Can Anyone Stop Pogačar? | Tour of Flanders Preview | THEMOVE+

I think Pugachar, Pugachar win solo.

“It's a hard race, as you said, doing in '78 kilometers.”

So there's only one guy who could potentially stay with Pugachar, and it's Mathew. I don't think anybody, and we don't know if Mathew is at the same level as he was in Tireno, you know, he said that in Milassarino, he was a little bit less than he was, than he thought he was going to be.

Whether that's because of the crash or not, we don't know. Hey everybody, welcome back to the move plus. I'm Spencer Martin. I'm here with Yohan Bernille. We are previewing the tour of Flanters, which comes up this Sunday,

featuring a showdown between, you'd say the sports biggest stars, Matthew Vanderpool, Mount Van Art Rimco, I've been a Pugachar.

Everybody's here, basically, except for Jonas Finigarde.

We'll get Yohan's take on how that race is going to play out. And who's going to win it? Before we do that, though, Yohan, I would like to talk about Wednesdays, doors to our vlandern. It's the last flimish warm-up race before we get to the King of the Flamish races

tour of Flanters on Sunday. One by Philippa Gana, who mowed down wealth in our in dramatic fashion, inside the final kilometer, Ben Art, who would have been solo.

“And I think since 40 K to go after impressively writing off the front,”

then dropping the breakaway with the Peloton on the same time as them, but really about a second behind what your thoughts from this race. This was incredible. It was Ben Art's second consecutive second place, both better than his crashing out the year before that,

where he missed half the season from a triple crash at this race. But what do you think about this race before we get into Flanters? Yeah, I mean, Harlebic, I'm sorry, Waterham, Waterham.

We always call it Waterham, you know, it's called Guardo Flamberin.

But, you know, E3, we, in Belgium, we say Harlebic and Guardo Flamberin is Waterham. Right? It's been ever always been like this. It is the last test before tour of Flanters. Some of the big favourites were not there mainly.

Van der Poel was not there. And Tade Pogache was not there, but still, it's a hard race. And it was really nice to see the confirmation of Fon Art's really good condition. I think, you know, I think since... Milan San Remo, basically, he's been up there.

Yeah, and shown definitely better form than in the past few springs, whether that was because things didn't work out, or there was crashes, or illness involved. But third place at Milan San Remo, he was one of the big, big players in Guardo Flamberin, together with Montevander Poel. Until they got caught, just before the finish.

And now with those guys not there, he was definitely the big star of the race. And he fulfilled that expectation also. His attack on the Aikenberg with 40 K to go was quite impressive. Nobody could follow him. At that moment, we have to say that the other big name in the race and strong,

in the race, Philipogana had a mechanical issue. He was completely in the front at the Aikenberg, and then all of a sudden, he was at the back, and needed to change the bikes, broke his handlebars, strange, strangely. Strange, right? Yeah, kind of upsetting, too, if you think about working out.

Yeah. I mean, yeah, this and things can break. You know, so who knows what happened to that bike? If it was a crash before, this was a spare bike, right? Because he had a mechanical before at the front flat, I think. And then this was a spare bike, so, you know, I don't know if there was a crash before,

but it's spare bike already in another race, you never know.

So, but anyways, Fonart was impressive. I think, you know, he caught the guys who were in front, one by one. And then finally, dropped the last rider, Larsson, really impressive ride by that guy from Rose Rockets. Multiple World Champion on the track.

“I seem to remember, so really big engine, but yeah, when Walt was, was, I think, the most,”

the most attractive rider definitely, he made the race, and it was hard to see him lose this, but, you know, with 50 meters to go. But, yeah, he fought for it, and, I mean, it's, it's not a win, of course. That's, that's what Fonart wants. But, man, I can tell you, his popularity in Belgium is true the roof.

It is crazy how popular what Fonart is and how everybody wants him to win one of those big races.

I mean, a nice revenge for last year's mess up with the three Vezmas against Nelson Paulus. And then also revenge on the crash, the huge crash that a few years ago, basically,

“almost ended his career, I think, because that crash was really, really bad.”

