THEMOVE - Thoughts on today ft. Ashleigh Moolman Pasio | Tour De France Femmes 2024 Stage 5 | THEMOVE

Episode Date: August 15, 2024

Complete race shakeup today with a crash affecting numerous riders. The big question was, where were Demi Vollering's teammates when she needed them today? Also, Ashleigh Moolman Pasio with her analysis of today and prediction on the final outcome. Wahoo: Wahoo’s cycling products are trusted by the pro peloton. We see Wahoo’s ELEMNT BOLT GPS bike computer on the handlebars of many Tour Teams. Now you can save 20% on select full-price products by using the coupon code THEMOVE2024 at checkout. Roka: THEMOVE listeners get 20% off. Just go to https://www.ROKA.com and enter code THEMOVE at checkout. OneSkin: Give your skin the UV protection, hydration, and cellular support it needs with OneSkin. It’s time to expect more from your skin care routine. Get started today with 15% off using code THEMOVE at https://www.oneskin.co. Buycycle: Unlock free seller protection when you sell a bike on buycycle with the code: THEFEMMES. https://buycycle.com/en-us?&utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=brand&utm_content=wedufemmes&utm_country=us  

One question. Who do you predict wins overall? Great question. Well, I mean, I have to say right now, Kassia is looking like a really solid option. I know she's worked really hard for this. I know last year gave her a real, you know, taste of being on that podium. So for sure, she's worked hard for it. She's now in yellow. However, you know, P pup is looking pretty pretty good um she's an incredible upcoming talent you know can she hold on to those great legs that she was

talking about yesterday but if if kirsten falkner has the legs that she has and she finds the right moment to get that gap in the next two days um then then yeah she could also spice things up. If she manages to get some time in the next two days, then she could also be a real danger. Well, good morning, everybody. Welcome back to the MOVE podcast. We're talking about stage five, which seemingly was uneventful but ended up being very eventful uh but before we get to all that uh mel tell us uh we're going back to france so i'm really happy for you uh but where do we start and where we finish stage five baston to amneville baston to amneville i mean the last the the now we're talking, the last, now we're talking. Now we're talking. Now we're talking. But can we have Mel come to the show for the women's show when George is home?

I mean, Mari could take her on a spa day. Yeah, I'm sure. I mean, I feel like Mel should just be here. Mel should be here. Yeah. I mean, yeah, that's so good. What a day. I mean, what a disaster of a day. a tough day, um, riders everywhere. Um,

and then obviously this, this crash was, we talked about this yesterday. The race book was very, um, specific about the run in all the dangerous corners. I think we counted 11 or 12, um, corners that were marked and 6K to go. The headline here, the headline, is Demi Vollering having a pretty serious crash and taking her time getting up, which I think we're going to get into all this. We've got to do a little business first, but that's the high-level stuff. To me, that's the takeaway. There's a whole lot to discuss when it comes to this crash

because we got questions all right we got questions i have a lot of panic because you guys were doing your workout up in aspen mountain fitness i was down here you know zen zone one word that ali has never said, folks, is namaste. Anyways, let's do a little business. What do we got over there, Allie? You know, I am super excited about this because I have a lot of bikes

in my garage. I mean, I don't want to tell you how many, but it's a lot. And also when Blaze and I got married and we moved in together, he brought more bikes. He brought his bikes, which I needed to bring him up to my level. Right. And it's that whole N plus one. But I mean, there's a great way that you can buy used bikes and sell your used bikes, because I always feel like I have a good relationship with

my bikes and I want them to go to a good home. So we have a new sponsor, Bicycle. And instead of bicycle, I'm just going to say it's B-U-Y, cycle, one word. And it's the world's best marketplace for pre-owned bikes. And what's great about it, it's easy shipping, fast and safe payments, great customer service, because I was just using it this morning, listing one of Blaze's bikes. And they have a huge selection of great brands. So if you look at it today, which we'll talk about, the stage winner, Blanca Voss, was riding a Tarmac SLA. And you know how many specialized bikes are on Bicycle? Any guesses?

Man from Planet? Hundreds. 590 wow yeah and then when we get to your uh connection um cassia neodoma who is now in yellow which we'll get into the canyon arrow road there's 160 bikes on bicycle that are just like the bike that is now in the yellow jersey of the tour de france fall fx swift so i think it's really great because um when you guys are listening now um they're going to offer free seller protection with the code the fem that's obviously the fem t-h-e-f-e-m-m-e-s but then you get free seller protection which is is great. Cause then you can sell the bike and make sure like somebody doesn't, you know, run off with it, run off with it. Exactly. And when you list your bike, I actually listed one this morning, took three minutes or less. I just

put up all these photos of a bike that's sitting in her garage, put it on the internet. They assess it posted boom. And it's global. So it's U S and in in europe and you don't have to deal with people and some of us don't always like to deal with people when you're selling things so i mean as much as we love the buyers it's it's great so um check it out uh so upload your bike and you can do it you can also purchase a new used bike or sell yours and upload your bike at Bicycle. That's B-U-Y-C-Y-C-L-E dot com and use code The Femme, T-H-E-F-E-M-M-E-S for free seller protection. So I need to clean out my garage, but, you know, I got to get home and ship it. But you know what's cool?

