A (2:33)

And it's even more crazy. I mean, it's. It's insane, right? I mean that.

B (2:37)

It's insane. Even the little things, like, we're car 25, so, as you know, you probably never had that position, but, like, you know how important it is to just try to get closer to the riders of a rider needs a bottle or a rider needs. Has a mechanical. Like, the cars don't let you go through because they're like, I'm not letting you in front of me before the section. Like, it doesn't matter who's up there. And then another rider gets mechanical, and you can't go nowhere. You're just stuck until they fix it. They fix the problem. It's just so much going on and. And how close the riders get to the cars. I remember, I mean, some of the movies we did back in the day on where, like, some riders are punching the car because of the stress going on. You see, it's just like, you know, at one point, one rider, and it was. It was kind of cool, he stopped and he's like, waving to the car as he was on. On decathlon, and nobody stopped. And we're like, you know, we're not fighting for the win, so we're like, you good? He's like, please, do you have a 6 millimeter Allen key? Like, my wheel is losing, falling off. So we're like. I'm like, give him a key. So our mech taste, I keep gimmick. He's like, thank you so much. Like, it's just in so many ways, there's so many different races going on within that race. Of course, the guys want to win the race. Guys. Some guys want a podium. Some guys, their dream to get top 10. Some guys, their dream is to make it to the Velo no matter what. And you just see the passion and the pain these riders are going through. And it's just. It's a completely different experience in the car, but super, super fulfilling to watch it from that perspective.

A (4:02)

Yeah. Yeah, for sure. For sure. I mean, you know, if you look at. If you look at the race, I mean, you. George, you've seen it from. From firsthand. But, you know, Spencer and I were watching, you know, no breakaway. That's. That's Very rare. Okay. The wind was, I mean, contrary to the. The reports, three, four days ago, it was tailwind, basically. But if you look the first 100 kilometers, they did it in one hour and 50 minutes. Yeah. And that's before. That's before they have to start the cobblestones. And then, you know, as always, it was this usual, you know, battle to. To the first. To the first section. And basically that's already half of the riders eliminated. Right. They never come back.

B (4:45)

Well, as you know, Johan, like, you know, more than half the teams, their one goal is to make that breakaway.

A (4:50)

Yeah.

B (4:51)

And that first 100k is not flat. It's rolling. Very, very hilly. For the fact that they went 50 kilometers an hour over that, it was just. It was so, so fast and there was so many attacks. And of course, our big goal was to make the breakaway. And our guys did a great job, you know, trying to. Trying to make that breakaway and being super aggressive and going with everything. That was sort of significant. But nobody got even got the chance to. To get close, to get away.

A (5:18)

Yeah.

C (5:19)

And you mentioned the. The chaos, the mechanicals. I would say the big out. We'll talk about the win. Ben Arts win. But the big thing today that I noticed is every major favorite, it seemed, had a mechanical problem. Some of the multiple ones, like Pagar. Was this. Am I just misremembering the race or was this a lot of flats from key riders?

A (5:41)

I think I have. I have this in my notes here, and I want to ask George about it. You know, I mean, we all know, you know, equipment has improved. Right. I mean, wheels are better, tires are much better. The wider tires, I think the minimum. Everybody rides 32 millimeter tires. Racha was riding a 35 millimeter tire in the front and a 32 in the back. But, you know, I read 30.

B (6:02)

I read 30.

C (6:02)

I read 38 too. That was the. The word 38.

A (6:07)

I don't think so. I don't. I don't think so. I heard it on tv, but I heard an interview of Pogachar and He said himself 35 in the front, 32 in the back. But anyways, it's, It's. It's much different. I remember when you were racing, George, we had maximum. It was tubulars back then, 27 millimeters, which was the. I mean, usually for the classic, it was 25, and then for Paris, Dubai was 27. But, you know, aren't we, I mean, so many punctures today. Aren't we seeing and hearing and reading from all These brands, you know, that, you know, they keep improving their tires constantly. I don't know exactly what it was, but, for example, little track, I saw something about little track. They were using something special. And. And I think I saw somebody from the management say, you know, well, before the race, our riders will not have a puncture. That. That was not true.

C (6:59)

Don't say that.

A (6:59)

By the way.

B (7:01)

Apparently, apparently they had two valves. Like, as soon as they punctured, the other valve would blow up the. The tire up to six bars.

A (7:10)

They had an inflatable inner inner tube, like a layer inside a liner inside that won't prevent the puncture, but it can keep you going until you actually get to a point where you can get a wheel. But, but why do you think, George? I mean, I'm with you, Spencer. I think they punctured much more than. I mean, it was obviously more obvious because the four or the five big guys all had punctures, you know, but what's going on? Why is this happening, George?

