Can Anyone Stop Vingegaard? | Giro d'Italia 2026 Preview | THEMOVE+

Jonas Lingergart is also the best-timed analyst of all of them. So, I think that's already gonna,

“you know, after these two initial key stages, stage 7 and stage 10, I think you fingergart is already”

going to be in pole position. And from there on, I don't think he's going to get out of it. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the move-plus. I'm Spencer Martin. I'm here with Johan Berniel. And we are previewing the upcoming zero-ditalia 21 stages over the course of three weeks, two, actually three rest days at rest days. They slipped an extra rest day in their Johan because they're

starting in Bulgaria. I'm really throwing off by this because it's the second four and start in a row.

Normally, they stagger them. Last year was Albania. This year's Bulgaria. So, they'll do three stages there. Rest on Monday. And then they're back in Italy. And it's the classic year to tell you, climb up Italy. They start in the south. They go to the north, a by-product of this, is the race tends to get harder as the weeks go on. So, the first week is his hilly with some sprint stages. Second week has a long time trial. Only time trial on the race stage 10, 42 K long, which is very

long in modern cycling. With some sprint stages, some hilly stages, probably some breakaways, if you need that, that's a good time to go on vacation, get some errands done. And then the final week, as is tradition in recent years, is absolutely brutal. We have multiple summit finishes, the probably the hardest stage in the race by far, stage 19 with something like almost 5,000 meters of climbing over the course of 151 kilometers, finishing on a 10% average final climb.

It's a tough race. What are your thoughts about this course? And then we'll get into favor

“it's and who's going to win later on? Well, Spencer, I think it's a typical classic”

tour of Italy course, but the exception, of course, you know, the start in another country,

and then on top of that, you know, having the obligation of having to have the first

rest day. It's not a rest day on Monday. It's a transfer day, right? You go from Bulgaria to Italy, heart on the riders, heart on the staff. This staff, I assume they're driving, right? Yes, yeah. Well, yeah, they're driving some teams. I mean, nowadays, the infrastructure of most of the teams is so big that they can actually, when they're going to have to drive, but you know, the big vehicles, they can have a big vehicle, like a big truck for the first two days,

three days, and then their second truck is already waiting in Italy with other staff. And then there's a mix during a few days, people take over and then, but anyways, it is not easy to start in a different place, especially where you have three days, and then having to transfer.

“But overall, I think it's a typical zero course, heavy loaded at the back end as usual.”

I think it's 40, what is it? 49,000 meters of climbing, which is, it is, you know, strangely, the least amount of elevation of all three grand tours. If I'm not mistaken, I think that the two of the fronts of 26 as 54,000 meters of climbing around, and then the Vuelta has 57,000 meters of climbing, which is, I mean, there's the most elevation in the Vuelta. And so the zero is the longest one with the least elevation, and the Vuelta is the shortest one.

Almost 200 kilometer shorter, and 10,000 meters more of elevation anyways. That's just the numbers, you know, I think that the typical difficulties of the zero,

it's the way the clams and the mountains are placed, right? I think the course of the zero is always

super hard, and this one is no different. You could say, we could easily say that until stage 7, which is the stage to block house, which is a very, very hard climb, by the way. There's not much going to happen in terms of big differences in the GC, and then, you know, on stage, what is the stage? 10 is the time trial, I guess? Yeah, it's 10, so 42 kilometers, a typical time trial for specialists, not there's not much elevation, but still, you know,

I think amongst all of the potential favorites or candidates for top places, I think the big favorite, Jonas Lingergart is also the best time trialist of all of them. So, I think that's already going to, you know, after these two initial key stages, stage 7 and stage 10, I think Lingergart is already

Anyway, we can go later into detail about favorites and candidates. When you just take a people and overview of the course, so I've tallied eight hilly stages, six flat relative stages that will be contested by sprinters, six mountain stages. Here's the catch. All six of them are some of finishes. That's pretty tough. Like, when we talk about, yes, it doesn't have as much vertical meters as, you know,

I'm just looking at this spreadsheet I have of years past where, like, for example, last year had 52,000

“vertical meters. Interestingly, 2024 was another easy route. If you remember that 45,000 vertical”

meter, 45,000 vertical meters, the reason they do that is because, allegedly, they wanted to put out shared to come and contested before the tour to France this year. They wanted, you know, as vinegar to come, contested before the tours, so they do a slightly easier route. So they, I guess it doesn't put as much load on them. If you remember back to 2024, I don't think Pagotcher had to ride at a pace that he wasn't setting the entire race.

I kind of expect the same thing at this year. And then we have one time trial, 42k long,

which will probably help you on this vinegar. Critical stages that we've circled stage seven,

as you said, stage the blockhouse, you, I believe, you guys did that. Was that late in the race? Didn't you do like a reverse tour to reverse year to tie in 2009, where you started in the north, and then rode south? Is this spring a bell? You guys did a blockhouse summit finish that year? I can't remember Spencer. I have very little recollection of the 2009 Giro Detalia,

“but it's possible. It's for, I do remember that blockhouse was in one of the, I think the”

Giro that Jay Hindley won. I think Jay Hindley actually won that stage. She came,

like he was, that was like one of the first surprise wins of Jay Hindley, and then he ended up

winning the Giro, I think, if I'm not mistaken. Yes, I'm going back. So he won in 2022. We'll talk about Hindley. So later on. So this was the same type of structure stage nine was blockhouse in 2022. Jay Hindley wins. He wins from a, and a sprint from a reduced group of five sea riders, I think. Do you remember who was second? Got a pass? Roman Bardet. Roman Bardet and Caripass was third.