You should tell them it's your bike. Seriously, I'm going to start doing that. I got to get home and ship it. But you know what's cool? You should tell them it's your bike. Seriously. I'm going to start doing that. But you know what's cool is they send you the shipping, your shipping container. You don't even have to find a bike box. I love it. And they send it to you and you just put your bike in it and it goes away. Yeah.

And you get paid immediately once the buyer receives it. Awesome. So my garage is going to get a little cleaner and Blaze might get better bikes. Awesome. Awesome. Also today brought to you by Roka little cleaner and Blaze might get better bikes. Awesome. Also today brought to you by Roka, our friends down in Austin, Texas. That's our hometown. By the way, dear Austin, I'll be heading down there Monday.

Please cool off a little bit. It's 105 degrees down there. I'm not excited to go back. But speaking of that, you know, speaking of Roka based in Austin, Texas, it is our hometown. They do make the coolest shades. You saw, well, you saw it on the stage winter today. Blanca boss wearing the Rokas, uh, Demi Vollering was in yellow wearing those yellow Rokas. She lost the yellow Jersey.

We're going to break all that down, but, uh, they simply have the best technology out there. The best optics, they're a fog resistant, scratch resistant, unbelievably lightweight, and they never slip. I just told you it's 105 in Austin. Next week, I'll be so glad that my Rokas don't slip off my face because I'll be outside hustling and suffering. They also work closely. This is cool with the special forces, those guys and gals out there testing their stuff with what many people consider to be the best athletes in the world. move listeners get 20 off just go to roca r-o-k-a.com that's roca dot com and the code is the move the move it check out roca.com um boy i don't know mari has some hot sauce sitting here. Mari is sitting with a...

I looked over there a second ago. I said, are you feeling spicy? She legitimately has a packet of hot sauce right in front of her. Well, you had Wigo taking shots of ketones. And I feel like... I'm not doing those shots. Sorry. I feel like I need to take a shot of this hot sauce after the stage today.

Because somebody just needs. Y'all have been saying four days and even leading up to this Tour de France family begs with that. Yes, Demi Vollering is the overwhelming favorite, but is her team strong enough to support that with the nature of this course with so heavily weighted towards the back end with big climbs? And she just had terrible luck today. She was not in a bad place. She was in the right place and just that corner narrowed

and they had the curve there, which was elevated, which always complicates things. And she hit the deck. She took her time getting up. I mean, if I looked at her race today, my only question mark for her personally is is if once you crash and kids public service announcement all right when you crash everybody you're going to race bikes you're going to crash right what's the first thing you do the first thing you do is you take inventory

like is everything can i move every limb on my body i have two arms and i have two legs if all of that checks out you get up and you get, and then you find your bike, right? Cause it's probably not with you. Um, and, and she even got on her race bike. She didn't have to wait for a spare bike, but you get up and get moving as fast as you can. Yeah. Do not waste time. Even if you're not going fast. Yeah. That's what completely surprised me is because like you're saying, if someone's on the ground and they can't get up, you know, you give them a little leeway thinking, OK, they're they're really hurt. But if you're able to get off the ground and then you're not trying to get back on your bike, there's something wrong. Like at first, I thought maybe there was an issue with her bike. You know, something was bent or broken.

But she wasn't panicking. She was just waiting and just seemed like she didn't know what to do, which is kind of mind blowing at that level. Honestly, Damie doesn't crash that much. Like we were talking about yesterday, she seems to be able to avoid these situations. And this did happen at the very front of the Peloton. A lot of the favorites did crash, but Lance, for their PSA for the kids, most of the time, like people that aren't professional cyclists, when they crash is the bike. Okay. They're not checking their body first i think damy was checking her body first right and it looked that is the first thing you should do the first it looked it i could tell um it probably is not a broken pelvis because usually that has a very specific reaction which i have shattered my pelvis but she did was able to stand up immediately and you could

see the abrasions. And I think she might've just been a little in shock because she is not, wait, when's the last time you've seen her crash? Like this is, she's a good bike handler. She's the best bike racer in the world, arguably at the moment. And I think it just took her a second to gather herself. But it took her almost two minutes or a little over two minutes. I mean, it wasn't like a 30 second like am i okay kind of thing it was a you know she was there for

a long time just kind of waiting around and at first you're thinking well maybe she's maybe her team is right there and they're gonna pace her back up but then her team wasn't there well before that that's right um the only other thing that could have delayed things is if you did need a spare bike and the cars were too far back and it just took the mechanic forever to bring up a spare bike. She got on the bike that she crashed on, which is. And she didn't even have to adjust her bars or anything. She didn't. I mean, sometimes you have to be pulling things back into place to try and get moving.

