THEMOVE - Tour of Flanders 2026 Breakdown | THEMOVE

Episode Date: April 5, 2026

Lance Armstrong, George Hincapie, Johan Bruyneel break and Spencer Martin break down Tadej Pogačar's incredible solo win at the Tour of Flanders to rack up his record-tying third career win at the race, as the sport's top riders, Mathieu van der Poel, Remco Evenepoel, Wout van Aert, and Mads Pedersen were left looking for answers behind. They discuss what, if anything, his rivals could have done, Evenepoel's incredible debut at the race, and, most importantly, whether there's anything anyone can do to stop Pogačar next week at Paris-Roubaix. Become a WEDŪ Member Today to Unlock VIP Access & Benefits: https://access.wedu.team OneSkin: Get 15% off OneSkin with the code THEMOVE at https://www.oneskin.co/THEMOVE  #oneskinpod Lagoon: Use code MOVE for 15% off at https://LagoonSleep.com/THEMOVE

It just sort of sense the other riders. They just know. They know how, I mean, the only thing that could potentially happen here. The only X factor is some sort of a crash or bad luck or even those may not derail him. Look, this discussion or this question of, you know, they talked about it a lot during the race today. And, of course, we have as well of Eddie Merck's versus Pogo Char. Listen, we got to stop. This is over, in my opinion.

And this guy is, is that good. This is, this is the best ever. Hey, everybody, welcome back to the move podcast. Talking about the 2006 tour of Flanders. I'm Lance Armstrong, joined by Spencer Martin, Johann Bruniel, and George Hinkapie, boys. first and foremost, happy Easter. Happy Easter.

Happy Easter. Remember when George was having the, you were at that party and they were dropping the Easter egg, Easter eggs out of the helicopter? Yeah, I know. They're doing it again. Our buddy James, who Johan and I did, and Lance did camp with in Marika, he flies the helicopter and drops the eggs off for like, they're going to do that again today.

Well, I'm not sure because it's like not the nicest day. It's a little cloudy and a little rainy. Worth the risk, though, right? It's a little bit like a kid rock thing where you're out on the back. It's kind of the same dynamic. Like your backyard, the pool, the view. Well, he didn't do it in my house, though. He does it.

He owns a big development on the lake. He does it there at their clubhouse. Oh, I thought he rolls up on Chateau-Incappy. Okay. He has rolled up just to say hi and landed it in my backyard. Listen, the best. story from South Carolina ever was that spy balloon where they had to tell the people from South Carolina, whatever you do, don't try to shoot the balloon. Nothing tops that. I think about that story

more times than I care to admit. I mean, that is just state gold. Yeah. Makes me want to have another spy balloon fly over. Anyhow, listen. what are you going to say? I know this sounds like the same show we probably have done many, many times. Just another incredible performance by Tatei Pogachar. Spencer and I, before we started the show, we're looking, you know, they were talking about it during the telecast this morning. He's raised three times this year.

And he's won all three. Strati Bianchi, not surprisingly. Monsan Remo, perhaps a little surprisingly, especially considering the crash. And today. But if you go back to last year, he won the last four races that he did at the end of last season. So he's now won seven in a row.

Spencer, what was that crazy stat? The percentage of monuments that he's won. Oh, so he's winning monuments at a rate of four every 12 months. So, Johan, that means he would pass Merck's by the end of 2028.

at that current rate. That's crazy. He's at, I don't know which place he is, but this is a 12th monument. He just surpassed Roger de Vlamink, who had 11. Eddie Merck has 19.

So he's second. Free and clear. Second. Yeah. That's within reach. Yeah. Yeah, it's incredible, man. I mean,

it's exactly the same as last year went on the same place. You know, I just think that he's stronger than last year. Yeah. I agree with that. that. I agree with that. And it's almost, you just, you just sort of sense the other riders. They just know how, I mean, the only thing that could potentially happen here. The only X factor is, is some sort of a crash or bad luck or even those may not derail him. Look, this discussion or this question of, and you know, they talked about it a lot during the race today. And of course, we have as well of Eddie Merck's versus Pogachar.

Listen, we got to stop. This is over, in my opinion. And this guy is that good. This is the best ever by far. I think, I agree. I mean, you know, plus, you know, you can't compare different eras. I mean, no,

especially those two errors and you can't, you can't compare this era to the one in the middle. Yeah. No, and the competition is a bit harder, I think. And the fact that he's able to win and dominate on every single race, basically,

you know, the fact that he's now going to be the top favorite for Pari Roubert the next week is, and then top favorite for the Tour de France and all the other races, he races basically. You know, he doesn't race much, but whenever he races,

he races to win and he almost always always wins. And he wins in all kinds of fashion. I mean, Spencer, you would probably know this, but I can't remember the last time where we saw the top five and Torre Flanders come in one by one. I mean, that's just a straight indication of how brutally hard that race was,

one by one. It's just a race of attrition. I mean, these guys were crawling into the line, the best riders in the world. We were super exciting coming into the bottom of the Quaramont, I think the second to last time up where you had the biggest, the four names in cycling minus Daltoro, the top four name of cycling and Jonas, were right there in line, following each other to start the Quaremont.