B (7:43)

I mean, the only thing I can put it to is I think the speed is so much higher that they're having a harder time actually picking and choosing the lines. And you can test these tires all you want, but, like, going 50 over 50 kilometers an hour into some of these corners, and you're not. You can't. You can't see the stone. You can't pick and choose the stones. You can't actually pick and choose the lines. So they're. They're hitting these zones probably a lot more with a lot more intensity than they do in testing. I mean, these guys. The Average speed was 49, 48.9 kilometers an hour.

A (8:16)

Crazy.

B (8:17)

I just think it's just a matter of speed and not being able to choose the lines like you would in a training ride. Like, yeah, you can go really fast in the training ride, but you're able to choose your lines a bit. A bit better in the training ride than when you're going full gas, 200 heart rate with guys trying to pass you on the right, left guys in front of you. So I think it's just a matter of the speed and, you know, not being able to react to those super big stones that pop up once in a while.

A (8:42)

What's the tire pressure that you. What. What tire pressure did you guys use today?

B (8:47)

I knew you were gonna ask me that. It was like, in the 3.7range.

A (8:51)

Yeah. Thunderpool was riding 3.3.0 in the front and 3.3 in the back. 32 millimeter tires. Let's talk a bit about what? I mean, obviously you guys had to watch it on. On a. On a TV screen in the car, but we could see it properly. I mean, I think that's. That was a game changer in the whole race. We saw Pogachar puncture early, had to do a massive pursuit, which he did successfully on.

B (9:18)

On a different bike.

C (9:19)

He was on the Shimano bike. And you know what? It was actually fit pretty impressively well.

A (9:29)

Spencer, I heard. George, I don't know if you know this, so Shimano, they actually go around with the favor they. They ask for their measurements. So that mic was actually specifically for Pugachar. And on top of that, they did the new neutral bikes on the Shimano cars. They all have a dropper seat, dropper post, but you could see the handlebars were super wide. It's obviously not, you know, not an ideal bike, but he was on that for, like, 2K, I guess, 2, 3K. Then he got his other bike. But I think the game changer in the race was basically the mechanicals of. Of. Of V in. In Ar Forest.

C (10:09)

No. Well, before.

B (10:11)

Yeah, there. There. Go ahead.

C (10:13)

Let's use that as a teaser. Johan, let's do a quick ad break, and then let's.

A (10:16)

I.

C (10:17)

Because you're right, that's where the race was essentially made, was that mechanical.

A (10:21)

But we.

C (10:21)

We'll be right back, and then we'll talk about that. Okay, so we're back just to set up Johan. Johan mentioned the Vanderpol mechanical in the Arenberg, but just to set this up so with 100 and to give people context, UA super aggressive on the front from, like, very early. 150k to go. I turn it on, they're ripping on the front. 119k to go. Pagatra gets a flat, pulls over. None of his teammates pull over with him. I don't know if you guys noticed that he gets the Shimano bike. There's no teammate to give him a bike. He chases hard. They keep Florian Vermeesh in the front group. Some people online, little upset about that. I thought it was kind of clever, though. Yeah, he catches back on right before, like, 98k to go. He's back in the front group. Also, while this is happening, Alpecin's pacing, and then Matthew Vanderpoel attacks. Why? Is a question for Johan that hopefully he will answer in a few minutes. But he attacks, dumps his team, and then creates a group that Pagatra can ride into. Gets a little draft, catches back on unfortunately for Pigachar, he catches back on right before the forest of Armberg. Wout Vanart right there. That's our first clue. This might be I, I was thinking this could be Benhart today. He looks good. He's leading into the Armberg Forest. Matthew Vanderpoel is second wheel, I believe. And then Pagachar struggling a little bit I thought because they're going all out in the Armberg Forest and he just chased for 20K. Vanderpoel pulls over flat tire. Likely tries to get on his teammate. Yes. For Phillipson's bike cannot ride it because their pedals are different. What the heck is going on there?

A (11:56)

T birds.

C (11:56)

El Grasso is over and he's shoving grass into the tire trying to get van Art moving. Doesn't work. Johan. What, what, what happened here?

A (12:04)

Yeah, well, I mean I, I also found out that. So apparently Philipson is the whole year already riding new prototype Shimano pedals which apparently have different beats. You know, you could say well it's not smart but you know, it. I don't think it will ever be there will ever be especially with the amount of riders that are on opposing the the opposite premier tech. You know, normally Vanderpool would never take Philipson's bike because that bike doesn't fit him. You know, I think the big mistake, the mistake was made there and this is in a panic situation. V Poel knew that Del Grosso was not far behind. Yeah, he should have straight gotten on the Grosso's bike.

C (12:48)

That's only behind him because he dropped him. Right, right.

