Giro d’Italia 2024 Recap | Lanterne Rouge Cycling Podcast

In this episode Patrick Broe and Benji Naesen recap the 2024 Giro d’Italia.

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Credits:
Photos | Cor Vos (unless stated otherwise)
Profiles | La Flamme Rouge
Results | FirstCycling

Timestamps:
00:00:00 Intro
00:02:45 Stages recap
00:07:30 Most memorable stage
00:14:58 Teams classification
00:25:48 White jersey
00:32:12 KOM jersey
00:34:32 Ciclamino jersey
00:37:33 Maglia rosa
00:43:56 Can Pogacar achieve the triple crown?
00:55:18 Rating the Giro d’Italia
01:01:54 Outro

welcome back to lanon Rouge cycling podcast Brien early we’re just that excited I feel the Rome stage finished about 12 hours ago and we’re up doing the overall jro recap because we both have busy days ahead of us apparently we’re both adults now but this jro overall recap is brought to you by pillar cycling uh this episode your leaders in Sports micr Nutrition more on them later but we’ll do this as normal overview of all the stages and their winners the most memorable stage all the jerseys including teams classification uh how do we rate this Jalia overall and in particular the big stories from it can pater achiev the triple crown and did Julian Al FIP show enough maybe to get that a big contract renewal again how do we assess maybe his Calia as one of the stars that turned up here uh but yeah how do you I don’t know how do you feel generally Benji after this jro do you feel satiated do you feel tired do you feel underwhelmed I certainly feel tired it’s 7:30 in the morning but it’s been a while since we podcasted this early I think I’m remembering all the the Tokyo Olympics and the T on under podcast in my head Vietnam flashbacks towards those races but uh I I feel relatively satiated I would say that the first two weeks were better than the last week in terms of actual tension for the r so like in week one you still had like the the copium of like oh there’s going to be some challenge somewhere for pagach even though let’s be honest I predicted 8 minutes 51 victory for him you predicted multiple minutes victory for him so before the race we didn’t consider him beatable at all but throughout the first week you do get like that opium of like o will we get a fight yeah will someone try something yeah exactly that that’s the thing you have but I’m relatively satiated I I prefer spoilers I prefer this race compared to last year I’ll explain later why but it’s also it’s been a it’s been an enjoyable uh three weeks again or the first week of podcasting together the two weeks after that that there there were there were good stag in the first 14 I’d say of this stage but I also I’d like to say I would like to thank the audience as well for sticking with us all the time for supporting our content every single time and that’s another Grant to written off and is this our 13th ground toour or no 16 Jesus we’re getting old yes well you more than me but yeah I’m washed uh and speaking of that hope and we sort of saw it in the first stage The Punchy Italian classic where Jonathan nayz won the stage after following pachu on the bivio D sanvito Punchy 4minute climb and was the only other man to wear the Malo Rosa this year at Italia and promptly maybe on the first rest day got a contract off for UAE team M if the rumors from chiro and Benson are correct stage two aopa did the business and uh aopa Pacha did the business on aopa and took that Malo Rosa which I think he wanted to wear for all 21 stages Tim M actually won the first Sprint in forano Milan won the second in Andor so the the best climber the best sprinters already got wins in the first four stages then Benjamin Tomar actually held them off in Luca he he showed some of the other teams that uh how to do it if you don’t have Milano malier uh he that was actually a wonderful finish with peton I think s poo Sanchez won his biggest race to date the new signing from moar ahead of Al Filip and pl on the gravel stage then what was the Perugia stage Benji oh I do not remember that okay won the hilly TT dominating the final uphill uh breaking ganner heart he then won in a in a very sort of conservative Sprint Led Out by mic on prati Deo the next day and Ola Koy won the hilly NE uh Neapolitan Sprint before the first rest day going into that first rest day though uh I think the gap on GC already was about 3 minut 240 so it wasn’t as big as the tier the Tena Gap in the stage after stage n of the two FR 2021 but also yeah it was also really really big 240 uh after that first rest day though Koy and k o Brooks went home so visma lost both their teeth uh or their attacking options uh is there any anyone else that went home around there oh I can’t think of major riders that really went home at that point yet but also I I wanted toit on that 2 minutes 40 like on one hand yes it’s not as big as the thingy Gap but on the other hand he could have gotten more time already like he wasn’t he wasn’t going all out there he was going for the group Sprint there so I think that’s a a major differentiator between those two races where in that two the France the defensiveness really started in the in the segment after the first rest there yeah I don’t even know if that’s true really they didn’t ride the mountain stages like too again when they went for it launch in this race or in this race ah