UAE Tour & Classics Opening Weekend Breakdown | THEMOVE

JB Hager, Johan Bruyneel, and Spencer Martin of the Beyond the Peloton newsletter break down this weekend’s non-stop top-level racing, from Lennert van Eetvelt’s final-climb attack to take an upset overall win at the UAE Tour, to Visma’s masterclass at the pair of Cobbled Classic openers Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne, Jonas Vingegaard’s dismantling of the competition for the second-straight year at O Gran Camiño, and UAE’s sweep of the hilly one-day races in southern France. Outside of showing how the sport’s top two teams are likely to continue, or even expand, their dominance of the sport, they discuss and debate what these results mean for the bigger races looming in the near future.

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Disappointment for the team UAE you know they they were definitely unlucky with the crash of of Adam Yates that was for sure their leader that was for sure the designated guy to to win I mean those two uphill finishes are like his backyard you know that’s what he specializes

In welcome to the Move podcast I’m JB Hager and I’m just going to tell you right now just strap into your seat because we’re going to cover a lot fortunately I’m joined by two of the smartest people in cycling that know so much uh Spencer Martin is here and Johan

Bernal and we’re going to cover a lot today there’s so much I was thinking about it and and later in the show I do want to ask you Johan about what that’s like juggling so many races uh all around the globe basically for a team and a team manager must be overwhelming

But let’s just for the sake of keeping our heads straight let’s start with the UAE Tour all right let’s let’s let’s jump right into that why don’t you uh give us the broad overview Spencer and then we’ll we do have some things to dig deep into on the UAE tour yeah we’ll let

The UAE tour be our our North Star as we trying to navigate this insane week of racing I mean I’m in early season 4 myself not as fit as I thought I I start Saturday morning four races on I’m up I’m standing for all of them doing

Push-ups at 5:30 in the morning getting ready and then by this morning I so tired just laying on the couch with my screens close to me I I couldn’t even get close to the TV to watch up close but the we’ll work backwards on the UA tour just so we’re not walking through

Stuff that happened a week ago but Saturday was a Sprint stage Tim merer on sudol quickstep now came over from alason tonic Phoenix whatever it was when he was there wins in like a supremely powerful Sprint I don’t know if anyone saw these numbers of Elon releases these Sprint numbers after the

Fact and it was like these Sprints at UA tour I was saying in the pre-show the UA tour is almost a laboratory where the Sprints are like pure Sprints and the climbs are pure climbs they do have some Crosswinds mixed in with I get which I

Guess would muddle the muddle the lab a bit but merer wins like an unbelievably strong Sprint on uh on Saturday and then today going into the final climb we had a climb on earlier in the week and you get you would think UAE not big climbs

But no these climbs are massive I would say the biggest climb in early season stage racing ironically the closest thing you would see to like a European Grand Tour climb but they don’t have snow there so they can go up very high and do the longest climbs

Earlier in the year and on the uh stage I believe it was stage three that climb UAE had some problems where Adam Yates crashes hard the the first stage was a Sprint second stage is TT one by Brandon mnti second place is another UAE Rider jayvine third is m Berg so you think

Well UAE they’ve got this unlocked nothing can go wrong stage three rolls around the first summit finish they kind of start to struggle because Adam Yates gets hurt and I think if you think about the UA tour like maybe not that important to the Casual fan I would

Guess it’s very important to the people that sponsor the UAE team it’s their home race they want to win it they used to make taty pagar come to it because it was just an easy way to win it who’s going to beat him at this race Adam

Yates kind of was here is his understudy you know a guy who’s really good at this type of race but he crashes Midway through stage three hits his head really hard I mean probably should have been taken out the race immediately he continues gets dropped on the climb like

He did not look good it was good to see him leave the race but UA kind of Salvage it salvages it Ben o Conor wins the stage jayvine is second Brandon mnti who had been leading the race up to that point looked a little something looked not quite right he finishes 14 seconds

Back from oconor but you still think well Jay Vines winning or leading the race Ben Conor second Brandon mcti third fast forward we have a bunch of Sprint stages four five six all Sprint stages four is won by um Tim merer I mean it’s all kind of like Tim merer versus the

Field and then the second the stage five is won by Olaf Koy because merer was in the wind Koy was protected stage six merer wins again I mean the guy looks unbeliev unbelievably powerful I don’t know how much this translates to harder Sprints later in the year like for example Kaden

Was really he just looked like he was struggling with the pure power of these guys like even Sam wellsford looked quite good versus Caden Groves but if you remember at the VTA last year these hard as the hard stages get harder or Kaden Groves just gets better and better

And we’ve kind of seen the elimination of just pure po pure Sprint stages at Major European stage races so take it all with the grain of salt but we get to the final stage today stage seven Crosswinds early like they the TV starts and the race is all blown up across the

World across the road and it’s just flat flat flat into the final climb jabel hit it is I’ll read the stats it’s a serious climb it’s 10K 11k long at 7% average JB you said it looked like a miserable slog up there it starts interesting because

Ben o Conor has his decathlon team on the front even though they’re not leading the race they’re second going into it U is kind of nowhere to be seen as a team Brandon mcti dropped immediately like the moment the road goes up he’s drops it’s like well that’s

Not something’s not quite right there cuz he should be you know at least at least competing inside the final kilometer then jayvine the race leader gets dropped a few kilometers later with the kathon ag2r on the front so right there the race Leader’s gone it looks

Like you start thinking well Ben o Conor is GNA just ride this thing in win this race Well he kind of burns through his de cathlon teammates and in the last 2K it starts to get messy looks like it maybe gets a little bit more mild and

That’s when a tax carts start coming Leonard van etel ETF feltfelt how do you say that Johan Leonard velt ITF felt just gets away and it’s a really good move I mean this guy is you might think like this is a who is this guy he came

From nowhere well Johan picked him to win a stage on our outcome show last year at the welta and he went on and finished third in that stage he’s 22 years old Belgian Rider gets clear and it’s you know he’s not super close on GC

So he needs to win by I believe it he needed a 20 second Gap plus some time bonuses to win the overall so you’d think well oconor all he has to do is sit here and Pace but feld’s going so hard I I saw that his average power for

The last three minutes of the stage was close to 500 watts with like a surge at the end and that’s after what 20 30 minutes of high power plus the Crosswinds earlier in the day so this guy’s flying OK Conor comes through all he has to do is finish

Second to win the overall he gets go goes in the final turn behind pel Bal gets third misses that six six second time bonuses gets a 4 second time bonus loses the GC by two seconds it was probably the most exciting finale to the UA tour that I’ve ever seen Feld wins

The overall and I I would say shocked a lot of people Johan wouldn’t you I don’t think many people saw this coming and then UAE ironically wins them and visma win every race this weekend except uae’s home race which is won by a second division Lotto uh Destiny team Today’s

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UAE tour was you know had suspense until the end I agree you know for for UAE the way they came in they definitely came in with the ambition to win it they it’s their home race they have to win it there’s no other there’s no second is

