This podcast is sponsored by IQ Bar.
I've got good news and bad news. Here's the bad news.
“Most protein bars are packed with sugar and unpronounceable ingredients.”
The good news? There's a better option. I'm well and I created IQ Bar plant protein bars to empower doers like you with lean, delicious, low-sugar brain and body fuel. IQ bars are packed with 12 grams of protein, brain nutrients like magnesium and lion's mane and zero weird stuff.
And right now you can get 20% off all IQ bar products, plus reshipping. Try our delicious IQ bar sampler pack with 7 plant protein bars, 4 hydration mixes and 4 enhanced coffee sticks.
Cleaning ingredients, amazing taste and you'll love how you feel.
Refuel smarter, hydrate harder, caffeinate larger with IQ Bar. Go to eatiqbar.com and enter code bar 20 to get 20% off all IQ bar products, plus reshipping. Again, go to eatiqbar.com and enter code bar 20. As you can see, this is going to be an amazing test and an amazing, you know,
“think the watch for all of us, you have to see how good Ball Success is compared to”
to Taliyah Pugachar. For the moment there's been one confrontation to have a Bianquet. I don't know if you could say easy, but you know, he dropped Pugachar drop Ball Success from the wheel. And then six hours finished, finished seconds. In the meantime, what happened with the condition was Pugachar already 100% instead of Bianquet?
Was Ball Success 100%? Are they both better now? We don't know.
To me, it seems like they're always on a really, really high level the whole season round.
There's not, there's never any moment where they look a little off-form. But, you know, tomorrow's the big, no, on Sunday, it's the big, it's the big test, you know, to see where we can rate Ball Success compared to Taliyah. Hey everybody, welcome back to the move. I'm Spencer Martin. I'm here with the Johann Bernill. We are popping in midweek to break down Flesh Ballone, which we just watched,
which we just saw Paul, six hours, win 19 years old, youngest winner, ever in history of the race. We'll talk about what it means for the upcoming leaders best on the edge. We'll also check in with the tour of the Alps, three stages in, two more to go. Tom Picker, just one today stage, looking good for the age on Sunday. Johann, let's start with Flesh Ballone since we just watched it and it is fresh in our mind. Before we get into that, is there someone with you that wants to
say hello to us? Yeah, at General Request also, over audience, Mr. Bobby is back.
“Back on the show, there he is. He's keeping an eye on everything and Bobby, did you enjoy Flesh Ballone?”
What did you think? Not much. That's pretty good summation of the race. Say something, Bobby. He wants to go back, he just woke him up from a nap, so. Okay. Yeah. All right, good. Yeah, Spencer, listen, I think the results as we expected, although it still had to be done, right? I mean, we were all, no, we'll say, Sus, obviously. But let's not forget, you know, as you said,
the kid and I think we should call him still a kid. He's 19 years old, had never
raised or trained or seen the mirror of who he had to press before two days ago when they did a recall. He remembers it from sitting on the sofa and watching his idols raise it. That's the impression he had for, you know, and it's, of course, it looks super, super hard on TV. It's a lot harder in real life. But yeah, I mean, listen, the legs, the legs do the talking, right? And on mirror of mirror the we, especially if it's a traditional final, a traditional approach, as we have seen today, he's the best,
and especially in this field, you know, pogachars not there. You know, not so it's, you know, an incredible climber's not there, Remko's not there. But there's others there, you know, scale also, for example, who was second in an armstool and one armstool last year was there, you know, ex-winners were there, right? You know, like Hirshi and Alafelip who unfortunately both of them abandoned one of them to a crash. I don't know what to put the drone with Alafelip. But,
listen, incredible performance, as I said, you know, as expected, but, you know, the pressure
On this guy must must be big because everybody expected him to do what he did...
So, hats off to him congratulations, Paul Seixas. Yeah, and it seems straightforward, you're right, it, it looks straightforward. Wow, boy and race. We should say we were talking about this in the pre-show. It's 200 K long, four and a half hours. So, it's not the longest race ever, but it's four and a half hours of racing with 3,000 meters of vertical gain. That's 10,000 feet basically. And so there is load going into your legs as this is happening. And you also have to manage the final
“climb right. You have to go in in good position. Kevin Vaclon, we're running up the past two years.”
