In another busy winter week the Vuelta Espana 2024 route was announced, Visma Lease A Bike released their kit and Mathieu Van der Poel won back to back at Mol then Antwerpen on top he also won the Dutch Sportsman of the year in front of Max Verstappen.
00:00 Intro
01:25 WorldTour 2024 Kit Reveals – Visma Lease A Bike, Movistar, Israel Premier Tech and Bardiani CSF
10:24 Visma Lease A Bike Tour de France 2024 Team
17:06 UAE Team Emirates Tour de France and Giro Teams
29:09 Mathieu Van der Poel dominating everything
34:23 Vuelta a Espana 2024 Route
38:27 Cycling Transfer News
40:26 Rider of the Week
Collaboration between @thecyclingdane and @OwDoCycling
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Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the E cycling podcast where three nerds discu well three cycling nerds and nerds I guess discu what’s been happening in the week of cycling and yeah the Rumblings of this sport despite it being the winter season and as always I’m joined by Patrick blob a
Do cycling and Mr K himself youan Wilson I mean before we start a bit of behind the curtain last week I had an absolute disaster editing this thing in Cali in Colombia right now and uh yeah when you’re charger of your laptop breaks for whatever reason then I had to find out I
Had to race halfway across the city to try and get it a new one and then sat in a Colombian Mall editing the episode but that’s just a bit of a side note and Hollis Bano is from this city and I didn’t know this he owns 106 cycling
Shops in Colombia so he definitely spent his four years away from the sport very proactive wait 106 yeah yes I thought you had W I thought you had W in C well there you go that’s how you spend four years suspension out of the sport yeah exactly you build up a bike shop
Empire well I’ll try and get a bit of a I’ll go to one of them and then we can feature that in the next one but we have a lot to discuss on the agenda but well I wanted to start cycle cross but then we are not going to hear you and talk
For 10 minutes so we can start with the the team kits that we’ve been talking about for the last two episodes we’ve got some new ones coming out as well this meiss bike obviously had their big presentation as well do you want to start with visma that feels like the
Right place to start so visma Lisa bik releasing their kit we kind of discussed them last week uh because we saw the bottles and the socks were leaked and the full kit has now been announced it is a yellow number more yellow than they have ever been before there’s no black
Stripe through the center the visible logo is now higher than it was was before and they have this sort of hexagon feature throughout well the hexagon effect throughout the bottom half of the Jersey uh despite the fact vma’s colors are not yellow they they’ve gone with that and we also heard rumors
During the week according to our Dutch language sources that the team were going to like Rebrand and have this like tagline of the yellow bees that was going to be that their like team name a bit like the wolf pack for sudar quickstep we don’t know if that’s going
To happen but the whole beehive um athetic of the jersey and the yellow color scheme definitely looks like they’re they’re keeping this and they’ve noticed the team identity we can already see as well in their press stuff uh for the next year is that y v go his yellow
Jersey journey and the yellow Jersey in itself very on the nose for the visal Lisa bike seem to go hand in hand it just makes me think about what the pa of France kit will look like because this is like the big thing which comes around every year it’s what EF well depending
We don’t know what that kid looks like but they always have to Grapple with that with the Jiro and is a good way because they can kind of is a little like PR stunt they can do before every t p is like oh look at this new kid that
We’ve got iits all right it’s you know like a lot of the kids that we’ve been looking at they’re all very non-offensive it’s very yellow it’s just there’s nothing particularly crazy going on nothing that’s going to be like rocking the boat it’s just under the mid
Kit I I did see comments in the in the comment section last week saying that the Bor kit is better than we were judging some people were putting it up like at least a seven I think we said it was like a 6. if you and then I did so I
Can see where people are coming from because based upon the ones that have been released or is like elevating itself because the quality of this year doesn’t seem particularly great I don’t think it’s like the quality is low I think the quality is just so concentrated in that middle section
Where like they’re all like fine they just aren’t any stand outs I I don’t think there are any really terrible jerseys I think they’re all just perfectly fine and and in offensive this is another one I think it’s a bit of a downgrade from the previous kits they’ve
Had I think the old sort of the black stripe they had to the center gave the the kit more structure and gave it more sort of purpose but now without that it feels a little bit sort of formless I’m intrigued to see where they’re going to
Go with the Twitter France kit we saw in 2021 they had the special one with all you could get your name printed on the Jersey and people did that and the Jersey was made up of supporters of Y bis names 2022 we had the wonderful AI generated art piece one which was a