Well, speaking of my team not being there, I was downstairs. You guys were working up in Aspen Mountain Fitness. You're the one who left us. Yeah, you left us. I wanted to see. But then she came right back up after the crash i'm just saying when the crash happened you know how fast i got to my team yeah well and it was it was kind of a bipolar day for sd works right you have uh the overwhelming favorite for this tour de France fan of X Zwift, losing a minute plus, minute and a half. Yet they win the stage. This is a problem.

This is where, and this is, you know, heads up, this may not be the most popular commentary of the day, but something's not right about this. Look, this is bike racing, so there's no, the way I look at this, there's no different than a women's race a men's race a junior race

it doesn't matter um when you have the leader of the team who is in the yellow jersey who is on the ground you do not leave anybody in the front no right the team has to say and i'm whether they said it or not we're not on team radio we don't know everybody she only had two riders left with her right blanca vas and lorina webis they come back immediately i don't care how bad somebody wants to win a stage i don't care how important that is everybody comes back and they didn't and and and you see it to see a yellow Jersey out there riding alone is totally unacceptable. She was not a hundred percent alone for a second. She, but she was alone way too much. Everybody has to, this is the tour to France. Everybody has to come back.

And they all know that. I mean, that that is the priority of the team is the Jersey. So, and if the, whether their radios are working or not or whatever, if you don't see your yellow jersey and, you know, there's been a big crash right behind you, you're going back and trying to take care of that person. That's your first priority. That's like the only thing you're thinking about at that point. Not stage wins, not anything else. I do think, though, in Misha did wait and do a full gas effort. She waited. Did And she waited. Did everything she could. And she finishes three or four minutes behind even Damie.

So I know that she gave everything. It was the riders. So the riders behind, I can't judge because they're gassed. It's been a hard day. They're minutes behind. They can't come across and help. It's the ones that are in front. And let's just be specific and honest

about this it's blanca boss and lorena weavis you're in front of of the crash uh you're in front of your team leader who's in the yellow jersey you have to wait and i'll just get this out of the way and by the way congratulations to blanca boss right she won the stage um and in the post-race interview you said well, well, my radio wasn't working. I didn't know what was going on. Now, again, I'm not on team radio. I don't know. That could very well be true. But what is also very true is that that is the most used excuse when it comes in cycling. That is straight up there with the dog ate my homework. And again, I don't know, but you hear that one a lot. We've had a lot of teammates over the years that say that's and again i i don't know but you hear that one a lot we've had a lot

of teammates over the years to say that you're like really i mean at that point you don't need your director to tell you you're supposed to be waiting for your teammate if your yellow jersey isn't there and you're ahead of that person you need to go back and wait it doesn't matter at what point of the race it is she's that, that's your priority in the race. So that was really difficult to see, but then to see Weavis going for the, you know, field sprint or, you know, what was left of the field, that was just, you know, you imagine the dinner table tonight would not want to be there. No, no. Bring me a bottle of wine and I might sit at that dinner table.

I don't even think that would help. That would, that is going to be a very uncomfortable and awkward dinner table tonight. So on the radio, I have heard a lot of things in the radio, never from you, Mari. Always good things that have made me very upset because they don't have to deal like they don't have to do with my goal or what I wanted or envisioned in that day. And though I've also been dropped a lot. And sometimes the caravan does pass you or the caravan might have been staying with Amy. And you do get out of service. Those radios don't go forever. They're not 50K long. It was 6.8K, I understand. But perhaps the radio is just a little spotty and she can't hear.

But even if you're hearing all this, like the radio going on and off and on and off, you get it that there's a problem behind you. You know, something's happening. You're not seeing your yellow jersey. You're waiting for that person. I mean, that has to be the first priority of the team. If they're trying to win the Tour de France, then comes, you know, jerseys and stage wins and things like that.

But everything, the only thing you really care about is making sure that that yellow jersey is protected. I'm with you. Look, okay, maybe the radio didn't work, but you're looking around, your team leader's not there. And for sure, no, not for sure, but almost certainly other riders in that group had heard. And there's, you know, y'all know this there's communication with that group of six or seven right in the front uh it's not a good look i i and it's unfortunate for demi ball and she must be live i mean she's obviously physically beat up i mean what is she she's white hot right now has to. She is more namaste than I am.

So she's probably like definitely focusing on that and calming down. But I could see that she was visually like visually very upset. And we don't usually see her like that. And when they interviewed Weebus after the finish, she's like, oh, we shouldn't stress. We'll celebrate Blanca. She was very clever in this moment. And Mare did not like that. Yeah, I mean, I don't think it was clever at all.