I mean, it's just, that's the best of the best. It doesn't get any better than that. And he still walks away with a win. I mean, I know we might start mentioning different tactics, but it's kind of hard to, it's almost impossible to beat him. I don't think there's a might there. We're going to have to have a tactical discussion. the back half of this show.

You just have to. You just have to watch, having watched what we, everybody watched, you have to say, well, what would you do different? Which, of course,

we'll get to that. The other interesting, I mean, all the, all the favorites, look, it's not like, you know,

a bunch of the favorites had off days. Like, they were there. Like, look at the top five. It was like the Galacticos. It was,

I mean, before the race, who were the top five favorites? You named those five. Who, We got top five today. By the way, like it was a time trial, one by one by one. I mean, these are all the things that you, I mean, at least for me as a spectator or as a, just the viewer sitting in home, you want it like that.

You're like, I don't know. Just blow the race up. Like, have everybody finish one by one by one. Like that's a dream center. That's exactly what happened. Did you guys notice the top six was almost exactly the same as last year in terms of the riders comprised. that with the only difference being Remcoe Evanapole, subbing in for

Tage Banute, which shows you it's like what Lance is saying. If you just run every race as hard as you possibly can, the strongest riders will finish at the front. And that's what, it's almost like an experiment we're watching. Just like, hey, what if we start going, I don't know how early you guys turn this

on, but 150K to go, the Peloton was splitting up. That's how hard you were driving the Peloton. So it's basically all out for the last couple hours. Yeah, I mean, it started on the Malenberg, right? I mean, on the Malenberg, you could see UAE lining it up. You had Florian Vermeers doing an incredible assent of the Malenberg.

And from then on it was basically there was no more fighting for position. We had 12 riders in the front from the break. And then we had 18 riders behind. All the good guys were there. There was none of the favorites who missed out. And that was it. So, I mean, has a 101. 101 K to go, by the way.

Hats off the replay for his first participant. Honestly, I was a doubter about this experiment. I did not think that he would be able to be on the podium. And he proved me wrong. He did an incredible race. Could have played it a bit smarter, but still, you know, to be up there in third position in your first ever tour of Flanders, not being a specialist, not having an experience, I think that's, that's amazing. And for the Belgian fans, man, it was, it was amazing to see him up there.

Yeah. Yeah, they were, you can tell how excited they were every time he rolled by. I mean, he had a great team behind him today, probably even arguably, maybe even better than UAE. Perhaps he used them a bit too much or not in the best way to maximize their potential for a win. But like you said, Y'all, that's incredible. First time in Touriflanders getting third place and arguably one of the hardest Thorough Flanders we've seen so far. Yeah. Very windy.

Yeah. Very windy. Did I see 43.5 average at the end? Wow. I mean, 278 kilometers. And the first part, the first 120K was basically was headwind. Yeah. Yeah.

It's crazy. Wait, I'm even seen, no, no, that was last year. Never mind. Yeah, 43K an hour. I mean, Johan, we were talking about a race on Wednesday. They averaged 48 kilometers an hour over cobblestones and hills. It's crazy. Yeah.

Yeah. Sports lost its mind. I mean, so you were saying with the 1001K to go. That was the move of the day. And I don't know if you saw, but Vizma at Wavnerart was out of position. They had a feney who was one of the strongest guys in the world, like going all out to get Venar into that front group. He makes it. And then here's like, I think, going to be the crux of what we debate.

They get, that selection happens. Red Bull has quite a few riders. UAE has one rider with Pagotch. So right there you'd say, is that a little small spot? Two. Yes, Vermeers. Lauren Vermeers. Well, one rider with Pagachar.

Yeah. And Red Bull had two with Ramco. Two with him. And Vizma has a rider. They have Leport with Venar. You'd say, I would say, was that a potential soft underbelly right there? 100K to go, he has one teammate left.

Instead of doing anything, though, they just, they rotate through. They get to the Quermont, a 57K to go. Guess what happens? that it, Pagotcha attacks. Woutvinark goes with him. Matthew Vanderpull and Remko are there. I don't know. Does Wauco too early?

Too much too early in that climb because he's kind of dropped over the top of the climb. So is Remko. Remko catches back on. They get to the Paterberg. Remko kind of attacks. He's pulling into the Paterberg, then attacks. Then he's dropped and he's in the hell dangle for the rest of the race. He's just dangling.

10 seconds back. It was so close. George thought he was going to catch back on. Pagotcha said he was on there. He was determined not to let Rerbacher. him co get back on because he knows how dangerous from Coe is and races like that. And then of course, as we see every year, they get to the last

Quaremont, past the Quermont, 18K to go, Pagachar drops Vanderpull. This is going to be a tradition. 50 years we'll all be going there to watch this happen year after year and then Pagacha rides away for the win. Do you guys, let's say your Ds, is there anything

in that last 100K that you would say I would have done that differently? 100%. Well, I think we We said it over text, and I don't know if Johan would agree, but like, maybe Bramco is just overconfident. I mean, he is one of the best riders in the world. He has ridden away from the best riders in the world and gone solo.