I believe just was in poor position. Never recovered. It was also on his teammates bike,
which cannot help those guys. I assume they're pretty dialed in on their bike fits. Yeah, you have to go in correctly. Did they cast one, get some there perfectly? A little like they kind of botched at the base. They have a teammate way off the front, pulling people off, but it's fine. Sasha has a, I guess, where we call them, Sasha has a success. I mean, he brings her practice there. He brings out his name, Paul's success. If I've heard and people
have been writing in, as we said, it's Portuguese roots. Apparently in Portuguese, it would be sex. Sasha's interesting. Okay. But Paul is French, so his dad is French. I think his grandparents would probably Portuguese. So yeah, it's, it's Paul's success. Yeah, I mean, I guess I'm saying my name incorrectly, if I think about it. But I should change to Spencer Martinez. So he keeps, he keeps open space in front of them early on the climb.
You would imagine watching it and saying, wow, he's, he's gone too early. But in reality, with a climb like this, probably the mistake you would make is going in too far back. If you are the strongest writer and you have open space in front of you, as long as you're not just sprinting all out and then exploding, you're probably going to be okay. It kind of reminded me, you're on about like a really good boxer, just holding, holding people off
just enough and then knocking them out at the very end. He didn't look too bothered, which is impressive, since we're talking about a 19-year-old who had not seen the climb before two days ago, just in general, his poise and ability to control these races,
“that's what impresses me more than the Ron numbers, which we did some calculations in the show.”
Well, I mean, you know, on the mood that we, it's very simple, Spencer. You know, the moment the moment you could see, I mean, there was, there wasn't a tack of success, but, you know, everybody, including him, they were already at the limit, they were at their maximum. So, usually it's the guy who has the strongest legs, there's no draft because it's so sweet. Yeah.
And then he just rode away from them because he was more powerful, he had better legs, he was
stronger. There's not much tactics, you know, especially because I think he went, but like he really went with 300 meters to go, you know, he accelerated a bit in the saddle, I think with 500 meters to go, and then you could see already. So, Schmidt actually, Schmidt was the fourth guy initially, and he got, he got a bit of space, you know, he got dropped a bit, finally finished the second, because he's the guy who had most left in the last 50 meters, I think. And then Ben Tullett and Ben
Wakos and the Frower were third and fourth. So, Schmidt really, I mean, speaking about Mauro Schmidt, Spencer, I mean, great second, I mean, he already has, he's been in front the whole season already,
“since down under, he was up there, right? I think he was second and down under, right?”
In the second and down under, and then fourth could all have been his greatest in road race, and then
wins the Mousca classic, mastery from Australia. Yeah. Yeah. And so he has, he rode an incredible
smart race, you know. Flash for a loan is one of those races. It's, it's, it's draining. It's, you know, there's, there's climbs, there's, it's not just the mirror of who he, right? I mean, there's, there's, they do three times the mirror of who he but in between, there's other climbs, in the other way as you don't get to 3000 meters of elevation with these short climbs, because the movie is only a kilometer long, a kilometer 100 long. And it's constantly, you know, there's also
narrow roads, the teams are lining up, they're bringing the leaders to the front. It's a battle, a constant battle, which the cost a lot of energy for the teams will also for the leaders. Maurer Schmidt, if, if you, if you go back and watch the race, he has ridden the whole race in the last 10 guys of the peloton. And just made one move, you know, but just made sure that on the second last climb, he was, he was moved up, and then made one move on the bottom of the mirror to be,
You have to be strong to do that, of course, right?
point during the race and finish the second. So pretty smart race. Yeah, it was probably the one race
“you can be confident you're not going to cut out in a split, because when, I mean, when's the last”
time we even saw this thing split up? I mean, especially if it's good weather, yeah, you know, it wouldn't be windy, but, you know, if you're on good condition, you make sure, I mean, I'm saying in the last, he was often seen when the, when the cameras were filming the peloton from behind,
he was often seen there, but he's never been, you know, after some climbs when it lined up,
he was never in the last 5 or 10 guys, you know, that that tail of the peloton that, you know, everybody's on the limit and then they get dropped, he was not there. Obviously, you know, if you're strong enough, you kind of move up a little bit on those climbs and you're always in that pack, right? But strong performance of him too. Yeah, and we should also say Ben to let getting third super impressive performance. Didn't, I didn't see that coming to let look like he looked,
I didn't think he was going to win, but I thought, man, his pulse is just going to drop this guy. I, he didn't know he was getting a gap, but man, though he was strong,
“mid and to let were really good. He was the last guy to stay with, uh, it's a success, right?”
