The Tour Saves Its Best for Last | TdF 2026 Stage 21 | THEMOVE

You saw it all the way up until today. You put the numbers on his back. It doesn't matter if it's flat and cobbled. It doesn't matter if it's in the mountains. It doesn't matter what time it year it is. It doesn't matter if it's on the white roads. I've started Bianchi. He wants to race.

He is simply the greatest of all time. I get, you know, people always, not always, but oftentimes

people will want to talk to me about my career and my history with the tour and where I stand there. It doesn't matter. This guy is the goat, right? He is, and, and I said this. As we were watching the race today and watching him, just be so dominant and so in control, I said, listen, let's stop with all this. I said, this guy would mop the floor with Lance Armstrong, mop it, and I mean it. And so it's, uh, may not be the most entertaining thing when it comes to watching a three-week event,

but it's a fact. He's the best of all time, and, and I would even say he is the most dominant athlete in the entire world. All right, everybody. Welcome back to the move podcast. It is the last day, stage 21. I'm Lance Armstrong, joined by Sir Bradley Wiggins. Mr. Georgetown Kappie, the Professor Spencer Martin, and today, Johan Bernou. By the way, I don't know why. We should have had Johan on more.

But Johan, are you there? Yeah, I'm here. I'm here. He's riding so much these days.

“I mean, that's how I train on the other of us. Might have ridden more this month than the guys”

at the Tour de France. I don't know. No, I don't know. I've been, I've been injured guys, I've been injured. So, I'm, you know, my back is, uh, my back is giving me problems. So, uh, but I've been riding quite a bit. Well, how are you? I'm good. Good. I'm excited to talk with you guys about this, you know, incredible finish of the Tour de France. Yeah, we're going to get into that, uh, Alan, um, stage 21. What, what would we do? Stage 21 from Tori to Paris,

Champs-Élysées. From Tori to Paris, Champs-Élysées. Yes, yes, you mill for. Um, absolutely incredible. Incredible. I thought, I thought that was an incredible stage. By the way, when they changed this stage from the traditional finish on the Champs-Élysées for the seemingly had forever, which was last year. I mean, I thought it was incredible. But this, I mean, Matthew Vanderpool,

“what a legend. What a legend. Yeah, that was absolutely insane. I think one of the most exciting”

Tour de France last stage finishes we've ever with you. Yeah. And, you know, I think it's, we were sort of riffing, um, pound for pound. I mean, Matthew Vanderbilt, I think we can all agree that he's probably the second best spike racer in the world. I thought it was great to, you know, I mean, of course, Tade and we're going to talk a lot about Tade and today's show, um, but he just, forget all the, all of his accomplishments which speak for themselves. The fact that

he just rocks up into, he just always races. He went, he made an attack. The first year is the

attack of the race and then he just, he's just always there. You got to, so impressive. Yeah, incredible. And then, you know, those two years we've had on the Champs-Élysées there last year was just as exciting in the rain, well, vanilla winning. And then today, again, it's lived up to last year's race. So, uh, fantastic way to finish the tour. Yeah. And as you say, Tade, I mean, there's not a day or race. He doesn't contest or take part, which is, yeah, one thing, like,

“like last year, you saw him going for it. This year, you see him going for it. I think it's a”

testament, the amount of respect he actually has for that race because most people, when you're leading by seven minutes, you're not going to take those kinds of risks and the battle for possession. And potentially put your sort of friends victory at risk, but he loves the Tour de France. Yeah, I mean, and I think we should also discuss the decision to stop the clock before they enter into those climbing circuits. If we can call them climbing circuits in Paris, they are hard,

right? It is cobbled. It is technical, the small roads, pelthons tired. Stopping the time just gives him a green light to just chill. Yeah, exactly. And I often times think about my, I know exactly what

I would have done. I never would have raised that day. I would have just, I would have just sat in the

bunch and got to the finish line. He can't, it's amazing that they put the numbers on his back, and he just races. But with regards to Vanderpool, I'm just, you know, you know, Spencer and I were sort of chatting, that has to be the hardest effort he's ever made in his entire career. Now, that I am still don't, I am still going to raise a few years ago with something that I had never seen before in in in the classics. But that effort today, I mean, he was, and you saw him after the

total toe heavyweight boxing match with pelthons chart today, and he still had 500 meters sprint. Where pelthons chart had nothing left. He just sat up. So, I mean, it gives you the indication of how strong of Vanderpool was today, but how motivated he was for the victory. He said in the finish line, he had been thinking about that stage already since watching it last year. But to be able to sprint light that when you got a guy like Matt's Peterson coming at you, Phillips, and coming at you hard.

“And hold on him off is, I think, some one of the most exciting and finishes we've ever watched”

in any racing. And Johan, you'll remember this. I was in Paris. Luke was there at school. We came to visit and you came up and hung out with us. We actually, this was before the Olympics at 2024, which of course, is part of the Olympics circuit. We wrote a, we went up there to sort

of preview the route. I had never been, honestly, to that part of Paris. I was like, wow, I didn't

know this was here. But your thoughts on what you saw. Yeah, I mean, you will remember lands when you go up there two years ago. It's a lot steeper than it looks on TV. It's a lot harder. The city's guys fly up there is incredible. But, I mean, what a way for Vanderpool and especially for Alpsen to finish this two-to-france. You know, in the beginning, nothing worked out. You know, they did all these lead-outs for Phillipsen. Nothing worked out. Then finally,

Vanderpool wins this incredible stage stage nine, I think. Then finally, Phillipsen wins stage 17.

