Pogacar dominates the Giro D’Italia, Demi wins, again

Never a dull moment in world cycling and this week didn’t disappoint. On Episode 96, Kate, Joel and Merckxy chat:

• Pogacar dominating the Giro D’Italia
• Pink and purple skinsuits, why does the UCi care?
• What’s a good nickname for Pogacar?
• Lucas Plapp giving us the feels with his Italian success
• Can Ben O’Connor challenge Pogacar?
• Katey wants to wax her chain, but needs a YouTube tutorial
• Danger in the convoy with a team car taking down a rider
• Demi Vollering wins in Spain – but what about Bredewold?
• Mark Cavendish wins in Hungary – so does Aussie, Sam Welsford
• Team Wheelhouse is not going well in the  #8NationsGiro

Thanks to BikeBug for supporting the podcast – use code ‘wheelhouse’ at www.bikebug.com – for 10% off your bike haul!

Kate Joel you’re a friend you’re a teammate and you’re a sprinter yes I’d like to think I’m all of those or was a sprinter just thought I’d share those sentiments with you for the cuz no one said that this week that’s not one of the many Tiss one of the many tissues we’re going to discuss today on the Wheelhouse podcast episode 96 good Heavens pick up six we’re getting there aren’t we bonjo Bono to all uh what a beautiful day it is it’s gorgeous isn’t it the sun is shining it’s a beautiful time to be alive jro uh rolls into another week and I tell you what it’s not even it’s not even a joke to say um the dominance is it’s almost nauseating the dominance that we’ve seen it’s out of control it there is a lot of debate last week’s show we were talking about and it was early days in the jro that the media the social commentators would probably get so bored of writing about him that all sorts of things would come up we’re kind of in that territory how did how because the debate of is it exciting or boring to have somebody dominate so much we’ve had that conversation for years now yeah it has been 96 episodes that has been flicked from The Rundown we’re going to get a bit more creative on how we address um a show around someone around an event that could essentially just be how good is tday excellent see you next week yeah yeah exactly see you in episode 97 but look a lot a lot happens around the periphery as well we’re going to talk about various shades of color and its impact we’re going to talk about a couple of incidents that have occurred away from the Juro that have raised our eyebrows in in either concern or dismay we’ll get through to that as well another massive name who likes winning a lot has won again I don’t want to give too much away but I will it was Cav we’re going to talk about that uh and also Demi Demi voling we also we always talk about Demi voling it’s usually she’s won again she’s done this but has she done it in the spirit of the sport I’m going to throw some shade you’re going to I’m going to say all right order let’s get into it Katherine so let takeaways uh paga is just making a mockery of everyone else at the jro and that’s because he is amazing um but the dominance has gone to a level that I think has even outpaced you because you’re across everything but you didn’t quite have a nickname ready for him in anticipation of this level of Don Don donts donts no I I was thinking like what rolls off the tongue now there’s some background on this this started because on X formerly Twitter if you will there was a fantastic post by the Juro ditalia themselves and can I say whoever runs the social media account for the jro I am in awe of you it is excellent content but they posted one of today eating a piece of fuka T fuka but then how good is that Pacha fuka perfect Kate Bates o y did her thing and went went on the research Rabbit Hole I did and helped by some of the Twitter verse I might say the etymology of the word fcha is actually breed no Ergo he literally is T fatcha are you kidding me so there we go wow but I don’t think in in terms of finding a nickname for him that’s great T fatcha but I think I’m looking for something like a synonym of Dominator yeah or something like that well okay so we just mentioned Demi wering easy territory Demi Nation Demi Dem station and today tday fuka works perfectly for the jro but less well for the tour yeah even though it is literally bread like you know what you can go so many places could call him baguette boy although that nickname doesn’t really feed into how dominant he is like it’s fun yeah but it doesn’t really I mean tday the Conqueror that’s good I like that yeah it’s got a bit of um and then we can accuracy change it per language I’ve got one uh because let’s be honest it’s just very very very quickly you can go to so many places to get the results and who outpaced who whatever in the Juro I challenge you I defy you to go anywhere else to hear that today being called for cure is actually e emically accurate I just want to give you a little hat tip there yes can I suggest tomorrow because he’s always ahead he’s always in the future and his name’s today why don’t we call him tomorrow I I like that tomorrow it takes a little bit of explaining as all the best jokes and nicknames should well in Italy the nickname for the national teams and such is azui aoui yes of course blue yep the blues if you go to any great sporting event where France is playing what do they shout Al go the blues go the blues yeah so same nickname but completely different what do we do during state of origin Joel K the blues no we don’t no we absolutely categorically do not no we do also the blues so I think that it doesn’t even have to be unique nickname you really skipped ahead there ites it just needs to go yeah to the color like to the okay to to the word so so depending on the tour we call him pinky man or yellow man oh was where’s pink come from I don’t know like the Magle Roosa oh right red roo oh so we could just yeah let’s work on that let’s work on it we’ve got some really wonderful people in the community that are very creative like can one of our wheelhouses could you please help us with a nickname for T Pacha and it look it has to be better because I want to say fuka is fantastic f it has to be better I would like something that alludes to his profound winning the baker the baker the baker always comes through with always bakes up a victory and also bread okay all right well look clearly we need the L another topic too the