A (12:53)

Also debatable. But you know, you know that from that moment on. What's Van der Poel's goal? He needs to get out of the Ironwork Forest as soon as possible on whatever bike it is. But you know, Philipson's bike didn't work. Apparently it was Philipson's decision to give him the bike because he didn't feel great, he said. But he had also the status within the team. But I think that the. I don't know. I mean those things normally George, you know we would usually talk about that before. Right. Okay. If something happens, just wait until this guy is there. He's not going to be far behind. Vanderpool should have known and knew probably but couldn't think clearly that the Grosso could not be more than 30 seconds behind him, which was.

B (13:39)

Yeah, but I mean I, I've flattened in the arm very far as front flat myself and one. Yeah, it's impossible. You can ride it. You Cannot ride it no matter what.

A (13:49)

Yeah.

B (13:49)

Two. It's like. Yeah, it's hard to make those decisions exactly where people are. And you're right. If Philipson handing the bike, he probably thought, let me just get out of this forest. But to see him decide 50 meters later, this is not working. Get off his bike, walk back to where he started. It's just like. We've never seen anything like that. Kind of, Kind of a wild sight.

C (14:10)

And he was there for minutes.

A (14:12)

Losing minutes.

B (14:13)

He lost two minutes. He lost two minutes.

A (14:14)

I mean, he punctured again afterwards. Right. So he, he got on. On the, on the, on his bike with the grosso's front wheel, which was also. Yeah, I don't know why the grosso didn't just give him the bike. Or was he. Or is he also on those prototype pedals? I don't know. I mean, if that's the case, then that's obviously a big mistake because, you know, you. Well, we had. Listen, George, you remember we had this, this, this issue with Lance because Lance was riding different pedals and we always had Chu riding the same pedals as Lance in case something happened. And usually Chechu was the guy who was almost sure gonna be there in any situation. Right?

B (14:56)

Yeah. And being. Being a team of that stature, being the past winner of the race, you'd think they would have had like the emergency plan in place, like, do not take this bike. Grab a wheel or. But again, it's the Arenberg Forest. There's thousands of spectators on side of the road. It's hard to make a rational decision at that point.

A (15:18)

I think, I think also, you know, it's also a situation that Matthew van der Poel is not used to deal with, because if I. I mean, I would have to look back, but he never remember him having flat in any of the three last editions.

B (15:31)

Yeah.

C (15:32)

In any race. I mean, I was. I don't think I've ever. I've never seen him have a mechanical problem in a. Except the flip in 2019. Flanders in an important point. Point of any race. Right. Kind of probably speaks with bike handling, but. Yeah, what's funny, I mean, I was a frigging scrub. Like on the. These crappy teams I was on, we were not allowed to run different pedals than the teammates. Like, I'm shocked. I'm shocked that this happened. But if you say Lance was doing it, it must be, you know, it's a thing that happens at the top level. So they get out of the Armberg Forest. But did you see this? Johan Vanderpoel gets on his bike with Dograsses wheel and then has to pull over again. It looked like there was something.

A (16:13)

Oh, he had a flat.

C (16:15)

Yeah, I thought Del Grasso gave him his wheel. That was not flat.

A (16:19)

Yeah, and then he had another flat.

C (16:20)

He had another flat.

A (16:21)

Okay.

B (16:22)

In, in the Arenburg.

A (16:25)

100 meters of the Arenburg. So he had. And then, so he had to get off again. And then he got the, the team car was there. Then he got a spare bike.

B (16:34)

Yeah, that's. That's insane. I mean the fact that he still was fighting for podium, that's crazy. Is just incredible. Yeah, it really is.

C (16:41)

And so my 5 year old son saying what Johan was saying, he's like, just get out of the forest, get out of the forest. What are you doing? So there's this elite front group exiting the forest. Minutes in front of Vanderpool with two

A (16:53)

minutes was two minutes at the exit of the forest.

C (16:55)

And we didn't see that. We really didn't really see any of the racing in the forest, unfortunately, because we just saw Vanderpoel on the side of the road. And it's Laporte. The key, the key people are Laporte teammate Event Vanart in that group with Pagacha, with Mads Pedersen and eventually they have Felipe Ghana. So that's a strong group, but they don't have a lot of teammates left. So the pace is kind of stalling a little bit and then there's attacks going on Van Art, you know, it's thinning the group down as you want to minimize variables. And Vanderpoel's just on the front of this chase group and he can't, no one can really help him because they all have like Red Bull's got a situation up front. Obviously little, little Tres Pederson up there. UA is not going to help. V not going to help. And he pulls for what feels like 90km basically and gets within seconds. So they're coming in to Spencer.

B (17:49)

Spencer, you left out. Vanart also flatted right after the Ironberg and he was 20 seconds behind on his own. So Laporte's up there, not really, you know, contributing to the, the first, the first group there. Yeah, I mean there was all kinds of things going on.

