Can anyone beat Tadej Pogacar at Volta a Cataluyna? | Beyond the Podium | NBC Sports

Brent Bookwalter and Sam Bewley react to the 2024 Milan-San Remo and preview the top storylines ahead of the Volta a Catalunya, most notably if anyone can stop Tadej Pogecar. #NBCSports #Cycling #VoltaCatalunya
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Can anyone beat Tadej Pogacar at Volta a Cataluyna? | Beyond the Podium | NBC Sports
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Welcome to beyond the podium I’m Bob roll will be joined by Christian Vander I’m Brent bookwalter and I’m here with none other than Sam buy joined by TJ Varden that you guys actually put whale fat on your bodies underneath and you’d be sweating like you just stole something some of my teammates being

Italian and then just kind of saying hey rookie pay attention to what we’re doing we’re eating piles and piles of pasta go bread and MCN in yellow yeah baby Sano isn’t easy R the old sign talk that Sano is the easiest Monument to finish and the hardest Monument to win the helmets

Christian the elephant in the room we have to address and then all of a sudden around like 2005 they started requiring crash helmets for TTS and everyone started looking like space balls you know and we all remember the stare when he attacked on Al turned around and look

Back at y say see the top mate like that was C I’m a big fan of Evan pool I don’t want to talk smack about him but I like that I like that Matteo was able to put in this place like That welcome back to beyond the podium I’m Brent bookwalter and I’m here with none other than Sam buy our first official reunion since last year’s tour to France we got a good show for you today we got gonna have some reactions to yesterday’s big Monument Milan stano uh gonna mention we’ve seen Lance

Armstrong in the news we’re also going to talk about the upcoming tour of Catalonia Volta Catalonia can any one beat today paga uh that’s basically what we have coming up in today’s episode but before we get going let’s get all cut up Sam welcome back to the show uh tell us

Where you are right now tell us how The Season’s been going we saw you already off to some storming success with Israel premere Tech getting that big win at the T Down Under so uh yeah fill us in where are you at and how’s it been going I’m at some

Hotel and pl Aro and kataluna I think I’m the first person in the speed room for about seven or eight months and I can just tell that by the smell of it but anyway it’s it’s good to be back to you Bren last time I saw you we went

Suiting ties and rushing off to an airport after stage 21 of 2023 to to France so good to be back um obviously not in the studio with you this time but but nice to connect from this from this hotel in PL Aro ahead of Volta calonia starting tomorrow nice yeah really

Really good to see you again uh before we go on to Volta Catalonia tell us a bit about that that success at tour down under you guys guys brought home the win um I was excited to see you in in director mode and arguably I I think

I’ve heard a little bit heard from you and from the outside like you’ve you’re only your second year into this gig but you’ve moved up through the hierarchy there a little bit um you got a big win in a world tour race under your belt as

A director the first race of the year we saw that emphatic emotional uh Victory celebration from you it looked like you were having a lot of fun there you had Imp in the car with you just looked like a good old times um just as opposed to

Being on the road you’re in the car yeah and I mean I love to down under it’s I Funny funnily enough I actually only ever initially I’ll take you back a step when last year when I joined asra Premier Tech as a sports director they

Thought let’s send Sam to to on he knows the race really well he’s from that part of the world not Australia but pretty close in New Zealand um so they sent me to T on under but they didn’t actually know I only raced it once in my whole

Career so I didn’t know it that well um but obviously going back this year was my second time as a director there uh like you say had darl lip recently retired joined me in the car and man it’s a special race to win and and I said this to Stevie Williams after he

Won it I said when you win T Down Under you’re forever in the hearts of Adelaide City the host city of T Down Under when you come back next year you you’ll have you’ll be a big bullboard of you they put all the past winners on the steps of

The hotel that we stay in every year your name will be there you you’ll always have a special place in in the hearts of that city of that race so it’s a really special race to win and it’s a hard race to win and it’s always the

Start of the year first race of the season so there’s there’s no real form guide you don’t know who’s flying who’s creeping what sort of State in the buildup of the Season they’re in but you look at the start list and you see big names you know you’ve obviously got jco

Alula which is the Australian World Tour team there it’s the biggest race of the year for them they were there with Simon Yates they were there with a really strong team Luke plat who just won the Australian titles the week before so it’s a it’s a hard race to win um and

