THEMOVE - Why Does Decathlon Keep Bailing Out Enric Mas & Movistar? | La Vuelta a España 2026 Stage 19 | THEMOVE

Episode Date: September 11, 2026

Johan Bruyneel and Spencer Martin break down Eddie Dunbar's incredible comeback stage victory and the GC shadowboxing behind on Stage 19 of the Vuelta. They check in on how Red Bull's riders fared on the stage after a tough time trial, and preview Saturday's Stage 20, which brings the race's toughest mountain stage and the last chance for GC contenders to reshuffle the standings. 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. Hims: For simple, online access to personalized and affordable care for Hair Loss, ED, Weight Loss, and more, visit https://Hims.com/THEMOVE

I think today was really an important step for Enric Moss. You know, it was a big test. I think tomorrow is going to be a reflection of what we saw today. I think we learned two things, you know, that Enric Mas has the legs to react when Primus attacked quite hard in the final. And number two is that, you know, the rivals of Enric Maas, they try, but they don't have the power left. to make the difference.

As I said, you know, usually at the end of a three-week tour, they try, but they're not going anywhere. You know, like this attack from Primos looked really good, you know, and I mean, he looked strong, but at the end of the day, didn't drop anybody of the five guys. Everybody, welcome back to the Move podcast. I'm Spencer Martin. I'm here with Johan Bruniel. We're breaking down stage 19 of the Vuelta, Espagna, or La Vuelta, Spainia, as well as previewing tomorrow's stage 20, the last mountain stage before the final day in Granada.

And we'll do our outcomes stage preview. Johann will give us pick on who's going to win. We did not get today's winner right, though. Eddie Dunbar won. Panerella Q36. 56.5. Flexin, big time. They get first with Eddie Dunbar.

Third with Thomas Glog. Fifth with Marcel Cambruri. Camp ruby. Camp ruby. Camp ruby. Camp ruby. Super good ride. And then Spanish.

Santiago Boutrago got second. Pretty thrilling final few kilometers. Butrogo attacks. Look like he was clear. And then Dunbar just, I mean, he measured that effort perfectly. It looked like he wasn't going to catch him. I think even Brian Smith said he's not going to catch him. And then within like four seconds,

Bucrogo just looked like his batteries ran out. Dunbar just rips by him, wins the stage. There's a saying, I mean, I don't know if you say that in English, but if I translated it from Spanish, the way Dunbar caught Vitago is like he, he passed him at a speed that he took off the stickers of the bike of. I've not heard that, but that is what it looked like. Yeah, in Spanish, that's what it says. Le Cittos las pegatinas.

He took off the stickers of the bike of Vitago and he passed him with that speed. I was out riding the other day, and a pro team came by me. And I was surprised my stickers did not come up. They took off your stickers. Oh, my Lord. They were cruising. It was humbling. But Dunbar's last three wins have come at the Vuelta.

His last win was 2024, stage 20 of the Valta, Spain. And then before that, 2024, stage 11. So he's Mr. Vuelta. We should have seen this coming. There was no indication that this was coming. He's been hurt for a long time, not on form at this race. And then emerges on stage 19. And then his teammate Thomas Glogan, third, also has been laid up for a long time with injuries.

They picked a great day to come out, though. It took a long time for the breakway to form. Brutal fight for the breakaway. TV coverage comes on, let's say around 150K to go. So they've been racing for quite a while because it was a 210 kilometer long stage. The break was about 20 seconds off the front. Kevin Vermarka smartly attacked up to it. His teammate, Evo Olivier, from the break, dropped back, paste him up.

Perfect, perfect execution there. But then we saw since the break was, it was too close. It was not good brake management from Mobystar, but what are you going to do if people want to get in the break? G.C stuff started getting spicy. Richard Carapas attacked up to the break. His teammate, Darren Rafferty was waiting for him, was pacing him. And actually it was a pretty well executed move. Two things went wrong though.

One, Darren Rafferty dropped his chain. Had to get a neutral bike. That's not good. Number two, DeKathlon. Movis Star has almost no riders left. Moss is isolated with like 85K to go. think, well, this is perfect. De Cathalance says, don't worry. Don't worry, Enric Moss.

