It was really, really, really, on the limit to Gun Zoli,
but it's obviously that, you know, he's an amazing shape.
“I think he's discovering himself as a writer, obviously.”
So I think surpassing what he thought he could do at this level. And of course, you know, it's an Italian writer, and he's in the zone, there's the T4C, the Italian fans call T4C there. You know, it's shouting, you kind of get caught up in that, and you, you know, you write up the mountain with, you know, it boosts buffs.
I think that's probably contributing a little bit to the excitement of Pagan Zoli, but after the stage, he was clear that they had a plan today. They exactly exactly exactly the plan, like they said, you know, to perfection, and he actually said that he wasn't writing for G.C. Everybody welcome back to the move plus, I'm Spencer Martin.
I'm here with Yohan Bernal. We are breaking down stage 14 of the Gyrd Italian. And then we'll preview tomorrow's stage 15 at the end of the episode, stage 14, one by Yohan has been a guard from team at least.
Sorry, these, these are my Lisa bike with a field of skull coming in second 49 seconds down.
Jai Hindley 58 seconds down. The top three is now Yohan has been a guard finally takes the race lead with former race leader. Afan Zoli still in second place, 226 behind field of skull and third to 50 back. Time and hour has been 303. Jai Hindley looking good, surging in fifth at 343 back. Yohan, I'll give us a brief overview of the stage. It was a very simple stage. It was five
categorized climbs over 133 kilometers. So just doing the math there, there's not a lot of flat kilometers left. The breakaway goes early. A big group, strong group, some outside, like if you squint GC contenders like Yohan heard up the road, but Vizma just controls it. Vizma clearly had a plan for today. They control it from the gun. The gap gets out to around three and a half minutes and then Vizma starts pulling it back. They have 10 wrecks doing really strong
poles for multiple climbs. Then Bart Limin, who gives way to Victor Campinar, who takes the front at the bottom of the final climb. Who pulls her seven kilometers and then subcoose comes forward. You know, you have a talented roster when subcoose winner of the Waltis Bunny is not even your last lead out man on a climb. And then Davide began Zolli comes forward, launches. Yohan's friend of guard at 4.7 K to go to the steepest part of the climb. He attacks Solov does not stand up.
It was a very controlled effort 390 watts. So that's 6.7 watts per kilo for the final 12 minutes. He comes in kind of unbothered to hit to win the stage and take the race lead. But behind it, it is a hot battle for the podium with Gal Henley, Pelazari, Orangeman and Lalio all fighting
“for 2nd through 3rd. But Yohan, what was your takeaway from the stage?”
Yeah, Spencer. I think you know, that was no surprises today. It was a very predictable stage. You know, if we looked at the stage yesterday, this was kind of the scenario we talked about. If I remember correctly, but also, I mean, even less of a surprise, Yohan asked yesterday, had already said that tomorrow was the day they looked at. They want to take control of the race. This is the stage that they have circles to execute the plan. So everything happened the way
Yohan and Visma had planned it. Big group. Obviously, 25 riders, there was a lot of good climbers in there, but the moment you saw that Visma and Bahrain, Bahrain, like hats off to them. They had the jersey and they were collaborating. Although they were almost sure that they would lose the jersey today.
But they did control. Good for them, Lalio stays in second for the moment. So it's pretty good.
But you know, the potential success of the breakaway really depended on the ambitions of Yohanas and Visma. And that's exactly what we saw. You know, not a lot of things happened. It was a strong breakaway with some really good climbers and breakmasks to Kona, Rubio, Walt Pools, and you know, some other guys. But you could see they had no chance. I mean, they started the last climb of 16 kilometers with two minutes, 15 seconds, which you could say, well, you know,
it's pretty decent gap, but still. If you know that Yohanas would take almost two minutes on everybody, but the top three, four riders and then the riders of the breakaway, of course,
“they're super tired. It was never a question, I think, on the last climb that the stage victory”
would come from the breakaway. I don't know how you saw that. But Movistar, I think a good job, they're trying, but unfortunately, it doesn't work out for them. They had Hendrick Mass and Anger Rubio in there. Do really good climbers, but that's not even enough to have a chance.
Show you how difficult it is to win a stage in the giro.
when the leader, I mean, the virtual leader or the favorite and the strongest team has other plans.