There’s lots of different ways you can do it and we had a couple of couple of key players and a couple of cards to play in in in the approach to the strategy and and we tried to take Chase time bonuses with Corbin strong who was one of our primary leaders unfortunately

He got really sick after a couple of days so we stopped chasing time bonuses and then we kind of started to confuse a lot of the other teams they were unsure why we were chasing them so hard in the first couple of stages then we stopped

Chasing them and kind of set back a little bit in the bunch but we had Stevie Williams who we knew was going really well and that W longa Hill uh that stage really suits him and so we kind of banked on him for that and then

Uh and we and went from there and and Stevie finished the job off really well so really cool start to the year and um obviously my first you I only had one win last year as a sports director and a stage at CCH Czech Republic tour so to

Get a big whe to a stage race win was was a pretty cool way to start the season nice I now that you say that I remember the directors when I was racing they kind of had a director scorecard and yeah it wasn’t about it’s not just about which director notches the most

Win but within that director group there is a little bit of a like yeah tongue and cheek haha like grab the another one how’s the vibe with you and the the director group there like you last year you were the rookie it looks like this year you’re getting a little more

Priority in schedule and and early at the helm to Captain some big performances yeah we’ve got we’ve got a really good director group and and and last year obviously was my first year as a sports director so it was really important that I that I went to the race

Uh or different races in a different role and with different responsibility and and learned learned all the different aspects of being a sports director whether that be strategic stuff with the riders or whether it just be the simple day-to-day Logistics of which car is going where and who’s going there

To the feed Zone and all of those sorts of things so was really important that I did that last year and um you know I think you know I would say I’m quite motivated to be to be a good sports director and I and I try to work hard at

Home when I can and prepare RAC as well and um so this year I’ve got the opportunity to be the DS1 or the the lead DS at a few more races which is really exciting and and something that you know again it’s it’s a it’s a role

It didn’t do so much last year so it’s going to be another year of learning um but at the end of the day I mean it’s it’s one big team and going back to two down under I think one really cool aspect of of Israel Premier te winning

Two down under is we we got relegated from the world tour a couple of years ago uh so we we’re we’re a pro team at the moment we’re fighting to to get enough points to get back into the world tour in a year’s time and and when you

Look at the results of all the World Tour stage races last year they were won by either UAE Yambo visma or um quickstep with Rimco so there’s only three teams that won across the the world to a calendar when it came to Stage races so for a pro team

Uh to win the first one of of 2024 was pretty huge yeah nice well congrats on that start to that success it’s sweet to see your uh your true location of uh Beach Hotel in Volta catalunia is coming through here with your choppy internet we’ll uh bear with you good to see

Nothing changes over there um I’m on the I’m actually on the Hot Spot I’m on the 5G hotspot for my and you know when you’re working for doing doing jobs with Big networks like NBC and peacock it’s not really the standard you like to sit but unfortunately it’s it’s the card

That been dealt if it means we get you man we’ll take it it’s all good but so before you know we know you’re at Volta Catalonia before we get into that race uh we had the big Monument yesterday Milan San rmo I thought you know I’ll be

Honest I did not tune in for the whole uh reduced 265 kilometers is um they they sure in the race um but as it always promises I think one of the most exciting final you know 20 30 kilometers of the cycling season we saw yasper philipson with the big win um and I

Think for me the one of the biggest surprises was the defending champ Matthew Vanderpool how much he laid it on the line for Phillipson we saw him match pagota as attacks um over the final climbs he looked really good it almost looked like they could ride away

And he could have his chance with paga in the Sprint but he he lined it up for his teammate laid it all on the line for philipson and uh to me that was really ultimately the difference of him getting the win so um what did you think Sam

Watching that following that from uh inside the team you got any Super gossip uh you know team notes that came through that even privious to about how the race played out this year we saw it was the fastest Edition ever that said it was a little shorter the bikes are we know are

Faster than ever the training is better than ever that wasn’t really a big surprise to me um but yeah what was your take from San Ramo I feel like when you watch Sano two races every every year Sano and per re every year you watch those the

Commentator at some point says oh this is on track to be the fastest addition so every year these races are just getting faster and faster and faster and maybe the you know maybe the short and distance helped that I know they had a Tailwind on the chessor and a Tailwind

On the podio so obviously that’s going to make them make them go up those climes a bit faster but I I thought it was a really good final this year of the race and and it’s clear the tactics of UAE and it’s clear the tactics of of paga they want to make