We got you covered. Do they come to the front, do an impressive turn of work to reel in Carapaz. Once that happens, it kind of calms down. Whatever danger was there is gone. Mobystar hits the front is pacing at a very reasonable pace. The gap gets up to around six minutes to the break. And then at Red Bull, Johan, who you flagged might have issues today because of their effort yesterday. Outside of being dropped very early, they all catch back on. They were pacing on

the final climb for Primus Roglet's show at the front. They're pacing so slowly that the gap to the break is going the other way. The break is gaining time on the pellets on. And Moves Star for some reason says, I almost think they got nervous that it was too slow, that it was going to cause attacks. Movesstar comes to the front and starts pacing harder. And then EF comes and it's not the first time this has happened. They pace really hard. And then Carapest, does not attack. I don't quite know what that is about. But Primos Roglitz used the pace to attack himself. Didn't get away, but he tried. He looked good. He actually looked. He didn't drop anyone in the, you know, that front GC bubble. I thought he looked like the best. He's looked all race in the mountains.

He attacked. Doesn't drop anyone. Jakob Ormazel with a really impressive move because he knew what, what could happen. What happened could happen. He gets away. He looks really strong. Oscar Onley doesn't panic, though, just kind of follows the pace in the group. They catch them, they drop him, he loses six seconds to Onley at the line. So now he's over a minute behind in the White Jersey. But what does he care? Because it's all great for him because he's still sixth in the GC with a little time over seventh. And we didn't really see, not a huge GC day other than the midstage, you know, the midstage chaos.

But Dunbar wins. Johan, eight sleep is sponsoring our move of the day. If you want to sleep like Team UAid and Teddy Pagotcha, go to it's a mattress topper, makes your mattress cold or warm, whichever one you prefer. Go to 8Sleep.com slash the move and use code the move for $350 off through the end of this welto, which is coming up soon on Sunday. But Johan, what was your 8-sleep move of the day? Eight sleep move on the day expenser is for sure Eddie Dunbar.

The way he won the stage, he's been trying already a few times to go and breakaways. sometimes, you know, he made it into the right move and then got dropped. But today he was on fire. I have to give him the move of the day for being there the way he won. You know, let's not forget, as you said, two years ago since he won a stage same month. So last stage, actually day for day. I think stage 19 today, stage 20, two years ago. And then if you look, you know, this year, and he said it in his interview, you know, he was injured.

He was three months without riding a bike. I did a little bit of research. So in short, you know, first of all, in Paris, he had a crash and he broke a rib. Three days later, he got hit by a scooter in Monaco, you know, badly had a badly crushed slash broken ankle. So roughly he was two months in a boot and more than three months away from racing. So, you know, to catch up on that during the season is super, super difficult the way cycling the races are now.

And you could see he was very emotional. It meant a lot. You know, it meant really a lot. It must be super frustrating. You know, a guy who was brought into this team to be one of the performers. And then if you can't perform due to circumstances. finally put it off. That's a huge satisfaction. And yeah, definitely. And the way he, the way he caught up with with with Trago, who's my pick for today's stage? But I have to be happy

for, for Eddie Dunbar, very well deserved stage win and move of the day. Yeah, hard to disagree with that. I mean, yeah, like amazing recovery from injury. And I guess what we learned today, Johann, his class is class because is there anything from this race that would have made you pick Eddie Dunbar to win today's stage? No. No, I agree. I just like, didn't see it, but

you know, he's like, he's not, maybe not getting better, but he's not degrading at the same rate as everybody else. So stage 19 rolls around it and he's fresh as a daisy. Anything San Diego Boutrago could have done differently to keep this from happening.

No, no, I think he went on the right moment was strong, was on his way to the stage victory. You know, it's, Dunbar was just, I think, stronger than expected in that last one and a half kilometer because, you know, initially he got dropped from Vitago. He couldn't close the gap. And it was actually Thomas Gloke who was trying to. Yeah. Bridge up. And finally, Dunbar had this, whatever, was it, two minutes of like super power. And he just, you know, reeled them in and flew by him. a huge day for Pinarello, K-36.5.

