THEMOVE - What Does Pogačar's Crash Mean for This Vuelta? | La Vuelta a España 2026 Stage 8 | THEMOVE

Episode Date: August 29, 2026

Johan Bruyneel and Spencer Martin break down Bryan Coquard's surprise stage win, as well as the shocking crash of Tadej Pogačar, which led to his exit from the race, completely changing the GC landscape. They discuss how the GC will play out for the rest of this Vuelta, who could ultimately win the overall, and start by predicting the outcome of tomorrow's massive ninth stage, which serves up over 5,000 meters of climbing and is sure to pull the race into fresh focus. Become a WEDŪ Member Today to Unlock VIP Access & Benefits: https://access.wedu.team Ultra Pouches: Ultra is the ultimate guilt-free pouch — delivering instant focus and mental clarity, without nicotine or caffeine. New customers can use code THEMOVE to get 15% off at https://TakeUltra.com. After you purchase, they will ask you where you heard about them. PLEASE support our show and tell them our show sent you. Eight Sleep: Use code THEMOVE at https://eightsleep.com/themove for up to $350 off. 30 days to try it at home. Free returns if it's not for you. Tifosi Optics: Use promo code THEMOVE at https://tifosioptics.com/discount/THEMOVE Blueprint: Science-backed, precision-dosed, no BS. For a limited time only, our listeners get 20% off + free shipping at https://blueprint.bryanjohnson.com by using code THEMOVE at checkout. That's code THEMOVE at https://blueprint.bryanjohnson.com for 20% off.  After you purchase, they will ask you where you heard about them. PLEASE support our show and tell them our show sent you.

The event of the day is obviously the crash of Pugachar and, you know, everybody's, I'm really, I'm really bummed about that. And I think it's, the race loses big with the abandon of Tare Pugachar. I think on a global attention scale, it's a game changer, in my opinion. The race will be wide open now. So we'll have to see what happens. But, so I don't know if it's good. I would say it's bad for the race.

there's people going to say yeah you know there's now now with suspense we don't know who's going to win but I don't think that's true I think for the general attention of the race for the sponsors for the TV viewership I think it's not

a great it's not great but it also shows Spencer that we've probably been saying many times you know people question sometimes yeah why would you race for second why would you you know but if you're in second you're in position for when something happens to the leader.

Everybody, welcome back to the Move podcast. I'm Spencer Martin. I'm here with Johann Bernille. We're breaking down stage eight of the Valta, Spain, as well as previewing stage nine, giving our outcomes, stage predictions for tomorrow's big mountain stage. But the big news on stage eight is, of course, Tata Pagacchar crashing out. Shocking, shocking events on a pretty innocuous stretch of road,

the Peloton riding side to side, which is a little dangerous. Pagotcha takes a drink from his water bottle, hits a rock, slides across the road, and then flips over the handlebars. Looks like he hit his left eye quite hard and then had a shoulder slash arm issue. I'd be curious to get your thoughts on that, Johan, about what does the future look like for him? Can he race again this year? Devastating for the race, devastating for the race, devastating for Pagachar for the UAE, for the fans. I really wanted to see him win this Falta, join Jonas in the group of three,

having won all three Grand Tours Club. Just a sad day all around. But now the right now the gc is wide open. It's it's taking I'm sure the the riders have to adjust, but it's really taking me a minute to adjust to this new GC situation with Enric Moss leading. Primas Roggich in second by a minute. Felix 1.11 back.

Sub Coup's 2.15 back. Oscar only 216 back. And Richard Carapest. It looked dead and buried yesterday. Now only 222 back. Don't forget about him. But also it just in the continuing weirdness of the day, the stage win taken by Brian Cook

McCard from Coffetus. We were talking about how unlikely that would be yesterday, Johan, beats Mads Pedersen in a photo finish. Jordy Mays 3rd and then Matthew Brennan, as we suspected, kind of struggled on the flat fast finish in 10th. Cicard gets his first 34 years old, gets his first grand tour stage win of his career. Pretty incredible. I mean, it shows you that you should not, don't give up on the stage ones. I believe only is fourth world. Tour win of his career as well.

It's just an incredible win for a good card. It was great to see him take it. But, Johan, what is your, we have eight sleep as sponsoring our move of the day. If you want to get an eight sleep, just like UAE at this. UAE, not at this race, not just at this race, but throughout the whole year is using eight sleep at every hotel they stay at. They move it around. It cools your bed.

Heats your bed. We went through the stats that they're sleeping at yesterday. How much there's sleep in every night? You can go to eightsleep.com slash the move to get $350 off. your eight sleep mattress topper through the end of this well. So, but Johan, what is your eight sleep move of the day for today? Move of the day. I mean, let's give it to Brian Kakar, you know, yesterday.