“I think today, you know, the doubts, we, I mean, doubts and not really doubts. But you could”
we, I talked about, you know, the possibility of visma lacking elder mom, you know, being a little bit less strong that didn't happen. I mean, the visma has this ability Spencer. Seems already also in the, in the tour, you know, when a rider needs to be present, all of a sudden, this guy's there,
like today, Tim Rex unbelievable, you know, young rider, first year professional, first year professional,
22 years old, young rider from Belgium, two brothers, by the way. It's all the, it's all the Lawrence Rex right for Sudal. Yeah. I didn't realize their brothers, their brothers, yeah, their brothers. And they also come from the, you know, small German speaking part of Belgium. And both of those riders are perfectly tri-lingu, they speak perfect German, perfect Dutch, perfect French, French, French, and French. But man, that guy did an amazing job, Tim Rex, for a very, very long time,
you know, completely empty himself. And then, you know, the ever present, whenever he has to be there, Victor Companards, you know, started at the bottom of the climb. It was still 15 kilometers to go, and he, I think he took a pull of almost 7 kilometers. It shows you that these guys are super strong Companards. I mean, when Companards, I think Companards was impressive, but as when he was doing the pull,
I saw riders like Derek G, and I found so a lot of you being in trouble. We never hang
one for deal life. So, you could see that this was not just facing, it was already pretty fast. And so, you know, when Companards pulled off, it seemed to go over and they were down to what eight, nine riders, and they still had, and Visma still had three riders there. So, it was clear that it was going to be you and us, a thing of guard, show today, and so it was. Yeah, and I mean, I just could, I would say, if I had one take away the day, it was Visma,
so impressive. I can't believe I ever doubted them, or even considered that losing Wilco Cutterman would have been a problem. Yeah. I mean, today, they clearly, they just had a plan, and they went out and they executed it perfectly. You could tell they had everyone, you know, they had exactly where they wanted people to pace, how hard they wanted to pace, and they did it to a perfection. Yeah, but the, the time gap at the bottom of the climb, my wife
“was like, I don't think they're going to catch the breakaway. It's like, if you want to stand”
up, he's pulling two minutes back. Like that gap is going to vaporize. Today was a particularly hard day for the breakaway, because you could tell Visma, I mean, you only said yesterday, they wanted to win the stage. This has been a target. So right there, you know, you don't have a chance, and they, they needed to take, they were not in the race lead. People forget that. They had to take the race lead. They did it. They win the stage. From now on, it could be a little easier,
because Johan, what, what is Visma do? Also, did we mention David Dead picking,
picking is all like pulls off, and does an incredible ride to finish fourth on the stage, right
behind Jai Hindley in front of Julio Pelazari, who is his team's leader coming to this race ahead of time and armsmen, who is net company iniosis leader. So this is a guy who is pacing, hold off, finished, like with the best GC guys that are not, you want to spend a guard, imagine how demoralizing that is for everybody else. But what is Visma do? And they're doing that,
“for safety reasons so that Jonas has to bike if he needs it. I mean, I mean, that's what they said”
a few days ago. Today, I don't think that was the case, because you could see it's actually, I saw that as soon as Jonas had 20 seconds, the Visma guard was passing in was behind Jonas. So he had a bike straight away. Yeah. They also did ask, because now he moves into the top 10, they asked him if now he started to have ambitions to finish in the top 10, he said absolutely not. But for some reason, he kept going. I mean, it was telling to see that Paganzole does that last tool.
You know, you kind of know when, okay, when Seth Kuspul's off, that was already faster than Paganzole starts, you know, that's the last tool that's normally going to be, you know, one to one and a half kilometer maximum, right? Because, I mean, what people need sometimes people say, "Oh, you know, this, the last guy I only pulled for eight or 900 meters." But, you know, the higher you get up the time and the faster the pace goes, everybody's tired, including the Domestiques who have to
Do the lead out.
a five kilometer pace at a lower pace at a lower speed, right? So, you know, that Paganzole
“is going to pull one to one and a half kilometer maximum. From there on, I think it was clear,”
Jonas was going to attack with about five K to go, turns out he attacked with four point six kilometers to go. But I think that it was telling to see Paganzole, I don't know if he really pulled off or if Jonas just decided, okay, now I'm going. But then the next, the closest rival and the guy who has been the closest to Jonas being a guard, up till now and even today, Felix Gal, is taking his own tempo and he cannot drop Paganzole initially. That must be like, okay, what am I
doing here? You know, it's like, let me just try to get rid of this guy and ride my own pace. So, the Paganzole was in the drops out of the saddle. Yeah, he was almost like he was messing with them. Like, what is going on here? He was really, really, really on the limit
“Paganzole, but it's obviously that, you know, he's an amazing shape. I think he's discovering himself”
as a writer, obviously, so I think surpassing what he thought he could do at this level. And of course, you know, it's an Italian writer and he's in the zone, there's the T4C, the Italian fans called T4C there, you know, shouting, you kind of get caught up in that and you, you, you ride up the mountain with, you know, with goosebumps. I think that's probably contributing a little bit to the excitement of Paganzole, but after the stage, he was clear that they had a plan today,
they exactly exactly exactly the plan, like they said, you know, to perfection and he actually said that he wasn't writing for G.C. You know, if you're in great shape and you are the last domestic, you can end up in the top 10, so because I've got a bottle last year. Did he finish the top 10? He was like seven, there's something. Okay. And then they have Matteo Jorgensen in the top 10, too.