So perhaps he was just on a super confident day, but like, why wouldn't you try to send these guys up the road and not pulling that group of 20 guys? Christoph Laporte sent him up the road. And then, like you guys said, Pocateor is just with Florian Mervich, so they have to, there's their responsibility to chase these guys down. So perhaps you kind of start seeing a nick in their armor, but they didn't use it. They just pulled through and kept the gap at one and a half minutes,

made the race hard, which is basically essentially riding for Pocotaur. We already said it, Spencer. I don't know if it was just you and I or last week in Gendbivogam, but I think it was in Gendt, Beavogam, George. Yeah. Van Poul, Van Art, Remko. It's not in their DNA to not work.

What they're up front, they just work. I mean, it's like they want a fair race. they're all super confident I agree George he could have used the team better in the end would it have mattered I don't think so Porcacha just looked in control

the whole way it wouldn't have mattered but at least you can kind of see him on defense for a second they never put him on defense they just kept rotating through like our guys will stay with you at least try send two guys that aren't a favorite it's up the road and then they have to go on defense

they have to figure out how to get them back but nobody even tried. So it was just, you know, it was kind of, I think, a loss of an opportunity there. You know, one, yeah, go ahead. Go ahead, Lance. Well, I was just going to say, I mean, George, if what you said is what Remcoe thinks, is thinking that, you know, I'm one of the best riders in the world, etc., etc. I don't know that that's the right attitude because he's racing one guy. And that guy is a lot better than him.

So it doesn't matter. that you're one of the top three or four riders in the world. It doesn't. You're racing a guy that is head and shoulders above you. So forget everybody else. That doesn't matter. The thing is they know each other so well. You know, there's one, I don't know if it was in the English interview,

but I saw on Belgian TV, Matjew van der Pooh, talking in Flemish. And he said, you know, that once he was away with Pogacchar, they feel who's the strongest. You know, it was clear to me that, for example, on the, what was it? Tyenberg. Pogacchard just, von der Poole set the pace for him

in order to not get dropped. But Van der Poole said, he said, you know, there's nothing I could do, you know, at the bottom of the Quaramont. And today, he even didn't wait until the cobbles. He just went already on the asphalt before the cobbles. Von der Poehle was doing 650 watts. Yeah, I mean, but he didn't have essentially a teammate in that movement.

He had Delier that got caught, but not a teammate that can make the difference. So I think Vanderpull did everything he can do. Maybe, you know, like you said, he knew he was going to get dropped. But the other guys who had teammates at least used them differently. What do you think about that decision, George? I thought that was odd. I woke up Alperson as a guy in the move. And it looks good on paper, but the moment you catch that breakaway,

they're not going to have anything left to work, right? Yeah, I mean, a guy like Deliae, that's pretty, much what he's built for at least it takes the pressure off they don't have to be expected to pull with you a way to bring the breakaway back so i think that was their a good play for them okay yeah it was it was the best way for alpacin not to have to work uh they knew that you know at the end of the day if you look at the race spencer it was basically uae who did all the work uh until that break got on the on the moulomburg uh that's the only moment where for example red bull could have used their numeric advantage a little bit.

But then again, you know, Johnny Vermeerce and one of the Van Deka brothers, what kind of damage are they going to do, you know, to a guy like Bogachar and to Walt Von Hart and to Matthew van der Poole. But what if they attack over the Molenberg? Like on the other side of the Molenberg, what would happen if they attacked?

On the down, that's what I thought would start happening. Like for a moment, I thought we'd start seeing something different. Like, okay, send these guys up the road, like Christopher Report. I mean, those are strong guys. If they get a minute up the road, it's not going to be easy to bring them back. And it's going to be the full responsibility of Pocuchar and Florian Ramesh.

Speaking of the report, it was nice to see his, nice to see him back at the front. He's had a year or so of some health struggles. And I always liked his style. He just says he's so, he's just not your typical French bike racer. He's cut a little more.

from the Dutch or Belgian cloth. And he just, anyhow, nice to see him up there again. Yeah, for sure, for sure. George, what you also have to have in mind, you know, like, it's easy for us to say, why don't they do this with, you know, with their secondary riders? But, I mean, most of those guys, so we have the five riders that say, you know, Thaddei, Mathieu, Walt, Remko, and Pedersen, right? Those five.

The others, to make it in that group, they're already on their limit. you know and that's that's kind of the the X factor here we have to take in consideration so to make it there they're on that limit so they want to be there to support their leaders but then to go up front it takes it takes really good legs and most of them were already hanging on for dear life to make it over the Molamberg probably had to recover quite a bit and then of course you know they're all scared to know whatever I do in in between I'm going to get dropped on the next climb anyway so what does it serve you know so and it was windy. It was very windy. Yeah. So they know they're going to be out, you know, they're thinking about that too. Yeah. As a rider has been in that position many times, like if you know you're going to get dropped,

you might as well try to get advantage on the next downhill or tailwind section before the climb. And, you know, instead of pulling through like they were doing, just rotating to keep that a minute and a half gap. And I'm still, it might not have made a difference. I just would have perhaps added another dynamic. Yeah. Like I mentioned, putting Pocachar on a defensive. Otherwise, what we saw today was just essentially they were riding for him and just to, you know, keep their time from the second group.