And then, uh, I mean, for some reason, I think he must have been sick or out of the injury, because he saw that he did not start the pain. I'm still gold trace. He was planned to do that race. And then in his race interview, post race interview, he said that, you know, this morning, he almost didn't know if he was going to start. So maybe he was coming back from illness,
and also his first ever podium in a world to race. So important, important day for him.
You know, it's obviously a really good rider and a guy who takes his opportunities when the big leaders of Fismar are not there. Yes. Yeah. I mean, and also Visma, like, just they've really assembled a good team without spending an overwhelming amount of money. You know, they had no big stars here, and they have a guy in third on the podium of a world to a race of an Arden's classic. So who does to Visma for, for post team together? We should say, so Paul
success wins only by three seconds. Wow, he could have done better. No, I mean, that's that's a big gap for Fush below. And just for the people who wanted the numbers, the last K was about two minutes, 43 seconds. I estimate him at 573 watts. So nine watts per kilo. That's impressive. Right. That looks good. But short, but the crazy thing about it is that's not really a climb that's that great for him. Like this is not what he's best at and he still looked this
“in control. That that's what I think. I think I think success is probably better on, you know,”
10, 15, 20 minute efforts. You know, and then also Spencer, you know, I just want to, I mean, before, I mean, I'm sure we're going to see, you know, on social media, people who are comparing the times one second. Bobby is asking for attention. He's back. He's just going to stay here with me.
So he did 243, right, sex us. People are always comparing times, right? And they can say,
"Oh, you know, he's the best. You know, he got you our last year, one in 255." No bad weather, a different race. He's washed up. Steve Williams. Where's that guy, by the way? hasn't raised since May of last year, knee injury, apparently, a very, very nagging knee injury. Three minutes in 11, even worse weather was terribly cold. I mean, you remember those guys shaking and falling off their bikes after the finish. Steve Williams wanted with a rain jacket, by the way.
So, you know, he's now the third fastest rider. He is so faster than last year's time of Pogachar, faster than when Pogachar won in 2023. There's 243 is the third fastest time. There's only Valverde and Alafilippe who have done it in 241. But again, you know, before people start to come to conclusions, you cannot compare times. It's fast, it's super fast. Also, if you look, Spencer, the third and the second, the third and the fourth have also gone faster.
Then Pogachar's best time. And so, you know, and compared to last year's time of Pogachar, the top 12 has done faster than Pogachar. So, we're going to catch the trouble, man. He's going out. He's even going to top 10, the two friends. He cannot, you cannot compare times of a race. You know, weather conditions are different. And then, especially also, the way their race has developed, this was a fast race all overall. I mean, 43.5 kilometers average.
3000 meters of elevation that's super fast, the whole race.
for a short effort like this, if it's a kilometer, the first 200 meters of that climb are super important. Now, because usually you get to, you get to, you mirror the Wii and there's already, it's lined up and people are looking, this time they came as a bunch, basically being drawn into the beginning and the first 200 meters were super fast. So, you know, you can't compare, but anyway, he's up there with, with the fastest times, which is, which is impressive.
Yeah, but if you know, for example, look, you go back to, to 2004, which is 22 years ago. What Bobby? What? What? Sorry, man. 22 years ago, David Arebelin won. May his sole rest in peace in 247. Only four seconds slower than today's winner. And this is 22 years ago, imagine the bikes, you know, that if, I mean, the whole Palatom was, was definitely not trained
“and optimized like, like today. And still, you know, you have to, what his tires were inflated to,”
probably, yeah, 10 millimeter wide tires. And the bikes, the, the wheels, you know, the wheels, nobody was riding on aero wheels back then. You know, usually back then it was okay, it's a hilly race, low profile wheels. That was the standard. You know, yet, that's funny. Yes, today I was with, with somebody who does biomechanical studies for a world two team. And he said that, you know, it's that the bikes are so aero now and especially under wheels,
that nobody is considering even for mountain stages to use the climate climbing mass or history, they're done. Yes, I agree. Yeah, so much difference. As soon as you go over 40 kilometers
per hour, which the pros are almost always doing, you know, and even on the climbs, they're doing
“30 kilometers per hour, if it's not super steep, um, an aero bike, an aero wheels are always”
going to be faster. Yeah, I came away from this last winter. I was a little shocked actually how fast this has happened, but essentially the climbing bike has been killed in the last 12 months. It's all the aerobikes. But I mean, yeah, we shouldn't like comparing times has its limitations. Paul, success, great ride. He doesn't even, he ties my quids for the KOM on the climb on track. We can't just say like, oh, my quids would have won today. Like, it's just a different,
it's different races, different speeds, still impressive. But just to give people an example of how fast this is, that's 15 miles an hour. And you've ever seen this climb. It is like unbelievably steep. It's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. And then speeds are crazy. The speeds are crazy. Paul success, and his last going back to Strata Bianchi, he's done eight world tour races. And he's one of five. He has five world tour wins since Strata Bianchi. Well, that is crazy. Oh, yeah, that's the three stages,
three stages and you overall in the bus country, right? Yeah, plus today. Yeah. So that's that's like more world tour wins to put that in perspective. That's more than probably, like most,
the vast majority of professionals will never win five world tour races in a year. I mean,
that is, it's unbelievable. It's not the majority of bro riders will never win five world tour races in their whole career. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to get into a few, you know? Yeah. You're like, let's, let's go back to last year, wins 2025. Just, these are just wins. This isn't even a world tour wins. How many riders had more than only 34 riders scored more than five professional wins last year? No. Okay. Let's do that. Less than that. Less than that. Yeah, second. It'd be,
no. Oh, wow. 23 riders scored more than five. Tom Pickock had five pro wins last year.
