Cold, Rain & an Unhinged Final Few Kilometers | Giro d'Italia 2026 | THEMOVE+

Summary

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THEMOVE+ Giro d’Italia 2026: “Cold, Rain & an Unhinged Final Few Kilometers”

Hosts: Spencer Martin & Johan Bruyneel
Date: May 13, 2026
Episode Focus: Breakdown of Stage 5 at the Giro d’Italia 2026—chaotic weather, race drama, heroics, and GC implications.

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Main Theme

This episode dissects a brutal and chaotic Stage 5 of the Giro d’Italia—a day defined by relentless rain, cold, crashes, and relentless unpredictability. Spencer Martin and ex-pro/DS Johan Bruyneel analyze the rollercoaster finale, key performances, team tactics, and what carnage in the GC battle means for the days ahead.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Stage 5 Recap: Weather, Crashes, and Breakaway Madness

• Overview:
  • Igor Arrieta (UAE) takes a dramatic solo win—his second in two days—on a day where weather and fatigue decimated the peloton.
  • Alfonso Ulario (Bahrain) finishes 2nd but seizes the Maglia Rosa with a nearly 3-minute GC lead over Arrieta and 6 minutes over main GC rivals.
  • Former leader Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) is shattered by the brutality, losing over 6 minutes and any hope of pink.
  • Multiple crashes and cat-and-mouse tactical moments marked the final 15km.

Spencer Martin [02:00]:
“It was absolute bananas … Ulario gets the leader’s jersey. Big for Bahrain … Big for UAE because they lost Adam Yates and now they’ve won two stages in a row. What were your takeaways from this crazy stage?”

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2. Brutal Conditions & Rider Suffering

• Relentless rain, near-freezing temps, and hail for over 200km turned the stage “horrible”—both physically and tactically.
• Clothing choices, numb hands, and sapped reflexes compounded the danger.

Johan Bruyneel [05:55]:
“Days like this bring back memories … that weather is just horrible … More than 200 kilometers. You’re struggling with the clothing all day long … Everything looks in slow motion.”

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3. Formation and Heroics in the Breakaway

• EF’s Darren Rafferty earns praise for bridging solo to the break despite a huge deficit.
  • Bruyneel: “That was impressive. So, ultimately, 13 riders, and you could straightaway see that Lidl-Trek could not control this.” [07:55]
• Trek’s Emmanuel Ghebreigzabhier toils endlessly to control the break, but manpower runs thin.

Notable Moment [08:44]:

• Spencer tries to pronounce Ghebreigzabhier, provides comic relief as Johan attempts too:
  Spencer: “I’m going to spell it … G-H-E-B-R-E-I-G-Z-A-B-H-I-E-R.”

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4. Team Tactics & Unmet GC Expectations

• Visma’s Victor Campenaerts gets into the move, but ultimately can’t influence GC plans as weather neutralizes aggression.
• Red Bull’s efforts to ignite the race fizzle out:
  “Red Bull comes to the front. The gap’s 1:55 to the break. I’m thinking, well, they’re going to blow this up … They kind of stall out.” [02:00]
• Consensus: most GC teams played it safe, not risking crashes with harder stages ahead.
  • Bruyneel: “From that moment on, I think that was just … let’s just be conservative, status quo, let’s save everything, let’s not lose any more riders.” [10:31]

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5. Chaotic Finale: Crashes, Missed Turns, and Grit

• 13km to go: Ulario crashes; Arrieta forced to press on, can’t wait.
• 6km to go: Ulario crashes again.
• 2km to go: Arrieta misses a turn, goes off-road but miraculously recovers.
• Finale: Arrieta appears in slow-mo, riding a massive gear, but reels in Ulario to snatch stage win.

Spencer [03:00]:
“Arietta, this was an impressive performance here, Johan, the last 2K … I thought I was watching a replay in slow motion, but I was watching the actual finish in real time.”

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6. The Human Element: Legacy and Team Redemption

• Arrieta follows in the footsteps of his father, ex-pro and Vuelta stage winner, Jose Luis Arrieta.
  • Bruyneel relays insider stories and highlights:
    “Son of an ex professional … what a way to turn it around, man. UAE—after losing their 3 leaders—win two straight stages. The ambience is going to be pretty good at UAE.” [13:18]
• Bahrain’s Ulario: unknown pre-race, now in pink and poised to defend for days to come.

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7. Lidl-Trek & Ciccone’s Sorrow

• Lidl-Trek’s split focus between GC and sprints leaves them exposed; ran out of helpers quickly.
  • “But this is also what happens when you split a team like this and you’re not winning sprints—it starts to get really dicey, really fast.” [28:22]
• Ciccone “showed respect” to the jersey but was powerless in the deluge; had to wear a rain jacket over pink all day.
  • Bruyneel: “Not cool for an Italian to wear the pink jersey and actually not being able to show it off … He was in rain jackets all day, you know, just at the start.” [29:05]
  • Memorable touch: "He had the pink helmet … gloves, pink letters on the bike. That was cool." [29:47]

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8. GC Implications & The Road Ahead