You know, second division team, they get a podium here last year, become one of the first second division teams to podium at a grand tour since we could remember, basically, long time. And then now they win a stage. And there's a lot of teams aren't going to win a stage at a grand tour this year. And not only that, they get three guys in the top five, like just a really impressive showing from that time. That's an impressive team performance, yeah, for sure.

I mean, to have three guys in a break like this, okay, they don't have anybody for G.C. So, you know, they can kind of pick their stages. But man, you have to have, you have to be so motivated to do that. To have three guys, let's not forget, Spencer, everybody is dragging themselves to the finish right now. You know, it's been a hard world. We talk about tomorrow stage. The hardest stage is still to come. But they're dead, you know, they're just dead.

You can see there's this, there's nothing left. And just to be in that breakaway with three guys, by the way, was Grupama not in there with four guys? I think they had four guys in the break, Grupaima. Yeah. You're right. Yeah. I mean, they had Bastion, Sean, Sean in there. They got on a sprint stage.

Sprinter. Yeah. That's pretty impressive, man. And Alvada also is also, I mean, not known to be like a mountain rider. No. He was in there also. And then again, I said it, Spencer off of offline. Kevin Vermarker, man, this guy has unbelievable legs in his world.

He's been trying so many times. You know, there's always for some reason two or three better climbers in the breakaway, but he's the fact that he's in there all the time. And tomorrow he's going to be there again, I think. Because the first part of the stage is a bit, is a bit more, I mean, easier to be in the break. for Marca is is on fire he goes to the world i hope he is going to the world okay if they don't take if they don't take him to the worlds that we that would be

we'd have to step in we the move would be taking a trip to color of the springs to talk to them he is going to the world championships okay who's the guy who's who's who's the guy selecting uh for the u.s it used to be jim miller it used to be one guy i think it was Jim Miller I think it was Jim Miller and then there was there's it didn't happen as much on the men's side but the women's side they always have lawsuits over the selection process so they had to like change it to a committee I think they have all these they publish all these you know reasonings for why they do it basically we want to pick the team that is the best chance of meddling is what they say okay okay and

there's definitely been some controversy over this year's team I'm just going to read it for everybody so I don't get it wrong so this is the United States team for world championships. It is Quinn Simmons. Hard to argue with that. Mateo, Mateo Jorgensen, Brandon McNulty, McNulty, who won on the similar course at Montreal. Nielsen Palace.

Come back to that one. Sean Quinn, Ardham Schmidt, who's going because he think he auto-qualified for the time trial. Kevin Vermarka, Larry Warbuss. There's been a controversy because Riley Sheehan, I think he tweeted or something like there. Why don't they pick the guys who win races? Yeah.

The two you would take issue with here. Sean Quinn, perhaps, but I quite like Sean Quinn as a worker on that course. He was quite good at the Tour de France also, right? Yeah, he's like the heart of the race, he seems to step up. I think he's a very good rider. Nielsen Palace is the one you'd flag. So he just had a knee surgery. He's not raised a grand tour this year.

He has won a race. He won at Austria. He's not raised a lot at all. He won at Austria. He won at Austria. Yeah. very good on that type of course. And you'd also say Riley Sheehan's not done a grand tour this year either.

Usually you would not want to pick a writer that's not done a grand tour in a year. Well, it depends, Spencer. It's a one day race. You have to pick the guys who are on form at that moment, you know? Even if they're on domestic duties, you still have to be an incredible shape to be able to do a job for a leader on a world championship's course. So you have to take the guys who are in shape. I don't know. I haven't formed.

I haven't followed. I haven't followed. Yeah. But they would know better than us, right? So we should keep that in mind. And then Larry Warbuss clearly informed because he's been in multiple breakaways here. And the reason you would pick Larry is he's going to show up and he's going to work for the other guys in the team. So.

Yeah. Yeah. You would look at the team and say, well, there's guys who might finish better than some of the guys they selected. But they have guys who could legitimately win the race. race in like Quinn Simmons, Jorgensen, McNulty. And then you'd say, well, the rest of these guys are going to work for them. Like, like, McMarka, like, that's a great pick. Like, I think that's a fantastic.