Those two final CLS really really hard to set up an attack by by paga um and and and that’s what happened and everyone knows it’s going to happen every year but vandero he you know he he responded to that tactic last year really well and in the end he was the

One who benefited from that and rode away to win solo and and you could see he it was his first race of 2024 which is really interesting uh you know not often people would start their first F start their season with a monument but nonetheless he was he was as good as

He always is but he made the right decision you could you could easily see that that team had two cards to play Yas philipsson he’s not guaranteed to get over the podo especially going back to what I was saying about the tactics of UA he’s not guaranteed to get over it um

Vandero they know his abilities on the clim like that so you you can play that two two card approach and they did it really well Vander had his his options to try to go away on the podio he got a small Gap with Pacha before The Descent

But then it was pretty clear going down that descent that there was some pretty quick radio information to to vandero saying hey mate Philipson’s literally 5 seconds behind you in a group we got to back him he’s the fastest guy in the world as we saw last year at the to of

France so he didn’t give Pacha anything on The Descent he just let that group come back and and it’s just it’s a simple tactic when you get to the bottom of of podo it’s the same every year someone takes a fly off the bottom of that descent mahor did it this year um

If you don’t have a teammate there who’s willing to commit and ready to commit 100% then then often those attacks WN you know we’ve seen it before with ne’s done it before quite quite a lot of guys have done it so it was a right card to

Play and and those two you see they you see them in races together Phillipson and vandero they they seem to work really really well together and it was the right decision he had to close those gaps he had to lead out and give Phillipson a chance to win I think

Michael Matthews had a really good chance to win if he had to just hug the barriers when he started the Sprint uh he he he opened up and went to the left and and then the door was closed between between Michael matthew in the barriers there was no room for Phillips the pass

And it’s not a dangerous move he gets he gets to to start a Sprint in whatever Direction he needs to start it and he ended up on the barriers philipson was on his left left hand side if Matthew had have just sprinted straight from there along the barriers I don’t think

Philipson would have found a way to get around him he would have had to break go back go to the other side Matthews would have won would have won Sano I think um but he made a little bit mistake there opening up going back to the center of

The road and philipson had the momentum so it was a really good Sprint between those two guys um real shame for Michael Matthews not to win he’s he’s been gladly close quite a few times and um you know he’s always had his heart set on that race but Phillipson he’s fast

And when you got a teammate like bander Poole it’s always gonna be hard to beat him yeah fast and so strong with Matthews one of the things I noticed watching the the I didn’t notice it live but the slow motion replay replay his sunglass is actually he’s like mid

Sprint in the final 100 meters and his glasses just like fall off his face and hit his wheel and go flying and I mean not to throw whatever SU company they have under the bus but it’s like God when you see the margin is like literally a tire it’s like man you

Better get some sunglasses that stay on your face man that that’s not that’s not what you want happening in the final of Sano do you reckon they’ll give him some new ones or that’s his only PA for the year he’s probably pretty hard up yeah I don’t know maybe because he’s bling he’s

Probably got some other limited edition silver or gold ones hanging around there yeah exactly live plenty of P so we heard we heard pagach talk about how the race was actually easy which I always chuckle because you know there’s like the the 1520 superhumans at the front who are like looking good with

Their mouth closed going up the suppressa but there’s a ton of guys who have already just yeah been punching tickets at the back um that said like it was a bit of a Tailwind yesterday it was really fast you know Pacha talked about how the team has been working to like do

A different tactic and like open the race up early and like make it really hard but like it can that be done like when the universal level is so high amongst everyone and that race for these GC guys in the final it’s not it’s not

Maybe hard enough for them to win so are we gonna ever see pagar win San Ramo yeah we will and and I mean he says he said it was you know the easiest race ever I mean that’s that’s that’s a massive call but the reality is s Sano

Is an easy race and and there’s the saying in professional cycling that Sano is the easiest Monument to finish and the hardest Monument to win and and and that is true because the race in general is really really flat and and then the the final and the hard part of the race

Comes when you hit Tressa or just before that maybe but it’s only a 35 to or 30 km section of the race so it it is very very hard in the final but it’s hard for a short amount of time um and it’s it’s it’s hard in that in that final there

Because of uae’s tactics and pacha’s tactics to try to put those kind of Sprinter type guys Under Pressure um we know that paga can handle that effort a lot better than anybody else gives them that platform to attack and try to go away and win solo but like you say the