• Ulario holds over 6-minute buffer on Vingegaard/Vinegard/other true GC men.
• Expect him in pink through blockhouse (Stage 7) and likely four days total.
• Bahrain likely to defend as long as possible; UAE buoyant despite Yates loss.
• Red Bull’s strategy: Should they chase podium or gamble for pink with young star Pelizzari?
  • “It is magical … if that was their goal then they tried but didn’t work out.” [21:16]
• Vingegaard, largely untroubled today, still the heavy favorite.
  • “Today I was like, oof, like Jonas has already won this race … just looked like he was back there smoking cigars, not too worried about what was happening all day.” [22:39]

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Surviving the Weather:
  “It’s not just riding your bike and trying to stay upright … you’re wet and cold from top to toe, which makes riding a bike pretty difficult.” (Bruyneel, [16:01])
• On Arrieta’s Grit:
  “He was going twice the speed of the other guys on the climb … These guys are so talented and now they’re untethered from having to do teamwork.” (Spencer, [13:18])
• On Red Bull’s Younger Talent:
  “The thought is, you get a young rider in the Maglia Rosa, that’s a success … I assume that’s what they’re trying to do.” (Spencer, [20:51])
• On Team Tactics Failing:
  “This is also what happens when you split a team like this and then you’re not winning sprints—it starts to get really dicey, really fast.” (Spencer, [28:22])

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[Segment Timestamps]

| Timestamp | Topic | |-----------|-------| | 02:00 | Full chaotic stage recap, weather, and breakaway forming | | 05:55 | Johan’s vivid depiction of how the weather destroys the peloton | | 08:44 | Pronouncing “Ghebreigzabhier” and Trek’s futile chase | | 10:31 | Why the GC group called off the fight & finished conservatively | | 13:18 | The Arrieta legacy and UAE’s turnaround after losing leaders | | 21:16 | Red Bull’s goals and whether they should chase podium or pink | | 22:39 | Vingegaard’s advantage and GC favorite status | | 28:22 | Lidl-Trek’s tactical struggle and Ciccone’s painful loss of pink | | 29:05 | Ciccone’s rain-soaked misery, “showing respect” to the jersey | | 31:39 | Sprint Stage 6 preview and weather forecast for Naples |

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Upcoming Stage 6 Preview: Sprint into Napoli

• 141km, expected bunch sprint but possible chaos thanks to possible rain, wind, and tricky cobbled finale.
• Possible victors: Paul Magnier, Jonathan Milan, Dylan Groenewegen—debate on form, resilience after the hard day.
• “If it rains … nobody wants more crashes … so many people already abandoned.” (Bruyneel, [33:39])

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Tone and Style

• Analytical, conversational, irreverent; often self-deprecating but always passionate about the sport.
• Mix of old-pro war stories and cutting-edge race analysis.
• Regular comic relief around pronunciation and day-to-day realities of cycling.

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Summary Takeaway

Stage 5 of the Giro d’Italia 2026 is burned into the memory for its unrelenting misery and wild, unpredictable finale. Through the cold and rain, new heroes stepped up, unexpected leaders emerged, and the GC men hunkered down for storms to come—both literal and figurative. The THEMOVE+ crew blend insight, history, and humor to ensure fans don’t just know what happened, but feel the grand drama of what it means to race a Grand Tour when “everything looks like slow motion.”

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For those who missed the action, this recap captures every high-stakes twist without requiring an umbrella and a pair of numb hands.

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Transcript

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[Johan Bernal]

That's also, that's, that's also very, very difficult objective Spencer. Then something needs to happen to Jonas. It's not excluded, but yeah, well, I

[Spencer Martin]

mean we, you and I know that it's very hard and something would have to happen to Jonas. I would like the mentality inside of Red Bull to be we're going to happen to Jonas. You know what's going to happen. We're going to kick his butt and we don't need the Maglia Rosa right now. I just, today I was like, oof. Like Jonas has already won this race. Was, was my thought when I saw that.

[Johan Bernal]

Like, well, I think he basically, I mean if nothing happens to him, he's, he has won it since he announced his participation and we saw, and we saw who the rivals were. But you know, it's three weeks, so a lot, a lot can happen and a lot, a lot will happen.

[Spencer Martin]