“In Paul's success is five world tour wins. Send strada Bianchi. It's unbelievable. It's doing”
it's crazy. But what is, before we go to two of the ops, what does this mean for, what do we make of this for Sunday for the age best on the edge? I mean, obviously, you know, he's the second favorite. Pogacha remains the heavy favorites. He's the second one. I think, you know, it would be,
it would be nice if, if you can stay with Pogacha on on Lara-doot, just typically always where Pogacha
makes the difference. And then, you know, with the curious to see what he does, if he collaborates or not,
Because after Lara-doot, it's Lara-so-Fo-Con, which is a climb that, again, I...
Lara-so-Fo-Con suits Paul's success better than Lara-doot. I personally think that Pogacha is a
bit more powerful. So on, on Lara-doot, I think he can make the difference. But in this, I mean,
let's wait also, I mean, it's a monument Spencer. You know, it's, how long is Lead bastonie x 260? Yeah, it's really long. Oh, hold on a second. Is it, yeah, it's got to be to 60, let me click on it. It's to 60, hold on. Oh my god, where's the thing? 259. So yeah, almost 60. Yeah. It's different, you know? So that, that's obviously a bit in his, this advantage, but, you know, with this condition, you know, he's going to be up there with the three favorites.
I think, if I'm, you know, if I, after the top of my mind, I think it's, you know, it's Pogacha, say Sassan, Ramko, the three top favorites. So it's going to be an interesting, you know, it's, that's obviously a lot better field than today. You mean, you know, if you look,
“Sassan, it's very, it's to be expected him to be still as a young guy. You need to, you know,”
be able to deal with the pressure, the expectations, winning, but with all due respect, malroshmit, ventulette, and we know how close the fra, or not, of the level of Pogacha and Ramko, and you want us, for example. Well, let's say, is, is Paul, six hours of better climber than Ramko having a poll right now. Like, if Ramko was here today at Fleschmalon, he was at these preparing for Sunday, how would he have done? Where do you have, six hours would still have one?
Yeah, so Ramko would probably have been top three, but I don't think he would have been close like Sassan, especially also because it's so steep, you know, if you look at the morphology of do you say that morphology in English? The, uh, the bills, somebody, morphology, probably does. I'm sure people say it. I don't really say that. I do sometimes make up worse, but I'm going to check if morphology is an English word, and pretty sure it is.
The way he's built, uh, boss exhaust is better for climbs than Ramko. Yeah, it is. Ramko could be Paul, Sassan, Sunday, Paul could be him. I do think we should keep in mind. That's a good point. I don't, I do think, though, we tend to people suffer from object permanence. When Pagotcha is not here, you're like, oh, man, these guys are going to beat Pagotcha,
“and then he shows up and we remember how good he is. So, this is impressive. I think Ramko”
and Paul Sassan are going to do great on Sunday. I think we, we tend to forget how good Pagotcha is. Yeah, but it's going to be an amazing test, and an amazing, uh, you know, think the watch for all of us, you know, to see how good Paul Sassan is compared to to, um, Pagotcha. For the moment there's been one confrontation to have a Bianca, I don't know if you could say easy, but, you know, he dropped Pagotcha, dropped Paul Sassan from the wheel.
