Are UAE Proving You Don't Need a GC Leader? | Giro d'Italia 2026 | THEMOVE+

You know, having one tree stages man nothing

“has to happen this absolutely no pressure. It's it's gonna be so much fun those two next weeks for them. Like”

They're just gonna chill and whenever there's you know a chance they'll go for it if doesn't work No no problem. No stress no pressure and that's usually when a team outperforms the expectations and everything seems to work This is not the this is not the last stage of UAE. I'm gonna predict Everybody welcome back to the move plus I'm Spencer Martin. I'm here with the O'Honne at Bernal. We are breaking down stage eight of the zero Natalia one by Jonathan Narvius on UAE team Emirates over Andreas Lekninson from UNOX mobility out of a breakaway that took a very long time

If you just looked at the the results of the stage it does not do the stage justice. It took a very long time for this breakaway to go Narvius went up the road with his teammate Mikkelberg. They were joined by Lekninson after Pretty much was like 80 90 K of all out racing into a headwind along the coast. They get away. It's pretty impressive They turn inland. They blow out the gap once they start climbing a chase group is behind them The GC teams finally shut things down. I mean, I imagine they were really looking forward to turning inland and getting into the climbs

And the chase group it was pretty strong. A lot of riders were teammates but they didn't really make a lot of headway

“Narvius wins over like in Senno with an UNOX rider. What's his name, Johan?”

Okay, we did some research on this to not to make not butcher this, right? So apparently it's Martin

Chatta. Chatta coming and I had never heard of it. I never heard of it again, but first year on UNOX comes over from

Arcaya and so yeah good good good performance. Yeah and good pick up by UNOX finishing ahead of. I mean, they were 40 he finishes 42 seconds behind Narvius, Narvius, which is basically the gap when the climbing started, which shows you how strong Narvius was Thomas Silva, Guillermo, Thomas Silva, the guy who had the leader's jersey finishes fourth way better climber than we thought Lorenzo Mileza, your pick for the stage finishes fifth and in the GC group there was a split mid stage where Jonas when a guard was caught out but his

vis-a-vis team easily welded that back together and then you could tell the GC teams were nervous because it was really you know it's in the Marquee region of Italy. It's just a lot of like every town is on top of the steepest hill you could possibly imagine and the roads are very narrow so the GC teams were at the front Jai hit the ad subcoups pushing the pace when the last few k is in the the climbs were steep like 22 I assume as a defensive mechanism to keep people from attacking. Jai Hindley attacks is followed by

Jonas who looks incredible today. I mean there was like no hesitation from Jonas and they get a

two second gap over the GC group which is significant because Jai Hindley was pushing that and its teammate Julio Pelazari was kind of near the back of the GC group now loses two seconds to Jonas. You know like well that's kind of weird why would that happen and then Philis called yesterday's climbing extraordinary. I was curious to watch him today Johan on these climbs are not his type of climbs and he was at the back. I wonder if he's mobile noticed that and think maybe that's something he can't exploit later on but

what did you think about the stage and then what did you think about that kind of strange decision from Red Bull at the end? Yeah I mean I think what the stage was a little bit as we expected right Narviz we yesterday when we recorded last yesterday's podcast we didn't have the odds yet for the stage winners but Narviz was the heavy favorite and I think it's logical I think the only unknown factor was how does Narviz get in the break? He did he did so once that three

three day three man break away was established he was the heavy favorite. You know it's one of

those moves Spencer like I'm sure you know at first of all the first two hours apparently they

they averaged 51 kilometers per hour for the first half hours like a 20 kilometer alignment

“insane insane so it's kind of logical that the break away didn't go I mean how fast you have to go”

60 to go get away so but then finally you know with 76 kilometers to go these three guys get clear and it's one of those moves you know when you when you're in the car and you're here okay and

the moment when the riders are running out of legs and then you you hear those three three three names on the radio Jonathan Narviz mecob york under slag nuisance said okay that's came over now these are three huge engines there is nothing the peloton can do to get those

guys back and that was the case you know I mean they just stayed out there always with a minute

on afterwards a 40 rider group with some really strong riders in there of course it's a big group so very difficult to get it organized but still I mean then from from the moment these three guys were

“away I think it was clear even to Lekneson that would say that Narviz was going to win this stage”