C (18:04)

Well, and then V30K section, I think Pagatra fighter right before Van Art flatted again. Right. Pagatra's second flat. He's chasing on V flats. He's in chasing on. Yeah, you're right. Laporte's up front, not really being forced to do anything. Vart gets back on. There was a lot of flats now that we're, we're talking about this. And then Van Art starts to whittle it down. They end up dropping Matt's Pederson, Matt's Petterson. Super analytical breakdown of that was, what do you think happened? They were stronger than me, which I think put it pretty well. And then, but I mean by 44k to go, like exit of Monzo Pavel V's at 42 seconds. But it's a kind of a fake 42 seconds because even if he catches them, he's been pulling the whole time. Like, what does he really have left to give? Vanart starts to play it super smart here. He's getting asked to pull through, but he knows Pagacha a trap because he's going to ask him to pull through, then attack him on the cobbles. Vanart's playing it very smart, knows he just has to hold his wheel. Paer puts in some pretty good attacks. The cafo Dera almost crashes them out. Kind of an interesting move there. Just. She's throwing the kitchen sink at Vanart. I'll, I'll go take us to the ground. We'll see what happens. But Vanart holds on. They get out of there and the gap gets small. It's 15 seconds by the end, but it's enough. And then Vanart smokes him. I mean, it wasn't even close on the velodrome. You could see why Van Art felt confident that all he was.

A (19:26)

If you look, if you look, Spencer, if you look back now on the race, you know, Vanart, you know, they all had their fair share of, of of punctures. I think in this case here, if you look at all the favorites, they had at least all minimum two punctures, some even three. Yeah, in this race it's just a matter of when do you have the puncture, right? I mean when the, the, the second puncture of Pogachar was no big deal. He was back straight away. The second puncture of an Art was a bit bigger deal, but also he got back. But if you look from the moment in the Armberg, Vanart was first guy, so the strongest there by far. And we don't know because Vanderpool had a flat. But then he is also the guy from that elite group who starts the attack was a really strong attack and it was, it was Gachar and Pedersen and Pedersen barely made it and then he got dropped straight away. So I think, you know, really well deserved victory for Von Aert, you know, he. I think he. I think the whole peloton is happy for Van Aert, even his big rivals. This came, you know, he. He gave a very emotional interview. I don't know if you saw it. I saw it in Flemish also. You know, he pointed at the sky. And this was for his teammate when. The first time he did this race. Eight years ago. Eight years ago, I think. Was it eight years ago? Yeah, he was still. He was not on Visma yet. He was on this small Belgian team, and he had a teammate die of a heart failure.

C (21:01)

Yes. I've forgotten about Michael.

A (21:04)

Michael Golarts. And he knows the family really well. He stayed in contact. He knows the family, you know, the parents, the wife or the girlfriend. And this was, you know, he said, you know, every time I come to Paris, I think about this. And. And this was. This was, you know, with him in mind. So. And, you know, I mean, if you see how emotional he. He was, we. We. I've never seen Vard so emotional after this. This is, you know, this for several reasons, but, man, imagine what a weight off his shoulders to win. Finally, Parube, you know, there's only two races that V lives for. It's Flanders and Rube, you know.

B (21:43)

Yeah.

A (21:44)

And. And to win it. And against Bogachar, I mean, let's not forget, you know, if you look. If you look back now in the last two, three years, there's only one rider who has been able to beat Bugachar fair, and it's Walt Van Aert. We could say, okay, Skelmoso beat him in. In Amstel gold race last year. But. But, you know, one on one, this is. This is, you know, he's the only guy who put With Bogacha in problems his last.

B (22:15)

Not only that, but tactically, for. For Visa, like, he didn't have. He had the best excuse in the world to not pull through at 100%. He had Christopher Laporte right behind, one of the best sprinters in the world. So in tactically, they were in the best position. Like they were in a dream scenario.

A (22:33)

Yeah. And.

B (22:33)

Yeah, even. Even as they were coming onto the Belgium, like, we. We don't. We were not used to seeing Pagatro lose. So everybody's thinking, oh, he's probably gonna win this. But yeah, I mean, Renard, the guy who's gotten top four in the biggest race in the world consistently always there. It was such a good thing for cycling. Super exciting to me. It was just like a perfect. A perfect win. And as A fan watching the race was as good as it gets.

A (22:59)

And I think. I think, you know, it was. It was very obvious from, you know, seeing the way he could react to those accelerations of Pugachar, you know, and on that last attack, it was. I don't remember which sector it was. He came back to Pogacha. He had to stop pedaling, and he was so close to the wheel, like he was in control. He was completely.