However, I thought it was a mistake. I thought it was a big mistake. I'm going back. I would like to celebrate, though, Blanca Voss for winning the stage. I cheered for her very hard at the Olympics. She's a Hungarian national champion. She also raced the mountain bike at the Olympics. She got 10th. So we were talking about Puck yesterday yesterday and blongo was in the breakaway with marion voss

and got fourth at the olympics so that's like a very bad place to be like it's it's painful she's young she's 22 years old that would be the one thing is that she's young and she is really talented obviously she's ridden really well this year you know despite everything that happened today it's going to make it so it's going to be a really exciting race now. Now she's down. She has to come back. It's going to make exciting racing for us because we were a bit nervous. She was just going to ride away

from everything. Assuming she's physically, the first question now is how is her body? Is she going to be able to recover from the crash? If so, well then the race, then it shapes going to be able to recover from the crash and if so well then the race is then it shapes up to be an exciting race exactly and the good and bad thing is how quickly we are watching this race and reporting on it um from what we've seen we don't have any even whatsapp

and text messages any um information on those injuries. And I guess, you know, the other thing that is, it's like she came in as the overwhelming favorite, but it just goes to show things can change really quickly and you can be in a different situation, which is something that when you're directing a team or controlling a team, you want to make sure that everyone's on the same page. And that's why, you know, your wins were such a big deal.

So consistent over so many years, controlling all the things that you can control is a huge deal. And this was a big lapse on the team's part of SDWorks. So before we get to our special, it's not a surprise. Let's just announce it. Ashley Mullen-Passo is going to join us and she's going to help us talk about these final three days. But here's a question just as a fan over here.

Assuming her body is fine, right? She feels good to race. She's a minute 19 down on Kasha Nevedoma, who is not a sprinter, right? She can climb. Is that, can she make up, like looking at the last three days, which we'll look at, can she make up a minute 19? It's a lot of time. I think she can. You do.

I think she probably can, but it's definitely going to be. It's a question of how she feels after the crash. Yeah, exactly. If she were, yeah, if she were 100%, like she easily does it. That's my sense, right? Yeah, I would think so. Not easily. But then the question is, can she get back to 80, 90% and then make a race of it?

Yeah, I think she looked like she could. The way she was pedaling at the end of the stage, she looked good. I thought she looked like she was pedaling fine. To me, it was the emotion and the pain. Like after the endorphins came off i was a little i'm a little more concerned than you guys are but um honestly though on these longer sustained climbs um you know yeah tbd yeah well we're gonna see all right we'll do we'll do some business and then uh and then we'll come back with ashley well. I'm so excited for Ashley, who also started racing at the same age as I did.

So we're talking about taking good care of ourselves. We've been racing a long time. So we love one skin. You know, just like you train, daily routines are a big thing. And I will tell you, Mari literally just took this one skin off the table and applied it. I love that. We're in a dry area right now.

It is like, I am getting like my lips are cracked and my skin like, look at, but keeping it good. I'm keeping it great because one skin and yeah, that did just happen on the table. So, you know, so I think, you know, as much as we train our bodies to perform at the best and all of that, we also need to take care of ourselves. We talked about gut health yesterday and skin health is a big thing. So OneSkin is an amazing company. You guys know I love science, but they have an OS1 peptide. And this is very specific to One one skin. And this is the one that targets those zombie

cells. I know. Nobody wants a zombie cell. Nobody wants a zombie in general, but you know, Blaze looked like that this morning. You know, I'll give him some one skin. But anyway, zombie cells are just basically cells that need to slough off your face or your body.

And so they cause lines wrinkles and sagging skin and lance you don't like the word sagging i know that but it's scientifically proven to reverse uh the skin's biological age at the cellular level level i always have a problem saying cellular i know um so you know whether you're laying on the beach or hiking on vacation one skins os oh one powered sunscreen mari you always tell me to wear sunscreen very important it blocks uv rays while also targeting the uv induced skin aging you already have so this is a big thing that you like is that it reverses. Yeah. All those times I didn't wear sunscreen when you told me to. Now you're fixing it, huh? I am fixing it.

So we just love working with OneSkin. It is definitely part of my daily routine as well as training and Mari and Lance because Lance is looking better every day. Thank you. Only because you make me coffee. I've been very healthy. Yes. Whatever, seven months months you look great um it's probably one skin and you know all the other things we're doing and other lifestyle stuff um but one skin is more than skin care it's about skin longevity targeting the root causes of aging

to help you look and feel your best at every age we are all different ages here. Get started today with 15% off using code FEMMES at oneskin.co. That's 15% off. Lance, you got that math? I got it. One five. Oneskin.co with code FEMMES. So as we're out there here up in the high altitude or wherever you're doing, get that UV protection, hydration, and cellular support with OneSkin. out there here up in the high altitude or wherever you're doing um get that uv protection hydration

and cellular support with one skin it's time to expect more from your skin routine awesome also today brought to you by wahoo wahoo by computers are proven in the peloton we saw a ton of them in the men's tour de france used by a ton of world tour teams and the men's and women's side more features than ever including Wahoo's Summit feature, which I love because when you're out there suffering, you just want to know just how much more suffering you got to do. Colored gradients, detailed climb data, and even helps you detect climbs nearby when you're not using a route.