Blend of all these different sort of Dutch painters from the past that was a fantastic kit 2023 we had the fing collaboration I didn’t like that personally but it was something a little bit different and the aftering aspect really added to it so I think the Twitter France kids was almost more
Intriguing than this Bland mid kit that they’ve released uh with this big launch that we had this week which also closed the cas and ke out the Brooks as he was in attendance at the team launch uh silencing all rumors and the case seems to be officially closed as of the team
Launched this week as kenet Brooks officially moves to vism Lisa bike and severs his contract with borans right to sabotage our K review here with Al Brooks just showing Al Brooks into the the kit review yeah but I mean not going to lie a lot the chitchat from that team launch was all
About ER Brooks because he was at the event so people like oh well that now means it’s done because he’s he was wearing the jersey and so forth and got the microphone so yeah he had the brook still get this name around here for the third week in a row what other Kit’s
Been released was what is it py coma PTI coma has not come out yet but oh yeah oh yeah sorry keep keeping it well talk keeping it well well true not even even at this it’s true mobar really that it’s a slight variation on that one from uh
Last year I think it’s fine they’ve got a couple new sponsors on it I quite like the effect they have with the Jersey it’s just awfully similar to aana it’s going to be quite hard to pick out in the bunch I feel I would actually dare
To say that this for me breaches a a seven out of 10 for me I I I think that it is just a little bit better than some of the other ones that we’ve been seeing so oh yeah when I saw it on Instagram I was like actually to be fair about this
St it’s not bad so yeah I’m all right with that I prefer it to like Yos sorry vismer bikes I still not used to that name I think anyone there is going to be used to that no I like I like really like the movie star kit have they
Changed um kit providers as well they’re riding with goic goic seems to have taken a lot of the kit Market away from other kit providers I also think goic is based in Spain um they’ve really emerged with like out of Co and I actually really commend go I said this the other
Week I think they’ve done really good jobs with a lot of their kit designs over the past couple years I will actually agree I think this is the best World talk kit we’ve had so far the bar is low but somebody has to lead the pack
I can already see the tier list that we’re going to do later on that middle section is going to be stacked but yeah we also had other kits uh well now going into non non World Tour kits bani CSF or whatever they called now VF group yeah they’re not
Called VF group bani chsf F roll off the T what were they called last year they were called Green project yes they’ve released their new G I actually quite like this I think I just like the shade like sort of like how would you describe that aquamarine I mean we have to for
Podcast listeners and I commend YouTube for this I commend YouTube for the descriptions because yeah I’m terrible with that it’s green I’m going to flip because it’s no I think it’s I think it’s aquamarine it’s a it’s a cyan teal kind of color palette for those listening on the podcast just imagine
Something like that it doesn’t really have any patterns going on isn’t it just quite a it’s just like a one color sort of thing but I quite like that I like it it has a lot of sponsors on it I wonder how much it would cost to get your name
On there maybe we can get the echon Cy podcast on for 2025 it is verging into drone Hopper kind of territory that was a that was a notoriously just like advertised kit wasn’t it yeah these Italian Pro Continental teams need every sort of every coin they can get I
Commend them for that even the color even the color of the Jersey there’s a name I think I got confused because this does look kind of like the AA coma kit from this year like it’s it’s relatively similar in my eyes I have a looked at it
Today but that’s what I remember it looking like so um okay I disagree but um should we hop over to isn’t real Premier Tech they released their kits I actually have really liked theor Premier Tech’s kits for the past couple years I think they’ve been really nice this one
Is very tasteful quite Bland but very tasteful yeah I quite like this I’m a big fan of Israel kids as well how do you describe this this is a sort of calypso of different shades of blue um you have one sleeve that is white and the other sleeve on
The left hand side of the writers that features three different shades of blue going from lighter to dark and most of this jersey is in a sort of navy blue with one square being a lighter sort of turquoisey color that has a fade into a
Sort of Oxford blue if you know what I mean by that um there’s also a sort of a band effect that that goes through the jersey and right through the sponsor logos through the chest yeah I think it’s it’s very nice yeah but I don’t think it’s like a
Standout you know I do think is better than like I don’t know why I’m setting visma Lisa bikes is like the standard but that’s just kind of what I’m comparing it to this episode I think it’s better than visma Lisa bikes I mean I like visas for the sake of the fact
That it’s it’s just like an easy color to spot out in comparison to a lot of the rest of P where this is just kind of like blues and whites which are prevalent quite a lot of the place but I think from a design St point I prefer