He's also a very intense guy. You meet him. Very nice, but, like, has a real competitive intensity about him that I think is, is why he's doing so well this year and why he's done so well at UAE after making the switch. But, Johan, do you want to take a quick break? And then we're going to let you take a victory lap about something if you're okay with that when we come back.

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You were not too impressed with Red Bull strategy in the time trial yesterday. They had three guys in the top six and had key domestiques going all out. And you said, this is going to cost them. I also, we should say, I thought of this after we stopped recording. You were talking about Movistar's pacing strategy, like with Ramayo. I do wonder if in the modern times, because they all do these really complex simulations, like with computers of the computers and mathematics of the course. And then they get a power.

They have to ride every second of the course. So I wonder if a lot of guys aren't even pacing against real times. you know, if it's just your simulation is telling you exactly how to go. But Red Bull, they have Callum, Thornley, Callum, Callum, one of the two. It goes very hard. Same with Finn Fisher Black. You noted almost immediately today, Thornley's out the back. And that's a guy they would want there.

And Finn Fisher Black was also hurting when the racing was really going on. They did, however, I mean, once it regrouped, they came back and then ultimately they did have a lot of riders to pace for Primos there on the last climb, but that pacing really meant nothing. I think like two riders like Callum Tornley and Finn Fisher Black should have been in that breakaway today and then be there and then drop back to do what Castillo did today for Edmast. Yes.

And they probably couldn't get it in the breakaway because they were shot from that effort, right? And you know, listen, it's just an observation, Spencer. You know, I was critical about it. At the end of the day, what we also have to take into account is can they really do it, right? Can they really execute what we think should be the strategy? I'm going to, you know, like today, for example, I'm going to say no. They're tired.

They just don't have the energy left to do the damage. I think that's the main observation. You can say, okay, well, I would have done this. I would have done this. Yes. But at the same time, you know, it's the same. scenario, same situation as always, you know, in a three-week ground tour, you know, there's not, there's not that much left.

And you'd also ask yourself, as the outcome any different? Probably not. Yeah. There's probably not a lot you could do. On the topic of outcome, you know, Pagotcha, you get a lot of crap. They've ruined cycling. There's no Ciclesma anymore. There's no attacks.

Well, Richard Carapas tried today. That was a pretty clever move. You know, it's like, I'm going to attack midway through. I'm going to bridge up to a teammate and we're going to ride away from everyone. The issue with that is it works in theory, right? Because Enric Moss is isolated at that point. Enric Moss can't chase you. Well, you're not Enric Moss's problem, really, because you're in fourth place

and you're five minutes 17 behind the race lead. You're not that far behind third place, though, with Felix Gall there. And Felix is call really cares about that third place. So DeCathlin gets to the front and pace is extremely hard, with an extremely strong team and reels in Carapas. They would have gotten them even with Rafferty up there and having no problems. What did you think about that?

I mean, there was not much, I mean, listen, there was not much else that that Deccatlon could do. And I think at the same time, by now it's known, you know, that, I mean, Movistar for sure knows, okay, first of all, Carapass is not my problem, as you say. It's true. He's the problem of Felix Gall and Primus Roglitz. You could say, well, Primos Roglich and Red Bull, they may not care whether they're second or third, you know, or fourth.

Maybe Primos cares, but, you know, at the end of the day, Primos is a guy who wants to win or nothing. But Felix Gal and wants to be on the podium in his two round tours, and he's going to be on the podium, most likely, if nothing crazy happens tomorrow. So, listen, there's not that many surprises amongst those guys. You know, we say, oh, wow, Carapas. You know, he tries again. Man, he has some balls that guy. You know, these guys know what Carapas is going to do. He's done it all the time.

And tomorrow, he's going to do it again. And they kind of can predict what's going to happen with the behavior of the other team. So it was a nice move from Carapas. but at the same time, you know, you're not going to go anywhere. What I'm really impressed about with Carapas is, and this is the second time, he's done this, he puts in this massive attack, spends so much energy, and then at the end, doesn't lose time with his direct rivals. I know, I know.