I personally, I personally said, Spencer, you know, there's no way Kakar wins a sprint with this field. The stats were there to back up my statement. But, yeah, I mean, that's an incredible win for him. And I don't think COVID has worked at all all day. I don't think I saw them on the first. front one single second. No, I mean, that's what I said. I mean, I think you asked me yesterday, well, we'll call for this work to keep it together.

I said, yeah, for who? For Kokar? He does very unlikely he's going to win. But man, it shows you it's never, never too late to give up hope. You know, as you said, 34 years old, he's won a lot of races in his career. It took him a while to win a World Tour race. And we went over that list yesterday, I think. You know, he went twice in Downun.

And then somewhere else. I don't remember what it was. It was down under. And I believe. Yeah. So three wins and tour on. No, hold on a second.

Let me sort by. Two wins. Two wins and down under. I know that. Two wins it down under and tour to Switzerland. Two years ago. Yeah. But he's also had a ton of near misses.

If you remember when he was like a second or 30 year proe, he had this bike throw at the tour. Almost got a stage win. So he's been knocking on the door, but he gets second a lot. Yeah. You know, listen, I mean, hats off to him. He also, I mean, if we saw the images after the finish, he's all banged up. He has bandages.

So he was involved in a crash in one of the earlier stages. And, you know, add to that that this is not a field with the fastest sprinters. But still, he beats Matt Peterson and Jordi Meos. Those are two guys who are to the front stage winners. And, you know, one stage is in many, many other races. So, yeah, I did. not see that coming. So apologies to Kokard for not believing him in yesterday.

But it's nice to see that. I mean, also if you look, Spencer, you know, we're always talking about young riders in cycling Kokar in his 30s, Patterson, almost 30, I think. Meos, not the youngest guy anymore. And then if you look at the GC also, you know,

Enric Maas in his 30s, Roglidge, well in his 30s. Felix Gal, 28. Who's Ford now? Seppcus, no? Sepcus. In his 30s. In his 30s.

So it is an old man's race. It's not always, always the young guns, you know. So, so, yeah, Pogacar's 27, what is it, 27 going on 28. So, but anyways, I think that the event of the day is obviously the crash of Pugachar. And, you know, everybody's, I'm really, I'm really bummed about that. And I think it's, the race. loses big with the abandon of Tarepulagachar. I think on a global attention scale, it's a game changer, in my opinion.

The race will be wide open now, so we'll have to see what happens. So I don't know if it's good. I would say it's bad for the race. Now there's people going to say, yeah, you know, there's now, now with suspense, we don't know who's going to win. But I don't think that's true. I think for the general attention of the race, for the sponsors for the TV viewership.

I think it's not a great. It's not great. But it also shows Spencer that we've probably been saying many times. You know, people question sometimes. Yeah, why would you race for second? Why would you, you know, but if you're in second, you're in pole position for when something happens to the leader. Yeah, I think we said that a few days ago.

Yeah. It's always, I think it was after Pagacho went off the road on the descent. It's like, well, yeah, it's always a good strategy, actually, racing first. second because this can't happen. It's shocking. I still cannot believe this happened. I mean, how many times has Bagua'i got to be in that position and not crashed? Yeah. It's really jar. I mean, Spencer, we have these, we have these images here, screenshots from, from the TV footage. If Gabriel can put them up. So, you know, we didn't see it straight away with that in the replay. There was a stone on the left side of the road, which we see here clearly. And then pair that with the tension in the

peloton. I think it was just after the sprint and they were leading into the bottom of that climb. So it was a fight. The peloton was wide over the road, but they were going 50, 55K an hour. Combined that with apparently, Marchin, the DS of UAE said in the race in the post-race interview that apparently today was drinking of his water bottle at that time. So only one hand on the handlebars. He went down first. You can clearly see in the in the in the in the in the in the and the repeat repetition that he went down first. And in my opinion, Spencer, that's a mistake. You should not be drinking there.

Of course, you know, there's, if you're thirsty, you're thirsty. But at least, you know, when it's, when you feel the tension and the nervousness and everybody's fighting for position, I think you should just be focused and keep both hands on the handlebars. Maybe Taday was so comfortable. he said he wasn't even suffering and he was saying okay I'll typically drink a sip here before the last climb but you know if something shows up on on the road like a stone like this a rock and you only have one hand on your handlebars and you hit it first of all you can't move you can't

move and then you lose you lose control so yeah it's very unfortunate um it looked bad from the very I mean the moment you saw him on the ground to say okay that that is not good you know this is over. He tried, though. He tried to get back on the bike, but it was clear. So he has a cut in his eyebrow. I mean, that was bleeding, but I think that's the least of his concerns. A few stitches will fix that.