This think as well the design is more Shing it’s it’s asymmetric it’s a little bit different where it feels like Vis bike it’s symmetrical doesn’t really break any sort of conventions quite bland is or prier Tech they’ve there to do something a little bit different and
It’s paid off much as it has over the past few seasons totally agree yeah it’s my favorite kit so far of this year maybe second Bor or the St no the St one we had that weird thing at the bottom of the Jersey uh but yeah
We might as well move on we can just stick with obsma and postpone the C cross for un sake and Vis Lisa bike obviously we also have a leaked to FR or leaked whatever a toor France provisional Toto France team let’s call it that that’s probably easier yeah the
Toor France team has come out from Team visma Lisa bike this week as a has from UAE we’ll delve into that one afterwards um but for visma Lisa bike for next year’s Toto France of course it’s being headed up by yonis V go of Denmark with
Sep cus in support t b with Json Stephen chwick Kristoff laon Yan tratnik and Dylan Van barer Vima have had a history of releasing their teams very very early on for the TOA France some even as early as March in the Years Gone by so I’m not surprised they’ve been this confident
And they planned it out this far away in terms of of the J we believe that Ed the Brooks will be there alongside Ward as well as Olaf Koy who set to make his Grand Tour debut in 2024 very exciting stuff to see him teed up with W vard especially after the magic
That they created at at the tour of Britain in 2023 can already see Patrick is very happy about that one so pass on to him to to Delvin I don’t need to go and protest anymore they listen to you I did say I was going to go and protest
And glue myself to my bus if I didn’t send oh iive co to the ground tour am I doing it I’m actually a little bit surprised I actually thought maybe I going to have to go and be like what you guys do it I think honestly Coy could be
With w i side he could pick up a few stages it wouldn’t surprise me we’ve seen sprinters come through on Grand toour debuts especially as yeah just as sprinters and they can really kind of catch people off guard like Jonathan Milan this year was a big surprise I
Think for a lot of people so I think honestly Coy considering that he’s caught you m out there as well it’s just I that’s going to be a good recipe but I could the more interesting thing is that W isn’t going to the tour is that a big
Downfall for this team that they don’t have like big versatile Rider I never got were good Riders but W’s really good that’s the thing W has delivered he’s been there since 2019 particularly since 2012 he’s been pivotal in those two Frances particularly the past two that
Yas has won without him I think it’s going to be a big shoes to fill um who’s going to fill them I don’t quite know I think Mato Jorgenson’s really going to step up to the play as well Yan tranic but I don’t think they quite have the
Same sort of characteristics that W and I has I don’t think they have the same engine that W and I has jensson definitely probably is the guy in the team that could provide that the most maybe even D vanala if he improves a little bit more in his climbing we saw
Over at the final week of this year’s Tour of France he can be really strong in the mountains but I think it is going to be hard for Vima to sort of fill that Gap they’ve definitely filled it’s a sad hole to fill but Nat hon I think his
Position has being sort of filled up by tratnik to some extent but that W roll is going to be really tough to fill and UAE is sending a barn storming team Sheet Ward would have been really really useful to sort of counteract that because there’s no Rider in UAE that’s
Like Ward I always is what UE struggled with is that they can match most of the Riders on vima’s team but there’s quite literally nobody like him in The Paton people will put examples in the comments I’m sure but W really just in a league of his own when it comes to versatility
And I think that visma will miss that but on the other side of the coin I’m really happy that W going to a different Grand Tour because I think that’s just going to be yeah yeah he’s going to two he’s going to and world I like that in a
That Po’s going to the Jiro and it’s just kind of a bit of a shake up and I just prefer that I’m also really happy to see Mato Jorgenson get onto the tot of France setup he moved across uh he’s shown so much talent up there in top 10
In the Rond of landram been up there in Parry nce contending for ground toour stage wins Podium D World stage Racers he’s a fantastic Rider with a lot of talent is incredibly versatile he could be the closest sort of Swiss army knife that they could have and for him to sort
Of jump into the team and already get that confidence to go into the to France shows a lot of promise maybe he was a waste of talent and mo star well not waste of talent but he was not quite digging into his best Reserves at Moy and I’m really really intrigued to see
How he’s going to act as this super ver satile teammate he might be one of the stronger domestics in this formation for the Tour of France next year obviously you’re were going to say that but he brings something here that like he’s he’s so good at multiple terrains he has
That engine he can still climb with the best yes he’s a little bit young and and inexperienced but he’s also been sort of up there with Maan as their leader for one week long stage race he been in fighting in breakaways to try to win stages of grand Tours I think he’s he’s