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And before we bring in our special guest, I did just have two couple things. We need to notice that our Olympic gold medalist, Kristen Faulkner, second overall in GC. Super impressive. And she was, she's been riding well. She's been up front the whole time. She's been at the front. I gave it to her.

Yeah. We just need to throw that out there. That is not something that you want to ignore. Well, she's just really come around as a road racer in the last couple. I mean, obviously, to top it off with the Olympic road race. But she's just really come along. USA national champion, wins Olympic gold, not only in the road race, but also the team pursuit, which we've discussed.

But sitting now second in GCc something to watch i mean hey anything can happen three tough days she's she's she's physically very strong uh and mentally has to emotionally has to just be riding this high right this wave i mean two gold medals coming into this sitting on second hey you never know yeah and now and now this race has just completely been thrown uh blown to shambles here and yeah it's kind of anybody's race so why not why not some people say why some people say why we here at the move say why not you never know all right so we um cause, cause Ashley would be great to, to apparently according to you guys,

she previews a lot of this stuff. So she'll have a good sense for what I think tomorrow is. I, tomorrow I look at this, it looks like a medium mountain stage, but that's just a teaser for the last two days, which are truly Alpine mountain stages. Yeah.

All right. Are we ready to bring in our special guest of the day? And here is our special guest today. This is really, I don't know, important to me. And somebody who is obviously disappointed to not be participating in what would be her third Tour de France event of X-Wift. Broken back. I mean, it's really disappointing. I want to hear about that.

You don't hear, bro. Sore back, I get all the time, but broken back? And she just competed in her fourth Olympics in Paris with a broken back. And got me to put on the Tour de France the tour de France family of egg swift hat. Yeah. I was relieved that, uh, that had a little space, you know, sometimes I get a little tight on my fat head and I'm just not, I feel like a nerd wearing it. So I'm this one's. Well, once you saw Ashley, okay, hold on. I got to introduce her. Okay. I would like to

drum roll. JB told me I can't hit the table Yeah, go for it. Okay. I would like to drum roll. JB told me I can't hit the table, which I really want to, which I won't. We have our special guest today, Ashley Moolman Pasio. And hello, Ashley. Hey, guys. Great to be here. And yeah, Lance saw you in that Zwift Watch the Femme hat and he put his on. It's very... Inspiring. Yeah. He saw you in that Zwift, watch the femme hat, and he put his on. It's very...

Inspiring. Yeah. He saw you and is inspired. It's incredible. I mean, I'm touched. Thanks, Nance. You bet. You bet.

I've always had a soft spot for South Africans. So, yes, I just want to give a couple tidbits to introduce Ashley to our guests that might not know her, which I don't understand why they wouldn't. Being one of the best female cyclists in the entire world with a career that's longevity is beyond impressive. Like I said, we started racing around the same time within a year. And I've raced against Ashley for so many years. And the fact that she just keeps coming back, giving to her community for time an Olympian. All right. So she just competed in the Paris 2024 Olympics with a broken vertebrae.

Ouch. Another interesting fact. She was the first UCI cycling esports championship on the platform. What can you guess? Zwift. Exactly. And so she's a huge advocate, though, for esports and how she can bring back that to Africa and across the world on how esports is really about developing the next generation of cyclists. I can't even count how many times you finished second overall at the Giro Rosa.

And also how many times you've been national champion for South Africa. Ashley, I got you at six. Am I right? Yeah, I got you at six. Am I right? Yeah, I think you are right. I actually have also not really been keeping track. I haven't really been back to race it. Yeah. You shouldn't. Yeah. I love it. That nobody shouldn't remember those things. So there's some other fun facts. So you've seen Ashley and you've cheered on her Lance and Mari on multiple races

that we've covered. Like Flesh Wallone, Strata Bianchi. You don't see her off of a podium from one-day stage races, punchy climbs to long, sorry, one-day races. And then also to stage races, like second to the Giro multiple times. I mean, ouch. So there's another fun fact. She was the first African to win a UCI women's world stage race, which was the tour of Romandy. So that's a, I don't know.

Anyway, but she, she said she was going to retire. I met Ashley, obviously racing. She did race for SD works pro time and then said she was retiring. I believed her. And you know what? She came back and she's still racing, um, doing an incredible job and also really developing that next future. But I did have one other thing on that before we dump like dive into tomorrow's stage, because we know you've done a lot of recon on that was I didn't know this, Ashley, when you thought you were going to be an Olympian, which now you're a four time Olympian. You thought you were going to be Olympian in the, uh, in equestrian.