That's crazy. It is crazy. It's crazy. Like, yeah, it shows you how, it's like, well, could you just be dropping these guys if you weren't attacking, but maybe not. I don't. And maybe he's correct. I guess we'll see tomorrow.

Like I'd imagine he'll try something. We won't get into that yet though because we have a preview. But Johan, before we do our stage preview, if Inric Moss, who looked fantastic today, we should say, even when he was isolated in the group, I thought he looked poised, I thought he was not panicking and he just looks good on the bike. I'm turning into you. I'm just watching how guys ride in the Peloton midstage now. And he looks good.

Like he just, you watch that guy ride. You say he's in good shape. So as Assumi wins, do you know the last rider from the, like the last home rider to win a grand tour? So the writer from the country that the grand tour is taking place in. So the last Spanish rider. Or any grand tour, any rider from that country. Okay. Last Spanish ground tour rider.

Or Italian or French. To win the zero or to win the tour. Oh. Oh. think about it i was like well man like this never happens like ever when's the last one you can think of a contador won the vulta in 2014 16 14 so 12 years ago it was the last time a spanish rider won the volta that has there been an italian who won the giro probably one at 10 anybody anybody.

Vincent's only believe 10 years ago in 2016, really 11 years ago, if you count, through the years. Yeah. By the way, do you know the last, do you know the last movie star writer who won a grand tour? I do. So we got this wrong the other day. And I woke up two in the morning in a cold sweat, not because of the hate sleep, but because

we got this wrong. It's Richard Carapaz, 2019, Jered Italia. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. He was a movie star. Yeah. It's the unifying theory of Carapaz.

He's been on every team. He's won every grand tour. He's everywhere. You look at any picture of Pagachar and like carapazes are somewhere. But no, this is like huge. It's huge if Moss wins this. I mean, this never happens anymore. I mean, you got a question.

It's big. It's big for, it's big for Enric Moss. It's big for movie star. It's big for Spain. And let me tell you, Spencer. I saw Enric Mas interview in Spanish today after the stage. he knows he's winning. He looks like it on the,

no, but you can feel like with the tone and, you know, he obviously he stays neutral. He's very calm, like doesn't get excited, super calm, but you can feel that confidence in between the lines.

He knows he's winning this Vuelta. He is super confident. And he should be. I mean, that's how he feels. Do you remember you got interviewed in Belgium earlier this year? And one of the questions

the journalist asked you is, why do Spanish, riders not win grand tours anymore. That's true. I forgot about that. Yeah. Now here we are and they're going to win a grand tour probably. I thought the question was a little unfair. It's like, well, okay, name me the countries

that do win grand tours. Not that many of them. Slovenia and a few other mixed in there. Slovenia and Denmark win a lot of grand tours. Anything else on today's stage before we preview tomorrow? Yeah. No, just you know that I think today was really an important step for Enric Moss.

You know, was a big test. I think tomorrow is going to be a reflection of what we saw today. I think we learned two things, you know,

that Enric Mas has the legs to react when Primus attacked quite hard in the final. And number two is that, you know, the rivals of Enric Musk, they try, but they don't have the power left,

you know, to make the difference. As I said, you know, usually at the end of a three-week tour, they try, but they're not going anywhere. You know, like this attack from Primos looked really good, you know, and I mean, he looked strong, but at the end of the day, didn't drop anybody of the five guys. So it was more or less a copy from the same stage where Carapas won't, you know, like a break away, win from the breakaway and then the five guys from G.C. altogether. Same thing today. Just funny because it's a pretty hard climb. It's not like it's an easy.

easy climb. But it shows you that they're all just, you know, if you just plotted their power, they'd all be really close to each other. Yeah. We've got a bubble race. We don't have an outlier out there that can just drop everybody whenever they want. Yeah. And the leader is probably the strongest climber. So he has no incentive to attack them. Like there's not, there's not anything pushing him forward, except maybe the final mountain stage, which we'll get to in a minute. We'll be right back from a break. Okay, Yohan, tomorrow, stage 20, last mountain stage. last GC stage question mark of this Welta. The final stage is actually kind of hard.