“And today they are first and second. And hold a way to finish. I think Vanderpool's interview”

was interesting. It was quite emotional. Yes. First of all, he was completely empty. You know, he had trouble responding and thinking clearly. But as George says, you know, he said, he was watching this stage last year from the couch. I think he abandoned because of illness last year. And yeah, I mean, listen, if you look at the way this stage developed after the first attack, we had the four best riders, the four biggest names, I would say, you know, Vanderpool,

Pugachar, Ramko and Patterson. Top four of two reflanners. And the last stage of the two are so, yeah, I loved it. I loved it. It was, and today, I think, I think the change in the course also with the finish a little bit further, more Martin than last year, makes it, there's a doubt, but it's going to be, of course, all that printers. Yeah. Yeah. We were not a fan of that. You're on just, you know, as we're watching, but it definitely leaves, it opens up the race.

If you have a guy like Phillips and getting second, obviously it opened up the race and they were able to go back. It looked like they were going to come back at one point and then coffee just got on the front and they exploded and they slowed it. It was, did we see where COVID has ended up on the stage? Like they were, they kind of took up the running and then slowed it down. Yeah, I don't fully not on purpose, I mean, it's just, they get 9th. So I guess, I guess, you have too,

and you know, we've gotten, we're, we're, we're supposed to be very nice today. We all be nice. Oh, I'm just, I'm just, I think the fact, this is an observation that I saw.

I know when I was just kind of, I'm always nice. You are always nice. That is true.

We're thinking about the Americans. They got a good toll.

“Today was not great. I think you're going to Minecraft there in the final. Was that him?”

That crash. We could not have been per-strong now. But he was chasing. You don't want to finish the sort of friends with the crash. I've done that. It's not fun. Do we think the result would have been different if it was the old finish? Like the last year's finish? I don't think so. I think probably Vanderpool was a kind of more of a gap. Yeah. I think Vanderpool was, well, your hunt would be a good one to ask. I mean, like, tidy poker jars is also very fast. But, uh, your hunt,

if those two guys, I think Vanderpool still wins. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. You know, I was, it was a bit of a deja vu of last year, right? So the first two times, pogachar attacks and then on the last, on the last time up, more marker, it was actually Vanderpool who passed pogachar. A little bit

the same style as Walvanart with pogachar last year. So Vanderpool was never, uh, in doubt that he

would not be able to follow, uh, pogachar today. Which I think also makes a lot of sense because, yeah, you know, Vanderpool has been saving himself the last three days for this and pogachar has been racing full of awesome. You know, and I have two questions for you. Uh, one, why did they take the time away with, uh, 40k before the racing started and two, how would have that affected the race? I think pretty drastically if the time was still a factor. Well, I mean, first of all, I mean, I heard that

it was a last minute decision at the petition of the riders. Okay. The riders have asked for it and ASO has basically, you know, said, okay, well, we'll do this. Uh, it definitely had nothing to do with the weather. I think last year made sense that they, I mean, it kind of a bit of a bummer,

lost his second, his third spot. Yeah, and they were, we're seeing, we're seeing, we're seeing, we're seeing pogachar, not attacking as hard because the autores of the bag. Yes, I'm just saying

“it would have been a big effect if it was still time. Well, it didn't look, I, I think it's a good”

question. I don't, I don't, they get nullified the racing. I mean, if you didn't know that they had agreed to, to stop the, the overall time before the circuits kind of would know that. I mean, still great racing. Yeah. Oh, for sure. It's interesting that, uh, and last year did make sense with the rainy route. I mean, these are a cobbled streets that, you know, you're on and I were up there. I mean, it's, it's, I wouldn't want to descend those cobbled, no, narrow roads in the middle of an

urban environment in the rain. But, uh, yeah, look, I mean, and props to ASO, and we'll get in, you know, we're going to have to talk about this route and just some reflections on the route. But this innovation, let's just call it an innovation on a very, very traditional finish has been a plus plus. I think it's been unbelievable. And we're all talking about how great it was. And then, of course, Debbie Downer over here, y'all, and actually back to help us here. This might not actually

be true. I question Spencer, whether or not he read the article on April 1st. But in the future, there are, there are plans, uh, and then not so distant future that they are going to convert the Shomsalize into, uh, into an urban park. Hmm. I have not, uh, I don't know about this. I don't

know about it. It's like, it's like a 300 million Euro project, where they're redesigning the

“Shomsalize. Maybe they keep a road. It lanes proud of a good point. What do they do with all the traffic?”

Yeah, there's a lot, a lot of, uh, but there is a lot of the, that is the main artery. Well, you mentioned that a little mention going on underneath, but there's subways in the need that already aren't there. Yeah. So, that could be really expensive and complicated. Elon, I could be getting out of here on our lane here. Yeah, or it could be a gravel finish, so there's on on the Shomsalize. Well, the gravel road is in the grass. Did you guys,

Elon, did you catch this all-world championships break away? All-world champions, where it was Patterson, Vanderpool, Pagachar. Wow, Remco. Remco, like that, well, well, what a time are living in. Yeah. And I'm not for it. The four guys from the Flanders break. Yes. I mean, we might get a little negative in the second half of this, but I think the racing,

like the top level of racing has never been better. Well, I don't, I wouldn't call it negative.

“We're not supposed to, we're not supposed to be negative today. I'm alone. I'll get in trouble.”

Today, baby. We're in timeout. All of you. I know. I just made it to you. What is the move of the day? Of course, the move of the day is brought you by eight sleep. The smart mattress cover that easily goes on top of any existing mattress heats or cools each side of the bed independently from 55 degrees Fahrenheit to 110 degrees Fahrenheit. And eight sleep is the official sleep partner of Anna Armstrong. And team UA, eight sleep dot com slash the move, Bradley,

Metroventable. Yeah. I mean, it's, it might be the one day where we all have to agree. Yeah. On the way, did it. Of course. It's phenomenal phenomenal phenomenal. Gee. I've been

Vanderpool incredible. I thought then thinking about it for a year and pulls it off said is one of

his biggest wins ever. And he's won about everything you can imagine winning. So super impressive. Vanderpool. And biggest spots better than anybody. He goes in a hibernation, comes out. Boom, just gets the win that he wants. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I found it pull yesterday to win the stage. The way he won it. And especially how much it means to him. This is a guy who's won everything you can imagine. And you know, to win that last stage in Paris, the way he did it

definitely for me is from the pool too. Yeah. I'm not going to disagree with that for for four. That's five for five. My bad. That's five for five. Well, agreed. That is the first time. Yeah. You also has an upcoming world mountain bike championship competing Disney. I chose these first television against Tom Pidcock. Yeah. I'll do it. Yeah. Yeah. Also today brought to you by Roca. I've been wearing Roca for years. They just keep getting better and better on the bike traveling. Every day

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purchase. Go to drink lmnt.com/themove. That's drink lmnt.com/themove. You A first and third. Not bad. Not bad.