He’s just he’s got this sort of he’s definitely show talent I think this is a brilliant signing for bisma and he will shine at the total France I can feel it is this like a fellow redhead supporter is this your feeling uh yeah I mean first point like it’s
Pointless with these Tor of France teams coming out in December because anyone can get injured or illnesses or whatever the form can change and I mean while vard bringing him to the tour yeah he’s great and all that but he also comes with a huge ego and they always have to
Try and get stages for him and we saw in 2023 he didn’t get anything so he’s a bit yeah no I think they they will be fine without him with the likes of Jorgenson B and TR but then like it’ll be intriguing to see who’s the first
Reserve cuz remember last year the go they had to completely switch around their team in the last minute because of Co because of illnesses and crashes so it’ll be intriguing to see who’s going to be those sort of first and second reserves that might get flown into this
Squad just looking back on recent years Stephen Kik is incredibly accident prone he is crashed out of a number of Toto Frances hasn’t made the Toto Fran St list in the past couple years I don’t think he’s finished a Toto France since Co but he’s been on the start list of of
A number of but one you finish third place bang that’s how you do it that was before Co in 2019 like like the counts still counts yeah but but but since then he’s crashed out like of a number of to of toaster fans 22 23 well whatever but 226
16 there you go like for rer like him accident prone who knows what’s going to happen if he’s out there at full force it’ll be it’ll be good to see him but those first reserves might be super important and what if Ward is in fact the first reserve for that Squad to jump
In so uee as well they have their media day this week where where the Press go to speak to T Pacha and all the team staff there we found out a lot of details about T’s season of course we mentioned the J Target next year as well
With which he is a super excited for he’s going to the jro the Tour of France the Olympic Games and the World Championships when asked what his main goal was he actually said the World Championships instead of the Jon and the tour to France with this we also got the
Start list for the Tour of France we’re very open about who is going to be there and it is as follows Ted Pacha leading up the squad with Juan usel dra MAA Aden Yates haval COV Mark Solair Tim wellins and Nils pollet guys this I think is the
Strongest to France Squad we’ve had in since the sky 2012 to of France I think this is a like in terms of pure mountain skills the best in a long time it is absolutely one of the strongest teams ever but I don’t think it makes a lot of
Sense who’s getting the bead on Nils poet is hauling ass on the front the whole day I just think when you got four climbers who have finished on the podium of a grand tour before I me you got four domestiques it’s like a one to one ratio
It’s like somebody’s have to bend a knee and who’s that going to be is it going to be our made is it going to be a yo is it going to be Yates patas coming in off of Aer I feel like this is a lot of
Question marks for me about this team I don’t think the Harmony works I don’t think there’s enough domestiques for the leaders that we got here this is like moar L Tre Dente plus one and the Tre Dente never really worked so I don’t see how fall potential leaders is going to
Help them massively you need like leader domes or or is that just to is that to preco era of me I get what you mean in UAE does have a history particularly in these one week long stage races to have a bit of a sort of leadership crisis but
I think the team is is United around pogy I think it does depend how he comes out of the J the jro is quite easy this year there’s a thousand less meters of altitude than it usually has um or a 10,000 it’s quite a lot less altitude meters but I mean 1,000’s like
One time yeah that’s after I said I was like I think it’s actually less than that it’s um it’s quite a lot easier than the normal in terms of it altitude gain and I I think in terms of getting the beon COV wellin poitz those are
Those guys COV has moved here to be a domestique he’s super motivated for this Tim wellin um he was a domestique for poy quite closely at the beginning of last year those guys will be doing those roles in the mountains this could be a deadly team but if POG is having an off
Day who’s the guy you work for who’s the guy he set up the road what do you do here but in terms of that Firepower of those four guys who finish on on a ground to Podium I think they outdo vle Cur KAG and Jorgenson I think they’re
Much stronger but Is AO alus Yates together enough to crack vinegar and CS I don’t know Yates almost did it this year if we added our Ma and a Uso that could definitely change the game yeah I think so too I think of all the
Squads I going to have the best shot of defeating Jonas it’s going to be this one because it could be a really interesting tour when you get to Mountain stages where there’s like breakaways and stuff and there’s four potential UAE team memb leaders who all
Need to be marked by your bisma and you know you’re going to be seeing guys who are Grand all Podium potential caliber Riders launching into breakaways they’re not just going to be sat in like a reduced group of 10 climbers waiting to see who pops first I think it’s going to