B (23:21)

He was. For a minute, it almost looked like Pogacha was going to drop him, but it looked like he was using his cyclocross ability to. To let a little gap go before the corner so he can take the corner exactly how he wanted without any risk and come back and without a big acceleration either. You can tell he used that technique, and it was just perfect. And even Picachu said in the interview, like, he. He knew he couldn't drop him after that. Like, it was. It was. It was over.

A (23:46)

Yeah. Yeah.

C (23:47)

Well, let's take another quick break, and I'm going to ask you guys how Picacho could have worked. What could Picacho have done differently? When we get back, everybody. This episode is brought to you by Cheers. As I've gotten a bit older, one thing I've definitely noticed is drinking just hits differently now. So sometimes it's just a couple of drinks while I'm watching the nuggets, and maybe the game goes a little later than I want it to, and I'm feeling off the next day. My sleep is messed up. I am not recovering, and I've started paying more attention to it, especially with my sleep tracker. And I've noticed a few drinks can really throw me off. This is. This is key in July, when we might have a team dinner, and then I have to wake up at four or five in the morning to watch each Tour de France stage. You do this a couple of times, you can really start to feel like not yourself. And that's why I've started trying Cheers Restore. And I've noticed a big difference. 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What could Pago like a why did he lose Johan? And what could he have done differently from both of you to win this race? Probably not. Flatting would be key, right?

A (28:51)

Not much. He couldn't have done much different. You know, if you look at it in hindsight, you know, they were very aggressive at the on the first sectors. Basically he, he, he, he blew up his, I mean not blew up, but he wasted all his guys there. They wanted, they wanted to be a hard race and then of course he had the flat and then they were all Of a sudden, in a different position because the guys who were. Who had been pulling so hard, we're not there anymore to bring him back. I think that's. That's obviously a key. A key moment, you know, the energy that Bogachar spent there, that pursuit of 20 kilometers to make it back. And then, you know, once you're back, no more teammates left. Florian Vermeers was still there, but he also had a problem in Arbeck Forest. So he was gone. And, you know, given what has happened in all the last races, everybody's just looking at him. It's all on him. So there's not much he could have done differently, I think.

C (29:49)

Should they have?

B (29:52)

Let's not forget, like he was on a different bike. I feel like it was more than two or three kilometers, Johan. I could be wrong. I know my coverage was in and out, but it's. It. To me, it felt like almost 10km on a different bike.

A (30:02)

Well, you know, he didn't come back on the Shimano bike.

B (30:05)

He.

A (30:06)

He.

B (30:06)

No, I know that. I know that. But like, so think about the stress.

A (30:12)

I wrote it down here. Wait one second.

C (30:13)

I think it was like four and a half kilometers.

A (30:15)

It was five kilometers.

B (30:17)

Five kilometers, okay. Yeah, five kilometers in the middle of a hard section. There's. At that point, I could attest, I saw there was bodies everywhere. I mean, the group at that point was probably 10 minutes long or more. So imagine all the people. He's got to go through groups, like big, big groups. He had to go through, change bikes once again. He burnt a lot of matches there.

A (30:40)

Yeah, yeah.

C (30:41)

Should they have dropped Vermeesh back to help him chase Johan?

A (30:44)

Was that a mistake in the, in the. After the first flat?

C (30:48)

Yeah, the first flag chase is a long time by himself?

A (30:52)

No, no, I don't think so. No. First of all, because you don't know if he's gonna make it back. No, I think. I think that was not a mistake. He had his guys that. He had Polit, he had Morgado, he had Bjerg. I mean, they did a good job. And then, Then he. Then he was basically. I mean, there was other riders, there was a huge group. So. So, yeah, I don't think.

B (31:20)

And, and this is Paris Rex After 180km, after 200. It's not like your typical race where you can get guys, your teammates organized. Like at that point after the, like before the Aronberg, right after the Berg, like, people are just on. Running on fumes. So they probably just thought, like, let's Just keep Ramich there. Hopefully he can stay there as long as possible. It's not like. It's not like he's fresh. And I'm going to wait for Poker to bring him back up. It doesn't work that way in Paris Roubaix especially that far into the race,

A (31:48)

I think was George. I mean, looking. I mean, if you take out the. The mechanical, the first mechanical of Pugachar, I think their plan was just to, you know, make the race super, super hard and then Pogacha goes full gas in Harmberg. That was the plan.

B (32:03)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure, that was planned. And that's very. That's a lot easier said than done. I mean, to rally all your guys and that especially the way the race evolved in that first 100km where there's no breakaway. I mean, the fact that they were all there, all the, you know, Johan, you know how hard that is to get those guys together. So. Yeah, but you're right. They use them up really early. You know, perhaps they. They could have relied on the master class of a positioner that Pagotcha is to have him float that first part and then use them a bit more 150k in and then perhaps would have been with him longer. But you know, you can look back and say that. Yeah, that would. I would say that's the only difference they could have done is like they perhaps use their guys way too early.