Everybody, welcome back to the Move Plus. I'm Spencer Martin. I'm here with Johan Berniel. We are breaking down stage five of the Giro d', Italia, which was won by Igor Arieto from uae team member. It's her second win in two days. Not a bad, Not a bad year to tell you for losing three key riders on stage two. Alfonso Ulario from Bahrain, victorious was second. I'm not also not doing this stage finish justice. We'll get into it later in the show. It was absolute bananas. Gets second, two seconds behind Arrieta, but takes the GC lead by almost three minutes over Arrieta and six minutes over the real GC group. Julio Ciccone, who held the Maglia Rosa coming into the stage, finished the stage over seven minutes down. So he's 6 minutes 12 seconds out of the GC lead now. He looks like a truly sad man out there pulling for himself in the, in the Maglio Rosa. There could be, there could be police going to the race village. Johan to arrest Little Track Management for making that happen. But just a quick primer on what happened. The stage starts terror. It actually was decent weather at the start. Turned into terrible weather. Some of the worst weather you could imagine. Racing through around, not that cold like 13 degrees Celsius, but rainy and probably felt a lot colder than that. Very hard fight for the breakaway. On the first climb, a move got clear with Alonso Ulario in it. And then Arietta bridged up with Ben Turner and a few others. After the climb crested, it was a. Like a kind of a chaotic moment. I think Victor Campinar jumped across. Then we'll talk a little bit about why Visma wanted a rider in the breakaway. And then Little Track has to get on the front and pull. They're managing the gap well. They get to the toughest climb of the day. With around 64km to go. Red Bull comes to the front. The gaps. 155 to the break. I'm thinking, well, they're going to blow this up. We're going to have the GC showdown, maybe have we pelizarry win the stage. We'll see what happens. They kind of stall out. They only have Alexander Vlasov left on the front. Like halfway up the climb, the gap's actually going out. Igor Areata attacks, drops. Everybody looks fantastic. A little scuffle behind. Ulario emerges. Bridges up to Arieta, which is super impressive by the way. That's not easy to do. Probably helped the climb was super tough and he was just stronger than everybody else. And then the chaos began. Back in the GC group, things calmed down. Chacone gets to the front. There's no one left from Little Track other than Derek G. West. So he has to pull. He doesn't really have a chance though because it's two guys up front. He's pulling by himself. The gap's going out. It's clear he's going to lose the jersey because Ularia entered the stage a minute behind him. Coming into the final area, crash crashes with 13k to go. Oh, no. He's out of the race. Lario continues on. He can't wait for him because he, he doesn't want to lose time. 6k to go. Ulario crashes. Oh no. Arieta catches up. We're Gonna have a 2 up sprint. 2k to go. Arietta misses a turn. I don't know if he missed it, if he didn't see it, if he thought he was gonna crash and just kind of went off in a little ramp that ended up being a, a good ramp for him to have because he didn't crash. He goes off the road. It looks like Ulario is just going to float to the stage, win the leader's jersey. Arietta, this was an impressive performance here. Johan, the last 2K, he. It looks like he's in his biggest gear, like a 40 RPM turnover. I thought I was watching a replay in slow motion, but I was watching the actual finish in real time. Arietta, it's a slightly uphill final kilometer, just reels in. Ulario, blows right by him, wins the stage. Ulario gets the leader's jersey. Big for Bahrain. Victorious because they lost Santiago Petrago on stage two. Big for UAE because they lost Adam Yates and now they've won two stages in a row. What were your takeaways from this crazy stage?

[Johan Bernal]

First takeaway, Spencer, is, you know, days like this bring back memories, like really bad memories that every cyclist and you've done grand Tours and that weather is just horrible, you know, Horrible. It's the worst you can imagine. It was raining, it was cold, it was. There was hail. More than 200 kilometers. You know, you're struggling with the clothing all day long. You know, you don't. You have to put layers on, then take them off. It's chaos. Plus, you know, your legs don't work. You know, you're riding with legs that or at some point so cold that, you know, it's. Everything looks in slow motion. A horrible day, you know, I mean, it was a hard day. 3700 and something meters of elevation. It was hard on everybody. The breakaway, of course, there were some riders there. I mean, if you. Especially the moment the breakaway was established, it was a long fight, you know, you could, I Mean, it was coming down so hard. Pouring, pouring, pouring. I think one of the first guys actually to go was Silva. Right.

[Spencer Martin]

The guy who won, the former Maglio Rosa, was really active.

[Johan Bernal]

Yeah. So impressive from him. And you could see that everybody was just like, okay, we're gonna, you know, push through this. Push through this, because everybody. And everybody in the back is suffering, too. That's. That's what goes through their mind, you know, because it was so hard. And finally this, you know, this. This break goes away. First these five riders. Then, you know, when. When all these other joined, there was 12 riders. And then there was one rider who really impressed me, Spencer. This guy from ef, Darren Rafferty. Yes. He bridged up by himself when the break had already more than a minute. That's. That was. I mean, when you.

[Spencer Martin]

Andy was in the breakaway yesterday, when

[Johan Bernal]

you see a move like that, obviously, you know, they had instructions to be in the move. They were not. They got yelled at. And then he goes, and everybody says, what kind of a stupid move is this? That's the first thought, right?

[Spencer Martin]

Yeah.

[Johan Bernal]

The guy made it to the break. That was impressive. So, ultimately, 13 riders, and you could straightaway see that little trek could not control this because they only had three riders at some point, I think. And then afterwards, Sobrero came back, but they had this. What's his. What's his name? The guy who's pulling.

[Spencer Martin]

I think he's from Eritrea. Is he?

[Johan Bernal]

Yeah. I don't remember his name.

[Spencer Martin]

I should not be the one to say his name. It's Emmanuel. Emmanuel, I believe, is his first name. And his last name is. I'm not even gonna take a crack at it. But he did a lot of work. He was on the front for a long time.

[Johan Bernal]

Say his name. I'll say. I'll try to say what's. What do you think of this?

[Spencer Martin]

Oh, my Lord. It's like. I'm gonna spell it. G H E B R E I. G Z A B H I, E, R.

[Johan Bernal]

Yes, that's it. Okay, There you go. Listen, I mean, that guy was pulling forever. Forever. And could, you know, initially keep the break, like, was three minutes, and I went back to two minutes.

[Spencer Martin]

He was doing a good job. Like, it was staying where it needed to be.