So, listen, he's back. He's back at, at really, really good form. The question is, is this form of the best Fonart you've seen in the last two years in the spring, at least, good enough to be with the best guys, and then I'm talking about from the pool in Pogachar, into your flangers, but we'll talk about that later in show. Yeah, we'll get to that. I, I thought he had him, actually. We with,

man, let's say 20 K to go as a man, this guy's riding away. He looks great. He's got strong riders with him. But I wanted him to win, he needed to win, quote unquote. But do you know, hell, needed to win this race, Johan? Flippogana. You know, the last time Flippogana won a one day race,

I have a world tour, one day race, probably five years ago, had never happened before.

It's his first and his last time he won a world tour race that was not a time trial, was was the 2020s year to tell you. So, six years ago. So, massive, a stage. Yeah, just any, any race, like, but this was his first one day race that he had ever won, and the first, he had not won even like a stage of a stage race that wasn't a time trial of a, let's say, world tour race since 2020. So, he need this win, it's big for him. I don't know if you noticed this, he wrote

the last kilometer faster than the sprinting Peloton, because they were basically on his wheel at the start of the last K. And he finished the race, much further ahead of them than they were at the K. K to go ban. If you look at the way things developed, Spencer, you know, I mean, and I know in Belgium, everybody was, and, you know, not only in Belgium, almost everybody was, oh, you know, so bad that while I didn't win, I'm in that camp also, you know, I won a world

to win. But if you look at the race, how it developed, I mean, karma was probably the strongest guy in the race after everything that happened. You know, first that mechanical have to change the bike with 47 K to go. He gets back with 43 kilometers to go, then with 40 K to go, he has this.

I mean, and that's the crucial point. That's where Vannar blew everything up. Yeah. And he is back

changing bikes. His bike was not ready by the way. So, that's, that's another thing I, I noticed. So, if, if, I think a little little mistake from the mechanic or the team manager in the car, you know, if, if Ghana is your leader, and he changes bikes, because of a front flat, that bike needs to get back up there, ready to race. You can't, because I don't know if you saw, but they had to take the bike off the front wheel was not in, and they had to put the front,

and you front wheel in. That should have been fixed already. Okay, it was obviously, listen, in their favor, it was very close to incidents. And, you know, I know how hectic it is,

“and you have to fight for position, even with the cars, because, you know, the riders fight”

to the position, but the cars also fight for position. To be where they have to be in front of the crucial moments, right? So, but anyways, that bike should have had the wheel already, ready, especially if Ghana is your leader, and it was clear that Ghana was the leader of the team. So, he lost even more time there, because his bike was not ready. Where are you supposed to do that? I've always wondered about that, because back in my day, we did wheel changes,

which are easy, right? Because you just haven't a wheel, but where are you supposed to change? That's a little bit, but that's another thing, yeah. I mean, I'm just thinking, I've seen, I've seen, I mean, the rules have changed, of course. But, you know, when I was at the S, I've seen mechanics do it on the roof of the car. Wow, wow, it's changed the wheels. Yes, yeah. Well, I get that kind of makes sense, though, because if you're saying you have

the fight for possession, it's tactic, that is, potentially the mechanics. It's not allowed, it's not allowed. So, you know, okay, I, it's probably, I mean, I've maybe been a bit too, too, too quick to draw conclusions. You know, there was basically no time, because, you know,

where Ghana had the first incident, it was already in the crucial moment. It's, you know,

a narrow, lots of turns, cobblestones, there was probably no time to do that. Yeah, I don't know.

“But it's definitely the downside of opting for the bike change every time, right?”

Well, I mean, yeah, I mean, you see, he had no other choice, no, he had to change the bike. But the second time he definitely had to change the bike. Yeah, the first time he could have, he could have had a front wheel change. But since it was already so deep in the final of the race,

there was not going to be another incident. Which makes sense, just mathematically. If you think

47 K to go, if you get a flat, just give him a new bike, because one of the odds is going to have a problem for the finish. It's a very small, oops, they did. Yeah, super impressive. We made it back on, and he was doing quite a bit of work to pull. And then he was, he was attacking. They were staying with them. I don't know if you noticed this, Visma had per strong dogness. The sky's been everywhere. He's like the forest, he is strong. That guy was so strong, so strong, so strong Wednesday.

That was crazy. But he had to mark all the gana moves. Ghana eventually gets away from him. Christophe Laport sitting in waiting for the sprint. Do you think Visma should have had

“him marking as well? Yeah, I think Laport didn't do the job. He was supposed to do there. He was”

thinking about saving himself. Just in case it became back to be at a getter for a sprint. We didn't have made a difference. Probably not. You know, I think Ghana was super strong. The Cway comes back from then. A lot of work covered a lot of moves. And then finally, got away by himself. Yeah, I mean, I think Ghana was the strongest of the race. Even if we have seen Von Arts do an incredible performance.

