Jonas has won two times a tour. Logic has been respected, I think. But listen, shout out to Tom Pitcock. Third in a grand tour, I think, if, we would have if pitcock would have said before the Vuelta my goal is to be on the podium we would have said there is no chance we would have said maybe top 10 yeah we were said what this guy was this guy smoking yeah so i mean to do this to pull this off uh show i mean he's and he's been fighting today he's been suffering and fighting and holding on and only losing finally four five seconds i think to Jay Hinton?

Five seconds, yeah. Yeah. That's quite the performance. And also, I mean, and I think, I mean, I don't really know. But if I look at his season, this has only become a goal, I think, very recently. He did the Giro. And I think he did the Gero because he had to be present, because that was the reason why his team got invited.

But he had done the classics just before, which that was his objective of the spring. The GRO tried to go for stage wins. Didn't really work out. He's prepared better for this, but he hasn't prepared specifically during months for a ground tour. So, you know, what are we going to see? Are we going to see a Pitcock who tries one or two seasons to focus on grand tours? we know he has a huge engine.

You know, he's one of the biggest talents. Is this his limit? Can he go further? What do you think? Yeah, I know. I'm super impressed. I'm wrong, I should say. I did not think he could do this.

Having said that, I'm almost, and I'm in all of this result, I'm almost disappointed because I do think he's now going to be on. Once you're third at a grand tour like this, you're kind of on that train. And he's even said it at this race. He's like, you can see he's sad at the end of the stages because he's like, oh, it's what you sacrifice when you're going for GC is stage wins. I'd love to be going for stage wins. Yeah.

He was a little, he was robbed of a stage win. He would have won state, was that stage 11 in Bilbao. He thought that he could have gotten away on stage 17 if he was just going for the stage win. So I don't know personality-wise if he's going to be happy continuing. I think personally in his career, Spencer, you know, listen, I mean, A podium of a grand tour beats a stage win in any grand tour. I mean, especially when it's out of left feel like this. I didn't know he was preparing for this race.

Yeah. It's quite impressive. It's quite impressive. You know, he's a huge talent. Listen, he's a bit, sometimes he's a bit, you know, not, I mean, it's difficult to follow his objectives, right? Because he's for classics and then did the gyro. Then he does mountain bike races.

But hey, man, first big attempt for a GC and being on the podium, that's a big statement, in my opinion. How does Enios feel, Enios sitting at home? How do they feel about this? They just wanted to see this the entire time he was there, right? Yeah, well, I mean, I think Pitcock at Ineos, the writing was on the wall, right? It was not a happy marriage. And then shout out to Q30. this result probably puts them in automatic bid territory for next year for every grand tour

every monument they get an automatic invitation not automatic because if you look at the rankings they they won't make it in the top three for the but who would because it's going to be two door will be the first second division team second will be probably q36.5 with this point points all Well, no, I mean, it's going to be, no, the first, the first, the first team will be COVIDIS. No, no, they're below Q36.5 in the rankings. Oh, you mean, you mean? And yeah, in the, in the year. So it's the, yeah, it's just one year, right?

Yeah, just the one year rankings. Because cofinis is such a bad year. They're now below Q36.5. Yeah, okay, okay, okay. I was checking the other day. I looked at the three year ranking. Yeah, correct. Once you start to look at the pro team level.

let's it's uh it's the one year so um so are they in the top three then get there to six five they are i guess i mean this this result is going to help a lot they're going to get a big sock of ucii points from this third place in addition to all these stage results he's getting cofidus maybe could do a late charge i mean but cofidus will probably qualify as well i think the odd man out will be total energies i don't see them putting a rally together at the end of the year because co-fitus will probably be the third team, Q36.5 second, two-door first. So I imagine all those teams will have auto invites next year. Yeah, that's pretty good.

Well, I guess this is assuming that Archaia isn't going on. They're done. Yeah, okay. They're done. Yeah. So, yeah, shout out. And also, when's the last time a second division team got a grand tour podium overall? Well, we had a little debate about that.

And it's actually, you know, it has changed over the years, right? So there's this pro team now. There's world tour. Before it was called the pro tour. Before that was Division 1, Division 2. I think, I mean, I may be wrong, but it could be 2003 Yaroslav Popovich on Lombokrit. That was definitely the Division 2 team. He was third at the Giro.

