Tour of Flanders 2026 Breakdown | THEMOVE

Summary

THEMOVE: Tour of Flanders 2026 Breakdown

Host: Lance Armstrong
Guests: Johan Bruyneel, George Hincapie, Spencer Martin
Date: April 5, 2026

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Main Theme

An insider’s breakdown of the 2026 Tour of Flanders, focusing on Tadej Pogačar’s dominance, the tactical dynamics of the race, the shifting landscape of classics racing, and broader themes in contemporary cycling. The episode features Armstrong, Bruyneel, Hincapie, and analytics expert Spencer Martin engaging in spirited discussion, rich with historical context, tactical debates, and predictions for upcoming races.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Tadej Pogačar’s Unstoppable Performance

• Immediate Praise: Pogačar wins his third race of the season—and the talk is not “can he be stopped?” but rather “who can possibly challenge him?”
  • Quote [00:53 / 04:55 Armstrong]:
    “You just sort of sense the other riders...they just know. The only thing that could potentially happen here, the only X factor, is some sort of a crash or bad luck...even those may not derail him. This guy is the best ever by far.”
• Stats & Comparisons:
  • Seven consecutive race wins (stretching back to last season).
  • Winning monuments at a rate that could eclipse Eddy Merckx by 2028 if continued.
  • Surpassed Roger de Vlaeminck for 12th Monument win (Merckx: 19).
  • Armstrong: “He’s winning Monuments at a rate of four every 12 months…” [04:09]
  • Bruyneel: “Basically, he doesn't race much, but whenever he races, he races to win—and he almost always, always wins.” [05:49]

2. Race Breakdown: Attrition & Tactics

• UAE's Relentless Pace:
  • High average speeds (43kph+), brutal winds, and early splits made for a race of attrition.
  • Quote [06:15 Hincapie]: "The best riders in the world were crawling into the line. The best of the best. And he still walks away with a win..."
  • Early action: UAE “lining it up” on Molenberg; key splits at 100+ km to go [08:39]
• Galácticos Deliver:
  • Top favorites all present and correct—a "Galacticos" top-five: Pogačar, Van der Poel, Evenepoel, Van Aert, Pedersen.
  • Quote [07:13 Armstrong]: “Look at the top five. It was like the Galácticos…a time trial one by one by one…that’s a dream scenario.”
• Remco Evenepoel’s Podium on Debut:
  • Huge Belgian excitement; doubts overturned.
  • Quote [09:06 Bruyneel]: “He did an incredible race. Could have played it a bit smarter, but...being on the podium in your first Tour of Flanders—not being a specialist—is amazing.”

3. Missed Tactical Opportunities by Rivals

• Passive Opposition:
  • Critique: Rival teams had numerical advantages at key moments (e.g., Red Bull/Visma) but failed to exploit them—“riding for Pogačar.”
  • Quote [12:33 Hincapie]: “...perhaps added another dynamic...putting Pogačar on the defensive. Otherwise...they were riding for him.”
  • Armstrong: “If you’re racing a guy that is head and shoulders above you...forget everybody else. That doesn’t matter.” [14:12]
• Cycling’s Modern Mentality:
  • Riders like Evenepoel and Van Aert "just work when they’re at the front"—not in their DNA to play defensive or negative tactics. [13:17]
  • Bruyneel: “Tactics are overrated in today’s cycling.” [50:07]

4. Course Evolution and Race Experience

• “New” Flanders: Circuit design, multiple ascents of iconic climbs (Old Kwaremont, Paterberg), increased VIP/hospitality experience.
  • Bruyneel: “This is definitely the way to go…three times the Kwaremont, two times the women’s race…crazy atmosphere.” [25:35]
  • Hincapie on relentless modern Flanders: “Now it’s full gas from the Molenberg, has been the last four or five years.” [28:00]
• Financial model praised: hospitality, “stadium” atmosphere, growth of the event. [27:18, 29:21]

5. Pogačar’s Place in History

• Merckx Comparisons & Five Monuments Dream:
  • Armstrong: “If he can win Roubaix, just give him all five. Never been done, by the way. That would be unbelievable.” [31:08]
  • Pundits unsure if he can beat Van der Poel at Roubaix, but no one willing to bet against him.
  • Quote [35:17 Armstrong]: “Anybody that bets against this kid is nuts.”
• The Evolution of the Sport:
  • More versatile, technically skilled, and aggressive generation—riders now execute advanced technical feats and year-round dominance. [45:14]

6. Culture and Relationships in the Peloton

• Pogačar’s likeability, political acumen—contrasted with Armstrong’s own infamous lack of peloton diplomacy.
  • Quote [52:43 Armstrong]: “He’s done a good job managing the politics of the sport, managing the politics of the other riders...He's very political like that, which you have to be in cycling.”
• Unique dynamic with Van der Poel—shared respect and camaraderie.
• Rivalries still exist (e.g., “Jonas doesn’t like him. That’s good—it makes the Tour so fun.” [53:34])

7. Contemporary Race Dynamics

• Points game changes mentality: many are riding for top-10/points, not the win, and that’s more visible than ever. [22:30]
• Debate on focus: Should stage race superstars (e.g., Vingegaard) ride the classics? Consensus: only if it’s in their hearts/minds. [39:51]
• The “era of hiding” pre-Tour is fading; new stars are “complete riders.” [44:37]

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• "You just have to watch. Having watched what we…everybody watched, you have to say, well, what would you do different?"
  — Lance Armstrong [07:13]

• "It was like the Galácticos…you named those five who got top five today. By the way, it was a time trial one by one by one."
  — Lance Armstrong [07:13]

• "If you’re racing a guy that is head and shoulders above you...forget everybody else. That doesn't matter."
  — Lance Armstrong [14:12]

• "Would this be the best ever podium in any bike race we've seen?"
  — Johan Bruyneel [26:08]

• "Anybody that bets against this kid is nuts."
  — Lance Armstrong [35:17]

• "He knows the outcome, but he and Van der Poel have a camaraderie there that's very different than any of the other ones."
  — Lance Armstrong [51:48]

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Notable Segments & Timestamps

• 00:51–02:50: Light-hearted Easter banter, South Carolina spy balloon story.
• 03:13–07:05: Pogačar’s streak, Merckx comparison, crushing Monument stats.
• 07:05–09:39: Top-five “Galácticos,” race attrition, high speed, wind.
• 09:39–13:46: Early splits (Molenberg), tactical questions, Evenepoel’s podium, rival teams’ missed chances.
• 13:46–18:37: Deep tactical breakdown, group dynamics, failure to pressure Pogačar.
• 25:30–29:33: Flanders course evolution, fan experience, VIP circuit.
• 30:52–31:19: Armstrong on the five Monuments in a season.
• 31:19–37:14: Roubaix predictions, Van der Poel as main threat, upcoming classics.
• 39:16–41:13: Rider mindsets; why not all top GC guys should bother with Flanders.
• 51:07–54:05: Pogačar's relationship cultivation, peloton politics, implications for dominance.