Yeah. You know, it's always, I mean, there's also the team G.C. I'm going to guess,
I'm going to guess, I haven't checked yet, but I'm going to guess that Vizmai is in the lead for team G.C. If I'm not sure, but actually last time I checked, they were not, but I still don't think I really understand team. They are in the lead now by 24 seconds. Okay. Well, I mean, that can become a goal, but I mean, it shouldn't. It shouldn't become a goal, because it can be at the expense of whatever you need in the last week, but sometimes, you know, the team is so strong that they actually
get it. I mean, it's all, it's every day, the first three riders. So every day you start from zero, right? I mean, for people to understand, it's not the first three riders in G.C. It's every day the first three riders. So let's say, in a team classification, if one day a team is, let's say, there are 10 minutes behind there in seconds in G.C. In G.C. And there's a breakaway with two riders of that team in there, that breakaway takes seven minutes. They earn 14 minutes in a team classification.
That's, it's added every day. So it's a bit strange to to calculate, but it could be, it could be one of the goals of, of, of, of, of Fisma to be the best team. They don't need to prove that because they are. And I think it's, you know, I'm not a fan. I'm not a fan of this going for Team G.C. Because it, it costs a lot of energy and, but anyways, if it's on mountain stages, you can say, okay, you know, what we have three really good climbers. It doesn't cost that much energy, but
“it starts to become a problem when breakaways go and you need to chase it down because it's a goal.”
That's not, but that should not never be the goal of a team with the favorite to win the race,
but it, it can also become an ally, you know, at some point. You're, let's say you're in the lead in Team G.C. This isn't another scenario. You're in the lead in Team Visma's in the lead in Team G.C. And the second team, you know, gets in a break. You can, and, and I'm, you know, I'm not saying it happens. It probably doesn't happen anymore, but in 15, 20 years ago, it did happen. Deals were made. Gentleman agreements were made on the road. Where you kind of say, okay, you know,
we don't fight for the Team G.C. We let it have you, but hey, stop messing with us. You know, like, there were certain teams that were difficult to control. I remember back in it,
there was always the same team was, when I was, if, when it was banished or, or cast the
pardon later, movie star, they were a nightmare, you know, because they were attacking left-right and center for no reason, because they were always going for Team G.C. But it's, as a team who has
The leaders jersey, it, it, it makes the, the race difficult to control.
Team classification they were going. So we have sometimes ended up saying, okay, you know what, don't worry about the Team G.C. We don't want it, you know, we're not interested, just you can
“have it. Yeah. I mean, I don't even think it's, it's going to get to that point. I think these”
might get to it if they want. They're so strong. I mean, maybe, big and Zoe's just having a good time. Like, it doesn't seem like anything they do from here on out is really going to matter. Now that they have the lead, how do they play this the rest of the eight stages? I mean, it's still a long way to go. Uh, Jonas is not dumb. I think, um, but I also think from now on, I think Jonas can start to infizma. They can start to really write a control race. And, you know,
not wanting to really exhaust all your resources because that's not forget that there's a big goal in July waiting for him and for the team. So they're in perfect position now. They can control. They, they have very few people to control. And there's nobody stronger than vingo guards on the clients. So they're in a really great, great situation. They just have to try to avoid any, you know, extra race or extra sportive factors, crashes, punctures, illness and normally then they win.
“So if that's going to be the case, you know, I don't know. I think Jonas will still go for another stage”
win, but for not what he has, he has three stages already. Three stage wins. Okay. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I think they, well, it will, I think it might be taken care of for them because the,
the cathons still has to get rid of volio. He's still in second, feels goals in third.
So they can't know it. People can't just sit back and say, I think it's just a matter of time. Phoenix girls definitely a better climber than a lollio. And well, as I said, you know, we'll see now, now that the lollio is out of the ping jersey. How old is a lollio? Is he going to be in white? He's in white. He definitely is like 22 years old. So he's got to be in white, right? I see. Let's quickly have a look.