And then, yeah, the shoulder. I don't know if there's a break or not, but it was definitely not possible to go on. This is a funny thing about cycling to me. Yeah, I guess least of his concern, but he hit his face really hard. hard, his head. Yeah. Yeah. They do not, they do not really seem worried about concussions in professional cycling, Johan. Like, that was my first concern. I don't think, I don't think, I don't think, I don't think, I don't think he had a concussion. He was, he was, he was, he was very lucid. But anyways, yeah, I mean, I'm sure they're going to do all the tests now. I was surprised they were

just throwing him back on the bike. You're like, this guy just took severe trauma to his face. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know, you should probably check for a concussion. It's the reflex of a champion, man. It's a reflex of a warrior Spencer. You know, you look, okay, if you can move your legs and your arms and you know where your bike is, your first reflex is, I have to get back on my bike. Is there not

a concussion protocol on pro-cycling? Yeah, there is. Yeah. They didn't seem to be going through that protocol today. Nobody was thinking about that. I think I think, you know, the fact that it's the leader, the fact that it's a global star, you know, I think that was more of a concern.

for everybody around there, including, I think, the paramedics were shocked, you know? I mean, that's their job not to be shocked. Let's run the guy, get this, the guy, lucid. I mean, I'm still freaked out by the Tom Schoen's thing. That was the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life. Oh, my God. Yeah. If you saw that, you know what I'm talking about.

You got to check to make sure people can ride their bike. And it's kind of interesting to think about, let's say he gets back on the bike there. He's very far behind the race. Like, what do you think happens? No, he wouldn't have made it back. And he would have lost, what, four minutes, three minutes? What do you think they could have pulled back to? We don't know.

I mean, if he got back in the bike, then, yeah, probably the, the, the, the, the peloton would have, would have waited for him until he made it back. If he was able to, you know, be back on the bike, as soon as they, as soon as they knew that he abandoned, then the race was back on, you know. But they did the whole climb very easy. But I guess they did pick up the pace at the top. but obviously that UA team is pretty far back. It would have been hard.

I was thinking like, oh, he's going to finish the stage because it looked like he's going to get on the bike and then tomorrow is going to be a problem. I thought he would probably not lose time today and then lose a bunch of time tomorrow because he was really backed up. I think it was clear from the moment we saw him there.

Yeah, that didn't look good at all. He went down hard. I do want to talk to you about what you think the rest of his season looks like, but let's take a quick break. The race I was thinking about, stage four, 2016 tour to fronts photo finish between marceau kiddle and brian kakard marceau kiddle gets the win reach out to me a so i don't think they ever showed the photo finish i'm still a true

this is my conspiracy theory i think kakard might have won that stage that goes back 10 years 10 years yeah they're like ah don't worry about it'll get one you know you got second you've only been pro for a couple of years you'll get one don't worry about it so it's it was nice to see him i've been looking for justice for Kikar's since that day. Has Koukar been on Kofidis his whole career? No, he was on, I don't know if the team exists anymore. It was called direct, direct energy, which is not total energy, which is a different team, right? No, it is the same team. No, no, it's the same. It's the same team. Yeah. Different company though, right? Or not? Just a different product. No, same same same company. Yeah. Did they change their name or is it like a subsidiary?

I don't know. I don't know. No, I think total energies is the global company, and then direct energy is probably something, just in France or something. I don't know. And he actually went to kind of an interesting career. He was on direct energy, which was a bigger team at the time. Vital Concept, which might be that same team. No, no.

The concept was the B&B hotels. Okay, then it turned into B&B hotels and he's on that. And then goes to Kofidis. So he's been on. He just needs to be on FDJ to complete the whole, like the cycle of every French team. And Dakotl. Yeah. That's, is that even a French team anymore?

They're asking, Johan. But let's take a quick break and we'll talk about Pagachar and then what the G.C looks like. Everybody, this Welto-Spagna coverage is brought to you by a presenting sponsor, Ultra Focus Pouches. Do you desperately need a nicotine pouch every 15 minutes just to feel normal? How many pouches, cups of coffee and or energy drinks per day? do you need to stop yourself from crashing or even feeling nicotine withdrawal? And it's a suboptimal thing about using these things is they're going to make you feel anxious. They're going to make you feel on edge when you have them and when you don't.

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And new customers can use code the move to get 15% off at take ultra.com. That's take ultra.com with code the move for 15% off. make sure you check them out because you don't want to miss this and you don't want to miss that 15% off opportunity. So, Johan, it was hard to tell exactly, as you said, the eye was hurt, but the main issue seemed to be pageture's shoulder slash arm. Like if you had to speculate what exactly the injury is, how long he's going to be out, what would you say it is? Yeah, I at first instance, I don't think it's a color bone.

I don't think it's a color bomb. it might be like the scapula or something, something wrong there. I don't think his collarbone is broken. It's difficult to mean difficult to say now. I'm not worried for the future of his career. But if I would have to take a guess or if I would be in his place or his DSS or his team manager, I would say, okay, this is it for the rest of the season. You know, you have nothing to prove.