I feel like I feel like they could have launched him in multiple stages earlier though like KZ mutri or something yeah yeah yeah true uh then stage 11 was sorry stage 10 was the badella SVA this was a nice and probably what Benji’s alluding to they really didn’t go for it on this stage uh and they let the Breakaway win Valentine Perry pantra beating childhood hero b and Yan tratnik who was Brave in the fuga fuga then Milan won another Sprint in francoa alare ALA Filip won the Faro stage with a 20 105k fuger crazy win actually one of my most memorable stages Milan won another Sprint inchanto in stage 13 and also by then had chick lamino wrapped up Gana won the flat TT on stage 14 and then pagat won the uh Queen stage with like two minutes uh wrapping up this jro completely before the second rest day in lavinho in pink so yeah going to the second rest day it was all done in terms of GC were only the podium battle left and then on stage 16 patcha won ahead of pazari I think a stage he really shouldn’t have won that was the protest stage as in he should have won as in he deserved to win but I mean like the Breakaway should have won that stage if they got their act together uh cuz UA weren’t going for it then stage 17 they did Brock Hall Steiner takes his first Euro win meria wins his second Sprint in pwa Bend wins in a fuga on sapada ahead of Na Al other good Riders and Steiner Pacha wins on graa after UA go for all day and malier wins his third Sprint in Rome so actually Malia two week three Sprints Benji not something I would have had on his bingo card May three years ago uh very impressive but uh what’s what’s your most memorable stage there is it weird to say stage one I feel like stage one really had that tension of of bachar and also it showed a vulnerability in the team of UAE during that stage with then which led to Riders being up the road and Pacha had to deal with it himself eventually advise was strong enough to hold on to pachar a group Sprint between those two while the other GC Riders were squandering behind like that’s kind of kind of had it all for me so I’d say stage one which is weird to say considering a lot has still happened afterwards I would agree with you because it’s the only time during this yearo that anyone competed with pachu and he pressed go y so and not even competed beat bested him um so it’s it’s hard to go past that that had the most tension and yeah I I agree with you I would say the AL phip stage I will remember just because he 100K is that was a crazy crazy fuger um there’s obviously nice stories with the coming out uh to sort of elite climate status of VPP and steinhauser their Breakaway wins quite and also good quality it’s not no offense to bias but good quality winners Sanchez as well uh sort of his appearances a really really good Rider that he was throughout this J I would say assessing all the stages that and probably why I like this J as well more than last year is just when you look through those the names of those winners extremely high quality you know former world champion Al phelipe in very very good shape poo Sanchez is a proper proper star for the future VPP steinhouse are are St climbing stars for the future it’s like really the best two of the best three sprinters in the world it’s yeah even the only other Sprinter to win a Sprint was uh koii and that was like the really grippy Sprint y so really really high quality winners throughout the race which is why why I think I liked it uh any other stage that peaked your interest Benji o well you’ll just remember it you know something from it when they when they say oh what happened to that J cuz like last year’s jro it’s tough to remember stages you know I remember Bond yeah true uh the thing I do want to mention is that when it comes to the gravel stage I i w NE on paper you’d say grel stage all remember that like the Montalcino stage with with GNA launching it with almea and Remco drama during that stage stuff like that or or for example the the old school Kel vinokurov muddy gravel stage that kind of stuff that’s burned into my brain but then I look at this gravel stage and it’s not that memorable and the reason is because the gravel really cool let’s be honest about it was kind of a gimmick in in that stage it wasn’t really used for much was used for positioning nothing really happened on the gravel except for time loss for the Breakaway Pho Sanchez ends up winning that stage which is a great winner for that stage to be honest and the battle in that breakway was really fun but it won’t be as memorable as those older gravel stages for me and I don’t know I I’d like to see a bit more in the gravel stage and the T FRS maybe to make that stage a bit more memorable than this one I um it’s it’s hard to put the Mountain Stage as memorable for me because you expect pachar to win them and he does it in the manner that you’d expect them to win it in the first place so it’s not for me cycling is partially also about unpredictability and therefore it’s harder for me to place those necessarily on the on the predictability pages but I also want to mention like one of the reasons that I do like the St of France in those Mountain stages is that if Goa wasn’t here I feel like it would have been a staring contest like last year and I agree him making those attacks might have forced the others behind