UAE Executes Their Plan Perfectly | Tour de France 2025 Stage 6 | THEMOVE

Summary

THEMOVE Podcast Episode Summary Title: UAE Executes Their Plan Perfectly | Tour de France 2025 Stage 6 | THEMOVE
Host: Lance Armstrong
Release Date: July 10, 2025

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1. Introduction and Overview of Stage 6

Lance Armstrong opens the episode by setting the stage for Stage 6 of the Tour de France, which spans from Bayeux to Vire Normandie. He introduces the topic by praising young rider Ben Healy's impressive performance in the stage.

Notable Quote:
Lance Armstrong [00:23]: "I think it's been a minute since we saw something like that."

2. Ben Healy's Breakaway Performance

The core of the episode revolves around Ben Healy's remarkable solo breakaway during Stage 6. Armstrong and his guests, Bradley Wiggins and George Hincapie, delve into the details of Healy's strategy and execution.

Notable Quotes:
George Hincapie [00:00]: "I mean, two Americans in the breakaway of six guys, the hardest breakaway thus far in the Tour de France."
Lance Armstrong [02:08]: "Ben Healy had three World Tour wins, all from solo breakaways of 42 and a half kilometers or more."

Hincapie emphasizes the strength of today's breakaway, calling it "arguably the strongest breakaway ever."

3. Team Strategies and UAE's Execution

The discussion highlights how Team UAE effectively managed the race to counteract the breakaway. Armstrong praises their tactical prowess in keeping the breakaway close, preventing them from gaining an uncontrollable advantage.

Notable Quotes:
George Hincapie [07:27]: "These guys rolled off. And that was a break like a selective breakaway."
Lance Armstrong [09:36]: "The average speed was 45.7 kilometers an hour... a perfect day to do it."

4. Technical Analysis: Equipment Decisions

The podcast delves into a technical analysis of Jonas Vingegaard's performance, particularly focusing on his gear setup. Bradley Wiggins explains how Vingegaard's oversized chainring may have hampered his power output due to improper gear ratios.

Notable Quotes:
Bradley Wiggins [20:53]: "We believe he had a 60 tooth chainring yesterday... he just couldn't produce the power because his leverage had gone."
George Hincapie [21:41]: "It's hard to believe a 68-tooth chainring was used."

5. Rider Performances and Race Implications

The hosts discuss the implications of today's stage on the overall race, particularly how Ben Healy's dominance could lead to a stage win. They also touch upon the struggles of other key riders like Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard.

Notable Quotes:
George Hincapie [12:35]: "I wouldn't be surprised if he comes away with a stage win in this Tour de France."
Lance Armstrong [12:44]: "He's looking good so far. Second place today on probably the hardest stage of the Tour."

6. Team Collaboration and Race Politics

A significant portion of the conversation explores the politics and collaboration between different teams' directors. The hosts discuss whether teams like Alpha Scene and UAE might strategize together to control the race outcome, especially against dominant contenders.

Notable Quotes:
George Hincapie [28:17]: "Do team directors from different teams ever talk and strategize about stages like today?"
Lance Armstrong [30:38]: "It's a political event, make no mistake about it. And that's just the nature of the sport."

7. Next Stage Preview: Mir de Bretagne

Looking ahead, Armstrong and his guests preview Stage 7, Mir de Bretagne, describing it as another challenging climb with multiple categorized ascents. They anticipate intense competition and potential further breakaways.

Notable Quotes:
George Hincapie [25:25]: "It's another exciting one with two times on the Mirror de Bretagne."
Bradley Wiggins [25:35]: "It's going to be a super exciting stage."

8. Ventum Trivia and Listener Engagement

Throughout the episode, Armstrong engages listeners with Ventum trivia questions related to the Tour de France, encouraging audience interaction and knowledge testing.

Notable Trivia Question:
Lance Armstrong [35:59]: "On stage six, a hilly stage, how many categorized climbs were featured?"

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Key Insights and Conclusions

• Ben Healy's Exceptional Performance: His solo breakaway showcases his tactical acumen and physical endurance, positioning him as a strong contender for stage victories.

• Team UAE's Tactical Mastery: Their strategic efforts to control the breakaway highlight the intricate team dynamics and race management essential in Grand Tours.

• Technical Setups Impact Performance: Equipment choices, such as gear ratios and crank lengths, can significantly influence a rider's performance, as seen with Vingegaard.

• Race Politics Are Integral: Collaboration and strategic communication between team directors play a crucial role in shaping race outcomes, emphasizing the sport's complex nature.

• Upcoming Challenges: Stage 7 promises to be equally demanding, with significant climbs that will test the riders' endurance and strategy further.

Final Thoughts

This episode of THEMOVE offers an in-depth analysis of Stage 6 of the Tour de France 2025, spotlighting standout performances, team strategies, and the ever-present political landscape of professional cycling. Armstrong and his expert guests provide listeners with nuanced insights, enriching the understanding of the race's complexities.