Let's not rush it. Let's recover properly. Of course, this is Bogacha. We don't know. I mean, he's an animal. So if there's nothing broken, then I can see him at the start of the world. But, I mean, he took a big hit. How long is it till the worse now?

Is it what is it? Three weeks, four weeks? Well, it's on the 27th. So it's almost exactly a month. A month. A month. It's a 20 ninth right now. Yeah.

Yeah. So it's possible, but I would definitely advise to forget about that. Just properly recover, man. You've been under, you know, you've won everything. You've participated in basically, you've been on a lot of stress. He needs to decompress also mentally. Because, you know, now trying to get ready for these races, and then the European Championships, is that before or after the world?

Oh, because it's in Slovenia. Yeah. I think it's before. Oh, wow. Okay. Oh, man. I totally forgot about what the plan was on that. So it is October 4th.

So it's right after the world. Yeah. I don't know. Maybe that's when he reappears, man. I don't know. I don't know. You know, looking at from a distance, I would say, okay, call it a day for this season. You've done plenty.

you know, I have nothing to prove, focus on next year, recover properly, you know, not, don't be in a rush. Because if he has to get ready for these races, it's going to be in a rush. And I don't know if that's the best, the best way to do it. But, you know, maybe my prediction will be completely the opposite. It's completely the opposite of what I'm thinking now. So I don't know. If he doesn't raise worlds.

I would prefer he just recovers. It totally changes worlds if he doesn't race. Spencer, look at that this way. He means Pogacar, wins the tour, finish the tour, gets ready for the Vualta, crashes. We don't know if it's broken or not. And, you know, maybe he comes back. Jonas crashes in stage, what, 12, 13, 14 of the of the Tour de France and already decided that he's not going to race anymore this year.

Yeah, but that's how different they are, you know? Yeah, he doesn't do one day. So you're like, well, what really is left for him? He could do Poland. There's not that much less. If you're not a one day racer, it's like, well, if you're not going to go to the Vuelta, there's not a ton left for you to target there. He could, I know a race that he hasn't won yet.

That's, he could still do the tour of Guangxi. Oh, my God. Can you imagine? Can you imagine the articles that would be written about. That would be hilarious. It's a world to race. It's a world to race. If Bagacher doesn't win, if he doesn't race worlds, it really changes worlds.

Like fundamentally changes how that race will play out. I was worried watching that. I didn't think it was Collarman either. I'm kind of worried about like an AC joint or ligament issue, which would be a long recovery, which would support your theory of not racing for the rest of the year. Yeah. I think the most probable scenario is that he doesn't race anymore. If it's collarbone, it complicates things because you can recover from that so quickly.

The question is, do you want to? Is that a good idea if you're Tad at Pagachar? Yeah. Because you're right. Maybe just taking some time off is the way to do it. But the GC from here on now, also we should just quickly. Before, we have to talk too much about the sprint and about Kokar. You know, we were talking about Matthew Brennan also had an incredible leadout with Van Arte and LaPort.

He was completely out of position. I think that's the reason why he didn't win. And then he had that acceleration, but at those high speeds, I think that that's still something that he's not the strongest in yet. He doesn't have a lot of experience in that either. For a moment there, he was kind of going for it. And then he kind of, I don't know if he sat up or what happened. But I mean, we can hardly say that Brian Kakar is a high-speed sprinter. He's usually also better in slightly uphill sprints.

Peterson the same. But of course, you know, looking at the field of sprinters here. And I think Caden Groves was involved in that crash, right, in the sprint. Yeah. Who knows how he would have done. Lots of crashes, man. Lots of crashes. I was going to ask you about that.

It's weird. I mean, you know these roads really well. Very good roads. Very straightforward. More crashes today than the rest of the race combined. High speeds, man. High speeds. High speeds.

And then also, Spencer, an easy stage. An easy stage. Everybody's fresh at the end of the stage. Everybody wants to be in the front. It's often a lot better that if it's a little bit harder. And it's only, you know, a few 20, 30 guys who, you know, are going for it in the stage rather than 60 or 70. with their teams around them, right? Yeah, I guess in Bonard cycling,

there's nothing more dangerous than a flat straight road where everyone's riding side by side. That's where mess crash has occurred, and we got a lot of that today. I do think Brennan, I mean, if we just think how many high-speed bunch sprints has he been in, especially in a grand tour, this was his first.

Whereas Cicard's done this before, you know, the 13, 12 years as a pro. Yeah, Peterson has done it many times, Jordan Mayos has done this many times. Who was 4th? Wait, who was 4th? Ben Turner. But think about...

If you look, but if you look at the top 10, you know, so Ben Turner, Jordan Labrosse, Alessandro, Romilly, Bastien Tronchon, who are Hofstetter, or Ler. So those are not top sprinters, you know? No. I do like Tronchon. I think he's really good.