And then I checked another result that was Sergei Gonchar, who was in 2004, was second in the Giro on a team called De Nardi. As far as I remember, I didn't even remember this team, but I think that was a division two team. But apparently the statistics say it was a division one team. I don't have any recollection of that being a division one. team but it's been a while it's been i guess there was cobo in 2011 and on the geox team geox he but that result didn't steal i guess the voelta and then didn't he get it taken away like 10 years later yeah just recently yeah like a year ago or something yeah a few few years ago yeah i also thought we just did the summit finish it was in 2012 i remember watching that stage

visibly. Spencer, listen, tomorrow, so tomorrow of the last day of the Vuelta, I mean, we all think, you know, if we think about what happened in the past, you know, I think we all think it's a lot closer, a lot more recent. It's going to be 30 years ago when I was on the podium of the final GSI and the Vuelta. 30 years ago, 1995, almost half of my life ago. That's a crazy. That is crazy. It's also wild how fast I remember seeing you in the director's car in 99. And there was only four years after your third at the Volta. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Let's take a quick ad break. And then let's talk about Matthew Ricotelo and the White Jersey and a few other insta tie up. Everybody, this episode is brought to you by Hymns. No one plans for hair loss,

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All right, back to the episode. So, Johan, Matthew Rickettello, I had lost faith in this man. As my kids call him Nutella, that's what I think his name is. He goes from sixth overall to fifth overall. The significance of that is he gets the young rider's jersey from Giulio Pellizari, who crack. I mean, that shows you, the UAE pace was hot. Like, they cracked Pellizari early in that climb. It was, you saw like, Mateo Jorgensen, like George Higatby, Matthew Jorgensen and

Mateo Vanderpull, you saw Jorgensen back there struggling. Like, it was not an easy pace. So Ricotelo impressively stays with that group. He finishes only 24 seconds behind Vindigard, gets fifth, proves his team wrong, who didn't want to bring him here, didn't think it was a good race for him. How's he feeling right now? He must be great. I mean, listen, fifth is, fifth is obviously a great result.

The white jersey is symbolic, but it's a big goal, you know. and he's been fighting for it with pelidzari i mean they're both of that deserved it they both did a great welta but uh i mean we obviously have a preference for matthew ricketto um no he doesn't he did he did a great race uh today he was the fifth sixth strongest rider in the race and pelizari didn't have a great day you know he uh he cracked and so you know that's that's what happens if minutes wasn't it's not even close right i mean it's like two minutes behind yeah yeah yeah was felix gall already in seventh or did he because he no he's lost time again by five seconds to sepkus is sepkus in seventh yeah subcouz jumped to seventh okay with that

incredible ride today because you didn't have to do anything right because he was sitting on ua e all day yeah sipkous man i mean that's that was quite the the way to finish the well I mean, he's obviously, he's been on a really good level. But to be able to be second today was, I think it's great for his confidence also and for his, you know, the future. It's, it has been a while, right? Since we've seen Seppcus in the front of a big mountain stage, obviously he's been doing his job whenever he was asked to do his job as good as he could. but today didn't have to do anything and finally is able to you know jump everybody and finish second behind his leader so what a day today for for vizma first and second sealing the deal on

the voelta yeah not a bad day not a bad day for vizma and they have i mean clearly shows coos is kind of more comfortable in this support role and then he can oddly ride better they have three guys in the top 10 no uh well yeah because matoe yorgensen is 10th. Wow. So yeah, holds on for 10th even after, I mean, you could tell these tour guys were tired. Felix Gall, Yorgensen, even Vindigard, Sepp Coos.

They were hurting from that tour. I'm just trying to think of it. I was going to mention one of chance. He said, Jay Vine I mean, whatever Jayvine's doing, it's working because he did a great, he did a great work today. I still can't believe his time trial performance. Today, Jay Vine was impressive.

