In this episode Patrick Broe and Benji Naesen preview Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team.
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Credits:
Photos | Cor Vos (unless stated otherwise)
Data | FirstCycling
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
03:39 2023 recap
06:50 Outgoing transfers
08:27 Incoming transfers
23:23 2024 Grand Tours
31:51 Out of contract 2024
34:44 Goals for 2024
40:38 Hot takes & over-unders
43:09 Outro
28 Comments
hello guys love he pods
How the hell you guys talk about Ag2r for 45 min😂
missed the emergency pogi -> giro Pod
Inofficial LR 2024 WorldTour-Win-Predictions Tracker
Alpecin-Deceuninck (17 in 2023) – Benji 13 / Patrick 12
Jayco AlUla (4 in 2023) – Benji 6 / Patrick 8
Cofidis (4 in 2023) – Benji 2 / Patrick 2
Soudal-Quickstep (23 in 2023) – Benji 17 / Patrick 18
dsm-firmenich PostNL (5 in 2023) – Benji 4 / Patrick 5
Movistar (3 in 2023) – Benji 2 / Patrick 4
UAE Emirates (28 in 2023) – Benji 30 / Patrick 31
Decathlon AG2R (3 in 2023) – Benji 4 / Patrick 3
TOTAL: Benji 78 / Patrick 83 (out of 179 including GCs)
the art of speaking about AG2R for 45 minutes👍👏😁 Professionals
OMG – 25 or 27 letters in the alphabet ?
.. and Ben O´Connor wins the GIRO against Tadej Pogacar ?
Patrick get out of the sun !!!
Pollefliet is a really good signing! I rode some races with him in junior categories and he has a really strong sprint. He was competing a lot with Arnaud De Lie in these races.
Pog is doing the Giro!!!
Ding ding ding ding!!!🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Here's a suggestion just for promotional purposes for AG2R. For reach race expected to end in a bunch sprint, all the riders on the team can do "rock, paper, scissors" before the race/stage begins and, of course, whoever loses first gets to be last man, losing second gets you second-man, etc.
In 2023 until the Giro no WT races/stages went to the breakaway.
I'd have thought 10 minutes would be enough for AG2R.
B Cosnefroy was sick at critical times during his season. With more luck he will reiterate good results in Ardennes for instance – because he likes these races and wants to perform there.
Great pod as usual! And Benji, great job on de Rode Lantaarn, was a great listen and better than their usual stuff
DeBondt said in an interview he wants to go for his own chances in the Belgium semi-classics like Dwars door Vlaanderen and other Chat-GPT specials and not be a helper for Van der Poel and Philipsen and that's why he chose Decathlon-AG2R. So he didn't go there because they offered him a boatload of cash.
Arkea on Christmas day would be blasphemous.
Re: smaller teams winning WT stages in 1 week races from breaks.
I believe Zimmermann in the Dauphine was the first time it happened this year? June.
David De La Cruz having a go at Pogacar on the last stage of Paris-Nice spoke volumes.
This team are dangerously close to doing a classic Movistar and forgetting that the UCI award points for sprints too.
A look at 2023 UCI points : Sarreau + Venturini = 147 + 539. Pollefliet + Bennett = 160 + 315.
Most of Venturini's points were 5th places at the likes of Boucles de l'Aulne – Châteaulin (?!).
Sam wasn't good last year, but I have to think he can bounce back and podium/win some Coupe de France races and the team can farm UCI points that way (although Arkea will be going hard for that too). They need to.
It's a weird team – in Gall, Lafay and O’Connor, they have some top class puncheurs/climbers who can win a TdF stage. And maybe Benoit if he's on a good day. They have some serious quality, just all in the one area.
Actually cried laughing at "This 20 yr old french kid who can hit at least 1150…… HES IN" great work as usual boys
As per your early discussion, I have always found it curious when non-consumer brands sponsor sports teams. Like, such a small proportion of people you are reaching are even able to buy anything from some of the companies, and why would those who are in the market for a payroll software package are basing their selection on how well Wout Van Aert rides a bike?
On other unrelated topics: what’s going on with Migel Angel Lopez’s suspension? There’s a report he had out of competition testing while on a family vacation at Disney World, despite being suspended! Is there a chance the ITA evidence might not be as strong as they hoped?
Some french teams EARNED a full pod. Some did not….
I cannot wait for the AG2R leadout to win a sprint stage
Arkea preview minutes over/under 22 minutes = my guess under with 4 minutes of storytime
This is actually an interesting team with good components. The team management and culture are probably not the best. They should get better results next year.
"This is the problem with Belgium, a kid steps on a bike….it's Tom Boonen" 🤣 Benji's laugh tells me that rings true.
“The interesting thing about this team is that not all their signings are bad”
Absolute brutality 😂 keep it up guys
I'd bet 100€ Lafay is not going to do anything ever again, and Benett will be long drawn out underwhelment. This feels like Naesen / GVA type signings again.
"Benji, I'm looking through this list. No one can hit a 1000 watts!" Pure Gold!