Transcript

[George Hincapie]

And we definitely need to shout out America today. I mean, two Americans in the breakaway of six guys, the hardest breakaway thus far in the Tour de France. And then Matteo Jurgensen at the end, leading it out for. For Jonas. I mean, three out of the five Americans today played a significant role in the race result. And I just love seeing that.

[Lance Armstrong]

Good morning, everybody. Welcome back to the Move podcast. Talking about stage six Ben Healy show, ladies and gentlemen. I love this kid. But before we get into it, Alain, where do we start and finish stage six? From Bayeux to Vire Normandie. From Bayeux to Viern Normandy. Merci, Mirefoi. Merci mille foix. As is the case each and every day, Ketone IQ is our presenting sponsor. Look, I feel like I've been on the record with this Ben Healy kid. He's up there seemingly any race he starts, he's in the race and he just tries and tries and tries and he put on a demonstration today. I think it's been a minute since we saw something like that. So Bradley, I mean, he was.

[Bradley Wiggins]

Yeah, I mean, Ben is renowned for these long.

[Lance Armstrong]

That's right.

[Bradley Wiggins]

When he wins, he wins big. He's a gutsy rider. But today was impressive considering how fast the first two hours were today. It was on today.

[Lance Armstrong]

We're going to get into all that.

[Bradley Wiggins]

That group of leaders, there was some hitters in there.

[Lance Armstrong]

That's right. And that's what George talked about yesterday. Those stages that. Whereas either one of the favorites teams or a team in the jersey. These are the days where you just like, oh, no, not one of these. Impossible to control early on. Having to monitor everything, make sure somebody important doesn't sneak into that breakaway. Fun fact here on Ben Healy. He's got three World Tour wins, One on the Tour Basque country, one on the Giro, one on the Tour de France, which we saw today. All three of those have come from solo breakaways of 42 and a half kilometers or more.

[George Hincapie]

I would say arguably today though, was the strongest breakaway has ever been.

[Lance Armstrong]

No. Unbelievable.

[George Hincapie]

And rode away from all of them.

[Lance Armstrong]

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[Bradley Wiggins]

I was the first one here today.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah, he was. And not only that, he was texting me stuff at like 5:30 in the morning.

[Lance Armstrong]

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[George Hincapie]

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[Lance Armstrong]

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[George Hincapie]

I do.

[Lance Armstrong]

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[Bradley Wiggins]

My eyes are going. They have been for some time.

[Lance Armstrong]

I've been wondering why George and I.

[Bradley Wiggins]

But I don't know what strength.

[Lance Armstrong]

You can't do anything without them.

[Bradley Wiggins]

I don't know what strength they are. I am 45 now. It kind of happens when you get older.

[Lance Armstrong]

It's going to happen. It's inevitable. As is the case with the prescription glasses and the performance glasses. They're unbelievably lightweight. They do have the best optics on the market, and they never slip, no matter how bad you're sweating. And a lot of times George does sweat on the set. He complains every day that it's hot in here.

[George Hincapie]

It's very hot. I think every day is getting a little bit hotter.

[Lance Armstrong]

You know what it would. You know. And all the ladies who watch the show, they have been really requesting your new cowboy hat.

[George Hincapie]

Speaking of hot, I'll have to bust it out today.

[Lance Armstrong]

They want the George Baldoni hink happy cowboy hat.

[George Hincapie]

Well, since I barely got a ride to the studio today because you pretty much kicked me out of your car, said you have anything to do after the show? I had to ride. Well, it's gonna have to ride my bike here, so it wasn't ideal to ride my bike on a cowboy hat.

[Lance Armstrong]

All right, ladies are gonna have to wait. They are hand built in our hometown of Austin, Texas. And for once, you don't have to compromise on performance or style. The move listeners get 20% off. Just go to ROKA, that's r o k a roka dot com. Enter the code. The move at checkout. Let's keep talking about Ben Healy. I think the thing that stands out for me is not only the fact that he seems to always want to be a factor in these races, but the people that he had behind him. Quinn Simmons, Matthew Vanderpool. Also worth noting, two Americans and two Irish riders in the breakaway. We love seeing that. And when Quinn Simmons finally. Or when he decided to go away from the group to try to bridge across. Ben Healy had 45 seconds. Are you thinking and he went with another rider. I was sort of thinking, well, I think they can get across. They did nothing but lose time. That just shows you how dominant Ben Healy was and motivated.

[George Hincapie]

Not only that, but I think it shows you how damn hard it was to make that breakaway.

[Lance Armstrong]

Yeah.

