Does This Giro Still Have a Surprise Up Its Sleeve? | Giro d'Italia 2026 Week 2 Review | THEMOVE

are a bit over unless you're a really good climber any in the mountain stage in a breakaway,

“but from now on I think it's going to be pretty straightforward racing.”

But yeah I mean you know it's been entertaining so far. I think personally that the GC is done and dusted based on what I've seen from you on a swing guard and Visma's strength. But that doesn't mean that we're not going to see any interesting and interesting racing anymore. Everybody welcome back to the move. I'm Spencer Martin. I'm here with Johan Bernillo.

We are breaking down stage 15 which just finished this Sunday and then we will also go through our week two review saying what we learned from week two, what we are looking forward to in week three as well Johan before we get going do you want to quickly plug? I just remembered today our next full the move episode will be live in Belgium. Do you want to quickly plug that

if you want to come see us? Yes for the first time in the existence of the move we will be doing

“a life podcast. I mean there's already been a life podcast in in mellow johnny's I think right?”

We're pure flounders but now we're going we're going across the ocean. We're there's the wheeler wattage festival in Belgium which is 29, 30, 31 of this month. It's a three-day event. There's a lot of activities all around cycling, you and I are going to be there already from I guess Thursday evening for an Friday. So the move will be I mean it's the recap of the whole zero on the last stage of the of the of the zero third first of May. We will be there in Belgium

at the Belgian coast on stage in front of a life audience of if I'm not mistaken around the thousand people. So that will be exciting so it will be you me and Bradley Williams. Yeah Bradley if you hear this, meet us there please. This is your notification that we're doing a live show and if you want to buy tickets or know where it is there's a link in the show notes you just have to go down there. But you know and we don't have to spend too much time on stage 15 pretty

simple stage. I thought it was going to be a boring stage. It kind of was a boring stage but it was

kind of amazing as well. RCS, they're playing 40 chests. They know what to service up on Sundays.

It was 156 kilometers. A breakaway win early. You could tell the sprinter steams right away. We're nervous. It was very nervous because they're all very tired because they just had a brutal mountain stage. Yesterday, they don't want to have to pull back a big move. So they don't let this move go. Then a Bardiani, Pulti, Visit Malta, Kudos to this team. These teams, they are, they know what they're here to do and they're not messing around. They immediately counterattack. It's a Merco,

Miestry, Martin, Marshall, Goulou, and I'll let you say his last name, Marcel Lucie and then Matthias Matthias, Bice. These are all strong guys. These are like stalwarts of the geo-breakaway. They are up the road. They have a small gap. 153k to go. The sprinter steams say this is fantastic. Let's block the road. Well, there's a Uno X rider on the side of the road who's waiting for this to happen. Does not stand up, but they're going 52k an hour. So he must be going pretty fast and he just kind of

accelerates seated without making a scene right off the front and then right as he goes, the road is blocked. Those are very smart move. Good way to get in the break away without burning a lot of matches. He gets up there. They may be have a little moto help. They're ripping along 51k an hour average. They go into Milan. It's actually as soon as they get into Milan. You can kind of tell they're not going to catch them because they're not bringing any time back. It's just hovering around

two minutes. Once you're in a city like that, you can go very fast in a breakaway, especially if you have cars in front of you. There's not a lot of wind. You're protected by the buildings and all the cars and the vehicles can create almost a wind vortex through like a it sucks you along through these buildings. And the peloton just couldn't get any, they could not get a speed advantage on them. They couldn't pull it back. Uno X wins. There also was a

time neutralization. GC Time. We'll talk about that later in the episode. But Yohan, who it's the name of our winner? I'm not even going to attempt this. No, but I Spencer, okay, it's Frederick Versniss Versniss.

It's a bit, I mean, for me also, it's not easy to pronounce, but his second important race. He

“wins, I think. I mean, he won a few other races, but I remember he wins and I thought actually.”

Yeah, seven pro wins. Yeah. So he won a stage in Tirena Adriático, staying ahead of Motiv under pull. And now in the in the Jiro stages stage, when he's 29 already, he's in a bit of an all-rounder, but the day he was definitely on a mission. To me, he looked like the strongest and the

going to win this. And he wanted quite easily, I would say. And I wouldn't say an easy win. They had a work hard to stay out in front of a yes. Once they were inside the last few hundred meters, it was almost a formality. It almost looked like it looked like miastry was sprinting behind him. And he wasn't sprinting, but he was ahead of him. It was almost an optical illusion. I thought he didn't know where the finish line was. Yeah, he won a stage of arctic tour of Norway.

I'm always kind of on vacation not paying attention when that's happening, but that was last year.

“But yeah, we remember him from Tirena Adriático, stage five last year where he stayed ahead of”

Matthew Vanderpool or solo breakways. So clearly he's strong. I would guess, as soon as I saw Uno X go in the breakaway wanting to be in the breakaway, I was a little suspicious because that's a team that everything they do, they do with a lot of thought. So they clearly had thought about this. They thought, you know, Uno Bet, that's a big team. All those guys are big guys except for what polls they're going to be fatigued from the mountain stage. Yesterday, you could tell too,

like Sudal, lead all. The guys pulling on the front, they were at a very low cadence. Everyone look like they had noodle legs. But I mean, Spencer, that's usually what happens after two weeks of racing, you know, in a ground tour, everybody's super tired. Lots of teams don't have a full team anymore. Some guys are sick, some guys are just dragging themselves. I mean, the top speed is not there anymore. But anyway, Spencer, I would like to, I mean, I know you, you have your thoughts on this controversy,

yeah, we'd say. First of all, these four riders were riding really strongly 51 kilometers average

for the whole stage and super fast. And then, you know, there was quite a few complaints actually from the Peloton. Some heavy criticism from some riders saying that, yeah, well, today,

“the motorbikes decided that the break was going to stay away. What do you think about this?”

I guess it's, it's like a two-pronged question. Did the motorbikes help them today? Yes, they did. Did the motorbikes help them every day? Yes, they do. I mean, go look at flip-a-gonna's time trial. There's a cavalcade in front of them, the whole time. You know, like this happens every every stage. Especially if there's Italians up the road and you're at the Sierra Italia, I would be frustrated to, if I was a little track, and I'm, you know, because here, I'm just going to,

this is, the math on this is crazy. So with 33 K to go, if the, all the break away, let's say the break away average 52 K an hour, which they did, the Peloton has to average around 55 K an hour to reel them in with 33 K to go. That's probably not going to happen. I mean, you're reaching a velocity that a group just can't hold on the flats. So that is frustrating for them. Oh, yes, but you know, I would, on the contrary, I would say, you know, you can also argue that the four riders in front

or should get fatigued and gradually slowed down. Obviously, that didn't happen today, but that's usually what's been taken into account when the break away is going and a group is just pro. I know, but as a pro rider, really going to fatigue is a three hour long stage. I don't think a pro was going to fatigue over three hours. Off the two weeks, yes. I mean, yeah, this is to them. This, this is Victor Campinar, it's morning activation. Three hours spent at around threshold.