Not good enough they have to win it uh first second and third in the time trial um obviously I think their race completely changed with when Adam Yates crashed really hard uh that I think that was the beginning of a turnaround for them but still I thought that Jay Vine looked pretty

Good uh on stage three I think yeah stage three when he was you know he was close to Beno Conor um something must have been wrong because I don’t think it’s normal that both mcnolty and Jay Vine didn’t have any legs today uh maybe a bug or something and the team it was

Not it was not logical um anyway I don’t think it takes anything away from Leonard van ELD uh he’s already in great shape since the beginning of the year um we all know Brandon mcnalty is super strong from the beginning of the year he was amazingly strong in mayorca he already won the

Tour of Valencia he won a stage and the overall and came into this race as the leader of the team and Van ELD already beat melti and vlasov in his stage in in mayorca um so you know we we knew he was strong uh on stage three he finished

Third also came from the back with a with really powerful acceleration at the end um so you know no surprise there you know 22 years old super powerful guy um did that did some really good results last year already in his first year Pro

Um um a big Talent um I I I listened to his post race interview which you know he did in great English by the way cursing included um but he said is isn’t that the first thing you learn in the pelaton a foreign language is all the curse

Words right yeah probably probably it’s probably not recommended to say it on TV but anyways he was so excited uh but he said you know that he he said that he felt like this winter he felt like he made the big step forward he even thought that his power meter was broken this

Winter uh was surprised about the numbers he was uh producing and obviously his power meter was not broken um because he’s you know he’s in those kind of Punchy races um we’re going to have to see later on you know in in longer climes but uh definitely very

Promising um I I like the guy you know he he he’s you know he dares to attack it was it was a tactical tactical race at the end uh but I was still surprised to see that many riders together with you know two two and a

Half kilometers to go uh I think there was like eight or nine Riders together and um and so it tells me also I haven’t seen the speeds of of of today’s climb but I I think it was pretty fast uh so you know we we keep seeing the same

Thing that more and more Riders are at a really high level there were some guys up there like you know like Max pool for example uh British Rider big Talent you know good old poo bilau always there you know trying to win the race we had

Carlos Verona up there um of course Ben o Conor um Elon Von Wilder young guy also Belgian guy who is still trying to win um so um um what’s what’s the other Michael stur all of a sudden back back there uh on a really good level so I

Think it was these races are hard to win man uh and actually little detail uh velt um wins with two seconds and something that that you know of course it’s easily said afterwards right but during uh there was one stage earlier on that he was like in a

Breakaway and he actually took an intermediate Sprint Bon ifications Undisputed which is three seconds and that’s what makes him win the race you know uh easily said afterwards right because I mean I think he was the best then you know he deserved to win but without those three

Seconds he would not have won the race he would have lost it with one second so um yeah it shows that you know every second counts in modern cycling you you guys have said that in recent years how these intermediate Sprints are becoming more of a factor in Bon ifications

Everything is more of a fact than it was what 10 years ago not as big of a factor it’s so close I mean you know the the differences between the guys are so close that uh sometimes it just comes down you know decide when you attack what

Happens behind um you know it’s a fraction of a second I mean winning winning the UAE tour with two seconds with a time trial two Mountaintop finishes uh it’s you know every second counts and um it was you know I’m happy I’m happy he wins I think it shows also

That uh Lotto Destiny is on on a really good track to be back in the world tour in the future I think uh last year already they started to you know take a different course you know changed general manager L longa got kicked out and uh Stefan hero came in uh they made

A few changes there’s a new wind in that team and and they’re on good course to you know be back in in the world to where they belong in my opinion they’ve been there you know for a very long time I mean I even raised for lotto in in in

1990 and 91 and uh I think I think if I’m not mistaken I think they started uh in 84 85 was their first first year of sponsoring so they’ve been around forever it’s probably the oldest team uh the oldest sponsor around um so you know good to see good

To see that uh you know they’re they’re up there and um yeah I I I like I like what I see from from lot to Destiny also you know as you said Spencer Tim merer um unbeatable unbeatable this one this one stage he didn’t win uh he lost

It it was thought to finish apparently he finished on a on a slow flat um I saw yeah you can see him uh bouncing around it’s like this is classic you lose the Sprint I think there was a slow leak in this thing yeah

Yeah uh Olaf KY won it also a super fast guy of course but uh um you know one little uh thing I saw was you know obviously Cavendish was there with with his aana train lead out including morkov um um a bit disappointed in what I saw um the lead

Out in my opinion was not on point uh and calf in my opinion was not I mean it’s still early days of course you know you can’t compare whatever you see from CF now compared to a Cav the in July is different Cav dish in the tour

The France it’s a different animal but I think they’re looking for some kind of confirmation of you know this is going to work or you know the lead out train will work uh these races are not easy to to to get the train on point because you

Know the stages are not very long they’re not very hard the Sprint stages so there’s a lot of people in the front and and things can go wrong but uh yeah he had three chances and they were never anywhere near uh winning or or the podium so uh there’s there’s

Work to be done there and I’m not saying with this that uh I’m not hopeful but I would have loved to see Cavendish take uh a top finish you know a win would have been nice but a Podium would have been good also because uh they need to

They need to get their train on the rails and for the moment uh the train is not there does a guy like Cavendish like does he become a lead out coach basically like let me let me figure out how to phrase this you can’t you can’t

Practice it the way it is in racing you I mean you you I mean you can go do your efforts and and and and simulate a lead out but it’s not the same as in a bunch Sprint like does so as they lead up to July he’s got to be working with them

You need to do more of this you need to do more of this is that kind of how that’s going to play out like and then they figure out the order that’s best right of their lead out yeah I think first they need to be up to pair with

All the other Sprint trains because this this is this is this is War I mean if you see all these teams how fast they go and you know all these teams get better and better with this I mean the speeds are insane and and and sometimes it

Comes down to just little things that you know you may got out of position and uh merer in my opinion is the only one I’ve seen until now that it doesn’t seem to bother whether his train get off the rails or not if finds somewhere a wheel

And then he just comes out of fifth sixth seventh position um but anyways you know uh as you say Spencer you know not not much can be concluded from these kind of Sprints uh but it’s nice I mean malier in the meantime he has won five races already

Uh that’s not that’s not bad you know for the month of February it’s it’s good for the confidence it’s great for the team and uh you know in terms of sprinters for the moment marer is the king I mean I’d love to I mean he he had

No team he had no team on stage six and he wins that Sprint easy it was pretty impressive I mean I love to criticize one guy though he has one guy sorry he has one guy Bert V lber tall guy uh Amazing Story actually they’re school friends they went to school together

Like when they were kids and they’re now you know teammates on on sudar quickstep and and valner is an amazing I mean the way he sometimes brings him to the front without leading him out but putting him in position and sometimes for a sprinter like merer that’s

Enough I mean I I was yeah and I was gonna like similar to Cavendish JB I do kind of wonder if he’s not good at teaching lead outs just a crackpot the I have like you know sometimes you know like Michael Jordan would probably make a bad basketball coach because he like