[George Hincapie]

I mean, you had a, you had a point sprint within the first 20k where Milan got third in. And then you have these guys, these guys are the best of the best breakaway specialists or World cup winners in their own right. So to see a breakaway like that, the first thing I said to you this morning, these guys are hauling ass. They were only between 20 and 30 seconds for a long time, what seemed like forever. And at some point somebody's going to give up. UAE was trying to keep them close. There were guys, I'm sure getting yelled at by their team directors that didn't make that breakaway. But look, look at the guys that were in there. I mean, these guys, it's not like, oh, we let them go, we messed up. No, these guys rolled off. And that was a break like a selective breakaway. And that's about as hard as it get. Those starts at the Tour de France, I still have PTSD about those starts being in the yellow jersey or on the other side trying to make that breakaway, which I did many times. He still, it doesn't get harder than that. And that's really hard to describe that to the viewers who would never race the Tour de France, how difficult that really is.

[Bradley Wiggins]

Not only that, Ben Healy attacked at the place you least expect him to attack that breakaway, which was quite something to see. But yeah, that was a tough day. Tough, tough stage. And you could see it in the.

[Lance Armstrong]

Riders faces and you could see it on their shorts. I mean, we all remarked, we've talked quite a bit this first week about the heat leading up to the Tour. Then unexpectedly cool temperatures today really wasn't that hot. As I checked the weather, real time was in the low 80s Fahrenheit. But you saw the majority of the riders showing just, just are presenting with a lot of salt. That, that's always a telltale sign that, that hydration or dehydration has become an issue and that it's hot.

[George Hincapie]

The first couple days were not hot. And then you had the time trial yesterday with a lot of guys didn't even, probably didn't go hard at all. And then you have a relatively hot stage and hard from the gun. And we definitely need to shout out America today. I mean, two Americans in the breakaway of six guys, the hardest breakaway th Tour de France. And then Matteo Jurgensen at the end leading it out for Jonas. I mean, three out of the five Americans today played a significant role in the race result and I just love.

[Lance Armstrong]

Seeing that worth noting when ASO sends out the race book with the itinerary, they really give you three brackets for average time for the stage, and that sort of leads to a projected finish time. Today's stage finished minutes ahead of the fastest projected finish time. So to your point earlier, George, I mean, this thing was just firing from kilometer zero. I just have a question about that PTSD of yours, though.

[George Hincapie]

Yep, shoot it.

[Lance Armstrong]

Was it more from the effort that it took to try to control the peloton or from Johan screaming in your ear?

[George Hincapie]

Both. Because the times that Johan would come on the radio and screaming at you, that means you're already like, for instance, 30 seconds behind Vinicour or somebody. We did not want to let go. And somehow it was so hard that he actually got up the road. And then, you know, the next 30 to 60 minutes of your life are going to be some of the worst pain you've ever felt, because you can't let a guy like that go. So. And then the same thing on the. In the breakaways, when I had some freedom to get in the breakaways. You know, it's very, very stressful, very difficult, but it's also very calculative. I mean, you got to go when it's the strung. The rope is as strung out as much as possible, and you think that you can't go any harder. That's when the breakaway goes. And that's. Guys like the six that went away today, that's the only time they can go. Yeah.

[Lance Armstrong]

The record will show the average speed was 45.7 kilometers an hour. So for you folks that are sitting at home thinking about going out on a 125 mile group ride, and if you think in miles an hour, that's about 28 miles an hour. With all that climate, with 11,000ft of verdure. Awful, awful. We've had a lot of. And this just came in this morning. Just because we haven't done it and pulled it out this year, but today's a perfect day to do it. We had a lot of listeners asking us about where is the boomstick? And encouraging us today that if we find it, that Ben Healy deserves the boomstick. So the boomstick comes back out. Right. So it's been boomstick Healy. I think he's this well deserved today.

[George Hincapie]

I agree.

[Lance Armstrong]

This kid. This kid hustles.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah. And I loved. I mean, I love seeing Quinn Simmons there being aggressive at the end, not being scared of anybody in that breakaway.

[Lance Armstrong]

Quinn Simmons isn't afraid of anything.

[George Hincapie]

Went on the climb. Arguably, like Bradley mentioned, Ben Healy went when nobody expected it on a sort of downhill flattish section. Yeah, everybody's gonna expect somebody to go on a climb nearing the finish line, but what Ben Hilley did, he just kind of was just trying to get the advantage without them expecting it. I think they expected when Simmons went, but they couldn't react. So he had. He obviously has a lot of really strong legs left in the race, and I wouldn't be surprised if he comes away with a stage win in this Tour de France.

[Lance Armstrong]

Yeah, I'm. I'm going with that. By the way. You don't rock up to the start line with that look. Like, the hair, the facial stuff that just. You don't care about anything. No, not afraid of anything.

[George Hincapie]

And he said in his interview that he wanted to represent America in that jersey. And he's looking good so far. I mean, second place today on probably the hardest stage of the Tour de France, the hardest breakaway to make. So very cool to see.

[Lance Armstrong]

We have a cool clip of Ben Healy at the finish. This was his official post. Race interview. Talks about a couple of things. Talking about the break for me, him going away, and then what it means to win a stage in the Tour and more importantly, to actually ride the Tour. Let's run that.