Not bad. Sorry for a team to get two riders on the podium. Yeah. Yeah. It changes. Well, they didn't change the tactics that much for them this year. Maybe a couple of stages. But yeah, first and third. Sort of friends. Two young riders, del Toro, got second last year in the zero. It's showing that he is, you know, the next perhaps great upcoming stage racer. We'll be seeing a lot more of him in the future.

Yeah, he's adding down two grand tolls on me. Yes, he's done. How did you both of them? Yeah, yeah. It's not bad. It's really good. And I guess should have won the zero. Yeah, he just punted it on the race and still unknown to us. You're on. You've directed a team with two riders on the podium. Not easy to do. Not easy to do. I think several times actually. Yeah. I think 2009 and 2007, if I'm not mistaken.

But, no, it's not easy, but this definitely looked a lot easier than my experience because these

“guys really get along really well. I mean, Pugachar was the ideal teammate. I think that's what”

sets Pugachar apart. You know, I mean, he's the strongest guy. He could have won, my opponent could have won H stages. If he really decides to go for it, he decided to win five to the good of the six. But, and then, you know, being in the leaders jersey, being the ideal teammate. I mean,

what he did yesterday, for example, is something you've never seen. You know, 60 K to go. He

goes to the front and starts to be the luxury Gregario of the autoro with only one thing in mind. Keep him on the podium. That's unbelievable. Yeah. You're a fan of that. Well, I like the yesterday yesterday. I like what he did. How long was that? Oh, you know, huh? It was like a 45 kilometer long pole. 60 K. Well, he got on the front at 65, right? And then got off it from 20. Crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I'm still pacing. They'll throw to at the end. So, but just to sit

on, he run up at G. C. Group. Now, it's like the valley in between. It's insane, still pull up the clouds. It's my. Well, you're hunting. I don't know if you watch yesterday's show. It wasn't the, my, my, my, my voice here didn't love it. I thought it was. I, I, I, I, I liked it. I liked it. I, I liked it. And I said, but today you don't really, you guys, you guys can confirm. I mean, what he did yesterday, for example, I mean, the, the downhill after the valley be a, you go down the valley be. And then

it's the Lota rib, basically. To drive, to, to, to, to, to, to drive the group there. It's a four,

“four percent downhill in the, in the wheel, you're not peddling. And it's, what is it like?”

20 K or something? 17 K? He just went and didn't matter. Then they got to the cold of sat in and he was still the boss basically deciding whatever was going to happen. So,

that's just impressive. I mean, have we, I don't, we've never wished witness this domination.

I think it's now. And we, we get to talk about that. And so we are, we're, we're going to take a break here in a second. We, the second half of the show. Let's, we're going to devote it to really our reflections, our thoughts and in about the 2026 tour. There's a lot to talk about. A lot of it good. Some of it not so good. But we got it. We got to just kind of talk about the things that we're leaving here that are in our heads. So we're going to,

we're going to break that down. And this is obviously, we are seeing something that has never been done before. Fact. Yeah. So we got to talk about it. But we will be back in three minutes and 32 seconds. Today's episode brought to you by draft Kings. This summer, whatever you're watching, baseball golf, soccer, car racing, or even the Twitter friends, draft Kings has you covered for every single

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trade to get predictions dollars that expire in one year. $50 reward is issued every seven days. If you click to claim for 14 days, one non-with-travel reward redeemable terms at dkng.co/offer limited time offer and we are back. Last day got. It's long. It's long through weeks. Let's see here. I had a question before we get to a couple of other things. I do want to talk about pulsations. I mean, we've said it many, many times. I just want to remind

everybody this writer as a 19 years old. He is the great friend trope. We have not seen a writer this young since 1937. He finished fourth. In the tour to France, there is a lot there was before

and always will be a lot of expectation of him. I thought he performed incredibly well.

My question for Bradley, not that you're not technical George, but I'm going to point this one to Bradley and to Johan. The guy that you saw, the 19-year-old pulsations, you saw this year that finished fourth in the tour, what I mean, minutes down, what have you been? A few minutes

“down. I think like 11 minutes down. Okay, but we shouldn't focus on that. But there, no, he's there, right?”

And I'll start with you, Bradley. For him to be in terms of percentage points, percentage wise. How far off tatties? Because you think a 19-year-old, they're just going to improve and improve. So if you start to say, you know, from 19 to 20, I mean, is that 1% better? Is that 3% better? I don't know. But what I guess, first of all, what percentage points behind him is you're how much does he have to improve in order to be as good if not better than Poguchar? Well, I thought I think