Be aggressive racing hopefully I hope they don’t all just sit and wait for y to attack and just get dropped cuz that would suck do you think UA will send a break I’d love to see it why would you bring so many riders here who are
Probably and have in the past just got dropped by yonas like a St like having yeah great yonas wins UAE finish second third fourth and fifth brilliant but I I would like to see even Lodge people in the Breakaway and I think they might do it that could be the one thing which
Could defeat this Malisa bike but it’s just the chaos of having so many leaders and just not knowing who to Mark and they don’t have someone Ward to counter like to counter um cter these moves and go into the breakway with AOL where wvar could be he’s really good in those
Breakaway kind of situations but jensson he’s slipping into this new we don’t quite know how he’s going to act there yeah exactly like no offense to crre but he ain’t going to be able to counter I don’t but like are you is it just like a man marking system and then eventually
Get to a point where Adam AES has G up Road and now your B need to work all day but like you’re saying really chaotic you’re saying this squad is the best Squad that could potentially crack your on a sping goal I would agree with you if T Pacho wasn’t doing the jro
Beforehand like how many times have we seen ryers fail doing the jro and then coming to the tour it’s not okay okay okay but in the context that we have this is the best possible team that they could set yeah true but like m t skipped
The tour H skipped the jro skip the jir not the tour but if if tan cake walks the jerro and he comes out of it relatively fresh in a kind of similar way to how yon I don’t want to say cake walk but he wasn’t like attacking pagach
He was just kind of like marking it and then he went into the world and did really well yes I know seus won but jonus was still really strong there if pachu doesn’t have the strongest competition can he just easily not like I don’t know reain it back a little bit
And not do crazy p things the final week get a better prep for the tour you and you said this for the J route because it’s so heavy in the first few stages so if he gets like two three minutes and then just marks moves like
It’s not going to take that much out of him exactly if there ever was a year to do the jro toour double I think it could be this year because it’s very said that first week will be pivotal Augie could probably gain minute and a half maybe
Even two minutes of his lucky in that first week follow the moves and that final week isn’t as mous as it usually the jeto and those are the days that really take something out of you and that’s when you carry the fatigue through through June for instance where
I think the fatigue like the hardest part of the jro will probably Peak about stage 12 and from then onwards it’s kind of it’s it’s not as hard as it usually is so what what I’m thinking is that this is quite a good year to Target both
And I think it’s very strategic and this squad is built around sort of giving pogy a yellow brick road almost to get that yellow Jersey is he strong enough to beat yod one-onone I don’t think so but this team could certainly try to crack this up but particularly on those
Longer days through the mountains like stage 19 I believe of the tour that pogy struggles at the days that go over 2,000 meters a couple times with multiple climbs that like like the Grano like the C that have cracked pogy before if he has this strong team around him then I
Think he he’s in a much better stead than he has been over the past two towards to France should we look at his jro Squad you just don’t want to talk about psych cross well okay let’s talk about the Jos sad because it’s go wrong
Did not talk about it so The The J supporting pogies since the Keith K mentioned is um jayvine Rafa mic Felix go shner ruy Oliva Migel B Domin Novak and Juan Saba Milano Micah goad and B have been they were in the Tour of France Squad last year interesting to
See that they haven’t made the tour Squad this year Molano double grand tour Sprint stage wi her is here as well with his buddy Oliva and we’re going to see Vine be a pivotal teammate I think in this G it’s not strong for me I think that
It’s in the context of if you were to take this squad to the tour it’s bad if you take this squad to Theo next year against potentially not his same caliber of opposition like a Yus it’s fine because you don’t need the A-list Squad to be taking on Simon Yates and I
Brooks you know you don’t need all that fluff around it I think with this squad is going to be satisfactory for being able to accomplish the goal of winning mairo I mean it’s going to do it at like the like the bare sort of minimum requirements it’s a bit like just
Putting in just enough work in your University degree to get a 21 like you’ve just got 61% or something and you’re master I also think as as well this is um like they put in like the bare am MOD but that’s that’s useful for the Twitter
France Squad is that they can put all their resources into that one when there’s no arm who’s been sent to the judor to help pogy and also the team might benefit from what could be a like a tight battle for second third and fourth place where they control the race
And they try to sort of fight for their GC positions if that happens then that could really benefit UAE benefit Bacha looking forward to his to of France and resting those legs yeah I think that’s fine yeah I think that’s true you’re just relying on that fight for the other