But what Ghana did was also impressive to come back from from so far and still win that race. That wasn't impressive. I don't know if you noticed this, but again, well, look at him. Ghana was the one polling like Alex Sision attacked. Ghana was the one polling

him back. I didn't really like that decision. I want to see Ghana attacking. Like always,

oh, yeah, what was he was he was he was it for Sam Watson? It was for Sam Watson. Yeah, which you could we could we could debate all day. He would not have won the sprint. Sam Watson, you know. Yeah, not in that field. So I would rather have gone attacking. And then Ghana, they changed the strategy, right? And then three days between races. And then he's the one

“attacking. I think that's the right choice. He's rewarded with the win. I want to see more of this from Ghana.”

I mean, if he can ride, if he can just routinely ride the last kilometer of a race faster than the Peloton, when a race that way. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, it's something we don't see anymore, not much in the last few seasons. But, you know, we've seen if seen this with Cigart, for example, he almost made it a few times. So there's not a lot of rider Spencer who are actually able to do this to go faster than the sprinting Peloton. That's that's very difficult.

That I mean, the power demands are unbelievable, especially if you think Ben art was going so hard. He stayed in front of the sprinting Peloton and got caught and passed by someone. That's not that's not usual. That's not going to happen very often. My son's critique was why did why did Ben art drop Larsen, should he have kept Larsen with them? No, I guess it was so close though. He had kind of had to accelerate, riding it, rid of everybody because they were right on his tail.

Yeah, I mean, he had no choice. I mean, as a rider, if you're with three and then with two, you feel how much your companion has left. So and even, I'm going to even go further than that. I'm sure that Larsen said in one of those relates to Ben art. Hey, I'm done, you know. They say that. They say that to each other. So he had to go. You know, there was no other choice. Otherwise, I mean, the Peloton was already quite close there.

The really nasty luck for Ben art is if Ghana doesn't have that mechanical, he probably goes with Ben art and then Ben art beats him in the sprint for the win. So yeah, it almost helped Ghana that he was held back from that. Yeah, I mean, if you look at it afterwards, maybe. I'm sure that if if Ghana wouldn't have had the mechanical gun, he was able to go with Ben art. I'm not sure if he

“would have, yeah, I think so. I think so. I mean, if the power he had, you know, you”

for me is always made and then then exploded of a Johnny Vermeers, not fully on Vermeers.

But yeah, I guess Ghana was probably one of the only ones who was going to be able to be with Ben art. And then for sure, they go on those two. And then there, we, I guess, maybe. Maybe like we're now in to dangerous speculation territory. The thing is about Floring Vermeers getting a lot of crap because he was pulling all out to pull back Ben art. But he's doing that because he saw what happened when he, you know, he learned his lesson from me three. So he's like pulling all out. He's like,

well, that wasn't a great outcome. Let me pull Ben art back. I mean, when Mayor, obviously, he wanted it to get away with Ghana and then catch fun art and then be on the podium. That was probably the only card that UAE had left. It's yeah, it's all there. So they had not, so, you know,

Yeah, which I don't understand people give them so much crap because it's like, well, he saw what it didn't work out that well for him last time. So he kind of had a change as strategy inside the

“final few kilometers. Any other takeaways from this race. I mean, I think sad, right? Sad for Ben art.”

I think it's a positive because he looked, I don't know if you saw like with 70 K to go, he's attacking.

He's attacking with 50 K to go. He was on the front a lot, basically setting up his own moves.

And I mean, one other thing Spencer, it's actually, I mean, especially if you know that area, you know those roads, you know, those climbs, how slow these roads are, 48.5 kilometers average for the whole race on that terrain, that is unbelievable. That it took two kilometers faster in the fastest ever, do art of laundering in the past. That I mean, you don't want to win fast. Two kilometers that were faster. Yes. Yes. The former record was 46.5. But anyway, you know, they don't race for

records, right? So it stands. It's the way the race goes. The wind, we don't know what, but anyway, that's incredibly fast. Overdo, over that course, with those roads, those climbs, that's crazy.