to already be split in a some way on the mountains that we actually see a fight between them that that in group two behind pogacha someone goes to the front because someone else is dropped because of that attack of pogacha so H true that I do think pacha’s presence here made the race significantly better yeah like the Gap was obviously huge but the the fact that Mike is doing these lead outs splitting the group means that other people have to fight for themselves because they have no domastic left except for a Conor having VPP on the last stage and uh the probably the the thing I most regretted would have been uh I was Keen to see the Koy arensman Tiber white jersey battle the three of them uh no Koy [ __ ] you know out to Brooks oh I meant you met coy as I’m like c y That’s why I no I mean I Alla course ready man come on I Me Maybe yeah maybe um the I I wanted to see the O Brooks to Berry CU we already saw in week one they were going at each other for they were attacking each other so it was um that was a bit of a shame but it is what it is but before we get into the the jerseys a word on our sponsor for today’s episode pill a sports micronutrition company which sits separate to uh hydration and carbohydrates products which you need during the race to take you through to the Finish Line we know how important carbohydrates are in fact we hear over and over and over again how that’s been the biggest change in the last 3 to 5 years in terms of nutrition during training or during racing but pillar’s Mission goes another step further to get athletes to that start line in the best condition over and over again and I’ve been taking pillar’s triple magnesium product I actually took it first thing this morning before my coffee when I woke up about 20 minutes ago and before bed each 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pillar performance for sponsoring this episode of lrcp uh teams classification Benji C A does mondal win it because they have uh sort of VPP AP Boda and Conor finishing high up on a lot of stages inos finished second on 44 minutes so it wasn’t actually close UA on 1 hour does that mean I mean deserve for the Caton and D Caton were had a cracking jro does that mean the Caton were the strongest team here o let’s take a look at that so if we go over team one by one let’s start with UA memores for example the the fact is that U memores starts a starts a Mountain Stage not really with the team classification in mind they start a mountain stage with how can we get pachar to the Finish Line without being endangered and maybe we can launch him to go for the stage win that’s that’s the perception I have when it comes to their plan going on every Mount stage which also means that when Pacha launches Nova GR shner they’re off the back and they’re probably not pushing anymore so they’re not trying to get that maximum position on the stage and then you look at Micah who who tries to stick with them a little bit so that’s maybe the the one exception there where he tries to stick with Pacha as long as possible and then maybe sits up a little bit in the last colomet or lost 1.5 km of mountain stages so with UAE it actually hinders their chances of the team classification by seeing being so focused on a more important thing which is winning the bloody malar Roa so it’s logical that they do that but it has an effect on there now if we look at the evolution of u ms in this race I do feel like they were not super consistent in terms of every single Rider but they were consistent enough for the amount of time someone tried to exploit them because in week one let’s be honest on stage one they completely fell through on the madalena climb and that was because when B did poool Novak and gr were instantly Gone without pulling so that loses two teammates that you’d like to have a bit longer in that stage and then I I think further and who actually tried exploiting that vulnerability no one no one tried exploiting that vulnerability no other team really said to themselves okay we saw a little bit of weakness in the team of UA on day one let’s see if we can do something and use that to our advantage or is there a breakway formation we can really use for example on on stage two like it’s not an uphill start but if you take a look at that stage okay we’ve got a uni PTO stage relatively flat stage with one climb at the finish line on paper if we do nothing UAE will arrive at Europa on the final climb with most of their team ready so how can we make it harder for UAE put someone strong in the breakway make it harder for UAE who will almost always ride for a stage on that type of stage make it harder for them to catch the breakway make the Breakaway more difficult to catch by having a stronger Breakaway and that kind of thing is something we didn’t see from any other team trying that instead inel ended up helping UAE saving resources that day so that’s one of the examples where nobody really tried to exploit uae’s vulnerability on stage one then on other stages we saw we saw UA have like two Riders or even bachar plus M alone left during breakway formation on on starts which which shows that in breakway formation they are vulnerable but at that point only inos was still saying that they’re going for the victory while the other teams were like okay we’re going for the podium except for Martinez