Just go by everybody and dunk it what’s the problem here like Cavendish probably isn’t actually that good at telling them exactly what they need to do but he really just needs one he needs one guy to Pilot him through one Sprint at the tour in the season is a success and I

Think he’s probably going to be fine if this was three years ago I’d say oh he’s shot he can’t compete anymore but we’ve seen him like he can just turn like what what do they say like turn chicken [ __ ] into chicken salad so fast like he can

Look really washed up and then July rolls around and he looks fantastic so I wouldn’t Panic about that one thing about Lotto Destiny which I guess is the name of the team now I almost wonder if they were helped by relegation Johan where they could sit

Back kind of take a deep breath and get off contracts they felt like they needed to get off like if they’re still in the world tour I wonder if they keep Caleb bun or then they don’t focus on as much on these younger Riders who have performed really well for them because

They just feel the pressure to like we got to just eek out every point we can but like going back to the second division they’ve been able to pick and choose the Races they want to go to they can reliably pick up points at smaller races like they’ve just skipped the zero

I don’t think they went last year and they’re not going this year they also they also set out down under for example they didn’t yeah you know it is it has it advantages if you’re strong in the second division it’s not a bad place to be you know

Because if you if you make sure you’re first or second you’re doing all the big races anyway yeah you got to pick and choose uh it’s not a it’s not a bad thing it’s not a bad thing to see alpon benefit from that for for some time for three years

Yeah yeah for three years all right any other uh takeaways from UAE tour before we move I I’m just like my head is spinning just trying to think of who was in what race it’s all a blur you know I mean my my general takeaway is you know like

Disappointment for the team UAE you know they they were definitely unlucky with the crash of of Adam Yates that was for for sure their leader that was for sure the designated guy to to win I mean those two uphill finishes are like his backyard you know that’s what he

Specializes in so you know we can’t be too harsh for them but from experience I know that you know if you’re in a race in your local race you’re the dominant team uh in the world I mean you it’s it’s it’s fair to say I think that UAE and and Vima Leisa

Bike are the two strongest teams in the world if you’re there uh it’s so much pressure so much pressure because everybody mean listen these sponsors these shakes that they just expect you to win you know they’re paying so much money say okay you know we’re just going to win this

You know okay let’s bring the strongest team okay we understand that we’re not bringing pachar because we know he wants to focus on a little bit later but let’s bring the strongest possible team I mean if you look you know Adam Yates Jay Vine mnti I mean those three guys were

Leaders would be leaders on any team right for this race and and they don’t win and and they’re not even on the podium um it’s stressful it’s stressful it’s you know they go away from this week with a disappointment uh I think there’s you know they have valid excuses

To to not have won it but you know in a few weeks those excuses you know are forgotten we didn’t win UA so now we we need to win the next one right now now I’m thinking about you as a director with a us-based team coming back when

You would come race in the US did did you feel that pressure one and and then that’s really funny you’re like you probably going I can’t believe I feel all this pressure to race in America it was always the same Tour of California tour of Georgia same thing

Always you know you have you’re there and you have to win and you know what I mean these races are not easy to win you know I mean even sometimes even if the uh okay UAE tour obviously the the participation was was high quality sometimes you know tour of Georgia Tour

Of California the the participation was so so still not easy to win uh and if when we didn’t win it was not happy times not happy times uh so yeah I feel I feel for them I feel for the the the management of UAE uh of course I think I

Think you know around the sponsors around the shake there’s obviously advisers who who understand the sport a little bit but that one is not in the back for the moment so it UPS the pressure for the for the other for for the future and I’ll add this to it real quick as we

We’ve got to move on but I watched that Yates crash and rarely do you see in Road cycling where they turn and hit the back of their head uhuh and when they put him back on that bike so quickly I I immediately thought this guy’s got a concussion like there’s that should not

Have happened but you know what JP it’s still you know any cyclist and any staff member still has that reflex you know let’s see what happens let’s let’s see uh you know let’s okay he speaks uh he can say his name um you know his arms work his legs

Work let’s put him on the bike and then we look at we look at the damage once he’s going right yeah yeah uh um listen Adam yce is also an experienced writer already right so um ultimately he has decided to go on uh plus there are race doctors

There um they’ve assessed him um I don’t I don’t really know if it was a concussion um but it’s also you know I mean listen it’s the pressure you know the pressure of hey I’m here I’m I have to do my job I have to deliver the win I need to try yeah

Um you know I think I think it was wise for him to to to to stop um but I because he obviously felt shaken but but but I I don’t think personally that he he will have a concussion uh I mean maybe tomorrow I have to swallow my words when but uh but

It’s not it’s not easy and it’s it’s also not easy to establish a protocol for this because it’s so subjective you know uh ultimately it’s the it’s the writer who needs to feel what’s going on and uh it’s it’s a very sensitive subject because you could in

Theory if the authority lays with with an external person they could say okay you know what you’re out and it may be that it’s it’s not such a big deal you know because but out of precaution they take him out of the race so um I think it’s something that

Needs to be worked on you know I’ve read I’ve read SE several you know studies that they’re working on on sensors in the helmets that could you know be you know giving a signal of okay this is this impact is hard enough oh wow to to

To take you out of the race but man when you had had all the impact hard more numbers Spencer more numbers for you well that impact was a 78 on a scale you’re going to love that you’re g i I think we should remember too I mean I

Think they checked his helmet and if there’s no cracks like it it looks obvious to us but they might not even know that he hit his head really hard you know because they don’t they’re not seeing the they’re in the car maybe they see it on TV but they don’t see the

Replay yet it’s got to be chaotic and then okay send him on his way and then they see the replay two hours later and it looks obvious but one of the one of the disadvantages of cycling is you know compared to any other sport you know like rugby or you

Know like you can take a guy out and S him set him on the bench and he can come back into the game cycling no the race goes on you know it’s it’s not like hey let’s okay let’s assess this guy hey pelaton everybody waits to until we

Decide that Adam Yates is okay to continue that’s the problem in cycling so uh um I I think it’s improved a lot compared listen before it was there was just before it was there was no protocol at all it was okay you check if your

Arms and your legs work as a rider you instinctively get back on your bike and you get your legs moving even if it hurts you know and even if you’re and then you decide okay you know bit by bit you get back into motion and and we’ll

See then right that that doesn’t happen anymore um but yeah I mean it it can it you know I’m pretty sure that there’s going to be some kind of system at some point where everything standardized and better for everybody Today’s Show is also brought to you by

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Much racing going on my my head was spinning the last two days just trying to catch up with all of it uh but fortunately these two gentlemen with me can keep it all straight in their heads of who was at what race let’s go across

To the Grand Cino where we got to see uh yonas vingard do what he does just just be vingard and which he’s done dominated that race for a couple years in a row correct yeah the race is only 3 years old I believe he’s won the last two

Years the two years he’s participated in it and I believe since he started racing it last year he has won every stage that has counted for the GC and because they they they run it in Galia which is a really wet part of Spain maybe has like