Joanne made it was fifth. Looking back actually, it was signs were there that this was, uh, this was going to be Jay Hindley's tour. There's Jay Hindley's Giro, but as you say, like, it's a really hard, really hard, some of finish. And usually shows you who's going to win, like, it's 13 and a half K long. It might seem that right, like eight and a half percent. That's

“good. Also, stage set. I think the race probably decided on stage seven. I think Jonas”

Vannegrads can have an amazing ride there. Stage 10 time trail stage 14 in the Aosta Valley. It has a

really tough summit finish. 16 K long at 7 percent. Stage 19, which we will be watching together in Belgium. They go over the passage. Well, Paso, Jow. And then the summit finish almost 10, 10 percent average summit finish. And then Pianca Valla's stage 20 is like 15 K long summit finish. So but also back to stage seven. Sorry. I mean, this is really, very exceptional in today's cycling stage seven. Blockhouse 244 kilometers. Yeah. Super long. It's a really, really long stage.

It's like a monument inside of a grand tour. And, you know, they have five stages in this year over 200 K, which doesn't sound like a lot. But, you know, to go back last year had only had three the year before. Yeah, four. You got to go back to 2023. This is the zero apart from, you know, other grand tours in modern science, that they do keep these long stages in there. I don't know if that's good or bad. You know, the sometime year. The explanation of the, of the race director,

I don't know if he's still a race director now, but until last year, I forgot his name now. Mount of any, Mount of any. Yes. He said, you know, if you can't race those races of 200 in something kilometers, you're not worth of winning a grand tour. So, I mean, he has a point. He has a point. It's the same for everybody. But, you know, I think it does take a way to the spectacle, you know,

here. So, 244 K, 4,400 meters of elevation on stage seven, that's a considerable, I mean,

“it's very odd stage, very odd stage. I think one, that's one translation. The other one, I think”

is the, the towns that will pay me money to start and finish and them happen to be very far apart sometime. And that's a long stages. But, in his defense, he has this, it's a romantic view of a grand tour that it is a literal tour of the country. It's in. And if, you know, just, y'all you have to do is look at the map. If you look at the map of the tour to France, they are just picking something with the vault, they're just picking their spots. The zureta tie is actually starts at one in a

vitally and goes to the other in a vitally by the end of the race. It's cool how they do it. It's very romantic. The byproduct is you get a lot of transition stages. You know, like there's, we, we remember the zureta often for like the Jai Hindley year with Caripass. Like, wow, what a thrilling year. No one knows because it was one on stage 20. No one remembers like, oh, nothing happened for the

first 19 stages of that race. And that can be a downside to this, like a literal interpretation

“of a, of a tour of a country. Yeah. Well, nothing happens in the area. I think if you would,”

but that statement in front of all the participants of that year, they would not be your friend, Spencer. Well, that is a good point. You bring up because nothing is happening in the zureta, like, from a TV perspective. Yeah. Yeah. But it's often because the race is so hard and everyone's so afraid of the third week that it's really conservative. They almost ring the rider's dry. And there's less, like, quote unquote, action because of that. Yeah. Well, and then on top of that

in the zureta, typically, you know, because we, we are still in, we are in the spring and the zureta, especially in the dollar mites. You know, we can, the zureta is unpredictable. I think it's the most unpredictable of the three grand tours. Although, you know, we have this heavy favorite now with Jonas Vingigart. And, you know, it is quite predictable unless something unexpected on first

scene happens. But, you know, the weather, you know, the weather is always a factor. There's always

something happening in these high mountain stages, usually, which is also typical for Italy. They have no plan B. And they have to do that for them. They chaos the night before. And then they have to come up with an emergency plan. Like, you know, nobody knows until they get to the start, what's going to happen? Which, you know, quite likely it's going to happen again in one of the

“stages, I think. I mean, do you remember, God, it feels like this happens every year, but maybe it was”

last year, the year before in the vino where the video, because they have these deals where they have to start to collect the money. And so they'll start and then have everyone jump in the team buses, got to get out of town. And they kind of drive somewhere. And, and how terrible we call them wet, they have to get in the bus, get changed. Yeah, that's, that's not pleasant as a cyclist at all. No, no, and it is a very important, very unpredictable. But was that? I say, it's likely to happen again

in one of the stages. Yes, yeah. So it's likely to happen. You don't know when it could happen, oftentimes the hardest stages with the, like, the potential to create the biggest time gaps are the one that could get canceled. So it adds this extra layer where if you're on this vino guard, you think I got to take time early, because I can't wait for the third week, because the third week might be a criterion in Milan, not a, you know, three summit finish week. So you don't

really know what's going to happen. It's kind of a chaotic layer to the race that is fun for us, probably not so fun if you're in the race. And you're just going to not freeze to it. If it's a crit series, it would be in Rome, a finishing Rome, right? But if funny thing also, I, what I was looking at about, we actually passed through Milan, and it's, you know, in the, somewhere in the middle of the race, in the middle of the race, and then they go to Rome,

which is also. Yeah. Well, I think they have like a three, it's like a three or four year deal with Rome to finish there. And it has, you know, it's been pretty good stages. It's looked good.