[Ben Healy]

Maybe I spent a bit too much trying to get into the break, but I think that's just the way I do it. And, yeah, once I was in there, we really had to work for that gap. And it was just on the pedals all day. And, yeah, I knew I needed to get away from the group and pick my moment, and I think I timed it well. And then if we caught them by surprise, a bit little it. And I knew what I had to do. Just head down and do my best ride to the finish.

[George Hincapie]

It was a perfect kind of profile.

[Lance Armstrong]

It was best done yesterday.

[Ben Healy]

Yeah, exactly. And, yeah, it suited me directly down to the ground. So, yeah, I mean, this was a stage at Circle in a bug from the start. And, yeah, to do it on the first one is really, really amazing.

[George Hincapie]

This is what you.

[Bradley Wiggins]

You've always been dreaming of, to win.

[George Hincapie]

A stage on the Tour de Francis.

[Bradley Wiggins]

And what you were thinking about when.

[George Hincapie]

You were a kid with your dad.

[Lance Armstrong]

And you've started riding on a velodrome.

[Ben Healy]

Yeah, 100%, you know?

[Lance Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Ben Healy]

Just grew up watching a Tour and one day wishing that I could maybe even be there, you know, so to even be here is an achievement. And now some of the stages of cf.

[Lance Armstrong]

Big deal.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah. Amazing. A lot of people don't realize what goes on in the writer's head. There's a lot of doubt, a lot of questioning who else is in a breakaway, especially today's breakaway, but for him to say, just kind of try to take him by surprise. And not only that, but like, he mentioned how hard it was to get in the breakaway. We keep talking about that, but you saw how hard it was because nobody reacted. And he just kept putting time and time on them. So he just had an incredible day.

[Lance Armstrong]

When they tried to. Yates chased for a little bit, and it's just one of these things where he took advantage of it and got. I mean, clearly he was feeling good. I mean, there was a moment as we were watching the peacock coverage. I couldn't help but have a small chuckle. Christian Vanderbilt, who's on the peacock motorcycle, went up to the director of education first, and I quote, christian says, the director said, we'll see you in the showers. I think I know what that means. I think it is seeing the douches. Of course it is. But nonetheless, they were that confident. Like, when he went, it just. I mean, I had this moment in 1995, the same year that Fabio Castrotelli died. When I got away, it was even on a small, slight downhill. And our director at the time in the team corps was Haney Kuiper. And he kept coming up, and this is now 30 years ago.

[George Hincapie]

Right.

[Lance Armstrong]

So not near as much information, not near as much data. And Henny kept coming up and giving me the time checks. Time checks. And I finally said to him, I said, henny, you don't need to come up here anymore. I'm not getting caught. It's the same thing. Like, he clearly felt that good. Relayed that to the team car. And the director said, you know, he's gone.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah. And there was still a lot of sort of tactical stuff going on behind, even though they were five, six minutes behind. You saw Bismuth putting in hard effort in there at the end, and, you know, there's speculation that they were doing that to keep poker char in the jersey. What do you think about that?

[Bradley Wiggins]

Yeah, I mean, that's what pog's interview at the end was quite telling. He said, you know, Bismarck were clearly trying to try something. I'm not too sure what they were trying to try, but, you know, it does look like potentially. I mean, we wonder what they were doing, but it makes sense now. They must have known the gap was. It was very tight with van der Poel as to whether yellow would fall off his shoulders, off of pog's shoulders today. And were they pushing on at the finish to keep Pog in yellow, which would give them, you know, make them have to take up the work again tomorrow on another tough day.

[George Hincapie]

So if they're doing that and POG didn't want to be held, why is Poggy sprinting for the finish there? Is that like an ego? It could be ego, yeah.

[Lance Armstrong]

He said that in the interview that they were trying to accelerate or make the race hard for him or for his team. But this was all developing in real time, right? If you just reverse the tape to 10km before the finish, I mean, Vanderpool was minutes into yellow. This was not a. Nobody would have even thought about this initially. We thought, well, he's so confident that at least he'll ride into yellow, try to win on Mir de Bretagne tomorrow in yellow that he set up. I think if you saw him at the finish line laying on the ground, dousing himself in water, he too was caked in salt. I don't think he sat up. I think he hit the wall. And as the information was getting back to the main group, then Visma realizes, oh, we might have a play here. This all feeds into this idea that Tadeh Poguchar does not want to go to the podium. And by the way, that's not a criticism. I support that going to the podium at this point in the race, especially for something that is not the yellow jersey. Who cares? You don't want to go for a.

[Bradley Wiggins]

Polka dot jersey or green ego on both sides there as well, because you're playing with such small margins. And I think Visma, part of them was, you know, being on the offensive before because we can question with Tade, was going to light it up on that last climb. And the last thing they want to do after the disappointment of the time trial yesterday is lose another couple of seconds on that running to Tade and give him that kind of extra motivation.