That's no, that every day when he wakes up. No, listen, they did the hell of a job, but I kind,

I can understand the frustration. This is not the first time we're, we're hearing this. We're hearing

is a long thing. So it does happen. It does happen. But if we were, we do hear it a lot, but if it's

“so well known, why don't more riders get on the break away, then, if it's a joke, to winning?”

Yeah. Okay. Well, it shouldn't happen. It does happen. I mean, you know, everybody wants to be there, everybody wants to have that perfect picture. You know, there were, there were complaints in the tour of Romney from riders about the La Pugacha being behind the motorbikes. Also, you know, if I've seen this many, many times in races, you know, motorbikes and cars can influence the, the, the, the outcome of the race. Of course, the guys we have heard complaining were the

guys from Little Trek, the guys from Unibet, and the guys from Sudok, quick step. Though the three teams that didn't manage to bring the break back, right? But I think it was, it was kind of telling Walshites interview. You know, he said, you know, he said, you know, we and the rockets, the windmitted rockets and Sudok, we burned our whole team and we were not able to catch them all the time on the flat. I was doing 500 watts. The motorbikes took the stage away. He said, you know,

same comments from 32 minutes, for example, and then a guy from Unibet Renders who said that,

here. Very frustrated Renders speaks clearly about the motorbikes.

We have burned 30 people in, in the chase, and we were not able to catch them. You could see Spencer with, you know, with, normally I would say, you know, okay, the Peloton can accelerate the break away slows down, you know, they're going to look at each other, taking all that into account, the 2025 category goes, I said, you know, maybe it's still possible. The last 15 to 10 kilometers, when the break kept it around like 45, 50 seconds, I started to say,

okay, it's not going to happen. And then on top of that, you see that teams were really running out of higher power, you know, when Derek G himself, who is the GC guy, I mean, I assume he still is he's still in the top 10. When he needs to come to the rescue, just to keep the pace up, then you know, okay, this is going to be very difficult. Yeah, exactly. You know, and then what you have is that's when you really knew that they were not going to catch them, because normally you

can see, sometimes it happens, right? There's a guy away or two, you know, and then in the last kilometer, they have 15 seconds and the Peloton just comes surging. You know that this was, this was not going to happen because it was the lead out guys themselves who had to do the chase.

So in the last kilometer, there was never going to be that acceleration anymore, that usually happens

and brings down, brings back 10 to 15 seconds in the last kilometer. You know, it's bad too, and you know, but launching attacks themselves. It's never a good sign. That was a real panic attack. That was not, yeah, that was not bringing anything. Yeah, I didn't hate it. Yeah, I didn't hate it, because what if they start messing around? I think it's nice. It's nice that the break away makes it, you know, suspense until the end. Otherwise, it would have been a very predictable stage.

I'm not, I'm not thinking, I have nothing against Bunchbridge. You know, there's not that many in this year or anyway. But yeah, I mean, this in Chapo for those four guys, you know, they worked for it. I mean, it's, and the thing is, it's not their fault that the motorbikes are so close.

“You're right. I mean, if you want to have that advantage and you go in the break,”

you know, you're going to have that advantage. So you could say, well, you know, if that's the way you have to race with that mentality, it's kind of messed up. It is, but definitely not saying it's not messed up. I'm just saying every, it seems like every race we hear compulsive about it, maybe all three places of year to swim. And look, you know, into the cycling with ice everywhere. You know, everybody's a photographer. Everybody's a videographer. Everybody's everything's

so controlled and it's on social media straight away. You know, in the 80s and the 90s, I mean, there was some racist man. I mean, it was unbelievable. You know, I mean, I just sent you a video there of, you know, a big race in Italy where it was normal. I mean, you kind of attacked on the podium. You were behind, and especially if you're in Italian, you're behind the motorbikes. You do the down and you come on the Viaroma. And it's like, it's like, you know, a national

one of cars and motorbikes, you're, you're, you're drawn to the, you know, to the finish line.

“It was often also, like, I remember even in the early 2000s, you know, when you were racing”

Paritubé, you always knew, you know, the guy in Paritubé, for example, the guy who comes in

first position and with a little bit of advantage, out of carapur de l'Arbre, with the race. Because the motorbikes are there, waiting, and it's like, there's like a whole, a whole group of motorbikes that, you know, they come one by one to have that shot and you're gone. You know, and I guess in defense of the breakaway, like, because the breakaway was definitely they had a moto right, sorry, the Peloton and a moto right in front of them for once they were

in Milan, I guess where it starts to become a problem is this speed, you know, you look at this UNOX bike, this thing is a speed machine. They don't, doesn't look like they care about climbing it all. It's just like a track bike almost. And when you have people that arrow plus a moto, it doesn't matter if the Peloton has a moto because they can't, they physically cannot go fast enough even with the draft to overcome the differential. I guess would be the argument. Like who's probably

not that much of a factor. I don't know, man, these bikes and these, these setups, they have it.

“You don't think that that's me, but why are the speeds getting so fast then?”

Well, I mean, you know, I'm not saying that, but it doesn't make that much of a difference because everybody's in our, on arrow bikes. But if everyone's on an arrow bike, it makes it harder to catch

with an arrow set up. So it's harder to pull breakaways back than it used to be. Yeah, yeah.

So it's kind of not fair if they have arrows set up and they have a moto, there's an even if you have an arrow set up yourself with your own moto, you can't overcome the time differential. Yeah, because you can't go 60 can now. It was clear what what Walsh had said, you know, I was doing 500 watts on the flats. We could not go any harder. There you have it. They couldn't go any harder, but you know, they were also going very, very fast in the front.

It was, let's take up, they asked, they asked this, that that was a good quote, actually. They asked Friedrich Verznis about that, you know, complaints, those complaints from the peloton about the motorbikes and he made a very good statement. He said, yeah, it's true. They were four four motorbikes in the breakaway today. I mean, they wrote, they wrote the hell of a raceman, those four guys. I'd be annoyed if I just wanted to hear a stage from a breakaway that

“anyone could have jumped in and that's what I got asked. How many Norwegians have won a stage”

of the Gerda Taya? I don't know the answer. I just know two of the chef won one. And then today, this might be it. No, there's more more. Yeah, there's all the guys. There's all the guys. I think there's all the guys. I don't know. I'm just thinking, I'm just thinking about one guy that just comes to mind from from my era, duck, auto-loaded. And Marie, yeah, yeah, that would make sense. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Before who

chef, I mean, a lot besides duck, how many Norwegians at one grand tour stages, was there many? No, I don't think so. Yeah, it is, I mean, it is cool to see. It's cool to see UNOX. I like to see a team coming in with a plan and executing versus a lot of the teams. I mean, if you're a little track, if you're, you're not going to get in the break way, they're not going to let each other get in the move. But what about like, picnic? Should they have been up there? Yeah, but, you know,

then the question is, can they? That's, that's a sad question if we have second division Italian

teams in a move in the Nerasking of picnic physically can be up there. That's not a good situation. But it does show you, like, how fast they're going in this break. These are not just, like, these Italian teams are not out there just soaking up TV time. A lot of time that they're going fast. And I heard there was even concern from the organizer that today would be a slow stage because no one would want to give in the break away. It's like, as we got eight stages left.