And it's nice to mission Rome. It's always a nice, you know, scenery. You know, with, with all the

monuments and, you know, the historic historic places that they're in Rome, it's always nice to finish in Rome. Yeah. And it's been very, I mean, they, I guess they've gotten lucky with the weather, but that time of year, he has stage 15 finishes in Milan. That's really funny. Just a sprint stage. But it's looked really good on TV the last few years when they finished in Rome. They also visit, that's, they visit two nations capitals in this race, which is kind of unusual, because they

finished stage three in Sofia, which is the capital of Bulgaria. It's stage, I've got to admit,

I don't know the other towns in Bulgaria that well. So we started in Espar, finishing Bergass,

and then Bergass to the linko to Var, Tan Varov, Tan Ovo, maybe. The only thing I have of Sofia in Bulgaria is that when I was a junior racer, I got one cent from by the national team to an international

“track meeting in Sofia. And I remember, you know, the food was so bad. It was, and the only thing”

we were eating, and I don't, they have really good yogurt, Bulgarian yogurt. That was like the only thing that we were eating, that was yogurt. So I do remember to have very good yogurt in Sofia. That's, that's the book on. I just remember like being afraid that there's like street dogs, like I don't want to get by one of these dogs, got to stay away from them. Wow, I'm excited to see the country side. This was in the mid-80s Spencer. So, you know, I think a lot of things have

changed in Bulgaria since then, you know. Yeah, and what we're going to find out, it was still, it was still like the pure like communist country, you know, behind the iron curtain back in the days. Have the last, the last three foreign starts for the year have been Hungary, Albania, Bulgaria. Yeah, yeah. So, they're committed to giving us a peak behind the whole, the former iron curtain. But we can take a quick break, Johann, and then we'll talk about,

who's going to win this race? Is that something good? So, Johann, you mentioned it, but the big favor for this race. You know, it's been a guard. Here, preparing for the tour to France, question mark. We don't really know, but he's going to be at the tour safe to say that this isn't his only target of the season, but the visa team is incredibly strong. They brought an 18 here. They're clearly not messing around. And if you look at the books right now,

this is on draft Kings. This is wild. You and it's been a guard. Is the favorite at minus 575. I don't think I've ever seen that for a three week race. Julio Pelozari, the young Italian,

plus 500, second favorite, plus 500. I feel it's called third favorite at plus 1400.

Adam Yades, plus 1800. Jai Henley is a guy, former winner of the race recently, plus 2000. He can burn all plus 2000 former winner. Time and arms been plus 2500. He goes on and on.

“What will call him out when we need to, but who do you think is going to win this race?”

I assume it's you on a spending guard. Yeah, I think it's, you know, he's the overwhelming free race favorite. You know, I mean, he's won Pyrenees very dominantly. He's won the tour of Catalonia. Very dominantly. What else did he win? Did he win another race? Pyrenees. Pyrenees Catalonia? Yeah, that's it. He did win. Did he not win another one?

Am I losing a mind? Hold on a second. No, you're right. He's only race two races.

Yeah, only two races in your Pyrenees. You know, like, not even a question. He was not going to win. I think this, this course suits him also perfectly. You know, there's lots, lots of long climbing. There's the time trial, which in my opinion amongst, as I said, amongst all the favorites. He's the best one. You know, people say, you know, it's only one time trial. So it's good for, I mean, Jonas is one of the best time trials in the world, especially in dangerous. No, he's won some,

“and he's been always almost always top three in long time trials. So I think we have to say,”

for sure, Jonas is the very, very big favorite. The only favorite, I would say. And the rest is, you know, it's a battle of who can be on the podium. You know, and it's, we, we, we, we, talked about Jay Hindley in Egan Bernal and Adam Yates and Felix Cal, who was, was he fifth in the tour of, he was fifth in the tour last year. And so, you know, deliberately didn't choose the tour of the France this year and goes to the, goes to the, goes to the Giro. Also had a pretty good season already.

I think, you know, he was up there and almost all the big climb stages of the races I've seen. So, um, so yeah, then we have Ben O'Connor who's, you know, trying to find his spot again of a couple of years ago. Yeah. We have Derek G, which, you know, I, I don't think we can count him amongst the favorites right now because we haven't seen anything pointing into that direction this season, although he was fourth in the Giro. Was it last year? He was fourth. Yeah, he was chair. Yeah. Yeah.