Level’s so high now and and the climbs are so short you know Vander pole versus pagat on a 30- minute climb is a different story you know there’s going to be a couple of minutes there between those two but over a five minute climb vander’s power that he produces over

That over that distance is maybe the best in the world so you can’t drop them no matter how hard you make it you can’t drop them and and they tried it last year as well UAE they tried it this year if I was UAE now looking at how Pacha

Finished third in in the bunch Sprint or the Sprint of 15 guys I would just Bank on that I would I would just go you know what we we will make the CL climbs hard we’ll still go full gas up Trisa we’ll still go full gas up podo but Pacha

Won’t attack just put those those sprinters under the pressure they’ll all get over the top of the podio but they’re still going to be far more pinned than what pagach is going to be if he doesn’t make those two or three attacks like he did in the podo he’s

Going to arrive at the finished breathing out breathing out of his nose he still runs through in the bunch Sprint this year having done those attacks imagine he just keeps his powder dry all the way out the podio and just lets his teammates hit the pace I think

He can win from a group of 15 even with philipson there even with matthia I think if he had a little bit more in the tank and hadn’t done those attacks I think he would have gone very close to winning from that Sprint yeah that’s what next here I think you could ask

Argue that they arguably would have had better team representation too because you saw the team open up early even before the suppressa and do basically do peelers and he was a little short there at the end that did sort of prop because he was he was down to I believe just Tim

Wellin so without the full peelers the full set up to do the The Vicious Allin attack you might actually have one or two teammates there as well that actually keeps the pace not quite as hard a little bit earlier but more consistently pegged yeah over the top of

The Poo so yeah I think you’re and you saw that you saw that with you saw that with vandero and you saw that with um M peton they both had teammates there m peton from TK little had had uh yasper sturen and and and Phillipson had vandero and it’s it’s really important

To have a teammate after The Descent of the podo because every single year there’s that attack every year and and 50% of the time it actually works out but if if you haven’t got a teammate you don’t want to be the one who has to close it because

If you do close it then you don’t win the Sprint so you need so that’s why often happens that all these guys who are there isolated with no teammates look at each other this one guy jumps away and wins s Remo and but if if pagach uses that tactic makes the climes

Hard but make sure he has a teammate with him over the podio then he’s got a guy to react like vandero did for Phillipson and man he’s fast he is fast and at the end of a hard 30k first 260k is the easiest race ever apparently but

If you make that 30k hard and then you just Bank yourself on a Sprint I think you can I honestly he can win from that and and maybe I’m wrong and and maybe he never will win Sano but the the the reality is he he didn’t win it from this

Year’s tactics he didn’t win it from last his tactics he’s still got plenty of San Remos left in him why not give it a try the other way yeah I like it well we’ll get soon enough we’ll get to see if it if it really was an easy race you

Know he’s lining up only one day between San Ramo and Volta Catalonia what we’re going to see today uh and his UAE team line up again so yeah hopefully we won’t see him get to Stage six or seven and say I still felt San R in my legs a

Little bit he’s uh he’s removed that card we’ll talk a little more about Volta catalunia but before we’ll stand before we do that we’ll just St on today and San Rama a little bit one of the other things that stuck out to me was the uh the celebration the sort of

Collective Love Fest between today uh Matthews uh the uh the rest of the really the top five top 10 we’ve heard today talk about how these are all my friends it was first place that won that my he my friend second place was my friend fourth fifth six we’re all

Friends we’re hugging it out and I was thinking about this when I saw it and I was rereading some of the quotes from yesterday you know I I think that’s changed a little bit since I was in the pelaton but my question for you who’s still in the pelaton albeit from the

Team car is if that’s a feeling and a sentiment that’s actually echoing down through the whole pelaton or if that sort of is just this sort of elite Monaco boys superstar Club up at the top uh you know we saw Lance Armstrong chime chime in on this topic just in the last

24 hours he’s like what the heck are these guys doing uh hugging each other out we never did that in my career and I got to say I saw a little bit of it um when I was racing I think especially for you and the other summer southern

Hemisphere guys like all the Australians kiwi guys were always quite unified a little bit of a click really happy for each other but is is there universally more friendship respect love amongst everyone in the pelaton now or is that kind of the just the Monaco guy Superstar exclusive that we saw at Sano