But he's like an uphill spinner. He's not really a flat sprinter. Also, the two best leadouts of the day. Net company, Enos and Vizma, and then they got fourth and tenth. And then Kikar,

we didn't see them. And that's a, that's a trend of modern sprinting. The guy you don't see is the guy who wins. Like, you want to come forward at the last possible second. That's exactly what Kikard did. I guess that's a,

that's a symptom of high speeds as well. You know, Turner was up there. You could tell with 2K to go. You're like, oh, Ben Turner's up here too early. Um, was probably did a good job even to finish fourth.

Because when you have guys coming from behind you on a flat straight final kilometer it's very hard to hold people off brennan was just never in great position but that's the risk when you know when a guy that's 21 that's never raised a grand tour before just never raised the flat straight sprint in a grand tour is like minus 170 for the stage that's a good sign that maybe you should bet on somebody else i bet on jordy maus i was wrong Card would have been a good pick. Also green jersey. Brennan, I think

Wout Van Ard, if he finishes this race, he wins green. And Brennan is almost 60 points behind him at this point. And Brennan's the only one close. Matt's Pedersen, true to his word, not really going for green. And shows you also why it was smart to back Wilde

Van Art for green for the team. Because he can just... Well, and also, I think, you know, what we also don't know, Spencer, because, you know, these guys have a good relationship. And apparently, I mean, before, before today's crash,

Pogacar did say to Van Art that he was not going for green. That was not a goal. He was not going to race for it. If he won it, of course, it would have been by attrition, right? But, but yeah.

Walt Von Art, by the way, is now also second in the king of the mountains. Yeah, I mean, that's something to keep an eye on. Because he almost won it one year. And if he gets the way he wins it is getting into breakaways to get green jersey points. And today I saw an interview of him. It was about the green jersey, but he said at the end of the jersey of the interview, yeah, unfinished business. That's what he said.

Yeah. Keep an eye on that. Interesting. Well, well, it's funny, Pagacchar is saying, I'm not going for green. It's like, well, yeah, we know you're not going to be pulling back breakaways to sprint for intermediate. get sprint points, but you're going to win a ton of stages. So you kind of are going for it's semantics a little bit. But the G.C. is now totally different, completely different. Enric Moss, I cannot believe I'm saying this. Inric Moss on Movis Star is leading the Vuelta

Spania, stage eight, after stage eight, Primas Roglich, one minute back. And this is a tight race now. Fieldskull, 11, Coos 215, Onli 216, Carapaz, 222. That's probably where we we cut the line because then Schoomo is a 7 to 327 back. What happens from year and out? I'm going to cut the line already at Felix Gall. I think Cuss only and Carapace are off the pace. I think there's only one guy who in my opinion deserves a little bit more credit because he has been sick apparently and is still recovering.

That's Oscar only. Well, he was the strongest climber in that chase group on stage four before he got sick. But I think the three strongest climbers right now without Pogacha are Enric Mast, Roglidge, and Gull. And I would even say, as far as I've seen, it's probably Gull, Enric Muss, and Roglidge in that order in terms of climbing strength. Gall is here with the best team. De Gatlone is incredibly strong. They have proven it already. And now that they really have an option to win.

Man, that would be something. Felix Gall winning the Vuelta. That would be... It would be something. It would be something, yeah. I mean, we're getting ahead of ourselves. You know, tomorrow's the hardest stage. But, yeah, I don't know.

I mean, Enric Mast in the Vuelta is also a transformed rider. We need to keep in mind, Primos Roglisch is Primo Zroglitz. You know, he's probably going to... going to improve during this welta and especially now with a potential fifth victory on the horizon that could be our guy man well yes so yeah we should say philus call super strong also we're like why is he coming to this race man motivation's an issue this shows you while you show up like show up in race because you never know look at in rickmas where they have guessed mova star could win the vault to Spania. Do you know how the big that is for that team, especially right now?

Yeah. Massive. Having said all of that, here's a big issue for everybody in this race. Primus Roglitch is only going to get stronger. And Primus Roglitz right now is the winner of the Weld to Spania. Phyllis Gall needs to put minutes into Primus Rogelch. Like minutes. Inric Moss needs to put at least another minute into him. And they sure they dropped them a little bit on stage seven not by a lot you know they they really need to put serious time into roguwich because he is going to roast them in the time trial 32 kilometers it's also very different it's also very different spencer you know what we've seen for example uh in the two stages we just have behind us the one in castellon uh where andrick musk came back on pogachar and then yesterday you can call it uh

Uniporto stage. You know, there's just one big climb at the end. The stage tomorrow is a completely different animal and other mountain stages. So I think that's more in the favor of the real climbers. Those three guys are obviously real climbers. But I think Enric Maas is better in those stages than just a stage with just one climb. Also the heat. Enric Maas is a rider who rides really well.

in the heat. We're going more and more south. It's not going to be extremely hot, but still, they're going to be racing in 30, 30 degree temperatures all the time. That's plenty of, you know, plenty of heat to be suffering. I don't know, man, it's wide open. You know, we don't know. This is, this is the other side of the medal. You know, now that Pogacar is, unfortunately, out. We don't know who's going to win this, Valta. So that will keep us on the tip of our toes. Enric Moss famously good under pressure.