But stage 20, where right outside of Granada, we have five categorized climbs. This is a hard stage, by the way. First one, cat three. Then we have a cat one, cat one,

cat one, finish on an HC climb that averages 10% 8.5 kilometers long. In the stage, it's really a tricky stage because it's flat, like rolling through the first 78K.

Like you have one, cat three climb that's very mild in there. So a breakaway probably tries to go away. You go down in the Granada and then you start climbing up a really hard climb, 8K at 8% to get out of town. You do that once, you descend back down to Granada. You do that again, send climb. You just send kind of halfway back down to Granada. And then instead of going to Sierra Nevada, you go the other way and you start climbing up 7K long, 8% to send back down. It's all like a loop around the lake. And then you do this little offshoot climb, apparently they've never done it before. It's like a random climb in the opposite direction of Sierra Nevada, 8K at 10% to the stage finish.

I find it funny. You say this little offside, little offside climb. Like a little as in the road is not well traveled. It is a, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The road is small. It's the first time, by the way, that this climb is in a race, or at least a high level race. They're never gone up there. Yeah, it's kind of, when you look at the map, you think you wouldn't be obvious that you would ever send a race up here.

But I'm quite excited to see it. I'm surprised the Volta is quite enterprising with, you know, the Zer and the tour don't like to end stages in random locations. They always want them to be in a town that's going to pay the money, presumably. Yeah. And the Valta just, they're not in frills. Like, hey, we're going to throw this. There's probably some greater financial deal with Andalusia. There's probably a reason we're spending.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, for sure. not under as much pressure to finish in a town. So I, do you think this is the two questions? You think it's GC or breakaway and who wins if it's. Yeah,

okay. One of those. Yeah. I think it's G.C. I think, you know, first of all, the whole Peloton knows this stage,

Spencer, because it's in, all these climbs are in a circle of Sierra Nevada. Sierra Nevada, very well known for multiple altitude camps of a lot of steam. Sometimes, you know, on top of there, on top, I think it's 2,200 meters.

The altitude, there's like a high, high performance center, but also nice hotels, apartments. So there are periods in time in the season that it's like the whole pro peloton is there. So, you know, they go up and down. They know all these climbs. And the guys who are doing the VELTA and have done altitude camp there, have for sure reviewed these climbs. you know the the the thing is i think you know we can easily say spencer that that this is the hardest

stage of the vuelta if you look at it we we talked about itata right this is the hardest stage because there's more elevation um it's 1805k it's almost 5 000 meters uh 4900 meters of climbing uh but the detail of these climbs spencer is is crazy you know you can say you just said the average average percentages right but so if you look for example the first climb puerto de el puce they do it twice you know if you look at it uh it says eight kilometers 8.2 but i saw actually a program like just after the finish of the stage where they were reconning these climbs in detail um 8. 8 kilometers 8 percent but maximum ramps of 18 percent which is the the first climb which they do they do twice.

And the last 2K are pretty flat. So if you haven't average that high, that's steep for the first 6K. Then after that, they do Puerto del Duque. Again, 7 and a half kilometers, 8.3%. But maximum ramps of 20%. Oh, my. 20%. And then to finish it off, the Collado del Alwasil, which is this unique climb never been done,

it's already super hard, 8.3. 9.8%. That's crazy hard. But really, really narrow road, not very good pavement. Maximum ramps 22%. This is horrible. It's a horrible stage. You know, it's G.C. for sure, I think. And I'm going to predict Enric Musk to win the stage tomorrow. Tomorrow, Enric Moss wins the last mountain stage in the Red Jersey and seals the deal.

Yeah, I think that it's hard to imagine. It's easier for me to imagine a breakaway wins than another GC rider wins. Because it's not that hot tomorrow, but it's pretty hot. You know, high 20s. And who's the best climber in this race when it's hot and it's steep? It's Enric Moss. So, yeah, it's like really difficult to think of a scenario where he doesn't win from a G. group. So I'm also going to go

Enric Moss GC group. And also the thing that helps GC MoVStar has nothing. They're not probably really worried about Sunday. So they think this is the last day. We really have to do a lot. And these climbs are great for pulling back a breakaway. You know, if you have an 8% 8K long climb

and you're doing that multiple times, I mean, the bike's going to lose time, a lot of time. Every time you do that. So unless like, who would have to be in the breakaway for them not to lose time. It'd be like Sepkus, but then you start getting into the GC implications.