That I mean, it's crazy. I mean, it's any bike race at 48.5 kilometers crazy, but on those, on that

course, it's unbelievable. And I mean, to put this in a perspective for most of our listeners, probably don't use kilometers. And this got me into a lot of trouble during the tour, George was trying to start some stuff with the crit guys. That's 30 miles an hour average. If you do a high-level criterion in the United States, which is fast. If you've ever done one of these pro-crets, they are fast. They're going to be a little bit slower than that. And they're at like 90 minutes long.

There's a four hour long race that's faster than a criterion, like on slow road that you're saying. I mean, that is, it's a mind-boggling. How hard that is. And how hard it is to stay in front of that as well. Yeah, I mean, and if you look 40, 48.5 or so, but anyways, it's not just fun art. It's, you know, it's 40 guys. 40 guys, yeah. And I'm curious to see if these high-speed stick, because it's going to be hard. It's hard to win solo when the race is that fast. Yeah. I mean, you obviously can't win with

a big gap. So it's, we've seen the last few one-day races, except it's not a Bianca. We're all super close, you know, super close. I don't think, well, let's let's talk about everything, flaners is going to be closer, not after our ad break. Anything else on doors?

“I know that's what you like to call the race before we leave. Do I look so wrong with it? I would say”

Benjamin, it's kind of his first, yeah, I get my definitely good point for the race. It's, you know, it's a really good place, almost on the podium. It's a hard race, you know, there's been, you know, some doubts about, get my form in his level, but if you can be there, as a sprinter, after such a hot race and be, you know, contending the podium, then you know, obviously in good shape. Yeah, I would say his first flash of like really good

classics form this year after kind of struggling a little bit, but we'll be right back, Johan, for the breakdown of two of flanters. Everybody this episode is brought to you by

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That's Caldera Lab.com/demove. Okay, y'all, we're back. The tour flanders this Sunday. Round of on vlandering, I believe, is how you say it and build it. You know, this is one of the things, Spencer, like in Belgium. For example, if you say, okay, to the France, like everybody says the tour. Yeah, everybody who says tours in French, in France, it's the tour. Palatur de France, the tour. So tour flanders historically, it's super, super, you know, all the race,

monuments, I mean, the biggest event, sport event in Belgium of the year, and the Rhonda, the Rhonda is tour flanders. There, you can actually say, okay, it's the Rhonda. But that's anyway, Rhonda. It's a huge deal in Belgium. I'm a soccer guy. Listen, a lot of soccer podcasts. And one of the correspondence is from Belgium. And he was saying, not this year, because it's international break, but normally he's like, yeah, that gets quiet on the soccer

front, because everyone's so into the cycling, just in general sports world, which is unusual, even in Europe. So this is probably one of the, this has got to be the biggest event of the year

“in Belgium across anything, right? Not just cycling. Yeah, I think so. Yeah. And it's long,”

278 kilometers. This thing is a long, difficult race. Starts at the end to our finishes in Odenard. The, the start usually flip-flops between Bruce and I think they do two years and two years, or if it's another year, I don't know, but it's either it's Bruce or Antwerp. So yeah, I've seen both. I've seen Bruce and I've seen Antwerp. They're both really nice.

I mean, it's two big cities, really incredible atmosphere at the start. I mean, you'll see

on the square of Antwerp. It's crazy. The atmosphere. When the teams are presented, it's, it's quite something. And Belgium, these Belgian towns have these beautiful, it's like beautiful squares. So it's great on TV. It's a long, like a long, long, flat-ish run from Antwerp to it goes to a circuit, basically, a cobbled. It's a circuit with really tough copper climbs. They start hitting, you know, it's like, we know all of these. The quorum on the

patternberg, there's the Falconberg. There's other ones. I don't know all, I don't know them as well,

bout. I'm going to say, like, let's just say a hundred K to go. And the race gets incredibly hard from there. The last few years, the winner last year was Ted at Pagotcha. He went solo on the quorum on, which is with 18 K to go. That's not the last climb. The last climb is the patternberg with the bout. I'm going to say about 14 K to go. And then it descends and it's a flat run to the finish. The year before that, Matthew Vanderpool went solo on the copperberg, which is

unusual, 45 K to go. Year before that, Ted at Pagotcha, Patta Pagotcha went on the quorum on again, about 17 K to go. And then I go back because it's kind of interesting and I wonder if we'll see this again. Year before that, 2022, Matthew Vanderpool wins a sprint of four after him and Pagotcha were caught by Dylan Bembaro and Valentin Madwas, pretty thrilling finish. 2021 Vanderpool loses a two-up sprint to Casper Ascron after they both got away. And then yeah, that was an interesting one.