Another scenario you could probably envision is, for example, not collaborate with Pogacar, which will provoke, for example, that Pogacar goes sooner and then it's out there by himself and then it's organized behind and he can run out of energy. Yeah. But, you know, honestly, the way he finished this race man, he just, he just, he still kept taking time. He looked so comfortable in control. It was, it was crazy. And Red Bull led down to descent the whole Copenburg, which is one of the fastest sense, but the easiest descent. But the easiest descent to sit on. So everybody's just sitting pretty on the wheel there.

Yeah. And Remko's just given up his two, his two cars to play right there on that descent. We all knew what was going to happen. To the quarrymont. Yeah. The second and last. time up. I mean, we all knew what they were going to go. So why usually, it's not like it's a huge battle for position. It's 30 guys left, 20 guys. That's actually kind of easy to stay in the front

by yourself. You don't need the help of your two top lieutenants at that moment. Like, don't burn them up. Like do something different. Yeah. I know it's easy to say now the race is over, but now that we're discussing it, I would have tried to do something different before that dissent, get a little head start and have, you know, somebody else chasing or leading there. Well, Johann, let's say your DS of Red Bull. We're going to start doing this every show. The Johan's the DS. After the Mullenberg, what are you, like, what are you saying from the car?

Like, what's your plan? Well, I mean, first of all, I mean, if you know that the leader is Remko, you know, Van Deka and Vermeers are good riders, but they're not going to win the Tour of Flanders. So first of all, I would be, because for sure, Red Bull, it's a gamble they made with Rapid Remco. They didn't know how good he was going to be with positioning. So first of all, you're happy that you're up there and you don't have to fear the big war getting into the Quaramont or the Molomber or whatever other clan of Coppenburg.

So you're up there already. So you want to maintain that position. To be honest, I don't know if the directors of Red Bull really believe today that Remko was going to win the Tour of Flanders against Van de Poul and Pogacar. I think third place is almost a victory for him. Not in the mind of Remko, but for a team like Red Bull, it's the proof that they made the right decision.

He's up there on the podium with the two best riders in the world in these races now. So I think it's a huge success for them. Honestly, I don't think, I don't think, you know, it's easy to say, you know, yeah, it would have been this differently. I don't think many mistakes were made, honestly. Well, why is he pulling him before the Paterberg? You'd say that's a mistake, right? That's, yeah, of course.

That was a huge effort to come back. And then I think that the big mistake for Remco was, you know, to accelerate on the Potherberg and then, yeah, as you see the Paterberg right behind me, it's actually not, that road is super tight and it's super fast downhill. So even though, yeah, he was at the front before that, you're not burning that many matches. And there's some really technical corners coming. into that descent. So perhaps he just wanted to take his lines. I don't think he made a mistake by being in the front there.

Well, and here's the thing nobody wants to talk about. A lot of these guys aren't racing for the win. Think about Matt A. Moorich. When's the last time he topped 10 to Monument? He gets 8th. That's huge for him. Johnny Vermeish gets 10th. Tim Van Dyke 11th. Those are big results for those guys. That, you know, you got to keep, I think as a viewer, you think everyone should be racing against pagachar to win but especially George you know how important these points are like in modern cycling

it's not so much about the winning especially if you know someone's head and shoulders above everybody else yeah I mean the points game definitely has changed and if you look at the top 10 it's like the who's who of classics riders so I think all those guys are pretty content with their

position and also you know I think Spencer on the you know on the second time of the Quaramont you know, Remkel and Wout already knew they were not going to win. There's no recovering from this. If you get dropped there, you're going to get dropped on the Potterberg or on the Koppenberg the next time, right?

And then I don't even know if Mathieu thought he was already on the limit there. So basically from then on, I think everybody's just trying to consolidate their situation and get the best possible result. And maybe, maybe there's a chance to win if there's something, if something happens with the big favorite, with Bogacha. I think from now on in these races, we have to start thinking that way. You know, you need to be in the best possible position in second in case something happens with Bogachar. That's the way these guys race, I think.

Did something have been a while on the Quaraman? Because he was the one guy that followed Bagua, or he just blew. I think he blew. He blew. Because all of a sudden he just wasn't there. And Vanipal and Remko were ahead of him. But then he looked okay towards the end. I mean, I didn't have him dropping Matt's Peterson. Yeah.

Yeah. Maybe just a bad moment, I guess, right? Well, he was on the wheel. So it's not like he blew himself. He was on the wheel when Pogaccha went. So he followed. But yeah, he blew up. He blew up on the easiest part, actually, of the paramount.

Yeah. But that shows you how much on the limit he was, you know? Yeah. But we've taught it is a flat part there. So, yeah, once you usually get over that first deep pump, it's you technically, usually you're okay, but yeah, not with Pagotcher. But that's how upset were you that, that, that you weren't there, George, just like that whole. I mean, that's a that whole section.

That old Quermont's, that, that whole scene. I know that scene right there is awesome. When I wrote it, a hold in a month ago, they were already setting up the tents in the VIP area there on the Quermont, one month ago. Yeah. I mean, that's, that's another winner. here is the fans of cycling and certainly the people that were there. I mean, the promoters of tour planners of, yeah, you remember this, Johan. They got a little grief about this sort of this.