And then she had this near fatal horseback accident. So Ashley and I are TBI people. She was in coma for 10 days. Oh my God. Getting thrown off a horse. Yeah. And then the doctors told her that, I mean, these horses, uh, horses are right. That's a top three for me. Like in terms of getting scared, I get around a horse. Like I'm just convinced the horse is going to kick me. Well, it would, if I was a horse, I would kick you.

But so, yeah, but it's a huge sport. I mean, it's a, and it's like just the Olympics just finished. So watching some of that stuff, like the,

the collaboration between the athlete, it is unbelievable. I don't understand it, but I can see that, that there has to be, I mean, the amount of time, and actually, you know, this better than us, the time, well, and money, dear parents, do not let your children get into equestrian, but, um, the amount of time it must take to, to train the animal, train the athlete, get that, that collaboration down and. Cool. Yeah. And for me, when I get back on a horse, now I'm a cowgirl,

Ashley, I did not do, um, English like you did, but Western and, but you get back on a horse and I grew up doing that. You realize instead of a bike, like the horse has a brain, which means it could just basically be F you. Exactly. That's why I decided I'm going to ride a horse that doesn't have a brain. However, it's still dangerous. It's still dangerous.

As I've just recently realized with a broken birch bro. Yeah. So I want to hear about this. And then in, um, so 10 days and induced coma, and they basically told you, you were done with school and all of that. And I'm just gonna say she did end up getting her degree in chemical engineering become this incredible one of the world's best female cyclists we've ever known and um has a lovely partner and they live in gerona

and i've had the privilege of staying at their place they have one of these like cyclo tourism places it's called roca corba well no but go to the let's go to the zoom shot i was i was noticing this ashley i'm like i've been there and eaten charcuterie and drank rose let me just tell you all who are watching i mean i'm a design snob and i'm looking at this going dang i love this look it's it's this is not uh there's not slumming it there in by the way drone is amazing i spent a ton of time there. Great riding, great food. But people, let's all go visit. Roca Corba Cycling.

Ashley, you can talk about it. Let's go visit. Seriously, amazing. Has everything for every cyclist in there. All right, let's talk about these last days. Thanks, guys. Ashley, this, I'm assuming, I'm pretty sure you watched the stage today. Kind of a disaster in my eyes for SDWorks,

but also makes this very super interesting. A bunch of question marks in my mind, but I'm excited. I mean, as a sycophant here, as a weirdo, I'm excited to see what happens the next three days. It's going to be entertaining. Yeah, well, it's definitely got us all on the edge of our seats now. I must say, I was actually leading a Zwift watch party ride. So I'm trying to kind of engage with the people on the ride, chatting, talking about the ride.

You know, I was first talking about my teammate, Julie Vannevelde, in the breakaway, obviously wanting her to make it to the finish line in the break. And then just all of a sudden, this drama unfolded. Yeah, what a crazy day. And even more crazy in a way that Blanca Vaz from SDWorks wins the stage. Her first victory at the Tour de France Parma Vex with a massive breakthrough for a young rider like herself. But at the same time, her very own teammate in yellow, um, is obviously, you know, no longer in yellow because she lost time. She seemed to, um, to take quite a hard knock. So she seemed to be in pain. So the highs and lows of cycling and all within one stage, all within

one team, I mean, it's, it's quite crazy. And that's a team you've been on. You've been on SD works. Yes. I've written on that team. Um, yeah, I mean an incredible team, obviously they've been world number one team for many, many years. I actually don't know the exact stat, but I know it's a long time, um, an incredible competitive environment, but I have to say a super complex team as well, you know, because there's a lot of really, really world-class riders in the team, a lot of riders that could win any race, yet they're in one team. So it is sort of a team of individuals. And sometimes that works out really great because it's, you know, women's cycling can be somewhat of a cards game. You know,

you play your different cards and whichever one gets away. So that's often their strategy is that, you know, if you're sitting in the team meeting before a race, especially a one-day race, they'd have, you know, different scenarios, different cards to play. And if your card works, then you have the license to go for the win. But in a stage race, that's somewhat different. I think like Lance, you're a specialist in knowing this, you know, how important it is to have a team behind you and to have everyone working for the same goal. And, and this is sometimes where they become a little bit unstuck. So today was one of those days. Well, and we should have just brought her in at the beginning of the show. We talked a lot about this early in the show, but we just needed Ashley here. And based on my experience, you know, I had Johan Bernil in the car and when he got out of the car, he would have walked into the team bus. And I don't need to guess on what Johan would have said today.