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Recurring Themes and Takeaways

• Pogačar is on a path to go down as the sport’s best, doing it with a combination of raw power, versatility, and acute peloton management.
• Modern cycling rewards relentless aggression and versatility—but still, even in this new world, races often fall to the strongest, not the cleverest.
• The Tour of Flanders is evolving—more spectator-focused, more intense, more selective—and the current era is producing “dream” podiums.
• Teams missed clear tactical opportunities, but perhaps were simply outmatched; culture and psychology still play a huge role.
• Pogačar’s pursuit of all five monuments and continued Tour de France dominance is currently cycling’s most compelling story.

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Concluding Thoughts

From the panel:

• Armstrong: "Pogačar’s dominance demands that rivals try new tactics, but the strength gap might be unbridgeable right now."
• Bruyneel: "Even with small mistakes, Pogačar was always in control."
• Hincapie: "Elite riders can only do so much when the race is this hard and predictable, but some riskier tactical plays should be on the table."
• Martin: "Pogačar is doing historic things against an incredibly deep generation."

Stay tuned for the Paris-Roubaix breakdown—everyone wants to see if history will be made.

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Transcript

[Lance Armstrong]

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[Johan Brunel]

AT&T business Wireless connecting changes everything.

[Lance Armstrong]

You just sort of sense the other riders, they just know. They know how. I mean the only thing that could potentially happen here, the only X Factor actor is, is some sort of a crash or bad luck or even those may not derail him. Look, this discussion or this, this question of. And you know they talked about it a lot during the race today and of course we have as well of Eddie Merckx vs. Poga chart. I. Listen, we gotta stop. This is over in my opinion. And this, this guy is. Is that good. This, this is. This is the best ever. Hey everybody, welcome back to the Move podcast. Talking about the 2026 tour. Flanders. I'm Lance Armstrong, joined by Spencer Martin, Johan Brunel and George Hink. Boys, first and foremost, happy Easter.

[George Hincapie]

Happy Easter.

[Johan Brunel]

Happy Easter.

[Lance Armstrong]

Happy Easter. Remember when George was having the. You were at that party and they were dropping the Easter egg. Easter eggs out of the helicopter.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah, I know. They're doing it again. Our buddy James, who Johan and I did and Lance did a camp with in America, he flies the helicopter and drops the eggs off for like they're

[Lance Armstrong]

going to do that again today.

[George Hincapie]

Well, I'm not sure because it's like not the nicest day. It's a little cloudy and a little rainy.

[Lance Armstrong]

Worth the risk though, right?

It's a little bit like a, like a Kid Rock thing where you're out on the back. It's kind of the same dynamic like your backyard, the pool, the view.

[George Hincapie]

Well, he didn't do it in my house though. He does it. He. He owns a big development on the lake. He does it there at their clubhouse.

[Lance Armstrong]

I thought he rolls up on, on, on.

[George Hincapie]

Okay. He has rolled up just to say hi and landed in my backyard.

[Lance Armstrong]

Listen, the, the best story from South Carolina ever was that spy balloon Tell the people from of South Carolina, whatever you do, don't try to shoot the balloon. Nothing tops that. I think about. I think about that story more times than I care to admit. I mean, that is just state gold.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah.

[Lance Armstrong]

Makes me want to have another spy balloon fly over. Anyhow, listen, what are you gonna say? I know this sounds like the same show we probably have done many, many times. Just another incredible performance by Tade Pogachar. Spencer and I, before we started the show, were looking, you know, they were talking about it during the telecast this morning. He's raised three times this year, and he's won all three. Stratty Bianchi, not surprisingly. Milan San Remo, perhaps a little surprisingly, especially considering the crash and today. But if you go back to last year, he won the last four races that he did at the end of last season, so he's now won seven in a row. Spencer, what was that crazy stat? The percentage of monuments that he's won that he started.

Oh, so he's winning monuments at a rate of four every 12 months. So, Johan, that means he would pass Merckx by the end of 2028 at that current rate. That's crazy.

[Johan Brunel]

He's at. I don't know which place he is, but this is his 12th monument. He just surpassed Roger de Vlaeminck, who had 11. Eddie Merckx has 19.

[Lance Armstrong]

So he's freeing. Second.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah, that's within reach.

[Lance Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah. It's incredible, man. I mean, it's. I mean, exactly the same as last year, went on the same place. You know, I just think that he's stronger than last year.

[Lance Armstrong]

Yeah, I agree with that. I agree with that. And. And it's almost.

You just.

You just sort of sense the other writers, they. They just know. They know how. I mean, the only thing that could potentially happen here, the only X factor is. Is some sort of a crash or bad luck or even those may not derail him. Look, this discussion or this. This question of. And you know, they talked about it a lot during the race today, and of course, we have as well of Eddie Merckx versus Poguchar. I. Listen, we got to stop. This is over in my opinion. And this. This guy is. Is that good. This. This is. This is the best ever by far.

[Johan Brunel]

I think. I agree. I mean, you know, if. Plus, you know, you can't compare, you

[Lance Armstrong]

know, I mean, no, you. Of course. Especially those two eras. And you can't. You can't compare this era to. To the one in the middle.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah, no. And the Position is harder, I think. And the fact that he's able to win and dominate on every single race, basically, you know, the fact that he's now going to be the top favorite for Paris Roub next week is. And then top favorite for the Tour de France and. And all the other races. He races, basically. You know, he doesn't race much, but whenever he races, he races to win. And he almost always, always wins.

[George Hincapie]

And he wins in all kinds of fashion. I mean, Spencer, you would probably know this, but I can't remember the last time where we saw the top five, Ventura Flanders, come in one by one. I mean, that's just a straight indication of how brutally hard that race was one by one. It's just a race of attrition. I mean, these guys were crawling into the line. The best riders in the world were super exciting coming into the bottom of the Cuaremont. I think the second to last time up, where you had the biggest. The four names in cycling, minus del Toro, the top four name. Recycling and Jonas were right there in line following each other to start the Caremont. I mean, it's just. That's the best of the best. It doesn't get any better than that. And he still walks away with a win. I mean, I know we might start mentioning different tactics, but it's kind of hard to. It's almost impossible to beat him.

[Lance Armstrong]

I don't think there's a might there. We're going to have to have a tactical discussion back half of this show. You just have to.

[George Hincapie]

Right.

[Lance Armstrong]

You just have to watch. Having watched what we. Everybody watched, you have to say, well, what would you do different? Which, of course, we'll get to that. The other interesting. I mean, all the. All the favorites. Look, it's not like, you know, a bunch of the favorites had off days like they were there. Like, look at the top five. It was like the Galacticos. It was. I mean, before the race, who are the top five favorites? You named those five who got top five today, by the way, like, it was a time trial one by one by one. I mean, these are all the things that you. I mean, at least for. For me, as a. As a spectator or as a. Just the viewer sitting at home.

You.

You want it like that? You're like, I don't know, just blow the race up. Like, have everybody finish one by one by one. Like that's a dream scenario. That's exactly what happened.