There well I I think I think clicks do exist more now in in professional cycling and and you touched on the Australian uh New Zealand click that existed well that does exist in in Jona or and in Andora which is primarily where those guys live um and I mean from

My from my side yeah I would say I was involved in the click in that click and the reason was mate I was on the other side of the world to my family and to my friends so what am I going to do just

Try and be a loner and say I want to beat these guys you know what you know all that stuff you end up in a in a pretty situation outside of the bike rates and so I think it’s important um I think that you know what what when

Lance said like you know that wouldn’t have happened back in their days and and he actually said you know it was a better it was a better era of racing um in some ways I don’t disagree um you know like and and part of that is maybe

Maybe clouted by the fact that I was a young guy who who you know you know before before the scandals and all these sorts of things came out you know I I looked up to L I’m strong like anybody else did you know that was 15 years old

And watching the Tour of France and and we all remember the stare when he attacked on Al the and and turned around and look back at Yan or to say see the top mate like that was cool like I thought that was cool and I still think

That was cool um but at the same time you know cycling has changed a bit I think that um there is an elite club now there’s definitely there’s more of a presence in in in Monaco um you know equally there’s a big presence in Jona

And and Dora but you know Monaco was the kind of the Hub of like you say the superstars um and and and they all get to know each other they all train together their wives are friends with each other their kids go to the same schools all of these sorts of things so

There’s a friendship developing there and um they’re also a lot of them are young so they want to have fun like pagat especially you know he he’s got a cool attitude towards life and he he wants to have fun and he want to go and go around to Michael Matthew’s house and play

Playstation which I know that he does quite regularly you know they PlayStation buddies and and and and I think that’s also really cool um and and put it this way to to sum that up I would much rather cross the finish line Second and hug my mate then cross the

Finish line Second and want to smack the guy that won in the face you know I’d rather my friend win in some dick that I don’t like so there’s nothing really wrong with it and and and and it’s not like pagach is giving away wins to his

Friends like their guys they still want to win just as much as as anybody else but they they they sort of sharing each other’s successes a little bit afterwards yeah I think you got to I think you touched on it well in the young guy the youthful enthusiasm like

They’re they are just having fun and they’re also pagach definitely has the perspective to sort of sit back and he realizes he’s he’s won so much already he’s had amazing amount of success he’s making a ton of money like he’s living a good life and he’s not afraid to to

Enjoy it um and I think as fans we watch these guys and we would like it if there was some sort of like angst venomous anger like you know ah like the slamming fist the the throwing bottles like you know teeing a guy up in in your uh in

Your sights and putting a bullseye on him and saying like I’m coming after you the next day it it plays really well we want that as fans we want some sort of like anger and rivalry but I think what what a lot of these guys have realized

Is that like they’re it’s about winning they’re competing at the highest level their life is invested to this but they also want to enjoy themselves too so yeah why shouldn’t they be friends with each other outside the races uh and and you know they’re pretty much all living

In foreign places uh at least in cities even if it’s not across the world like you were um so yeah I think to be unified to to sort of be able to compartmentalize like now I’m clicking into the race now we’re beating each other up we’re going for it nothing’s

Held back and then you can go back home and say yeah I’m coming to your house man I’m playing PlayStation that for me that was something I kind of missed early on in my career I came over to Europe as an American I just looked at

Everyone else and I was like you know Screw you guys you’re up against me it’s like me against the world like I’m not friends with anyone I see you hugging in high five and ah screw you I don’t have any friends and then eventually after

Being in drona a while you know you meet guys like like yourself you meet some of the Australians the British guys and you’re like hey like we we can be friends too and it it may not play as well in a dramatic vicious fashion for all the fans but I think it’s important

To uh to just remind everyone that yeah you can be a high level uh no holds bar athlete and still have friends and and congratulate each other too and mate like in my career I didn’t win any races but I went to a lot of parties with free

Beers from people who who had won races so I don’t regret it I don’t regret making friends and and I had a lot of good parties but there there is still that there is still that um crap that goes on inside The Paton and you know unfortunately we’re not in a stadium and

We’re not you know haven’t got TV cameras on every single moment you watch uh American football for example you know they they probably clashing they had these arguments they’re all miked up and they push each other and there there’s a bit of you know to and and

Frowing there that stuff does happen in The Paton but we haven’t got a 360 degree camera sitting in the middle of us the whole time so it’s really hard to show that stuff and if that’s what the fans want to see well then you know they