Uh, and then six hours finished, finished second. Uh, in the meantime, what happened with the condition was Pagotcha already 100% in Stala Bianca was Paul Sassan. 100%
are they both better now? We don't know. To me, it seems like they're always on a really, really
high level, the whole season round. There's not, there's never any moment where they look a little off form. Um, but, you know, tomorrow's the big, uh, no, on Sunday, it's the big, it's the big test, you know, uh, to see where we can rate both excess, uh, compared to, compared to Tade. Uh, before we take an ab break, this is just, this is nuts. So 2025, World Tour wins,
“like if, if the season was done now, then Paul's success is, Paul of World Tour wins,”
would have him eight overall. That's crazy in the peloton. In right now, he's second overall
in 2026 in terms of World Tour wins. Do you know who is first? The another guy we forget about,
we forget how good he is. Uh, Jonas, Jonas, six World Tour wins so far. Yeah, the quiet assassin man. Yeah, forget about that. Yeah, nobody needs to in, uh, in the bus country, right? No, got that Loona. Sorry, Catalonia. Yeah. Yeah. He's done. He's one, two World Tour
Stages with a bunch of stage wins along the way.
take a quick break and then we'll talk about tour the Alps and Tom Pitcock and how he might do
“at Sunday at the age when we come back. Hey, everybody, this episode is brought to you by Sally.”
I spend a lot of time traveling in different countries from my work, breaking down professional cycling and I'm using a ton of mobile data to pull up the live tracker, watch the race, check the stage profile and, and probably even do do this podcast. I've done it on mobile data before. And if I have not planned ahead, my phone bill can be really scary when I get home, but Sally fixes all of that. It's an eSIM app from the same people who built NordVPN that gives you affordable
data plans and over 190 countries, no swapping some cards, no waiting at the airport, no navigating foreign at phone stores. You just download the app grab a plan before you even leave on your trip
and you're connected the second, you land global plans, regional plans. If you're doing a multi-country
trip, one plan covers you the entire time. So if you've got a trip coming up, and you want to save some money on a mobile plan, you're lucky because you get 15% off on Sally data plans as a listener of the move. Just use code the move it. Check out when you download the Sally app or go to Sally.com/move. That's S-A-I-L-Y dot com slash the move S-A-I-L-Y dot com slash the move for 15% off today. Are you on? We're back. So, we've had three stages of the tour of the Alps
“of your wondering what? Is tour of the Alps? It used to be called zero del Trantino. Is that correct?”
Yeah. And it is the probably part of the name changes. It doesn't just take place in Trantino. It's now kind of a pan T-Rollian race where it goes from T-Roll in Austria to South T-Roll and Italy. The language gets quite political up there. So I'm sure part of the rebrand was we're just going to call it tour of the Alps. Instead of deciding what language German, Italian, late, and we can't decide. So we'll go English. I find it to be a very, it's a very good race.
Five stages, very beautiful terrain. Just nice to have the TV on. But through three stages, you know, great preparation for the guys who do the zero. Yes, great. Great zero preparation. Same region and good climbing. And it's kind of the engineer at they started like a low altitude valley, so around Innsbruck and Balsano, which, you know, Balsano is palm trees, but you're in the mountains. But you can do a lot of
long-ish climbing without getting up to snowy Alpine peaks. So it's, it is a great place to be, to be riding this time of year. It's also finishes on Saturday or on Friday. So technically, you can do the stage race and then go to the age, best known in the age. And you've got nice five days of racing in, you get one day off, then you race. We had kind of a sprintish stage on Monday, one by a continental ride, a tine rider on a continental team.
Thomas, meaning, meaning, division tree, division three. Yeah, like you're one step. I'm very familiar with that level of riding. You are one step above amateur racing. Thomas O'Dody and then stage two was a GC day, Julio Pelazari, one great showing from Red Bull. Also good showing from Inno's, time and hours, been an ignorant monolicking really good. And then today was a reduced sprint stage. One by Tom Pickock, almost one by Thomas O'Dody.