Narviz was extremely praising his teammate mecob york he called him the man of the race which I think is you're true and yeah I mean with those steep walls at the end man and it was 12 13 sometimes 20 percent this is Narviz the rain and there was there was nothing to be done against him today

second stage win for him in this zero third stage win for you a since they are down to five

yeah 30 since since they get back to Italy so that's four stages stage or I guess five stage four five six seven eight they have won three of them yeah and then also four stage win in his career in the zero already we just went back to 2000 what was it 2020 what amount yeah embarrassingly yesterday I don't know what happened at a stroke or something I said is I don't know if he's a good enough climber to win in this finish yeah and then I go back this morning and he wins a four thousand meter climbing

mountain stage at the 2022 or overmarked it in so and then remember 2024 when he won stage one against the boogachar who was trying to win the stage yeah so so yeah I mean impressive impressive form even more impressive spent but also at the same time you can see this in Narviz is on a high

has been inactive you know all the the whole season basically because he had this bad crash

in down under has prepared well but obviously his fresh you know super motivated full of energy he's not raised tired right and I think we're gonna we're gonna see more of him and I mean he actually said in his interview you know he didn't talk about himself but about a team that they're

“not done that they will win more stages you know and that's what I at least could you know”

understand between the lines yeah and then about Red Bull Spencer and about Jay Handley I'm kind of thinking you know could it be I mean first of all you would say okay Jay Hindley does his job you know brings in the group and it's up to the leader to hold his wheel you know that's and if Pilejari is the leader he has to you know make sure that he can hold the the wheel of his you know best helper could it be that Jay Hindley wants to make a statement and say okay I am also

protected rider here I won this race that could be one explanation I'm kind of tempted to say it's another reason and the explanation behind Jay Hindley's you know uping the tempo and bringing it to the finish as fast as possible it's probably that he got work that Felix Gaul was in trouble in the back of that group and then finally so they got a little gap and Gaul was in the back but didn't get gaped off time-wise but I think that's that's probably the explanation if I'm just

looking at it behind my screen just so we have plausible deniability I'll just do this if I was a 34 30-year-old Australian who had won this race recently and everyone was gushing about my 22-year-old Italian teammate and I had a chance to yeah put to accelerate while putting our rival into difficulty but then also gaping my teammate for the second anero I probably would because I'd be so sick of hearing about this kid like I won the race this guy oh you're on mute you're on I like I you got

six last year I want it like what are we talking about this Spencer I don't think I don't think that's true honestly I don't think I think both yesterday and today today could be that

“well I'll say remember I'm just saying that's how I would feel we're not saying that's how”

try ahead. Yeah yeah. Yeah. Gaul was in trouble so you know try to see if we can get some time and yesterday listen he was they all they're all that he just wants to get as soon as possible

but I don't think any of those two situations were deliberate from Jay Hindley

“against the situation and against palizari I don't think so. Remember and also”

like we're we're behind like we don't have the wig I can't wait for you man like we we are losing time as to Jonas we've got to go but remember it was the same team where you're like we're saying oh they probably wouldn't be fighting over this and they had a rider leave because of a seventh and eighth place overall dispute so there is precedent for inviting that's that we've lost off I know the books yeah the well where if you were

directly like what what are we doing like guys try to move up maybe both of you move up the standings don't fight over seventh place but the the stage I just I just just opens up a lot to talk about with Anervius better obviously he's a great rider he's he's one two stages at this race just going back through his Palmaris better rider than I feel like he gets credit for he's one

“multiple overalls so he won tour down under in 2025 which you have to be a pretty good climber”

because there's one longer hill then he we realize he's one tour of Austria in 2023 and one of these stages you have to be yeah okay the wind tour of Austria if if I mean I don't we would have to look back but you know if there was not a consolation of any of the big mountain stages the wind tour of Austria you have to be able to climb I mean otherwise tour of Austria you there's no way you can't win this it's a hard race and I mean it

maybe they're what like maybe they didn't have high alpine but you're climbing I'm just looking

at now like you're climbing quite a bit on all these stages there's almost always I mean I mean

from off the top of my mind there's almost always the the gloss the gloss gloss or something similar which is a monster of a climb in that race so I don't know in 2023 what the course was but I can tell you one thing without looking at it it was not flat it was mountains for sure