Oh, yeah. It's a, yeah. Well, pellets are isn't white. So lollios and white, pellets are is 156 behind. Okay. It's only 347 behind. Maybe that's fine. So okay. So he's still in the leader's jersey. It's still a big fight. So he has, you know, there's something to really fight for.
“Yeah. Listen, I think lollio the way he's riding, he's definitely going to stay up there.”
I don't know if it's podium or top five, but I think top five should be, you know, a reasonable
objective for him. Which would be amazing. And he just needs to now just, you know, right,
differently and just try to stay with, you know, his main rivals and it looks like it looks like pellets arey is the main rival for the white jersey. So I'm, I don't know. I think pellets arey probably is on the up. He's gone through a little, a little dip and, you know, was struggling with some illness. Today, I think he did a really, really good race. Got better through stage. Jay Hindley also, Jay Hindley, sorry for all strain on the scissors. Those two riders did a good job. I mean,
they finished really strong. The Red Bull guys, taking out of the equation, Jonas, then they did really good. I think, the Red Bull. And pellets arey was at the back for a lot of the stage. Early, especially like 60 K to go, he's last wheel on the peloton. So I thought he was in big trouble. Maybe he just wasn't feeling good and he recovered, but he finishes great. He was dangling early. His George would say he was swinging. He's swinging on that climb and didn't seem
to bother him. He just recovered. Finish his fifth. Yeah. I mean, I thought Jay Hindley, if I'm trying to podium at this race, I'm worried about Jay Hindley. I'm not, I'm not even worried about you, Jonas, because you know, it's going to be a strong, three weeks stage race, you know, he's usually pretty strong in the last week. I think that for now, the way it looks, I think Jonas
wins for sure. Philly's goal. I think second. And I think Jay Hindley looks better than Aron's
month, what a podium. I, I wouldn't rule out. So he feels called 250 behind Jonas. Jay Hindley 343 behind. I would not rule out a potential assault on Mr. Gaul. Especially since,
Philets Gaul is now sitting third overall.
with these, you know, he's probably the highest profile G.C. rider to lose a G.C. position. Just, yeah, it's like a nine performance issue. I know, but you know, the targets, you know, the mountains are very honest. There's quite a lot of you haven't targeted or not. The mountains, it's, there's no hiding. And whatever stages, they're still to come. There's still a few really, really hard stages, like harder than today. Well, you know, I'm not trying to be on kind,
but this guy is an unbelievable climber. Yeah. He's never finished on the podium, a grand tour. And there's a reason for that. That's true. That's true. But I think he's also in the form of his life Spencer. I don't think FedEx Gaul has ever been in better shape than he's now.
He actually said that himself in an interview that he's an amazing shape. He's never felt better.
So if he can keep this, you know, a lot of things can change during three weeks, you know, but if he can, I mean, he can fade away. And also all of a sudden, not recover. But, you know, usually at this point in the race, you know, the cards, the cards are played. You know, I mean, everybody knows where their spot is. And it's, you know, unless there's something really strange happening, things don't don't change that much. I mean, I would, if I was Red Bull,
“I'm trying to attack him on the downloads on stage 19 probably. I'm sure that's what they're thinking.”
But yeah. So if you're Vismo, I would say, you look at the standings and say, well, we're
226 up. We don't have to do anything. The only thing about that is, you know, it's always this
thought about, you're in the lead. You don't have to do anything. But look at Paul success at the best country. He kept piling on the time. And then the final stage is crazy, right? If he wouldn't have struck while the iron was hot, he probably loses best country overall because he would have lost so much time on the final day when things went sideways. Does he always try to pad this lead? To know as a hedge against, but I mean, by pad, like, let's go to stage 16, uphill finish,
brutal uphill finish. Does he, is he sitting a group or does he just like, I'm going to win this and take more time on that. No, I mean, I think from now on Spencer, what you're not going to do is just, you know, what I would do is you just, you control your rivals, you know, make sure that nobody gets him breaks. That's definitely going to happen because let's not forget the game, the battle is now on also for podium and for top five and top 10. And he just needs to stay there and whatever uphill
finish, he can, he can just get little bits of time here in there 20 seconds, 30 seconds with the two kilometer effort. That's, I would not do anything else. Yeah, yeah, okay, I, I totally agree with that.
“I think that's the right decision. What do you do if you're the cast one?”