And a lot of teams here haven't won. Oh, what is it? What is it? 157 gaze. It is three-hour race today, right? 15-hour race. You wanted to let him in. Sure race. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Pretty wild. Try to go out

“and ride at 32 miles an hour today on your ride after this. I can't believe you. I think some”

dom feels I get to that speed. Yeah. Yeah. If I was descending Holy Occola for three hours, I could average 32 miles an hour, three hours. But let's take a quick break and then we'll be back. I'm going to ask you if this was an Italian conspiracy and why it actually doesn't make any sense. Hey, everybody, this episode is brought to by Sheath Underwear. Here's a hot take. You might not be ready for, but I'm going to say it anyway. Most underwear is terrible. And if you've

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entire order by using code move M O V E at CheersHealth.com. Just head to CheersHealth.com and use code move M O V E for 20 percent off. After you purchase, they're going to ask where you heard about them. Please say us so that we know they know we sent you. All right. Thank you. Okay, y'all. We are back. So I don't know if this was Max Walshide or another writer, but they hinted that this was an Italian conspiracy to help the Italian teams. Wouldn't it been more advantageous for the country

vitally for the Peloton to be contesting the stage with Jonathan Milan? Well, I mean, Jonathan Milan is not an adopted day, but anyway, it's not, you know, it didn't sprint for the victory. But I don't think it's an Italian conspiracy, froming proof is, you know, the Italians didn't win. It was a conspiracy, not a great one. You know, there was three Italians and one Norwegian, so that's the guy who wins. But now I don't think so. It's just the nature of the race. I mean,

I do agree though, because we see it more, we see it a lot and there's a lot of complaints from writers. It's not the first time. Last year, I mean, years and years already, something should be done

about this. The problem is, what can be done? There's always going to be vehicles moving back and

for, you know, that we need, because otherwise we wouldn't be able to watch the racepancer. No, that's the gear. Some of the, if you start to pay attention though, we get really close front on shots. And you're like, this is, yes, but we're posting out a little fart further. That could not, that could not be, that could not be an excuse. I mean, a bit today's technology with cameras. You can have a tail of lens on there. You can be

under meters of front, and you can still have them. Yeah. I don't think that should be the reason. I don't know what the solution is. But, you know, if we see side shots and shots from the back and now and then a shot from the front, I could live with that.

We don't need to see them always from the front. Yeah. Exactly. Why do I need this continuous

shot from the front? Yeah. I don't, I do find that odd sometimes. Like, why are we up there

“nostrils for four hours? Does this? No, I think it's, well, it's not just one motor. Like,”

it's the constant move of, you know, vehicles, and they take turns, you know, they all want their shot. And, um, yeah. I mean, obviously, you're saying this as low as crits fault. I've been around a motorbike. I can imagine her saying get, get, get, get, get, get, get, get, get, get, get, get, get, get, get, get, get, get. Wishing her driver to be in this position. And, you know, I want to get shot. I mean, everybody says the same. Everybody wants the shot. You know, so, um, yeah, I think it needs to be probably

more regulated less motorbikes, for sure. Less motorbikes would be a solution. Um, you know, I would, uh, I would be in favor of installing a system, for example, to, to, to mix it up a little bit. Like, like, you know, all the riders on the teams and all the teams have on-by cameras. And, and we would get really, really, really good images from within the Palatone. They could, they can mix that up with, I mean, it's a lot of work for the production team

a lot to do at life. But, you know, if everybody has the camera, it's, you know, it's, it's equal

to equal playing field. Um, that the, it's, it's, it's, it's been talked about, it's the same as always,

you know, the childish, the childish dispute and the fight about the ghetto who owns the rights of those images. Uh, you know, the, uh, the, the, the, the teams will say we own it, the organizers we say we own it, the UCI will say, okay, we own it. Why don't we just share, let's just share

mean, it would solve a lot, a lot of problems. It would, we would get other images that are really interesting. So we would need less images from the front. Uh, it would solve, you know, some financial struggles for certain teams. Um, and both organizers and the UCI would also get extra income. One year, there's a lot of pushback on how we, we can't, can't do that, technologically.

“And so, I'm, I'm seeing a live feed of an F1 driver's helmet. So I think in the live broadcast,”

they're probably figuring that out. That's not the same sponsor because an F1, it's on, that's

on a, that's on a circuit. The problem with the bike race is, it's a moving and you always need to

have, uh, planes. Well, helicopter, helicopter, planes that you can relay to all the time. The images, uh, you know, you need them fast. You know, you don't need them 30 minutes later. You need them now. That's the issue. Well, you've keyed up, keyed us up perfectly, because it was today's race on a circuit. It was. And why was it? Kind of a weird, kind of a weird stage if you think about it. How often do you see a circuit in a, a capital level city? I know Malan's not exactly the

capital of Italy. But a major city in a country that's not the last day. You rarely see it. It has happened in Malan, oh, before. And you were there. 2009, and the stage was neutralized. Happened at Rome. That was at the end of the zero that you're in 2018, and they neutralize the riders refuse to race on it. So it's not, it's, it's probably didn't catch them completely off guard. But a, why did I, I'm not, I'm not going to complain so much, because I, this was one of my

favorite stages of the race so far to watch. I thought it was actually pretty fun. But it is a weird stage to have on stage 15, it felt like a final day procession. It was on a city circuit that was deemed so dangerous by Jonas Finigarde. He went and yelled at the commissaire and they neutralized the time. I have my, my comments on that. It's not deemed by Jonas,

“because Jonas was the voice of the Peloton. Same as 2009, I do remember it vividly. It was”

more or less the same circuit. It was also in the middle of the, of the, of the zero, the, the zero also finished in Rome that year. It did rain a bit at some point and then it kind of got dry a little bit. But it was super dangerous. The whole Peloton was complaining. They didn't want to race. Then Lance had the task to go and talk with, with the race director, who, which,

which was Angel Osominyan at the time, he got so mad. The Peloton decided not to race and finally

they decided, okay, the race is neutralized and the race goes on just for the stage win, but not for the time. You know, I got in a little discussion with X, UCI president Brian Cookson on social media about this. He said, he said that, you know, this shouldn't happen, like minutes before the end of the race, to have to change this. I argue that, you know, unless you're not in the middle of the situation, being the riders and actually experiencing the risks and the potential dangers,

you can't judge. And then he said, okay, you know, I meant that this should not be the case that this gets approved and why are we having this conversation? It's during a race. Exactly. Yeah, yeah. So I agree, kind of with Cookson, on the fact that the stage like this,

“you have to take into account that this can be risky and there needs to be a plan B.”