It's a joke. Two weeks in red. Is he a diamond? Is the pressure going to make him a diamond? He's never been in this position. He's never been in a terracotta cup. We don't know. Maybe he's a secret killer.

This is the first time he has a leader's jersey in a ground tour. And which other races has he won, stage races? George Valencia maybe. No, he's never won. He's never won't. stage race in Europe, Guangji, though. Okay. But they say, as go Guangji, so goes to Volta. So he could. Maybe that was a sign. I'm just going to read these names to you. You tell me who the, who is the best climber, just free association. Who's the best on an alpine stage? Inric Maas, Primos, Raghach,

Philiskal, Seppkuz, Oscar Onli. None of them are particularly bad, right? You don't hear any of those names and say bad climber, right? I have to say, I mean, I'd love to say Primus. but I have to say Felix Carl. What about are we, so are we sure we should write off Richard Carapaz? Yeah, he's off the pace. I mean, was he not off the pace

the first week of the tour? It's not the same, Spencer. He was never going for G.C. in the tour. It's not the same. I don't trust him. Sitting back there. Listen, think about a guy. He's won a grand tour.

He's been second in the Vuel. Delta, second in the Giro. Third at the tour. You know, he's the next best rider, Paul Morris Weiss after Primus Roglidge. Yes. And he was, he's so good in the third week of Grand Tours. That's what would make me the most nervous. You're like, Primus Roglet's a pretty good climber.

I don't know. I guess it's a good race because we don't know what's going to happen. We could sit here all day and talk about hypotheticals. I'm just checking here. So there's Bogacha, Pugachar abandoned. so Slovenia and still two Slovenians in the top 10 in the GC. That's crazy. Jakob-Omerzel.

Slovenia can win this race. Young Jakop Omerzell is in 10th position now. And there's no, unless I'm mistaken, there's no other, oh, that's not true. There's one other country with two riders in the top 10. Do you know what country that is? I'm just checking here. Think of big mountains. Austria.

Austria. Yeah, crazy. Yeah. And well, yeah, it is crazy a Slovenian could win. Also, we're all fools because I said this privately to you did not act on it a few days ago. The odds were getting so goofy where Pagatra was like minus 3,000 to win, I believe. And then everyone else was plus in the thousands. A smart person would have bet on Enric Moss, Primas Roglitz-Fielskull to win the race.

And then that would have paid out thousands of dollars. You could have bet on all of them and still won thousands in profit, which is a lesson. I don't know if we'll ever see betting lines like that because of this event, because the books are going to get burned by that. Yeah, whoever did that will make a lot of money. Yes. I mean, it should actually never, that should never happen because this is always a possibility. I'm not, I'm not a, I'm not somebody who bets. I should actually try it a little bit, but I'm going to guess that with those odds,

there's a limited amount you can put in. Yeah, I guess unless you're not going to accept, they're not going to accept if you put in like $2,000. I don't know, man. If they're also like plus $3,000 or something. I think if you would have gone to them on stage one and put $10,000 on Inric Moss, they would have said, please, we'll take that money. That's pure profit right there. And then that could be paying off. Someone could make $100,000 probably on that bet.

But we're going to have our answers to. We're going to have some answer tomorrow. So do you want to take a quick break and then we'll preview tomorrow stage nine? Okay, Johan, we are back. We were talking about what's going to happen in the GC. Who's the better climber? Who's the best climber in this race? Well, we're going to have some answers as soon as Sunday.

Because 187 kilometers stage. And this is shocking. 5,166 meters of climbing. That's a lot of climbing. Like that might be the most climbing in a grand tour stage I've seen all year. You rarely see this at 17. thousand feet of climbing and it is a brutal stage starts anyone like anyone that's been on a training camp will know these roads that starts goes to finish strat but i you know i would say finish strat

that's a pretty hard climb from from the coast right it's not even not even categorized that's the easiest climb of the day they have a cat two climb cat one climb cat three cat two cat three so cold that rata called it out they go over cold it at the borough do they go up the side that everyone tries to get the record on and it's not that's not even yeah yeah It's hard also. So, yeah, first it's, it's a Perto de Tarbena, which is about eight kilometers, I think. Then there's a little down and then there's a little another 2K or something. But then the next plan, Spencer, if you look at that, that's already like, so we have a CAT 2.