and garoto as well because Bora was still kind of like ohar seizes as a threat but I never really believed had lipit he got sick so what he going to do you know like alot he’s he’s had a nice race but and that’s why I think UAE were the strongest team they had the best ruler St Langan unbelievable performance they had the best climbing domestique by far Mah like Micah could have top 10 this Race easily I’m going to push back a little bit they have a very strong honestly personally in my opinion MVP and Stan but on paper Ghana’s a better ruler he he just was not used for GC in any theoretical GH Benji that’s what that’s my point about the I I sort of agree with you of course if you go pre-season get their power data rob me like who would you want to [ __ ] do a me you know ride for four hours you be like give give me the Italian one or chef but then fgar take Langan you pay him 200 Grand 250 Grand you arrive for 3 weeks on the front for 3 hours a day and say thanks very much I love to do that for you I get some bonus money from pogy too you say Gana can you ride your ass off for 3 hours today the day before the TT sorry buddy can’t be doing that that’s not just G say if you bring a sprinter you bring a sprinter to a race you know they might not want to do that if you bring a so but that’s why I’m like okay like yeah but they were the strongest team because they got everyone to do their job and everyone knows their job there um and stage one was not because they didn’t want to it’s because they couldn’t I still think I agree with you 100% on the Break Stuff mik B he’s like a great climbing ruler but in break formation and in hectic Sprint finishes he is actually not very good um but if no one exploits it doesn’t matter and I would like to add that then in in week two and week three we saw individual vulnerabilities with riders like Miguel Bick having a bit of an off day in the in the transition between week two and week three three multiple days where he was lost or second l in the race and that’s not a decision he was just feeling under the weather ill whatever then Noak became better as the race went on and gr gr was pretty solid in weeks two and three exactly so it’s like we saw an evolution of the Riders themselves and it’s kind of logical because not every dast can do the same thing for three weeks in a row GC Riders are consistent for three weeks in a row but not necessarily their DS we saw in the in the old Sky days for example we saw in week one we could see Wild pools for example doing doing nothing and then by week three super important so sepkus for example yo Vis in previous years so that that evolution is normal but if if a vulnerability exists in your team and nobody else exploits it then how much of a vulnerability is it really you know yeah exactly and it’s not like break formations were easy every day here this year in fact they were like two the France break form but y got better at them as the race went on because I felt like in the first week and a half they they sometimes overextended a little bit yeah yeah they’d be jumping with Lang and trying to if if more than if a fifth Rider tried to go to a group of four they go crazy trying to jump on yeah yeah which is like it’s it’s because they have that plan in the team in the in the team bus before the race starts the balato the DS tells them okay if a Counterattack go so first attack goes with five Riders fine if a Counterattack tries to go towards it we got to jump on it to make sure a manageable breakway gets ahead but if those Riders are not dangerous then you can just let them go off the front and in the first week and a half they were too responsive to those counterattacks in the last week and a half they played it perfectly there were multiple stages where I was like this is perfect how UA is riding which in previous years they were significantly worse at that work in my opinion yeah I agree uh okay oh we only spoke about one team we got to talk about any and and Theon indirectly but yeah the kathon were really really solid with their climbers but AP AP littleit just but VP and they they had a solid group of four guys who were regularly trying for best Stage position whereas inos Sheffield I think uh not not I think Sheffield fell through because of the crashes yeah and so yeah they lost a lot of time in the team’s classment there he finishes on three hours on GC yep that’s fair but it’s also theon’s Advantage is also that bodan finished so highly in stage one because if that does not happen and he’s not in that white jersey that might restrict his his freedom to go all out for himself on the Mountain Stage cuz he did he did stay along for for himself quite a while I remember he did lead out on stage 10 or something was Pro or MRI MRI okay where where he stayed until the end did that lead out but stay until the end that first of all there was no real incentive for for de caflon to open it up to really risk that at that point but it does help with maximizing stage positions every single day if you can keep xand the Riders up there and not necessarily have to burn them in launching one of your leaders in doing so so that’s kind of the opposite of what we mentioned when it comes to UAE but like you said Team classification the caflon wins I think it’s deserved with the way classification works but that does not