Just have to I guess rely on the fact that it does happen but you’re not going to see it all and every now and again you still get a blow up at the end of the end of the stage and um that will that will always continue and and

Professional Sporter in life there’ll always be some guy that gets you know annoyed at someone else and there’s a bit of a you know ride over to the bus afterwards and have a crack so that’ll that’ll keep happening so keep your keep your eyes peeled on TV yeah maybe yeah

Maybe someday we’ll get those uh live audio files from the uh the velon GoPros that sit on the back of the bikes and I remember as a rider like those thing they put one of those things on your bike and you’re like oh I don’t know if

I really want all that audio from from everything we said throughout the stage coming through to all the friends and family at home um I’m sure the fans would love it but I hope for the Integrity of uh of the of all the guys out there racing that doesn’t doesn’t happen anytime real

Soon uh all right so done well I think on San Ramo lot of action there there’s going to be more monuments to come but this week we got Vault of Catalonia that’s where you are Sam you know I think it’s the usual catalon super climbing Fest you know it’s a it’s a

World tour race it’s one of the oldest World Tour races to me it always felt a little bit like not to be dfir against the organization but it felt a little like low-key like amateurish like it’s not it doesn’t have like a bunch of hoopla hype Fanfare um

But make no mistake the start list is always stacked and the stages are always super demanding there’s no time trial well not this year at least there usually isn’t so we’re talking seven days of just accumulated load and fatigue uh the weather can be super gnarly um I remember so many horror

Stories from Volta Catalonia just snow mountain tops Frozen corneas guys shivering stopping on the side of the road lots of stage alterations cancellation drama Sam what what’s how’s it going to play out this year are the uh I know this the mountains up there recently got some snow is is uh are you

Expecting the stage to roll out as planned um I know you guys got Mike Woods uh back in Action we got a lot of other hitters we got Pacha we got sep cus uh we got a few other Americans we got Simon Yates uh Grant Thomas I

Believe is on the start list um Bernal is back so we could go any any direction here how are you approaching Catalonia as a director and and what do you see the highlights be playing out well I think the big question is can can anybody beat T Pacha that that’s

That’s the big question um coming into VTA Catalonia starting tomorrow and the answer is probably no um uh I mean you you look at how good that guy is you look at what he did in sh Bianca you look at the crack he had yesterday in Sano

Um from a physical perspective I think no no one can beat him um you know in in the past in Catalonia we’ve had uh you know matchups with RIT versus Evol and and these sorts of things but rogl isn’t here evol’s not here vard’s not here um

But Pacha is and and it’s a really really stacked field and and I think you like I say from a physical perspective to beat Pacha it’s it’s going to be nearon impossible but when you look at the depth that some teams have uh including our team um but you look at

The depth of inos you look at the depth of mov star you look at you know there’s a little bit of depth also in jumbo visma I mean that team always has dep you can beat him tactically and and and what’s really exciting about this year

Is VTA Catal is the sixth stage it’s a it’s a brand new stage it’s never been used before it’s on roads that have never been used before and uh we went and did a Recon with it uh I took Mike Woods Nick Schulz George Bennett and

Stevie Williams and we went did a Recon of the stage last week and honestly man it’s it’s probably the hardest stage of seen an any tour in the last 10 years it it’s it is ridiculous how hard the stage is it’s 150k it’s got more than 4,000

Meters of climbing but on these roads and you know them Brent it’s all around lamina Burger all these sorts of areas actually it reminded me of a time I trained with you um preco we had that training camp remember and we rode back to Jona and you crashed and the car was

Full and you were covered in blood and your bike was broken but you had no option but to ride another five hours back to Jon because all the car was full with all our suitcases so it’s those roads um good memories so it’s it’s really it’s really really hard super

Narrow technical desense um and and really really steep climb so we have stage two we have stage three which are really traditional stages in Catalonia Mountaintop finishes where you know we can expect Pacha probably to win those stages and take some time but then we

Head to Stage six where it’s it’s all of those aspects that I just spoke about and and and from a from a tactical point of view you can put any bike rider in the world under pressure on that stage if you play it well if you race it well

Uh it can completely flip the GC around so that that’s going to be the Marquee stage of this year’s this year’s catalunia uh and and and from our side of from Israel premex point of view that’s why we’ve come with the team with a lot of depth as well uh you know we