[Johan Bernal]

Yeah. But, you know, they just lacked manpower. And nobody else. Nobody else was going to try, especially also because Visma had companyaerts in the breakaway. So initially I thought. I don't know what you thought. I said, kampenaerts is in there. You could see he was super motivated. From the very beginning to be in that break. And so my first thought was, okay, this is just a strategy. Jonas is going to go on that climb with 50k to go, have somebody in the front already and then, you know, use him afterwards. But none of that happened. Camponards couldn't follow the acceleration of Arietta and Lalio on the climb and finally, you know, couldn't really do anything for the team. But yeah, I was surprised to see that there was no action in the GC group on. That was a really hard climb. But I think that the weather contributed a lot to. Okay, you know what, let's just try to save the day. Let's try to get safe to the finish because you know if you attack that also brings with it that you have to afterwards take risks in the downhill to stay up front.

[Spencer Martin]

Yep.

[Johan Bernal]

I think from that moment on I think that was just okay, let's just be conservative, status quo, let's save everything, let's not lose any more riders and bring it home safely. And I think that's basically what happened in the GC group, but didn't take away from the spectacle we saw between, you know, for the stage win between those two riders. There was so much drama going on and we didn't know until 50 meters to go who was going to win. But listen, well deserved for Arietta, man. He fought for it. Son of an ex professional rider who is a Grand Tour stage winner. Also his dad in the Tour of Spain, Jose Luis Arieta was for a very long time on. I would say very long time on. He was on Banesto and Movistar. Actually Movistar as a writer? I don't think so. He was on Banesto and then he went. It was Ejid.

[Spencer Martin]

Well, in between. You remember this team, Il Variales?

[Johan Bernal]

That's the same. It's the same.

[Spencer Martin]

The case de Parm is what it became eventually. And then,

[Johan Bernal]

and I think then he went to AG2R.

[Spencer Martin]

Yeah, for actually quite a while, like five years.

[Johan Bernal]

Then he turned, then he. He was DS on Movistar for a long time. Something happened, he left and he's now DS at Degathron. Well, AG2R, I mean, I don't know if he's still on decathlon, but he was definitely for as long as AG2R was a sponsor. He was DS there after, after leaving Movistar. But listen, Arietta, I mean you could see this coming, you know, this is, I think this is his third year pro. From the first year, from the first year he was on I don't know if he started on Kevin Farma or on.

[Spencer Martin]

Yeah, yeah, that's right.

[Johan Bernal]

Yeah. I saw him do already some really good things. I remember seeing that guy in Ogran Camino up there with the best you could straightaway see, okay, this guy's a real, real racer, big talent. And you know, for a rider like this on uae, somebody who always, always, always works for everybody else but himself to get this opportunity because of the unfortunate crash of three of the three best riders, the three leaders, and now have this stage when. That's just unbelievable. I mean, what a way to turn it around, man. Uae, they use their three riders and stage four and stage five, they win. And it's not over. It's not over. The ambience is going to be pretty good at uae.

[Spencer Martin]

Well, here the hot take, I had my in my head during the stages. Is this going to work out better for them because of the crash? Well, now they have these, these stallions they're sending after stage wins. I mean, these guys are. When you, when we saw Arietta attacked, it looked like he was in a junior. He was a grown up in a junior race. Which actually is a bad analogy because if Johan, if you and I were in a junior race, we wouldn't do so well. But he looked like a professional in a junior race. It was, he was going twice the speed of the other guys in the climb. It was, these guys are so talented and now they're untethered from having to do teamwork. Obviously, maybe Adam Yates wins this race. So that's, that's a tragedy that he's not here. But what's funny is, as you're going through that early in the race, Einer Rubio was the concern. That was the guy everyone was worried about was Rubio from Movistar because he was only 10 seconds off the race lead. He's a pretty, you know, I think at UA Tour, did he not have a high finish? Did he? Maybe he won UAE Tour.

[Johan Bernal]

Maybe I'm losing my mind stage.

[Spencer Martin]

He won the hardest mountain stage and he was the concern. But then he's pulled in, he's reeled in with like 50k to go. And then now there's a new concern. Oario is up the road. Yeah, you would say little trick.

[Johan Bernal]

I think initially that was the purpose also because he had another movie star rider with him, Milesi, who's really strong, also a young rider, really strong. So he was pulling a lot. But then Rubio just went, you know, the lights went out. He was one of the first guys dropped actually on that climb and then got caught by the main group and then got dropped from that lost 10 minutes from the main group. So that's like, okay, completely out of energy.

[Spencer Martin]

And as you say, people were pulling over to put clothes on, put on jackets, take jackets off. It was a disaster back there.

[Johan Bernal]

Yeah, no, no, it's. It's days like this, man, it's. It's hard. It's hard to be a cyclist on days like this.

[Spencer Martin]

Well, and we were just talking a few days ago about, wow, everyone's so skinny. How are they? 68 kilos. A heavy guy. 72 kilos. The flip side is that of. That is when it's even when it's 13, you know, 13 degrees Celsius, you know, for, for big boys, it might not be that cold, but if you have the. These people must have 2%, 3% body fat in 13 degrees. In the rainy. It's gonna feel so cold.

[Johan Bernal]

Yeah, yeah, I know. I mean, it's, it's plus. Plus, Spencer. It's not just being in this, riding your bike and trying to stay upright, you know, on, on slippery roads with

[Spencer Martin]

your hands numb, which we saw a lot.