A (32:46)

Yeah.

C (32:47)

What happened? Well, on, I guess on that watching it, it did seem like by making the race so hard, first of all, that's just what they do every race. And that seems to work pretty well for Pigachar. But it makes it easier. He can enter the cobblestone sectors in a better position because it's just so hard. There's so few people that can be up there. But Johan, did you notice this? He's. He's riding in the group, he gets a flat, he pulls off. Did the team not know, like, what happened with that? Why did no one. They just kept going and then he's by himself.

A (33:17)

Listen, I mean, you ask, is there something he could have done differently? I mean, I don't understand why he stopped straight away. He just stopped. He didn't keep going because normally, usually after every sector you have people standing there, so. Or get a bike from a teammate. I mean, the thing is, I mean, the only guy I think he could get the bike from is maybe Morgado, because, you know, polit. Forget it. Vermeers, forget it. Who else is there? Bjork is Also, he's pretty tall. Yeah.

C (33:49)

That's the only thing is all those

A (33:50)

guys were super tall, I think is the guy. And Mergado was dropped already, so.

C (33:55)

Yeah.

B (33:56)

And was it one of you guys that said this or. Somebody told me this yesterday a couple days ago that I think like 10 of the guy, 10 of the UAE guys or 12 guys are out with broken collarbones, all kinds of injuries. So their team is not at their best in general. Their whole roster, a lot of their roster is injured or hurt or on their injured reserve list right now. So that perhaps could have affected the outcome as well.

A (34:19)

Yeah, well, they still had a pretty strong team.

B (34:23)

Yeah. Of course it's uae.

A (34:24)

Yeah.

C (34:25)

But it's not, I guess, like George's. If you think about the key classics people they usually rely on, they don't really have them. And you could see like Niels Pollitt was yelling at people like, hey, our guys off the back, we gotta stop and wait.

A (34:37)

Yeah.

C (34:37)

Physically having to scream at him.

A (34:39)

Yeah, yeah.

C (34:41)

It wasn't maybe the well oiled machine that they.

A (34:43)

But the thing is also, you know, I mean, and George, you will, you will testify to this. There is no other race like Paris where it's so much chaos everywhere. And so, you know, communication, forget about it. You know, the cars are so far behind that, you know, the instructions don't come true. At that point, I think the UAE car was probably out of reach. So, you know, nobody could have told, you know, these guys. Okay, Pogach. I mean, I don't. I found it really strange that Pogacha just stopped and it took such a long time for Bjerg and polit to come back. But, but, but I think the first, first of all, I don't understand why Pogachar just went to the side and didn't.

C (35:30)

Is that a little like lack of,

A (35:32)

I don't know, experience? No. I mean, normally as a teammate, you should always look okay. If you don't see your leader, you know, there's something, something going on. This is not. If not here, he has a problem.

B (35:46)

Yeah, no, for sure. A guy like that, I mean, if you see him, you. You have to stop and wait. Especially if you have more than one guy. That's for sure.

C (35:54)

You guys want to hear this is a crazy stat up. So Van Art wins, gets. Which I'm about today for Gotcha. The guy who didn't win a lot because he commands all of our attention. But Picacho wins second monument first since 2020. This is crazy. Yeah, yeah. Webinar wins second monument, first since 2020, which was Sanremo. He's done 15 monuments since then. He's not finished outside the top 10 a single time. Is that crazy? And then 12 and then eight podiums in that time as well, which is wild, like wildly consistent. So it's great that he finally gets a win here and then also this. So Pagachar and Vanderpoel used to be, you know, equal in one. Like they were winning. Moni. Like one would win a monument, the other would match them. Has won five major one day races since the last time Vanderpoel won a monument, which was last year at Roubaix. If we count world championships and monuments, what's the. Like, I'm not saying Vanderpoel's in trouble here, but what's the fork, what's the forecast for. For Vanderpool, like winds is next. It's. It seems like the road's getting tougher for Monument wins.

B (37:05)

I don't know. I don't know about that.

A (37:07)

There's three monuments. He can win the last and Drube. So we're going to have to wait until next year. He's not going to win Liege and he's not going to win Lombardy because he's not going to participate.

B (37:17)

What? Yeah, yeah.

A (37:19)

But here's another, here's another interesting fact. Spencer and George. So you know, we have Visma Lisa bike, which is, you know, a team like historically all the former editions, you know, going back to Rabobunk and we had Belkin and then Blanco and I don't know what else. Loto Jumbo and then before Rabobank, I think it was.

B (37:41)

Was it Skill Shimano?

A (37:43)

No, no, no, no, no. That's. It was novel and word perfect.