took over, I think it was still probably, was it like six and a half to seven gate ago? And, you know, to do the tempo on, on those three, four kilometers, actually on Navaserada, it's hard, but, you know, it's a climb where when you sit at the wheel, it's a big advantage, you know. And then the way he came into that last, when the right hand turn when the concrete started and he motored the first two, 300 meters. That was pretty impressive. It was to a point where actually Jiao Almeida had to let the wheel go. Yeah. And then he pulled off, you know, and I said, okay, that's it for J. Vine. And then I was surprised to see him come in seven. Forty-seven seconds down. That was, yeah, I don't, I don't really, I don't really

understand maybe was he thinking that Jonas would win the stage and take his mountain jersey away or something but maybe it also could just be the points there were is j vine he might just be a racer like the numbers on i'm going because that is over he must have ridden that so hard to finish spencer there's not as a team there's nothing you can say anymore the well i mean they don't need him tomorrow right tomorrow he doesn't need to do a job so but uh it was a bit strange you know completely out of G.C. The mountains jersey, you know, done and still, you know, pulling off really being parked as somebody who has done their job 100%, then takes a few breaths and, you know, gets going again and finish the seventh in the stage. Yeah, pretty incredible. He does, he's not going to

be able to do it at UAE because it's not even clear if there's room for Almeida, who just finished second to be a GC leader in the future. But I would be curious to see what Vine could do. is a leader of the team. I mean, I think, I think I mean, there is room for for a lot of people.

I think Jay Vine definitely has the qualities for a one week stage racer. You know, one mountain to finish, one time trial. I mean, like, for example,

to a Romandy. Well, remember Romandy this year, he was third overall. He was strong there, no? Yeah. And there was it for a minute,

it wasn't clear if him or Almeda was the leader. Yeah. But he got dropped, I think, on one of the big mountain stages, just slightly. Yeah. Yeah. No, you're right. Because there's a lot.

I'm just looking at it as what he race this year. There's a lot of one-week races that he could target. Yeah. I think that should be his goal. And just winning, you know, a couple of casual three grand tour stages whenever he starts one. The thing with the thing with riders like, I mean, type of J. Vine, I mean, I don't know the guy, but, you know, some of these riders, you know, they're, they're, They pull out these unbelievable performances, but then when they're in the role of a leader

and have the responsibility and the pressure to deliver, they don't have it. There's many, many, many, many riders like this. Now, that's what makes these great champions so great. They're there whenever they are expected to be there. That's amazing. I mean, I've always found that fascinating. Even when I was a cyclist, you know,

sometimes I could pull off a performance and be with the best, but usually not when I expect. it to be there. I was, it just came as, you know, having a great day and you do a super performance. These guys are just there every single stage all the time. They're there and they deliver. It's impressive. Yeah, it is impressive. And it's mysterious somewhat. I mean, I guess that's what makes sport interesting. I mean, just as an example. So Jonas Van deGarde since 2021 and I guess since 2022 has three Grand Tour stage wins. The rest of the Peloton at this race, I have to do this off the top of my head because we don't have pro-cycling stats.

Over that same time, I believe, has three total Grand Tour stage wins. The rest of the Peloton, and that would be Jai Henley, Egan Bernal. Oh, yeah, you mean overall. Grand Tour wins. Grand Tour overall wins. And that entire time, the rest of the Peloton is equal to Jonas Minigard. Like, that is unbelievable and shows you that he's pretty good at winning for whatever reason. reasons we don't understand yeah now he's just these guys are just that good you know i mean it's

it's yeah they're just that much better than your average really good professional cyclist yeah let's do you have anything else on this stage um no i mean you know we could definitely see the the the toughness of the baller de mundo right on the images how steep it was how rough the surface is it's a bit for me it's a bit sad to see I mean because of certain circumstances whether it's protests or

other protests before the race because of you know the ecologists that to see these mountains without without spectators that it's a bit strange to see but I mean if you look at La Bola del Mundo

there's not that much space for spectators neither you know it's it's a goat path basically yeah yeah it is weird well let's jump over in preview tomorrow stage 21 so tomorrow stage 21 listed at 105 ish kilometers outside of Rome actually close to not Rome Madrid close to your homestead Johan into the middle of the city I'm frankly a little dubious if this stage is going to run but I'll list the odds and then we'll predict who's going to win yes for Philipson minus 250 heavy heavy favorite i tend to agree with that

ethan bernan second at plus 700 mads peterson plus 950 elea viviani plus 1100 arna marat plus 1500 ular plus 1,800 ben turner plus 1,800 goes on and on we'll call them out if we need to and again nxtibets.com slash bet outcomes if you want to bet and you want to know where to do it and get the best sign of bonus but johan how do you think this plays out we have seen some like spicy racing here in years past It's not as calm as the Champsidese, and who do you think wins? Yeah, I mean, 105, I think it's sprint, Spencer. The Castellana is not easy.