“instead of ice winds is second stage will probably win more to be on I think it was”

plus 600 before the start of the stage at that you know I'm not going to bet on them because how do I know that he's going to be in the move and you know it's interesting you're on there was many many breakaways that did not make it today do you know how many breakaways in our bias

was in today one and he was in the one well two two first one with the tree and then he created

his own breakaway but he didn't jump and he didn't waste any energy jumping into a move that didn't come to fruition and if you just go back and yeah Spencer but he was already I mean he was he was already in the 40 man group that got clear because the breakaway got away from that yes yeah before or at the moment they got real back in the three guys got clear from those 40 guys but just to give you an idea Spencer on how hard this was on these three guys because

you know as you said it was had been over time so the last 76.5 kilometers which is the moment those three guys got away nor vice average power over 76.5 kilometers is 330 watts average and that includes flats and downhills right so man it was it was hard for those three guys to stay away you know because nobody of the big eyes skipped a turn you know they were going for it mean every time in the last when he attacked like let Mcton if they showed his power on screen

it was 330 or above because he was climbing the whole time I mean that's that's hard to do I mean it's hard to just you could be listening into this and say I can go average 330 for 76k it's like well you got to remember not even outside of the fact that you're in a grand tour this was two hours an hour and a half into a and all out race right so like he's presumably in the Spencer race okay so he's 65 kilos so you know it's it's it's about five watts per kilo

day okay I'm gonna you know there's not many people listening to this podcast who can do that there's a few maybe well there's a lot of like when they're fresh okay I mean they're 65 kilos there's probably not exactly 65 kilos yeah he got heels and 330 watts okay yeah that's I should have made a lot of great roles that could probably go at in rip 330 for 67k's but they're like 80 to 90 kilograms that's a difference yeah and then now I've lost my turn at thought but Narvius

good strong and then I was just impressed with he sees Berg beer go I mean Kudos to that guy like they had a plan and they knew what they were doing and he kind of role he doesn't see anyone react he rolls around Lexington's behind him follows him Lexington barely gets across that's how

moment the gaps are small and nobody can pull them back it is just they're gone before anyone can do anything it also probably helps but there's three Uber fast arrow bikes up the road they all have arrow helmets on they're all in skin suits that definitely helps like today I thought yeah but so what are the guys in the back yeah I mean also an arrow bike the we should the

“Colnago bike is very fast yeah yeah okay let's not overhyper Spencer I think the the main reason”

why they stayed away because it's three huge engines uh okay elaborated perfectly and then on top of that you know a group of 30 40 riders is difficult to organize plus let's not forget that these guys who were in front had teammates there you know there was a few you know next guys there was two other um so Arietta was also there and uh young Christian so four of the five UA riders were in the break uh so obviously you know they were disturbing you know once once they

start to attack uh now I mean we saw have you a normal attack when they had 50 seconds there's nothing you can do nothing you can be a strong as you want against these three riders there was no way they were coming back and I mean on the on the bike I'm not trying to hype it up and get people to go buy it I went to that camp and I came away thinking this is a problem that the sport has

“because UA is essentially combined with colonago that the the team and the bike brand are basically”

the same and they can say we want this with the bike in colonago goes away and it does that and I was thinking man like this is gonna be an issue because they're gonna have a significantly faster bike than other teams and on top of that we're seeing in this race the team one through 30 is is very good like they might have the there's these five guys left in the race could be five of the strongest riders left in the race I mean they are we normally wouldn't

notice it because they'd be riding for out of the race but without in me it's gone we're seeing I'm not saying I mean I kind of am saying it's it's kind it's impressive and a problem at the same time because you're just having these all these riders pool onto one team yeah that's the strength that means it's the strongest team in the world there's no doubt about it you know they are

in first position on all levels you know in terms of the points the amount of victories

yeah every one of the riders could win a stage at this race yeah and they're starting to do the by the way they're starting to become kind of the same with the women's team now also you know they're just one the two of Spain I was a spania for for women

“so yeah but yeah this in UAE is it's the best team it's the benchmark for a lot of teams I think”

there are teams trying to get closer you know I don't know I don't know if you saw do you know who's second the second best team right now in the world in ranking yeah like points or wins yeah rankings I'm gonna say it's a lot quick step but just because I who who is it Red Bull Red Bull they they stepped up they stepped up well do you know what they have Visma is now in fourth I think the last time I checked I checked a few days ago Red Bull's

in second and Visma's now in fourth I don't know where's Sudales but you know it was a lot of

money you know what Visma doesn't have as much of money yeah okay that's not some I know it's like I just I start to work but we should say like before we slam UAE I was thinking about like in the post-rac show on TNT sports they're saying oh they buy all the best riders it's not necessarily true like they get a lot of riders I don't think people were clamoring for Jonathan and our bias they just get a lot of riders that are good and they develop them well yeah so yeah plus you know