I would say that that's a long way off and got to be better than Poguchar. Yep. And I think the next tour to France winner will be decided when Poguchar decides to walk away from the sport. But in terms of how far he is away from Del Toro, who was third, and he was up till yesterday, he was only 20 seconds behind for most of the tour. And then to Remco, who wasn't that much further

ahead until the time trial. So he's not a million miles away from those guys, which I would say

are going to be his big rivals in the next eight to ten years, by which time we would expect tatties to not be involved in the sport anymore. But at 19 to finish fourth in the Tour de France, it is quite some achievement. I mean, this guy was a junior at the World Championships, the Van de Poix won in Glasgow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And he's still wrote the junior World Championships into the year after as well in Zurich. And it's, it's, we get used to young riders performing

well at the Tour de France now, because of what Tade is down there and burn out when he was 21, et cetera, et cetera. So it's, it's, it's become normalized to these age at the age of some of these guys and what they're doing. But you go back 10, 15 years, but 19 year old was even in the Tour, let alone challenge for the podium. It would have been incomprehensible. You know,

you're on? Yeah. Um, well, first of all, I think what say Sus did is incredible, especially because

he has been racing always at every single moment when the favorites were racing. He has never taken advantage or tried to get, they, they, they, they, they've, they've been with a breakaway. At every single point he has taken his responsibility. I have never seen him complain. I've never seen him do something that he wasn't happy with the, with the, with the rival. He's always been riding whenever he had to ride. So to be, for it is, is incredible. Um, in terms of improving,

he will improve, but I don't think he will improve that much. I think it's, I think it's a junior that's already very optimized, which nowadays, when you, when you, when you want to be top of the

“world, that's, you have to do everything you can. Um, if you compare, for example,”

Pugachar's first-year professional, he was winning a lot of races and in a second year he wanted to or, but Pugachar's had an incredible margin of, of improvements still.

which he will, because he will do more races and get more experience. He's going to be up there

“with the autotowand ram cool, I think. So, um, the question is now, you know, what is, what is his”

future look like, you know, which, which decision will he make? We've heard a lot of rumors about changing teams. Yeah. Uh, I personally think he should stay at the catalone. I think he should stay there as a French writer. This is a team that has the resources. They can build around him. Um, and as Bradley says, I think, uh, as long as today decides to go for the tour de France, there is not going to be, you know, any unforeseen circumstances. There is not going to be another

tour de France winner. Hmm. Well, that's interesting. Uh, go through, it goes to the point of

what we made yesterday that these young writers, like in zozege, are already just, I mean, it is

micro managing and six Sigma across the board. Everything is analyzed. Everything is studied. Everything is thought through whether it's nutrition, whether it's aerodynamics, whether it's training, recovery, uh, race schedule, teams. Um, I guess I would throw a back at your Johannins. Okay. Well, if you feel like a 19 year old Paul Saceos is already pretty optimized, then

“what is a 22 year old Isaac Del Toro? Is he also optimized or does he have runway?”

Can I chime in? I think Johann does. Yeah, go, Johann. Correct. I know the sports completely changed. The game has changed, but I think one thing that has not changed, and correct me if I'm wrong

guys, when you do a grand tour, you step up another level of change. Yeah. So I'm kind of just

agreeing with you in terms of the him being totally optimized. I think now he has a one grand tour, not just the grand tour, which is rolled around. Pack fill. A grand tour we got fourth place with the pressure of entire country behind them. I think personally, he's going to step up a game. Just from having this in his bank account now. Well, also a 19 year old body is not as developed as a 23 year old. I do think he'll probably improve just because he is a teenager currently. Yeah.

He will not be a teenager in the future. No, I was surprised. Oh, you're on. I was surprised by your answer. All right. That's, I hear you loud and clear. But I didn't expect to say that. Yeah, I said, I said, I said, I said he will improve because of the experience. Yeah. Sorry, somebody's calling. No, it's a young guy who wants to be a cyclist. My son. Is he home yet or is my godson? By the way, my godson. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Tell him not to do it.

“No, but in terms of sex, I think, you know, what I agree with your George, you know,”

a grand tour does make you stronger. And, you know, by doing more races, he will obviously get more experience and more endurance. I'm just, I'm just thinking in terms of, you know, what can he do more now to still improve? I don't think he can do much more because from what I gather, the guy is a super professional obsessed cyclist who wants everything to be at the maximum, which is obviously a great, a great attitude. But, I mean, yeah, I mean, listen, he's going to

improve, but it's going to be a natural process. I don't think his, you know, his power output. I mean, listen, when we see him going up, Lara, do it with Pugachar and he has best on the edge. You know, I don't think he can get much, much more stronger in terms of power output than that. But we also, we all did, he could reproduce it over time. We also saw Pugachar put two minutes into Roglic when the Tour de France and we go, oh, shit, that was the best performance we've ever seen.

And he, I think he's gotten maybe, well, I don't know what percentage points better, but yeah, and he physically looks like a different person. You go, look at those photos. He, it's, I'm not saying this to be mean, but he has like baby fat on him. And now he's totally different. So, and that's probably just natural, the body getting older and maturing. Do we also think that this, this route this year probably didn't suit sex ass as much as an old school.

I could totally agree. Yeah. So he's at a very good performance on a route that probably didn't suit him. Yeah. Well, we are, I have a feeling, going to talk about the route, the 2026 route. We have some thoughts on that. Before we jump into, I guess, just kind of our, our sendoff, our takeaways from the 2026 tour. We are, for one last time, going to go to the call and line. I'm not going to put the number up because, well, I actually can call if you just want to talk to George,

we can call call that number, but last day of voice smells. I love to this little feature this year. Call number one. Oh, yes. Oh, my name is Nick. I'm from Nebraska. One time fan. I was just wondering why nobody commented about characters passing up Pooce from a crash. I remember like all of the DC writers

Bye. Man, when it's, when it's 5K to go, it's game on and that's not their both would have lost.