[Johan Bernal]

And luckily, I mean, luckily the clothing nowadays has improved. I mean, the clothing now for rain is so much better than 10, 15, 20 years ago. But still, you know, there's nothing that can really protect you from being, from getting wet. They're all wet. You know, whatever you put on your head, you're wet and cold from top to toe, which, which makes, you know, riding a bike pretty, pretty difficult. As we have seen with the crash of Arietta and, and the crash of Eulalio. I mean, it was, I mean, it was not really two dangerous corners. It was okay where Arietta crashed, it was a hairpin, but still, you know, I don't know how many other hairpins he took today. So it's also, you know, the reflexes are a lot less at the end of a stage like this. I mean, where, where crashed must have been slippery. But, but he did not even enter the turn yet and he, he was on the, on the ground already. He crashed was.

[Spencer Martin]

It was before the turn, which could also. This stage was five hours, so can you imagine? And it was not raining at the beginning, so nobody was, nobody had the rain gear on at the start. Then they had to try to put it on that. That's the worst of every world right there. And you're in the rain for five hours. As you said, Victor Campinaert's going in the breakaway it's like, well, what's going on here? Is Visma going to do something? Nothing ends up happening. Gcy wise except Chicone sadly loses the saddest, I think, loss of a jersey I've seen in a long time. The most slow motion disaster unfolding before our eyes. But all the GC stuff gets called off because imagine if the GC group is racing into the final like the lead. Two league guys were like, it could have been really ugly. So maybe everything got called off because it was like, well, we don't want to risk crashing. This isn't worth it. Especially with four, you know, tomorrow's a sprint stage and then it's four GC days in a row would be my best guess. But what, why? Because Victor Camp put a lot of work into that. Like he was, he wanted to be in that breakaway from kilometer zero. Do you think that was to set up a Visma move or just to have it as an option?

[Johan Bernal]

I honestly think so. I mean, you know, obviously it's always good to have a rider in a break, especially if it's a big one, like 12, 13 riders.

[Spencer Martin]

It's good.

[Johan Bernal]

But, you know, didn't really bring anything to Visma other than if Jonas had plans to attack on that climb. Because with all the riders that were there, it would have been very difficult for Campanov to win the stage with that steep climb. I mean, he's good, but he's, you know, there, there are always riders who can climb better than him.

[Spencer Martin]

Well, that's not, shouldn't really be a concern right now. Getting Victor Campinartz up the road to get a stage win probably should not be a list of.

[Johan Bernal]

And it's not, it's, in my opinion it was to set up an attack. But, you know, the plans changed on the road. They just wanted to keep everything safe. If it's, if it's a dry, a dry day, I think, I think it would have been different.

[Spencer Martin]

A thought I did have is, is he doing this just to mess with everybody? Like, like just to create chaos because he's up the road. Visman now doesn't have the pole. They get to the steep climb, Red Bull comes forward, looks impressive, but they don't, they're not taking any time out of the breakaway. What was that about?

[Johan Bernal]

Well, that's, that's the impressive, that's the impressive part, Spencer, about those two riders in the break, you know, like Arietta and when Red Bull was pulling, they were, they were not going slow and they did not take any time back on Arietta and Eulalio. So that was the, you know, the sign that they were most likely going to make it to the finish. So what Red Bull was doing exactly, I don't know. I think were they trying to, you know, make it to the Red Bull sprint and get the bonification for Pelizari and take the jersey? That could be one of. I mean it's also, I mean, I don't know. It. It was a weird, a weird decision. I think they tried and they probably thought that they would reel in the break easier finally. They didn't reel it in at all. But yeah, I don't know, I don't know what the thinking was behind it

[Spencer Martin]

and then go for the stage win and then get the leader's jersey. I mean, I guess that was the, the plan.

[Johan Bernal]

Well, I mean if, if, if Belizari gets the Red Bull sprint, it was six seconds. That would, that would put him in the leaders years already. But that would mean that Chicone doesn't take any seconds, which would also be difficult, right?

[Spencer Martin]

Yeah, that would be really tough. I mean it would actually. If you really start to think about it, anything they were trying to accomplish is tough as long as Chacone is there. Because is he, is he, is he going to lose the Red Bull Sprint and the final sprint to Pilizzarri? Probably not. But the thought is you get a young rider in the Maglia Rosa, that's a success, he feels confident, he feels good about the team. I assume that's what they're trying to do.

[Johan Bernal]

Yeah. Although I think Pinizardi should focus on the podium. That's what I think main concern and not really worry about being a day in pink. Although we cannot judge what it means for an Italian writer to have the Maglia Rosa. We cannot know the importance of that. It is magical, you know. So I could also understand that if that was their goal then that they tried but didn't work out.

[Spencer Martin]

Yeah, I'd rather have them thinking, well, we're going to have the Megali Rosa in Rome. Why do we need.

[Johan Bernal]

Now that's also a very, very difficult objective, Spencer. Then something meets the happen to Jonas. It's not excluded.

[Spencer Martin]

But yeah, well, I mean we, you and I know that it's very hard and something would have to happen to Jonas. I would like the mentality inside of Red Bull to be we're going to happen to Jonas. You know what's going to happen? We're going to kick his butt and we don't need the Magaly Rosa right now. I Just today I was like, oof. Like that Jonas has already won this race. Was. Was my thought when I saw that.

[Johan Bernal]

Like, well, I think he basically, I mean if nothing happens to him, he's, he has won it since he announced his participation and we saw, and we saw who the rivals were. But you know, it's three weeks, so a lot, a lot can happen and a lot, a lot will happen.