Did you guys notice the top six was almost exactly the same as last year in terms of the riders comprising that with the only difference being Remco Evanopole subbing in for Taj Benute, which shows you like if. Yeah, it's like what Lance is saying. If you just run every race as hard as you possibly can, the strongest riders will finish at the front. And that's what, like, it's almost like an experiment we're watching. Just like, hey, what if we start going. I don't know how early you guys turn this on, but 150k to go. The peloton was splitting up. That's how hard UAE was driving the peloton. So it's basically all out for the last couple hours.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah. I mean, it started on the Molenberg, right? I mean, on the Molenberg, you could see UAE lining it up. You had Florian Vermeersch doing an incredible ascent of the Molenberg. And from then on it was basically, there was no more fighting for position. We had 12 riders in the front from the break, and then we had 18 riders behind. All the good guys were there. There was none of the favorite who missed out, and that was it. So, I mean, hats off.

[Lance Armstrong]

101k to go, by the way.

[Johan Brunel]

Hats off to R for his first participation. Honestly, I was, I was a doubter about this experiment. I did not think that he would be able to be on the podium. And he proved me wrong. He did an incredible race. Could have played it a bit smarter, but still, you know, to be up there in third position in your first ever Tour of Flanders, not being a specialist, not having any experience, I think that's, that's amazing. And for the, the Belgian fans, man, it was, it was, it was amazing to see him up there.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah, yeah, they were. You can tell how excited they were every time he rolled by. I mean, he had a great team behind him today. Probably even, arguably, maybe even better than uae. Perhaps he used them a bit too much or not in the best way to maximize their potential for a win. But like you said, Johan, that's incredible. Time in Tor Flanders getting third place in arguably one of the hardest Tour Flanders we've seen so far.

[Lance Armstrong]

Yeah, very windy. Yeah, very windy.

[Johan Brunel]

Did I see 43.5 average at the end?

[Lance Armstrong]

Wow.

[Johan Brunel]

I mean, 278 kilometers. And the first part, the first 120k was basically was headwind. Yeah, yeah.

[Lance Armstrong]

It's crazy. Wait, I'm. I'm even seeing. No, no, that was last year. Nevermind. Yeah, 43k an hour. I mean, we, Johan, we were talking about a race on Wednesday. They averaged 48 kilometers an hour over Cobblestones and hills. It's crazy.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah, yeah.

[Lance Armstrong]

Sports lost its mind. I mean, so you were saying slowing down, 101k to go, that that was the move of the day. And I don't know if you saw, but Visma Wabinart was out of position. They had a Feeney, who's one of the strongest guys in the world, like, going all out to get Vanart into that front group. He makes it and then here's like, I think going to be the crux of what we debate. They get that selection happens. Red Bull has quite a few riders. UAE has one writer with Pagacha. So right there you'd say, is that a little spot?

[Johan Brunel]

Vermeers. Lauren Vermeers.

[Lance Armstrong]

Well, one rider with Pigachar.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah. And Red Bull had two with Remco.

[George Hincapie]

Two, two with him.

[Lance Armstrong]

And Visma has a rider. They have Laporte with Venart, you'd say? I would say that was at a potential soft underbelly right there. 100k to go. He has one teammate left. Instead of doing anything, though, they just. They rotate through. They get to the Claremont at 57k to go. Guess what happens that. Had forgotten your attacks. Wild Vent goes with them. Matthew Vanderpoel and Remco are there.

[Johan Brunel]

I don't know.

[Lance Armstrong]

Does Wild go too early, too much too early in that climb? Because he's kind of dropped over the top of the climb. So is Remco. Remco catches back on. They get to the Paderberg, Remco kind of attacks. He's pulling into the Patterberg, then attacks, then he's dropped. And he's in the held angle for the rest of the race. He's just dangling. 10 seconds back. It was so close. George thought he was going to catch

[George Hincapie]

back on, but, God, he was on

[Lance Armstrong]

there, said he did not want. He was determined not to let Remco get back on because he knows how dangerous Remco is in races like that. And then of course, as we see every year, they get to the last quant pass of the Queremont. 18k to go. Pagachar drops Vanderpoel. This is going to be a tradition in 50 years. We'll all be going there to watch this happen year after year. And then Pagacha rides away for the win. Do you guys. Let's say your DS's. Is there anything in that last hundred K that you would say I would have done that differently?

[George Hincapie]

100%? Well, I think we said it over text and I don't know if Johan would agree, but like, maybe Remco is just overconfident. I mean he is one of the best riders in the world. He has written away from the best riders in the world and gone solo. So perhaps he was just on a super confident day. But like, why wouldn't you try to send these guys up the road and not pull in that group of 20 guys? Christoph Laporte. Send him up the road and then you, like you guys said, Poker Charles just with Florian Marie Vermeesh. So they have to there it's their responsibility to chase these guys down. So perhaps you kind of start seeing a nick in their armor. But they didn't use it. They just pulled through and kept the gap at 1 1/2 minutes. Made the race hard, which is basically essentially riding for Poker.

[Johan Brunel]

We already said it, Spencer. I don't know if it was just you and I or last week in Gandergem, but I think it was in again. Bevelgam George von Aert Remco. It's not in their DNA to not work. Once they're up front, they just work. I mean it's like they want a fair race. They're all super confident. I agree. George, you know, he could have used the team better in the end. Would it have mattered? I don't think so. Just looked in control the whole way.

[George Hincapie]

It wouldn't have mattered. But at least you kind of see him on defense for a second. They never put him on defense. Yeah, they just kept rotating through like we'll our guys will stay with you. At least try. Send two guys that aren't favorites up the road and then they have to go on defense. They have to figure out how to get them back. But nobody even tried. So it's just, you know, it was kind of, I think, a loss of an opportunity there, you know.

[Johan Brunel]

One. Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead, Lance.

[Lance Armstrong]

Well, I was just going to say, I mean, George, if. If what you said is what Remco thinks is thinking that, you know, I'm one of the best riders in the world, et cetera, et cetera, I don't know that that's the right attitude because he's racing one guy and that guy is a lot better than him. So it doesn't matter that you're one of the top three or four riders in the world. It doesn't. You're racing a guy that is head and shoulders above you. So forget everybody else. That doesn't matter.

[Johan Brunel]

The thing is they know each other so well. There's one I don't know if it was in the English interview. But I saw on Belgian TV Matthew van der Poel talking in Flemish, and he said that once he was away with pogacar, they feel who's the strongest. It was clear to me that, for example, on the. What was it, the time Burgacha just. Vanderpool set the pace for him in order to not get dropped. But Vanderpool said. He said, you know, there's nothing I could do, you know, at the bottom of the quarry mount. And today. And today, he even didn't wait until the cobbles. He just went already before the. On the asphalt, before the cobbles, Van der poel was doing 650 watts.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah, I mean, but he didn't have it. He just didn't have, essentially a teammate in that. He had Delier that got caught, but not a teammate that can make the difference. So I think Vanipel did everything he can do. Maybe, you know, like you said, he knew he was going to get dropped, but the other guys who had teammates at least use them differently.

[Lance Armstrong]

What do you think about that decision, George? I thought that was odd. I woke up Alperson as a guy in the move, and it looks good on paper, but the moment you catch that breakaway, they're not gonna have anything left to work, right?

[George Hincapie]

Yeah. I mean, a guy like Delia, that's pretty much what he's built for. At least it takes the pressure off. They don't have to be expected to pull with UAE to bring the breakaway back. So I think that was their. A good play for them.