“Yeah, it doesn't matter who crashes. Even the GC guys, well, potentially they would not have”

weighted either. It's like, it's his responsibility to stay upright. Caripass was taking just as many risks as he was. And it was just a battle, a mental battle of a tristion. Apparently he missed a feed with 20K to go and that shit happens. When you're all out, you make mistakes and it's, it's easy to watch on TV and critique it, but as a writer, you know that like, man, he was putting his heart and soul into that victory and unfortunately it didn't work out. Yeah, I had to, you're right. I mean,

two goals to the finish, the race is on. Got to stay upright. And I do think, I mean, we got the news today that's up because my speculation yesterday was that he was blocking a little bit and it's just, you know, you're cross-eyed. It's hard to defend full gas and we got the intel that he missed the feed out whether or not all of that is true. We don't know. But to your question, I mean, it's just you got a race at that point. Yeah. Well, like, let's say the land is waiting

for Jan Orick. Lance knows that there's no one's going to pass them. Like, Jan Orick is the only variable in that equation. But if Caripass waits for Coost, they both lose because the GC guys would have caught them and passed them. So it's a little bit different of a situation. Yeah. Yep. Yeah, even if, and not to keep harping on this, but even if Lance and Jan Orick will go on for the finish, three K to go, he's not going to wait and give him the wind,

“like, you fall. It's part of the second. You just keep going. I think. Should Jan have kept going?”

Yeah. Oh, no, loser. Yeah. Well, that would have been that debate up. I think that's different. They weren't actually going for the sprint right there. It was still at the bottom of the climb. Yeah. And that was early on the climb. Yeah. Yeah. Call number two. Hey, guys, Jim from New Jersey. You guys think that the race directors or the people that make the route for the Tour de France will start looking to change that for next year. But guys,

they're won this Tour de France on stage six of this year's tour. Just curious if you guys think that will start changing the route up, maybe, you know, making sure that this is a little bit more exciting. Thanks, guys. Love the show. I think we look, this is just a sneak peek of our takeaways. This is one of our takeaways of this 2026 Tour de France. What I will say before we get to

“those is, look, it's their race. We have said this many, many times. Nobody knows what the route.”

And yeah, I'm often shocked when I've talked to just everyday people. I say, well, you know, the route changes every year. Yeah, they don't know. And most people like it does. It's not the same route every year. Like, no, it changes. And so most people don't know that it's, it's like their race. They spend, you know, and the, all the things get factored into which cities they go through towns they go through, which, whether those are financial interests or, and of course,

they, you know, normally when you go clockwise, next year go counterclockwise. But we won't know that until October, but it is their event. I mean, they could do whatever they want. So they typically, as we said a week or so ago, they like to feel like Poguchar and, in my generation, they like to build a route that makes it challenging for you. They want excitement. They want, they don't want you to win year after year. So they do sort of try and, in some ways,

tie a proof, the tour, or me proof the tour, that never works. Never works. The best man always

wins his bike race. And so it is their race. It is up to them. Very good, no. I mean, it's interesting on that trying to explain to people that don't really follow the Tour de France, but everyone's aware of what the Tour de France is. How the tour is starting in Edinburgh, next year. And heading down to Liverpool with Inter Cardiff and trying to get their heads round, how the Tour de France is going to be in Scotland, in the UK, next year, for three stages. Yeah. I mean, again, these are,

these are, and by the way, I do not blame them at all, right? Part of the Barcelona and the region of Catalonia paid ASO $11.5 million to host the start of the tour. It was great for Barcelona. We said it on those first days. Like, wow, one of the winners today was Barcelona. Like, it looked

incredible. One of the winners today was Paris. The images, the helicopter shots. Mom,

you're watching this going. I want to go there in Edinburgh and who knows? I mean, they're probably paints in the same range, 10-11-12 million bucks. So that that comes and that doesn't affect the sporting to me as far as I'm concerned. That doesn't affect the sporting nature of the event. Let it start wherever. I get more concerned with just the route when it comes to the sporting

Taday wins it on stage six. We never mountain stage until stage 12 last year, and he won it on stage

12. So you'd have to do no mountain stages if you wanted to Taday proof it. It probably still

“win though, right? If it was all, let's say, cap fours are below. Who, Taday probably still wins it?”

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, he saw him today. It was road away from everybody on a cap four-climb. Yeah. And the first stage into Barcelona or second stage, he gave the tour of the win. I mean, he could win on any terrain as we see it. Well, it's been fun taking else calls. We will certainly be doing those more and more in the future. I should have mentioned that call in line. Sponsor by our friends hyper ice. And Normatek, been using Normatek's for

gosh, showing my 15 plus, maybe 20 years. They deliver sequential pressure throughout the legs, helping them feel refreshed lighter and ready for the next ride, get 15% off hyper ice products. Now with the code, the move 15 had hyper ice.com/discount/the move 15. I have a friend that is it's not a joke. He's developed a Normatek addiction. So he will be using that code. They like

“addiction. We can't get him out of these Normatek's. Yeah, I got my buddy just by the sleep”

as well. We felt like we've been through some stuff. We've overcome some stuff and you know, kind of on the right try or just kid crushing. This poor fucker is kind of a Normatek that they ought to think of. Put a bit of where we're talking about. Could have been a lot worse. You know, Lance the read is every day. Work good. Normatek's every day. Dude, seek help now driving around DC. I do a excellent. I control every day. I don't know. I'm a

Dick. I don't know. Like if I know what we're sending prayers to this young man, he's a friend of yours. You get a friend of mine. Yeah. The first week I was staying with you

on like dude, where's your drill? You were like hiding in in your room. I know you always have

one around. So dope. Dark stuff. Take away. I guess I'll kick us off here. We're just just, uh, let's just have a quick round round table discussion about that in your hunt. We would love for you to chime in here. You can't leave this tour without talking about Taddy Poguchar and and it like we throw it around all the time. People have questioned it for years. I don't think they question it anymore. This kid is the greatest of all time. I know you go back

as far as you want to go. He can do it all. You saw it all the way up until today. You put the numbers on his back. Doesn't matter if it's flat and cobbled. Doesn't matter if it's in the mountains. Doesn't matter what time it year it is. Doesn't matter if it's on the white roads. I've started

Bianchi. He wants to race. He is simply the greatest of all time. I get, you know, people always, uh,

not always, but oftentimes people will want to talk to me about my career and in my history with the tour and where I stand there. It doesn't matter. This guy is the goat, right? He is, and, and I said this. As we were watching the race today and watching him just be so dominant and so in control, I said, listen, let's stop with all this. I said, this guy would mop the floor with Lance Armstrong. mop it and I mean it. And so it's, uh, may not be the most entertaining thing when it comes to

watching a three week event, but it's a fact. He's the best of all time and, and I would even say he is the most dominant athlete in the entire world. It's probably true. It's hard to think. Like Michaela Schiffern won this slalom Olympics. I think her margin of victory was as big as the last seven Olympic winners combined. That would be the only person I could think of that's even close. Yeah, he's incredible. Yo, what do you think about that? Would Taday mop the floor with Lance?