2020, Matthew Vanderpool wins a by millimeters, a two-up sprint, over a lot of Pagotcha. Peloton about eight seconds behind. So it's about 50, 50 if this is a solo break away. It's been solo recently, but if you go back in the recent past, it's not been solo small slick groups. The favorites are, this is on draft Kings. This is shocking, by the way, for a one-day race.

“Ted at Pagotcha was such a favorite. He is a minus 280, meaning you have to bet $280 to win $100”

on him. Matthew Vanderpool plus 275, Ringo, Evan of Paul, shockingly, late intrant to the race

already. Never done this race before, plus 600, well, Van Art plus 900, Mads Pedersen plus

2200, Florian Vermege plus 4,000, Kristoff LePort plus 5,000, and maybe my one-wild card I would highlight. Jonas Oberhounson plus 8,000, Johan, how do you think this race is going to play out? And who do you think is going to win? I think it's really difficult to look past for our chance, Spencer. You know, as we said already multiple times in other podcasts, you know, the special conditions of Tour of Flanders and Parirube, or that there are other circumstances.

There's bad luck. There's, you know, there are more potential race circumstances than any other race. I just checked the weather in Aldenard. So, it's going to be windy on Sunday. Quite windy, actually. You know, 24km/h, 26km/h, that's with gusts until 50km/h. So, windy, not hot, so 11, 13 degrees maximum. So, real, flamish spring weather, which is going to make the race a lot more nervous, especially in the beginning. Now, if it's windy and it's crosswind in that first

100km/h, it's already going to be stressful. So, you know, having a good team is definitely

“going to be crucial. These guys all have good teams. You know, I think this,”

this, the fact that there's a lot of wind could probably be one little thing in the advantage of evident pool because he has such a strong team. But I know, so, you know, it costs a lot of energy

to stay always in front, stressful with the wind, if it's crosswind, before you get to the

hippies zone. So, but anyways, I think, logically, if there's no special specific incidents, I think pogachar, pogachar wind solo. It's a hard race, as you said, 270km/h. So, there's only one guy who could potentially stay with pogachar and it's, it's Mathew. I don't think anybody. And, you know, we don't know if Mathew is at the same level as he was in Tireno, you know, he, he said that in in Milan San Ramo, he, he was a little bit less than he was,

then he thought he was going to be, whether that's because of the crash or not, we don't know. He wanted, he did, he did, he did, he did. He said a record, a person record on the suppressor. So, we should take that with the grain of salt. Yeah, a little bit. He, he won each

trip, barely, but he, he won it. That was an amazing performance. And, independently,

there was with one second, though, with with 30 seconds. And he was up, he was, you know,

“very dominant also in, in God's way of looking up. So, we have to assume that he's ready, right?”

I don't think that anybody else can follow pogachar. And, and if Mathew can follow him, that's, you know, then, of course, I think, Mathew wins. If it's, if it's the two of them to the finish. But, I mean, yeah, I mean, you don't know, you know, I mean, let's see, when the, when the pool, he has lost sprints, you know, he has lost to uscreen, as you just said. He has lost to Peterson,

And the thing is also, when the pool does not need to attack, he needs to just, his main mission is, told let that wheel of pogachar go. But that's, that's, that's quite the task. I, I, I, I, I, that's a lot

“to impact. I think just to get it on, to get it on record, I think that it pogachar is going to win this race.”

That would be my pick for this race. He's not, he's not started it and not won it since 2022. That's unbelievable. He is a career 50% win rate at this. That is crazy. Having said that, Matthew Vanderpool, probably is we were talking before the pre record. I think he's the best cobbled rider of all time. I think he might be the best flangers rider of all time because he's tied for the record of most wins. He is three wins, which is time for the record.

If he wins on Sunday, that's he has the most. He's the record holder. He's 144% of the time. He started this race. The last time he finished off the podium was before COVID 2019,

which was the first time he did this race and he ran off the road if he was on the sidewalk

and he flipped over his bike and had a chase back on. He had a flat tire. It was the downhill of the car of the new car amount. In the approach towards the old car amount. So he had a flat front tire. Look back, race is hand with a flat front tire and it's just flipped over and crashed. I've heard stories. I've heard stories of that race, Spencer of people who were in the cars. And so I'm come back on the car amount and then, yeah, it must have been unbelievable.