necessarily mean they were the the overall strongest team in the race which I agree UAE should definitely uh should definitely be up there with the caflon and those are the two teams I’m looking for which is let’s be honest about it before this race started I looked at the star list and on paper inels was the strongest team here I thought in will clean it cuz I thought Chef would be like 10th on GC or something with the TTS that I didn’t expect but I mean if you said to me can Chef climb as well as I don’t know B yeah and then he TTS an elite level i’ be like maybe you can sneak a top 10 yeah but Chef’s climbing on was it kusano MRI there was one Mountain Stage where it was really good before his crash which if we can see that consist in the future I’m very curious where Chef can go he just crashes too much man he just he crashes so much like it’s it’s crazy yeah it’s to the point where like it’s it’s a it’s a real problem like if you crash that much you can never through three weeks you will never get your good results it’s impossible uh in the white jersey tberry wins 142 ahead of Aon Manzana 1110 uh so it was a battle between Tiber and arensman but uh Tober really had the upper hand the whole time of course o Brooks was wearing the white jersey then went out with sickness on just after the first rest day actually uh it would have been a nice battle between him and tberry because tberry would have taken the lead in the second TT and then excuse me o Brooks would have had to attack him uh I think a pretty welld deserved result for Sniper as uh I think the wat’s occurring calls him 22 years old Italian Rider fifth on GC overall they just I said before the uh the jro Benji when they extended him I said they better know what they’re doing they better know what they’re doing cuz I don’t know about tberry and well certainly barin did know what they were doing because now they might have him at a bit of a steel uh well actually couldn’t the only Italian team I was going to say cuz little Tre will come with their money bags but actually they just fired him so um the I don’t it’s just he was consistent his climbing was uh he was just like a classic solid TTI who was very consistent Benji like I think I saw he’d be on the podium without the Europa mechanical right he was also quite aggressive when he had the when he had the legs I don’t know about the podium he would have been close though he would would have been close to thir uh I think he lost two minutes to the Thomas group so that puts him just on Fourth and I thought it was one mechan it’s finally two Mechanicals which explains why the Gap was 2 minutes on aopa so two Mechanicals on that climb is what led him to losing their time apparently so that’s a that’s a big hit and when I look at the the way Iron Manon and and Tiber lost time and put that up against each other like if ainm doesn’t have a [ __ ] first few days then he doesn’t lose three minutes in the first few days if Tiber doesn’t have a [ __ ] uh oropa double mechanical then he doesn’t lose those St two minutes perhaps so it would have been an even closer battle with those two things which is crazy to think which the white jersey was one of the battles where there was the most tension in it I reckon towards the towards the third week even so I was curious in the last few Mountain stages will TI Tiber fall to eyes will iron Monon be able to try something then any El put iron Monon at the front which made him lose time it wouldn’t have mattered in hindsight because in the in the following up Mountain Stage one L time anyway but it does make me question like I adamm’s progression in the last few years if you take a look at the 2023 J last year he also got six if I recall correctly that was on a I would say that was on a on a higher level of competition except pachar but I’m also of the opinion that I don’t know how much better iron man has become since last year you know um I agree the TT is Elite but how good is like his climbing I don’t really know like I haven’t yeah I also haven’t just compared his numbers to DSM like was he better climbing on DSM um but then they held him back on a few stages I remember as well I don’t know do you think he’ll leave if you’re inos that’s a good question Benji because tiber’s been extended there’s no real discussion there he’s bahrain’s GC leader of the future they’ve made that clear uh maybe they haven’t with Lenny signing rumored but with aons second in that competition what do you do if you’re in a now Benji cuz you’re right it’s like sixth right Sixth and second in the white jersey it’s it’s the same as before and listen not all results are created equally uh but how do you yeah is it it’s not a big step up either it might not be a big step up but I also feel like if you can get to a tweak that that that loss in the first few stages out of out of him like if you can make him consistent across three weeks then then there’s more in it then there’s a a potential Podium bit in there like he would be closer to the podium and would be close he would be close to the podium as simple as that so I I think From en’s perspective I see the value in extending him it depends on the money as always from Iron manon’s perspective it depends on what kind of options you get because if I’m irons man I would not like having to ride for Thomas on that on that one