Podium places and those teams will take control of the pelaton which means that U doesn’t need to do anything so why would you send a big a list to Squad when your team’s not really going to need to do much anyway exactly this is smart and get a stage win with
Milano yeah okay yeah whatever is yeah mil just seems to get into so many Grand team you know how Jak Lula always s like a big sprint train and then there just Chris Harper and Simon Yates on the end U have done the opposite where they put
This big this GC team with Ry Ona and Milano just like on the end just like okay you two can just go and do your thing I don’t think they’ll beat ker no I don’t think Moana is definitely not stronger than k k has probably got
CH Camino in the bag I would say I know Caleb’s going but I think well of Co is better big question who’s stronger for the Tour of France yeah but yeah but we haven’t given our definitive answer I think on paper it’s definitely UAE but in practice maybe uh visma yeah
From a structured leadership standpoint it’s visma but from an absolute like holy moly the names we have here it’s it’s UAE and UA have probably assembled the best Grand Tour squad on paper for like you say you and since like the sky era like I can’t honestly remember a
Squad where I was literally just like what is this some kind of joke I mean yma 2022 Ro glit mngo wow that se crus that was a pretty strong team that’s true yeah but it was balanced out by maybe Nat h who was a strong domestic but not like an
Aist um laart who was good but not quite at that Grand Tour stage winning level I think like these other guys are quite hard hitters in the squad and to have four grand tour Podium finishers that’s it’s pretty big but it’s really tough because visma have
Proved that they can they they just that team Dynamic seems to do something they have these roles set out really well but I think that brute force of UA will be very tough and for that I’m going to say UAE is stronger oh but I think you just
Will win still you get what I mean at least the tour is going to be a bit more exciting than potentially the second and third week of this tour in 2023 anyway we’re not going to go Welter we’re going to go Cy cross now so you and you can
Have a nap or whatever did you guys watch it well Patrick did you watch it w are and match vball did their first big show off of the 2023 2024 season I thought it was quite good it was in mold and then in mold in Belgium in in that
Exode or whatever it’s called not the Super Prestige not the World Cup mat man Paul absolutely just put the pace on destroyed Wildman art to some extent then did the same thing the next day in the UCI World Cup in antb and and afterwards Ward said that he he was
Taking it easier you you would say that if you hadn’t one I just Tak easy you would say about there wouldn’t you like that’s definitely what I’d say I think mat Matthew is looking the best psycho cross rider in the world at the moment no doubts about that the whole kind of
Prelude that we had you house isit L Vanda has kind of all been forgotten about when the kind of the jugut come along I mean there was some interest in the UCI World Cup on the Saturday match BB had a bad start and uh he he was
Quite far down the field so he had to actually make his way up on a course that was quite Sandy and not that technical but he it took him like one lap and then he was already the lead again so it’s it’s just crazy pitcock went down yes yeah well they were like
Together which goes to show that man the pole is definitely stronger than Pitcock at the moment I mean it’s not like that was necessarily like in question I guess but that’s been put to bed because pitcock did not finish as well this vand P did people have been saying that we
Should just make Cy cross more interesting by giving everybody a lap advantage of B the PA and then set him off going and then maybe that might like in a handicapped Star Race that might work better cych cross right now feels a lot like Formula 1 it’s like there’s a
Dutch guy you can put him anywhere in the field and he will win by the end and uh I mean any Maxin fans listening match beum for Sportsman of the year in the Netherland so in your face I’m not sure if I agree about totally they’re both
Born in Belgium and raised in Belgium but but for the Netherlands and they both have famous fathers who are quite big Personalities in the sport there you go I mean yeah stff and though and i’ literally done the most probably most dominant season ever in oh yeah you want every
Race by like what three or four and you like got beaten by some geiza on two wheels but he didn’t win par he didn’t win parab well that’s very true stuen would not win very did foren win it in 2021 the Dutch P Sportsman at the year
We had Max foren win the last two years so yeah oh okay there we go well you go variety yeah exactly in that case you can win everything you know man wall won in 2019 Tom Duman 2017 Max Stapp in 2016 anyway cycling cyc cross yeah um I mean b
The yeah beat Wild about a about start W can say he’s taken it easy for as long as he wants but um he’s he’s got he’s got ground to make up simple as up there was a lot of wild Ward fans in the comments saying that he was going
90% and uh that’s why and matchan Paul’s going 95% but I mean that doesn’t mean anything it’s about a lot of excuses like why I’ve tapped into the whoop or something what my guy what is going on here or W was doing 90% vul is doing 90