So like if Sepkus, Carapas, butravo, the breaker is going to, the breaker is going to be the same guy, Spencer. The thing is, I don't think they will make it tomorrow. I mean, I don't know. You know, because at some point,

even if Movistar might not want to win the stage, right? I mean, I think they're just going to write conservatively and just care about Enrique Mas. But at some point, I think, I think Decatlone is going to come back in the game. And tomorrow, even Red Bull, they're going to think that maybe with the Primos, they have a chance to win on the last climb. So it's the last opportunity for these guys, for Felix Gall and Primus Roglich to win a stage. So I think they're going to go for it also, which helps Mass, which helps Mass and. Yeah, and Carapas, which helps Eric Masen movie star.

Yeah, especially if Carapaz, I mean, is he going to wait till the final climb? Or is he going to attack somewhere long earlier? Is he going to get in the breakaway? And then that's just going to increase the pace as well. Like if DeCathlun gets to the front, reels him in, it's just going to make it harder and harder for the break to stay away. I mean, I guess it could happen. But if it is breakaway, who would you pick? Betravo.

Yeah. I mean, why not Dunbar again, I guess? Or Berraba maybe? Barrava? He's riding really strong. That would probably be the sneaky one, I would, because he's been up there a lot. Yeah, but, you know, he's really good, but there's, for some reason, just one guy always who's a bit stronger on that day. Maybe again, Marco Brenner tomorrow could be also a good option from a breakaway.

But I think it's going to be GC. I think it's Enric Mastay tomorrow. Okay. Don't overthink it. Betting in recourse? Although today, you know, I mean, okay, tomorrow is different because, you know, if he's there with the favorites, it's the last, it's really important stage. He's going to go for it. Today he didn't even try to have a placing, you know, he was just comfortable sitting on the wheel at the end and not lose time. Tomorrow's different.

Well, yeah, and he has, I mean, he's won a stage in this race, so there's not a lot of pressure. But yeah, I'm sure that would be meaningful for him and the team to win the final. mountain stage. It would be an amazing statement. Like, okay, boys, here I am. I mean, the guy's eaten an incredible amount of shit for a decade. Funny to, funny to see that his interview yesterday after the time trial in Spanish was, like, they were all, you know, everybody. So great, you know, like 33 seconds.

And he was super calm. And he says, no, no, this is what we went for. This was, this is the time we expected to lose. Not much more. Yeah. Yeah. So he knew what he was doing yesterday. I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around.

This is the same guy. Remember he wore the women's clothing at the Giro? You know, he was like getting clown for like any, he wasn't even in the G.C in the G. In the GERA to tell you. Yeah. Like it is really shocking the turnaround he's had. But he was kind of there.

He looks like a different guy also. Like he's so skinny, so thin. But at the same time, he looks powerful and muscular, you know? Yeah. Looks good. He did have the advantage of he did the Gero. He did have some good rides in that Gero. And then he goes away for the summer just to prepare for the Vuelta.

That has to be a huge help. Versus most of these guys, this was not their number one priority. Maybe Primos. And then if you look, if you look, he was, he had to let Felix Gall go in Burgos. on those two climbs two times. I know. I know. Is that crazy?

Which is the proof. You know, you need to come into shape when it really matters. You know, like if you're in great shape two or three weeks before the main event, that's not a guarantee. You're going to be at your full potential three weeks later. That's not a guarantee. That is a good point. It's a very good point.

Anything else, Johan, on tomorrow's stage? Oh, I have something to ask you before we go. Yeah. So you're a worldly man. You've traveled around the world for us. athletic events. There has a big football, a big American football game. Not in the U.S. It was an Australia in Melbourne last night. So two teams, 49ers and Rams. The 49ers go over a week before. And, you know, they're like, are we talking football or soccer? Like not soccer,

like grid iron. Okay. As the Aussies would call it. So the Niners are over there. They're toast the town. They're going to coffee shops, big up in Melbourne, as you should, because it's a great city. the Rams say we're going to fly in day before. They fly in the day before the game. And I think they flew home the night after the game ended. Genius theory of what we're just never going to. We're never going to even touch that time zone. So we don't have jet like when we come home.