Almost getting the second win of this race. Pickock looked good. I mean, none of these races are
easy. Like today was 3700 meters of vertical gain over 174 kilometers. So these are even these sprint stages are really hard. The GC is Pelazari's and first time in Orangeman from Inno's in second, four seconds back. This is all time bonus splits. By the way, Egan Bernal, third, six seconds back. Alexander Vlasov, fifth, by the way. Ten seconds back. Looking like Alexander Vlasov evolved at this race. But what have been your impression so far of this race,
Johan? Yeah, first stage. I mean, first of all, talking about Pickock. You know, he won today,
“which I think is incredibly, it's another proof of his incredible natural talent. Let's not”
forget, Pickock had this crash with, with a pretty serious consequences in Catalonia in the downhill. You know, his, I think his knee was his knee or his thigh. There was something really, really bad. I had to be off the bike. Was not feeling good. I mean, he barely made it to the start of this race. Obviously, after that crash, he hasn't been training a lot. So gets the comes back to this race to get his form back in a bit to try to make it to Leesbaston Leash, which was one of his objectives.
Felt terrible the first day. Yesterday was not there last, a lot of time. And then the day
wins. You know, there are not many riders in the Peloton who can win races when they're not
On the top of their form.
natural talent in this way to know how to win. I mean, if you saw the way he raised in the final,
“you know, I think it's, it's, it's, yeah, another proof of his, of his pure class. Now,”
if you ask me, is he going to be ready for the Estonian? I'm going to say no. Yeah, he's not going to be in the final of Leesbaston Leash. In my opinion, but he's using this race to get back. And yeah, what a, what a nice win today. And then to come back on G.C., I think Pelitjari is the big favorite. He has a strong team. I think, you know, he was clear already yesterday that he was the designated leader. We had a young, another young rider to follow Lorenzo Finn. We still on the Red Bull rookie
team doing a few races with the pros was, you know, one of the best three riders in the stage yesterday went away and did the work for, for Pelitjari and Pelitjari won in the sprint. And I don't know, there was a big crash today. I assume, and I saw that T.D. and F did not finish. So he must have been involved in that crash, but it's one of those riders. We have talked about him and are up at
“commerce show. I think this year or last year, don't remember. You know, I think it was last year.”
I mean, he was, he was, he's two consecutive years world champion. He won the world championships
junior and his second year junior. And then last year being the first year on a 23, he won
the World Championships. I believe a youngest rider in that race, the youngest. And he's in Kigali. So he's now, I think he's 19 also. Yeah. You know, so he's still part of the development team of Red Bull, but with these new rules that they can switch over riders to the to the pro races, as long as not world to races, I think it's great. Big future for that guy, man. I just wish, you know, he has one problem. He needs to work on his
aerodynamics. It's like, it's like, what's his name? Michael Stewart. I think it's partly because these guys are so good. They don't. There's like no pressure for them to work on. I have a funny story
“about Lorenzo Finn. I maybe I've told this before. I was talking to you. You're vet him, right?”
Yeah, because I was not going to bingey your best friend. And this kid comes up and I thought he was a fan of, I thought he was just a fan of Benji. Like he, he looks so young. It was Lorenzo Finn in U23 World Champion. I mean, in the final group on on stage two, you had three Red Bulls, Lorenzo Finn, Alexander Vlasov, Pelazari, and then two, and so that's impressive from that bull. They were race really well. And then two, any of us riders, time and arms, Ben, I can
learn all. And then did you notice this guy? Mateo Garford, Garfuri on Peloposto now? He's on picnic. He was, he did the, was he not like the, I mean, he was he was a stagear, I think, on a faulty. And then, but I think he's either, either famous, either from Zwift or from the Grand Fondos in Italy. I, one of the two, I don't realize. He's as whipped. He did the Zwift academy. He qualified for the final three, and he went to the Alps and Team Camp. Okay, didn't make the cut.
And then, okay, one of the other riders to do that was, uh, he's on Visma. Now, he just came up from like the amateur level last year. His name is, is, what his name is Anton Schiffer, was another guy who didn't make the cut. But man, that was an, that's an impressive ride from, yeah, he was the
holiday in the breakaway, then didn't get dropped from Pelizari at first, uh, and then stayed
with them and finished what, third, fourth, third on the stage. Yeah, yeah, that was, yeah. And that was, you see, we have, we have 19 year old or 20 year old, whatever, Lorenzo Finn. And then a few seconds behind on a really hard stage, like a really hard stage, 43 year old, Dominic Lepelzofim. I mean, for guy who was racing, making his comeback after a year out of, so he, I think he was on a small Italian team, uh, he was a big, uh, yeah, barriani.