stage in week three when I’m fighting for top five on wi Jersey myself I personally wouldn’t wouldn’t feel great about that which that’s also a matter of his own preferences does he like does he like being sold GC Rider in a ground tour does he like the pressure of that versus ah ver versus compared to here where he might not have had as much pressure because the team also considered him lesser than Thomas and therefore having to work for Thomas in that final week like there’s a balance between the two you know and then the question is which team wants to make him the full leader Tre maybe I can sort of see it they’re not that deep skelos Chona gagen har like none of them they don’t expect much movements in the transfer because they’ve got 25 lead Riders already signed up and they spend a lot of money when it move when little moved in and I don’t think the the the budget is going significantly up again so I doubt it actually where would make sense UA UAE yeah yeah but they’re hoarding so many climbers I I just don’t want it it would it would make sense actually um also because I think he would be better at UA yeah his TT would maybe get even better uh and then he’d be podium one weeks regularly I think I think so too but that’s by the buy uh and yeah like Bor Red Bull they’re like you won’t get leadership there with Henley RIT and co uh km really not the biggest competition frankly like I don’t really think anyone even it was almost never mentioned on commentary until third week yeah uh pelari and steinhouse are kind of got there CU they’re in breakaways a lot but pach one anyway cuz of double points on some of the climbs I think uh geska did try was maybe the only Rider that really tried to go for it uh it would have been I do think they need to change the I don’t know maybe they want pagat to win it or GC rer to win it I don’t actually know how that benefits them because they won’t wear it during the race anyway um yeah I I don’t like it I I I think they got to give more points in the early like in the kazana M or whatever they got to have way more points for the breakway way meet the climes in the first half of the stage yeah but I also feel like there’s there’s quite a few unial stages in today’s uh in today’s in this year’s jro which which adapts that ability of Pacha being able to get more on those final climbs I there’s two camps to it a lot of people have the opinion that okay the best climber in the race so the GC R climbs the best should win the climbers classification I’m of the opinion that I’d rather see a breakway rider win that because that adds more depth to the battles we see during the stage because bachar being so clearly winning that I feel like that has impacted the am r that really Tred to go for it which I’d like to see more action during the stages because I’d like something to talk about on this podcast so did did he pass any penultimate climb this jro in first position stage no kintana was ahead no yeah fair kintana was ahead so P never maybe I’m wrong but he never passed a climb before the final climb in first position and he still wins by 60 points and I I think that’s if you wanted to be a competition for people going for points like that otherwise why have inmediate Sprints for chiclamino although they are kind of also a mood point in in the J the way scoring is done but yeah I I’m a breakaway geska type guy for the km jerseys or like Chone I remember him winning that tdf poker I remember it I think it’s better than Patu or vingard winning it y Chino Johnny Milan uh destroys everybody he I think the only person that could have come close was KY but even closer but he would not have beaten him either because Milan was yeah better in the in the final Sprints and also was just they Tre were all over it in break formation too they weren’t allowing anyone to get any break like Groves uh and he wins that by 130 points or so ahead of groves with 352 which is a big hul for this race uh and 160 or so to merer in third so despite Milan and merer being three uh stage wins a piece you can see that Milan’s nearly double the points so he also really went for that competition and a little treed and they knocked it out of the park so um yeah they fantastic job from them he was the best he he was the best chick lamino person in the race and I would say overall the best Sprinter in the race as well yeah and in addition to that yeah I it was expected that Milan wins the wins the Chino Jersey in this race but seeing it actually happen it was relatively impressive the way he Sprints the way he dominates certain Sprint stages yes he only won the same amount of Sprint stage as merer but I’ve got more of a feeling of of Milan being super impressive after this jro than marier even though merer winning no Sprint stage towards the end of the ground tour I think this might have been the first ground tour where merer won a Sprint stage off to stage three that that might be completely wrong but my head says that’s right so it’s it’s also impressive by marer but I’m I’m just super impressed by Jonathan Milan by the way little Trek has shaped their Sprint train for him the way koni has been as a lead out has been impressive as well it really works together relatively well yes they made mistakes here and there but that’s fine if you’re Sprinter can win it anyway so that’s a that’s a