Try to keep a number of guys close on time close on GC throughout these first couple of stages and then that gives us cards an option to play on on the six stage so I think a lot of teams will take that approach if they want to try

To beat Pacha um so it will set up a really exciting race yeah yeah I think it always it always is the um what always strikes me in Catalonia you have these big high mountains like voler you have port de port de Kanto big big 2,00 2,300 meter

Peaks in the Pyrenees when you look at that stage profile it really skews it like even this this first stage which is home roads for a lot of guys uh goes right through Jona uses the the ‘s Angels climb uses the sangar on the coast these are climbs that we train on

All the time they’re they look on the profile Catalonia they look like just little mole Hills because they’re not that much compared to the big pyrenean climbs but make no mistake either these are these are proper proper climbs that you takes yeah you take 15 20 minutes to

Train up this climb um and I think for me we’re going to see probably see paga even on on stage one you know a little bit of a reduced Bunch Sprint he could already come out Crack can um be up there in the reduced Bunch Sprint for

Stage one um and you got to think about you know modern cycling as well now like there there was a period in our careers thankfully we were part of it where they raced the climbs and that was where the difference was made in stages or in

Races was on the CLS but now in modern cycling they use every single piece of asheld or every single piece of road in front of them to try to make a difference and and like you say about the stage one they’re decent climbs and there’s quite a few of them you know

They’re not as hard as those big mountain stages and it will be a reduced reduced group um you know with sprinters and climbers kind of going at it against each other a little bit but the the difference on this first stages can be made on The Descent and and The Descent

You know it off the top of sand gr down to the coast the famous Coastline in Jona for anyone who’s rid a bike there super technical descent super dangerous descent onto a Coast Road that’s up and down very very technical so that’s although there’s these climbs that’s the

Period of the race or the section of the race where there’s going to be different made and that and that’s just modern cycling now that you have to use and look at every single different point of the stage and and and and see where you can make a difference or affect the

Stages uh I’m cringing thinking about it because I remember racing Vol to Catalonia on those same roads that same sort of Jona stage because everyone knows it like everyone it’s like everyone has trained around Jona or done Volta Catalonia or lived in Jona it’s like there’s no surprises everyone

Literally knows every corner so to me those first stages right around Jona almost play out as a one-day classic where like the Belgian guys know every corner of the tour of Flanders everyone knows every little corner and wind direction and oh it funnels through the buildings here don’t get caught out um

It was it was super super nervous so well I’m getting some pts just thinking about those first couple stages hopefully you won’t feel it too much in the car back there it’s right on the car got air conditioning as well it’s quite warm down here at the coast sounds all

Right before we move on from catalunia we got to talk about for American audience we got sep cus in the race uh last year’s welta uh Champion um and I think of anyone he probably knows those roads around Burger well when I’m when I’m stravis stalking him when I’m seeing

His rides I love how sep he this guy does not go out and back on climbs for his training he’s always doing some crazy loop finding all these crazy little back roads I would bet my life that he’s seen all these roads he’s trained on them probably long before you

Know most of the Recon rides that have been done this year um how how do you think looking at sep you know he’s he’s coming into a world to a race as a defending Grand Tour champ uh leading the team they’re coming off the big win at Perry with Matteo Jorgenson um

They’re you know almost batting 100% if not 100% um at these stage races so how does that affect sep how does that affect this team is everyone in the pelaton just looking at that team and today what is the dynamic there uh as you approach it as another

Director yeah I think I every race you go to these days you know that those are the two teams to look at UAE and and and jumbo vizar and and you know um vingo is a guy that we we all know and we all know that’s going to you know wins a

Toour of France you know the last couple of years but then Mata jensson comes to the team wins Perry uh they’ve got so much depth in that team and and SE cus is you know going to be their leader here in in Catalonia and and speaking of

That stage six and burger how well he knows a road he actually had a a hand and um design in that stage um the cruel cruel bastard but anyway he’s he’s had a he’s had a hand in designing it so he knows that those CLS really really well

That’s his training ground uh his his wife lives just up the road in pedar so he he knows that area really well um but he what’s interesting for seph is that this maybe the first race where he’s actually the leader like from from the get-go from before the gun even goes

On stage one everybody in in jumbo vismer is saying Z cus is is our leader and okay he won the Tour of Spain last year um but he wasn’t the leader when he went there you know vingo was there rogich was there now he is he’s our number one