fact that the word blue came up so much is also pertinent to episode 96 of the Wheelhouse you’re going to hear a little bit more about cycling’s growing obsession with the color blue as well that’s you know one of those things if if it works it works um let’s let’s talk about the Dominator um tday tomorrow the baker fatcha whatever you want to call him getting through that first week making a joke of everyone now some of the things he’s been doing we’ve been like Ah that’s him he’ll do it one particular action this week did get a little bit of come on mate really with that and forced him to come out and say he’s a friend he’s a teammate he’s a sprinter he’s talking about of course Juan Sebastian Milano leading out a sprinter when you’re wearing the pink and you you you clearly have the ambition of not bequeathing the pink to anyone uh while riding in this tour anyway what’s your take on that action yeah it’s a good question it’s got a lot of tongues wagging thank you was he arrogant in doing it uh was he dangerous dangerous to his own hopes or to dangerous to his own hopes was it a risk he should not have taken uh he’s his teammate out in the Sprint and he said of course I should they work for me I work for them that’s how it works but he’s put himself right in the middle of a very dangerous Bunch Sprint it went fine there were no accidents but there is a much higher risk of an accident in that setting um had he have limped across the line with some damage done to his body because of a crash would his team still be saying but he’s a good bloke he was supporting his teammate yeah I you know what I can hear some some ponderous breathing I feel like our man Mery has a comment here Mery hello welcome to 96 hello team I think every bunch Sprints dangerous and I just want you to remember when um garrant Thomas let out Cavendish is not even on the same team so I think it’s great I love it like it that’s true but that was the final stage last year where he had already gotten second and so slightly different but I agree agree Mery I in fact reckon he’s of the personality he’s so fun he’s so cheeky he loves racing that you need to let him do his thing is he doing this is okay cuz his his narrative has been around saying look mate I wanted him to do well is his is he is he saying I I was the only one who could put him in this position he got third on the stage so he didn’t win but whatever or is it him saying he hold my beer what can’t I do Callum a colum be both bit of both yeah he had to step up because Ola who’ helped him so much in previous stages was pretty fatigued after all of that and so he wasn’t there to help in the Sprint so T kind of stepped up to do that job so a little bit of that maybe like understanding for mileno that he does deserve yeah a lead out yeah I think it’s a moment in time where we could be proven very right very wrong because if he goes on to win this is just him being genius and dominant if he goes on to get beat this will be reflected on as a moment of arrogance is that the moment I think so where instead of saving his energy instead of writing conservatively on days that he absolutely has no GC need to do anything he’s still wasting a bit of energy he’s still he’s still so young young but he has raced enough and won enough at this level to surely have that sorted out like as he’s won the T of France I know knows given given that Mery I think we three weeks is a long tour a lot of the queen stages are yet to be determined and we have seen him crack before he’s lost tours by cracking on days that we thought he’d be dominant yep he’s had a little bit of a jro h whatever attitude let’s be honest a little bit of a Juro yawn in in a respectful way but he’s been I mean in saying that the pastor was he could live without the Jersey but not without the P exactly the quote yes so maybe that’s his way of taking pressure off himself when everybody’s putting so much on him I don’t know it’s I think it makes for good interesting bike racing to watch I want throwing the crystal ball that stuff like this stuff like this the attacking from a million kilm away like basically attacking last week is this are we are we seeing the the formation of a change in the way bikes are raced at this level if he wins if he continues to win for the you know it’s still going to have to do it for a little bit longer but is this one of those you know you see it come into sport where it’s like this team started doing this all of a sudden everyone has to change the way they go about it is that who this guy is if he goes on to win they’ll say yeah he is just so good that you can’t race like him because nobody is like him yeah so that would be silly and arrogant of us to try and do that yeah if he loses then people will say see that’s why you don’t ride like that so either way either way I think that’s the value of him in the sport is his uniqueness either in his sheer dominance or in his preparedness to risk it yeah anyway and not ride the safe race so I like it it’s charismatic it changes is it from just a dominant Rider winning all the time and the likes of fry when he was winning all the time people weren’t particularly thrilled but Podi somehow has a way of still winning in the same dominant way but making it a bit more exciting okay I think it’s cuz he’s he’s cute you think he’s quite cute he is he’s quirky too and the little hair toughed yeah yeah well look it’s also a demonstration of you know team spirit a deep a deep streak of team spirit it’s never oh no that Smells Like Teen Spirit we can adapt that smells like smells like team spirit yeah oh here it is yes yeah you think that’s his nickname his nickname is yes or yep yep yes today because he can do he can just do it it’s yes to everything including leading out for your Sprinter yesterday should he do you think he’s prepared like moves like that is is he prepared to lose the pink should he lose the pink at some point I don’t think he’s prepared to but I don’t think it would matter if he did if it was to a rider outside the top five or even if it was to be honest I mean he’s leading by two and a half minutes and Mery pointed out like w massive lead yeah in the first well I’m not going to call it the first week I’ll call it the first block because we have three different tranches ahead of the rest day but by the that rest