once you are part of a winning team you up your game you know we we see there are some signings that they did you know like Ben Wachos in the front yes exactly you know he's been he's been you know not very present the last few years look at him now and he said he didn't have any other options yeah so so yeah winning his contagious man very contagious yeah and then yeah just so I'm trying to balance the fact that I'm like oh this is this is a little weird watching one

team have so many good riders but partially it's because they make good riders no bias very good UAE very good how many more wins do they get at this race you're on listen I mean it's like you know I'm going to call back to my statement of some teams it's like oh you know we want to win

some stages I would say try to win one stage in a ground to your first you know they have three

already this is not the end three and five days we have young Christians still needs to win a stage so and then who else do we have we could be or probably won't win stage or we won't because

and I'm very surprised by this is Antonio Margado it's not Armorgado yeah he's he's not been yeah okay we don't know what kind of work he's doing you know but hey don't count him out he's probably the most tender rider on that team and he's very strong yeah this is a guy who we can top five to flanters is a teenager I'm not sure anyone else in the sport has ever done that before yeah yeah maybe not that is pretty impressive and he's the odd man out on this team here's

a question is this better is the crash on stage two making this a better zero for UAE I mean obviously for those riders who get opportunities I would say they would definitely

“have preferred not have that crash and you know do a normal zero I think our vice would still have”

had his opportunities to win these stages with their leaders still around Arietta maybe not Arietta probably would have been on more on team duty but listen it's great opportunities and they're taking every chance they get so you know how fast it can change you know like from from day two being like okay you're in the corner where you know your heart obviously the morale must have been horrible losing these three guys in one go

two days later everything turns around and since then they want three times the I mean to small dinner table but it must be a lot of fun to sit at that table the nights and the other days yeah and also it's kind of a funny like living thought experiment where they could be racing like this with Adam Yates and I would be crushed I would be like what are they doing they're wasting so much energy but there's actually a few things but there's no rule that says you can't

send these guys up the road to end stages while you have a GC threat in the team but they probably would be racing differently if they still have so imagine Spencer you know we're you know we're

one week in the year that's a Saturday so it's stage eight but it's basically a week one is finished

right you know having one three stages man nothing has to happen there's absolutely no pressure it's it's gonna be so much fun those two next weeks for them like they're just gonna chill and whenever there's you know a chance they'll go for it if doesn't work no no problem no stress no pressure and that's usually when a team outperforms the expectations and everything seems to work

“this is not the this is not the last stage one of you a I'm gonna predict I think they could get”

two more probably realistically and there's teams here my team picnic post an L not only do they don't have a stage one they're struggling to get into but the breakaways like they weren't even in that chase group today yeah Spencer me you know I'm not the fan of that team but man that's a bad team dude it's it's you know it's a bad team like you know that I went to I went through the list of names half of them I don't know maybe that's because I'm getting old

but usually I mean I'm staying up to date with most of the rider so it's probably because I have not not seen them in results and then you know if you look at the ranking Spencer they're outside I mean they're world tours so they're top 18 one of the top 18 teams and they're not in the top 30 all the teams combined and then you just said that if they would be in the

“pro team classification you know where normally you have to you have to you know you have to”

qualify in the top three to have an automatic and the invitation there 11 in the second division

so actually I think there's 11 in front of the reason they'd be ranked 12th really bad 3d bad 3d bad no it's not a good team that means so they have a one year license right now they didn't get a three year license because we don't really know why but they were just granted one year license that's unusual if they don't have a world tour license next year they won't be eligible at the rate they're going out right now they won't be eligible to race and grand tours because

they won't be in the top there yeah and they that's not good at all and you know I was thinking like man why aren't they getting these breakaways you know poltis up there bardiani's up there and you go back and you watch this break formations warm or deals they kind of try and he's trying his hardest you know like they're just not as strong as poltis and bardiani right now yeah yeah which is I mean actually those teams I don't feel like get enough love those are those teams are very good

at what they do and people kind of think like oh they're just out there for the TV time but they they come into these races with the focus and as we're seeing with who is that guy up begins all the

yesterday just comes from poltis and he's on vis me he's one of their most important writers at

on big on Zoli so he's got you know he's I saw an interview he saw me I mean he looks so young he looks like a school you know you know I you know I said you know where do I know this name from you know so don't remember which year so 25 25 probably I don't have 2023 or 24 probably 23