He would have been livid. I mean, he just would have. And it would have been livid in the meeting at night. He would have been livid still the next morning in that meeting. You said it complex and complicated. Well, that we saw complex and complicated. And that actually, that actually explains a lot. But it's, it's, it's, it was interesting to see it unfold, say the least. Yeah, really, really crazy. I mean, there seemed to be a lot of confusion in general, just, you know, the crash obviously happened at quite a late stage. There was a lot of confusion

amongst all the teams, but I mean, we have race radios, you know, it's a world tour race. So it's very difficult to understand, you know, and then the classic, you know, comment, oh, my radio wasn't working. Well, I mean, can happen, but yeah, not, not, not for every rider on the team. That's for sure. We were all watching the same race. Yeah. We're all singing. We are all singing from the same hymn book, as we say. And we talked about it, I think on day one or two, I mean, a lot of pecking up being here. You kind of wonder, I mean, I mean, you talk about complex and complicated. I was like, well, they're really missing Marlon.

Yeah. Roosters. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. Yeah. She's she's a locomotive. But it's nonetheless this this I mean, at this point, it kind of has to be exciting. Like this is the way that this is shaped up as complex as it has been. Um, it's gotta be exciting.

Like this is going to be, um, people have to go on the attack. We have a lot more to come. So Ash, I know that, um, you were looking forward to being a GC contender at the Tour de France Femme of X Zwift. Can you take us into a little bit of, of course, tomorrow's stage, which looks kind of like a... It's hilly, but then we go into the Queen stages. I don't know. And you want to dive into some of tomorrow and what you see in the future um yeah i mean i believe obviously the altruist stage is for sure the queen stage um that's where it's all going to happen um and now going to be even more exciting um than than yesterday seemed um but yeah the next two stages

are interesting ones um because you know as a climber like myself, more of sort of a classic climber, light, petite, explosive, these two days weren't exactly really up my alley, if I put it that way, because, you know, the climbs aren't particularly steep. So it would have been one of those days where, especially if you had a rider like a Marlon Russo and even a Demi Bollering it kind of suits them a bit a bit better you know they're the strong powerful climbers um whereas Alpe d'Huez was really a stage I was earmarking so you know for the lighter climbers I'd say the next two days it's really about staying in there not losing any time I don't really see I mean there's always opportunity to take advantage especially now with the chaos that we we have within the race so you might find some second tier riders and going for those breakaways trying to put some pressure down um but yeah i think it's it's one of it's those kind of stages where um the gc riders the bigger more powerful gc riders are going to try and take advantage the

smaller ones need to to be there on the wheels following but need to maybe wait for the elptu stage to to really light things up because the elptu is really an amazing climb i'm sure lance you've you've raced it a couple of times um i have i've only reconned it in real life i've never raced in real life but i've raced the elptu swift and i've written i've i've done intervals multiple times at the Elk do Zwift. Um, and I must say it mirrors, um, the real life climb really well. Um, so yeah, I was particularly excited for it because of, you know, it's so many switchbacks. Um, as a, I'd say, I suppose if, if we're talking about your time of, of cycling Lance,

I'd compare myself a little bit to Contador. You know, I like to change the pace on the climb, get up the saddle, raise things up. I remember. I don't like that. I am not like you. So that's why I was excited about Alpe d'Huez. Um, but yeah, unfortunately it's not going to happen this year. Um, but hopefully we have another great time like that in the future. I just had a thought because, um, and for cycling fans that have watched, um, just Epic races on Alpe d'Huez, you'll know this, right? This is kind of the second home of Dutch cycling fans. Remember that? Yeah.

The Dutch Corner is a very famous corner, but there are a ton of Dutch always on Alpe d'Huez. And now, obviously, Demi Vellering, Dutch, a lot of great Dutch riders in this race. You know, the Dutch are going to be out in force. That's the last. Yeah, it's going to be amazing. We didn't talk about that. Hungary just beat the Dutch four stages. You're right about that.

Yeah, broke the Dutch streak. Sorry, Ash. We had four Dutchies win, so we were curious. But Alpe d'Huez, to me it to me, it's, it's, um, I mean, it's easy to talk about these things. And I always think of things kind of an American football term. It's the Lambeau field. Uh, I mean, it's just, it's the best arena for any bike race. And so, uh, she got a little time to take back. I mean, if I were her, I'd start taking time back before that. I wouldn't leave it all for Alpe d'Huez. Although, you know, it is hard enough that if you're having a great day and somebody

doesn't, you can take it back. I would start taking some of this time back whenever I can. Well, yeah. So tomorrow they call it hilly and an appetizer before the mountain stages. 2,200 meters of total bird. Just to put it in context. I mean, we saw today's stage. We saw how blown apart the field was today yeah actually yeah today was 2150 tomorrow which if you look at the profile looks like a harder day it's it's really not in terms of total vert it's about the same total vert so there's going to be more selection tomorrow then the question comes you know could get is dimmy's uh teammates also going to be dropped there like this is well that was the interesting part is how far back her most of her team was i

mean she was pretty i mean she was pretty on her own yeah she was isolated i think looking kristen faulkner looks really good could maybe have an opportunity tomorrow to do something ash were you you were teammates with cassia yeah I've never been teammates with Kasia. No. Um, but yeah, we get on really well. Like she obviously lives in, well, between Gerona and Andorra. Um, so I know her really well. Um, but I've never been teammates. I couldn't remember that. Sorry about that. No worries. She can climb.