day it’s quite a dominant fashion but if we look back to the tour a couple of years ago he was leading by four you know 4 and a half minutes pretty early on and so I think I don’t think it’s all over Red Rover I really don’t okay oh that’s dramatic I reckon mer is going to replay this at the end of the J and go who’s who who’s it going to be Garren well GT good Bora the Bor guy good question uh I think that gluto Conor oh thank you could pull something out if they give him the Rope like if if they’re too busy fighting amongst themselves then I think potentially he could ride off and not be the focus yeah um garrant Thomas I think has had too many results to be let go to be that one that they say but you know out the Brooks he’s a bit of an unknown and I think those young ones they’re the ones that could really create an issue because you see all the talent and look how quickly aapol and even Pacha himself came out of talented to so dominant mhm it can literally happen between races yep yep so well I’m glad you brought up up to Brooks there because there’s a a touch of Destiny about those performances as well for sure there is I reckon poor old Jonas is watching going holy [ __ ] I reckon I mean apparently he’s on on good track for the tour and so is aaol so I and they’re both sitting back doing a bit of due diligence can I just sorry can I just have that sound bite again Mery what’s he saying uh well he possibly would be saying holy [ __ ] holy [ __ ] I don’t know no that’s great I just I’m taking notes myri it’s my generic accent hey honey are you watching this holy [ __ ] holy [ __ ] cousin Kate invited us to Christmas are we going to make it holy [ __ ] uh okay uh it sounds like he is prepared to let go of the pink in a certain sense Maybe not maybe not let go as much as find a matching mixy matchy outfit because we’ve seen an outfit hybrid a combo Kate and you’re already sighing here you’re already exhaling and sighing well this this is very much a WTF UCI yep didn’t take long before we’re back and actually one of our listeners pointed this out at the end of last week’s show uh very soon thereafter is what started this Saga so we’re going to talk about it it’s ridiculous please Pacha got on the start line with the maggle Arosa up top and the Camina down bottom okay pink and purple pink and purple let’s put aside the fact that I think that’s a bit of a fashion crime but I’ll also say Italians tend to be way cooler than me so maybe I won’t say my opinion the important one my mouth is shut here but normally even if you’re leading a Jersey they have an order so if you’re leading overall even if you’re leading the points you wear the mugly Ross are the leadest jersey and then second in the category will wear that Jersey to make sure that the jerseys are worn every day it’s only fair for the sponsors it keeps it interesting so on the start line it looked quite funny because Jonathan Milan also had the Camina purple kid on what’s that about as it transpires the UCI came out and said that’s against uh regulation now of all the regulations I do know the what color jersey you should wear regulations I can’t pinpoint the exact subsection did you look through the Thousand page you know it couldn’t be bothered this time because WTF UCI that we have to keep looking that up yeah what happened actually is the race organizer ICS and the clothing sponsor castelli wanted to pay tribute they were racing around Terin uh to the football team um from the Trin Torino football club uh who perished 31 of them in a plane accident in 1949 y coming into land uh they crashed into the Basilica at the on a mountain just outside of Trin and sadly all of them were lost most of them were also uh the existing Italian national team at the time a very great sporting tragedy indeed um an Italian tragedy and very close to the hearts of everybody still in Terin as Basilica still sits up on the hill they wanted to pay tribute yeah in memorium okay and the UCI just over their heads don’t care y doesn’t look cool WTF so this like these sort of you know these P these love even these lovely touching gestures there has to be a process before you they’re executed where you’re getting approvals and saying we’re looking to do this on this day does but Joel why why does there like who really cares in the greatest scheme of things yeah if they want to change the leader’s Jersey or what the leader is wearing who who cares it’s different if a whole team want to change their kit y that needs a process okay but the leader Jersey can’t they choose that oh look I’m I’m curious about this is there also I guess my second question is an argument for an Italian writer to to to make that that gesture potentially but I guess they have to be in the color yeah and so I suppose honoring them with the race leader was is beautiful especially because it differentiates Milan was in the he W he was in the Camina Jersey which also that color is more or less the color of the Torino football club Jersey hence that I I agree I’m with you I’m just saying just it always it just looks so bad when this sort of stuff is done after the fact it’s like there is a process that unfolds behind CL doors without becoming a worldwide story where these approvals are given or denied like whatever let it happen but just sort it out before it actually happens and you have a knee-jerk reaction well that’s true actually in order to make it a beautiful honor they could have frontf footed it and said whoever is wearing the leader’s Jersey on this day this is what we’re going to do as we go through tyin and we we we pay and cycling is is is really really good at paying homage whether it be to its own fallen or other sports family members whatever it is it’s got a a wonderful history of doing that so just sort it out we’ve also got a wonderful history of really bowsing up really cool opportunities oh 100% this is a this that’s what I mean like I think it’s a lovely gesture it shouldn’t matter either way but just just sort it out without it becoming anyway bumpy road a bumpy road for the UCI and there’s your segue Kate what do you think of the what do you think of the track out there so far on the last uh stage before the rest day heading into Napoli uh Garren Thomas he came down Autumn Leaves although it’s the first of his season uh but he complained about the