“44 when did they'll total when did you're the last year was that 2024 or 2022?”

thingers 2024 okay so thank you to the last year that total wins second Julia Pellizari third big on Zoli. Interesting how pretty good just up three wait I was I was wrong of course I was wrong

because we always underestimate how much time has passed as we get older it was 23 where everyone

tour to love in here I can't believe it just happened but okay yeah okay 23 how does that happen Johan that so those those top two guys are huge sought after talents how does and then fourth was Matthew Ricka teller who was on a team at the time Billy Zoddy also didn't go straight away to a big team he was on Bardiani what first year why don't not to oversimplify this why don't team just because there's always so much clamoring for the guy who wins tour to love in here why don't they just say you

“know second he was third maybe we should sign those guys I think probably I mean most most likely”

because those like I'm going to say probably I mean I may be wrong but I think that probably

Pellizari and Pellizari before to the avenue already had a deal with those teams yeah yeah that's a good

point yeah probably probably just break that right there in the total was on the on this Argentinian team but he was already scouted by I mean he was already on a colonago when he went to the avenue so he was there was already a deal in place before he won but he's on this but do those team air monex yeah yeah pretty good program yeah very very good program they've actually reached out because we I think I don't know I was like who is a small team they listen they listen to our podcast

by the way I'm getting messages from the management now and then with information about new

“Mexican talents so interesting to follow that team in really good organization and I think they”

you know as if I if my memories correct there's there has been I'd and maybe still is there's a big problem with the Mexican Federation I think the problem was that I didn't spend the whole

corruption and yeah like that and so basically that program it's a private initiative has kept

the the Mexican youth and talent detection life and look the result is there yeah it is a super impressive program I mean not not to dwell too much on this but 2023 2 or 11 year del Toro wins Pelazari 2 and Piggansoli's third Ricka tell us fourth he was a full-time pro at the time six Matias Matias Rondel who is right in the world this race 7 the Ion Kristen and then now Jonas Colzett who's also doing well at this race we usually do it a lot

of a year is pretty good in the hero what's the one of these teams doing just go to eleven here and start writing signing contracts with writers but yes UAE they're going to do well do you know who what I thought was interesting watch in the early parts of the stage and the team that things are not going well for little track trying very hard to get in a breakaway Milan tried which is a good idea but Mania was too smart was marking him out but I saw Chicona trying to get

in the move again I thought well why what's happening here what why did he had to try he had to try he's going to get in moves from now on because I saw that today he he lost a little time he's now down in gc okay so I think that at the end he probably didn't insist and then lost the time because he sees that obviously it makes no sense to to fight for gc maybe it's just a really good teammate he thought it's windy I don't want to leave their g up here by himself on stage 7

but we can't we can't rule that out well let's take a quick break then we're going to talk about a few some of the numbers from yesterday stage and then preview stage 9 so we'll be right back are you on we are back we've got company we got Bobby in the frame yeah people are happy Bobby's back he what we was complaining Bobby was complaining that he was not getting enough attention and he wanted to be on the show probably he's going to give his opinion about the moral stage

who he thinks is going to win and how he thinks is going to play out but yeah here he is that Bobby hey Bobby you're okay we're right the number one thing people stop me in real life

of friends number two a close number two is Bobby Bobby is the talk of the town people love Bobby

but so tomorrow we have it's a really at first I did not like the design of this year and now

it is I'm getting in the groove we have an uphill finish but there's nothing and it's just a it's a unopoerto climb as they would say the Volta they just flat along the the Po Valley and then we go up a huge climb that stage 9 but quickly you're on let before we preview that I want to talk about some numbers that you pulled from yesterday stage 7 really tough uphill finish blockhouse do you want to intro this graphic that we're about to put up yes so I saw this today

so there's a comparison we talked already about that yesterday a little bit you did your own calculations about the last four kilometers and how much physics gal pulled back on Jonas so if we look at this graph here you know we see the the comparison between a physics gal to the left and Jonas on the right and this is the last four kilometers 8.17% out of as steepness physics gal did it in 12 minutes six and Jonas in 12 minutes 11 so we see the speed comparison

and then so the estimated power of physics gal is 6.34 watts per kilo over those last four kilometers and Jonas 6.29 so it shows that physics gal was stronger and I just want to you know put that out there to you know give a little bit of hope as I said yesterday you know