Yeah, I think I think thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You know, I mean, I don't know. He did, okay, so for that's definitely a sound by the way. Sorry, I didn't interrupt. Like I keep reading like things that we say. We come like who's that's that will be in the paper. Go ahead, y'all. I'm sorry. Yeah, so he did the Tour de France seven times. He won it five times, uh, two times second. He's 27 years old and he won the Tour five times. Lance, you were 27 when you won

“your first Tour de France. Remember that. So, you know, I mean, this guy can just do it all.”

It's no, I think I think we got your, you know, we can't compare, of course, but, uh, you know, yeah, I think he would have beaten you, probably handle fair and square. I think I think he's right. I agree. Obviously. Yeah. Um, I got a couple quick takeaways. Yeah. That's okay. Well, one, I of course, it's okay. Really show. Yeah, I really enjoyed and I think this goes against the grain of these people, everybody in this show is the reemergence of Ram Coeven Pool has a

GC, you know, top GC writer in the world because for many reasons. I mean, this guy, I think he's

he's dropped out of grand tours, but he's won the Tour of Spain. He's, he's the Belgian prodigy. He gets so much hate for being this Belgian young kid that's come up through the ranks of soccer, then junior to a straight to pro, but he keeps coming back. He doesn't give up. I mean, he was

arguably the second best climber in the race of the Tour de France, and he is just getting better.

He's getting paid a ton of money, a ton of pressure, but that doesn't phase him. And to me, it's, he's more of like the people's champion, a human champion. Taude, obviously, like, look, he wears his emotions on the sleeve. I know you guys criticize. Yes, today he's cool.

“Y'all got his PR guy. Like, I didn't even win. Who else would do something like that?”

Lance would do the same exact thing. You would be pissed you didn't win, but he's still in second place. I like it. I think to me, he is the people's champion, and he's somebody that a lot of us can relate to. I think the second lane. And I would. Bradley's actually just like, I mean, I just say one thing. I mean, because you're wrong about one thing. Let me tell you what I wouldn't do. Yeah. If I spent three weeks on the road in France, trying to win a bike race and ultimately win

a bike race, and I had 20, 30 staff people around me. I would never, ever dress them down on global television.

Yeah. Ever. That's his problem. Okay. That, that, that, I mean, you just don't, you might feel it. You might think it, but do not, that these people, they never get seen. They never get glory. They never get credit. You never do that. Ever. So that's the difference. Secondly, then I'll let you guys go. I think Bradley's gonna make fun of me, but the whole purpose behind this team that I'm building and my, my second job I'm going back to after this

is the fact that we have, we had six Americans in the Tour de France, NBC. Our fans were watching right now. Imagine having all of these guys on the same team. The fact that we'd have on viewership in the United States on sponsorship, I'm not saying I'm the person to bring that to the table, but I'm trying. And that's my goal. And we all need purposes. We all need challenges. Hell, these guys might not even like me, but they liked the concept of an American team in the

Tour de France with, with mainly American writers, which guys may not like you. I'm just saying this six Americans in the race, everybody likes you. They do like me, but I'm just saying, for the people watching that hate me, and don't want me involved in. Nobody hates your George. They want, they all wanted an American team. So this is really motivating for me to see how strong they worked throughout this three weeks. How impactful they were for their teams and just makes me really

hopeful and motivated to keep building my project. There actually is an American cycling writer there.

It's like pretty always pretty mean towards George. What is the deal like? It doesn't

know George. If he knew him, he wouldn't think that. Oh, thank you. Yeah, absolutely. And so the people

“like that, they're not even worth worrying about. That's very wide. I mean, I think I'm the most”

good team. I mean, my main thing is, Taday, you know, I mean, of course Mud's Patterson, fantastic performance. Taday, you know, when I, I mean, I had a big fan of Eddie Merks, of course, and I've been the one touting that he's still the greatest, but Taday for now, for me, has taken over that mantle of Eddie Merks. You know, the five standout moments this tour were Taday, and we talk about the imagery of Paris and that, but Taday is always part of that imagery

and making the race. Today, I'll do as Barcelona when he gave his team at the stage when of course, the tourmalay, another big imagery, kind of moment in the Tour de France. But out to us was still something we were all trying to digest and get our heads round. I think because because we get so used to these performances, we get kind of, you know, we're very conditioned to seeing these great performance, whether it's Paris, whether it's the Tour of Flanders, whether it's,

you know, Leage best on Leage, what he did in the Tour of Swiss, and it's just, but what he did

“don't else do as I think we will still be talking about in 50 years time, and I don't think anyone's”

going to break that record. I agree with that. And they even asked him at the finish, will he be at the start line for the Tour of Spain? I mean, I can't, I just, I cannot give my head around that. How could he do that? How could she do that? How could she do that? It's a better race than it used to be. And I know, but I'm not, I'm not trying to discount the race. I'm just saying it's like, he, God, if I, if you wish her six month vacation for anybody,

yeah, I mean, this guy deserves it. I can't even imagine in a month's time, you got to go gear up for another three week grand tour. That's not even time out of the world. He does well. He's still all in the world. But yeah, he does have to stay in shape for the world. So he's got to do something. You might as well get the free food. By the way, he's won the free food. Guys, guys, I, I, I, I, I, I just want to chime in here.