It was impressive. That fourth place. That was the first, I mean, it was one of his first years that he was really dedicating himself 100% to road racing also. He was so explosive that you're too. I must think he was more explosive than the now because he didn't have a diesel engine. It was all like top in Formula One. That was the end of the old year. Remember

“that? He mowed down the front group at the end of the old. After being like, was that the same year?”

It was not the same year 2019. And then really, yeah, and then he got bad, right? Then 2020 rolls around. He's not the same rider anymore. I'm kidding. Obviously, he started. He started doing grand tours and your body changes. But like, if you're top-end, I think 2019 Vanderpool was, if it's up to what he did at Flanders and Cashback on was crazy. But here's my question for you. I mean, normally, I would agree with you that the only rider that can stay with Buggato is Vanderpool.

Are you, I don't think he's going to stay with him. But do you think that, is he significantly fitter than well-bent art on a course like Flanders right now? Or even Filippo Ghana? Buggato? I don't know, Vanderpool. Not really. I mean, he definitely tried to drop von Art on the Camelberg. And again, we have again the last time of the Camelberg. He couldn't do that. It was a little gap. But listen, Flanders is different. You know, it's two hundred and seventy-eight

kilometers. It's a different game. You know, none of what we have seen until now, even below some rainbow, it is 300 kilometers. You know, these last 50 kilometers in Flanders,

over that terrain, it is, it's for, there's only five guys who can basically

perform properly in that situation. There's a lot of guys who can do it until 200k, 210k, but that, you know, those last 30, 40k man, that's, everybody's just, you know, dragging themselves over those climbs and trying to get to the finish. In the way UAE rides this, I was rewatching last year's race. They ride it so hard from so far out with 50, 60k to go. It's like seven guys in that factor. You know, it's just to clear the bar to even be eligible to win

“as very tough. Yeah, I think probably, you know, the only thing that I can see different”

Spencer, I, I mean, I would have to look to the composition of the teams of UAE in the, and the years that Togacha woman, I think their team, and it's because of crashes and injuries, is, is not as strong as the teams they had before. You know, the imbalances out with an injury, not vices out with an injury from down under, those, those two guys were super important.

But then, you know, they, they haven't been able to do it for me or she was an incredible form.

So yeah, if they can save him until, you know, that, that lost lap, yeah, then, then that's going to be an awesome, I think. Well, I mean, let me read this team. So Pogacha, he's pretty good.

he's good writer, Nios Pollett, Absolut Unit, Antonio Morgato, who, who got top five at this race,

“I believe, he was a teenager, and then Florian Vermiche. Yeah, strong team. That's a strong team.”

That's a pretty good team right there. They have to have an incredible team because, you know,

everything that happens in the race is going to be on their shoulders. Yeah. So that's true. You can't, you can't hide, you know, you could, others can say, okay, you know what, you just, okay, figure it out, solve the situation, you know, we don't care. So before we go, I'm going to have you pick a wild card, but before we do that, we got to have about Remkov and Paul, the third favorite in this race. He entered it.

I believe on Wednesday, and now Steve is doing this race. Ranked some of the press because his team has basically been openly mocking journalists to say, I've heard rumors at Remkov might do flanders, and they make fun of them and say, of course not. The strategy behind that very weird. I don't know why you do that. Why you would want to make an enemy of the press like that makes me think that it's, they claimed it was coordinated.

This was a secret. That does not sound like a coordinated strategy to me, but why do you think

“he's entering it and how do you think he's going to do it? Do you think he should be third favorite?”

Well, I mean, I think there's been a lot of demand in Belgium. The media has, you know, said, why is I'm going to do it in flanders? There's a lot of pressure. Personally, I don't know. I think I think the plan, the plan was probably their plan B, whatever it was. But as you say, you know, they would have hinted at it. They announced it or something. I think it's a last minute decision. Last minute, meaning maybe the last week or the last

days. They didn't decide it on Tuesday and announced it on Wednesday. It's, maybe it was during Catalonia or before Catalonia, I don't know. I am surprised, however, that he's third favorite.