I would try to get in second that I would go for second place and, you know, if it's, if it's an
honest race and nothing strange happens, I think, look, his back, look was backed by the way. This guy has been, he's been claiming, he's been asking for my attention for like 10 minutes now. He, uh, he doesn't seem to agree that FedEx Gall is fighting for second position or brother. I, Bobby, I don't think FedEx Gall is going to win this. Bobby, I need to bring it to you. I'm, I'm, I, Spencer today, I was on a long bike ride in the mountains. I'm kind of low on energy.
I'm sure the riders on the, in the giro or like, Bobby did not do a mountain stage today. He's full of energy and, you know, once attention. So, he just wanted to come say hi to everybody. Hey, Bobby. Yeah. It's the captain got to have to be pacing on these stages.
“Um, I mean, it depends what happens, right? I mean, if there's this from now on, I think with,”
and this market perfectly played this game, you know, they, they can, they are, they should let riders go who can get in the top 10 or can get in the top five. And then you're fine, you know, you're, you get, you get the assistance you need without asking for it, because people will start to fight for whatever they have right now. For certain riders, I mean, look, for example, barang, right? I mean, they already had a hell of a zero, right? I mean, nine days in
think, I guess, a days nine more in think. Yeah. A statement. But now they're going to fight for top five. That's, that's a goal. Um, and, and so if somebody from outside of the top 10 gets him breakaways and they start to threaten top five, top six, barang will be there. You know, it's all they have left to do and they will do it. Um, Red Bull, I don't know, Red Bull. I mean, Red Bull has two guys up there. I mean, fifth place means nothing for Red Bull. They need to be on the podium, right?
So, so, yeah. So yeah, we'll see. I, I, yeah, I think these was in a great position. I mean,
I was just thinking, how do I make this one interesting, because this is goin...
a new space for the rest of the race. What if the team that's in the lead, they have to surrender a rider for every minute they're in the lead. So, Vismo would have to send two riders home tonight. We might have to start doing this, Johan. I worry that they're just, there's a handful of riders that are just so much better than everybody else. It's a little demoralizing. Um, I mean, Vismo with, with, with, you know, with big Anzoli and Sapkus, and then, you know,
“Victor was always there when he needs to be there and who was the, who was the guy before Victor?”
It was, uh, it was part, part lemon. We haven't even mentioned to him. He was incredible. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, whole team. I don't think they would miss two guys. I think they'll be fine. Now, when, yeah, I mean, we've seen, we've seen, you know, ground tours when teams in the lead, lost riders and then, finally, they managed to control with five riders. It's, it's possible. I mean, of course, you know, it's better to keep you guys. But also Spencer, what I read, what I wanted to, to talk a little bit about, I mean, I don't know if, if you saw the same thing,
but, you know, when, when, obviously, when Johan has went, you know, nobody could react.
We could see it was game over. To me, what really caught my attention was that, you know,
the visual, the very obvious and clear difference between Jonas and all the other guys, like, Gal and Arnsmong and Felizari, Paganjoli, was all over the place, you know, the style. I mean, I'm, I'm often trying to, I mean, it's, I have difficulties to explain it, but I can, I can, I remember what it feels like and what, you know, there's a difference between a guy who is riding smoothly up a climb and a rider who is climbing the climb, as a climber, working on the bike.
Today, for me, Jonas was unbelievable. It looked like he was, Jonas, his pedal stroke, was flew it. He, time crowd, up that climb. This difference in speed was obvious, but especially visually, the difference in style. And, and you could see, it was such a controlled effort. It was smooth. You can have Felizari's goal was working in the style as different. Me, styles are different, but Jonas looked so much in control, like, really, you know, of completely even effort.
“The moment he went, he just paced and, and it was, to me, it looked like he, I think Jonas”
did not, did not go full gas. He went fast, obviously, but the way he looked after the finish, the way he looked during the race, his, his face was completely, like, focused. No, not a suffering face. He was obviously going hard and, you know, he was riding within his limits, but he was not suffering extremely. And the other guys, I mean, the way he finishes,
then straight away after the finish, I always look at people when they crossed the finish line,
and they get in the arms of their swaniers and, you know, Jonas was like, a minute after he was fine. And all the other guys, dragged himself to the finish, where completely empty, exhausted, gal, art and smun, handily, began Zoli. I think the contrast was, was very obvious.
“So I think that, that says a lot about the difference in level.”
Today, I think, is the first time we see why Vignagard was such a heavy favorite, the only favorite, he, you know, he performs through the expectations. And as you said, you know, unfortunately for the zero, I think it can start to become boring now. It was Jonas who was going to win this and, unless something, you know, unfortunate happens. He is going to win the zero. So from now on, what is it? It's a week to go, right?