A Celtic origin the people that live up there I’m a little fuzzy on what exactly is going on in Galia but it it’s like really bad weather this time of year and they often have to neutralize stages or not have them or like the stage one time

Trial happened but it didn’t count for the GC because it was so windy they didn’t want writers getting blown off the road W by Josh Tarling by the way if you guys remember us we three talked about him on our world championship time trial podcast last August I think he

Finished Johan did he finish third in the time trial am I am I remembering this right in the world championship trial second yeah really good really good wrer no third he did finish third and then was second oh Ghana was second yeah and really good Rider even on the

European Champion yes yeah and he’s young I think he’s 20 years old yeah 20 years old on anyos huge power I mean incredible incredible power yeah and I was really blown a he rides with the low Cadence like a Yan oric s Cadence maybe that was just a quirk of being on his

Road bike but destroys everyone this is a short time trial 14.8k finishes uphill on a couple climb finishes almost a minute ahead of the second place finisher like it was I would keep that name in mind around Spencer uh you know the Gap it was a huge gap uh and the guys he

Beat were definitely going for it but let’s say that the the really top guys like Jonas Wingard didn’t go full in that time trial because first one it was windy and and most importantly it didn’t count for GC so they uh but anyways don’t want to take anything away Carling

Is top of the world in time tring uh really I mean he’s he’s my favorite actually for the Olympic uh championships I like that pick yeah yeah because he can just focus on that he doesn’t have the pesky totter France to try to win like from coiple and you know and then really

After that it’s just second year in a row it’s the yonas show I mean I I can’t quite figure out why he comes to this race cuz it is very looks very cold and very rainy but he comes year after year and just dominates people in the climbs

Like abs like I saw he almost did seven watts per kilo for something like 12 minutes on the final climb on stage two it’s a short race it’s just a four- stage race but it didn’t finish on an uphill finish you know so he goes over the The Climb solo eager manol but

Pretty impressive performance comes over second finishes second on the stage 24 second win on a you know on a course that you would not say super conducive to getting away and then I thought the most important performance or most impressive performance of the week was stage three it finished he attacks It’s

A Long Way to the Finish Line he goes solo finishes 29 seconds up on you know decently sized pelaton like let’s say 17 18 Riders polling and he’s just out there he’s not a big guy you know but he’s obviously putting out massive power to hold them off like just an incredible

Form and then today’s stage wasn’t televised which um I secretly was happy for cuz it made our day a little bit more manageable I think it was it was his same uphill finish that he won last year let’s just imagine it was exactly the same but with more rain was yeah and

Lenny Martinez impressively comes over 16 seconds down Hugh karthy third 45 seconds down and then Ean Bernal fourth 48 seconds down finishes third in the GC Lenny Martinez finishes second if Lenny Martinez sounds familiar he was the really young Rider who was was he leading the welta for a bit last year

Johan yeah yeah two days or three days yeah yeah French writer on Gama fdj definitely looks good this year son son of EX Olympic champion Miguel Martinez uh his dad mountain bike right Olympic champion mountain bike his granddad was St of France uh Rider it’s a it’s a cycling

Family uh big big climbing Talent um but yeah I mean I’m the same Spencer I don’t really understand the reasons why yonas wants to go to this race um he wins all the stages uh definitely great training um the competition was great I mean it’s not it’s not like he

Wins against second degree Riders you know Bernal is there kapas is there Martinez is there uh CTI uran um there’s really good writers so uh the what what really is impressive is that every time he decided to go he went and nobody was able to follow him except Bernal um on

On stage two um I think on stage two yeah he uh he he could follow him until about 800 meters from the top uh that’s what I like most about about this I I mean it was kind of clear that lingard was going to do the same as

Last year um I think I mean at this point Spencer I I just think these these these visma riders or this Vima team they’re just trying to replicate what they’ve done and just compare their numbers okay uh we don’t look the result is fine we don’t we’re

Going to win anyway let’s just see if we produce more power uh that’s a bit that’s a bit what it looks like um but you know Bernal being able to follow vard uh was something that I really like to see um you know he already showed hopeful signs in the Colombian

Championships he was he did a really really good race there in the the tour Colombia he was on a good level also uh not riding with inos but riding with the Colombian national team uh now back in Europe um it’s good to see so I’m hopeful I’m hopeful that Bernal can join

You know whenever we talk about the big three or the big four you know today and yonas and and Primos and and rco eventually in my opinion bernau belongs in that list you know so um I I would like to see him back there um I agree

What you said in the pre-show Spencer that you know we haven’t seen Bernal on this level since his win in the in the tour of Italy so hopefully uh he gets a lot of confidence out of this I know he gets a lot of confidence out of this for sure but uh

Um you know it’s it’s it’s it’s good to see and hopefully he can build on this uh and do a proper preparation for for uh for the tour to France you know we need we’re we’re already we’re already building all this anticipation with Remco rogl now on another team pachar

Vingo if Bernal is back in the mix like this is setting the stage for the best Showdown we’ve seen since this show has begun in 2017 my only concern and a I I was very impressed like yonas didn’t really attack he just kind of I I don’t want to say the word

Motorbike but he just kind of did look like a modo he just like rode Bernal off his wheel but if you step back and you’re like oh he got Dro he did sorry sorry he did attack initially yes able to join and then when they were two guys

Left then he rote them off the wheel yeah but that’s pretty good company to be in you know if you make it to 800 meters to go to the top of the climb and get ridden off jonas’ wheel like you might be up there with some of the best

Riders in the world right now my only concern is so let’s say he goes to the tour we are already starting to see the inos bubble form you know it’s this this this GC bubble that forms it feels like every Grand Tour we saw it at this Euro

Last year I thought it really hurt Garren Thomas where they have three or four Riders just kind of blob in the top 10 of the GC and they just don’t pick anyone and they all kind of ride their own race and you know it’s like let’s say Bernal finishes seventh of the tour

That’d be great for Bernal and what is pitock let’s say he finishes eighth and Garren Thomas finishes fifth it’s just I I it’s just an odd team where you think well bernal’s back this is great for them and it’s like oh wait it’s another Rider that can finish high up

But maybe not win a grand tour at the moment because the grand Tours are getting so competitive to win yeah we’ll see I mean listen Bernal has the advantage that there’s no obligation for him anything he and you know if he gets close it’s good enough so it’s you know

If he’s able to follow them for a little bit um I I think I think winning the tour for aam Bernal is going to be difficult um maybe he needs another year to get back to the level if he ever gets back and and then you know the question

Is is his best level from before good enough to win a a tour to France you know nowadays uh now we also need to we also need to figure out what is bernal’s personal ambition if you ask me Bernal wants to in the vaa that that’s his main objective

Because he’s won the Tour he’s won the jro there’s one left to check off you know and uh and that’s that’s a very achievable goal in my opinion you’re a mind Thief that’s what I was gonna say I his time tring is probably not good enough to win the Tour

Because let’s say he just is as good as pagach are and yonas on the climbs well where is he going to make the time up on the time trials but if seus can win the welta Bernal can win the welta you know he can climb just as good as cous and if