He's never done this race. He knows the course, but he's never raised the course. It's completely

different, completely different. As I said, you know, they do have a really strong team. Probably the strongest team or the best function in team in all the, you know, flamish spring races we've seen until now. So that's obviously a huge benefit. But man, quorum on the spot was going to get the end. That really explosion of pure power. Rampco does have a lot of power. Listen to me, let's, you know, he wrote away from everybody in Olympics in Paris over. There was also

“cobbled climbs, right? But it's not the same thing. It's not the same thing. I think he can”

play a role, but it's going to depend on the circumstances. You know, I would think that, you know, he can go in between, in between climbs where, you know, I'm just going to give one example where he could go. Just off the top of my mind, you know, they, they have this, this climb, coming out of Ron's, it's called the Alde Kreuzberg. It's cobbled. And then you have, you today turn right and they have the whole don't work. It's like a drag, you know, and then they

turn left and it's, he could go there, for example. And now the question is, who's going to let that guy go? You know, the favorite is going to be on them on him. So I don't think he can play the surprise, the surprise card. But let's, I'm curious, I'm skeptical. Honestly, I'm skeptical. You know, it's obviously if, if he's in front, I'm going to be happy, but I'm also going to be surprised. Well, if he goes to, it's the same problem he had at Catalonia, Pagatre is not going to let him go.

And him going makes the race harder, which is better for Pagatre than is for him. I do think UAE, blowing the race up so early, probably helps him because it's less, I feel like flanders, the secret of flanders is it's gotten less chaotic inside the last 100k because the groups are so small because it's not, it's not excluded. You know, I've seen riders win two of flanders who were some of the, but they were so strong. It's been a while ago, but you know,

they were so strong. And they were really, really not good. Some of the worst in the bunch. I don't tell you, give you one example. I mean, we've talked already about Johnny Boonio in the 90s. You know, he, he, he, he was really not good for positioning and he was so strong.

He was in front when it's pretty tough for, but a rider who was on my team, he never wanted

the race, the flanders when he was on my team, but he was on my team quite a few years, stained the folder. He wanted to have flanders twice. The guy was, you could not know anybody who was worse

what's it called, the molemberg, which is always crucial. You know, the molemberg, it's like, it's, it's where, where, under pulling vandeca went in a tree. You know, that's, that's like, you know, you come to the bottom of the kind of, if the whole pilot on his stop, there's 30 guys go up and everybody else is screwed. You know, I've seen the folder in last position, turning up the molemberg, and then later on he goes and wins the race. So, you know, it is possible.

The thing is that, in my opinion, for Remko, he's gonna struggle in the first few critical points

“in my opinion, because where you have a good team or not, you need to be able to fight for position,”

you need, I mean, it's, it's war. It's war. It's nothing, nothing, that Remko has done already in other races. You know, I'm still fleshly as, all the other one day races. The fighting for position is also super important, but it's, it's, it's, it's a different sport, you were flounders. It's, it's a, it's a different sport. So, you know, Remko will need to have, I personally think at the beginning he's gonna struggle for positioning, and then if he's

fortunate enough that the race slows down and everything comes back, and it does tend to happen, you know, because you can't go from the first time of the quorum, you know, it's way, way too far. So, then it, if it comes back together, he's gonna get back into the game, and he could eventually get away anticipating, you know, the, the big fight of the quorum on the path of our last time. I mean, a couple of concerns, I have. I'm looking at a list of every top 10 he's ever gotten in

a one day race. I don't see a single-coupled classic. That's, you know, he's never done one.

He's never done one. Okay. That's, that's concerning. Yeah. Number two, Pugacha, Vanderpool, Wildvinar, Felipogana, Matt's Petterson. These are some of the most talented riders to ever do it. And they're entire springs have been focused around this event, and he's entering at the last second. Like, as he's been preparing, like, they have, probably not, right? No, sure. No, no, no. Right there. That's two things I'm concerned about. Number three,

a lot of his, a lot of his results in one day race is I'm looking to have a longer climbs. Does he have the power, the raw power necessary for these? Let's say one to two minute climbs against guys that are beginning, they're doing not, they're like the up the quorum on the average power is going to be 700 watts for a couple of minutes. Does he have the average, does he have the raw power to do that? Yeah. I mean, power to wait, obviously, yes, but, you know, I mean, heavy

riders can be good in flounders. So they have more power. You know, riding on cobbles is different, you know, the traction of a heavier rider is usually very different than a lighter rider on the cobbles.