surface of it’s a good one though uh he complained about the surface of the roads yeah and if you’ve been to Southern Italy you do know that the roads are pretty poor surface a lot of potholes generally a lot of rubbish too because they often have big strikes around rubbish collection like it’s a really interesting part of Italy quite different to some of the other regions and it’s it’s transpired that some of the local newspapers in regions AB butting where they were in Naples uh have previously said that they don’t want the jro to come through their towns because when they do they resurface the roads and then some of the local businesses really suffer for that hold on go on why Apparently one of the booming business in the south of Italy uh car auto repair shops uh for the top replacing tires and suspension so okay cars right so awful roads are in the best interests of the local the local businesses and then when they come through and resurface the road these businesses struggle for years years years okay until the roads wear out again I need so I don’t know if that’s why they weren’t resurfaced but they weren’t they weren’t and the Riders are just at least we’re helping the local economy I mean I’m glad that nobody was seriously hurt in this stage but I I think there might be an in between where you boost the local economy by maybe filling some of the potholes without fully resurfacing can I put my hand up again I have another okay once again course decisions surfaces these are things that are decided in advance if it is not safe for your p T why are they riding over it can they not consider option b option C you’ve had more to do with course design I assume there are alternatives in most cases it’s like oh that little patch is great we might be able to go that way we might be able whatever I might be completely wrong here but I’m just saying once again isn’t this something that you navigate before you put everyone at risk this is a pre-event decision and kill local business apparently not during event decision yeah that was funny your thoughts Mery I’d love to know cuz you you can navigate bumpy roads you have to do it with us every week yeah well I think um they should pivot pivot and and be a pothole filling company You’ got to be an agile business you got to adapt you got to be agile I like that do the co pivot so it’s like we’re now a pothole uh company and we also do sanitizer well you know somewhere that I want to Pivot Joel and I can’t pivot is in our eight Nation Oh you had to bring it up I off the rundown I want to pretend we are on our knees early on we were in third rocketing oh we were we were boasting we were boastful um I’ve had three we I’m going Terri thanks for askit karma uh I’m in 12th because this week I lost L senko who did who didn’t start stage nine I lost bam gmet who didn’t finish stage five and I lost um lip of vits on stage six well look this is what you get for going rogue um uh yeah well although wheelhouse we lost G and uh Woods yeah stage five and Stage six so I think that’s hurt us a little bit well three to Seven’s not it’s not going well but the Dream Team so far that he leading uh and this is Mark Prior who’s putting this together bade okay Olive koi who won Stage Nine first Grand to a stage that was a good pick uh Danny Martinez Tim merer Jonathan Milan Luke PLA plappy and uh Ted for cater okay so and uh tomorrow of course in there at the end I’m going to learn from that and you might notice there’s only seven names he also had gmet in there so yep just just back to merie just quickly on what he asked you there you still feeling good about your decision to take on the Wheelhouse no I’m not okay no I’m not no worries uh you know who would be feeling exhausted probably a bit sore around the upper alerts and whatnot but still pushing hard for Australia is plappy you mentioned plappy there yes plappy well he so after the time trial he was in The Young Riders Jersey yeah unreal great oh plappy love it uh he gave one of the best interviews I’ve heard from the entire jro and that was to put a bit of perspective on all of the critique out there yeah so we sit in here and we look at the numbers and where they finish and you know Kaden Groves he got up there he had a second Ben o Conor’s been doing pretty well but it doesn’t really tell the story of where they’ve come or how they may be feeling um you know from a emotional intellectual personal level and what he said is firstly he couldn’t have dreamed up a better first week in a grand tour yeah so go plappy love that plappy the next thing he said was the first Grand Tour he wrote and the last one um was the vter in 2022 yeah and in that race he was in the grouped most of the time with one Aussie Superstar Cen Groves kg and so he said compared to then he was in the break with Caden Groves the other day and plappy got third on the stage and Caden Groves has run some top threes the difference in their journey in 18 months is phenomenal and you may not see that on paper but to those individual writers that gives them the faith and the hope that they know they’re on the right path so even though he only lasted a day in The Young Riders Jersey what he’s proven to himself no matter what happens now is that he can do grand Tours he belongs he belongs how good is that it’s fantastic it is so cool it just the way he spoke in the interview so calm and so confident you could tell that it had clicked for him yeah that he’ had some doubts and deep down he has a huge amount of confidence but that he has had voices in his head saying you’re confident but should you be should you be there should you be that confident and so I love it so validation absolutely and the Aussies are in really really great shape um and the other thing I want to point out though is he had a really good time trial yes but possibly not as good as what you may think understanding that he’s he is aiming for Olympic and World Championship Podium for the time trial but he pointed out extremely promising that in those occasions you don’t have to do a 4-Hour Mountain Stage the day before and so he was saying I’m really pleased with how it went because if I didn’t carry all that fatigue I know I’m in the mix yeah there you go how good is that it’s so good what a what a like great reason to justify riding up a mountain for 4 hours I