[George Hincapie]

And let's not forget, watching Van der Poel come in like the way he did today is also indicates how hard it was to make that breakout. It was essentially a team time trial for Van der Poel and for those five guys from the beginning of the race where the other stage of Van der Poel won, he was protected. He only had to go at the end of the race today. He went all day long, full gas, and it really affected him.

[Lance Armstrong]

Well, I mean, Matt, you know, go back to being a kid with. When you're in the playground and you're picking people for your team, like, if I could. If you were in the playground, you're picking somebody for your team to be in a breakaway. Matthew Vanderpool's is one of the guys you pick. Right. I mean, that's. And to see him suffer like that. But this was tactics on both sides, right. They were trying to let the jersey go. Pisma realizes. Oh, wait, let's. Let's make him go stand around for an hour after the race. Right? That's to be expected.

[George Hincapie]

I think we got a cup of break.

[Lance Armstrong]

We're gonna take a little peacock break. All right, guys, we'll be back in 2 and 32. And we're back. This morning we woke up to. Or I shouldn't say we, sir Bradley woke up to a really interesting analysis via voice memo from your son, Ben Wiggins. And there's so much reflection on the time trial and really questions in and around Jonas Vingegaard's performance. Not what anybody expected, certainly himself. We had talked a lot in previous days about his choice of crank arm length. We regarded in the time trial, massive chainring. And so Ben had an interesting take on.

[Bradley Wiggins]

Yes.

[Lance Armstrong]

The physics of it, I guess.

[Bradley Wiggins]

Yeah. I mean, they use. Obviously they play around with bends on the British track squad program and they play around with crank links quite a bit for team pursuit and individual pursuit and. And obviously the advantage you can gain from that. And essentially he thinks that Tade, when you come down, for every 10 millimeters of crank length you come down in size, you need to equate, you have to calculate and take that into account for the gearing. So you come down 4 inches in gear size, inches being the rollout of one crank rollout of the bike if you rolled it out on a fixed wheel. So you would equate that into your gear selection and come down 4 inches in gear size. So essentially his gearing was way too big for the cranks he had on and you lose all your leverage. So we believe he had a 60 tooth chainring yesterday, 155 millimeter cranks. And he just couldn't produce the power because his leverage had gone because the gearing was. He was over geared for his crank length size.

[George Hincapie]

When you say that too, and you go back to the footage, you see that he's kind of wrestling that bike to get that gear over.

[Bradley Wiggins]

So we believe he had a 60 tooth chainring on yesterday.

[Lance Armstrong]

Just so I'm clear, 60 or 62. Six. Zero. Oh, six. Zero tooth. Okay. Yeah. Which is massive. You could see it.

[Bradley Wiggins]

Yeah. So when you're 60, 11 on the gearing, on the bottom of your cassette, the leverage you can produce, the torque you can produce is you're limited because it's the big. The gear is too big for the size of the crank length. So that's what he's told me and that's what the. The data suggests. With all the track program, you would.

[Lance Armstrong]

Think they had spent some time. And surely they have. Right.

[Bradley Wiggins]

Well, I think it's course dependent as well. So whether he ran that selection and gearing at the dofanat.

[George Hincapie]

68 tooth.

[Bradley Wiggins]

68 tooth tooth. That's even worse.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah. So this is.

[Lance Armstrong]

Yeah, this is coming in on our group chat here. So there you go, Johan saying a. I can't even believe I would say this. A 68 tooth chainring. I mean, it did look. I mean, you can see A56. A58. It looked ginormous.

[George Hincapie]

There's no crank arm left after that.

[Lance Armstrong]

No, his cranks were with. Were inside of.

[George Hincapie]

Come on.

[Lance Armstrong]

Of the chainring. Yeah.

[Bradley Wiggins]

So the leverage you gain off of 155 cranks for a chainring that size is. You're limited, you know, But a team.

[George Hincapie]

Like that, with all the planet, then you would think they would have factored that in.

[Bradley Wiggins]

Yeah, but you're saying there's. Out in the field, as we all know.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah.

[Bradley Wiggins]

It's a different ball game, isn't it? Yeah, these things are great, you know, in theory, but when you're out there in the Tour de France. No, you know.

[Lance Armstrong]

Right. Yeah, that seems. That seems hard to believe. A 68 on the front, I believe.

[George Hincapie]

And it's put him on the back foot, I mean, but he still looks great on the climbs. And Tour de France is away from being way far from being over. And a lot of the interviews is his team. Teammates are saying. They're saying, look, the last couple years the Tour's been won by minutes, five, six, seven minutes. So in their mind, they're. They're not out of the game by any means.

[Lance Armstrong]

Yeah, I mean, the race is the climbing. The real difficulties of the Tour are weighted towards the second half. We've discussed that. So. Yeah, maybe. And look, Tati Poguchar every now and again is human. It's not very often, but who knows? But. But this kind of discussion, it just is. They're sort of head scratchers.