But, you know, who knows, you know, maybe he finds his legs and, you know, a grant tour, everybody starts from zero. You know what I mean? We don't know. I don't know what happened to

Katalunius, or maybe he was injured or sick or, I don't know. But, um, but yeah,

other than that, I mean, the, the, the question is, you know, what would have happened if, for example, I mean, there was a lot of speculation around Joe Almeida going to the Giro as being an objective. Would, would the, the heavy, favorite status of Jonas Vingigar has changed with Almeida? I don't think so. Yeah, I don't think so. I've been an ex-winner and ex-runner up of the, the Giro, uh, Richard Carapas,

“also not a start. I would also not have changed Jonas Vingigar situation. I think it would have”

made it much more, much more interesting for the other places, the fight for the podium and the fight for top five, which I think personally is going to be the most interesting part of the race, plus, you know, a number of sprint stages and I think, uh, quite a few, uh, possibilities for breakaway stages, which is also very entertaining. Yes, I, I assume that Jonas is going to get an early lead. Vism is going to let a lot of

breakaways go and it will make that breakaway. You know, it's going, it's going to be open bar for guys, like flippozana, um, who are we talking about? Mataisio. Yeah, like these guys, this, this is, I think going to be a good Giro to tie it for guys like them. Um, also going to be a big, probably Jonathan Milan. I assume is going to be targeting a lot. Like trying to turn a lot of these hilly stages into sprint stages. This is kind of Milan's time to shine. He's that going to the

tour of France, isn't he? Like they're doing us weird. One, one year on, one year off with him in Paris. I mean, he, he won, what did you win? One stage last year or two stages at, at the tour,

“and then he, uh, he won the green jersey. One, the green jersey. Yeah. But, but yeah, I mean, I think”

there's quite, uh, I mean, I think there's at least six or seven possible sprint stages. We still have to see if that's going to be the case. Then, but, uh, you know, that's going to be also entertaining. You know, I mean, we have Jonathan Milan who's, I think, considered as, I mean, I think we may say the fastest sprinter of this field. Um, you know, has a strong team. You know, he has a great lead-out train with, with Consoni and Max Wallshade, for example. Uh, so very well-trained team to lead out.

Then we have Dylan Bruno Vegas, who's, uh, you know, and has already four wins this year, uh, with, uh, the, what's it called? The Rose Rockets? Is it called the Rose Rockets? The Rose Rockets? No, or the Unibet Rose Rockets, I believe. Yes, the Rose Rockets, yeah. Yeah. So their first

“grant tour, uh, that's going to be interesting. I think they definitely can get a stage win in their”

first grant tour, which would be amazing. You know, just, you know, considering how this team has

started and how far it has come in such a very short time. Um, we have Caden Groves, who is, you know, the ultimate grant tour sprinter, especially in the Gero, you know, he's a strong climber among sprinters. Uh, so there's, there's a few stages where he can, he can get, uh, good results and also, you know, since, uh, Al Pacin, uh, premier tech, don't have a GC guy, is everything for Caden Groves and breakaways. Uh, then also interesting to see Paul Manier, young Paul Manier, who's, uh,

at the Gero, um, you know, we expect some confirmation from him. Um, who else do we have? Uh, all we have, Toby has loomed. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Uh, you know, is, is, uh, I think underrated,

but quite fast. And then we have for the first 10 days, uh, only Arnodoli,

on Lotto Intermarsche, who, uh, has just come back to competition after, you know, having some health problems in the beginning of the season and just in his first race back. Last weekend, straightaway one, his, you know, his home race, uh, for the third time, he won that race in, in Valonia. So, um, he, he already said that he wants to, he goes for 10 days to get his form back on track and then probably go to the tour, uh, to, with, with the Gero in the legs or the 10 days of

the Gero in the leg. So, um, yeah, there's, there's quite some sprinters, you know, I think the two top sprinters, all the three top sprinters on Milan and Bruno Reagan and Cating Gros. But there's a lot of others who, uh, you know, typically in the Gero, we sometimes see these sprinters that we don't expect to do, uh, take away a stage win. Well, we're going to play a quick game here. Well, also here, if we're going to play a quick game, we're going to pick who you would bet on. You're going to pick

who you think's going to be top three in the GC and who's going to win each classification and then

But just as a quick, explain a quick to point this out to people. So 42k long TT, that's good

“for the time trial is bad for the climbers, right? Well, I think it's good for Jonas Vinigarde because”

listen to this, I'm looking at long time trials he's done in grand tours. So, you know, last year

at the Walt Dispanya, 24k long time trial on stage five, he's second place. You go back to the

two to France in 2024, 33k long time trial, stage 21, he's second place behind Bogotja. You go back to a 40, I forgot about this, a 40k long time trial in 2022 in the Tour de France. He finishes second, too wild been art because he partially gifted the stage to wild been arts. So this guy is a very good long, very good long time trialist. Like this is in stage races, in stage races. Yes, if we line up for a World Championships, it's different. Yeah. Yeah, that's for sure. He's the

of all the GC guys. He's the best time trialist. By far, I would say, by far. Yeah, and it is so it's interesting how different the placings can be if you do a long time trial in a stage race. And really what we're saying is these GC guys are getting so good at time trialing in stage races, like Julio Pellasari, I bet he's going to be great in this time trial, but maybe wouldn't do great in a stand alone one off time trial. So here, so who do you think's going to finish top three

in this race? Let's start with that. Jonas Lingergard, first Julio Pellasari, second.

I'm doubting between, I'm going to say a Gombernol, third. Agen Bernol, third. It's interesting. Very interesting. And so Bernol is plus 400 to finish on the podium. So that would be a good bet right there. I'm going to just because you said, Jonas Lingergard, I'm going to pick Julio Pellasari win. Jonas Lingergard, second. Actually, no. Julio Pellasari, this is just the bananas pick that I'm doing. Pellasari, first, I do think he legitimately could win.