know I’m going to get that out of it that’s fantastic it is uh glut toona so there’s a guy that I’d trust to lead out a sprinter any day of the week so he’s uh right up there in the GC and has maintained that which is very good to see just saying quickly statue we’ve said it before we have said it before it’s and I also want to point out uh that last week we were very excited about the tour of hungry the week before one certain Scott mtor said a certain Mark Cavendish was possibly out to pasture Mery yeah no I believe he said he doesn’t have it he doesn’t have doesn’t have it does he well he won two stages in a row so tour of hungry did very well but I’m going to just throw it out there with another Aussie Sam wellsford won the first stage now in the second stage Dyan grunen swung out got in his way got penalized for it yeah that’s the stage that Cav one so oh you’re putting an asterisk on the yeah yeah Scott Scott’s probably nodding profusely as you say that he’s like y they brought that around they did yeah I’ll go on the Wheelhouse again thank you you saved that notice Scotty if you’re listening I had nothing to do with it did not partake no I will never question a Scott MCG selection well and uh San he came top 20 he was you know he speaking of baguettes well he wasn’t out to win he he’s just getting in formed for the Olympic Games uh how’s his mountain bike qualifying going no it’s impossible to win uh to get in with points right but he’ll get a wild cut I’m surprised he’s not team even though he’s not competing He he’ll get a wild card you know what here we go yeah cool ready for my segue yeah you know what might have helped Peter Sagan at the tour of hungry what Kate uh super secret chain coating Joel oh W that was that was natural seamless wouldn’t even notice no well I want to talk about this because every every week we’re talking about how you know Pacha Pacha Pacha mixing it just call him to tomorrow tomorrow uh is so dominant is it because of the kago it’s definitely something to do with that but I dropped into bike buug yes uh to get my own bike fixed bike bug.com you Manan yeah uh yes and I saw a product and I said excuse me what is that uh it looked like candle wax to me it’s called secret chain blend I didn’t know if it was coffee or if it was candle wax it’s wax oh what you DIY make it you mix it up so what the this product and this is by Silka uh who I’m familiar with cuz they used to make these wonderful hand pumps okay have check this out so what this is I’ve got my hands on a like a dog B I’ve got a bag of melt Hot Melt chain wax sure and I’ve got this red Contraption uh that has a little lid and what you do is you heat you put the wax in there you heat it up you put the chain around here you let it hang you dip the chain in the wax you let it hang from here and then you don’t have to lube your chain it doesn’t get dirty it is always this beautiful color and works beautifully reducing any chain friction or okay this is a legitimate yeah cool it is just don’t let your your dog near it don’t let your dog near first you have to uh give your chain a deep clean and I I don’t regret asking if I could take this home but I have watched how to do it on a video yeah I’m going to have to give it a go now oh please can you video your attempt yeah we should yeah we should do that one thing I did notice is it fashioned to have one hand with nail polish and the other without that is a fail yeah that’s a m was that in the why that happened uh yes yes one hand was in the chain tested out the chain stripper on your fingernails no but this is super cool and I do I can’t help but thinking that my B like my philosophy behind was just train hard and your bike will be good yeah and good to go yeah but there’s all these little things that actually make a really measurable difference okay so they’re not it’s not just about fashion and that’s the cool thing to do but just point it to camera 3 what’s the what’s the brand on there the Silka o Silka Silka and my father was a very very big fan of Silka hand pumps oh frame pumps that went on your bike didn’t one of your ex-boyfriends whack someone over the head with it not one of my ex-boyfriends no but very quickly we had two Dutch people staying chain with a pump we had two Riders staying with us uh pel kill and and Har yansen no cyclist they had stomachs like wash boards I’m told y oh really they were athletes my sister had met them at the junior worlds in the Netherlands and said to them if you ever need a place to stay come to they said oh do you mind if we stay with you and she said absolutely well she We Were Young was one of them NS friends or no no there there was no relations going on I’m not suggesting and Pella kill one of the Dutch fellas who I believe actually might work for Shimano in the US now full circle we’ll have to look cool anyway um my father lent Pella and harm yeah frame pumps okay to go riding in case they got Flats anyway so they go out training in Sydney they get into an altercation uh with a motorist because back then motorists in Sydney were pretty dangerous uh back then the the motorist goes to no sock a punch on um harm and Pella I think it was grabs the frame pump and smacks him over there over the head with a frame pump yes and and so the frame pump was then bent like a semicircle and because it was and my father had specifically said take care of these please so they came home and presented to Robbie said dented here’s what happened and explained what had happened and I don’t think anybody quite knew what to say wow that was the old Silka pump sounds like we need a distraction check out these ads pretty wow very random that story certainly wasn’t on the rundown but there you go there is my silker history bike verse car museum uh authentic pump with battle damage we need to donate them we do when we open the museum and I am going to attempt to wax my chain all right wow that is not a do that in private I think yeah all right good stuff uh Mery and I both what do we do here so we got some jerseys on set and lots of paper need a bigger than that well I got lots of chains yeah no I’ve seen your bik collection yeah lots of tubes lots of CH can you can you awkwardly move on some I really really can now that felt like one of those school time afternoon shows where it’s like okay today we’re going