Yes, I, I know, I know some people who are very close to him. And, you know, it keeps coming back to me that this is just a guy who loves to ride his bike and loves to race. You know, he's apparently he's not chasing anything. He just wants to race. I, not chasing anything. I, I have my doubts about that because obviously the reason why he's going to the tour of Spain

he's not last year he was sick, you know, he, no, he had a bad knee, which actually he said today or yesterday in the interview before the stage. But it's, it's apparently from, you know, from people who work with him and teammates, what they see of this guy on training camps is unbelievable.

The guys that are very hard worker always pushes himself is extremely demanding on himself

and just wants to always push it further and further. So he just likes to love to ride his bike. You know, they would explain, I, I watch him. You know, I watch his post tracing interviews and

“you just, and again, I'm not an expert in this, but you watch him. You, you watch him today, right?”

This guy was ready. He was ready to go. And people often asked me and I reflect that now at 55 years old, I've had the time to reflect on why those moments there wasn't joy and there wasn't just sort of this presence, right, or this living in the moment, so to speak, when I was there. And it was because I loved, more than when in the Twitter France, I loved process. I loved training, planning, scheming. I loved the process in order to win the tour. And when it was over,

the process was done. And so what does that mean? I mean, yes, I had everybody, but it's now time to start the process again. Perhaps that is him, you're on. I mean, you just said it, right? That's, I'd love to be a fly on the wall, and some of these camps, I mean, that would be inspiring. Yeah. He also, if we're being honest, you know, and tell me if I'm wrong here, I don't know if he went that deep in this tour. There's a lot of days, a lot of tough mountain days, where he was

holding back. How do I hope he went deep on out to us? The weather was full gas. That's it. Yeah. Yeah, that's just a treat. I got to get that training effort in, you know, you don't want

to get out of shape in the third week of the tour. You know, he didn't go full gas yesterday,

we know that. He looked really, really good. He didn't go full gas on plateau the solace on, when,

“when Ramco won. I think he did, he, I think he went three times full gas, the time trial,”

tourmalé, and up the West. That's the tourmalé. He really went full out. So it makes it easier to back up and do another grand tour, I guess, if you get past the mental hurdle. And the three times out in a more month or have you, have you call it today? He looked pretty, like he was in control. Yeah. Another takeaway for me, I think we just got a couple more is the route. I said it at the start. I didn't understand the route that they picked. I thought it

was underwhelming. Man, and I think it showed, right? And what they do next year, and I think we're sort of secretly crossing our fingers. Let's go back to a traditional thing. Who knows, right? We'll find out in mid-October, or late October. But I thought, I thought the route didn't do the course, or didn't do the race and the dynamics of the race and the story of the race, any justice. No arguments there. Well, I thought Barcelona was beautiful. Well, the team time trial format

lines really enjoyed that. Love team time trial. It's one of my favorites. It feels like a year ago. I does. It doesn't. But, you know, I don't know. I didn't mind the course that much. I think next year is different because, you know, since it starts in Scotland, you know, I haven't mind if they have to start in Barcelona, they have to do the period needs early on. There's no other choice. There's no other choice. Of course.

So, I think after stage six, we already knew, I mean, although I think that they did design that stage with the intention of, okay, let's do the tourmalet, but that's not finished on a hard climb, well, I didn't really matter. But next year, if they start in the UK, they're kind of free. I mean, normally they're going to start in the north of France when they get, when they get

up the UK. So, it could be a traditional, you know, first a few flat stages, and then

either a pair of knees or abs. I think next year will be a more classical design in my opinion.

“It's a factor of future scope. Remember that place, the time trial there?”

Let's just end up in old school, lack of diversity. Yeah. All right, final take away. I think for me, I would love, I want everybody to chime in here. It's just the future of this sport. Where do we go? There's a couple of ways to look at this. Look, I mean, Tade is so dominant, it takes out the intensity and the excitement and the questions around who will win the yellow jersey. This kid is that good, right? And so that's sort of, you have to look for

other storylines. That's sports, right? I don't know what people said when I was racing. Maybe they said the same stuff. I don't know. But the numbers don't lie, right? This isn't a event that globally, the television numbers are down down significantly. I haven't pulled up right here. France up marginally, I think the Paul Seychias effect is real in France, Spain flat,

flanders. Rimco's home down 22%. Those aren't good, right? And I really enjoyed Spencer. You were quoted in David Segel's article in today's New York Times about the ownership of this event,

the control that the family has on the event. 170 million dollars in global television rights

that are sold every year that not one red scent is shared with the peloton. There's no other sport in the world like that. You have all the beauty, all the difficulty, all the just history of this sport in this event. And yet stuff is backwards. I leave here saying things have to change. And I will also say, and we saw this. And I earned my frustration when it happened. The fact that that the only thing that gets the tour to France on the cover of ESPN.com is somebody getting

woken up at 2am to be drug control. That's a problem. That's our headline. That got us in the global sports news. No, we just said it. We are witnessing maybe the most dominant athlete in the world today. That, my friends, is the headline. Why are we still doing this? It is the dog chasing the tail. What's your theory? Why is it down in flanders? What's everyone's theory on that?

“Mine is no weapon. The only thing that comes to mind when I think of that is we have had”

probably one of the best world cups we've seen in many years. And Belgium we're in that till late stages of it. It was found what a final was true. And of course England and some of the other nations, you've also got the problem in the UK of that is now not free to this is a big problem and it's growing. And so people are against paying to watch the tour to France where of course it used to be on terrestrial TV. But the welcome might have impacted a little bit. I should have added

and in my fault those numbers that those fewer ship numbers that I just read off are compared to a five-year average. It's just getting, it's real numbers. It isn't getting really expensive to watch the tour in some countries. Not everyone has like peacock is like an affordable streaming service, but it's great as well. I love it. There actually is a lot of key sports on there that you're going to have to get it to watch this fall. But gold reminds me of kitchen

name as is on there. The largest favorite love island ever forget. The man doesn't miss an episode of love island. Women's store right? We'll have a lot of sports you might want to watch.