Yeah, but now he's on, it's on another, it's on solution tech, something. It's a different, even a smaller team. Yeah, uh, but obviously, the statistics already, I mean, these people have, and this is not a publicity stunt. The guy is on a super high level because he, he got all the KOMs on the, on the Strava segments in the neighborhood and, uh, he was, uh, he just kept training, like crazy. Um, man, I, I remember, I remember seeing Dominic Lepelzofim in, I don't remember
Which year, maybe 2008, uh, seeing him, uh, in the general Italian, or maybe,...
remember, he was on a small team and the guy looked like a, you know, a school kit, like a guy who was
went to primary school. He was, he looked so young. And now he looks a bit older, but he still doesn't evolve to me. Still looks, yes, he still looks really, really, I mean, he's very small, very tiny,
“but, um, man, uh, that's impressive. Um, he's, yeah, I think he's on the same level. He's always”
been in his, in his last few years, uh, strange comeback at 43, but, uh, I incorrectly thought he retired because he took a year off for me, he didn't have a team. Was he, uh, he didn't have a team? Uh, he didn't have a team last year. It wasn't on a protein. Yeah, the year, I think the year before
they also, there's a few times that they signed him like in February or March, if I'm not, I think
you, you wrote for Israel also, I think. Yeah, it was like multiple years in a row. So 2022, he's a late signing to Intermarshae, 2023. He's a late signing to Israel. Okay. And last year he's a late signing to VF. No, not really for, right? Yeah, yeah. Oh, no, sorry, two years ago, doesn't have a team last year. And then this year he's a late signing to solution tech, nippo, Raleigh, Raleigh. Like that is pretty impressive. Here's a crazy stat. So the writer, he finishes behind. Yacup on, um,
Rosal, or Rosal, when he's so the, when he's off the zero, no, the baby's zero. Be your baby, sure. Yeah. So, there's more time has passed since, um, Puzzah Vivo was born and he was born than, so that age gap
“between them is larger than, I think, me or 23 years. Yeah, and Yacup is only 20 years old. If Puzzah”
Vivo could have had him at 20, he could be a son and also Spencer, I mean, he finished just behind him, but actually on the climb, he dropped the Puzzah Vivo dropped on himself. It's seen as an incredible big talent. Yeah, like huge talent, huge talent. And that means this groupies in as wild, Michael stores in there, Chris Harper's in there. Like those are really good writers, Chris Harper won the Queen stage of the zero last year. So yeah, hats off the Dominican Puzzah Vivo, Puzzah Vivo,
also Egan Bernal. Don't look now, but that guy's looking good. Yeah, on the agency every day,
on a good level, uh, even today, third is a friend team. Yeah. Yeah, it's always a sign that you're
good if, you know, like, if without it being a stage for you, because obviously, uh, pitcock, there was no way he's going to lose this. The way he was moving at the end and the way his team was riding, but, you know, for Bernal to be third in a sprint, it means that he's on, he's in good shape. He brought something back yesterday, also to the, yeah, it was weird because he's kind of working for Ernstman, but he looks at times to be stronger than Ernstman. So, um, I had the same
value on, we've been hanging out too much. I said, this morning I said, hey, if you can do well on a stage, it's not for you. That means you're in pretty good shape, because to see him up there
“in a sprint, but also Sean Quinn, American, who's been off the bike with a knee injury, I believe,”
six place. So, where do you go? Sean Quinn, looking good. It's Dean. I, he's on EF, I believe. In the last year of his contract, potentially being targeted by moderate ventures, precisely, no, as far as what I've been reading. But the fact that it actually shows you there's quite a bit of talent out there. I mean, one of these guys can be that expensive, like Mateo Garfoli, Garfoli, the medical post of Eva, they can't be costing these teams a lot of
money, and they're getting good results at big races. Yeah, for sure. You know, who's, uh, not pulling it, but so, Eva's price is not going to go up any more, Spencer. Well, so we talked a lot about over the offseason. We could not believe the price for some of these riders. One of them in particular, Derek G West, he finished half a minute behind, positive Eva, more than half a minute behind him. Um, did he have an injury? What, what is that?