[Lance Armstrong]

Okay.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah, it was. It was the best way for Alpacin not to have to work. They knew that. You know, at the end of the day, if you look at the race, Spencer, it was basically UAE who did all the work until that break, got on the. On the Molenberg. That's the only moment where, for example, Red Bull could have used their numeric advantage a little bit. But then again, you know, Johnny Vermeers and one of the Van Dyke brothers, What kind of damage are they going to do, you know, to a guy like Bogachar and to Walt Van Aert and to Matthew van der Poel?

[Lance Armstrong]

But what if they attack over the Molenberg, like, at the other. On the other side of the Muhlenberg? What would happen if they attacked on the downhill?

[George Hincapie]

That's. That's what I thought would start happening. Like, for. For a moment, I thought we'd start seeing something different, like, okay, send these guys up the road. A guy like Christopher Laporte, I mean, those are Strong guys. If they get a minute up the road, it's not going to be easy to bring them back, and it's going to be the full responsibility of Poguchar and Florian Ramesh.

[Lance Armstrong]

Well, you guys, it was nice to see his. Nice to see him back at the front.

[Johan Brunel]

He's.

[Lance Armstrong]

He's had a year or so of some health struggles, and I always liked his style. He just. He's so. He's just not your typical French bike racer. He's cut a little more from the Dutch or Belgian cloth, and he just. Anyhow, nice to see him up there again.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah, for sure. For sure. George, what you also have to have in mind, you know, like, it's easy for us to say, why don't they do this with, you know, with their secondary riders? But, I mean, most of those guys. So we have the five riders, let's say, you know, today, Matthieu, Walt, Remco, and Pedersen. Right, Those five. The others to make it in that group, they're already on their limit. You know, that's. That's kind of the. The X factor here we have to take in consideration. So to make it there, they're on that limit, so they want to be there to support their leaders. But then to go up front, it takes. It takes really good legs. And most of them were already hanging on for dear life to make it over. The Molenberg probably had to recover quite a bit. And then, of course, you know, they're all scared to know whatever I do in. In between, I'm gonna get dropped on the next climb anyway.

[George Hincapie]

So what.

[Johan Brunel]

What does it serve? You know, so.

[Lance Armstrong]

And it was windy.

[Johan Brunel]

It was very windy. Yeah.

[Lance Armstrong]

So they know they're gonna be out. You know, they're thinking about that, too.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah.

[George Hincapie]

As. As a rider and have been in that position many times. Like, if you know you're gonna get dropped, you might as well try to get an advantage on the next downhill or tailwind section before the climb. And, you know, instead of pulling through like they were doing, just rotating to keep that minute and a half gap, like. And I'm still. It might not have made a difference. I just would have perhaps added another dynamic. Yeah, like I mentioned, putting poker on the defensive. Otherwise, what we saw today was just essentially they were riding for him and just to, you know, keep their. Their time from the second group.

[Johan Brunel]

Well, another scenario you could probably envision is, for example, not collaborate with Bogachar, which will provoke. For example, Vachar goes sooner and then is out there by himself, and then it's organized behind and he can run out of energy.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah.

[Johan Brunel]

But you know, honestly, the way he finished this race, man, he just, he just, he still kept taking time. He looked so comfortable and in control. It was, it was crazy.

[George Hincapie]

And Red Bull led, led down descent, the whole Koppenberg, which is one of the fastest sense, but the easiest descent to sit on. So everybody's just sitting pretty on the wheel there.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah.

[George Hincapie]

And Remco has just given up his two. His two cars to play right there on that descent. We all knew what was going to happen. Yeah. The second to last time up, I mean, we all knew they were going to go. So why. Usually it's not like it's a huge battle for position as 30 guys left, 20 guys. That's actually kind of easy to stay in the front by yourself. You don't need the help of your two top lieutenants at that moment. Like, don't burn them up. Like, do something different. Yeah, I know it's easy to say now the race is over, but now that we're discussing it, I would have tried to do something different before that descent. Get a little head start and have, you know, somebody else chasing or leading there.

[Lance Armstrong]

Well, Johan, let's say you're DS of Red Bull. We're going to start doing this every show. The Johans, the DS after the Muhlenberg. What are you, like, what are you saying from the car? Like, what's your plan?

[Johan Brunel]

Well, I mean, at first, first of all, I mean, if, if you know that the leader is Remco, you know, van Dijk and Vermeers are good riders, but they're not going to win the Tour of Flanders. So first of all, I would be, because for sure, Red Bull, it's a gamble they made with rapid Remco, they didn't know how good he was going to be with positioning. So first of all, you're happy that you're up there and you don't have to fear the big war getting into the Quaromont or the Molenberg or whatever other climb, the Koppenberg. So you're up there already, so you want to maintain that position. To be honest, I don't know if the directors of Red Bull really believe today that Remco was going to win the Tour of Flanders against van der Poel and Pogachar. I think third place is almost a victory for him. Not in the mind of Remco, but for a team like Red Bull, it's, it's, you know, it's the proof that they made the right decision, you know, he's up there on the podium with the two best riders in the world in these races now. So I think it's a huge success for them. Honestly, I don't think, I don't think, you know, it's easy to say, you know, yeah, we have been this differently. I don't think many mistakes were made, honestly.

[Lance Armstrong]

Well, why, why is he pulling before the Paderberg? Say that's a mistake. Right?

[Johan Brunel]

That's. Yeah, of course, that was, that was a huge effort to come back. And then I think that, that the big mistake for Remco was, you know, to accelerate on the Potterberg. And then

[George Hincapie]

as you see the pattern probably right behind me, it's actually not. That road is super tight and it's super fast downhill. So even though, yeah, he was at the front before that, you're not burning that many matches and, and there's some really technical corners coming into that descent. So perhaps he just wanted to take his lines. I don't think he, he made a mistake by being in the front there.

[Lance Armstrong]

Well, and here's the thing nobody wants to talk about. A lot of these guys aren't racing for the win. Think about Matt A. Mohoric. When's the last time he topped 10 to Monument? He gets eighth. That's huge for him. Johnny Vermeesh gets 10th, Tim Van Dyke 11th. Those are big results for those guys that, you know, you gotta keep. I think as a viewer, you think everyone should be racing against Pagachar to win, but especially in George, you know how important these points are. Like, in modern cycling, it's not so much about the winning, especially if, you know, someone's head and shoulders above everybody else.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah, I mean, that's. The points game definitely has changed. And if you look at the top 10, it's like the who's who of classics riders. So I think all those guys are pretty content with their position.

[Johan Brunel]

And also, you know, I think Spencer on the, you know, on the, the second time of the quarry month, you know, Remco and Walt already knew they were not going to win. There's no recovery from this. If you get dropped there, you're going to get dropped on the Potterberg or on the Koppenberg the next time. Right. And then I don't even know if Mathieu thought he was already on the limit there. So basically from then on, I think everybody's just trying to consolidate their situation and get the best possible result and maybe, maybe there's a chance to win if there's some. If something happens with the big favorite with Bugacha. I think from now on in these races, we have to start thinking that way. You know, you need to be in the best possible position in second in case something happens with Pugachar. That's the way these guys race, I think.