Gye Henley, second, Adam Yates, third, because I think in this scenario, Jonas Lingergard has had a problem in left the race. I've not finished. Okay. That's a possibility. Henley is plus 400 to finish on the podium. And he's been very good this year. I'm

surprised he's that far down. The problem is he'll probably have to do some work for Pellasari.

“He's minus 250, that's why I didn't put him on the podium. Yeah, I think Pellasari is the”

going to be the leader. And we know all, we all know that Jay Hindley is not afraid to work for someone else. He does the job. I put Agam Bernal on third because he's been pretty good, you know, he's been, was it top? Well, a second up at two of the apps, right? Of the apps, he was second. He was up there in Tireno. And he was fifth at fifth at Leage. Yeah. I mean, he's been the fifth of Leage and out of a sprint to

super impressive. He was not at Tireno this year. So he's only done. Yeah. Was he on the national championships? No, just done one stage race to where the apps. Okay. Oh, yeah. He came late. He came late to Europe. Now that you say that because he had some problems with his visa, uh, crazy. Yeah. That's not good. And if he's having a problem with the visa, that's not good for the rest of us. That's not good. I don't want to hear that. He said he did,

he did that middo that it was kind of his own fault because he left it too late. Yes, it's a common, a common issue. Um, are we just riding to Adam Yates off? That would be the one. Right. I don't quite know what to do with. No, I don't think we should ride him off at all. You know, it's in a great opportunity for him. You know, he's still a top rider. No pressure on him. You know, who knows? Maybe we see the rebirth of Adam Yates the year after the rebirth of his

brother, Simon Yates. Who knows? Yeah, cremeing crazier things have happened. Being his twin brother winning last year, just out of the blue after he didn't even like the strongest rider on stage 19 and then he wins the race. Imagine that Spencer. Imagine Adam Yates winning the Jiro, twin brothers winning the Jiro two years in a row. Yeah, it would be should be wild. It's not

“it's honestly not impossible. Yeah. Yeah. Because as we learned our lesson, we like the lesson we”

learned that last year is the Jiro is cannot be contained. Like whatever you think is going to happen

So that's an 85% like the implied odds are 85%. That's probably about correct actually. I think so.

Seven and 85% chance of winning. I think I think even further Spencer, I think even, you know, say 85% I think you want us to think a lot can at 85% of his maximum good wins. Yeah, I agree.

“I agree. So technically, if you think that you should bet on this, you know, you bet a hundred”

dollars you would win a profit of $17. So, you know, maybe it's worth it. I get old nervous when the odds get like that because what happens if Jonas gets sick, what happens if he falls over. You know, at that point, this point, that's what we're worried about. That's how he doesn't win this race. So would you bet on him, would you put a money on a five minus five 75, rather? Well, worth it is not much to get. It's, you know, I'd rather I'd rather put money on on the

guy who can get second or third and then with the calculation that something might happen to Jonas.

Right. That's that's probably a better bet because something can happen. There's 21 stages. There's, you know, there's climbs. There's the sense. There's bad letter. You know, the stuff can happen. And, you know, it's not the first and it wouldn't be the last time that the favorite or one of the favorites doesn't even finish the race. We don't wish it on anybody, but unfortunately, it happens every year. It happened. I feel like at this year, the zero just eats guys,

eats favorites to remember Bradley Wiggins rolled up and it just, it just stuff wasn't clicking from day one. Like it happens all the time, but this is a boring podcast because I agree with you.

“I think people should bet on the writer. They think it's going to get second with the hope,”

not the hope, with the, with the logic being that Jonas could have a problem in leave. So I've personally bet on Pillazari already a plus 500. I think Adam Yates, a plus 1800 is kind of interesting. You know, Jay Henley, plus 2000, maybe, maybe the podium for him for all plus 400 for the podium. Oh, these are the interesting ones to be know. Pressure on Pillazari, you know, no, no, that we're talking about him, you know, young Italian. His best place is fifth, I think,

in a GC or sixth. But he did it two times in a row, you know, he did it with the zero and the vault. Sorry. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's zero and the vault last year. Which is pretty good. It was, at the zero was, you know, like he, he got better through the zero and was actually with the two or three

“best climbers at the end of the zero. The vault I was opposite, I think, you know, he started really”

well, won that stage and then kind of at the end broke down. Let's not forget he lost the white jersey to Matura Gatello on the last Mountain stage on stage 20. We're wrong. He got six over all both of us. Now fifth. Yeah. Yeah. Six. Yeah. Okay. So, you know, I mean, obviously, I think I think it's,

it's okay to put him as a second favorite, also because of his current form this season, right?