Fine cuz I could see where he was positioned on his saddle but piss oh man like you don’t know what people are doing outside of what they tell while rard was up there towards the front end when machall had had like to come back through the field and he should have
Gone to the front and absolutely drilled an advantage but he didn’t so exactly cuz he’s holding it to 9% Scott he was just treating it as a train as a training ride he he’s not actually better to raise for for whatever reason CU it makes yeah because that makes a lot of sense
Doesn’t it the simple fact of matter is every moment match B the ball is better F W art in Cy cross 151 victories so bar or 52 151 I think 52 yeah I mean it’s crazy well the women’s women’s fman andle one end cool that’s what like I
Don’t know 11 12 13 whatever victory of the Season she turns up she wins should probably win the to of France fan next year as well just for like good measure and another Dutch woman dominating in sport well dominate cycl so and it was rounded out by Luc de
Brand and put pet who are both also Dutch so there you go even the under 23 mens with Del Gro who’s also Dutch so Dutch everywhere anywhere Welter the Welter R for 2024 was announced from Lisbon to Madrid yes Portugal is on the agenda uh with rather undering Grande par or whatever they
Will call it in Spanish begins with a 12 kilm Long individual time TR then we have a couple of sort of me Welter hilly stroke flat stages uh we go to the mountains on stage four and continue that theme into the end of the first week of racing the second week of racing
Has yet more Mountains it’s quite a tough world to rout I will say this but I think I mean the toughest mountains to come around the final week with the lag C donga stage 16 and a biblical biblical stage on stage 20 to Pon Blanco and to
Round things out that Welter is going to finish with a time trial praise the Lord above there’s no Grand Tour stage I hate more than the Madrid Sprint stage so I’m glad we have the Welter ending with an individual time trial who knows what kind of Route this bter could suit to be
Honest the Balta is kind of an afterthought for many people yeah it’s pretty open isn’t it I will admit the Madrid Sprint this year was better because of that one that Breakaway Group which is the exception to the rule I will say though on balance this route
Sucks it just there we have it it just is I just don’t like it outside of stage 20 I look at it and I’m cover longa and there’s like one other stage in there and like there’s three stages which I’m interested in and then there’s just a
Lot of breakaway stages which is very well to ask there’s a lot of medium stages I might that’s just a breakaway great there’ll be a big Breakaway formation phase somebody will s off of 20ks to go brilliant just like Leonard kemler style there’s not enough Intrigue
For me in like the first week like you need to hang around for a hell of a long time to get something out of this race by the looks of things why like you say Granda PA very underwhelming yeah course a tit in there I like they don’t have
The Sprint as well I do like that but on my word is route of the free grand Tours next year this is the one I’m not looking forward to the least I know that’s very like down downward thinking but that’s it’s really not tickling my
Fan yeah agree with that I agree like uh I mean I just think it’s so pointless when they have it like we’ve already had the jro one we’ve already had the tour uh route releases why don’t you have it like closer to the tour so at least you
Can get some hype like nobody really cared about this to be honest no I think people were intrigued about how they’re going to do the Lisbon the beginning of the race and it ended up being a Time TR Lisbon is a city filled with short steep Cobble climbs and I was really hoping
That they would include some but they haven’t and the Portuguese fans are going to be um really enthusiastic we see that a lot in cycling but yeah I mean this is typical bter I mean this Steam ran out even now and the steam will definitely be running
Out by the end of August next year when this race starts but it is a grand tour return for egum B now we believe apart from him we don’t really have many other confirmed Riders uh We believe Al maida Yates they’re going to be there and
Probably andri Mass R Costa as well you guys I imagine well he’s rting for EF nowadays yeah exactly he’s going to be there and I mean any W to team with the Portuguese rer slot them into your start list Bri State well fact F there very
Few stages is a positive because as we all know Sprint stages are that they’re all right but that novelty runs out quite quickly but Sprint stages at the bter a little bit more sort of like wild Cardy so I that kind of adds a little
Bit more of an element to it but like okay three maximum in the bter but I’m glad they got rid of the Madrid one cuz that one is yeah so unnecessary no one cares like at that point I’m desperate for The Grand Tour season to end so I’m
Glad we’re finishing with a TT that we finally have some like GC Intrigue particularly because we have the Rome Sprint finish gon point the stage as well but keeping it going what else do they release ADC nothing yeah nothing I don’t really care about it I mean
The yeah I mean we had some transfer we we should probably touch on that before M we were speaking about him the under 23 World H Champion confirmed to be going to movie stuff after released from DSM or whatever you say quite surprising no another writer breaking his contract