Changing the course, yeah. R routing years ago and what are you doing? Boy, no, this is the future. Yeah, this is definitely the way to go. I mean, three times, they passed three times, even also two times the women's race, which is still going on, by the way, for the moment. So now if you're there, I mean, George, you've been there, no, in those tents already. Yeah, it's super fun.

Yeah. Crazy atmosphere. It's unbelievable. It's a big part. I mean, look, Tura Flanders is the biggest event of the year in Belgium. All events combined. Really? Oh, yeah.

I mean, half of the country is outside. It must be a million people on the road. It's crazy. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. So I think what we saw today, guys, honestly, would this, would this be the best ever? podium in any bike race we've seen?

I would say so. I mean, the best top five. Yeah. I mean, think about the top five. It's just the gladiators of the sport. Yeah. Yeah. You just name five riders before the race and those are, that's the top five. I mean, it's, that's pretty great. Yeah. I mean, we're just not, it doesn't, it doesn't, first of all, Johan, Flanders looks amazing. I mean, shine. Shining during this race.

Also, Flanders classics, the organizer, big financial success story like this. Like, I think they have. it dialed more than any other organizer like Thomas Fandonspeagle the CEO could like guys well on an alter actually the the the boss and Thomas is the CEO he's uh you the Lance is right people were really upset about this when they changed it yeah and they've figured out actually how to they've you're charging admission to this race basically without anybody oh yeah and we're providing a really good service when you talk about the financial model you're talking about that the the the kind of the hospitality VIP packages there that are being sold

especially there at the old car amount yeah the old quare amount like inside those tents is like super good food they have huge tables for separate corporations or different groups i mean they've done it really really right it looks great in there and it's a great service that they provide yeah yeah and yeah we won't mention i've been to other races where like you can't even buy a bottle of water and you're like i'm trying to spend money here and i can't spend any money um but i'm just shocked to how much this race has changed. George, you know it better than anyone on the show. The Coppenberg does not resemble

the Copenberg 10 years ago. It's three guys. It used to be a fight to get in there. Is this just the race opens up so much earlier now? Well, we always, I mean, the Malenberg was always sort of the start of like, okay, this is really important climate. We need to be in front. There was a big

battle. But that's typically right after that, that's when there would be another lull in the race and the second tier riders would go, get a gap and then changed the whole dynamics of the race. But now it's like full gas from the Molynberg. I think it's been like that for the last four or five years. Yeah.

And it's just relentless. So in that sense, yes, it's totally different. Like we, earlier on George Coppenberg came earlier, no? With like 80K to go.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And we didn't do the Cobbendberg every year. It was some years we didn't even do it. But I am proud to say I never walked up to Cobbner in my career in a race. Wow.

Well, you have to miss a bit the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's different. It's different. Yeah. Yeah. It's. But I think, I think with, with, with, with the Maramont and this local circuit, you know, they, they, they have so many opportunities to do these clams. So three times the quorumont, two times the Potterberg. Um, it's, what they can set up there for the people. I mean, and even if you're going to the VIP, 10, you can go from one place to the other with a car or a motorbike. You can see them so many times. It's the only race aside from track racing that they've set up an actual stadium where they can charge good money. And they've really done an amazing job in that sense.

Yeah. I would say, as Lance said, that I missed that climb. I would say, though, there was years that you're getting winners on the old course that you're like, is this really the biggest champion in the race. So the new course is definitely better at filtering for that. Is it too hard though? Because Johan, you just hit the nail in the head. If you're struggling on the second pass of the Quermont-Patterburg, it's race over. So then it's basically 50K where we know what's going to happen. To me, that's the downside of the circuit that I just praised for its financial benefits. Yeah. I mean, especially with a guy like Pogachar. I mean, take Pogacar out of

the equation. Right. So it's completely different race. Yeah. Yeah. We don't know who's going to win. Those guys, those four, the next four are together if he's not in the race. Okay. All right. And the question is, does he keep going?

He already said he's not going to do San Remo again. Does he keep going after these classics like Flanders and Rubet next year? He's got to. Well, what he's, that brings me to that this was the thing I was thinking I'm next. I mean, look, I mean, he's racing Rubet. Guys kind of running out of things to do. winning ruby would be one but if you can have a season where you win all five monuments it's possible it's possible no i i i i would have to

Spencer look up there on on some of the markets what what that's trading at like this i would not bet against that now ruby well he gets through ruby if he can win ruby then just give him all five yeah yeah he was going to beat him at liege who's going to beat him at lombardia yeah never been done by the way. That would be unbelievable to win off five monuments. Yeah, unbelievable. Yeah. Plus the tour of France. But should we take a quick break for ads? And then we will get back into a little bit of business. A little bit of business. We'll be our back. Everybody, this

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and take the two-minute quiz, use code, move for 15% off your order. that's lagoon sleep.com slash the move and code move for 15% off. All right, we're back. We're talking about Pagotra running through all five monuments. I mean, just to like put this in a perspective, the thing that blows my mind is we're talking about him getting bored, running out of things to do.