to conduct a science experiment so thank you for that very very good now let’s turn to a little bit of women’s racing before we do just a quick reminder bike bug.com I think we’ve had a couple of questions about the the website to look for bike bug.com and that code Catherine wheelhouse just one word lowercase wheelhouse if you want to wax your chain head over to bike bug.com yeah buy a frame pump and Bop your bestie over the head with it that’s what we do now uh let’s go to Le leir so uh let’s get serious there because a serious incident has happened we’ve uh We’ve Spoken a lot on this show about the proximity of Team cars whether they be associated with the team whether they be associated with broadcast media whatever I’ve never loved it to be honest um you know if you unless you’re tomorrow paga and you can literally outride a motorbike I think it’s dangerous and I we’ve had an incident a team car has hit a rider yes um not at all what we want to see how the fword is this is this happening yeah so armandine Müller uh was hit by by one of the team cars they were in a break of two Riders and the rider from um Alvin Ron Alps dropped back to her team car uh to have a chat presumably about uh tactics and whatnot and the team car has not wanted the Gap to open up too much between herself and armandine Müller at the front so he has ridden just behind while talking to his rider but has not been paying a a lot of attention and has clipped the back wheel of um Miss Müller and taken her down it’s horrifying because you can see it happening and the motorbike caught it all on camera I am just so glad they didn’t that that she didn’t fall to the right yes and they didn’t film of course yeah yeah something far far I get I literally get fell away from the car yeah yeah cars are weapons against cyclist it is completely unacceptable not only for the team director to be so careless so careless with driving um but also I found it really offensive Joel the social commentary around it and Mery you pointed this out too people have been saying like oh whoops well I wonder yeah okay he nearly killed someone would they be making the same comments if it had gone the other way oh you couldn’t no you know but I bet you they would be saying oh it was an accident no an accident is when something on your car breaks and you lose control and you have no control over that an accident is not not taking care and hitting someone clipping someone with your car let’s look at I guess just the law around negligent driving because it’s very very much uh an offense that’s it’s not you can’t just say I sorry I I wasn’t looking I was distracted it’s like no no that’s negligent drying you’re in you’re in a driving you’re in a lot of trouble and I suppose people have gone on the whoops side because it’s open roads it’s police control the cars are allowed there and so it isn’t normal driving circumstances and so and we do see things with cars and Riders and races that you would not tolerate on in normal driving circumstances but we tolerate too much if we think this is a whoops I’m not suggesting he did it on purpose but it was so entirely preventable and these are 16 17 year old girls too a quick question here so the te the standard team car and our Man Hank vles I’m sure will be able to confirm or deny this but you’ve got more than one person in a team car as a rule you’ve got someone in the passenger seat on the Walker you’ve got someone driving yeah this one one driver operator Junior race you probably have the director would probably be driving and then you might have a mechanic in the back so she was driver’s side but that makes it even no it’s worse yeah yeah no it’s no good at all it’s I’m just I’m really curious the second question I have is cars having some influence on the race as you said they wanted the two Riders to not be too far apart that shouldn’t be allowed Am I Wrong saying why are cars allowed to play that role in in a bike race yeah I mean this this is a debate that rages about use of race radio um I’m going to assume they didn’t have race radio um but it’s a team car no it’s a team car but it’s also pretty common practice when you’re in a break your and the Gap is over a minute your team car is allowed to sit in behind the brake to service you okay and so you Norm it is pretty common practice to then drop back to the car and have a chat rather than talking by radio and that’s okay but because it was a two- Rider break yeah the cars come up rather than her dropping back yeah sure sure and so am andine Willer has been literally just in front of the car and I you can just only presume that the team director didn’t want the Gap to open up and her to have to chase but that’s part of what if you drop back to chat to your car you have to chase back it’s not a big chase but that’s a risk you take is it worth doing that or not it doesn’t excuse it even mildly oh wow yeah okay by the way both Riders fell yeah so it was terrible both of the riders in the break fell cuz she ran into the other one because of course yeah yeah yeah yeah it honestly it’s so horrendous to watch I don’t I don’t there’s so much I have yeah I just don’t get like that literally you have a car forcing you to keep Pace like even if the car doesn’t hit you what if you lose a clip what if what if something happens that slows you down abruptly and you’re set up for that sort of thing to happen anyway a car is a weapon it is and it’s ridiculous it shouldn’t be used as a weapon it can in inadvertently be used as a weapon if you don’t take care you have a responsibility okay yeah it’s I I want don’t they’re still talking about what the final outcome will be for him but I want him deregistered from driving in a be a team car he shouldn’t be no and if there is a course that they can do and the UCI do run driver’s courses then he can do that and prove that he knows how to responsibly Drive yeah but until then if he’s just slapped on the wrist or something entirely unacceptable it can’t happen uh it’s look it’s a race it’s a sport it’s important but it’s not as important as human life so that’s yeah that’s crazy so thankfully she is okay or they’re both okay as you say could have been a lot worse so we’ll watch that one might be might we’ll consult the the the handbook as well I tell you what that is a massive wtfu not strong on that one