[George Hincapie]

Right. Kind of reminds me of that one time you. You tried the. Now this true story is actually not that funny, but when you tried the. The fan and mist system, cooling, the cooling system when it was like 100 degrees out and inside our little bubble was like 75 because of that, and you went out and Completely just. Your body just fell apart.

[Lance Armstrong]

I know. Yeah. You know, sometimes it's one thing to. You can test these things a lot in training. When you get in the element and you get in the race and you get where it really matters, it doesn't work out. Let's talk about tomorrow's stage. Another exciting one, right? The Mirror de Bretagne. Two times. Remind me, fellas. Wild Van Aert won the last time we came through. Or was it Vanderpool?

[George Hincapie]

Vanderpool. So now he's solo attack. He went away the first time up. Seeing the douche's attack, I wonder what.

[Lance Armstrong]

He'S gonna have to recover from today. He looked totally spent at the finish today, but however, he is back in yellow. We should have noted that he's got one second lead over Tati Pogachar. And this is. I don't know, I forgot to. I forgot to pull up the finish profile.

[George Hincapie]

But I mean. And don't forget everybody had a hard day today. Even the guys. The groupetto.30k into the race, they were already six, seven minutes behind. So that means they have to go hard the whole. Otherwise they kicked out of the race. So nobody had an easy day today.

[Lance Armstrong]

Here's the final. The last 17 km. Two times on the mirror to Bretagne. Pieces of 15%. The final time up. It continues on. It never goes downhill. So another exciting one.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah, I mean, that's a great, great climb. I let out Cadell Evans on that climb. 2011, he won the stage. But it's one of those climbs where you could just see the whole thing. You can see the run into it and you see it start kicking up and then you can see it when it turns 12, 13, 14%. So there's no hiding in that climb. It's a very tough climb and I think it's going to be a super exciting stage. You got to think these GC guys are going to have to attack. They're going to have to race up.

[Bradley Wiggins]

This thing and the running is sketchy.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah, the running is the last 15k.

[Bradley Wiggins]

Before that it's just.

[Lance Armstrong]

Or another day for another breakaway.

[Bradley Wiggins]

I don't think cinema. I think it's going to be on like Donkey Kong.

[Lance Armstrong]

Oh.

[George Hincapie]

I don't know. I think I don't see Alba scene controlling it. Unless you love the breakaways. I love the breakaway. I said today was going to be a breakaway and it was. But the start. Is that the start tomorrow? Yeah, yeah. The start doesn't look that hard. So a team uae or if UAE wants to go for the Stage win or Alpha Scene really wants to go for the stage win. They can control that.

[Lance Armstrong]

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[George Hincapie]

I actually just got a good question and I thought it was kind of interesting.

[Lance Armstrong]

Do it.

[George Hincapie]

So a buddy of mine, Ken, just asked, hey George, do team directors from different teams ever talk and strategize about stages like today? Is it possible that Alpha Scene and UAE plan to let MVP take back the yellow jersey or teams work together against someone like Pogi when the opportunity arises? Actually a good question. And Brad, I'm going to let you take it because I think we all know.

[Bradley Wiggins]

Well, I think teams, yeah, they definitely coerce with each other. Yeah, one, one scenario. I particularly remember was in the 2009 tour where Johan and beyond Reese were coercing with each other in order to get rid of me.

[George Hincapie]

Oh, do tell.

[Bradley Wiggins]

Yeah, yeah, no, it's on, it's. There's some footage of it on one of your films, actually. We got to get rid of Wiggins. They're coercing him.

[George Hincapie]

Is that in the crosswind section?

[Bradley Wiggins]

No, no, that was in the mountains when I was still a bit of an unknown.

[George Hincapie]

Did you make that selection, the crosswind section?

[Bradley Wiggins]

No, I missed it.

[George Hincapie]

You missed it? I missed it, yeah.

[Bradley Wiggins]

Lagging back with Garmin.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah, you were.

[Bradley Wiggins]

I was with Christian.

[George Hincapie]

That was no Mosk.

[Bradley Wiggins]

I didn't know it was coming.

[George Hincapie]

No.

[Lance Armstrong]

Moscow there he was in the showers.

[George Hincapie]

LA was following me right upside the road there when I saw that right turn. Come on, I'm saying, let's go, baby.

[Bradley Wiggins]

This was a stage two Grand Bonneau. When the Schlek started attacking on that.

[Lance Armstrong]

I remember, I do remember. I do remember the crosswinds with George. Yeah, it's funny, like I don't remember a lot, but I do remember that.

[George Hincapie]

And that was before we had Velo viewer in the car. Like there was. There was a bit more of an art to it. Like you kind of had to have certain staff up the road trying to sniff out wind directions. And so it was. You just had to pay a lot more attention. Nowadays they know exactly which way you're turning, which way the wind's coming, what's going to happen. So it's a lot different.