But he's doing this against competition that Matthew Vanderpull, through his first eight seasons, like he's in his eighth cobbled season, he's the best, he's the best of all time through his first of eight seasons. like pagos and thing by yonis finnigard he's going to become spoiler alert for anyone that hasn't seen the jiro to tell you yet he's going to become like what the seventh writer

eighth writer of all time to win all three grand tours in their career like he's going against really good riders and he's just racking him up i mean through he's done flanders four times he's lost it one time has not lost it since 2022 like what do you guys these guys think he's going to win ruby Like, what are the chances that this actually happens?

I don't know. I'll be watching. Anybody that bets against this kid is nuts. Drew Beth, different. Yeah, all of those things. By the way, I did get ahead of myself and look at the forecast, because that's always a factor there that by grace is nice. 60 degrees, no rain.

That helps him. Yeah. But at this point, why not go for it, dude. Let's go do something that we've never seen in the history of the sport. Yeah, I mean, especially if you look at, if you look at, I mean, last year, first ever participation of Bogacha, he really surprised me. He was very close. Man, I think this year, he, I think he's better than last year, first of all.

And this year, I think he has a real, real, real chance to drop Mathieu van der Poul. The way he wrote today, man, on those, you could clearly see in between every sector that Pogacha was being compassionate with Vondra Poul. Von der Poultz took pulls whenever Pugachar decided to slow down. Otherwise, he couldn't pass him. It was clear. Of course, you know, Rube is different. You know, it's flatter. Yeah, I don't agree, Yohan.

I think, I mean, the powers a guy like Vanipal has on the flats. Yeah. I just don't, I can't. I know we keep saying how good he is, but. And the technique. And the way he goes into the corners. This is all the end. And his team will be much stronger in Rubei.

I mean, they're a specialist for the, for Paris Rubei. So I don't think it's going to go quite like it did today. Although, of course, you can never count out what Poker Talk can do. But I would assume that Vanipal will be even better next week. Yeah. I think so too. And while Van Ard's got some making up to do. He's had a rough couple of weeks.

Yeah, but he's on a good level. He's, uh, he's, uh, he's close. He said at the idea, he said, you know, I'm, I'm happy with my race. You know, I, you know, some people seem to forget how extraordinary pogachar and underpula are. I did not forget that. He said, so he's very, he was very realistic, you know, so. yeah a good race for him. I think last year we saw him get a bunch of forts also in the

classic. And then you know, wins the hardest stage in the Giro. I mean, obviously he's on great for him. I think he's going to be really good next weekend as well. Well, Venter Purs. You have your team in Perry Rubei? Let's talk about that for a second. Yeah. Flying over tomorrow, we're doing Skelter Pris on Wednesday and then Rubei on Sunday. Now, did those boys on the team know that how many, how many, how many, Eight riders, do you rebe? Do they know that if you were put on the team, that you'd beat half of them?

Are they aware of that? I know that's probably not the most inspiring thing to tell them before the race, but 100% you'd beat half the team. No, probably not. Everybody. I did the recon with them last month, and then I'm going to do it again on Thursday. Yeah.

You have to say something about that, George? You have to say something about that recall. Yeah, and I crashed in the recon. My first section, boom, busted my ass. I'm there to kind of show with my guys some good technique and I'm the first one to crash. It's not very Mosca, but I got better as the day we're on. Can you drop some of them? No, I was just hanging on.

I made it with them for every section they did, but hanging on for dear life. Let's look at the start list. You only have one. You have Sean Christian on the start list. I would have made, you've pretty strong team. I don't think George is going to be dropping them. Yeah. We've had a bunch of guys six.

we're actually waiting until Wednesday to do our final roster because I mean this depends on who who they're all on the up right now so Wednesday will be a good good indication of who the final guys are. Yoan I know what you're going to say about this but you and you and I both had a we we were skeptical about Remko Evanapult and frankly I couldn't I don't think I could find a single other rider who podiumed at Flanders after not doing he hadn't done a single classic this season before this I that's mind-bottes. It was definitely helped by the hardness of the race that it's less complex maybe than it used to be.

But we were missing one big name today. His name is Jonas Finnegard. Should he have been at this race? Should he start? Are we in an era where guys just have to start doing these one days? No. Not him. Jonas cannot do this.

It's not. No. Why is that, though, for the, let's put, I'm going to have roleplay as a stupid person. Why can't Jonas do well at this race? I wouldn't, I wouldn't put it past him doing well because you saw him in the Rubet stages and in the in the tour de France. I mean, he's quite good at positioning.

It's different. I know it's different. Yeah, I know, but I think I think he. I mean, physically, listen,

the guy's amazing, but I think it's the mindset. He's just mentally, he's not ready for this. And he will never be. I mean, this is not his thing. And,

you know, I don't blame him. He's, he's, yeah, if you're not super motivated if they go there, why risk,

you know, putting your whole career, unless you die and it's like your lifetime goals. If not, don't even bother going. What's the mindset difference? Like what's required? You got to love the race.

You got to, you know, somebody like Remko grew up in the region, said he lived at the bottom of the Bosberg or grew up there. I mean, just as a kid, you dream a race into our Flanders. So there's the incentive there. Pocotra wants to win everything there is on the calendar. So there's the incentive there. But, I mean, Lance never really had much interest in Flanders or any of those northern races unless he was going there to help me.

That's right. Super domestic. Listen, and just, I just kind of, I haven't watched, I will say, I think today, I did watch a little bit of San Remo, right? Yeah. Yeah. No, I did. But I haven't watched the other races. I've just read the headlines and seen the results.