From DSM early which seems to be a big Trend among many writers but yeah even go to moar it’s interesting moar made some some pretty interesting signings over the past 12 months there I say quite a lot of interesting Italians are going there m
Can oh yeah that as well yeah I do find it interesting that the under 23 TT jump has gone to a team which is just rubbish a time trialing very sure what’s the last time trial they won was it like Alex daet back in the jro in 203
To be fair they’ve won team time trials at the welta wow Nana won the mountain time trial at Monte gapa Theo in 2014 oh good I just find it odd but he’s going to a place which isn’t renowned for TT sucess but maybe that’s no what he’s
Interested in maybe he wants to be a bit more than just a TT person which to be fair that’s a very good move so I’m glad he’ve gone somewhere at least keeping it with the younger guys Marco Brena as well was on team DSM F he’s heading over to Tuda procycling in
A pretty quiet transfer and jman kbon AR R and I have really liked over the past couple years he’s made a huge step down he’s going to the Continental level next year which is a bit of a shame also uh Pier Andre C who was on the human
Powered Health Squad that folded at the end of the year he’s had a Lifeline with Israel Premier Tech at the last minute a team which of course has kebec roots as the team’s owner is a Israeli Kea billionaire anyway right over the week and I mean there’s quite a selection to
Choose from I mean any fans of the Arab Road cycling championships Algeria absolutely dominated the men’s race 1 23 in the Sprint in front of Morocco yeah C cost to choose from as well you’ve also got the welta CMA International at Costa Rica so guys you have a plethora of
Riders to choose from this week I am going to choose for for kind of for Nostalgia sake What could could have been for this ridder’s career I will choose Juan Diego Alba who is currently leading the V SE cler International at Costa Rica he came third of the baby’s Euro in like
2019 he was signed to Mobby star it was that one baby Jer where there was him AA Rubio and adlia something like that and him and adlia just dropped to the depths of nothingness and I am calling back CH name because he is leading this prestigious race and I am going to put
His names in lights for where they never quite managed to sail in his career so well done Juan Diego Alber you are my rer of a week I also going for a rogue Latin American writer who was scouted by Janny Savio much like the writer you just mentioned Alba I’m going for Kevin
Rivera who’s actually from Costa Rica he was scouted by Janny Savio a number of years back signed on and in 2017 bear in mind this is also the thing that egam BAU was picked up by Janny Savio and he had sort of this like great scouting ability for kids from like last America
Would bring them over to Italy and would give them sort of European Cy Tre and this guy was right rising to the ranks then moved to where he was on bani then moved to Gaz prom in 2022 which is a Russian Italian team that got their UCI
License stripped when the war broke out in Ukraine and since then his career has taken a huge downturn could not find a team for the rest of 2022 and didn’t have a team until relatively recently and now he has taken a stage and finished second on one of the stages at
To Costa Rica and he’s uh looking to probably finish on the podium at that race so good to get Kevin Rivera back on the map and maybe we can get him back in Europe after what was a a pretty sudden drop off the the cycling map after gas
Prom were stripped of their uccl license sorry that was a long story before Scott says his rider week I want to draw attention to stage eight of the P of cost Costa Rica which has a 39.4 km 6% climb over 3,000 M where the stage was fought out between three
Riders there four Riders who literally broke away on M climb and then we’re just solo for well whatever just for the next 23s of the stage a 3,000 M climb take notes wter I thought there’s more cust riders with like terrain like that we only really have am all
That yeah broke into granto success Rivera yeah but has he finished four at the jro no no that’s true maybe he will this is kind of the Boost to his confidence right over the week and to doing well at his home race yeah it’s good to see all these like uh South
American races popping up oh my R of the week uh well I was going to go for match of underall but that seems a bit too too easy I mean I kind of want to but M waiting waiting sa cross RAC isn’t that special so despite it being
15251 I’ve got to go for Hamza V won the Arab Road cycling championships I wonder if they they’re going to get a jersey for that Cu uh not strictly a consumate but hza you’re my R of the week so we’ll see what all these free guys if they’re
Going to be elevating into the world tour or again like Albert but yeah that’s basically it for number 48 of the Asal cycling podcast make sure to hit the like button subscribe to the channel here on on YouTube and if you haven’t already check out Spotify as well and
This week I promise I’ll leave all the TT accounts down in the description so if you want to see what Patrick you and all myself think about cycling on Twitter but with that thank you very much for watching and or listening and we will see you next week and Merry
Christmas of course oh yes f it was the night before Christmas sh