Is this a good idea or not? It has been done before. It has been done before. I remember Spencer when I was actually there, but it was not a pro yet in 1986. My last year as an amateur, 123, the World Championships in Colorado Springs, you know, it was altitude, altitude and time zones. And there were professional riders who just took that same approach. I remember two of them being one, Sean Kelly and the other one, Yorpe Zutemalk, ex-winner

of the Tour de France. They flew in two days before the event. And they just did the race. I mean, how did they perform? I mean, I don't know. I mean, I would have to check, but it's been done before. I think if it works out, it can work out great, but it could also fail. At the same time, you could also, I mean, with all due respect for football, it's not the same effort, right?

It's not a six, it's not a six hour, seven hour super endurance right. It's, what is it? How long's a game? One and a half, two hours. Games are pretty long. Are they? Are they? Okay.

You're standing around for a lot of the game. But you do, you do want to be mentally, I mean, mentally is a big part. Like, if you're not mentally sharp in football, in any sport,

it's not good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And to me, that's almost like the biggest thing I notice. When I fly international, just mentally I'll be a little slow.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, if it's a one-off, it can work. I mean, I'm not following this,

this sport. Yeah, I'm, you know, there's a few sports I fall in. There's some other sports, man. I, I, I, I completely like, for example, Formula One, tomorrow, this weekend, it's Formula One in Madrid. And you're, you couldn't be more excited. You're pumped. I found out, I found out yesterday that it. It's a big deal.

I can't believe you just found out. Which is actually, which is actually the reason why the Vuelta is finishing in Granada and not here. Oh, yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. Makes sense. Interesting.

I love that you just found out about that. It's like a huge race. Couldn't be a bigger. Big event, yeah, big event. Here, we got to figure out who won the Colorado Springs World Championships. Moreno, Argentine. Okay. Second, Charlie Mote.

Third, I'm going to say, Rolf Gols, maybe. I'm not sure. Okay. Giuseppe Soroni finished third. Sean Kelly finished. Yeah. Yeah. Sean Kelly finished fifth.

He flew over straight before. I remember that. Two days before is not, that's not crazy. What do you think most guys are going to do for Montreal? Most guys are there and they're going to stay there. They're there. Yeah, because Quebec's right now. They're not going to fly back now, I guess.

No. Probably not. I would probably turn to go to altitude. And then I guess the guys from the Vuelta will, I mean, at least one week before, you know, so. Yeah. Yeah, you finished the Vuelta. So, so finish the Vuelta, maybe a little bit of rested home,

and then the next weekend, they'll fly over to have. I mean, usually they say, I mean, with Europe, it's six hours time difference, right? So they usually say it's one hour, one day per hour of difference that you kind of need to adapt. I mean, that's the, you know, old fashioned rule of thumb. I don't know if that's true or not. It's probably about right. I mean, yeah.

Yeah. It does sound about, I think what people tend to underestimate is they get obsessed with the time zones. You know, it's like, I'm not even going to be on that time zone. It's like, I think flying to Australian back, if you spend two out of three days flying there and back, the thing that makes you feel bad is the flight. Like the further between the flight and your event, the better. And spending minimal time on the ground is not going to help you feel better when you get back. That would be my one note on that is if you spread your flights out, you're probably going to feel better physically.

then you just don't feel that. It's like flying is not that good for you. You just feel terrible. Your digestion is messed up. I mean, I feel a two-hour flight. So imagine you get a flight, you fly 20 hours.

Yeah. I mean, take a bag of chips, take a bottle of water on a flight. What's happening to that thing? It's going up, it's going down. That's happening inside your body.

So you don't feel that good when you land. But we'll talk after tomorrow stage and then preview the Granada stage. I'm excited that it's finishing in Granada. I think this is working out for the best. I'm looking forward to both stages over the weekend. I think it's going to be a great, beautiful finish.

But thanks, Johan. We'll talk tomorrow.