I mean, we have tomorrow and then we still have six stages. So it's going to be a long last week, man. Yeah, but RCS in their infinite wisdom has thrown a lot of dead stages in there. So it's going to be a lot of nothing stages that like tomorrow. But you're right, the Jonas was writing, I was just thinking about it during the stage. He was within himself and everyone else was very much outside of themselves. You know, like, literally just, you could tell like flailing, like looking in pain,
he looks fully in control. I'm not trying to be inclined to the other writers. But he kind of,
If it, if you're a pro and you go back to your hometown and you're on a group...
it's kind of what it looks like. He's just, he's so, his, his pedal stroke. As you say,
“it's just so much more efficient than everyone else. He's never, looks uncomfortable. He's never”
out of, like he's never out of his body. He's always right there. I don't know if we said the
power numbers on the show. But he's, the 390 watts for the last 12 minutes. That's 6.7 watts per kilo. And so pretty good numbers. I mean, the Descompare Blockhouse was he was about 6.6 watts per kilo for the whole climb. So it's less. But today, I don't think we mentioned this was very hot. brutally hot all day and also on the whole day. He looked completely different than on Blockhouse. Blockhouse, he was going full and was struggling to keep the difference. You know,
they're now to got what 13 to 12 seconds on phrase call. Today, no question. He was in control. He looked, you know, completely how he said it. Stoic. Stoic. Is that a word? Stoic. Stoic. Stoic. Stoic. Stoic. Stoic. Stoic. Stoic. Look like he was time-trailing up a false flat.
“Well, he's going 13 miles an hour, up a 8% climb. And, and, and, by the way,”
single chain ring. One chain ring. And, I'm going to guess 13 13 speed in the back, but still, I mean, in a mountain stage, with 4,000 300 meters, just, you know, being that's, that's, man, that's having absolute confidence. Obviously, you do have the gear range, but, you know, if you're not sure, and if you kind of doubting, it's kind of nice to have two chain rings.
To have that middle, you know, middle gear, you know, always, you know, you never find the perfect gear.
If you have two chain rings, you can play with that a lot more. Yeah. Yeah. If you have one chain ring, I mean, today, you want us to go on a single chain ring. That's, uh, that's having absolute confidence and no, okay, I'm going to do this. The other thing I was thinking about during the stage is these guys, they, they have good days, they have bad days. Feel all of them. Feel skull, dryhandly, uh, my, arrangement store. Does vinegar ever have a, well, and I mean, truly bad day,
you see, you see, potentially the most consistent rider we've ever seen. Well, I've seen them have bad days. I've seen them have bad days. I mean, sorry, but the full, how about the, the European championships last year? Well, okay, we're talking one day races. In a stage race, when they last time you saw a capitulate. I mean, yeah, I mean, listen, he's bad day,
“you know, you could say it was was was, was Otakam last year. He finished second on the stage, right?”
He didn't finish that's not a bad, that's not a bad day. It's not a great day because, you know, Florian Lipowitz was making up a lot of time on him. But it's how kind of harsh harsh from us to say, you know, you're not tired of bad day, because Lipowitz was coming back. He was still second. And he almost set the record on Otakam and second in the, in the G.C. So, he's, he's very consistent. He, uh, for him, you know, it's, it's unfortunate that there's
Palipugachar otherwise he would be the emperor of cycling in, in stage races. And what's crazy is he more consistent than Pagachar in stage racing.
You know, Pagachar has had these moments where he explodes, but I think her never has it.
It's been, it's been a while. It's been a while, but it does, it does, it is on the record, but it's like Vanguard is a more consistent stage racer. Uh, I mean, yeah, I mean, if you look at, if you look at the last four years, four, five years, like he's ever had that whole day like his moment. If you, was that, you know, like Lowe's, where Pagachar is like 30 minutes behind. Yeah. Okay. Wait, then Spencer, come on.
I'm not 30 minutes. Come on. Let's, however far back he was, yeah, he was not competitive on that stage. Well, he still finished second in the Deuter France. Well, that mean, okay, but that was a bad day, you would say, that was definitely bad day. It was definitely bad day. It was definitely bad day, but you own it's just, I don't know if I've ever seen anyone like that. It's really, it's almost, it's almost, it's really, it's very, very telling to see his interview
yesterday. I don't know if it was before this stage or after this stage, but he looked so confident. Like, you could feel the energy, you know, that something had shifted, you know, he said he had been fighting a little illness that I don't exactly know what it was. It was a cold or, but you could feel like he was, he made the change yesterday. And the, the interview was cool confidence. Like he already made it to you. Okay, tomorrow is my day. We'll go for it. I'll do this.