[Spencer Martin]

I have a lot of. I'm not looking forward to block house after today. I feel like Jonas, I think it was a difficult day for everyone. And then Jonas looked like he was back there smoking cigars, not too worried about what was happening all day. Here's a few questions for you. So Bahrain now has the New Jersey, the race lead. Alfonso Ularia. We don't, as a writer, we don't know a lot about, like got fifth at Saudi Tour earlier this year. Fine result, but that's not a Grand Tour win. He is minutes, like six minutes up on Chicone Bernal Ironsman Vinderard Vinegard's probably going to beat people in the top 10 by 10 minutes. So let's say he has a 16 minute buffer to the end of the top 10 overall in this race. Can he hold on? Like, what can he do?

[Johan Bernal]

GC wise, I think he definitely can be top 10. Yeah. Also, I mean the fact what he did today shows that he's in great shape. He's gonna hang on to the jersey on stage seven. I think on Blockhouse, he's not going to lose six minutes.

[Spencer Martin]

Probably not.

[Johan Bernal]

You know. Oh, look who's here. Look who came. Hey, Bobby, this guy's back. Bobby's back. I have to get him on my lap because he's. Yeah, he's asking for attention. So that's why he comes and say,

[Spencer Martin]

hi, Bobby, you gotta close that dog food sponsorship for us. Look at that right there. But, but yeah, you probably won't lose it tomorrow or sorry, on Friday.

[Johan Bernal]

No, on Blockhouse. Yeah, it's hard. It's hard. Although I did hear some ex professional cyclists say that, yeah, Blockhouse. It's not steep. It's long, but it's not steep. And I looked at the profile, I said, wow, if that's not steep, then I don't know what steep means. It's 13 and a half kilometers at

[Spencer Martin]

8 and a half percent, 8 and a half percent.

[Johan Bernal]

A lot of sectors of more than 10%. So it's definitely a hard climb. But, but I think it's going to hang on to the jersey, which is probably also a good thing. For Visma, you know, because Bahrain is a bit. I mean, not. Not to the same extent, but they're also a bit in the same situation as uae. They lost their leader for gc, Santiago Bidrago, in the crash. They bounce back, they win this, they get the jersey today. And so that they are definitely going to try to defend it for as long as they can. I think so. Plus. Plus, I think that the lady is going to become the lead. I mean, there's still Caruso on the team, but, you know, his days of GC rider are gone.

[Spencer Martin]

I think probably we would assume so. I mean, he's like 38 or 39 years old.

[Johan Bernal]

Right. It's his last since last year, his last Giro, by the way. So, yeah, I think. I think Bahrain will defend the jersey, and I'm pretty confident that after stage seven, is still going to be in the lead with three minutes. Four, maybe. Maybe three. How much does he have on. On Jonas?

[Spencer Martin]

Like, six and a half. Six and a half, basically.

[Johan Bernal]

Oh, yeah. More than three minutes.

[Spencer Martin]

The problem is, in that time trial, what's he gonna lose?

[Johan Bernal]

Yeah, he's also gonna lose some time.

[Spencer Martin]

Could be two minutes there. Yeah. This is crazy about Caruso.

[Johan Bernal]

Stage 10. That brings us to stage 10 already, Spencer. So, you know, that's. That's a. That's.

[Spencer Martin]

Yeah, through the too, you know, four days in pink.

[Johan Bernal]

So anybody in this race would take that, you know, four days in the leaders jersey, and many teams would. Would sign for that straight away, especially

[Spencer Martin]

a team that just lost their leader on stage two. Buto, guess where Caruso finished in last year's zero overall

[Johan Bernal]

top 10?

[Spencer Martin]

Fifth. Pretty good. That guy is really good. He finished second in 2021. We all remember, but he's still putting up. Impressive. I mean, that's actually not talked about enough. He's 38 years old, and he's probably riding the fastest he's ever ridden in his life. I would assume to be getting fit at the Giro, you gotta be flying.

[Johan Bernal]

You know, he's. He's very, very undervalued. He had a strong career, man.

[Spencer Martin]

So a few more questions for you, Lidotrek. Could they have done anything differently here or. No, they just exhausted all options.

[Johan Bernal]

No, I mean, you know, they came with a team that is basically built around Milan. Plus, you know, Ciccona was in. Was in the pink jersey, but their leader for GC is really Derek G. So he was not going to pull.

[Spencer Martin]

Nope.

[Johan Bernal]

So they only had Gabriel Gabier. And then at a later point, Sobrero came back but it was too late already then.

[Spencer Martin]

I mean, because when you split your team. Yeah, yeah, I thought he came back. I could be out of my mind. But when you split your team like this, you start to run out of riders a lot faster than you think. Because one of them is Jonathan Milan, you know, he's not going to help. One of them is Derek G. One of them is Ciccone. So that's three protected riders right there. So you only have what, four, four riders left?

[Johan Bernal]

Five.

[Spencer Martin]

Five. Five riders left. Presumably three of those are lead out riders. And then you have two guys to work. So Sobrero and the gentleman who was exhausted because he had worked for 50k going into that climb.

[Johan Bernal]

So try to say his name. Spencer. Come on, give it a try.

[Spencer Martin]

Emmanuel. I don't even think I, I listened to that closely when you said it. But this, I mean, but this is also what happens when you split a team like this and then you're not winning sprints. It starts to get really dicey, really fast. And that's what's happening to little track.