Who says it's not going to rain? In case of rain, this was going to be impossible to race. And do you think city circuits? Not maybe not. I shouldn't phrase it like that. Do you think riding on circuits in big cities like this is generally more dangerous than an open course that they would be? I mean, yes, especially because in a city, the roads are more greasy,

always. Yes, cars, you know, more French on the road too. And so the slide is a bit of rain,

your, it's it's ice skating instead of bike racing. But anyway, today didn't rain, but the riders felt like it was dangerous. I mean, I can't say because, you know, of course, I'm not there. If there were many complaints, it's probably for a reason. And more, more because of, you know, the the risk of, okay, why do we have to race like crazy here on this city circuit and loose time. We've been fighting for two weeks to maintain our position and now because of the stupid circuit.

You know, so finally what they did, initially, so the five, the five kilometer rule was already

kilometers, you get the time of the group you're in. And I think that means that it's any crash

“or mechanical riders, you can't, you can't just sit up, right? Exactly. Then, I think the”

initial, then afterwards they said, in the first instance, the way I saw it is, they were going to

change the five kilometer rule to, okay, GC is taking with five K to go. And then they kept pushing the riders and then finally they said, okay, the last lap. Once you cross across the finish line, the second last time, that's the time of GC and then the last lap is, you know, for the, for the statement, I'm, I don't think it's about decision. It just, maybe it should have been made, maybe it should have been made, decision should have been made already before the race.

You know, I agree. I think great outcome. I think it should have been, that just should have been on the schedule the whole time, right? But can they not do that with, like, is there

something in the rules that says they can't put that in beforehand? Why does this always happen during

the stage? Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I guess I guess they, you know, this, and if I have not heard any riders complain today about that decision, that the times were taken on the second, the second last time on the finish line, nobody has complained about that, right? Because nobody is going to take advantage of the situation, nobody's going to gain time on an opponent. Because we could because of this. So, I think it was a good decision.

It's just like, when we, we talked about this before before the show Spencer, the, my question is, the approval of the courses. You know, I mean, we've had, we've talked, we're talking about this many, many times, you know, stages that are super dangerous, who approved these courses? No, and when are they approved? They announced the route, what, five, six months before the race, or even more? I don't know, in the case of the zero, because it's not a normal grint or does it, yeah,

maybe eight or three months before. Then the question is, who goes and checks out these courses physically and says, okay, hey, you know what, this, this is not good, you know, does it happen? I don't think, I think it happens the morning of. They're supposed to be, you know, responsible people at the UCI, we've already talked about this. Who are these people? Are they, so I sometimes, I see that sometimes they're, they're part of the organization,

that the UCI, that the safety manager or whatever it is. So, this system does not work. There's too many instances that it's dangerous and you get to the moment or the day before or in the race, and then people say, you know, what, we can't race like this. Somebody has to check out this race, these courses, it should be done. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say, you know, they're not doing it on the forehead. They're, they're doing it once they're there,

“and then not much can be changed. Yeah, I think you're exactly right. I think that's why it happens.”

I guess in, in their defense, no, no one should really be defending that because it's unacceptable, right? They should be checking everything out far before hand. But the courses kind of don't exist until the day before, because if you and I went to check this finish out in November, with, you know, we're just in the middle of Milan. There's no course. There's no barriers set up. It doesn't look anything like it would look when the race is happening.

Yeah, that's true. I mean, the race race course changes completely. You know, you go out and check, I mean, I've done this many times with riders. You go and recon, of course, in April, and you need to imagine what it's going to look like in July. It's completely different. The same with this city circuit. You know, I'm even going to think in city circuit, like a big city like Milan, there's probably even parts where if you go in normal traffic and check it out,

you can't preview the course, because there's probably one way streets that the riders go in,

“and it's completely different. So that's why a city circuit is obviously”

always tricky to put that in. Of course, you know, you have it on the last day. You know,

that everything's done. Nobody will, nobody will do anything crazy. Usually, like, for example, on the chance it is a, when it starts to rain lightly, they usually neutralize the times, when at the entrance of the chance it has happened many times already. But it's still always in the bait in the race, in the stage. I know it's so odd. Yeah, always the same.

their wire, we constantly doing this in the middle of the stages. And yeah, it can't look good. You know, you and I are a bit very bad judges of this, because we're going to watch no matter what,

“but if you're just a regular person and you turn on HBO Max and you're like, what the hell's going on here?”

Like why are they debating the route during the stage? They just doesn't reflect that well in the sport, probably. You know, it doesn't look professional. Well, you want, let's take one more ad break and then we will go through week two, talk about who won, who lost and then what we're looking forward to in week three. Everybody, this episode is brought to you by Sally. I spent a lot of time traveling in different countries for my work, bringing on Procycling and I'm using a ton of

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smarter with Square, get started today. Okay, we are back. So just to wrap people up on week two. What happened? What where are we? We started week two on the coast. In the time trial,

stage 10 is also a weird joke, because this is our third rest day that we're going to do. But

time trial, 42 kilometer time trial, rips it, maybe a little bit of help from, we didn't talk about this

in the podcast. Maybe he passed. He must have passed 10 riders. Seven, maybe more. Seven. And he had just constant, you know, because there's a car, there's the rider, there's seven things. He's at least seven cars and seven motorbikes. Yeah, and sometimes he just looked like at least and at least, it was more. Yeah. Yeah. And then stage 11, one by Jonathan Narvias is kind of a beautiful breakaway stage when is that right? Has he won more stages than I'm forgetting? There must have been

out of a breakaway. Correct. Am I wrong? Stage 11. Yeah. He was over in Rick Moss. He was on a suit mountain stage. Yeah. And then we had the breakaway, the late, late breakaway on stage 12 should have

been was supposed to be a reduced bunch. Yeah, reduced sprint of some kind out of the peloton

by Alec Segarth and then stage 13, Alberto Bediol, another beautiful. We had a lot of beautiful wins here. Beautiful breakaway win along at Lake Majora. Stage 14 was a tough mountain stage. Visma, I don't know if we talked about this enough in the podcast, but they must have had everyone's effort broken down to the meter and they executed perfectly. Like where everyone was

“going to pull and that's why Tim Rex needed to get to that point, push himself over the limit,”

you want to spin a guard wins, takes the race lead. And then today, the breakaway, another breakaway stage win in Milan, the Johan, the comment theme here is the spinners are not getting a lot of chances. These breakaways are going up the road. If we go through the wins, we have you want to spin a guard of three wins. Jonathan Levi is just three wins. Paul Monnier is two. The only real spinner with the stage win. Thomas Silva has won Igor Arietta has won David De Valorini has won Alberto

Betial has won Cigart has won Vernus Lackon Lothick. Today's winner has won Ghana has won. And the teams are even Steven and Blicker picture. UA has four wins. Visma has three, Estana has three, so it all quicks up as to net company NEO says won by Rayna's won and UNO X has won. All of those UNO X is maybe technically smaller team, but it is a world tour team and they do put a lot of money in time in their preparation. So it's showing you that these wins are not

coming just the teams. We're going out there to race. We want to stage. You have got to be

“dialed in at this year to tell you to win a stage. Are the sprinters teams starting to get worried?”