Is you know he just needs a few Oddball things to happen to make up for the time he’s going to lose in the time trials he could absolutely win the welta I think with this form that he’s found himself in he doesn’t even have the tour to

France on on the schedule so that’s probably to your point yeah he’s gonna go he’s gonna go to it’s the best full team in there yet right they only have like three or four Riders they’re one of the only big teams not to have a full tour team announced yeah

Yeah it could be good for him just to get a grand tour in his legs before he goes to the welta I think that could help him a lot yeah well I mean maybe maybe it’s not this year maybe it’s maybe it’s next year’s wela you know I

Mean listen if if if finger guard goes to the VTA like he said he will then hey life happens I mean you know that was a pretty clean magical run Vima had last year year yeah that’s not guaranteed you never know what’s going to happen also honorable mention for uh

Kian Brooks uh really good race his first race with bzma after you know a bit of a a hectic off season you know changing teams uh it looks like he’s super happy uh super excited and he did they did a few uh a few really good results so happy to see him up

There all right do we move on to omloop news blot well before we I have one more thing to mention about Grand Camino and it’s going to blow up our comments I apologize in advance oh boy Johan is Richard carass still a GC riter his 11th year in the GC he’s

Listen he’s a strong Rider uh he’s a GC but he is not he’s not anywhere near here the four the three four big guys uh so as long as these guys are at if we’re talking about the tour I would say no he can’t win the Tour he cannot win the

Tour um he won the Jiro um was second in the VTA already a few years ago also um in the meantime things keep happening in cycling you know the young guys keep coming so uh it’s not looking it’s not looking bright for for him to win a grand another ground tour but he

Can be he can be third that I think third is must be his his his ambition uh you know you have to be a good writer to be on the podium of a ground tour anyway it’s easy to say ah you know he’s only fifth or sixth you know

It’s you have to be so good to be fifth or sixth in a ground tour so let’s not let’s not forget that but uh but hey kapas is you know he’s a fighter he’s strong guy he’s uh you know whatever he doesn’t have in terms of

Talent compared to uh a RIT or uh Bernal or or um vingard or or pogacha he makes up with you know race attitude and and and race savviness also he’s a racer so uh let’s not forget that but it’s not going to be easy for him to

To win AOG ground tour not at all I hope I hope everybody listens to Johan’s very objective thought wellth thought answer because it seems like lately other media Outlets will will take that question an answer and go and and then their headline is why does Johan bernel hate

Kopas yeah I don’t I don’t I don’t I know but that’s what that’s what other media outs do to I mean fortunately we have to we also have to say you know fortunately most of the cycling media listens to our podcast and and you know they’re taking they’re taking

Information from here and with that comes that you know certain quotes are taken out of context because it drives traffic I know I’m fine with that they just did it on they just did it to Lance on Remco and it’s like he never said

That and I yeah and I kind of like yeah we can debate we’ll debate that in a future show but the thing I mean the reason I asked about Carz it’s almost a compliment because he’s such a good winner of races like a stage Hunter I do

Kind of wonder if he’s going to say man like this GC game is just tough these days like I’m going to bust my butt I’m going to finish what six of the tour you know go back to that what was that the 2022 VTA where he was just storming

Stages yeah you kind of wonder if that becomes more appealing versus trying to keep up with this rat race of the GC yeah it is though you know I mean welta and Jiro are different doing that in the tour is it’s stages are so expensive at the tour

It’s it’s a different game you know mean that’s why the tour is a tour and the other races are not anywhere near what the tour to France is but hey kapas um you know he uh he was there already straight from the beginning tour Colombia you know he

Was he was super strong almost won it um so he defin had good offseason and prepared well um we’ll see him we’ll see him uh in my opinion not to win a ground tour though all right let’s move on to the OM Loop where it was the jumbo visma or the

Visma L bike show I got it’s going to take a few shows to get right used to that uh from what I witnessed and we’ll start with you on this one Yan it looked like any one of four or five visma writers could have won and they they

Have this situation now where everybody looks at wal van art and they have all this other Talent finding way it’s not bad to be on visma in in those races if you’re like a Kristoff laort or Matthew Jorgenson or D benot or in this case Yan

Tratnik you know I mean uh it was it was a strange race om with news blood um it’s you know it’s in Belgium this is this is the start of the cycling season you know the yesterday was the start of the real cycling season in Belgium it’s huge it’s a mini tour of

Flanders um all the newspapers are building up in the week before to you know and then of course with Walt vanard being the big favorite it’s it’s crazy uh the team visma has I mean they’ve shown that they’re incredibly strong they’re incredibly dominant now it’s still not

Easy to win that race because you know at some point uh they it looked like okay they had there was a there was a big selection I think visma had six six Riders out of uh six from their seven Riders were there then they had one guy who punctured

Aini uh but there was still five and then finally there’s a selection there’s six riders with three visas right uh you would say okay this looks like okay this is Vima and you know nobody else going to win now certain things happen in the race that even visma does not expect for

Me the complete the race completely changed on I think it was on the baron re which you know is one of the one of the of the non- cobbled climbs where you have Tom skin SK or sens or I always say SK I think that’s right uh attacks I said okay because you

Know initially if you’re one of those three other Riders you say okay I’m here with three visma Riders right so what what should I do the best way to get a good result is you attack and you wait until a visma rider comes and then hope

That the two other visma Riders give the the green light for you know to get away with him which was in my opinion his intention now Tom sens was incredibly strong I think a lot stronger than he expected himself and he attacked and vanard went after him and could not bridge the gap

And I think that completely changed the dynamic of the race where they said okay hey you know we’re three guys here but there’s one guy who’s actually stronger than the three of us because vanard was you know initially the the leader of the team so um anyway still

You know six Riders three three visma guys uh not easy to win um so in the end it was a strange race actually because it took another guy who was not initially part of the the first selection to come back and take advantage tactically of the situation

And and win so obviously having the numbers is always a great Advantage but I would think that nobody would have expected even with 100 kilometers to go uh that Yan tratnik would win the race for vizar Leisa bike they were all thinking okay vanard or laort or or even Matthew jurgenson

Uh those are the guys who who need to deliver us the victory so it was it was a very interesting race very Dynamic changing situations and uh what I what I’ve seen is a very dominant dominant uh visma Team probably even stronger than last year I mean they have reinforced themselves uh Matthew

Jorgenson is obviously a great addition um vanart is really strong uh laort is there always vona mean benut I mean what are you going to do you know yeah uh so uh it was it was interesting to see um what I really liked was the performance uh of

Arnold Dee Arnold De le young writer super strong you know Belgian favorite uh next to next to W vanard you know he’s w uh from French from the French speaking part so it’s it’s balanced uh but you know him being up there collaborating and and being super strong in my opinion

At the end of the race the last 30k thee was individually the strongest Rider uh he he he repeated actually what he did last year which is crazy if you if you know the roads there and if you if you know what what riding a bike is

At that level I mean he went up the M the gron on the Big Chain ring like last year which is crazy um he did it again uh but he put everybody everybody in the HT so uh very I mean probably not the result he expected but performance- wise I saw