[Johan Bernal]

Sure. Yeah. And then, so I was sad for Ciccone also, because he would have deserved, you know, to, to be a few days in pink. But yeah, listen, today's stage was, was not, not a good one. Not, not, not a nice one for anybody.

[Spencer Martin]

No, I mean, and Chicane, like, he did what he could. Like he was out there. He, he, he received, showed respect to the jersey, as we all agree is the most important thing about professional cycling.

[Johan Bernal]

There was nothing else to do for him. You know, maybe he didn't, I mean, he didn't really chase. He just was up there in front. He knew he couldn't do anything. So I mean, it's also, it's also kind of, you know, not, not nice, not cool for, you know, an Italian to wear the pink jersey and actually not being able to show it off because he was, he was in rain jackets all day, you know, just at the start. And then he had the pink gile over his rain jacket, you know, to show something.

[Spencer Martin]

I mean, maybe he, maybe he could. No, because block, you know, because it's block house. And then. Yeah, that is kind of a bummer. It's too bad for him. But he had the pink helmet, so we'll, we could see him in there. He gets his day and kind of

[Johan Bernal]

gloves, pink letters on the, on the bike. That was cool.

[Spencer Martin]

Yeah. But this is also. People forget May. They think May. Oh, summer. No May. Especially in Europe, especially where I live too, in the us In Colorado May can be a miserable month. And that's like you get reminded that every, every couple days.

[Johan Bernal]

Zero is always. There's always bad weather in the Giro at some point. We didn't, we didn't even get to the high mountains yet, so. No.

[Spencer Martin]

But you know, you go to all these places in Italy and France and it's so green. Germany, it's green. And you're like, well, how is it so green? Because it rains all the time. And when does the rain come in April and May and that's when it gets green. But should we talk about tomorrow's stage? Johan, we can take a quick break and we'll be back.

[Johan Bernal]

Yeah, okay.

[Spencer Martin]

Okay. We'll be right back.

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[Spencer Martin]

So Johan, Tomorrow we have 141 kilometer stage Internet Napoli. We've done this the last few years around this time of the Giro. This is probably the most straightforward. I think we had, you know, the Thomas De circuit race. That was a few years ago where De held off the like a Vanderpoel and Ben Gai group perhaps if I'm remembering that correctly. And then we've had a few chaotic Sprint stages into naples tomorrow. It's 141k. Not a lot of features. I think last year too. Remember how it was a bad weather stage, Tons of crashes. Caden Gro. Wait, somebody won. Wow. Vanart launched with like 600 meters to go. Kaden Groves 1. Yeah, but that was a crazy stage. I don't think tip tomorrow is going to be as crazy. 141k with one climb, a bonus sprint, a Red Bull kilometer. They do go right into the heart of Naples, so I guess anything can happen. It does seem to just promote chaos. Um, but after today where everyone's so tired and ready for I guess, a simple stage, I would guess that it's a sprint stage. It's. It's kind of a flat last kilometer and then it kicks up and it looks almost like it's on cobbles for a few hundred meters before the finish.

[Johan Bernal]

So let's hope, let's hope. I didn't check the weather, but you know, if you go into Naples, you need to pray for dry weather.

[Spencer Martin]

Oh, if it's.

[Johan Bernal]

Yeah, it's slippery over there, but I think, you know, it's. It should be a guaranteed bunch print. You know, the usual Milan Grune wig and money. Under Underson Lund. Oh no.

[Spencer Martin]

So. So it's warm. Ish. Like 19 degrees Celsius. 66 Fahrenheit. 65% chance of precipitation, though.

[Johan Bernal]

That's not good.

[Spencer Martin]

21 kilometer hour wind. That could be tricky.

[Johan Bernal]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Spencer Martin]

If it rains. If not, it won't be tricky.

[Johan Bernal]

Let's hope it doesn't rain. Man. Nobody wants crashes more. I mean there's so many. So many people already abandoned, man. In this, in this.

[Spencer Martin]

I know.

[Johan Bernal]

Only we're only five days in.

[Spencer Martin]

Yeah.

[Johan Bernal]

Is also down to five.

[Spencer Martin]

I saw that. Yeah. They have three guys out.

[Johan Bernal]

Well, these three guys. These three guys were. Those were the three sick guys.

[Spencer Martin]

Oh, okay. Okay. They were all sick from the same race leading to this. That makes sense. Which is a bummer because like Milan Menton was one of them, is a really good sprinter. You know, there was the Lee and then Josh Giddings. I was excited to see how he did.

[Johan Bernal]

He. Wait a second. I think he got called up last moment, if I'm not mistaken. I don't know if he was not in a crash.

[Spencer Martin]

Actually, you're right because the last.

[Johan Bernal]

He got called up to replace one of the sick guys.

[Spencer Martin]

Okay.

[Johan Bernal]

Yeah.

[Spencer Martin]

And then he's out. Bummer. I. I think it's going to be. I mean, I could be wrong. I don't have the odds in front of me because they're not out yet. I think it's going to be a battle between Paul Monier and Jonathan Milan again. What do you think?

[Johan Bernal]

Yeah, yeah, should be. Yeah, yeah. I'm going to, I'm going to keep, keep going for money because I just think he's in better shape than Milan overall. Although in a, in a flat stage, a sprint stage like this, short doesn't really matter and maybe we see finally Milan in action, you know, he's going to get there at some point, you know, and we, we should not count him out. But I'm still, I'm still going to back Paul Manier.