B (37:47)

Oh yeah. Oh yeah, yeah.

A (37:49)

41 years of existence of this team in different forms. First time they win Paridube.

C (37:55)

Wow.

A (37:56)

First time. Yeah.

C (37:58)

That's huge.

B (37:59)

That's huge.

C (38:00)

I heard a crazy stat that decathlons never won a monument before

A (38:07)

or AG2R or whatever.

C (38:08)

Yeah, yeah. Which is kind of crazy to think about. Well, so yeah, Van Art wins. That's big, Johan. Big season made probably right. Huge in Belgium. Hugely.

A (38:22)

I think this is what Walt von Aert needs. Needed to, you know, get his confidence back in his belief in himself. You know, I think. And he said it and he said it in the interview. He said he doubted many, many times. I mean this, this is not just one time coming back. This is. This guy came back 10 times already from whatever, you know, let's not forget Walt Van Aert has had some very serious career changing crashes and injuries.

B (38:48)

Yeah.

A (38:49)

The fact.

B (38:50)

Yeah. You even saw, yeah. You even saw Van der Paul go, go up to him at the finish line.

A (38:55)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

B (38:56)

Like immediately congratulated him.

C (38:58)

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

A (38:58)

Which is cool. And so, so I think, you know, obviously for his morale, his belief in himself, I think we're going to see Walt vanart again that we used to see, you know, and especially, I mean, okay, we're always talking about, you know, one day races, but for some reason we always go to the Tour de France. I mean, man, with this in his back pocket now what a teammate Jonas is going to have in the, in the Tour again, you know, with Walt Von Aert if he stays healthy.

B (39:30)

I agree it was great. It was great for the sport to, you know, obviously you don't want to see all these punctures and mechanicals happen, but the finish of today's race, you know, seeing another guy win a big monument, I thought was, it was incredible to watch. Really good for the sport and wild Bernard, I mean he's still, still there. He's, he's, he's, he's always been so close. But to come away the Ferris reveille like now any of these other fourth place, they don't matter anymore. I mean, he won Reuben.

A (40:00)

And here's, here's another. I saw George. I mean, and you know, you know, I mean there's probably no other race that can, that you can get to the finish. And Abby after. Definitely so empty. Like completely done. You know. An interview, an interview today with, with Matthew von der Poel. It was, it was funny and you know, he had to, it was in English, so you know, you have to translate. He was so empty, basically.

B (40:24)

Yeah, yeah.

A (40:25)

He couldn't find the words train that, you know, like. Yeah, he had to stop. He had to. He wanted to say something about Vanart that he wanted.

B (40:32)

He walked away, which is him. Yeah.

A (40:36)

He could not say it. It, it did just didn't come out of his. You know, it was, it was. That's how empty Paris makes you. You know, he was, he was completely done, done, done.

B (40:47)

And it's not only Vanderpoel, it's The guys finished 50th place too. They're in the same mental state. It's like they put everything on the line.

A (40:54)

George, to finish it off. Talk us a little bit about your guys. What did they say? How did they finish and what. I mean, you were on the bus now on the trip to after the race to the hotel, what was their experience?

B (41:08)

Well, we had five out of seven guys finish, which is a huge deal for us. I mean, I guess we, we sort of proved that we deserved the invitation. We were really aggressive at the start trying to make that breakaway. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. We lost Riley Pickerel early on due to a crash, and then a couple of mechanicals after that. Sean Christian wasn't on a great day, but all of our other guys, Cole Kessler, Ezra, Mark Stewart, Robin Carpenter, who just flew over from the U.S. they finished in a group behind with a decent group. And there was all kinds of emotions. I mean, the young guys were like, I love this. I want to come back. Which for me made me really happy to hear because. Because in a lot of ways, Farris Roubaix can define their career for the rest of their lives. And they finish today's race and they want to come back and they want to get better. So for me, particularly for the young guys, it was great to see them how they finish, of course, completely exhausted and in shock of how hard that race actually is. But that's not unexpected at all. And then we had Ben Oliver up there and like fighting for top 30 till the very end. And he did a great race. And I always have to remind every bit, it's Ben Oliver's fifth race ever in Europe. I mean, he came, he was racing criteriums last year. So for him to be out there battling it out for the top 30 in Paris, bait for me was super, super fun to watch. And I was really proud of the guys. And Johan, I know how much effort you put you guys put into the planning. When I was racing with you guys, and I see it now firsthand, I mean, we had like 30 people on the sides of the roads and that's probably on the smaller side of how many the other big teams have. But from, from, from people handing out water bottles to people having wheels to people knowing what to do to wheels. Some of the people just say, just give, give the rider a wheel and just give them. Have given an Allen key. Let them do it. Because it might take more time for you to screw it up than having a rider actually do it. So there's just so much planning that goes into this race that you know quite well. Johan. And now I'm learning it that it's just, it's unlike any other race in the calendar.