But if you look at all the other riders we've talked about, we say, Hindley Bernal Adam Yates, these are all ground tour winners or at least podium finishers. Adam Yates was third in the two of the fronts. But the jury has finished two times six last year. Of course, he's still young, a super young. Well, we, let's not forget that three years ago, was it three years or two years ago? This was this young kid who was in awe of Egon Bernal of Thalepu Gachar for Gachar. He was like

his biggest fan. And he went down. Yeah. Yeah. So, he got his glasses and he was happy. And now he's, you know, the one of the favorites to be on the podium of the Giro pretty time. It goes, it's not that long ago. This was 2025. I know. It feels like yesterday to me. I remember watching that stage vividly. And he was a debut on stage. It was published a picture from, I think, 2020 or 2019, when Billy Jar is a kid and takes a picture of a mother kid too. It was a

Gachar at the end of the year's old. No. Did you see that picture? Yeah. Yeah. You're like, that's crazy. Feel like that just happened. What's happening? It's going on right now. Yeah. Did you see this? Did you see this headline where Pagachar is, he's armstrong-esque because he has a black list and he doesn't let you win if you're on that black list. Did you see this? Let me tell you, okay, it's good you mentioned this because I read this article

today in Willow, the Food. And it comes from this, and I'm going to say it here. This unbelievable idiot of a journal, paste is on about, paste is on about who thinks that he knows everything,

and he's frustrated that he never made it to the pros. Of course, you know, his theories,

he didn't make it because everybody was doping and he didn't. That's his story.

“I read that. That's what happened to me, by the way. Okay, that's my excuse. Okay, anyway.”

You don't know about what's talented, but you know, it takes more than talent to make it to the big league. And then once you're in the big league, it takes a lot more, you know, if it would just be doping, it would be pretty easy, you know. But anyways, you know, he's scouting on this horse of, you know, the, he's the, he's the purest, you know, the, the moral teacher of all the journalists. Doesn't have a lot of friends amongst the journalists. But yeah,

he wrote this article that Pugachar is ruthless that, you know, he's intimidating people, for

example, he gave the example that on stage one and the two of Rommandee that Pugachar criticized Lippewitz for not collaborating and he applauded the other two writers who was, it was Martinez and who was the other guy, nor, nor talking. He applauded them, you know, and then he criticized Lippewitz and that's was in the eyes of Zona Valt was intimidation. And then you could see that the stage after it worked because Lippewitz did collaborate, which is bullshit, you know, listen.

Okay, yeah, like they're with race situation changing. Yeah, yeah, and he says, you know, it's like Armstrong, but Pugachar's nicer doesn't have so many enemies, you know, he's more likable, but the tactics, the mental games are the same, which is bullshit. Anyways, I'm not surprised comes from him. I'm surprised that other other media outlets take this story. So, I mean, I know I know that I saw it and clicked on it, so I know that that's probably why they're doing it. I

know that a lot of media outlets take our stories and our quote, so I'm going to say it here, that it's out Zona Valt. We know you were not friends, but you're an idiot.

I don't know this gentleman. I've never met this gentleman before. You know, I say bring it up.

I don't know anything. I only bring it up. Maybe I meet him Spencer at the end of the month. No, he's got it. He's not going to really flip Wattage. We can have the conversation with him. Boy, let rather not, but I only bring it up because I do feel strongly about this, because Yohan, why are we doing? Do you know why Telet Pugachar, I bring it up because of Pelazari, they couldn't be a nicer man on the earth, right? Then Julio Pelazari loves Telet Pugachar.

And you know what Pugachar did to him? Motum down to win a race. Do you know why? Is he likes winning bike races? Like, it's that simple. The guy likes winning bike races?

“He didn't mow him down at all. You know, if you remember that stage,”

I've, I've, I've coincidents. I saw the images a few days ago. And you know, it was, I think it was the stage over, if I'm not mistaken, it was at over Monte Grappa. I think. No, no, no. No, it was like into, it was, it was the stage in to, do you know, like, or to say, I say in Ulrich, kind of like the ski resort. If they say, yeah, yeah. So you kind of like go up by the, the slurn, or they would call it like out the Suzy. Yeah. Yeah. So it's, it's kind of a goofy stage. It was, you know, and he, he caught,

he caught Pelizari, who was in a breakaway. And if you look, he says something and he tries to take him with him for about a kilometer. Yeah. I mean, he was shot. Like, he could, no, he could, he could, he would just go past him. He tried to take him with him. So, anyways, listen, if you're in a bike race and you have to, you know, I mean, you don't have to let anybody win, you know what I mean? No, and I don't want you to. I want to watch, I've invested my

time. I want to watch the best guy win. Maybe I'm a weirdo, but it, yeah, you know what, if he beats you, do you know why he's beating you? Do you think it's personal? No, it's not personal. He wants to win, because he wants to win bike races. No, because he wants to win the bike race. Number two, number two, which is often forgotten when people say, "Oh, you know, he wins, he wants to win everything." What is he going to say to his teammates who have worked the whole age? From start, from

kilometers zero to keep the breakaway under control. And then you get away with somebody and you

“let them win? That's like, okay, well, you know, that's, that's what we're pulling for, you know?”

Yeah, yeah, he'd be, I don't know. I don't know. When you see stuff like that,

team sport, where these riders are, like, slightly accountable to the people that are.