[Spencer Martin]

I mean Monier looked not easy today, but he was handling those climbs impressively well. I, we don't really, I mean Milan went and probably went into the stage with a very simple brief like it was just to get through the stage. So maybe that wouldn't have been too hard on him. I'm going to really zag here though. Not really zag. I'm going to pick Dylan Gronnevagan. I thought he was quite close at the last sprint back in Bulgaria, you know, we saw he sprinted exactly as fast as Paul Monier. Just wasn't in as good of a position. I thought his Unibet team looked really good. I'm going to go Dylan Groenevagan. But Paul Manier is also a very

[Johan Bernal]

good, I think one of the, you know, against Grunewegen today for tomorrow, I think is, you know, that a rider like Grunewegen has, even if he was in a groupetto, he has had, he spent a lot on a stage like Today, you know, 3700 meter stage in bad weather. A rider of the stature of Grunevigen suffered a lot to make it. So that could be, that could be in his disadvantage tomorrow and we might

[Spencer Martin]

say Milan would be the same. But he's actually a surprisingly good climber. Yeah, especially for someone as big as him. So maybe, yeah, maybe Milan was a little less fatigued than Lingron Beggin. I mean if we're being frank, the, probably the smart money should be on Paul Monier. It's just the only thing is I can't.

[Johan Bernal]

And what about Lund?

[Spencer Martin]

I don't know Lund, he was so out of position. I mean what, what happened back there in the last sprint stage? He just was out of position. He was never quite there.

[Johan Bernal]

Well, I've heard, I've heard he, I mean he, he seems to have had a bad crash last season or something and he's still dealing with, you know, fear Interesting. Which is not good if you're a sprinter.

[Spencer Martin]

No, no, especially in Naples.

[Johan Bernal]

That's a problem.

[Spencer Martin]

Yeah, that is a problem. I mean, I'm just looking at. I mean if the, the thing about Lund is a lot of his wins, especially recently are in like fitness based competitions. So like think of Cadell Evans, great Ocean road race, like that, that you got to be a really strong rider. That's not a real bunch sprint. Gentle Gummy was second. Like that's fitness. Toreno, he did win stage three against the Lee Phillips and Monier Wellsford. But that was a hard stage. You know, quite a bit of climbing. I. Yeah, I don't know. He's definitely gonna win now. Now that I say he's not gonna win. But I would not pick Loon because I would doubt him in the chaos of like the final few kilometers in Naples.

[Johan Bernal]

Could be.

[Spencer Martin]

Yeah, now he will absolutely win. So now bet on him after I've said that. Now go bet on him.

[Johan Bernal]

I hope for him.

[Spencer Martin]

I mean he's, he's fast, obviously like in a. If he's beating Philip like Philipson, who's the best stage race sprinter in the world? I'm just by the numbers. Delee, very good. Monier, obviously very good. So he's clearly. And Milan was in that sprint, so he's physically capable of it. It's just he looked a little.

[Johan Bernal]

But that was, that was last year, right?

[Spencer Martin]

That was this year at Torino. We just don't remember it because it was like the most boring race of all time. Yeah, yeah, that was. Yeah, that was like a. It was, it was kind of a funny Torino because, you know, it starts with a tt. He wins that sprint stage and then Vander. It was like that. Vanderpoel wins and then the final stage. I think that's when like Vanderpol blew it up. Do you remember that on the climb? And then I think Loon was one of the only sprinters to stay in that group. Yeah. And then Milan won that stage. And that's Milan's last win. I'm going to go grune vegan. I just, I, I also feel like I never have a handle on Giro sprints. I think one thing and then the opposite happens. So I'm just embracing the chaos of the speed.

[Johan Bernal]

He developed, the speed runaway and developed in. That last sprint was definitely on par with Beaumanier.

[Spencer Martin]

Yeah, yeah, like literally, literally the same.

[Johan Bernal]

His speed was, was equal. So he can win and has a good, good team for the lead out.

[Spencer Martin]

Yeah, the team is dialed in and this is what they're here for. That that would be the case for

[Johan Bernal]

Gronneviga is their only objective with a stage with Dylan. So it's the whole team in for

[Spencer Martin]

that in this not. I feel like I'm piling on Little Trek. But the sensations in Unibet will be very positive. You know, like we got close. We're here, we're almost. We could win a stage. Little Trek. I feel like everything's just cascading down on them. You know, it's like we're not winning. We lost the leader's jersey. I. I just don't feel like it will be as positive. And, and. And they gave a lot today. You know, they burned through a lot of riders today that Unibet didn't. All right, well, thanks, Johan. And we'll be back. Also, if P wins tomorrow, like that's. That's pretty impressive. Three wins. Three. Basically sweeping the sprint stages at 22 years old in your first. Is it his first year to tell you? Has to be.

[Johan Bernal]

Yeah, yeah. No, no, no, no. He did it last year, but he abandoned. He did started last year.

[Spencer Martin]

Okay. Yeah, yeah. I do vaguely remember that. Well, thank you. And we'll be back tomorrow to talk about stage six and then preview stage seven, which is our first big GC showdown on vlog. Guys.

[Johan Bernal]

Yep. Okay, Spencer, thanks. See you.

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