Yeah, I mean, because this problem, his own, his problem is only ever just not having the octane, like having the firepower. It's never falling apart. And he just never is leading. It's like,
Oh, I just had a bad day.
is freakishly consistent. So, yeah, that's unfortunate if you're trying to beat him at this race. Other notes from the stage, we said, good, big losers would be Ben O'Connor, Derrick G. West, bad days for them. Big winners will be big losers. That's still up there.
“You know, in the top 10, but obviously that's now what they came for, though. I think their chances”
for the podium start, after today, start to be really not looking good anymore. I mean, Derrick G. West is barely in front of the Piggins' Oli. Yeah. You know, you can't really say it's a surprise, you know, because as we said already, we haven't seen anything before the zero of Derrick G to point in direction. Okay, you're going to be top three or top five. There's nothing there to to maybe they know more. Maybe they know,
you know, he was, you know, he came short and form and, you know, but there was nothing to say, hey, you know, Derrick G is going to do a great GC. O'Connor, kind of the same thing. I think,
you know, there's not, there's not been much there to, in his defense. So there's never anything
there to suggest he's about to have a good race. You know, O'Connor. O'Connor, he just comes out of nowhere and he's like, oh, he's second at the ball. I don't know if there's any pattern, he's like, Betty all. I was like, where did this come from? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, if you look at, he got second at the 2004 Valta. I guess he was, you know, he was a lot of turns. Did he get a third or fourth at the, at the zero? Yeah, four at the zero. Or ice.
Oh, one. No recollection of him even racing that. Sure to tell you. Yeah. I don't know if he's gotten top five at the zero before that. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. He got four. I think the same year he got four at the doer. He got four at the zero. Really? I think, 2021. Have a look. No, no, no. So he, he raised like Dough and a, he didn't do this year to a double. He did like Romendi Dough and a. Dough and a. Dough and a. Dough and a. Dough and a. Dough and a. Dough and a. Dough and a. Dough and a.
He got, well, that was a weird year. But he got 20th at the zero. 2020. I, I might not have
“raised the Jew very much. Hmm. I, I think that's, I didn't remember him fourth at the zero for”
some reason. I don't remember. Well, he was fourth at the zero in 2024. Okay, here that, you know, pre-mosed and guarantee Thomas. Sorry. No, no, this is why you remember this because he's fourth in 2024 and fourth in 2023 at the zero. Okay. Okay. See, so two times four. Sorry. I'm just telling this up. Wait, I don't wait a second. What's going on here? I'm just. But now I can't confirm it two of the fronts. Wait a second. Wait, it was four. It was four at the door. I, I know for sure,
he was very short. And he was second in the world. So not about stage race, you know? Yeah, but not, no, not bad, but he didn't really have performance is going into those that would tell you he was about to have performance. That's what I don't really get about Ben O'Connor.
But he, I mean, who knows? You could still finish podium at this race. You never know what
that guy. Big winners would be vinaigarde, Ulawlio, Jay Henley, Pelazari, question mark.
“But, Jari, I think it's hopeful for him. You know, I mean, getting better to stage is a good sign.”
You know, you're not falling apart. I think the, the, the Red Bull got those two guys are in for a good last week in my opinion. And something nobody noticed on the stage was, do you know who has the points jersey now? Jonas Jonathan or bias. Jonathan or vice? I did not into the breakaway and won the Intermediate Sprint. Oh, guys, incredible. You know, hard that is on that stage. Wow. Yeah. So he's in the, he's in the point jersey. So that puts a lot and he's going to fight for that one for sure.
Yeah, I'm going to go in breaks and take points. Well, they had a whole, like UAs whole day was built around that. You know, they put multiple riders up there to help them when that sprint, to get that, that the points, which wasn't even that time, even that many points. It's 12 points. I feel like they should have more points at the Intermediate Sprint. But we can talk about how we think Paul Mania is going to do tomorrow. Also Christian's groaning left the race today. He lost time yesterday.