If I'm Bingegaard, I'm avoiding Pogo Char. Because from what I'm gathering, just by looking online, I mean, he's kind of back. I mean, his performances are exceptional. He's crushing. If I'm him, I go in full-on hideout mode. Taday, I'll see you in July. Interesting. That's what he's doing.

He's doing the Gero. But I wouldn't even, I wouldn't want anybody to write about me, talk about me, look at me. I would wait and say to myself, we'll see what happens in July. Well, he's been dropping a couple hints along the way with his wins saying he's still far from his best. And obviously he wants to win the Giro. but I think in his mind is that he'll be better at the best of the tour. Barely win it. Just because that's the only, that's the only guy that can make July interesting.

Yeah. It's not Remco. Yeah. There is a new guy, Paul Sechoss. Maybe we should save him for the tour preview, but he's pretty good. It's interesting. You say, Lance, what if Jan Orrick was, he was smashing the classics? Like, would you have been like, I got to get out there?

Or you're saying what you would advise for Younger. I need to hide out until the tour. Yeah, I would just, that's, that's, he's focused on that. Yeah, I would just not, I would just, I would just try to be as under the, although he's not. I mean, he's been writing incredibly well and winning and people are talking about it. But the more that, that there is some element of surprise, by the way, I mean, Pochartar is not worried about that either. This guy is supremely confident.

But, look, we're also talking. I think part of our brains are talking about or hoping that this is the kind of fight we all get in July. At least I am. Yeah, we would love to see a big battle between those two, I'm sure. Did you guys notice that Pagachar, I'm hesitant to even say this, technically should have been disqualified from the race. Did you see this, Johan? Because he crossed the train tracks. Yeah, him and Ramco.

actually it was there was debate there was debate during the race so the UCI rule say that if you ignore a light of a railway that you're disqualified obviously they were not going to do that because it was half the peloton but now during the i mean i was watching belgian tv and uh the court of justice is going to file a complaint against all the riders who passed the red lights wow wow what if they lose all right the race incident so we're fighting crime and Belgium, are we? Boy, we're going to fucking lock them up. And that'll show them.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It is, I, it, it, it is interesting to hear you say hide out. Because that, Johan, do you think that's shifting that writers, that mentality is going away, that it's like less, I'm going to be incognito until the two of friends that, like, Remko's out here, you know, race in one days now? Is that going away, that type of.

of sole focus on the grand tours. Yeah, I think, you know, they're all those very complete riders, you know. Jonas is a stage racer. By the way, you know, barely winning it, as you say, Lance DeGiro, he's not, in my opinion from what I've seen, especially in Catalonia, he's not even going to have to try hard. You know, he's just right away from everybody. Especially with whoever will be at the start. But, yeah, I think, I think these guys can do everything now, man.

Look, for example, back in your days, how many guys did you know who could do a wheelie? Yeah. Not many. Yeah. Not many. Everybody is an acrobat on a bike now. Yeah. Right?

You know, that's a great point. I have always, it's been, George, can you ride a wheelie? Nope. Okay. All right. Let's have some fun with this because I have said to myself numerous times over the last few years that this summer or any of those summers, I'm going to learn how to ride a wheelie. Now, it's a little scary. You know, you don't want to, but we could just go down to the park. And this would be fun. We'll film it. Maybe. Maybe. We should definitely do this. And because once you get it, it's easy, right? You got it. Now, I would only be comfortable doing that.

on a mountain bike. But I cannot do that. And so let's make that a summer goal. Okay. On a mountain bike or road bike? No, no, no. We're going to start on a mountain bike. And I'm going to start on grass.

I mean, you got to, you're going to tip over a few times or go backwards a few times. Let's try. Yeah. That would be sick. Like if all of a sudden we nail it and we're just like, what's up? Like one hand up. Yeah, I just like, dude, I don't know how, now we are truly going down the hole. Well, Yohan brings up a good point because Peter Sagan blew minds when he was doing the wheelie.

And I was like, last year I was riding up the pass of Sela. And there was kids riding wheelies down the pass. Oh, boy. You know, like, it's just things are accelerated in terms of, you know, technical, maybe not tactical, smarts but technical handling things to seem to be accelerating. Good.

All right. Well, hey, next weekend. I think, can we all agree, right? He gets through Rubei, just hand him the five.

Yeah. I think I'm with Georgia. I think it's going to be tough to be Fanderpull. It's the hardest of the, even harder than San Remo, I suppose, right? Well,

I don't know, actually. Not the way he wanted this year. What he did this year was crazy. Yeah. You guys want to hear a crazy stat about Eddie Merck's? Sure. So his first monument that he ever does, Lonzen Remo. That's the hardest race to win, right?

Wins it. First monument that he starts. It's crazy. Shout out Eddie Merckx. He won it seven times. Right. Seven. That's mind-boggling.

I mean, what was going on? What were people saying then? Like, why are people working with this guy? He's just going to drop you. I don't know. Different sport. Yeah. Well, Lance, I actually, I want to ask you this before we go.