I mean, it should all quicks up their minted. Paul Monnier, he doesn't win another stage. She still has a great tour, but is everyone else a little worried? I mean, of course, I mean, I think the difference what we see in this year compared to other races is that more breakaways actually have a chance. I mean, it's been some big ground tours where we, like breakaways just didn't have a chance. It was so controlled, either by GC or by Sprinter teams,

that breakaways didn't make it. Now, he's just named those last five stages. There's three breakaways in there, right? Before. Three. Well, it was a breakaway every day except for the time trial and then in the market. Yeah. So that's good. I mean, the day obviously is an exception. The should have been a bunch, Sprint. But yeah, I mean, I think it's, it's interesting, and it's also motivating for some teams that they do have a chance if they go in the breakaway.

I'm afraid that the days of breakaways that make it are a bit over, unless you're a really good

“climber, any in a mountain stage in a breakaway. But from now on, I think it's going to be pretty”

straight forward racing. But yeah, I mean, it's been entertaining so far. I think personally that the GC is done and dusted based on what I've seen from Jonas Ringigard and Visma's strength. But that doesn't mean that we're not going to see any interesting and interesting racing anymore.

I'm going to ask you about the GC in a second, but something else that happened today that's

interesting, or I guess on Sunday for listening to this on the rest day, that no one will notice. So Paul Mane, we were talking yesterday. I was going to win the stage. He's going to get the jersey back, the point jersey. He does get the point jersey back, but just by 14 points because he gets one point at the intermediate sprint, and he gets fit on the stage. He wins the bun sprint. He only gets 14 points though. If he would have won the stage, he gets 50. So that's a 36 point delta. He basically

misses 36 points on today's stage and then going into these next few stages. Now Vias is going to I assume go up try to go up the road and start getting intermediate sprint points. He might even win more stages because there's a multiple breakaway potential breakaway days is Paul Mane in serious

an incredible shape. So that's his big rival. I mean, it's kind of strange to see that. That's

another sprint jersey is not the rival for the Chiclamino jersey. But that's going to be an interesting battle. And if Nalviz gets in a break and has, I mean, what are the points for

“non sprint stages? Is it the same point? I believe it's the last. So it's 50 first a sprint”

stage. It's. Oh, wow. It's really dynamic. So I guess today was was 15 points. If we go back to stage 11, Nalviz got 25 points, you know, that stage. But then some of the might be like stage nine might have been 30 points at the finish. That's still 15. Yeah. It should be a bud sprint. So that's going to be 50 points, right? So could be it could be it could very well be that the point jersey is not decided until room. And that might be I might be what we have to look forward to. We've

reached this for the rest of this race. Also another classification that's not GC, KOM. So I'm sure everyone's locked in on this. But you want us to find a guard as a one point lead over Pablo, Savilla, Diego, Diego, Pablo, Savilla. And then Phillip Skull is behind. Sorry. Now, I'm on the wrong stage.

“I think Chicone is third, and that's what I was going to ask you about. So sorry. Jardie Christian”

Van der Lee is second. And then Chicone is third. Vinegar is 161 points. Chicone has 75. This chunk, just Chicone have a chance here. No, no, not even if he gets into every break away. Yeah, but the Vinger guard is going to score points on those last, uh, on those last amount of finishes. So that would mean that Chicone goes in the break, gets all the points. And actually stays up front to score points on the last climb, which is going to be difficult.

Yes. So I think you want us, I think you want us to win the mountains classification without trying. So a cat one climb is 40 points. A cat one finishing climb is 50 points. That's Jonas's big advantage. Like Tuesday's stage, you know, that's a cat one climb finishing climb, but it's probably

“not a break away. You look at stage 19. I think stage 19 could be a break away. Potentially,”

that would be the one, that's that would be where Chicone would win a stage, I think. And then maybe even probably not Bianca Vallo, because that's two passes of a cat one climb that's going to be hard for a break away. All right. So your trick is, yeah, but it's, you know, what at the same time Spencer is the least of Jonas's finger guard's concerns. Not Blue Jersey. Well, he's not in the thing about it. No, I mean, he does not cry, but if he, if he

doesn't get it, so what? I mean, fine. Is that a flaw in the KOM? I think it's never good when you have

a rider that's not trying to win something and is winning it over riders that are trying and not winning. I mean, I mean, I've seen many times also like, for example, you know what? I mean, I don't know if they changed the system, not the point system. But you know, there was a, there were many times in the tour of Spain, for example, that the GC guys were also in the lead for the point jersey. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That happens a lot. It's in Spain. Yeah. So, you know, those, those,

obviously those other classifications maybe, you know, people should think about changing the system. It's kind of strange to see that especially the mountains classification, right? It's, it happens a lot in the ground to worse unless, you know, you have riders like without sharing. I mean, but it happens a lot that the KOM is won by somebody who's by far, not best climber. When the tour of the being in the good and the tour will do these things too. I mean,

whether they like double points for the highest point or something, so you know, it's basically an HD climb with double points. It's like whatever wins that is probably going to win the whole thing. Like it's not really a competition over three weeks. What was your highlight from the second week? Just personal highlight highlight highlight. I mean, I think, I mean, there was not that much. I mean, I think, you know what, the, the stage had bit your one.

I found that really entertaining. I think that was, that was pure pure class. You could say, okay, Ghana, we expected him to win, didn't expect him to win with two minutes and the average

speed of almost 56 kilometers per hour was incredible. Was it 56 or 55? 55, no?

That was 55.9. Okay. Check. Okay. So that was obviously incredible. The 44.9. So the performance of finger guard yesterday on the last climb was incredible. I think

the breakaway of, if you know, lackness of them bet your and those other three or four guys.

“And then I think that was, yeah, that was a really entertaining stage.”

But it's kind of funny about, I did think that was a great stage. So that stage, and today, just completely decoupled from the GC and TV, they would call this a bottle episode. So you have a season long arc. They don't do it as much anymore. But they would have 22 episodes and it's season, and you'd have like episodes. They're just completely decoupled from the greater narrative.

And that's kind of what some of these stages of felt like. That is common in the second week of

a grant tour. But sometimes it's a regret. I find it to be a refreshing break. If you were building the sport from the ground up right now, you'd say, that's stupid. Don't do that. Why would anyone watch a bit of a quarter of basketball? Like this one has no bearing on the final score. We're just going to play for fun. Say, this is stupid. But today, I was just having a good time watching the race. Same thing with stage 13. It's just sometimes it's nice to get away from the

tension of GC as a viewer, which sounds ridiculous because why would we feel be feeling pressure or stress? But these tend to be my favorite stages as a viewer. Yeah. Yeah. And so obviously, you know, I think my personal highlight was probably fees my yesterday. That was just I just couldn't believe how well coordinate they were. Then that's not even their best team for this type of stage. It just shows you the buy-and-guys have on that team. You know, like you're going to do this,

and you're going to feel like you're dying. And you're going to do it for the team. And they get

“people to do it. That's what Tim Rex did. Yeah. Almost died. Let me literally.”