I will keep an eye on that highlighters at the ready good good to know good to know we’ve restocked those Mery and I went and bought a bucket a bucket of them a whole bucket of highlighters bucket a bucket of highlighters okay let’s go to we had to look up how to say that and forgive me if I’ve said it wrong I do according to the interb that’s women’s did you just do the Google how to say and yeah great and it gave me a Spanish woman or a Spanish man saying it did they say it like in Italian or like was it like a Spanish person saying the trying to say Italian no it’s in Spain it’s in sorry I meant the other way around was it they say it in Spanish or was it an Italian person no it was it I think I don’t know yeah okay okay it’sa women’s tour let’s talk about it so Misha bral really really good great performance loved it love stage one and two great in the Sprint just forget about it all good stage three a bit of a hold my beer moment that your Kate’s just ready to absolutely wind up I know why I’m cranky so cranky but I’ll explain it to you crank and you and Mery can you know say I’m either out of line or yeah we’ll keep the chain handy but essentially bra ofal has won stage one and two the first is Sprint like you say the second in a breakaway with mavi Garcia and Juliet labou both big named writers incredible standout performances it’s a world tour race wow Fabo SD Works what a team what a team what a what a team C exactly sitting back MTI in fifth uh on these stages was Demi wering uh oh everyone knows her because she’s won a lot of races do you know one of the reasons she’s won a lot of races oh that never that that brutal kind of edge potentially she has but team Joel yeah oh sorry of course team support yeah I’m trying to like guide you thead stay with me that Killer Instinct well that’s where we’re at now because after the team dedicating themselves to her for years there is no question that there’s a little bit of ill feeling in the team she knows she’s not coming back she’s made that clear she’s kind of given the old bird to her teammates and said thanks for your dedication I’m out of here for lots of money soon anyway so she attacks on the final stage and she wins and she takes the leader’s Jersey and bra of old finishes third on the stage but ends up finishing second overall okay I think it’s crap no good I think it’s no good because I think that in this case this is another case of the Welter and yumbo and watching RIT and Kus and yonas all fighted out what was the right thing to do he’s been a great teammate he deserves the support yada yada yeah this is just on a smaller scale smaller race but same thing but given how much Demi wins and given the support she needs at the big races this would have been an opportunity for bra of old to be paid back for what she’s done an olive branch of olive okay and valerin could have come in second it’s still a professional race yes it still counts in her overall when she when’s all wrapped up down the track in 40 Years cuz she’ll still be racing when she’s that old I’m sure yes it still is a notch on the that statistical belt yes Joel it is Advocate I’m just saying that’s what it is it is she’s a stats Hunter she is yeah I think at the end of your career they’re not the the isula stage races not going to be one of the ones that people itula iulia put after her name yeah thank you for using Google pronounce yeah look I know I’m not I’m not saying it was the right thing to do I think it was a pretty [ __ ] thing to do but again these discussions that are happening it’s like um it’s been a good couple of stages guys good luck out there today Demi just let’s uh you know we love what Mish has done well I think one of the things for the team is it doesn’t matter we just need to win it for the team you know and they’ll work for her for some races because she’ll she’s the one who can win but if there’s other Riders who could have won and could in increase the team morale I don’t know okay it’s just my feeling don’t like it Mery what do you think know yeah I I don’t I don’t like it either not a faan no cool it’s a I I am also of the belief that they’re bike racers and they should you know may the best person and win and race race race but realistically that’s not the sport cuz realistically it’s a team sport it’s a team sport and like what you’re saying spoils so I think there has to be moments but also team like and I’m again I’m I agree with you guys I think it’s it’s ordinary but I think she is the the PowerHouse she’s the one she’s the stats Hunter but at the same time are we surprised this isn’t the first time she’s shaded a teammate it’s happened like or as as often as tomorrow wins today let’s be honest yeah but it’s just a bit I don’t know I find it a bit disappointing yeah bit shitty well because as women’s cycling evolves to be closer and we’re so much closer now to you know an equal footing with the men’s racing there’s some characteristics that are so beautiful about yes the sport and one of them is the mhip and the ability for a team to win even when an individual Rider gets the jersey and so I just want to continue to see that and to share that victory yeah criticize the men in the same way so we should talk about them in the same way do you think SD works as like look we’re losing and quality writer but at the same time thank God she’s yeah I do I and you’ve got a question they’d be feeling pretty disappointed too that they’ve put a lot into her and a lot of faith and you know personal faith team faith into all her victory is and it’s hard to not take it personally when they did offer her a contract and she’s chosen not to stay and she clearly doesn’t want to be there I think there’s there there’s a bow to this as well where she’s just like you are all part of this organization that I’m not associated with anymore so yeah well and there you when you change teams and I Chang teams a few times and it depends there’s either the conversation where you’re like I cannot wait to get out of here fast enough you guys suck yeah and they say you suck too of if you go animosity and then there’s the conversation that is much more common that is I love this team and I’ve loved my journey on this team I love my teammates but I want to take another step and I want to grow and I think change is needed to do that and that’s