[Lance Armstrong]

But to answer his question, there's. There is. There just. There has to be. I wouldn't call it. Let's stop short of calling it collusion, but let's stop. Let's call it collaboration and communication. There just has to be. It's a three week race. You have what, 23 teams. There are eight rider teams. And at that point it does become political. Right? There are. And you might align with somebody on stage six and be fighting against them on stage nine. Like it's day to day. But this is a political event, make no mistake about it. And that's just the nature of the sport. That's the history of the sport. There's nothing they can do about it. And it really is the way that, that, that thing has to sort of move down the road. Yeah.

[George Hincapie]

Like today for instance, when that breakaway was only 20 seconds ahead and they're trying, they're working their asses off to try to. They didn't want that breakaway to go and there were several teams not represented. So in that moment, there's no collusion between teams. Perhaps teams that don't have anybody in there, like, hey, you put a guy, we put a guy. Let's try to chase this down. But as soon as that thing gets the gap and they realize they're not coming back, then there's definitely collusion. Like, all right, we can keep them closed so we can give more time. There's a lot of. A lot of conversations going on in the team director's cars back there.

[Bradley Wiggins]

There are times when it gets desperate as well and the checkbook comes out.

[Lance Armstrong]

You know, I was.

[Bradley Wiggins]

Yeah, no, I know. I mean, I remember.

[Lance Armstrong]

I think that was the old days.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah, the old days.

[Bradley Wiggins]

I don't know if that still happens.

[Lance Armstrong]

I don't either, but I was trying to avoid talking about that. Okay.

[Bradley Wiggins]

In 1995, I remember particularly when the Stage du Monde. Jalabel's in the front were Neil Stevens, and Onset and Banister were on the back foot.

[Lance Armstrong]

Terrible day.

[Bradley Wiggins]

Banesto on the back foot.

[Lance Armstrong]

And they were looking like I was in that race.

[Bradley Wiggins]

And they were. They were throwing money left, right, and center of what I understand to other.

[George Hincapie]

Teams to help change.

[Lance Armstrong]

Yeah.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah, I do remember that because it was a bunch of random teams, like, chasing.

[Bradley Wiggins]

They're like, why are they mobilized?

[Lance Armstrong]

It was single file on this chip seal. It was. It was. That was a brutal stage. Yeah. But, you know, that was then. This is now. And now we don't know. Right. Who knows? But there's definitely this communication, collaboration when you need it. Right. There are shared and mutual interests. This is unlike any other sporting event in the world. It is not A versus B or 1 versus 2. This is 1 versus 22. And so you just can't control it.

[Bradley Wiggins]

One thing riders do do in the third week is start swapping food out of musette when you get sick of the same food. And I would always trade you two of my.

[George Hincapie]

I'd always swap my bars for your rice cakes, your homemade rice cakes.

[Lance Armstrong]

What are you having there? What are you getting that feedback? Keep sending your questions in. Send those to infoedo team. We have a good question here from Jim regarding Sepp Koos. We were actually talking about him as we were watching the race today, and Jim is spot on. He says Sepp Koos has been quiet thus far. Do you believe Team Visma is possibly saving that weapon for a bigger mountain stage to pull or help Jonas and try to break Tade like they did in 2023?

[George Hincapie]

I would. I would hope so. I mean, he had a couple years ago he had, he was probably MVP of the entire season in terms of what he did in the Giro, the Tour and winning the welter Ironman. So he's got, he's got it in him, that's for damn sure. And yeah, I would like to think that they're kind of saving him for everything after stage 10.

[Lance Armstrong]

So. Bradley.

[Bradley Wiggins]

Yeah, I agree. I agree with George totally.

[Lance Armstrong]

That's convincing. I'm curious. Well, we're going to find out. But for any writer to do all three Grand Tours in one year is unbelievable. It's Herculean.

[George Hincapie]

Oh yeah.

[Lance Armstrong]

And. And obviously he did that, but not only did he do that, he won the third of the three. Unbelievable season. One of the best seasons in American cycling history, bar none. Fact, end of discussion. I don't think that comes without consequences down the line. And look, this is just. One would hope not, but time will tell. That is an incredibly hard thing to just try to complete. Nonetheless, again, when the third one of the three gotta be extremely hard on the body and potentially hard on the body long term.

[Bradley Wiggins]

Do you remember Adam Hansen? What was his record for.

[Lance Armstrong]

Oh God, that's a different.

[Bradley Wiggins]

Did he do 19 grand tour straight?

[George Hincapie]

Something like Welter in one year. You remember training camps with him? We go out for like seven hour rides, seven and a half hour rides. And he'd get back to the hotel, do another two hours, you know, or jump on a trainer. We were like, what is wrong with this guy? He's a beast.

[Lance Armstrong]

Let's do our ventum trivia of the day. Yesterday's question. How many total Grand Tour time trial stages did Sir Bradley Wiggins win over the course of his career? Survey says answer's three. He won two in the Tour, one in Jiro. He also won the 2012 Olympics time trial, 2014 World Time Trial Championships and he also set the hour record. Or as he said it the other day, it was an attempt. Now, I don't know about you, but when I hear that, I'm like, oh no, what went wrong? Didn't get it.