“I don't think it got a matter but physics gal was really strong yesterday and I also I think Jonas”

plafauded a little bit plateaued a little bit and got to his limit I don't know if he really was pushing it all the way I also say it probably won't matter because we today already we saw the you know the prize being paid of yesterday's effort physics gal in the end was in trouble on those steep climbs and Jonas was in the front and you know responding to the attacks of

it's not a real rivalry because I mean Phil is always he's an incredible primer is he there

every day that's probably not totally what he's known for so I well also I think today's today's course the final was probably not his favorite terrain you know it's different efforts physics gal is more of a diesel who's you know can maintain a very high pace for a long time and this is more explosive but listen if you want to be in front and even if you want to be on the

“podium you need to be there every single day you know I'm just going back to I think well”

Takataluña you know where your where gal was was was was really good he was close to Jonas or the closest and the two mountain top finishes and then lost time in the downhill in one of the stages when when Remko pushed it you know if you want to be a ground tour podium rider and I'm not saying he's not being on the podium most likely if you look at you know his strength and his fitness he's most likely going to be on the podium but it's not a guarantee and I think it's almost a guarantee

that Jonas is going to be on the podium and win this year or that's the difference yeah I mean I do think I agree with you but I after the show yesterday and then I looked at the course I did wonder

where we were a little too hard on feel of skull because stage 10 is the first and last time trial

and then basically from stage 14 on it is perfect feel of skull terrain so you know yesterday was not even really particularly good that's not even what he's good at you know we're going to get into the Dolomites and the Alps these multi mountain stages and they're higher that's kind of what he's better at than what we saw on stage seven so I just did wonder like hmm is this maybe a better course for him than we thought but we shouldn't mention the fact that

at Catalonia he was in second overall and then Remco dropped them on at a sand and they've been then these are going to exploit the finish yeah that was in a great show and maybe he's learned

“though from that and he's ready to go yeah well I think thanks to that was Lippewitz in second then”

uh yeah thanks to that yes yeah Lippewitz yeah Rapples go I can riders yeah it's a team yeah and then another thing Spencer I mean just I just wanted to you know show with the numbers what

and you know so just say okay it was it was a good win of Jonas yesterday but it was not as dominant

as we feared it was going to happen which is good news for everybody right and then another thing I saw today Spencer which is which is quite telling we've said already many times you know the level keeps going up and up and up and up and prosightling I saw this quote here of eggumber now he said in an interview so yesterday eggumber now lost three minutes right so he said okay I mean it's difficult I don't want to talk too much about numbers because in the end

I did lose three minutes today but at the same time I think I did my best 40 minutes ever and he was three minutes down and this is a double ground tour winner to the France winner zero winner eggumber now right now most likely if not sure has a lot higher level than when he won the tour in the zero and he's not even close to being a contender now to win or the podium

“so that's what it means what what you mean by every year the level gets higher and higher”

I've heard some numbers from people within the peloton that you could roughly say at least 1% or 1 and a half percent increase in level and performance every year you know take that over three years that's almost 5% faster yeah that's a lot yeah and and you know if you're if you a three years without improving you're good I mean and that's what you have no so many riders like what happened to that guy it's because he's not they're getting worse they're just not getting

better at the rate they need to attack well they're not they're not getting they do get better but they're not getting better enough like yeah to keep up with the improvement of the whole panel yeah I mean here's here's just a hard example we have so Derek G publishes his power thank you Derek Derek Derek G West thank you so much for doing this 2024 to the France obviously these

“are different races different race situations but part of the by is a long climb he did it in”

45 minutes 411 watts yesterday for 40 minutes so roughly the same time 433 watts you know he's off the back he's getting better and he's off the back you know like that that's he's off what one minute four minute 40 it's pretty good actually but how much you can use up the debate while he's going against Ted at the gotcher you know how much he's on yona he lost about five minutes on yonis so oh wow yeah okay but and then yesterday I had yonis just

trying to calculate the the headwind and how much that was adding to his power I had him at six well six point five watts per kilo which's pretty good for 38 minutes that's very good and then I team the like teams they have real power from their riders and then they have these complex tools he sophisticated tools to try to forecast what the leaders are doing and they had him at six point five too so I mean that is a strong effort and the fact that that field of skull was there

and then jahinley and pelasari aren't losing time in the last 4k shows you the level is very high at this year oh it's not a not a cakewalk even though I do agree with you that yonis is probably gonna win yeah yeah I also think Spencer that yonis right now is not at his max he's he's really good but he knows that the tour is coming and he also knows that if he's 90% he can also win the gyro doesn't need to be super super dominant to win this gyro given the rivals he he's facing

yeah actually where he was really good last year and you don't remember it because someone else's

way better was the dofen a footnote incredible power numbers at the dofen last year so