[George Hincapie]

Did something happen to Wild on the Queerman because he was the one guy that followed Pugach or he just blew.

[Lance Armstrong]

I think he blew because all of

[George Hincapie]

a sudden he just wasn't there and Van Pole and Remco were ahead of him, so.

[Lance Armstrong]

But then, but then he looked okay at. Towards the end. I mean, I didn't have him dropping Matt's Paterson.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Lance Armstrong]

And maybe just a bad moment, I guess. Right.

[Johan Brunel]

Well, he was on the wheel, so it's not like he blew himself. He was on the wheel and Bogacha went. So he followed. But yeah, he just. He blew up. He blew up on the. On the easiest part, actually, of the Paramount. Yeah. But that shows you how much of the limit he was, you know.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah, but we've talked. Is a flat part there. So. Yeah, once you usually get over that first deep pump as technically usually you're okay, but not with Bachar.

[Lance Armstrong]

How upset were you that.

That, that you weren't there, George? Just like that whole.

[George Hincapie]

I mean, that's.

[Lance Armstrong]

That one section, that old quant that, that whole scene.

[George Hincapie]

I know that scene right there is awesome. When I wrote it holding a month ago, they were already setting up the tents in the VIP area there on the quant. One month ago.

[Lance Armstrong]

Yeah. I mean, that's, that's. That's another winner. Here is. Is the fans of cycling and certainly the people that were there. I mean, the promoters of tour planners have.

Yeah.

You remember this, Johan? They got a little grief about this sort of changing the course.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah.

[Lance Armstrong]

Rerouting years ago and what are you doing? And boy.

[Johan Brunel]

No, this is the future. Yeah. This is definitely the way to go. I mean, three times they passed. Three times even. Also two times the women's race, which is still going on, by the way, for the moment. So now if you're there, I mean, George, you've been there. No, in the, in those tents already.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah. It's super fun. Yeah.

[Johan Brunel]

Crazy atmosphere. It's unbelievable.

[Lance Armstrong]

It's.

[Johan Brunel]

It's a big part. I mean, look, Tour of Flanders is the biggest event of the year in Belgium. All events combined.

[Lance Armstrong]

Really?

Oh, yeah.

[Johan Brunel]

I mean, half of the country is outside.

[Lance Armstrong]

There must be a million people on the road. It's crazy.

Yeah, it's awesome.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah. So I think what we saw today Guys, honestly, would this, Would this be the best ever podium in any bike race we've seen?

[George Hincapie]

I would say so. I mean, the best five. Top five.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah.

[George Hincapie]

I mean, think about the top five. Just the gladiators of the sport.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You just named five riders before the race, and those are. That's the top five. I mean, it's pretty crazy.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah.

[Lance Armstrong]

I mean, we're just not. It does, it doesn't. First of all, Johan Flanders looks amazing. I mean, shining during this race. Also, Flanders classics. The organizer, big financial success story like this. Like, I think they have it dialed more than any other organizer. Like Thomas Vanden Spiegel, the CEO.

[Johan Brunel]

Like, guys walk on an altar, actually, the boss and Thomas is the CEO.

[George Hincapie]

Right.

[Lance Armstrong]

People were really upset about this when they changed it and they've figured out actually how to. They've. Charging admission to this race basically without anybody.

[George Hincapie]

Oh, yeah. And really good service.

[Lance Armstrong]

When you talk about the financial model, you're talking about that, the, the, the kind of the hospitality, VIP packages that are being sold especially there at the, at the old Coremont.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah, the old Coremont. Like, inside those tents is like super good food. They have huge tables for separate corporations or different groups. I mean, they've done it really, really right. It looks great in there and it's a great service that they provide.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah, yeah.

[Lance Armstrong]

And yeah, we won't mention. I've been to other races where, like, you can't even buy a bottle of water and you're like, I'm. I'm trying to spend money here and I can't spend any money. But I'm just shocked at how much this race has changed. George, you know it better than anyone on this show. The Koppenberg does not resemble the Koppenberg 10 years ago. It's three guys. It used to be a fight to get in there. Is this just the race opens up so much earlier now?

[George Hincapie]

Well, we always, I mean, the Muhlenberg was always sort of the start of like, okay, this is really important climb. Like, we need to be in front. There was a big battle, but that's typically right after that. That's when there would be another lull in the race and the second tier riders would go get a gap and then change the whole dynamics of the race. But now it's like full gas from the Muhlenberg. I think it's been like that for the last four or five years.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah.

[George Hincapie]

And it's just relentless. So in that sense, yes, it's totally different. Like, we earlier on.

[Johan Brunel]

KBERG came earlier.

[George Hincapie]

No with like 80k to go. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And we didn't do the KBERG every year. It was. Some years we didn't even do it. But I am proud to say I never walked up to KBERG in my career in a race.

[Johan Brunel]

Wow.

[Lance Armstrong]

Well, you got to, you, you have to miss a, a bit the, the, the mirror.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Johan Brunel]

It's different. It's different. Yeah. But I think, I think with, with the Coramont and this local circuit, you know, they, they have so many opportunities to do these climbs. So three times the Coramont, two times the Potterberg, it's what they can set up there for the people. I mean, and even if you're in the VIP tents, you can go from one place to the other with a car or a motorbike. You can see them so many times.

[George Hincapie]

It's the only race aside from track racing that they've set up an actual stadium.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah.

[George Hincapie]

Where they can charge good money and it's good. They've really done an amazing job in that sense.

[Lance Armstrong]

Yeah.

I, I would say, as Lance said, that I, I missed that climb. I would say, though, there was years that you're getting winners on the old course, that you're like, is this really the biggest champion in the race? So the new course is definitely better at filtering for that. Is it too hard, though? Because, Johan, you just hit the nail on the head. If you're struggling on the second pass of the Claremont Peterburg, it's race over. So then it's basically 50k where we know what's going to happen. That to me, that's the downside of the circuit that I just praised for its financial benefits.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah. I mean, especially with a guy like Pugach. I mean, take Pugach out of the equation.

[Lance Armstrong]

Right.

[Johan Brunel]

We have.

[Lance Armstrong]

So it's completely different race.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah. Yeah. We don't know who's gonna win.

[Lance Armstrong]

Those guys, those four. The next four are together. If he's not in the race.

Okay. All right.

[George Hincapie]

And the question is, is he keep going? He already said he's not going to do San Remo again. Does he keep going? After these classics like Flanders and Rebate

[Lance Armstrong]

next year, he's got to.

Well. What? He's good. That brings me to that. This was the thing I was thinking of next. I mean, look, I mean, he's racing Roubaix. Guy's kind of running out of things to do. Obviously winning Roubaix would be one, but if you can have a season where you win all five monuments, it's possible.

[Johan Brunel]

It's possible.

[Lance Armstrong]

No, we'd have to. Spencer, look up there on some of the markets what that's trading at, like, I would not bet against that. Now. Roubaix, he gets through Roubaix. If he can win Roubaix, then just give him all five.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah.