They're not counting Finistrat. So CAT 2. Then we have a CAT 1 after 75K, Puerto de Miserat, 5.2 kilometers at 10%. that's really hard. Yeah. Jeez. That's like really brutal. Think about that.

5.2K at 10% average. Yeah. And then you get to the top and there's no descent. Like it's a plateau and there's another cat three climb right after that. Yes. Stolos. Yeah. They all know these climbs because everybody trains it.

Then they do two dons, which is the first half of the finishing climb, right? The first, yeah. and then they do it again in the final. So because they do two dons. And then they keep going. The last seven kilometers is the military domain. Only riders who have, only riders who have raised the VALTA in the past have done it.

I think the last time, yeah, I do remember. You know the last time the Vuelta went up there, who won? You're never going to guess. I don't know. Nairo Kintana won that Vuelta. Really? Chris Fromm, yeah. Was it, who would have won that stage then?

Was it Roder? Pierre Latour. Pierre Latour, man, that guy was on a run. Holy smokes. Jeez. Pierre Latour won the stage. Wow. And then Frum, I remember Frum was attacking, attacking, attacking, attacking,

and they couldn't shake Kintana. That's when Kintana had surprised him in that stage at the start of the stage, and Frum was caught in the back, and never made it back. Yeah, the former Gauls. stage. Yeah. Okay, yeah. So they do loop. They go up. They do two dons and then it's a big loop. They come back and then do the finish. And it is a tough, tough, tough finishing climb. It's a tough, finishing climb. I mean, it's a hard, it's a hard finishing climb, hard stage. There's no easy parts of the stage. The last half of the final climb. So the last 10k is all between six and nine

percent. There's not a kilometer that's shallower than 6 percent. And so very, very difficult last half to that. Does it say, yeah, it says the last six and a half K is 8 percent average. Do you think, two-part question for you, how do you think this is going to play out? Who takes the sprint points and then who wins the stage? Well, where are the sprint points? It's hard. It's after the two dones, the first climb of the two don'ts and they descend. So, Van Arte has to be in it. I think he will be in it.

He needs to make it over that 10% climb though. Because it will be full of climbers, you know? Yeah. It meant it will be on Colderat. It will be fireworks already. That's a climb where, okay, I think Van Art can make it over. Well, if there's climbers there, they're not going to want to drop Vinart that early because he's going to push all the way to the sprint point. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah. So you'd let Van Ard stay in the group. I think von Arthor, Patterson, take the points. Yeah. You know,

Peterson, I think Patterson, Patterson was, you know, he said, he said in the team that, you know, he needed to find his legs

and he might need a week, a day or 10. He's expecting to do a really good, second part of the VELTA. I think he's right, man. He's coming. He's coming.

Well, look at him today. compared to what stage was that? Stage five? Yeah. Stage. Where he looked terrible. Yeah.

Yeah. And he's a different guy by stage eight. Like he's clearly getting better as this race goes on. They weren't pulling our leg, Johann. He just needed a few days. Yeah, exactly. And who do you think wins the stage? Well, I think I think tomorrow is.

Yeah, but I think it's, I think it's D.C. I think Felix Galvin's tomorrow. I could see that for sure. It's a very, I mean, and DeCathlons going to push hard for that. The break would have to have such a big advantage by the final climb. They are impressive, Spencer, to compare to the strength of the other teams, they are impressive. Or we haven't spoken, no, I mean, let's think about another very, very likely scenario. I think you rate a moment tomorrow from the break.

Well, that's a good point. It's a good point. They're going to be in the breakaway for every stage. It's going to have to be Jay Vine or Pablo Torres, though. Jay Vine's an interesting one. He could definitely do it. But what would he need at the base? Although I don't think he's that strong as in former editions of the Vualta.

You know who's really strong, Spencer? Really strong. We haven't talked about him at all. I mean, he's been, he's really, he's been impressing me. It's Kevin Vermeark. Yes. He's been riding incredibly strong in support role. But what he has done, he has been riding kilometers and kilometers, like more than anybody else on UAE.

And even when after climbs, he was there, came back, pulled again. Apparently, also, I heard him speak to the car on the camera riding with a cracked rib. Yeah, well, my three-year-old daughter came up to me this morning. Kevin Vermarka has a cracked rib. I'm like, why do you know that? what's happening because it's all they were talking about for like half the stage on the call but yeah do you know the story behind that though so he yeah he goes back to the car he says he cracked rib i don't think the commentators know this he didn't crack his rib at this race his rig was

cracked heading into the race which is kind of funny that he would why would he need to announce that to the team card you'd think they would know but um it is a funny little subplot he is riding incredibly strong so he crashed the training well the source i heard it from is very close to him wouldn't know this said he came into the race with a cracked rib so it was either training or let's look up what's the last last race he did he did well it's a burgos maybe he crashed at burgos maybe he crashed there yeah yeah um i mean if if you're going to crash and you don't want anyone to ever hear about it do it at burgos great it's like on tv for 10 minutes a day he'd like never hear any news