“he probably has a level to go up I mean this is a tough I think that I say this in the show yesterday”

like this is not a normal thing just to be like oh I'm gonna do the tour in the gyro combined gc we used to think winning the double was impossible in the modern era until 2024 you know framed it in 2018 and he did win the tour du malonded it he didn't win the tour like it it is a very hard thing to do so i'm sure they're trying to calculate what he needs to be at to try to do it and you can't be the best of the races I'm also you know I'm a bit a bit skeptical

a bit that way of thinking because that's theory you know you could say okay I'm not my maximum

I still have a level to go up to be at the tour and you know what that level never comes you know

it sometimes happens that you say okay well you know I'm not maximum you know forms it's not that predictable you know sometimes you you get a really good shape without having a real explanation because he didn't do anything special to be in that good shape and other times

Jonas but it's not a guarantee you know it's not a guarantee that all of a sudden he's going to

have an increase of you know not a 5% better by the tour that's that's not that's really good point

“and I think a lot of times people focus on the input you know so I do x training and I get y fit”

but what they don't but they kind of underestimate is like how is your body react internally however you rest in all of this affects the form that you end up with and people just tend to focus on the input a lot so but tomorrow exact age nine is it this year is getting serious these are tough stages back to back to back to back to back so stage nine uphill finish it goes along they start at the coast in Serbia and if you've ever been to the Po Valley I'm from Kansas

and it is about as flat as Kansas there's not a lot of hills so it's just flat there's a little kicker 3k at 5% they go to bulk they go through balonia and then they turn toward the

appenine mountains and they go up the it's basically climbs from the last like the last 70k

basically are all uphill and some respect but the final climb is officially 11k long at 6.8% average so 6% it's it's deeper at the end though yohan how is this gonna play out kind of a tricky

“stage if you want to be in the breakout if you want to control it it's also tricky yeah I'm not sure”

Spencer you know it's 184 kilometers mountain to finish it's a category one climb you know I think I think if you look at the overall profile it's it's deceivingly easy but uh the last part the last part is the last three kilometers I think it's a level around 11% some sections at 13% can be a breakaway can be a GC day I think independently if it's a breakaway or not we are going to see a battle and differences in the GC there's gonna be a race of of the main favorites

but it when whether it's a breakaway in front or not so a breakaway is difficult to predict of course we don't know but I would I do know is that I mean do know we'd not sure but I think yohan us probably won't think pink yet I think with you know that kind of climb and especially the the the last three kilometers are the hardest part a lot you will probably keep pink tomorrow and yohan us is gonna get it pink after the time trial that's my prediction it's definitely

going that way because three we should also say yohan I looked very good today he was aggressive yeah I'm in into the finish so he's not laying down he's not given up three 15 is as a lead over vinegar I also think these more controls the stage yohanus wins the stage I think that's gonna happen I don't think he gets three 15 on yohanus but let's say it's a minute and a half let's say it's two minutes then he's gonna take the yeah but that's that's good for Beesema because you go into the

first rest day without the leaders jersey because tomorrow's the last sorry not the second rest day

tomorrow's the last stage before the second rest day and then you don't have all those media obligations during the rest day somebody else is doing us and then he get the yellow jersey through the pink jersey on Tuesday so that's probably what I think on yohanus I think the yohanus is out one and a half minute tomorrow's better one and a half and then about one and a half two in the time trial you think yeah yeah yeah yeah it sounds about right and we're talking very

fluently about a man losing three to four minutes over the course of two stages but I also think this could apply to the other GC contenders as well I think yohanus probably yeah yohanus yohanus yohanus is good on his way one of his way to maybe be close to top five you know between fifth and ten I mean yeah I think I think with the everything the pen Spencer on you know a guy like that listen he's a good climber we've seen already some really good performances