You know, it's uphill. It's, I mean, it's a difficult sprint, but I cannot see anybody else than Jasper Philipson. After what we've seen yesterday, this sprint suits him better, I think. And the team, you know, his team is amazing of bringing him in position and then leading it out. So even at negative 250, I think he's my big candidate to win tomorrow stage and take his fourth stage win in this well done. I can't argue with that. I think he's going to win as well.

I mean, he just looks, there's a reason. It was a point. Why does Jonas Vindigard win so many granteurs? because he's better than everybody else. And he asked for Philipson in this race. He's just better. He's a better sprinter than everybody. Like if he gets a clean run at this,

especially with this team, I think he wins. I'm going to pick him too. But let's say, I mean, let's just say, I mean, something weird could happen.

We saw people in the middle of the road today. And, you know, Philipson could have been one of the riders to get taken down. We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. If something strange happens or even as a mechanical, and he's not there to sprint, who do you think could win?

his absence. And sometimes, I mean, I wasn't, I mean, I'm trying to remember now two, three years ago, maybe four years ago. There was, there was also, I think Ackerman was still on UAE. He was on UAE for a while, no? It was called Ackerman. He was on UAE, yeah. I remember the stage that you're talking about. And they were leading out the sprint for him. It was actually Molano who won, I think. Yeah. The last stage, which was not the favorite at all. There's not so much to choose from if it's not Philipson. And so since it's not a flat sprint, I'm going to pick Matt Peterson as my wild card at 950. I think he can, he could win.

I doubt it. But since we were picking a wild card, he's my wild card. Well, that was 2022, Sebastian Milano, the lead up man wins. Matt Patterson was second on this very course. So he's been up there. He could win. I mean, you never know what's going to happen. Plus 950 for Mads Pedersen.

I'm not above that. I would support that. But just in the, I guess, in the for sake of being fun, I'm going to pick somebody else. And we have not talked about this. We don't know. We ever have an hard time coming up with wildcards for this. I think I'm going to go Elia Viviani, plus 1,100. There's something brewing over.

Is he on? Is he on co-phidus? I can't remember what team he's on. Lotto. He's on Lotto. He's on Lotto. I mean, he got close that one day. The thing, the only thing is he really,

Philipson was really out of position and he like took him three pedal strokes to win. But if Philipson wasn't there and I think Viviani wasn't relegated, I think Viviani would have won that stage. So just in case something, like he's very technically skilled, Lotto is a good team like blocking and tackling on things like this. So I'm going to go Viviani plus 1100. Okay. That's good.

Good wild card. I'm, man, now you have me down this rabbit hole of this stage. There has actually been some interesting. I find it more interesting, actually, than the Champs-Lise. Like the Caden Groves, Ghana, Nico Den stage, I think, where it might have been Ghana was away or something. But if the stage goes off with that hitch tomorrow, it could be, it is a, I think it's the most interesting of the processional stages. Wait, did Nico Dense win this stage? Oh, no, he was, he was third.

I think he was off the front and they like sprinted past if I remember it's correct. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So there is a,

no, listen, Viviani. I mean, it has happened many times and that's what makes a grand tour special. You know, the last stage, even in Paris, there's somebody winning who's not the big sprint favorite. It has happened many times.

And it has happened also in the Vualta. It's, after three weeks, I think the bodies can react very strangely. Yeah. I mean, you were, we were talking about this. Do you think they're staying at airport hotels probably tonight and then. Well, actually, it's funny because today we, I left Madrid. I'm not, I'm in the south of Spain. I'm in Merida, close to Portugal, actually. And we saw a bunch of trucks coming towards, towards us. And they were, many of them were staying at the airport hotels. Yeah, nothing. It says celebration like an airport hotel. I bet there's some people having fun tonight. The thing is also, Spencer, you know, I mean, you do a small team dinner, you know,

but it's not like the tour, you know, it's, yeah, whenever, whoever does the Vuelta, you know, some teams, I mean, they won't go home because the stage is late tomorrow, but if this is an afternoon stage, a lot of riders would just want to go on, on the plane, straight home the same day and not have anything to do with the team and your teammates anymore. You're sick of that, man, after three weeks. no comment on that i think i've felt like that recently um but i'll let you go and we won't be back tomorrow but we'll be back on monday to break down the final stage and everything that's happened once we've had more time to digest okay thanks johnna thanks everyone for listening

Bye.