[Lance Armstrong]

He was going to beat him at Liege. Who's going to beat him at Lombardia.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah.

[Lance Armstrong]

Never been done, by the way. That would be unbelievable.

[Johan Brunel]

Never.

[Lance Armstrong]

No.

To win five monuments.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah.

[Lance Armstrong]

Plus the Tour de France. But should we take a quick break for ads and then we will get back into a little bit of business. Few other questions about this. Yeah, a little bit of business. We'll be right back, everybody. This episode is brought to you by One Skin. The spring riding season is here, which means your skin has to handle everything in anything from extreme sun and heat to cold and rainy days. Which is why I've continued to rely on One Skin. It's been invaluable to me to have something that is both powerful skin care and offers longevity benefits all in just a few simple steps. At the core is their patented OS1 peptide, born from a decade of longevity research and is proven to target the visible signs of aging, helping you unlock your healthiest skin now and as you age. My favorite product I've been using lately is their OS 1 face sunscreen, which is incredibly easy to put on every morning. And outside of moisturizing, make sure I get sun protection right from the moment I go outside. And for the rest of my body, they have the OS1 body sunscreen, which does the same thing just for your body. It's good for your skin moisturizing and is protecting you from the sun. For a limited time, try one skin with 15 off using code the move at OneSkin Co themove. That's 15 off OneSkin Co with Code the Move. After you purchase, I'll ask you where you heard about them. Please say us so you can support the show. Hey, everybody. This episode is brought to you by Lagoon Sleep Pillows. Everyone is obsessed with buying speed nowadays. Expensive wheelset Ultra Arrows arrow bikes tested in wind tunnels. And then they go to sleep on a pillow they've had since college. How does this make sense? It does not. It's absurd. And here's the thing about endurance athletes. We understand compounding better than anyone. You don't get fitter from one ride. You get fitter from consistent training over time. Sleep works exactly the same way. One bad night is not the problem, but a training block where you're chronically under recovering is. And it starts with what Your head is laying on for eight, eight hours or more a night. Lagoon is a small company built by athletes for athletes. A former Olympic trial swimmer who tested over 60 pillows but could not find the one built with recovery in mind, so he built it himself. You're going to start with a two minute quiz that matches you to the right pillow for your sleep position and body type. Fully adjustable fill so you can dial in the exact right height that supports you. And the result is you're going to fall asleep faster, you're going to stay asleep longer, you're going to start training days feeling better, you're not in a hole. The data is real on this. Athletes sleeping under seven hours are 50% more likely to get injured mid block. That's not an insignificant number. And this is why I've been loving my Lagoon sleep pillows. They match me with the otter. And as a hot sleeper, I love the temperature regulating gel memory foam. Since I've switched, I've noticed I'm waking up more refreshed and that it's easier to jump out of bed at 4am to catch the beginning of these spring classics. So go to lagoonsleep.com the move and take the two minute quiz. Use code move for 15% off your order. That's lagoonsleep.com themove and code move for 15% off. All right, we're back. We're talking about Pagacha running through all five monuments. I mean, just to like put this into perspective, the thing that blows my mind is we're talking about him getting bored, running out of things to do. But he's doing this against competition. That Matthew Vanderpoel through his first eight seasons, like he's in his eighth cobbled season. He's the best. He's the best of all time through his first of eight seasons like Pagacha's. And think about Jonas Finnegaard. He's going to become spoiler alert for anyone that hasn't seen the gird Italia yet. He's going to become like what? The seventh writer, eighth writer of all time to win all three grand tours in their career. Like he's going against really good writers and he's just racking them up. I mean through. He's done Flanders four times. He's lost it one time, has not lost it since 2022. Like, what do you got? These guys think he's going to win Roubaix. Like what? What are the chances that this actually happens?

[George Hincapie]

I don't know. I'll be there watching.

[Lance Armstrong]

Anybody that bets against this Kid is, is nuts.

[Johan Brunel]

You mean drew back different.

[Lance Armstrong]

It is different. Yeah, all of those things. By the way, I did get ahead of myself and look at the, the forecast because that's always a factor there. That, that by grace is, is nice. 60 degrees, no rain. That helps him.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah.

[Lance Armstrong]

But at this point, why not go for it, dude. Let's go do something we've never seen in the history of the sport.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah. I mean, especially if you look at, if you look at, I mean, last year, first ever participation of Pugach. He really surprised me. He was very close,

[Lance Armstrong]

man.

[Johan Brunel]

I think this year he, I think he's better than last year, first of all. And this year I think he has a real, real, real chance to drop Matthew van der Poel. The way he wrote today, man, on those. You could clearly see in between every sector that Pogacha was being compassionate with Van der Poel. Van der Poel took pulls whenever Pogacha decided to slow down. Otherwise he couldn't pass him. It was clear. Of course, you know, Rube is different. You know, it's, it's flatter.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah. I don't agree, Johannes. I think, I mean, the powers a guy like Van der Poel has on the flats.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah.

[George Hincapie]

I just don't, I can't. I know we keep saying how good he is, but I think. And the technique.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah.

[George Hincapie]

And the way he goes into the corners, this is all the end. And this team will be much stronger in Roubaix. I mean, they're a specialist for the, for Paris Rebe. So I don't think it's going to go quite like it did today. Although of course you can never count out what poker can do. But I would assume that Van der Poel will be even better next week.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah, I think so too.

[Lance Armstrong]

Van Art's got some making up to do. He's had a rough couple weeks.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah. But he, he's on a good level. He's.

[Lance Armstrong]

Yeah, he's close.

[Johan Brunel]

He said at the idea, he said, you know, I'm, I'm happy with my race. You know, I, I, you know, some people seem to forget how extraordinary Pogacha and Vanderpool are. I did not forget that. He said so. It was very realistic, you know. So, yeah, a good race.

[George Hincapie]

Last year we saw him get a bunch of forts also in the spring classics and then, you know, when's the hardest stage in the Giro. I mean, obviously he's on great form. I think he's going to be really good next weekend as well.

[Lance Armstrong]

Well, Vendor, you have your team in Perry Roubaix. Let's talk about that for a second. Yeah.

[George Hincapie]

Flying over tomorrow. We're doing scout deprize on Wednesday and then on Sunday.

[Lance Armstrong]

Did those boys on the team know that how many. How many? Eight riders do rebate. Do they know that if you were put on the team that you'd beat half of them? Are they aware of that? I know that's not probably not the most inspiring thing to tell them before the race but you 100 you'd beat half the team.

[George Hincapie]

No. Probably not. Everybody with them last month and then I'm going to do it again on Thursday.

[Lance Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Johan Brunel]

We have to say something about that. George. You have to say something about that Recon.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah. And I crashed in the recon. My first section. Boof busted my ass. I'm there to kind of show my guys some good technique and I'm the first one to crash this. Not. Not very mosca but I got better as the day went on.

[Lance Armstrong]

Can you draw? You dropped some of them?

[George Hincapie]

No. I was just hanging on. I. I made it with them for every section they did but hanging on for dear life.