Yeah. Well, you've cheered on Ashley a lot last year. Yeah. I mean, I have a few, I've got a handful. He's got a few favorites. I like. Well, you've cheered on Ashley a lot last year. Yeah. I mean, and the year before. I have a few. I've got a handful. He's got a few favorites, Ash. I like secretly cheer for.

So, yeah, where do we go? Like tomorrow looks pretty much straightforward. Like not straightforward, but lumpy. Let's go with appetizer. I'm going to go with tomorrow's an appetizer. The climbs are like averaging 4.1, 4.7%. So Ash does not like that. But you do have.

This is a breakaway. I mean, this has to be. We talked about it yesterday and we had some tries at that today. I mean, we actually thought the stage was kind of boring up until it went sideways. I agree. It was playing out exactly how we thought it was going to play out. Until it did not play out. And then I freaked out.

But maybe, Ashley, can you give us a little input on that, though? Because I think with where SDWorks is and the stress and possibly the team dynamic, I'm not sure they're going to let a breakaway get much leash. If you look at riders like a Faulkner or a Pucker, you know, that I don't know the breakaway went, but we brought it back. What do you think, Ashley? Well, definitely Faulkner is way too dangerous to let her go. I mean, it is a stage that,

that would really suit her and she's just on incredible form. She's on a massive high, obviously with that double gold, super impressive from her. um she'll be hungry and she's shown she's savvy you know she chooses her moments really well um so i'd never count her out but for sure estee works wouldn't want her to get up the road they can't afford to let that happen so it's i think it's all going to come down to how demi recovers um tonight you know how does she wake up tomorrow of course the the day after, actually two days after is often the worst. So if we're looking at L2S, maybe that's better for her that she kind of comes out

of it and manages to make a recovery by the L2S. But exactly what Lance says, if there's any opportunity for her to take advantage in the next two stages, I've no she will i mean demi she's not afraid um to put it out there so and i think the next two days as i said are kind of they are the stages where you can catch the lighter riders out we've already seen gaia riolini for example um you know lose quite a lot of time being a more classic lightweight rider. So the next two days are challenging for those kind of riders with the 4%, 5% type climbs. So it's a good opportunity for Demi to try and claw back that time. So, yeah, it's all going to depend on how she recovers.

But for sure there's tension in the SDWork works uh corner at the moment um it's also interesting because it's i think pretty much common knowledge that demi's not staying um next year so i'm not sure if that has something to do with the whole dynamic um but yeah it's it's definitely making for some exciting racing are they going to bring everything together and control and really get behind demi now um or yeah are we going to struggle to see them kind of regain their um their order um with the dynamic that's happening within the team wow yeah we really appreciate you at like ashley coming on our show um one okay one question who do you predict wins overall?

Great question. Well, I mean, I have to say right now, Kassia is looking like a really solid option. I know she's worked really hard for this. I know last year gave her a real, you know, taste of being on that podium. So for sure, she's worked hard for it.'s now in yellow i think we all know what a jersey a leader's jersey can do in terms of bringing that extra fighting spirit and extra strength however you know pup is looking pretty pretty good um she's an incredible upcoming talent you know can she hold on to those great legs that she was talking about yesterday. She also, I think, if I'm not mistaken, was involved in the crash. So we'll have to see how she comes out of that. But if Kirsten Faulkner has the legs that she has and she finds the right

moment to get that gap in the next two days, then, yeah, she could also spice things up. You know, obviously Elk Duet, I wouldn't say is her big strength as a client. But if she finds a gap and we know she's a great time trialist, if she manages to get some time in the next two days, then she could also be a real danger. Oh, man. Amazing. Ashley, thank you so much. This has been awesome.

Yeah. We're going to come visit you in Girona. Roca Corba. Just going to say. Please do. Roca Corba. Just going to say. Please do. Roca Corba Cycling, Lance. We need to do a WeDo trip there, I think, because Mari and I don't always get invited on those.

But thank you again, Ashley, so much. Thanks, Ashley. We really appreciate you. Thanks, guys. It was great chatting. And yeah, thanks for putting on the cap, Lance. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am.

See ya. Cheers. Bye. Oh, she's so. Yeah. Cheers. Bye. Oh, she's so awesome. I mean, that's that's it. Right. Get the popcorn ready. Yeah.

She couldn't say it any better. Like, why are we doing this? There are four or five different scenarios there. That's that's just just pop the popcorn. Let's sit back and watch because it's on. Interesting. Oh, it is on. All right. Three more days to go tomorrow stage six we will be back with you thanks for tuning in make sure you like and subscribe wherever you get

your podcast apple spotify iheart all of the above thanks for tuning in we'll see you tomorrow on three two one see you tomorrow on 321. Bye!