Very strong arodi um there were some doubts about his form initially uh that’s also you know the Belgian public and the Belgian media are very demanding and the leaded three races uh didn’t have I mean he had a fourth place and then two abandoned so immediately said oh you know the Lee is

Not in great shape he showed that he’s in great shape and was supported by a very strong Lotto Destiny team in the final so uh I I really liked what I saw from uh from the Lee so and hopeful hopeful for the next races for

Him yeah I mean what do they call him the bowl he definitely looked like the bow during that race I mean he was he was noticeably stronger than Tom pitock on those climbs which you would not guess based on kind of their riter profiles this race was interesting

Because it had like five moves where I thought o That’s the winning move I mean and FMA clearly has some sort of strategy with like okay we’re coming in we’re the favorites we don’t want to get stuck gluing the race back together let’s just get five or six guys that

Could all win the race off the front as early as possible so this race breaks up 122 km out we don’t see it because it’s not televised and then they you know they just start they get to work like with their chisel Hammer like they get

To the wolven BG oh let’s let’s thin it out even more we have five of 20 let’s get it to three to six you know they just keep reducing reducing reducing the group but they don’t lose as many as much Firepower as everybody else like when they had those we they had leaport

Jorgenson and venard in the lead group against with three other Riders I think it was dele pitcock and Tom squeen sque S however we’re saying his name that’s a pretty strong position and I think there was funky time gaps all day they had they said they had a minute lead over

The chase group we find out later that wasn’t true but then you think okay like what I can kind of see how this is going to play out and then sque does what he does shows he’s so strong that’s interesting Johan I was confused why he

Sat up and waited but that makes sense he was waiting for vard it was far it was far far far to go still um and I probably think that he surprised himself a little bit by being like so strong and nobody being able to follow but from

From there on if you look Jumbo’s attitude changed because you know until then there was you had the three jumbo guys or the three visma guys sorry it’s gonna it’s going to take it’s gonna take a long time yeah uh the three visma guys and and the other tree collaborating

With them which which makes sense you know which makes sense because let’s mean people say okay why are they collaborating they three three three visma guys and then why are these guys collaborating well you know first of all the these three guys are three like Pitcock thee and and SK are three strong

Riders uh they all know that it’s they the three of them know it’s going to be difficult to win uh but you know they they they know that it’s there’s a decent decent possibility to have a Podium uh if they don’t collaborate they immediately push visma in the situation

Okay we’re gonna attack we’re going to try have one visma Rider away with another Rider right which which is what happened after SK dropped vanart um so it made sense that they collaborated um but it’s not easy to be in a situation like like Vima if you are so

Dominant then still it’s not easy to win the race because you you create situations where you’re so strong that you create a passive attitude of all the others and you really need to be much stronger than the rest which they are I mean today they showed it also in K

Which uh to to win the race right so um it was it was you know omop news blood was an interesting race uh because at some point you know they they decide okay jurgenson goes up front yurgenson was strong but not super strong so obviously in the back the the the the

Five remaining Riders the two the two visma Riders are not collaborating anymore and the these other three the Lee and Pitcock and and skes work together but not full because they know that as soon as they bring back jurgenson they’re going to get attacked from the back so you create a situation

You have a guy in the front you have five guys in the back but in the meantime the speed is not super high anymore and the pelaton comes back that’s all of that’s why we all of a sudden saw the pelaton so close just before the M the grandmo they were there

I mean they were there and and and and you know some guys mainly I mean uh Tim wellin in first instance but some other guys came back on the M on the mirr already on those on those five guys um and so that’s a bit uh it’s it’s a knife

That cut both ways you know you you you have you have a lot of strong guys uh but as soon as you start to attack uh then the pelaton has a better chance to come back and also a better chance to catch that lone rider in the front which is

What happened ultimately and and luckily luckily they had tratnik coming back who hadn’t worked at all and is a smart Rider Strong Rider and and could you know finally get in the good move with on top of that Neil split who is a horse

The best guy in the world to be in that move with yeah I mean first of all I mean tratnik is little he would mean Prat I think tratnik was thinking here I’m I’m behind a motorbike here you know so on top of that he’s faster and uh

Then you know you had poit and UAE also thinking by themselves okay this is at least let’s go for a Podium because you know if we don’t stay ahead we have nothing because Wellens had already made big efforts to come back uh on the mirr so uh they created an ideal situation

But probably not what they had expected not even 10 kilometers before that move happened they would have thought that tratnik would be the guy that they they would have to protect it kind of highlighted the risk or potential downside of attacking over 100 kilomet out because you’re right when Tom’s

Attacked it changed everything they’re like well we can’t go to the final two climbs with this guy because what if he drops us and wins Jorgenson you know they start doing the one two the old one two three orens and goes it reminded me of stend ofolder do you remember these

Two Flanders wins where he would just counter attack un’s in the group devolder wins the problem is Jorgenson was running out of gas cuz he had been off the front in that League group for so long and then as you say everything kind of it was really surreal cuz you’re

Seeing the time Gap a minute and then it just is like an accordion just like coming back together so fast there was a moment where I thought oh this could get dicey if this all comes back together there’s guys sitting in the pelaton can w vanart Really win a Sprint against

Them and then is you know yon tratnik saves the day gets off the front with the perfect guy to be off with he wins so it doesn’t matter but then we saw w vard win the bunch Sprint anyway so he probably would have been able to win had

It all come back together yeah well vard was was you know already yesterday we saw he was strong we saw we saw it today by the way in K but uh I just want to you know mention a little bit Yan tratnik because you know he’s he’s a

Writer who’s not very well known uh he’s been around forever 34 years old um you know his his trajectory is very uncommon you know he He Turned Pro very young I we just checked you know in 2011 he was on quickstep uh I think if I’m not mistaken

Uh in the Juniors uh he was top of the world if not world champion in some kind of discipline I don’t remember if it was Road or mountain bike or anything but he was obviously a talent otherwise he would not have been picked up so young

By quickstep back in the days and then it kind of uh you know we we see he goes on small teams um struggled with uh apparently with an eating disorder uh you know like nowadays there obviously uh professional cycling is weight is very important but it is all very scientific calculated and

Controlled there was a time in cycling where there was this Obsession about being skinny but there was no science behind it and uh I think Yan tratnik was one of the victims of that kind of philosophy and thinking and and went down uh into an obsession of of not eating and and

Trying to be skinny um but if you look at you know what that guy is able to do you know he uh he was on a few smaller teams than he came back to Bahrain uh four or five years ago did uh did some good Seasons there

Won a stage in the Jiro and then uh I I would I would think probably last year Primos RIT asked Vima or jimo back then to to hire tratnik uh and and you know since then he’s been an amazing teammate uh also able to you know do some great results

But if you look at his uh performances this year already uh he’s been close a lot of times already he was uh he was close in Mia he was uh he was close in the raceing hen I think top three top four places uh every time so um

Obviously it was at Al garve GC and GC see so really impressive yeah so it was it was it was just waiting to come uh because you know uh if you’re in a race like this if you’re able to go at the end you have to have something left in