No, no, no. He's not been racing that much, although I'd too seem to remember him in Catalonia. Yeah, he didn't start like the last weekend. Okay. So, you know, something must have been wrong. I mean, I mean, I'm assuming he goes to the giro, no, uh, to do the time. Yes, the leader of of Little Trek. Uh, it's not great if you're, if you're not in, in good shape in the two of the Alps, it's still, there's still time, you know, obviously nobody's expecting
Derek G to be, you know, podium in, in the giro, maybe he himself does, but, ...
he, let's not forget, you know, this guy didn't have a quiet and peaceful truth. And then, you know, as soon as something goes wrong, he must have had an injury or illness in Catalonia, because if he didn't start the last two days, something was wrong. Maybe he was in a crash, also, I don't remember. Uh, so maybe he's using two of the Alps to get back into shape for the giro. Um, but obviously he's not in the mix. Um, and he's not going to be in the
mix on the last day either. The last day is super hard. It's, it's the side, the size of stage. Um, we're going to see the same guys, you know, the, uh, it's going to be Arinsman, but Elizari, Bernal, uh, and, and whoever, guy from Tudor, what's the, what's the French
“guy's name from Tudor? Alex Romnell? Pretty good writer? Alex Romnell. But did we say Arinsman?”
I think Arinsman is going to be up there. It's like the best we've seen. Yeah, it's been a long time. Okay, I said, yeah, I said, it's a Elizari, Arinsman, Bernal, that you all run del from Tudor. Yeah, he is, he is very good, actually. Eight that Perry needs, young writer, 22 years old. Um, yeah, really good writer. No wins in his pro career. Interesting. And these French teams, they can't be losing these guys. Yeah, he got to lock that down before
he goes to Tudor. He wasn't even on a French protein, interesting. Which team would you four Tudor? Uh, it's like a club team, VC, pause, ludek, don't deck, ludek. So that's the French, that phrase, he doesn't get picked up by either deck at Lana or Grupama. Yeah, it's kind of weird. Yeah, um, but you have super tough stage on Friday, final, final day. It's, if you've ever been to Ballzano, they have these huge climbs that don't go up that high
and altitude, which means they won't be canceled due to weather. And like the second to last
climb, it's a loop they do. So they do it two times. They don't do the full climb both times. And then they just send down the balls on to the finish. But the first time up the climb, it's 12 and a half K and long at 7% average. As a serious climb. And then they do the top part of that climb again, then they just send down to the finish. So, um, it will be one of those
“riders that wins the overall, probably. No no TT either. So all climbing. Who do you think's going to win?”
Fear to pick one. Billy Zaddy. Yes, and is he the now is he the main challenger for you want to spend the guard at the zero? I don't know. I don't think Billy Zaddy is at that level. I think Jonas is the the big favorite and he's going to win. Made it without any and for scenes, circumstances. Jonas at 80, 85% of his form wins the zero. To have Jonas wins, I agree with you. If Jonas wins, who didn't get second at the zero right now? Billy Zaddy has, you know,
he's he's obviously, uh, is he going to get away with Hindley to the to the zero? I think so.
He's Hindley. It's him and Hindley. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Hindley, you can never count him out, but, you know,
it's been a while since he's been up there in the top. Today he was, I think he was the protected rider for Red Bull and then he's not in the top 10 I see. So that's not that's not good,
“but yeah, stage races, stage racing is different. I think Billy Zaddy and then, yeah,”
who else is going and I haven't, I haven't checked it. Who else is supposed to be like, well, I made it, but we don't know what's wrong with job, but yeah, something is off. But still, I don't think Omega is a match for Jonas. You know, if you'd think, I mean, last year in the Vuelta, you know, he was there, but, you know, Jonas won, I think, dominantly, and I don't think Jonas was at his top in the Vuelta. He was definitely at the same as in the
Vuelta, although he may say that he's always better the second time he does a ground tour
in a season, but he was not at the same level as the Tour de France. I think. Do you remember who was fourth at the Vuelta? Giantly. Stainly, okay. Okay. Can show up and talk about that. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Good. Good. And he'd be, Pelazari, actually, do you know who I would like to see at the zero? Who we won't see is much bigger. I wish he was going. I think that would be a great race for him, especially the
families in right now. Yeah. Come on, Catherine. Send him anything else, Johan. Before we'll be back on Friday to preview the age, and then we'll be back on Sunday to talk about the age. Yeah. Yeah. No, I think we've covered most of it, Spencer. Yeah. So what was fun is when we come back Friday, we'll know how this plays out. We'll be able to talk about the end of the tour of the Alps and who wins it. So we'll see you soon.
Thanks for joining us, Johan.
Leage on Sunday as well. Okay. Thanks, Spencer. Speak to you. All right, bye.