A (43:07)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And to finish, to finish it off. Spencer and George, a congrats to the Hinkapy family. Sixth place oh, thank you. In the junior race.

C (43:17)

Right.

A (43:18)

How was that?

B (43:19)

Yeah, sixth place. He was a little disappointed. He was fighting for the win there right until the very end. Had to make a huge effort to try to catch the breakaway. Ended up getting sick. So he didn't get podium. But I, I reminded him last year he ran onto the velodrome in like 80th place and I had to find a bike for him. So he can finish the. The last 200 meters on a bike. Yes.

C (43:38)

Yeah.

B (43:39)

So fast forward one year and fighting for the podium, ended up sixth place. I mean, I was super happy to see it. And he's happy, he's motivated. It was, it was a great day for him.

C (43:47)

Was that. That's today, right? That runs on the same day.

B (43:51)

Same day when U19, U23 pros and the women.

C (43:58)

Yeah.

A (43:58)

What a finish there. I don't know if you guys saw it. So three riders in front. Two Visma, Lisa bike. Two of the best riders ever. Mariana Voss and Pauline Ferrand Prevot. And the German, what's her name? Francisca Koch from FDG Francisco.

B (44:17)

And a little side note to that story, Riley Pickerel. That's their boyfriend and girlfriend.

C (44:23)

Oh, wow.

B (44:23)

Riley was in the bus, took a shower and he's like, I gotta go, I gotta gofriend. Won the race. That was pretty awesome. Funny story. Yeah.

C (44:31)

That team's on a hot run, by the way. Amloop Strada, Ronda Von Flander and Perry. Rube.

A (44:37)

Yeah. Listen, if you, if you saw her, if you saw her ride in Flanders, what she did for, for Demi Voling. She was so strong.

B (44:46)

Yeah, she was so strong. Yeah.

A (44:48)

It was a surprise though that she beat Mariana Voss in the sprint. But still, Mariana Vos comes back from a very long time without races. She had, you know, sadly, her dad passed away a month ago or something and so it was her first race back. But. But still, I mean, she's, you know, the greatest female rider ever. 250 plus wins in her career. So. Yeah, that was, that was quite the win for the German. The German rider.

B (45:17)

Yeah.

C (45:18)

What do you guys think about this world we're living in where there's aero bikes now at Paris Roubaix, like UAE will ride the same bike for every race. Gone are the days of. Do you remember all these specialized bikes rolled?

A (45:29)

Not, you know, company, just the pioneer. The pioneer with that trend is George. He, you know, he started, I mean, and everybody thought he was crazy. George started with high profile wheels. The. The first ever rider to ride carbon

C (45:44)

hyper Was that, George?

B (45:47)

That's a good question. What year was that on, like, oh,

A (45:50)

four maybe or 0304. I don't remember.

B (45:53)

Yeah, 0304. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

A (45:55)

I mean, let's not forget how it has changed. Because not that long before that, George, you know, there was, okay, there was steel bikes and actually a lot of riders were riding rock shocks. Rock shock?

B (46:05)

Yeah.

A (46:06)

In Paris. I mean, obviously the tires were a lot, a lot thinner instead. So. Yeah, I mean, Visma and UAE were riding aero bikes. Van der Poel wasn't riding an aero bike.

C (46:20)

What's funny about that is Company Canyon just came out with a new bike. He didn't ride it. Oops.

A (46:26)

Yeah, he did. He did. He did write it. He did.

C (46:29)

I thought he was on the aero road.

A (46:30)

No, he was not. He was not. I don't know. He may have started on the aero bike. I don't know, maybe for the first 80k or. Did you see a bike change of Thunderpool in the beginning?

B (46:40)

I did not. No.

A (46:41)

No, that's another thing. Back in the days, I mean, now that's not. Because back in the days, you know, you had other riders starting on high profile wheels, skinnier tires, higher pressure. And then hopefully there was a moment where they could change like 20k before the first couple and they went onto another bike.

B (46:59)

But that, that's not happening.

A (47:03)

Yeah, yeah.

C (47:03)

I mean, that's crazy to be. I, I am riding that same bike and I can't imagine riding it on the cobbles. It's nuts. I mean, they do have a lot of clearance. They can put big tires in there, which is kind of interesting. But respect to those guys for, for riding that the whole time. But George, we'll let you get to dinner. It's late. Yohan.

A (47:21)

Okay, guys, thank you.

C (47:23)

We will talk.

B (47:23)

All right, guys, thank you.

C (47:25)

See you soon.

B (47:25)

See you next week. All right, bye.

A (47:27)

Bye.