[Lance Armstrong]

Let's look at this start list. You only have one. You have Sean Christian on the start list. I would imagine you've pretty strong team. I don't think George is gonna be dropping them.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah we. We've had a bunch of guys take. So we're actually waiting until Wednesday to do our final roster because I mean this depends on who. Who they're all on the up right now. So Wednesday will be good. Good indication of who the final guys are.

[Lance Armstrong]

Johan, I know what you're going to say about this but you and you and I both had a. We. We were skeptical about Remco Evnopol and frankly I couldn't. I don't think I could find a single other writer who podiumed at Flanders after not doing he. He hadn't done a single classic this season before this. I. That's mind boggling. It was definitely helped by the hardness of the race that it's less complex maybe than it used to be. But we were missing one big name today. His name is Jonas Finnegaard. Should he have been at this race? Should he start. Are we in an era where guys just have to start doing these one days?

No. Not him.

[Johan Brunel]

Jonas cannot do this. It's not.

[Lance Armstrong]

Why is that though? For the let's. I'm going to role play as a stupid person. Why can't Jonas do well at this race?

[George Hincapie]

I wouldn't. I wouldn't put it past him doing well, because you saw him in the Roubaix stages in the. In the Tour de France. I mean, he's quite good at positioning.

[Johan Brunel]

It's different, Jordan.

[George Hincapie]

I know it's different. Yeah, I know. But I think he.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah, I think the main. I mean, physically, listen, the guy is amazing, but I think it's the mindset. He's just. Mentally, he's not ready for this, and he will never be. I mean, it's. This is not his thing. And, you know, I don't blame him. He's.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah. If you're not super motivated to go there, why risk, you know, building your whole career unless you die? And it's like your lifetime goal is to win Flanders. If not, don't even bother going.

[Lance Armstrong]

What's the mindset difference? Like, what's. What's required?

[George Hincapie]

Well, you got to love the race. You gotta. You know, somebody like Remco grew up in the region, said he lived at the bottom of the Bosberg or grew up there. And I mean, just as a kid, you dream of racing Tour of Flander.

[Lance Armstrong]

So there's.

[George Hincapie]

There's the incentive there. Boca Char wants to win everything there is on the calendar. So there's the incentive there. But, I mean, Lance never really had much interest in Flanders or any of those northern races unless he was going there to help me.

[Lance Armstrong]

That's right. Super domestic. Listen, and just. I just kind of. I haven't watched. I will say, I think today I did watch a little bit of San Remo.

Right?

Yeah, yeah, No, I did, but I haven't watched the other races. I've just read the headlines and seen the results. If I'm being a guard, I'm avoiding pogo chart because from what I'm gathering just by looking online, I mean, he's kind of back. I mean, his performances are exceptional. He's crushing. If I'm him, I go in full on hideout mode. Tade. I'll see you in July.

Interesting.

[George Hincapie]

That's what he's doing. He's doing the Jiro.

[Lance Armstrong]

But I wouldn't even. I wouldn't want anybody to write about me, talk about me, look at me. I would wait and say to myself, we'll see what happens in July.

[George Hincapie]

Well, he's been dropping a couple hints along the way with his wins, saying he's still far from his best. And obviously he wants to win the Giro. But I think in his mind is

[Lance Armstrong]

that he'll be the best, barely win it, just because that's the only. That's the only guy that can make July interesting. Yeah, it's not Remco.

I. Yeah, there is a new guy, Paul Seychelles. Maybe we should save him for the Tour preview, but he's pretty good. I. It's interesting you say Lance, like if. What if Jan Oric was. He was smashing the classics? Like, would you have been like, I got to get out there. Or you're saying what you would advise for Jonas. I need to hide out until the Tour.

Yeah, I would just. That that's. He's focused on that and yeah, I would just not. I would just. I would just try to be as under the. Although he's not. I mean, he's been writing incredibly well and winning and people are talking about it, but the more that there is some element of surprise. But by the way, I mean, Poguchard is not worried about that either. This guy is supremely confident. But look, we're also talking. I think part of our brains are talking about or hoping that this is the kind of fight we all get in July. At least I am.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah, we would love to see a big battle between those two, that's for sure.

[Lance Armstrong]

Did you guys notice that Pagachar. I'm hesitant to even say this technically should have been disqualified from the race. Did you see this, Johan?

[George Hincapie]

Because he crossed the. The train tracks.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah, him and. Him and Remco. Actually. It's. There was, There was debate. There was debate during the race. So the UCI rules say that if you ignore a light of a railway, that you're disqualified. Obviously they were not going to do that because it was half the peloton. But now during the. I mean, I was watching Belgian TV and the Court of justice is going to file a complaint against all the riders who passed the red lights. Wow. Yeah.

[Lance Armstrong]

What if they lose?

[Johan Brunel]

All right, the race incident.

[Lance Armstrong]

So we're fighting crime in Belgium, are we? Lock them up and that'll show them.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it is.

I.

It. It is interesting to hear you say hi because that. Johan, do you think that's shifting, that writers. That mentality is going away, that it's like less I'm going to be incognito until the Tour de France, that like Remco's out here, you know, race in one days now is that going away, that type of sole focus on the Grand Tours?

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah, I think, you know, they're always very complete riders. You know, it's, it's. Jonas is a stage racer, by the way, you know, barely winning it, as you say. Lance, the Giro, he's not, in my opinion, from what I've seen, especially in Catalonia. He's not even going to have to try hard, you know, right away from everybody, especially with whoever will be at the start. But. But yeah, I think. I think these guys can do everything now, man. I mean, they. Look, for example, back in your days, how many guys did you know who could do a wheelie?

[George Hincapie]

Yeah.

[Johan Brunel]

Not many. Yeah, Everybody. Everybody's an acrobat on a bike now.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah.

[Johan Brunel]

Right.

[Lance Armstrong]

You know, that's a great point. I. I've always. It's been, george, let's. Can you ride a wheelie?

[George Hincapie]

Nope.

[Lance Armstrong]

Okay. All right. Let's have some fun with this, because I. I have said to myself numerous times over the last few years that this summer or any of those summers, I'm going to learn how to ride a wheelie. Now, it's a little scary, and you don't want to, but we could just go down to the park and this would be fun. We'll film it. Maybe.

We should definitely do this,

because once you get it, it's easy, right? You got it. Now, I would only be comfortable doing that on a mountain bike, but I cannot do that. And so let's make that a summer goal. Okay.

[George Hincapie]

On a mountain bike or road bike?

[Lance Armstrong]

No, no, no. We're going to start on a mountain bike, and I'm going to start on grass. I mean, you got to. You gotta. You're gonna tip over a few times

or go backwards a few times. Let's. Let's.

Let's try. Yeah, that would be sick. Like, if all of a sudden we nail it and we're just like, what's up? Like, one hand up.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah.

[Lance Armstrong]

Just like, dude, I don't know how, but now we are truly going down the hole.

Well, Johan brings up a good point because Peter Sagan blew minds when he was doing the wheelie. And I was like, last year I was riding up the Paso Sella and there was kids riding wheelies down the pass, you know, like, oh, boy. It's just things are accelerating in terms of, you know, technical. Maybe not tactical smarts, but technical, handy handling things to seem to be accelerating

good. All right, well, hey, next weekend we'll see if. We'll see, I think. Can we all agree, right? He gets through. Rebe, just hand him the five. Yeah, Yeah.