Guy so that that brings a different aspect than for set um Ian but knowing set like like like we do he’s he’s pretty calm he’s pretty he’s pretty cool I don’t think that will have a big impact on him but it’s still a different it’s still a different Dynamic to deal

With and uh you know he he he hasn’t raced a lot this season um but he’s always so consistent when he’s in these big climbs and and I think I think he’ll be he’ll be the number one rival I see uh for for Pacha and obviously you got

Bell he’s going really well and start goes on and on and on um but I think you know given the progression that s’s made over the last couple years the fact that now he’s riding high of winning a grand tour uh it’s his home roads like you say

Uh he’s he’s going to be the guy that can push Pacha the most I think when we get into these stages yeah I hope so too as an American fan I hope so um that to me the psychology of it all is fascinating and I think I wonder within the teams how

Much awareness there is for this and I thought about it a lot watching Mato win at perin e you know they hearing him talk about how the goal originally was like Matteo try to get a top 10 and he’s like no I’ve been top 10 I want to get a

Top three um and it’s similar to what you mentioned about sep’s past GC successes he sort of came in like you know we don’t have a bullseye on this winning is not the only metric of success it’s about like giving ourself a chance keeping ourself in the game um

You know I’m kind of wondering outside of today and outside of yonas are are any teams going into this race with a win or fail attitude or is that part of this modern cycling as well where it’s so competitive now you respect your competitors level so high in the the

Unknown tumultuous nature of racing that it is about just putting yourself in the position give yourself a chance and then and then do our best so is a team like Yambo Vima is it a win or fail situation or is it like let’s go in with the idea

That we can be on the podium give oursel a chance to win and they can also genuinely be happy if they’re bested by one of the best guys in the world for gotcha yeah I don’t think it would be a win or fail situation in Catalonia and I

Don’t think it would have been a win orfil situation in Perry either I I think that they know who their top guy is and that’s jonis vingo and everybody in that team whether you’re a bike rider or you’re a staff member you know that he’s the man that we’re going to be

Riding for in July the the the point in the process of these other stage races where he’s not there I mean they don’t have that that card anymore where they could send Ringo to pay bask and they could send RIT to Catalonia and win both of them they

Don’t have that anymore R has left the team so now they’re about developing new guys about developing young guys mat jenson’s a good example of that um so there’s a process that needs to be followed they they know these guys abilities um that’s why they signed them

And that’s why s’s been in this team for such a long period of time and that’s why he won the Welter because the team had so much respect for him that we like you know we’re not going to compete against their own teammate so but it’s now eventually yeah probably the media

Pressure there’s a there’s a but it’s it’s now a Changing of the Guard in that team with r daone so it’s about developing situs to be a stage race winner it’s about de developing mat Jenson to be a stage race winner and the process takes time you know Mato jensson

You know he he’s jumped a gun really quickly in one one par but that’s the same thing for SE here it’s like if we don’t win we don’t win but let’s develop and let’s learn and let’s and take take stock of how that that week went or how

The week is going to go and then take a step forward from there so I don’t think it’s a win or fail of course they know his capabilities and they they they have a Target in their mind about where they want him to to be and where they expect

Him to be and he’ll be there but it’s it’s not a win or foul just yet for those guys don’t think yeah nice I like it it’s encouraging for me to hear that I mean I knew you’d be a good director but you I imagine you’re instilling the

Same value and fundamental and Direction into your team and it’s it’s nice to hear a a modern day director be yeah be process driven and and realistic and and uh and yeah yeah step by step by step as he said so all right we’re about out of

Time uh Sam you got you got anything else for us you got any any gossip from inside the pelaton uh you can share with us before we before we move on no no gossip no gossip it’s too early in the season at the moment but there’ll

Be you’re planning a wedding pop up I’m planning well I’m having a wedding I’m not planning it well I should be planning it but I I’m a bit slack on that um so yeah it’s not a lot of Gossip uh I think that you know no not not yet

I’ll let you know when there is something I’ll send you text all right well it was really nice to uh be back here on the mic with you um really enjoyed it and we’re wishing you all the best at Volta catalunia uh for everyone else at home make sure to

Catch Volta catalunia live on peacock all next week and we’ll catch you on the next beyond the podium for all your cycling content year round subscribe to NBC Sports YouTube page we got it all