Did you watch the Nugget Spurs game yesterday? I did. So, unbelievable game. My son, I sent my son, he's like five years old, and it was a spicier game than I thought was going to be. He came back traumatized. But so a guy like Wimbunyama comes around and he is warping. He is changing the way the game's played.

And to beat him, you have to have simple rules. Like, these guys that are amazing, they played a game one way their whole life, they have to just, they can't play that way because he's going to reject you. He's blocking seven foot centers, like just sending back their sky hooks. You saw Yokic figured out during the game,

like, hmm, I got to do things a little bit different. And by the, by overtime, he's now dominating Wimbunyama because he's figuring out how to play the game differently. Do you think, right, like, do they have to come up with Pagacha rules and just stick to them? Like, never work.

If you make the race hard, you're helping Pagachar and just stick to these rules. as the race goes on. Well, that's what I was alluding to earlier in the show. Look, there's a lot of ways to look at that. I mean, that'd be a shame. But, I mean, we spent half of the show talking about that. How do, what do you do?

I don't think that will ever happen. You have this is not one-on-one. This is one versus 20. So everybody has a different agenda, has a different approach. all, you know, you know, and some directors are very skilled and others are not, right? So they all have these illusions. That's just not going to happen. I mean, there's probably some simple things that, I mean, I would certainly make that team control any race.

And if you're in any group, but you're just, it's hard too when you get in the moment because they know they're on TV. They know they're going to look like a total pansy just sitting on the wheel. Like, I'm not pulling. it gets in their head. I would defer to Johan on that. I mean, John, I mean, just to go back to it. The sport has changed so much, Lance.

I mean, like, you know, you don't see directors talking to each other anymore with a common goal to make it hard on, you know, we know what it was back in our day. You know, we had the whole peloton against us. And some people actually agreeing together to ride against us. That doesn't happen anymore. Once they're in a certain situation, directors don't talk to each other.

They all have their plan. They stick to their plan. They, you know, they're focused on the data. And that's it. Tactics are overrated in today's cycling. Well, and Lance kind of alludes to it. There's not basketball where there's two outcomes, winning and losing.

There's multiple, like, there's a fifth place. You know, so you're not all working toward the same thing. But I may be just a little, I don't, George, try this. So, right, like a little flow chart, is Pagotcher in your group? and then an arrow down, do not pull. Just tape that to everyone's handlebars

because everybody needs that on their handlebars. All right, well, you guys have anything else on this race before we're back next week? I will say just last thing on that. I mean, I think he does himself a real service. And you see this especially with Vanderpull. For my eye, they have a special relationship versus his relationship with Remko.

he wasn't worried about Remko. You kidding me? He's not worried about him at all. I don't care what he said in the post-race interview. The last thing I wanted was for him to get back. That's a bunch of bullshit, right? He just didn't want him back. Exactly, exactly.

Period. Not because he was scared of him or worried about some different outcome. No, no. He knows the outcome. But he and you've seen this time and time again, he and Vanderpul have a camaraderie there that's very different than any of the other ones. And so, but, but what, what I was starting to say was, I mean, people like, not people, people, people do like him.

The riders in the Peloton, I think, obviously have a ton of respect for him. They also like him. He's done a good job managing the politics of the sport, managing the politics of the other riders, the other favorite. It doesn't matter if you're, if you're, his biggest threat or threat number 100. He's done a really good job of sort of keeping this relationship with those guys. And lastly, because I think I'm uniquely suited to talk about this, because I did a terrible job of that. I did.

And so, Johan, and we, you just said it, right? Yes, we had, you know, they would sort of gang up on us because we were dominant, but they also ganged up on us because they were pissed. Like this this this peloton's like shit This is kind of cool I get to say I was here And the guy's nice And he's pat me on the back

And hell I don't know Maybe he remembers my my wife's name And says how she you know He's a very He's very political like that Which you have to be in cycling He's a like guy for sure Yeah

Yeah Yep Yep It's gonna I mean that'll just continue And that's not changing He's always been that way He continues to be that way it's going to continue to serve him well yeah agree you know who doesn't like him i don't know

if we should say it oh boy i don't know yo hon yon yonus i don't think he's a huge fan yon olymp he doesn't like him yeah he doesn't like him which makes the two are so fun i'm excited already but yeah i also helps vanderpull thinking like by the way by the way i'm glad he doesn't like him let's go it is that's good but it helps vanderpul with the relationship when you're thinking okay okay you're going to a big brother me today and then next week I'm probably going to beat you in win ruby so that's i think that helps the relationship a little bit yeah yeah and stay out of trouble like this listen let's the it's not should not be lost on any of us that him racing peri ruby that is the most dangerous race you can do like he and he knows that and his directors know that and everybody

associated with that juggernaut knows that so you've got to be very careful this yes all these things would be nice when all five monuments in one season continued the domination etc etc the tour is the only one I mean is the one that matters the most

especially for that sponsor we're probably going to see in Red Rubez is the same as we see they're going to go early they're going to early top three into Armberg in the top three finishers yeah all right well

We only got to wait seven days. By the way, too. No, never mind. Hopefully you see one of our Burgundy jerseys in the breakaway or something. No, absolutely. We'll see. Yeah. All right, everybody.

Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you for Perry Rebae. Next Sunday. Thanks. Thank you. See you.