Yeah, they're facing themselves and doing a lot. I think, no, I think it's, it's, it's usual and typical and then kind of normal, also normal reaction to somebody who's so dominant, you know, it, I like to see that the strongest guy wins. And if it's dominantly, I, I, I love it. The thing is that it's very predictable and, you know, people like to see change, you know, if now, for example, if you look at two of Romney, Pocacha won four stages of the six,

in different ways, you know, like he won in the sprint and he won in the, in the reduced bunch sprint and he won alone and then again alone. You know, what else do you expect? I mean, if, if,

“that's what he should do. And, and I think it's nice to see that a rider who has won so many races,”

still happy, that's what people don't, don't understand, people who have never raised and people who have never been there, they do not understand even if you have won more than a hundred races. The joy of winning once again is undescribable. It's, it's, it's, you cannot describe, I mean, even if

you've got used to winning, that new win is always a pleasure, which is ultimately what you're doing

it for. You know, Pocacha, he could say, hey, you know what, I'm just going to win GC's, you know, I'm just, I'm getting paid the same, you know, I'm just going to win GC's, which he could do. You could, you could perfectly control the race, get away in one stage with another guy, then drop that guy and get away with another guy and give the stages. You could do that. What would the people say that? I can't stand, maybe, I don't like that. I just want to see the

best guy win. I was surprised there was people shocked that he didn't let Floreen look at what's win, the final stage of remedy. Why would he let a rival, this isn't making any sense, he's trying to pummel these people into submission before even gets to the tour. He also, he just wants to win. It's not personal. There's no black list up on the team bus where there, that's, it's all so ridiculous, like he just wants to win. We're also talking about that, if it got charged, not in this

race. But yes, Julia Bellasari, we feel good about him, a lot of pressure on him. Did you see this

“quote to about this, I don't know if I believe this, the Paul success is he's gaining 20 watts a month”

in his FTP. It seems a little high, but it does bring up, I don't see that brings up the point that Pelazari is improving. So we talked about his results last year. To me, he looks like a different rider, this year, two of the officers, super impressive. I'm quite excited to see how he does this year. So let's quickly, I just want to ask your thoughts, points of applause, points of classification. John of the Milan, minus 155 to win as probably fair, right? It's, I know that the zero does,

I don't think they give us a big of a weight to the sprint stages relative to the other stages, which can make it hard for a sprinter to win. Paul Monier plus 400 to Beisland Anderson plus 400, Kate and Groves plus 1200, Kate and Groves is kind of the interesting one there. Been Turner plus

“1600, Dylan Groder, vacant plus 2000. Who do you think wins this point's classification?”

I've almost no doubt it's going to be John of the Milan. If he finishes the race, he probably won't. I have to say, I have to say little side note, you know, just now speaking of Milan. I haven't done the research, but I've seen him less impressive than other seasons. I haven't seen that much except those sprint stages he won in the early, was it UAE or was it a Lula and UAE tool?

It was incredible. That's already like, it seems like ages ago. It's completely different now,

different rivals. I also don't know, I mean, I don't think he did that many stages after that, where he could have won stages. Anyways, Jonathan Milan is the top sprinter. I think he's the big favorite for the Chiclamino. Chiclamino, Chiclamino, Chiclamino, yeah, Chiclamino would be the plural feminine of Chiclamino. Jonathan Milan, I actually think he's kind of underpriced here. Plus, my mind is 155. That's actually, that might be the best deal of any of these

bets, and then young rider, Pelazari's minus 500, a Leonard Venetfeld, plus 1000, Alessandro Penerello, who's a very good rider, plus 100. The thing about this though is you're like, well, Pelazari's

Jonas Finigarde winning the overall? Because basically, who do you have more confidence in finishing

this race? Jonas Finigarde or Julio Pelazari? Well, we have to start from me, we have to assume that both are going to finish. So, yeah, for me, Pelazari is definitely the big, heavy favorite for the White Jersey. And unless he crashes like in this opening stages, this probably isn't going to get any better. You know, you might not get a better shot at it than minus 500. Yeah. And is the Marvelous Jersey also know? The Marvelous Jersey, it's not on the odds. Okay,

finally. We've been that seeter, that's either going to be Jonas or Julio Chicona, maybe? Chicona, didn't he win it last year? Wait, no, no, he crashed out last year. He won it in the

“two or one year. Yeah, that's what. So, for it's not a one at last year, which”

actually, you don't see a lot of, yeah, Pelazari won it over, Pelazari in 2024, 2023 was Tibopino,

Derek G. It was second. It's kind of an unpredictable Jersey. Yeah, can I the pinbowmen won't?

It depends on breakaways, you know, how many of these breakaways get over a lot of clamp, and then sometimes mostly not, not including the last line, you know, so many points for grabs in in in climbs where breakaways will get over. That that's the most unpredictable one, I think. I wouldn't bet on this personally. Yeah, too hard to predict. Agreed, you had, did you have someone in mind? Like Chicona, I guess. Yeah, Chicona. Yeah, he could do it.

And if, especially if we think this is a breakaway fertile race because Jonas already has it wrapped up,

“that's a good bet. Who do you think's going to win stage one on Friday?”

It's, it's a pretty much a nailed on sprint. Yeah, Milan, Milan, Milan, I'm going to be, Milan, you picked Milan because I was going to pick Dylan Grinovagan because

you know, Bet Rose Rockets are here. It's their first Grand Tour and team history,

and what a way to start your first Grand Tour, right? We need a first stage. We got, we talked about first Grand Tour in the other podcast last week, you know, which teams were had the Tour de France as their first Grand Tour. Yeah, the first, it's been many, I got in a lot of, I've gotten a lot of messages. What was the most modern one, do you remember it? The most modern one, I don't mean, well, first of all, the most, one of the most historic ones was 7-11,

yeah, you know, the pioneer American team in the 80s. I think before that, I mean, early 80s, it was also cafe de Colombia, the Colombian team, which you know, there were basically still amateur riders with Lucho Ereda. And they actually won stages and the King of the Mounds jersey.