from it but actually did quite a few races before before this so yeah he could have cracked his rib in one of those um very strong kind of an interesting pickup if you think about it you know he was good he was very good at picnic but probably wasn't the obvious rider to be like that that guy's going to be on UAE next year they pick him up he's been great for them just they picked up able balderstone from how about balderstone yeah yeah like another you know these guys are available for any team to get. And then they go to UAE and they fit in perfectly at UAE. Kind of a, I do think Kevin Burmarka could win a stage.

But what would they need at the base of that climb, Johan? They would need a lot of time, right, to stay away. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. A 22 K-on climb, that would be at least three minutes. Yeah. Yeah, and the way Descartes is riding and yesterday, Spencer, they were impressive. At some point, they had four riders left. You know, they had this Callum Scott.

they had Mulberger, they had Ricky Tello, who was in the back and then sprinted to the front, and then Felix Gall. So if they have those four riders tomorrow in the final, that that's a lot of firepower. I think, yeah, I do think Felix Gall wins the stage. What do you think the gap is to the others behind? Not much. 30 seconds max. Yeah, I think it's very close too, just like we saw the other day.

any other predictions for tomorrow although although although you mean those last seven kilometers are hard man it's but at the same time you know we we're not I mean we're used to pogatchar and then the rest I mean these guys are really tight together you know really tight yeah yeah which is going to make it really interesting well I think on harder climbs it's going to be harder for them to open gaps I think yesterday with the the lower gradient is where the gaps will be created because I don't think if you just look at their power numbers, I bet it's just a cluster. Like, I bet they're all very close to each other. It's going to be hard to open gaps on really hard climbs, which is good for us because

it will be an interesting race. It's also good for Promenz Ravich. To Dons and that I don't know, it's hard, but it's not, it's not super steep. You know, it's like eight, nine, 10%, which is still, you know, gradients where you can generate some speed and we could, we could see. we could see some good gaps. But yeah, these guys, these guys are close together. Yeah, I think, I think Mas and Roglitz and Gal are just a little bit better than the next three or four riders.

So it's going to be amongst those three guys, I think. I'd really see, I would really love to see Primos improve and take a fifth win, man. that would be that would be amazing historic well like a little thought experiment I like to do is how many times do you ever remember primos getting worse as a grand tour went on no not many times 2019 zero yeah that's kind of it right like he usually gets better during a grand tour so I'd be concerned this 2024 uh... volta stage 20 over 5,000 meters a convert of critical climbing, Enric Moss did drop Primos by three seconds. So he's pretty good on these hard stages at DeValta, Enric Moss.

But I think Felixcal wins tomorrow. DeCathlon goes in to the rest of the night, not with the Red Jersey, though. I think Enric Moss holds it. And we've got a tight race the rest of this time. Anything else, Johan? No, that's it. I mean, we need to reset or, you know, our mindset now and get used to a race without Bogacha.

Well, yes, we do. It's actually going to be really difficult to do that. And then also we should readjust our minds to having swarms of UAE in the breakaway for the rest of this race, which will actually change things because it's going to be harder for the GC group to contest stages. I think it's also the first time we've ever seen this, you know, the leader crashes. The whole team stays there. And then we have the whole team riding together to the finish. Um, that was clear. So they were only here with one goal.

Nobody had any personal ambitions. So this, I mean, it's the second time it happens to them. I mean, the Jero, the same thing happened on stage three. And then they went on to win four stages, five stages. I don't remember four stages at least. It was a lot. Yeah. I mean, you even think, Narvaise won three, no?

Narvaise won three stages. So it must have been. Areta on a stage four or five even. Probably five. I think another ride I won a stage. I don't remember. I mean, they lost their leader last year at the Valta,

just from, he was quite quitting on them. And then they won. I mean, how many stages they went at the Valta last year when they were cut loose? Well, I know. They got second in the Vuelta.

I'm made it. Yeah, their leader quite quit. The other leader was like, hey, guys, can you help me out? And they were like, actually, we're chasing stages.

Sorry. Sorry about that. We're a little tied up. That is crazy to think about. I had forgot. That, what a great. That, the UAE at the VALTA last year really helped us out. Okay, so they won one, two, three.

Okay, they just won four stages. Four, only four, okay. Narvaeus won three and Areeta once won. Still pretty good. They only need to one more stage and they have four stages also in the VALTA. Geez, they're going to win more than that, I think. I think these guys are going to be popping into breakways. Well, we'll talk tomorrow, Johan, after the big stage.

And then we have a rest day after that. Okay, thanks Spencer. Okay, bye.