Well, I didn't really understand why he must not be feeling well, which is why he didn't have a crash a few days ago. So maybe that's the consequences of the crash item. Could be a crash was really
good. Right after the crash, and then never recovered, we just also we only have six teams. We
still only have 16 winning stages. UAA have four, Stana three, Visma three, so it all quicks up to
In the US one by rain one.
strong in the breakaway. Unfortunately, the breakaway never really had a chance. Little track
probably feel on the heat going in the stage 15. Do you want to preview stage 15 or do you have more to say about stage 15? Yeah, I think there's not much to say about stage 15, Spencer. It's completely flat into Milan. It's going to be a buzzprint. It has to be a buzzprint. And I personally think at this point in the race, the stage the moral finishing in Milan is going to be won by Jonathan
“Milan. That's my favorite. I was going to do an ad break before you said that. But if you want to”
hear how come back after the ad. Okay, Johan, so this is a really weird stage. We should say I don't understand why this is here. How did this happen? It's 157 kilometer long, completely flat stage on a
Sunday. It's basically a procession. It does five laps in Milan. Why is the stage 15 of a grand tour?
But with those circuits, are we sure it's a bunch, Brent? Is this like a late attack or situation? No, not with a flat state. I mean, the late attacker situation is it's when themes are running out of people to control. So, though, they still have, I mean, they have a lot of guys still and, you know, one year is the leader. They're going to do everything. They can't be a bunch, Brent. A little track is going to do the same than who else. I mean, like picnic, close to now, they have to do the
same. You know, but even for a guy like Kasper van Uden, I mean, Decathlon probably not for
“Anders Lund. I mean, I think Lund is also also he's been sick or S6, so he's not that it's full potential.”
But anyway, Decathlon's focused on on Phidic's call, well, Steve has printers. It's going to be
in the back with Ronald Reagan would be the. Yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah, I mean, but yes, sorry, sorry. Yeah, I mean, it's a good stage for Bruno Reagan. The question is, you know, at this point, these printers, and especially guy like Bruno Reagan, who today will have suffered a lot more than anybody else of the printers, how much do they have left? The theme is going to be good. The theme is going to be great. I think the other day, they were really in control. They have a really good team,
a lead-out team. The question is how much does Bruno Reagan still have in the legs to to develop that super high speed to a new stage? It's possible. It's a great stage for him. It's really old. I can't get over this. It looks like it should be the final day of a grand tour, because it's a completely straight from 5k into 2k. They go through a roundabout and then it's completely straight for the last 2k into the finish. So it's a pure sprint. One rider finished
behind Dylan growing a bacon that I didn't know who it was to buy his looned. So maybe maybe don't pick him. He's probably not feeling good if he finished behind it. Not on a bacon. Or their geniuses. And they're saving it. Paul Monday is the favorite of plus 150, John of the Milan plus one seven. He grew on a bacon plus 380 to buy his loon plus 1100, Ethan Vernon plus 1400. It goes on and on. We'll call him out when we need to. Flip again on a plus 4000, that would be the
late attacker. But I mean, when I describe that finish, that's not a great finish for a loan attacker. It's very hard. It's completely straight and flat. It's difficult. If there's some turns, you can get out of sight a little bit. You can surprise them. It's going to be, you know, at these speeds, Spencer. I mean, the sprint's nowadays, it's 70 kilometers per hour with the kind of keeping more than that. Oh, you can't, you can't escape, you know, you can't.
“So you're going Milan at plus one 70. Yeah. I'm not feeling money. Yeah. I think he's getting rough”
up by this. I mean, it's hot day, really tough mountain stage. I don't think so. I'm going to go, I'm going to go Dylan growing a bacon plus 380. The thing about Milan is little trick has got to get a win. And this is their best chance until they get to Rome. So they're obviously going to put a lot of resources into this. It is kind of hard to imagine how Milan would lose this. This is kind of the perfect setting aside the name of himself and the town. This is the perfect finish for
him. So he probably will win. But I like what I saw from you. But in Naples, I'm going to pick around a bacon. Okay, I think it's a good pick. So Milan versus Bruno Egan and then Manier, depends how he feels. I think Manier starts to feel, you know, the two weeks. It's logical for a rider like him. He's done a good job already. But yeah, he's got nothing to fight for. I mean,
I guess the winch jersey.
he should get it back to the show. He's got it up to your top four. So that should be enough
“points. Not to get it back. Yeah, but then then the real battle begins because then stage 16 rolls around.”
The tomorrow is going to be in the breakaway. That's a different problem. There's two guarantees for
a bunch. It's tomorrow. It's tomorrow and then Rome. All the other stages, there's, you know,
“most likely going to be breakaways. Or Jesus. Yeah, no, that's right. And I mean, you notice Manier the other”
day he was dropped before Milan on the climb. Yeah. I saw that. So Milan could be, he could be coming in
to form here. So that's, that's a very good pick. Well, we'll we'll be back to break it down in detail.
“I don't think we'll have much to say, but then we'll also do a week to recap as well with, with to my”
stage. But thanks, you're on and we'll be back soon.