“More recently, I had an ex-cyclist at a bow hamburger. Do you remember bow hamburger?”

I remember bow hamburger, well, so he's the best name in cycling. He messaged me to say that he was on a team. I think it was called memory card Jack and Jones or something or the former version of CSE after that. They had their first Grand Tour in, you know, early 2000s, I think. I think we talked about you as postal in 1970s, I think six or seven, yeah. And there were others, there were others. There's been many, there's been many teams who did the tour de France at their first Grand Tour.

Well, they've definitely stopped doing it. Yes, so has. I mean, the tour is so different than it was in the 80s and 90s. Yeah, I would think it's, I think the riders would be fine just the staff. I feel like everything would be, I feel like it's moving a hundred miles an hour. But yeah, clearly ASO's made a decision that they don't want to do this anymore because they, I can't remember, like if they've done it, even though, like they definitely is uncommon in modern

cycling for them to invite Grand Tour de Betons. But I think Dillon Grout to make and could win this first stage. Milan obviously, heavy, heavy favorite for a reason. Guys, a great springer, but as you say, has he been as impressive this year? As years past, he's plus one hundred, Paul Manier,

I, I might, that's a good buy owned money. I'd grown a big and yeah, that's worth it. He, he's been really impressive this year. And he's a two-to-franc caliber, he two-to-franc winning caliber sprinter. Yeah, at the zero, a lot of experience I could seem doing it, obviously, Milan though, is a favorite for a reason. Other things we wanted to mention, this strength of Visma is pretty impressive. I was shocked when I saw their startlist for this race.

This is a two-to-franc level team. They have outside of you. I was going to guard the Victor Campinar. It's a local color man, Tim O'Killich, who's a very good, except Kus Bart Lemon, who's a truck. David De, Egan Zola, who last year was on. Paul Teevis,

“visit Malta, I believe he was like it's year to tie a specialist at that team.”

And their last rider is Tim Rex, who's also very strong. So this is, I mean, they're going to multiple guys doubling up at the tour. Like obviously a team that is designed, knowing that they have to have you favorite, and they have to control the whole race. Yes, that's, you know, that's the way this team is designed. Which kind of makes me like, obviously, that's a very strong team, Jonas is probably going to win the race. Having said that, I like where Red Bull's at,

because Jonas is here with Visma, and they're going to control the race. Red Bull has Gai Hindley and Pelazari, and they have a strong team, you know, they have guys like Nico Dens, Johnny Mascon, Mick Van Dyke, Alexander Vlasov, working for them, and all they have to do is sit back and see how the race comes to them. So I, yeah, I like where they are. Yeah, I mean, year was a race where you can do that. It's true, it's true, but, you know, that at the end of the

end, at the end, it will still come down to Jonas going on the climbs and whoever can try that time trial too. It was time trials a big problem for everybody else. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, of the GC guys, is there anyone like think about time trialist amongst the GC riders, it would even be close to them. Derek G, Derek G, maybe. It's a good time trialist, but again,

you know, it's, it's Derek G obviously doesn't have the best of first halves of this season,

maybe it all changes now in the 0 who knows, but he's a good time trialist, but I still think that Jonas is a better time trialist, especially in ground tours. I mean, so this is after 10 stages, it's a completely different game after 10 stages. I know, you know, who's not definitely not, when one of the potential co-favorites or podium candidates who's definitely not at the level of his FedEx goal, he's not a good time trialist. Oh, man. Well, didn't he also just recently,

there's a podium position or GC position, because RIMCO open a poll attacked him on a design. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's, you know, people will have noticed that and if he's on the podium in the final week, I assume that's going to be a point of emphasis for a lot of teams. Yeah. You know, he's a sneaky good, grand tour time trialist or just stage race time trialist in general,

Adam Yates. Very good. Yeah. Yeah. Like, uh, it's 2024, Twitter, Switzerland. He finishes second

“in the TT behind. It's an uphill TT, but it's still similar to Schwalemeda. Um, I think it,”

God, there was a race recently. It was, uh, not recently in the last few years where I was wait. No, that was his brother. Simon, Simon, he won the time trial. Hungary. Yeah, that was crazy. Zero in the zero. Yeah. So you can't, you can't count these Yates out, but it, it does illustrate everyone else's basically starting behind Jonas because that time trial suits him so much. Also, the blockhouse stage and every other uphill, some of finished will probably suit him. So I'm not

invious of anyone's job trying to beat him, but I think, uh, I think the strength of the team means they're going to have these them is going to have to take control and it takes pressure off the other teams, even if Jonas is still formidable. Yeah. I agree. Anything else that you're looking forward to excited about keeping an eye on? Well, we're going to be here talking with everybody every day, Spencer. Every day. On Mondays, right? Uh, when it's a rest day or transfer day, but uh,

yeah, I'm, uh, I'm getting ready for the zero first ground tour. Excited. Yeah, it's not up on me.

“In this Friday, start really has me thrown off, but I'm excited. You have to be here every day”

after every stage talking you through how it happened, predicting the next stage. So I'm excited