No, that was a super performance. I don't think we can say we should be surprised. You know, we could see that coming. And especially if you have a rider who's so good as vingigart in this

race, so dominant, everybody does the job to perfection almost. And yeah, that was an amazing

performance. So Jonas had a pretty good week. Other than Jonas, who, like who is your surprise in the GC and who do you think's the best position going into week three? Obviously, goes without saying Jonas went to guard in a great position, but outside of him. Obviously, a lot of you are still in seconds. I think nobody would have thought that after 15 stages. There's still a lot of hard stages to come though. It's going to be not easy

to fit him to stay there. But let's, you know, the other guys are also getting tired. I think Phoenix's goal is in pole position to be second in this year, based on what you've seen,

“especially in climbing wise. And then, I think the battle for the podium is going to be interesting.”

You know, we have a odd and small, we have Jay Hindley, Billy Zardis there, a lot of you. Sorry to go wind in road, but he's here. Yeah. Made it where he was meant to be. I'm going to favor Jay Hindley for the podium. I think he looks good. He's usually pretty good in the last week. It looked good yesterday also. It doesn't really come to the attention so much because Jonas went to guard with so dominant. But I think the thing and Hindley did a really good

race yesterday. And I think the podium for me is going to be Jonas and your guard, Phoenix's goal, Jay Hindley, those three. I, yeah, Jay Hindley, I thought they're scary. I mean, he was pulling time back on the field of skull at the end of that stage. He looks, he looks very good.

And if you are trying to get on the podium and you're not Jay Hindley, you're looking at the third

week thinking that looks pretty good for Jay Hindley. And he's riding for a new contract. Or I mean, he may have signed one already, but you can only make it better with his performances. If Jay is there, the podium of the Giro, it's going to up his value. Whether he has signed or not, he's going to earn more money because of this third position. Is there tension in situations like that between someone like Jay Hindley and Pigginsoli and Pigginsoli, he's thinking, I don't like,

you are not only my rival in this race, you're potentially my rival next year for leadership in races. No, absolutely not. Pigginsoli, the young guy. I mean, you have a 16 year old, do you think a young guy with this type of success? I can't wait to work for people. No, absolutely big it. I'm the man. I'm the next Marco Bentani. No, there's no tension. I don't. There's no he goes in the sport. There is. There is, but it's something

I got nervous when I saw him climbing in the drops. Spencer, we don't know if it's not

going to be true, but it's not confirmed. So we don't. Everybody, this episode is brought to you

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let's say finish the second. And then his value gets too high. Everyone says, wait, he's going to

be smart. They give him a better offer and then reason we can't afford him anymore. Like that could happen. You could write himself out of his contract with Beesma. And then who do you think is going

“to say? So you think the final GC is Jonas feels gall, gently. Yeah, that's what I think.”

And where do you think it would allow the old finishes up? 4 to 5th. Should more teams based on what we saw today, all these breakaway standaway, the fact that we'll all hear is probably going to finish top 5 at this race? Should people think about breakaways in the first week differently? It's not going to be easy for both top 5. You know, if you look at top 10, it's not so easy. Well, I don't see one. I'm really sorry,

my may actually catch him, I think. You know, he's kind of the only rider who's not been in this situation. He may slip, he may slip, but I mean, it doesn't, he's going to do a great deal. I mean, he already had a great deal. And now, you know, no more pressure, it can go both ways, but I'm going to, I'm going to put him out of the top 5. I'm going to say out and spend a pretty dirty or competing the top 5. So I'm going to list who's below him and you tell me who he's safe from,

feel a skull. I saw that to know. Orangeman. He's stuck. He behind 34, sorry, 37 seconds. No. Jai Henley. No. Pelazari's two minutes behind. Probably will pass him. Michael Stor is one, two, twenty behind. Stor is tough, tough guy. You know, that's his position.

Stor, I mean, he may stay out of Stor. And then O'Connor is three minutes behind him.

“No. It's the go-conners. Cook, I think. The only thing is, yeah. Yeah. And the Derek,”

Derek, G West, he is over three minutes behind, the Mulalio. He's probably safe from him. He would get his climbing. Three minutes is nothing. With the stages, we still have. It's nothing assuming the person is a good climber. And it doesn't look like Derek, she West is climbing that well. I mean, he's not bad. He's not climbing. He's not taking time back on him. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And today was also, you know, that the fact that he had the gum, the may say, you know what, let's maybe forget a little bit about GC. I mean, that was not a big effort, the long effort, tomorrow's rest day. So, doesn't matter that much. But, you know, if he would have been in fight for the podium, Derek G does not take those pulls today. No. No. I mean, that was like true desperation. And he kind of knew that it wasn't, it was already probably. In less Derek G,

can do 65k an hour for 45 minutes, probably not going to pull those guys back. Pig and Zola, and then you like, Pig and Zola and Rundell. I don't think they're going to catch him. Probably. So, probably not. So, should more, you know, if we went back and watched this

first week, we'd say, wow, teams are really being flipping a lot about opportunities. Like,

think back to stage two with that, sorry, stage three, that breakaway almost makes it. And like, what should more teams be up here trying to win stages in non-sprint fashion, and then Lollio on stage six is when he took the time. I believe, should more, I guess, more capable climbers think about doing that versus sitting around waiting to lose time. The tricky thing is, you don't know you're about to, you don't know you're going to lose time in the future. I guess

would be the pushback. But, yeah, well, just for example, you're talking about, for example, I'm talking about the G and Ben O'Connor. No, no, no, no. They're going to high-profile. It'd be like, you know, like Rundell, but is he learning, is it so valuable for him to ride the way he's riding and then do it? You know what Spencer, it's not, okay, you make it sound simple,

“and you know, but it's not easy to get into breakaway's man. You know, you have to be really,”

really good. And some of those climbers actually sometimes don't have the power to go in those breakaways. They're, they come to the front when it's there terrain, but in order to get in a break like that, you need to be really strong and be able to empty yourself for like five, ten minutes and then recover from it for, you know, to be able to hang on and have an possibility to win the stage. So it's not, it's not easy to get in breakaways, at least not those breakaways that were really

you know, on those hard stages, like the stages, not a vice, one of the stages that I'd eat that one, the stage that but you're one, those are hard for breakaways, man. It's difficult to get in there. You're probably right, that a lot, I'm overestimating a lot of these, because there's a lot, especially stage, the stage area at a one, if you go back, it is extreme power to get into that move. You guys are just getting punched out of there.

But if you go back to stage three, just in terms of stage winds, our teams too flipping about these breakaway opportunities early in Grand Tours. There was essentially no contest for any breakaway in Bulgaria. Should I guess that I'm a stake in retrospect? No, no, because at that point in the race, teams are still complete. Everybody's still fresh. They're going to bring it back, you know, nothing has happened yet in terms of physical

destruction of a team. Today, it's a different game. You can see that they were desperate and they just didn't have it. But the stage three, now I mean, Sprinter teams are going to do what they have to do and you don't have much of a chance. And then what do you think, who's your biggest, I, yeah, that is a good point. It's hard. It's hard when the fatigue isn't there.