The legs and there’s not that many riders who have that capacity so it’s great to see a rider like him you know when we always talking about scientific cycling robotic cycling this guy’s 34 he’s seen it all and finally you know in the in the fall of his career being on

This team and being able to have this great Victory is is is amazing to see so I think it’s it’s a good sign for any Rider to to never give up you know because nowadays they’re coming younger and younger 18 19 20 years old they’re there

And it seems like if you haven’t won a big race by the time you’re 23 24 you failed well you have Haven you know and there’s always there always time to to to come back as long as you keep doing the job so uh hats off to to tratnik and

And this amazing win everybody save that all you gentlemen save that little Johan speech there whatever you’re failing at in life you still have time you know when I was watching uh the other visma writers that are more familiar names or we shouldn’t say more familiar but bigger Stars than tratnik

They seem so thrilled that he won he had won and it going into the spring season I would I would think this does even more for visma morale that they win with tracknick as opposed to W vanart winning two days in a row like we’re so good we

Can win with anybody like so going into the spring season this has to be huge and meanwhile the women on visma Lisa bike are picking up other victories elsewhere yeah I mean that was that was amazing uh news lot for women um you know unfortunately uh the the race was

After the after the men uh but what a race what a race I mean the dominated Again by SD Works Breakaway you know six Riders seven Riders same thing uh same thing as visma three riders in there they had Lotto keki they had um uh what’s her name Demi wering and then LZ

And three other writers one of them Mariana Vos and Mariana Vos ah uh she’s 36 now she’s you know she’s uh she’s been world champion I I don’t know how many times and how not don’t know how many different disciplines but uh you know almost had

To finish her career last year she had a surgery uh to operate on a on an artery uh in in in a leg very common injury with cyclist but obviously it was well done she recovered well and she’s back up there and Lotto keki was unable to shake her

On the mure on the bosberg and then tactically uh Amazing Race from Mariana Vos and winning and beating the world champion uh in Belgium that was quite the performance uh her 249th win on the road only on the road so add to that all the crosses all the

Tracks yeah she’s the you know the Eddie MKS the Eddie Ms of of women cycling uh and has to take on the strength of SD works as a whole yeah that’s that’s that’s huge but it shows that it’s not St Works has not consumed all of the women’s major objectives that like you

Still can’t have Voss come out of the woodwork and beat a team not by herself but with far less support Johan I think mentioned the pre-show you this could make the Olympics pretty interesting especially since she’ll be teammates with Demi valerin at the Olympics like that’s a that’s a nice second card to

Have to play uh probably one of the best writers of all time yeah definitely the the best R the best female writer of all time baram that’s for sure um you know it’s an Olympic year uh the course in Paris suits her um it’s man I

Would it’s going to be a difficult job to be the manager of the of the of the the Netherlands women’s team uh I think it always is but in this case um wow that’s that’s going to be quite a challenge uh not a bad position to be in

But sometimes it can work work against you but uh I mean she’s already Olympic champion I don’t know if it’s multiple ones or uh multiple times she I I know she won at least one but probably more than one well London was her and then

Then Rio was um her her teammate uh it was the uh a Dutch woman whose name I’m forgetting now very famous Dutch woman um van vuon no no because she actually crash crashed in that race the other the other historically great Dutch woman it was uh Anna Vander Brean is who it was

Anander Brean yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah but anyways um yeah Marana Vos is you the goat no no question about that well it’s a good thing we get to talk about now we get to talk about Kern Brussels Kern because we’ve hardly talked about visma Lisa

Bike so that went we’ll we’ll lead off with you on this one Spencer the the wel van art show uh again what a great weekend to see his teammate tratnik win and come back and get the victory the following day yeah well this is the easiest race of the weekend to to talk

About cuz wasn’t a lot we didn’t see a lot we turned the TV on and JB I think you’re right like the fact that wow wins the bunch Sprint yesterday throws his teammate a win vima’s so good they’re they’re like using major objectives to feed their teammates wins which is kind

Of unbelievable but we turn the TV on coverage starts around like 93 92k to go what do we see we see visma at the front breaking off breaking a group off few KS go by w vard at the front I’m like well this is interesting he breaks a group

Off almost exact same thing we saw the day before he gets away with Tim wellin who was really good obviously at amalo to pull that back together and I think wellin flatted out of the lead group at omloop I’m not sure but I think he did

He did he did yeah so it was um Tim wellin and then orai loano is that kind of how you say loano and he’s been good all year you he won the uh the classica won ion something that yeah where tratnik was in the chase group so it’s those three immediately just

Blow this Gap out this is with nearly 90 km to go it kind of looked like the other that was the other uh the Australian guy oh yeah Lawrence I think he’s I think he’s a kiwi I think he’s from New Zealand Lawrence piy pith on

F fdj you might think he’s French from his name but he’s from New Zealand I believe and he’s fast so kind of a problem to have him there while just keeps and I was surprised I mean those those guys are all really strong you could immediately see anytime the road

Went uphill they would hit these climbs you know the like 1 to 1.5 km CBA climbs they would struggle to stay on W’s wheel and immediately not immediately but eventually p p piy dropped the other two Riders stay with them and they we don’t even really see the peleton for for an

Hour an hour and a half like I didn’t even know that if they existed or not we just kind of see these three Riders going Matteo Jorgenson is chasing in a small group behind with mat motoric they eventually catch piy and but that’s kind of it I mean they had no I thought

It was kind of weird that Jorgenson was I guess technically chasing a teammate but they weren’t really going to catch them they immediately had a two-minute Gap and it wasn’t coming down those guys were just the strongest riders in the race probably no one in the chase group

Could ride as fast as them so there was no way to pull it back plus also you know what you have in those situations Spencer you know you these other teams and the other Riders there they know what’s going on they they know they know Vima is strong and you know

Once you’re up there even with vanard and even because both let’s let’s face it both Wellens and lascana lascano knew that they were not going to win but they say Hey you know let’s just ride with him at least we we’re second and third because you’re guarante back

You know we’re we’re out of the top 10 and um and they did their job you know I mean uh I think wellin is amazing he was today he was on par I think with with vanard although we don’t know if vanard really tried uh 100% to go away because

It would have been really far but you know well was never in difficulties lascano was a few times in difficulties but I mean strong performance I mean he was uh he was second in dbel I think uh last year uh on movie star in in one

Of those uh in harle Baker no wam one of those semi Classics um which was you know really really strange to see a Spanish guy up there on the podium uh and now third in K so uh super strong guy young Rider still very strong um obviously in great shape you know he

Already won the the classic a Spanish Champion also um and you know also you know saw his postrace interview congrat ulations for you know a Spanish Rider to speak so well English uh was it was good to see um but yeah I mean once those three guys were

Gone it was the race was over uh and it was just a waiting game then to see you know if fard was gonna finish Solo or if he was going to win in the Sprint but he was probably very confident that he was going to win