[George Hincapie]

Didn't you say 2014 was like your best year ever?

[Bradley Wiggins]

Yeah, I mean I, I didn't go to the Tour that year. I won California. Yeah, it was ninth in Paris, Roubaix. Won the World Championship. But yeah, that was the year. That was a strange year because obviously me and the Froome situation was erupting at that point and Chris was the clear leader that should have been, you know.

[George Hincapie]

So did you ever think about switching teams that year or. No?

[Bradley Wiggins]

Yeah, I was talking with you Guys at bmc.

[George Hincapie]

Okay. Yeah.

[Bradley Wiggins]

Well, you weren't there then by that point.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah, I wasn't there.

[Bradley Wiggins]

I was talking about white ear, green.

[George Hincapie]

Edge, and for like a mid year change.

[Bradley Wiggins]

Yeah. Wow.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah, that would have been.

[Lance Armstrong]

Wow. Interesting breaking news.

[Bradley Wiggins]

Hey, it's all in the past.

[Lance Armstrong]

Today's Ventum trivia question for the day. On stage six, a hilly stage, how many categorized climbs were Featured on Stage 6? It's not the toughest question. I mean, they're trying to. Ventum is being very generous here giving away money on this one. How many categorized climbs are Featured in Stage 6 or were featured in Stage 6? That's a question.

[George Hincapie]

I have your answer tomorrow.

[Lance Armstrong]

This might have the highest hit rate on success.

[Bradley Wiggins]

Okay.

[George Hincapie]

Big battle tomorrow. I think we're gonna. We're gonna definitely see some separation.

[Lance Armstrong]

Obvious questions. Breakaway or no breakaway?

[George Hincapie]

Number one.

[Lance Armstrong]

Number two, can Vanderpool repeat what he did a few years ago?

[George Hincapie]

Well, like we saw today, even if there is a breakaway, Jonas and poverty have to race up this last climb. So it'll be a good indication of where they're standing. But I think it's gonna. I think a breakaway will get to the finish.

[Bradley Wiggins]

Yeah. It's the last chance for a breakaway before a couple of maybe sprinter stages.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah.

[Lance Armstrong]

So I want to just flag something to it because. And I've talked about this, I've never understood it. These guys are all. They all bro down. I think of each other. Hugs, high fives, say nice things about each other. I don't get it. And I'm talking about Tade and Jonas. I mean, okay, maybe that's the nice thing, but I don't get that. Just watch this though. Things might be getting a little tenser. Tade says at the finish Visma is lagging behind, but what they did today made no sense. Maybe they fell off track a little yesterday. Even a sprint like that at the end is a bit pointless because it wasn't a sprint for the top 10. Just feels, you know, for these, for the bromance.

[George Hincapie]

Why are you sprinting that if it's pointless? He still won the sprint. He's sprinting because he was mad.

[Lance Armstrong]

Yeah. You got to love it. I mean, this kid's proud. He's the best in the world. He's like, yo, what are you doing?

[George Hincapie]

Yeah.

[Lance Armstrong]

And the beef is real. And by the way, too, as we watched, as everybody watched, they're sprinting out of the saddle. Who was sitting in the saddle? Just fingers in the nose. Chilling.

[George Hincapie]

Fingers in the nose.

[Lance Armstrong]

Come around. Yeah. Show them who's boss. It's getting a little chilly. The bromance is getting chilly.

[George Hincapie]

Earlier in the show, I did want to mention Will Barter also making that break where I said two Americans, but I didn't not shout out his name. Respect. I mean, hardest breakaway thus far in the Tour de France to make. And he was there working just as hard as everybody else. Finished sixth place on the stage. Really impressive result from Boise.

[Bradley Wiggins]

And two Irishmen.

[George Hincapie]

And two Irishmen. Yeah. Yeah.

[Lance Armstrong]

So let me. Yeah.

[Bradley Wiggins]

So big shout to the Irish.

[George Hincapie]

Yep.

[Lance Armstrong]

Quinn Simmons looks a little Irish.

[Bradley Wiggins]

He does.

[Lance Armstrong]

He does. I guess he must be written something.

[Bradley Wiggins]

He's channeling his in the Tyler Ferrar.

[Lance Armstrong]

But this is Tyler. This is next level Tyler Ferrari.

[Bradley Wiggins]

This is Tyler when he was retired.

[George Hincapie]

Yeah.

[Lance Armstrong]

Anyhow, we're rooting for both those guys. We're rooting for all the Americans on the Tour. And there may. And we said it at the start, right? We said, what? Five or six Americans in the Americans. Every single one of them played that part. Can have an effect on this race. We said that. Right? And that's coming true. So cool to see. All right, everybody, thanks for tuning in. We'll see you tomorrow. Sam.