actually quite a sad moment it’s like a mutual breakup where you both acknowledge how special it’s been but you know that to go the next level y their needs that this isn’t that this is messy because they’ve said we’d love you to stay and she might behind the scenes be saying oh I’d love to stay but I need a new thing but it’s been so poorly communicated and now everybody’s just toing and frowing what team is she going to and it it has even if it’s started there it’s ending in quite a messy way and so I do reckon the team are probably thinking she’s high-profile she should just you know be on her way y to a degree okay especially after what we’ve seen in itula yeah we had um some Aussies out there we did spratty Sarah Roy good to see her back out there s Luffy Danny D Francesco uh Brody Chapman and Amber Pate were flying the flag yep so the Olympic team will be named soon and uh I think there’s some Aussies with some High Hopes yep some of that list we’ll be talking about well no we only get three Road Riders uh three four we’ll be talking about that when it does get announced how many Reserves well you don’t really have reserves no reserves you don’t have traveling reserves four four four person bench an extra a spare on top of that it’ be good but that’s what we should do I’ll work on it that makes me feel a bit blue cuz someone has to miss out anyway the Wheelhouse podcast and we are feeling blue and it’s not cuz we’re sad cuz we’re always happy in here we literally are a bit blued out and it’s look I am wearing blue and I’m on a blue backdrop but that’s that’s that is that pales in comparison to the sheer amount of blue we’re seeing sorry I can’t I can’t you’ve also got blue eyes we’re seeing World cycling there we go got there thank you what we’re talking about is this lovely little list that I put together Joel I’m blue now I want you to uh tell me what these teams have in common the kathon okay sudal Israel Premier Tech yep jco alula yep little Trek M Star yep DSM alerson okay processing a they’re all bike racing teams but secondly they’re all a little bit creative and inventing and they strive to be different in the way they put together their uniforms is that is that right we except that they don’t it’s the opposite of that isn’t it blue they’re all their base is blue like their main color if you’re trying to look at them is blue you know what though at least we have teams to save some Grace on this front at least the likes of for example Bora yeah Bora in green and green we’ve got uh in yellow yumbo and in marhe wanty go in red we’ve got ARA kofus and Enos except that’s false Joel what Red Bull Bora the colors are in blue blue blue blue blue blue blue just blue it’s like Royal BL so we welcome the 11th men’s World Tour a team to be wearing blue and that looks that Red Bull Bora it looks a lot like the the driving suit the race suit for with that and I get it but honestly like use some more primary colors I loved the Bora kit the green and the green yeah the different Hues oh you could go with our beautiful wheelhouse uh tuxedo it is it’s not all blue no but we’ve got the beautiful watermelon highlights in our tuxedo could do that I Reon we should send that to Bora and say well who whoa who before you pull the trigger even though you have cuz you’ve released a Red Bull logo not you reckon well over your shoulder is the UAE Emirates Jersey not a lot of blue on there not a hint of blue uh but I think they could up their up their game with the tuxedo design I do too I there’d be room for all the sponsors on there it’s a blue out yes it’s a blue wash before we go joelz we need some sleep because you know the Juro and the time zones here in Australia are really really nasty yeah uh but I stumbled upon from NZ is beautiful if anybody knows who this person actually is these beautiful world tour calendars excellent essentially spreadsheets for men and women uh so you can just print them out and figure out exactly what races are coming when that’s amazing it’s visually absolutely beautiful and delightful thank you to the internet for finding this for me um so I’ve printed them out so I can tell you that the next World Tour races uh for the women of the wela Burgos ride London uh and then the women’s tour to Britain uh for the men after the Juro we’ve got the dolphin a yes T to Swiss and the tour to France T to France which one is that yeah okay so it is beautiful so thank you to uh NZ is beautiful whoever you are if anybody knows uh who that actually is please please can they do like a real house calendar for us CU that would be very helpful for it’s a sub uh thread on redddit I don’t even know how Reddit works I use it on Chrome maybe I need to figure that oh Reddit that’s a deep well it is deep well I’m not prepared to install the app I don’t know what’ll happen fair enough uh look I love it it’s beautifully it’s colorcoded I love it the big yellow block means that yes indeed tdf is just around the corner so that’s exciting but let’s get through the jro first and let’s do it wearing blue because that’s something new that’s what everyone’s doing and uh Joe we’ve got to go I’ve got to go wax my chain time to go I’ve got it all here I’m ready I’ve got all the equipment all right merie Sil do you want to lube up and go for a ride while Kate’s wax in the chain or wax heater yeah it might take me a while though it’s a big chain on that note like share subscribe I promise you it’s a podcast about cycling it is it definitely is but anyway good luck to everyone in the jro and everyone watching on and please help us out with a nickname for tomorrow today yes today Pacha Kate doesn’t like any of them she likes faka you don’t even like the baker so faka Pacha let’s see how we go in the eight Nations let us know if you’re doing better than seventh than how where are you coming again just uh 12th 12 cool excellent thank you uh that’s what you get for taking on the Wheelhouse but you should take on the Wheelhouse if you haven’t already tell everyone you know it’s the funnest podcast going around it’s easily digestible and mostly factual I really wanted to bring that out cuz we started this show with that tagline and I feel like we’ve honored it we you too can wax your chain if you go to bub.com I think we need to lube up right on and wax that chain we’ll see you next time [Music]