And um I would say for for for Vima first of all but especially for van um confirmation that he did the right thing he uh he shortened his cyc cross season you know took a different approach uh you know puts everything on the the the two big monuments that he

Wants to win uh th Flanders and Par and for the moment I think his plan works you know he’s third yesterday win today uh and um now tomorrow go straight to teneri to the TA to to altitude to for for two or three weeks to find tune

His form and uh let’s see now you know I mean I think he’s shown that he’s the strongest of the pelaton uh Vima is the strongest team the only unknown factor is how strong is he gonna be when mat vpol enters the game that’s a different story but we

Don’t know that yet but that’s going to be interesting I mean those guys did I I thought they did a decent job I mean loano had an attack inside the last K he did tried something and then wellin was decently strong in the Sprint and same thing with Neil’s poet yesterday you

Might think it it’s a little weird like well why did he just lead trat neck to the finish and then easily get beat but if you’re UAE on Saturday well you don’t have a sprinter Tim well isn’t going to win so second’s not terrible and you

Kind of saw the same thing today where well we could get we could sit up refuse to work and get caught but we’re not going to do better than second or third so we might as well just take that then I think you said this Johan in the

Season preview show where you said last year W vinard kind of looked like he lacked endurance at certain points where he at late in races he was vulnerable we are seeing the opposite of that this year I mean this guy we need to wait Spencer these races are 200 kilometers

Or less the monuments are different it’s 260 right 260 270 that’s a different it could be another I guess 90 minutes of racing yeah yeah but he’s also not started his training yet so this is not a terrible starting point no it’s going to good I mean definitely I think

They’re on track they’re on track with their new approach uh you know limiting the cyc cross races um now going to altitude and and and you know betting everything on uh on the two big races so uh it’s going to be interesting I mean it’s a lot of

Pressure for VA vard also you know like yesterday even yesterday you know like he did an amazing race right so I mean this is how difficult it is to be W vanard in Belgium right uh Amazing Race finishes third celebrates the victory of his teammate now I’ve seen comments

Saying ha there you have a there you again vanard is again celebrating the victory of a teammate when is he going to win himself you know I mean it’s like wow it’s hard to be Walt vard it’s hard I just think the thing in his favor and you mentioned the pre-show vanderpol

Same thing he has a collection like seven one- day races that he’s targeting he’s going to training camp otherwise not doing stage races spring stage races uh similar with venart but when vanderpol gets to these races you also said this in the previe show he will be

The favorite you know like vanart it sounds a little ridiculous to say can kind of play a backseat role to Vanderpool and all the attention will be on him since he’s been winning these races in the last few years yeah yeah you know I mean and then we can

Speculate again you know when when they’re going to be together we’re going to speculate to say okay you know vanard versus Vanderpool vanard is in the advantage because he has a stronger team but then what we’ll see is that probably vpol will attack so early and he will

Eliminate all the other team Ates and it’s going to be vanard against wpol again um but you know if you look on paper right now I would say vanard is in a good situation because V Vima is in a good situation because you know vanard is in great shape and they have three

Four other riters who are candidate winners of those Classics where Wonder pool’s team is basically vpol supported by a team of helpers who it’s going to be more difficult for them to win all right last but not least now we break down a couple races in France I’m

Kidding we should mention this kind of rolls into a point I was going to make so there was two races in France the phon Ares and then F Drome classic two really similar races really hard races UAE Wan Uso wins the Saturday one really strong front group I mean these races

Are so hard the just the talent and the class TOS out and contest the win IO beats Roman greguar Mato skel MOA and then today it was Mark Hershey there was two uee guys he attacks W wano sits back wins the Sprint Hershey wins but that

Means every race this weekend was won by UAE or visma and in the cases visma won second place was UAE they so UAE or visma wins every race this weekend except the home race of UA the UAE tour which is won by the second division team so it’s like stunning in

Their dominance but also then the Oddity that the race in the actual United Arab Emirates is not won by UAE yeah I mean they would you know I I I still I mean I don’t know what happened uh they they definitely went in there with the intention to win but hey you know

Winning winning two other races and being second on two other two other races the these are the two best teams for a reason um and you know almost like the Gap has feels like it’s grown they’re already they’re already super super present with their dominance from from the beginning on and

Uh this is just uh preparation for them you know these are these are not the big the big goal so that’s that’s the scary part all right before we part ways uh Johan are there any slots available still for the we do travel Perry ruet

Trip yes there is one spot left one so whoever wants to join needs to be fast uh check it out on our section of travel on WE do. team one spot left for an amazing experience uh par Friday ride with ex winner three three times winner Yan muo and George

Hopi Saturday gr Fondo part of the the move team uh and Sunday private VI experience in the presence of ex- winner uh Johan and and George and myself if you’re interested in that cool experience and Johan’s there as your director he breaks down the ride for the

Day he’s in the team car uh it’s very cool well supported and a lot of fun you probably make some friends for life too to you know whoever’s on that trip uh if you’re interested go to wo. Team wu. teamtravel you’ll see it at the uh top

Of the menu bar and then also so before we go I heavily encourage our listeners to check out the uh the move Legends show with ekimov uh it just released a couple days ago it is great here are a few comments that uh were on our YouTube channel

Tanner writes pretty crazy I was watching the old Tor of France videos and saw ekimov and thought I bet they’ll put him on the the move soon couple days later he’s on uh Adrian writes I’m wearing my see you in the douches and E honor today if you listen to that

Episode you’ll get the whole story that’s where the phrase came from jav writes uh what a guy I remember him perfectly we had a he had a massive engine congratulations from Spain see you in the douches and one more from campy boy I remember in 2005 in Calgary

Johan was there with Lance for the Tour de courage cancer fundraiser Tour de courage yeah I remember that yeah it says when I first met you Yan I said hello ekimov it’s nice to meet you you know what you know what I remember that I remember that wow they say you two

Could pass for brothers that’s funny it’s funny actually you know I mean jebb it’s you know um some people may not know this but eki and I were teammates on Rabobank and uh it happened quite often that you know the postcards that people came to sign they came with different

With echim offs or with MIM Mo yeah yeah yeah they did very funny great interview by the way you you and George did such a great job yeah I don’t I don’t want to give away too much but taking a big old drag on a cigarette pre-time

Trial legend legend be like the trend in a few years he’s he’s a legend already just for that he’s a legend he’s a legend for many other reasons but that that gives him the title of legend by the way if you haven’t listened to that interview go

Check it out now uh it’s in all of our podcast feeds for the move and also on YouTube here if you’re watching on YouTube you can click on it right now and check it out it’s so worth it Johan Spencer thank you so much that is a lot

To cover I think uh uh Spencer you need to go check on Mrs Martin and see if you’re still married if you’ve been watching all these races yeah it’s a little dicey at times the morning time actually helps you it’s like almost I feel like it’s harder for Johan when it’s this crazy

Yeah but you know Spencer I don’t have the problem I don’t have to check on anybody I I can do whatever I want he just has to he just has to make sure the dogs get some exercise right all right thank you guys I appreciate you so much

And thank you everyone for tuning in to the move okay thanks bye f