“of him in the past like I remember seeing him I think it was last year of the first time he really”

came to my attention in two down under actually he did I said where does this guy come from you know he was on a I think he was on a Portuguese team before so really good pickup from marane this year got the confidence of the team so he can't climb everything depends on you know once once a rider like that is in the lead of a ground tour you know they're in their in a special zone it's you know it's like okay they can they can they can surpass their possibilities because they

are so much in the zone and in the lead you know this great feeling and then it depends right sometimes people get out of the jersey and then they just it's like a balloon that they just pinched the balloon and just deflates and they're gone and others hang on I'm kind of tempted to think

can't it reminds me a little bit of you know Ben O'Connor's a guy we've seen take big chunks of time you know early in the grand tour and then he holds on and has a good finish in the overall

look at the Delta the Delta was it last two years ago we're primus wins and he is second

primus won yeah yeah yeah and that was him holding I don't know whole time basically in the tour yeah in the tour he got forth he got forth with when he was in the break on the stage in tini up so I mean I personally think O'Connor is probably a bigger engine for the moment

“then O'Lalu by the way I think O'Connor's going to do a good zero he's going to be up there top five”

I think almost sure maybe close to the podium I think he could be he you're right he is a big engine he people forget he won the hardest stage he won the queen stage of the tour last year so that's a heart yeah not not easy to do we should also say on the final climb tomorrow

little disruptive what I said when I said the stats because the first five k is three and a half percent

average so the second five k is very hard like double double digit average probably yeah yeah and it's going to be really hard for breakaway to stay away if you start calculating the time they would need it's massive and I don't think the G.C. I mean we know Bahrain's going to control this thing why are they doing it we don't quite know why we thought we did see a clip from inside the bus and Domino Caruso was talking about how just important to defend the jersey it's like

“it's an honor to have the jersey and you have to defend it people might not agree with that but they'll”

probably set pace tomorrow because of that. Just Spencer it's it's very well known that you know having the leaders jersey and a team is it's up to the level of the whole team you know they when you're pulling and and you know everybody and we're going to be day nine tomorrow right stage nine you know everybody's already getting really tired you know when you pull everybody suffers but when you look back and you have the leaders jersey that mental suffering is completely different

because from now on there's already a lot of people that are super tired and they ask themselves why are we even here you know we just hang in here just get through the day you know the majority of the riders are in that in that case if you're on a team like Bahrain you know why you are suffering and that that makes a big difference so I think I agree with you I think Bahrain will go for it and keep the break close together I mean and maybe in agreement with Visma

we saw the other day also that Bahrain was doing the work but Visma did put a guy always with them

and you know when one guy was tired they switched to another guy so I think it will be a couple of collaboration of both of those teams tomorrow. Well thanks Yohan and you think Yohan is going to win right that's your pick yeah yeah yeah I would think it would be a little it's not even pretty it's not a particularly good climb for field scald you know so you know I think tomorrow is going to be a good test for Felix Gaul and for Quillitzari also you know if they can if Gaul

can repeat the performance of blockhouse you know now Gaul starts to ride with a little bit more pressure because everybody's expecting him to be the second best in the race again today he showed a bit of weakness that's not necessarily going to be the same case tomorrow look for example look but no but no yesterday was was really not good today he was up there in the final he I think he was fourth of that day he looked really good and yeah so it's I'm curious to see how Gaul is going to

if he's going to confirm that level which you know he should but you know sometimes it doesn't work out that way and we'll see I could regret saying this I've got a bad feeling about Pelazari I just what was coming in with so much hype and I was part of the hype it's just I I got a little concern that he's going to he's going to cave like a souffle or something and I heard yes that day yeah yesterday he showed a little bit of you know that weakness by not being able to follow

handedly in the final today again but I think overall his condition is solid I think he's in for a podium it's like you're in a relationship and everything seems great then he's starting to see him cracks you know it's like now remember in Rick a tello coming but you know remember he was fading through the last week of the vault the last year and really tello was stronger it's like oh maybe this isn't the guy to beat you on his why don't know what I was thinking but

yeah and I heard that he spent like it was like the weeks before the zero he was at 30 he was at a hotel

“at 3700 meters or something like that but he's out of the Sorry and you have to take a cable card”

together where where where is that helps public the Glacier house it's in the Dolomites

now I mean I'm sure they know what they're doing yeah it just shows like he's very focused but sometimes

“being so dialed in is not that great for you especially at a young age you can love a pressure”

pressure you know like yeah you're in Italian promise love a pressure for him yes and just the

pressure can really get to you and like you can learn all I doubt he's feeling a lot of pressure you know

“he's been there seeing it all to Pelazari the feelings probably feel so big right now it's just”

he's experiencing everything for the first time but you're on for sure we'll be back to break this

down I'm curious to see out plays up we'll be back tomorrow okay okay thanks Spencer