What's going to be the biggest GC surprise in this third week? I can tell you the stages with

“that helps. If you want to hear. So we have really a goofy stage on Tuesday. Like a goofy in a”

good way, 113 kilometers is a summit finish. Once stage takes place in Switzerland and it's a hard summit finish, 8% of the 11 and a half K. We'll get you take on who's going to win that in a second. And then you have stage 17, 222 K over mountains, probably a break away and then finishes up hill.

So not so easy to win that stage. 18 is kind of the most interesting in terms of could it be a sprint stage? Could it not be a sprint stage? It's rolling flat finish. But there is a steep climb 10 to 15 K before the finish. So are you if your sprinter, you just get dropped there. That would not be great. Stage 19, brutal, brutal, Dolomide Spent Stage 151 K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 categorized climb, including the Paso jow, which is the highest point of this race.

2300 meters basically. Stage 20 is a stage in frilly. It has one mountain piancaballo, but they do a

twice and it's 14 and a half K long at 8%. So it's kind of similar to the Monte Grappestage on in 2024 on stage 20 that we got your one. And then stage 21 in sprint stage in Rome, presumably unless it's a break away. But what do you think the biggest GC surprise is going to be?

“I don't think we're going to see. I mean the only thing I mean the only thing we can hope for is that”

Hindley and Bellidzari improve a little bit. I mean they've been struggling a bit, especially Bellidzari. Other than that, I don't think Phoenix Gal is going to fade. He's not going to be able to stay with

Jonas, but he's ahead of everybody else. You could see Hindley's coming a bit closer to Gal.

That's that's hopeful. But in GC surprises, I don't see any. I don't see any. Maybe, I mean, I don't know. He said he maybe began solely in the top 10. If you can call that a surprise, that could be, but you know, he said that that's not an objective. So probably not. I don't know. I mean, if you're talking about 7, 8, 9 and 10, you can't. I mean, that's really open, right? I mean, it's hard to be 6, 7 or 8 in a ground tour. You don't get me wrong.

Many riders would love to be in the top 10 and a ground tour. But it's also, you know, once you're off the podium, especially once you're out of the top 5, not many people carry anymore, right? About 7, 8 or 9 possession. I mean, people, the public doesn't know. I mean, if I ask you who was 6 in the tour of France last year? I know. Yeah, isn't that funny that you don't know? No, I will not know. I would say Kevin Vachlan, just I would just guess that, but I might have

been fifth or something actually. I don't know. Jordi, Jay, got in Kevin Vachlan. That's the only two guys I know below. No, I was, was God not fifth last year. Go was fifth, you're right. It was fourth. Oscar only. Yeah, only, goal. Who was 6? Could be 4 people. I'm not sure. I think teams and

“riders do care about that a lot. Oh, you should have fun, especially the people who know with”

most is the rider and his fans and his family, right? Yeah. But I mean, I remember like once I was,

once I was 7 in the tour of France, right? I mean, for me, it was, it was an incredible performance.

And my family and my whole village, I got received at the village, you know, when I got back from Paris and nobody else knows about this. Who, who nobody knows, right? But it's a big accomplishment for an athlete, especially if it's somebody who's not expected to be there. But I don't know. I don't see any any big surprises. You know, usually after two weeks, Spencer, the car's are played and everybody, you will constantly see the same five-sick riders who are

the strongest in the mountains. Maybe, you know, there's a little bit of shuffling for fifth, six,

“they're seventh, but, you know, doctorate up for that's kind of, it's kind of done. It was in one of the same”

now in the mountains stages. And that's, well, here help, and now that's kind of interesting. So your goal is fifth. Tobias, Holland, New Hansen, six at the Tour de France last year. That's a big result for that guy. Big, that's a big result. Rock, Rock, Rich, eighth, not a big result. Heally, ninth, that's a big result for him. Jordan, Jaga is a big result. So this guy is going to fight hard for it. So this is, you're on. I thought the same thing. Then I went back and I started watching old

zeros. 2016, Stephen Coisewix, running away with it. Jim Vincenzo, Nebulae makes up minutes, minutes in the last few stages. We did not see that coming. Coisewix goes into it. Snowbank loses the race. Shocking. Didn't see that coming. Stage 17, Dumlan has it wrapped up with a bow. Oh, he has to pull over and poop at the bottom of the, of the stelvio. Terrible timing. He's still one, right? One but by seconds. You know, it was a sub minute win because of that and it was

he was second. He was second. I don't know. It was going to be night again. I don't know. Sure.

You know, you could just, yeah, you could say Antona for any grand tour between 2010 and 2020.

“And you'd probably be right. But yes, he was second. I think he believed it was third.”

2018 Simon Yates as it wrapped up. That actually very controlled race. If you talk about a race that with no breakaways and property mistake and retrospect, who was Jaco, they weren't maybe they were some other name at the time, but they just had that thing on a tight leash. Chris Froome, solo breakaway comes from behind and wins. We don't see that one coming. I was shocked, shocked by that. 2019 Richard Carp has wins over Nebulaly and Roglic, kind of unexpected, but he was

super strong. We saw that one coming in the third week. Tailgate can hurt 2020 comes out of nowhere

to win that race in the third week. He was, you go back to 2020 state. I'm just going to pull up stage where we are right now. Stage 15. Tailgate can hurt his three minutes behind, 12-metre race goes on to win it. You know, go second. You know, about second, then in that Jiro, Woko, Kelderman, did end third? Jai Henley. And Lee, exactly. That is, it just continues too. Yeah. 2021, Eagleman all wins. That's pretty textbook. 2022,

Jai Henley wins in the on stage 20. Technically, kind of surprising, but the signs were there.

Primus Roglic, 2023, he wins by 14 seconds. Stage 20, but again, the signs were kind of there.

2024, no surprises, but got your wins. 2025, last year, 7/8 comes from left field to win that thing on stage. So, the history would suggest it's not wrapped up. And you know, what's funny is the Jiro's kind of the only one of the grand tours like this in the last years.

“That's better. I mean, I think this is just, you can't compare. First of all, because we have”

except Pogacha. We have the strongest stage racer of the last five, six years, the ground tour racer. Plus, the competition is not anywhere. I mean, they are not a threat for you on us. They're not in the same league. You know, if you look at, you can say, okay, Simon Yee, it's got a pass, they'll Toronto last year. You know, you can't really say, okay, this guy's like one level ahead of the other guys. You know, Croix Wake was about to win, nobody was a better ground tour rider. Unfortunately,

it was because of a crash. If you look at, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was Simon Yee's right? Who was, was in the league? Yeah, I was in, yeah, he wasn't. Yeah, but he was funny is, but he did leapfrog, he leapfrog doom-along, too. So, it wasn't just Simon Yee's falling apart. Yeah. That's 26, well, room was from, room was a big champion. I mean, he's, yes, I mean, it's not like, so, in this year old Spencer, that's, we're not going to see a scenario like that, at least not

for the win. We could see something like that for the podium. I'm not saying that could not happen, but not for the win. You know, I guess we're going to talk about stage 16, you know, on Tuesday. Yeah, but here, this is crazy. So, stage 8, the end of stage 18 and 2016. Finchenson, he believed we remember him winning from the crash. He was fourth place. There's two other riders that are not Stephen Croixwick. He's four minutes, 43 seconds down at the end of

stage 18 and he wins that race. Yeah. Like that. Yeah, just Snipes, Chavez, and Belverday, pretty impressive in retrospect, but yeah, stage 16 on Tuesday is a goofy stage out of a rest. It's going to be fast. It's going to be hard because there's one, but it's super hard to, you know, 100, 130 kilometers only with five categories climb. Five times, and especially the last climb, you know, 11.7 kilometers, 8% hard climb, and then especially the last one and a half kilometer.