thing and such a difference with with the way bahin supported him because in my opinion they dude I mean it’s it’s unbelievable right I forget but just over a year ago they were trying to make him lead out Duan rovic in dot Pro races yeah that’s crazy and like Milan is the power this guy has is unbelievable like as you can see in the road code orona that got published in this J like just unbelievable the power um and T know that and he’s I think on PCS ranking a top 10 rider in the world right in 2024 as of right now so uh he also as you said he came he came second four times in the jro as well he was just always always up there and he had the mech in the last uh stage so huge even though he won chick lamino last year this this time I he only won one St stage last year I think this time was much different that big step up uh and then to the Malia Rosa which we’ve already spoken about I guess at length but yeah Pacha wins by 956 ahead of Martinez 1024 to Thomas so only a 28 second Gap actually between second and third but Martinez was the better on the Grappa stage okon finishes fourth on 1207 to Barry 1249 fifth then arens and Rubio Yan h b stora uh rounding out the top 10 yeah that’s I pach wins GC with six stages it’s where probably one of the most dominant GC displays we’ve seen in the in the last 10 15 20 years I don’t know it’s he he completely dominated the race except for that one stage we mentioned uh on stage one and uh suffocated everybody they no one had the no one did could have the chance to do anything so super impressive yep super impressive Pacha was a heavy favorite going into this race but to be able to deliver it within nearly 10 minute the victory is is still impressive in hindsight and the story for me lies more in P P2 to P p13 I’d say in this race when it comes to GC because like pach are winning it’s not a surprise like it’s not a surprise super impressive but it’s not a surprise Martinez getting second it’s a bit of an upset for me as in like his consistency over the three weeks purely admirable like I I wasn’t expecting that Thomas finishing third he was a he was a Podium he was a favorite for the podium I would say so that’s not necessarily um a disappointment or a super big victory but I think with the age that Thomas has which is if I recall 38 or something yes he is isn’t he extending his own record of the oldest guy on the podium at the jro or something like that still has to be considered impressive seeing him on the podium as well this allergy of getting in the wind but go yeah but also like it is impressive when he he was struggling at times you know and he he wasn’t the best he wasn’t just having the legs like to bury to attack and he held on to third even without the best TT on the stage Perugia stage and he still gets third so thanks to vvp on the last Mountain Stage yeah yeah but he still like is very very impressive that to come third when even on the physical level you maybe Tiber was was about the same is super impressive yeah but that that also depends on the stage because OK Conor was Ill in the last week as well so he had the same thing he finished his fourth then and then TI had on the Lino stage where he lost a minute and a half I think so everybody had a bit of a weakness which it then depends on whether you can be consistent enough and have as little weakness as possible as little much of a of a Time loss throughout the three weeks which Thomas’s consistency is of the is of the charge relatively to uh to other Riders and I think that’s where the the most admirable admirable aspect is the consistency across three weeks that Thomas still has on that one ground tour he really goes for and I got to be honest I don’t expect to see him at magnificent form the Twitter fronts based on last year how he showed up at the VTA but at the jro he certainly was uh was impressive OK Conor as well like it’s not his fault that he gets ill maybe maybe it is his fault I don’t know maybe he was hanging out with ill people in the last week but but OK Conor getting four into a rave on the first rest day oh God yeah it’s just they they’re all so fragile like they’re all just they’re all you know such a low body weight training camp one one exposure to any anyone that all the crowds or whatever bang sick tii yes I spoke about the the double mechanical but outside of that relatively consistent outside of the Lino stage and then I continue on where like Rubio I didn’t expect him to top 10 because in the past I saw him as a as a stage Victor Hunter for example and to see him get seven is really that example that we put through in the in the jro preview before this race started that because the GC field in this race wasn’t stacked we see Riders going for that top 10 that might have gone for for km plus stag WIS in other years like store for example ending up 10 same story for me Roman B said he was going to go for stage wins but reality is the lack of top GC Riders here makes it top 10 possible for these Riders and that’s why we see them in there but I also do want to amend pigon who got 13th in this jro because yes it’s on a lot of time but this guy’s 21 and I feel like we’re going to see a bit more of pigoni in the future his contract’s also out so actually don’t know where pigoni will be going please no why he ain’t that good Benji no I want to see him go towards a