I think I'm with Georgia. I think it's going to be tough to be a Vanderpool.

It's the hardest of the. Of the. Even harder than San Remo, I suppose, right?

Well, I don't know, actually.

[George Hincapie]

Not the way he wanted this Year. What he did this year was crazy.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah.

[Lance Armstrong]

You guys want to hear crazy stat about Eddie Merckx?

Sure.

So his first monument that he ever does. Lan San Remo. That's the hardest race to win, right? Wins it. First monument he starts. It's crazy. Shout out Eddie Merckx.

[Johan Brunel]

He won it seven times, right? Seven.

[Lance Armstrong]

That's mind boggling. I mean, what was going on? What were people saying then, like, why, why are people working with this guy? He's just gonna drop you.

[Johan Brunel]

I don't know.

[Lance Armstrong]

Different sport.

Yeah. Well, Lance, I actually, I want to ask you this before we go. Did you watch the Nuggets spurs game yesterday?

I did.

So. Unbelievable game. My son, I sent my son. He's like 5 years old and it was a spicier game than I thought I was going to be. Came back traumatized. But. So a guy like Wimbanyama comes around and he is warping, he is changing the way the game's played. And to beat him, you have to have simple rules. Like these, These guys that are amazing, they played the game one way their whole life. They have to just. They can't play that way because he's going to reject you. He's blocking seven foot centers, like just sending back their sky hooks. You saw Jokic figured out during the game, like, I got to do things a little bit different. And by the by overtime, he's now dominating Wembanyama because he's figuring out how to play the game differently. Do you think Ryder, like, do they have to come up with Pagachar rules and just stick to them? Like never work. If you make the race hard, you're helping Pagachar and just stick to these rules as the race goes on.

Well, that's what I was alluding to earlier in the show. Look, there's a lot of ways to look at that. I mean, that'd be a shame, but we spent half of the show talking about that. What do you do? I don't think that will ever happen. This is not one on one. This is 1 versus 20. So everybody has a different agenda, has a different approach. All you know, you know, and some directors are very skilled and others are not, right. So they all have these illusions that's just not going to happen. I mean, there's probably some, some simple things that, I mean, I would certainly make that team control any race. And if you're in any group, you're

just like,

it's hard too when you get in the moment because they know they're on tv. They know they're going to look like a total pansy just sitting on the wheel. I'm not pulling that gets in their head. I would defer to Johan on that. I mean, Johan.

[Johan Brunel]

Well, I mean, it's. The sport has changed so much, Lance. I mean, like, like, you know, you don't see directors talking to each other anymore with a common goal to make it hard on, you know, we know what it was back in our day. You know, we had the whole peloton against us and some team actually agreeing together to ride against us. That doesn't happen anymore. Once they're in a certain situation, directors don't talk to each other. They all have their plan. They stick to their plan. They, you know, they're focused on the data and that's it. Tactics are overrated in today's cycling.

[Lance Armstrong]

Well, Lance kind of alludes to it. There's, it's not basketball where there's two outcomes, winning and losing. There's multiple, like there's a fifth place, you know, so you're not all working toward the same thing. But I. Maybe just a little. I don't know. George, try this. So, right. Like a little flow chart. Is Pagatra in your group? And then an arrow down. Do not pull. Just tape that to everyone's handlebars because everybody needs that on their handlebars.

Yeah.

All right, well, you guys have anything else on this race before we're back next week preparing.

I will say just last thing on that. I mean, I, I think he, he does himself a real service. And you see this especially with Van der Poel, from my eye, they have a, they have a special relationship versus his relationship with Remco. He wasn't worried about Remco. You kidding me? He's not worried about him at all. I don't care what he said in the post race interview. The last thing I wanted was for him to get back. That's a bunch of bullshit. Right? He just didn't want him back.

[Johan Brunel]

Exactly. Exactly.

[Lance Armstrong]

Period.

Not because he was scared of him or worried about some different out.

[Johan Brunel]

No, no.

[Lance Armstrong]

He knows the outcome, but he, and you've seen this time and time again. He and Vanderpool have a camaraderie there that's, that's very different than any of the other ones. And, and so, but, but what, what I was starting to say was, I mean, people like. Not people. People do like him. The riders in the peloton, I think, obviously have a ton of respect for him. They also like him. He's done a good job Managing the politics of the sport, managing the politics of the other riders. The other favorite. It doesn't matter if you're. If you're his biggest threat or threat number 100, he's done a really good job of sort of keeping this relationship with those guys. And lastly, because I think I'm uniquely suited to talk about this because I did a terrible job of that.

[George Hincapie]

I did.

[Lance Armstrong]

And so Johan. And we. You just said it, right? We. Yes, we had. You know, they would sort of gang up on us because we were dominant, but they also ganged up on us because they were pissed. Like, this peloton's like, shit, this is kind of cool. I get to say I was here and the guy's nice, and he's patting me on the back and, hell, I don't know, maybe he remembers my. My wife's name and says, how should you know? Or, you know, he's a very. He's very political like that, which I. You have to be in cycling.

[Johan Brunel]

He's a like guy for sure.

[Lance Armstrong]

Yep, yep, yep. It's gonna. I mean, that'll just continue. And that's not changing. He's always been that way. He continues to be that way. It's going to continue to serve him well.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah, agree.

[Lance Armstrong]

You know who doesn't like him? I don't know if we should say it.

Oh, boy.

[George Hincapie]

I don't know.

[Lance Armstrong]

Johan. Jonas Roglic doesn't like him. Yeah, Jonas doesn't like him, which makes the Tour so fun. I'm excited already. But yeah, also helps Vanderpoel thinking, like,

by the way, by the way, I'm glad he doesn't like him.

Let's go. It is. That's good. It helps Vanderpoel with the relationship. When you're thinking, okay, okay, you're gonna big brother me today, and then next week I'm probably gonna beat you and win Rube. So that's. I think that helps the relationship a little bit.

Yeah, yeah. And stay out of trouble like this.

Listen, let's.

It's not. Should not be lost on any of us that him racing Perry Roubaix, that is the most dangerous race you can do. Like, he ha. And he knows that. And his directors know that. And this. Every. Everybody associated with that juggernaut knows that. So you got to be very careful. This. Yes. All these things would be nice when all five monuments in one season continued the domination, et cetera, et cetera. The Tour is the only one. I mean, is the one that matters the most, especially for that sponsor.

[Johan Brunel]

So we're probably going to see in Ed Rubez is the same as we see. They're going to go early. They're going to.

[Lance Armstrong]

Yeah. Top three and Armberg, the top three finishers.

[Johan Brunel]

Yeah.

[Lance Armstrong]

All right. Well, we only got to wait seven days, by the way, too. No, never mind.

[George Hincapie]

Hopefully you see one of our burgundy jerseys in the breakaway or something.

[Lance Armstrong]

No, absolutely. Absolutely.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah.

[Lance Armstrong]

All right, everybody, thanks for tuning in. We'll see you for Perry Bay next Sunday.

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