So I will see. Listen, I think it's amazing. It's amazing that he starts through a flounder's

Belgium is super happy. I think all the fans should be happy and let's see. You know, I'm curious to see, I would love to see. I mean, it isn't. If he's up front man, it's going to be one of those other and there's been many already. One of those, you know,

“all-fascent traditions that say, you need to do the race, you need to know the race,”

you need to learn how to learn the race. If he's in front in his first participation, it's going to be one of those, you know, traditional loss that, you know, is, you know, Andy forgot. So why not? I do tend to agree with that. I mean, Pagotcha was first participation. He got forth. His first participation at Rubei. He got second. Sonny Cabrelli, I believe, was a debut on at Rubei when he won. So a lot of those old rules that I do like keep

challenging them. I like that these big races. I think are turning to like a big cozy hot tub. It's like everybody get in. Like there's no more. It's like, are you good writer? Come do it. Yeah, I think Jonas should get out here. Come on Jonas. I want to see that there. Jonas is different. That's not for Jonas. It's just, it's, I mean, it's funny to think that, right? Because he does have the power. He's got a lot of power. Good position. He's not in his mindset,

“you know, you have to have the capabilities, but you have to have the mindset also.”

I don't think there's any time Jonas is going to do that race. It's too crazy for him. And you know what? I don't blame him. I mean, if he's good at what he's doing, let's try to stay good at what I'm doing. I'm not going to the unknown with, you know, there's the risk, there's the risk obviously the same for Pagotcha. But there's the risk of crashes. You know, in those races, crashes are almost guaranteed. You know, well, you're going to,

you're going to lose the two-to-friends Pagotcha anyway. So no one, but to accept Pagotcha has any risk.

flenders. Oh, who? Anyone that's not named Tadifagotcha? I mean, Jonas will probably win the

Giro. True. True. I mean, yeah, obviously there's practice concerns about it. Jonas, I was kidding. He should not do this race. Yeah. Go in this year, Jonas. We want to see you do it.

“I think Remco's maybe missed his chance, though. I think he should have done San Ramo. Do you”

think I don't think he gets dropped by Pagotcha? Do you? On those climbs, I think Remco's able to stay with them. Yeah, too. I still can't believe he didn't do that race. But before we leave,

you think Pagotcha's going to win if you had to pick, oh, second, not a second favorite. So like,

Vanderpool doesn't count, but anybody below Vanderpool, who would you pick to win this race? If things go sideways. I don't know, man. Then things would have to go sideways with Vanderpool also

“and with Van art and with, you know, by Peterson. Because I think we, you know, we have to say”

the four proven guys for flenders is it's Pagotcha, Vanderpool, Van art and Peterson. Those are the

four proven guys. Now, Remco is added to that list. I don't know, I don't see anybody else.

I don't see any patterns on the price like a wild card, plus 200, 200. So yeah, I think for him to win, let's say if we're even beyond us for a wild Van art to win, there has to be a stalling at the front, like I described from 2022 to 2020. Some sort of, sorry, 2022 and 2021. A stalling, someone gets away or it's a messy four, five writer sprint. That's where Robin art meds better.

“Some could be the thing. I'm surprised, flippo Ghana's plus 15,000. I got fourth year last year, right?”

Yeah, eight. Sorry, eight. Yeah. It's a bit hard for Ghana. It's a bit hard. You know, it should come back and some sort of slow. Yeah, I mean, he's definitely won. Yeah, okay, Ghana, wild card Ghana. That's a good one. I actually don't even, I don't know if I'm going to bet that before this episode goes alive because that's weird. He's pricing that, especially with the form we just saw from him. I'm going to go my wild card, not really a wild card. Well,

but I'll see what happens. Okay. I think I think for Gatres going to win this, but anything else, Johann before we take off. No, I'm excited to watch it on Sunday and then right after the show, we'll be here to analyze it. Yeah, and if you live outside the US, you probably get this on HBO Max, congratulations. Even in the UK, the UK is HBO Max now. If you live in the United States, it's on flowbikes. So probably about 1% of our listeners have flowbikes many, many apologies

that the best race of the year is not really on a service that anybody has, but if you really want to watch a son of a flowbikes, it's a great race, you'll enjoy it. Yeah. Okay. Bye, Johann. I'm sponsored.