“But very user friendly. It is. It's great. You have to buy this like really expensive. I'm”

talking like five to six hundred US dollars a year. A bolt on package is basically just cycling

and some championsly games. Who is going to buy that? That makes me worry they're going to lose an entire country of your ship. Coupled with, look, we all have kids. We all have young kids. I see my kids. We see our kids. We see how they consume content. We see how they are connected to their devices. Probably too much in the future. Our kids are going to watch 200 skinny guys right around France for five hours a day. It's something we have to

think about. In all sports after think about this is how we look even in our America's past time. But the game of baseball has had to make serious efforts to speed the game up and make it more interesting. Well the NBA view in figures have been down. Yeah, it's been down. Maybe it's kind of a mess. But baseball actually, old sport you think, Staggy, they were said, wow we got

some problems. Yeah. And in like in two years they fixed them all. It's an incredible view and

experience now. The one thing we should point out to is the podium. I mean, think about the companies involved in the podium, UAE promoting tourism. They're just to find millions of dollars being spent on this team because it is a positive impact on their country. The Catholic, fourth place in tour, massive company friends. They are just to find their expense because they're promoting their company through cycling. Red Bull, one of the biggest investors in sports,

“in the entire world, also just to find their expense. So there are a lot of positives. I think”

that are coming out of this sort of friends. Right. But but the all of those teams, not just the ones you mentioned, but all of the other ones are totally and completely dependent upon those title sponsors or any other form of sponsorship. Yep. The second those people, whether it's a wealthy person or the chicsen UAE decide to go, you know, sponsored Liverpool or something, whatever else sailing. I don't know. The second they decide to leave is the second that team is

is gone. And so no other sport would have a company that's generating hundreds of millions of dollars and the athletes and the teams and the team owners share in zero of that is ludicrous.

guys to say, we're not coming. We're not coming collectively. So let me turn this around and I know

on the devil's advocate always on the table, but Lance Bradley myself, we all make good money and cycling.

What have we been one of those guys is that you know I'm a skip a year or two for my salary, that supports my family to help the future of the sport. Each rider, I just put an article that the average wage of the salaries of the the riders and this tour de France is around 600k, 440,000. So you're coming from mostly blue collar families, never made that kind of money in your life and now you're making that kind of money, are you going to step away from that? I don't

“think so. I'm not saying it's a guarantee. I'm just telling you that's the only way that you affect”

change. Yes, I do tend to agree and I'm looking at both ways, former rider and now a team owner. Yes, team ownership needs to have value of a franchise value. We don't have that right now. We're 100% depend on sponsorship. Again, David Seagulls is article in the nearer times today. If you guys are subscribers or can somehow walk by a new stand, I thought it was, I mean, really, this, he spent some time, he spent three days of the tour, he lays it out there.

I was coming into the preview show. Get a call from a guy. I don't know. It's David Seagull. He said, I think I should ride an article about the, like, the financial side of the tour. I kind of think you could come up with a better article. It's great. Yeah, it's fantastic. Yeah. Well, feel like we shouldn't end on a down note. What about the vet? But let's do his or anything nice or sort of warm and fuzzy. We can say warm and fuzzy. But the pie a party tonight,

“this thing has become pie a monster every and it started out as a small thing. If you want to”

attend call that number. Yeah. Anna and Melanie was years, you know, a long time ago started making this pie a for a few of us. And now it's like 50 of us. Melanie's dressing about the 60 person. Well, we get Anna has called in reinforcements, Mel. So do not stress. We got other people to help with that. The thing's a big damn deal. Call that in the voicemail line. We'll drop your pen, tell you where to go. Come to our party. I want to finish on a positive note too. I just

want to say it's a real honor sitting here next to the goats of cycling history here. I mean,

coming from basically red neck from Texas, streets of London, to win in the biggest race in the

world. I mean, the most unconventional path you can get to winning the largest race in the world. So for me, like as a fan of the sport and knowing how much you guys have done in the sport,

“even though I've witnessed most of it, I was there with you guys for a lot of it. It's still an”

honor for me to be here. And I'm super grateful to be part of this month with you guys. Thank you. Last event of trivia of the tour. And we actually have a winner. We have the winners name on here. Question yesterday was about the iconic southwest climb. It's defined by how many numbered hairpin bends. Answer 21. After three weeks, all the questions, all the answers, all the submissions are winner. Stephen Steiner from just down the road, actually. Durango Colorado,

Seppus is hometown. Stephen Steiner, congratulations. You went 5,000 bucks towards the venom of your choice. Ladies and gentlemen, it has been fun. It has at times been eventful.

It has at times been un-eventful. But I will say this. I've had, I have not always been entertained

in this tour. But this has been sitting here with these three or four new yawons around too, somewhere. This has been, um, this has been one of the funner ones for me. And I mean it. I don't know why. So Bradley fucking locked in in 2026. That might have been one of my highlights. I was in a good mood for the most of it. He was in a great mood for the most of it. I liked it. It was all the cycling. Anyways, one of the sites yesterday I have to say, you didn't know that I saw

you do this. But watching you change into a golf kit in the car part, yeah, that may be laugh. I was sick of it by that. Well, I had, I had my golf shorts on for the show and I was, you know, I didn't want to wear it. I was sick of me so much. It was a thing Max was next to my shoes on. I son met me here. I mean, I'm not going to rock up on a golf shirt for the move. But I had in the car. Yeah, I was getting tucked in belt on, you know. Max and I had fun playing with my mom and

Ed. We had a hell of a time. How about time? So that's it. Look at you. I'm going to the next time I'm going to change after I leave. Thanks for tuning in everybody. It's been a hell of a good time. We will see you very soon.