“It's constantly around 10% with some parts at 13%. So, GCD, it's a short title. I think”

this must going to do the same, same strategy. You know, they're strong enough. And I think that Jonas can comfortably look what happens on the last climb and could in theory with a relatively short effort. In the last one and a half two kilometers, take another 30, 40 seconds and just wrap it up and then say, okay, guys, now you guys fight for it. I'll just stay close to my big rivals.

few stages. Yeah, I think you're right. I think, I mean, I agree. I think Jonas is going to win.

“Let's talk about what scenarios happen where he does not win this.”

Breakaway. Yeah, but where is a breakaway? Yeah. Yeah, it's your right. If it's a fight for GCD, then there's nobody beating him. And I know we just, we just don't find about how the breakaway is are dominating this race, but where does a breakaway? Yeah, I mean, but on stages like this, Spencer's, they're 113k long. I mean, I don't know, even though where they would build up the town. Especially Spencer, if you see the strength of Fisma on the yesterday stage,

you know, how much damage they were doing on the last climb and how very few people could stay with them. I mean, when begun's only pulled off, what was there was seven riders, eight riders left maximum, and three of them were hanging on for like dear life. I think Fisma can control this stage. Perfectly, there's not that much, there's not that much. But it's that they after a rest day, okay, but you know, you don't either all of a sudden magically get a lot of new energy

after the rest day. So there's not many guys anymore who can go and breakaways that are dangerous.

“That's the only way, one of the things your guard doesn't mean the stage. If there's a breakaway”

and Visma decides voluntarily to let it go. I'm not killed. And they can do that. I mean, they don't have to win the stage, you know. That, I mean, that would be the downside that you bet on Jonas, the odds are not out yet, but I'll probably bet on Jonas. But you know what Spencer,

I mean, if you look, right, I mean, if there's a breakaway, first of all, the amount of, I mean,

five clients is going to be fast for the breakaway and for the Peloton. The difference here is that for this stage, Visma is not going to get any more help now. Until now, they still have got the help from Brian, right? Because until yesterday, Alalia was still in pink, that's done now. Brian is not going to pull anymore now. I mean, or unless they're stupid, but I don't think so. There would be, that would be something else. Or whatever. I mean, if we see that there might have

been an agreement saying, hey, you know, what we let you have this, this pink jersey for nine days, but you keep helping us, makes no sense. But so the thing is with a, with a climb like this at the end, the hardest time of the whole stage, 11.7 km at 8%. The breakaway needs to have three, more than three minutes at the bottom of the guy. Maybe four, five, depending on who's there, right? Because 8% average man, that's not an easy climb, you know, let me hold on. This

climb is going to be a 40 minute long climb. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's a lot. Yeah. So yeah, three, four minutes. And then think how long, how long have they've been racing by the time they get to the bottom? Exactly. Yeah. Two and a half hours. How about, what's the elevation of the stage? Well, it's, it's a, it's a lot of elevation. It's three, it's 3,000 meters. But the final climb is

basically two thirds of that must be, the last, it must be nine hundred meters at a

elevation. No? If it's 11 more kilometers at 8%. What finishes at 16.45. And it starts around 400. So just a little bit more than here. It's like a, yeah. Anyway, I don't really more than 11.7 kilometers then. Because if I guess, yeah, they're not counting like the, the roll into it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If you have 11.7 kilometers at 8% that's

“probably like, I mean, 900 meters of elevation. That's what, that's why the metric system's great.”

So I'm just going to say the last 30 k of the stage. They only system Spencer, only system. You guys with your miles and your feet and this and that, you know, it's such a mess. I mean, the Nate Bargazzi. We have, we have meters, kilometers, kilograms, grams, super, super, super simple. Two, two confusing. I mean, how many, how many meters are on a kilometer? No one thousand. It's, I mean, okay, here, here's, here's a question for you,

Spencer. So you, you count in miles, right? A mile. Yeah. What's, what's the next, what's the next smaller unit of measurement? Is it yards? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. You are, I guess. How many yards are in one mile? Oh, my God. Oh, I think I know. You don't know that answer then your system is

three feet in a yard, something like that. Yeah. And in which universe does that make sense?

“This kind of, well, I kind of play of measuring. I will say in our defense,”

there's 1,166 yards in a mile. We'll come up with this. We didn't, this is the race, yeah. Okay. And then they switch on us. What's that? So in the last 30 k of the stage, they

gained basically 1500 meters. So that you're going to see time starting to come back. Like they,

so the first 92 90 k of the stage is 1500 meter elevation, which is a lot, but that's, you know, they're going to cover that in, you know, what two and a half hours probably. Right. How much time

“could you possibly have built up over that? I think you're going to spend the guard as well.”

I think you own his wins. And I think he, as you said yesterday, he just, the class is higher. He's just at a higher class than the rest of his guys. Yeah. Different, different league. Nothing they can do on the stage like tomorrow. Tomorrow is the perfect stage form. I don't think it's going to be a break away. You have anything else you want for tomorrow's stage? For Tuesday stage tomorrow. We have, oh, yeah. We have a rest day. Right.

It's tomorrow. Who will know who knows when someone's listening to this? Yeah, Tuesday stage. Day before the last week of the year. Are you going to have a ride? Are you going to ride on a rest day? Well, here's a beautiful, beautiful thing about tomorrow. Monday in the US is holiday. So the kids are home. So not really a day off at all. Oh, okay. So I need to, I need to push it tomorrow. I'm Spencer and I don't want to sound too negative, but man, I'm taking advantage in our

challenge, you know, or yearly miles battle, the kilometer battle. I'm even wondering if I, I might give up riding. But that's another, that's a sublot for a nine grand tour day. No, it's like it's riding the dumbest thing ever. Like we go out.

“Oh, don't worry, honey, I could get hit by a car and die. I'm like, what are we doing?”

It's a stupid. Should we not be riding our bikes? Yeah, I wrote today and I'm going to write tomorrow. So how far are you going to go tomorrow? Not so. I mean, maybe I can 90 get 90 k, probably. Nice. Yeah. All right. Well, Yohan, we'll be back on Tuesday to break down.

Probably you straight forward mountain stage, but as I said, is your time and you never know what's

going to happen. So we'll see how it's screwed up. Vidyama. Talk to you later. Like the Italians would say, Vidyama. We will see. We will see.