team that has a future has a future you here voo saying no he might be on the market I saw that cuz that was buried in the in the text of Benson’s article on GC be a pro team in two years no no no vo vo he though he can resurrect this From the Ashes B he’s been trying for multiple years it doesn’t they get almea and some other guys you watch their points next year in 2025 um IFA goes to aana he’s going to be watched is my opinion no aana knows what they’re doing on GC they just don’t have any good GC Riders blov climb better on aana he did I don’t see it I don’t see I have faith I believe in that’s I’ve got zero on jir Bruto he destroyed UA listen they didn’t bring youi because he got I’m I’m just I’m babbling but yeah you’re right St probably [ __ ] sh shoter making a big push uh uh Pacha has 14 World Tour wins at this before one June Benji that’s more World Tour wins than he’s ever had in a season by the way pretty good it’s not bad his season and it’s not going to stop here yeah is that a segue is that a segue I think that’s a segue can pater achieve you call it the Triple Crown jro tour worlds you’re assuming he does Juro tour worlds and no Welter I guess can he do jro it would be jro Jero tour Olympics VTA worlds well he doesn’t need to do the VTA necessarily he does that’s what you think if you win the Tour the thing is before the season started pacha’s aim for the season was jot tour Olympics worlds that was the plan they laid out and now the discussion starts first of all question number one can he do the jot tour the franceze double which it’s really difficult to judge that based on the fact that half of his competitors for the victory there are barely on the bike yet n that’s not true that’s not true you you know what I mean they’ve just they’ve they they are recovering from an injury Remco I don’t think that yeah but do you consider Remco a favorite for for the for the Twitter FRS with pogacha of course he’s a competitor he’s no you said a competitor competitor he’s a competitor I don’t have him as like no he’s not a favorite obviously but he’s a competitor is RIT is a competitor Ving vingard was obviously uh the injury was kept him off the bike longer than rogl and and uh and rco but like Remco just did like 15 days in Sierra no problems um I only see vinger got able to beat Pacho well that’s the my point so like pagat has never done two tours two grand Tours in a season before so there is the question mark how will he recover we don’t know if doing the jro before the tour was the optimal preparation then everyone would have would would have been doing it before this year that’s just a fact that’s a fact yeah yeah obviously if it was preferable to do it then people would have done it and the reason RCS has to pay people to come is because it isn’t preferable um so but is paga he’s a special riter so yeah that that doesn’t mean he’ll be he’ll be bad in in July breaking multiple bones in your body also isn’t a perfect setup so P absolutely he can do the jro to or double absolutely can and and if vinger guard’s not there in U in good shape then most likely he will to be honest because I agree with you like there success breed success uh the biggest risk I see is that some of the team issues you mentioned Benji the vulnerabilities those things in the tour to France have a way of getting needled out a bit more than in a in a jro particularly when you bring one and a half rulers uh so the but yeah of course he can do the jro tour double and he’s I think he’d be the favorite for the tour right now he is the favorite I think in the betting I think he should be the favorite for the tour right now because we don’t know what level V is going to show up at the T FRS uh I saw Willer flitz report that the expectations are relatively high that he’s going to be at good form at the tter FR which I still find that I still find that difficult to believe which is which is mainly because the amount of time it’s been since thing go a and bass country isn’t that isn’t that long ago and especially with the severity of the injuries I have a more of a hard time seeing him at 100% and may maybe he has like the the peak quads there but whether he can consistently do that for three weeks there might be something there a bit more more weakness that that that could be exploited and on the other hand I also I also believe in the the post Sun millon era of pogacha I believe I believe that it’s it’s physically possible that with a new trainer he can work on the on the vulnerabilities that he had in the past and maybe maybe change those and tweak those and maybe be a little bit better on the high energy expenditure large long effort Mountain stages that really get hammered by other teams where he has to push to the edge of a seat uh but by the end still be able to deliver so I don’t think this Juro proofs that said weakness is gone because he was never put under that pressure I agree but it also doesn’t prove that it’s still there which is also a thing Riders evolve which is part of the beauty of the sport that we’re watching and therefore I can’t tell you whether pachar still has that whether whether Vima can show up at a to the front and Hammer that same strategy of of Smashing every climb in the mountain stages to hopefully have that payoff against pachar if vagar shows up with less Bas because he he’s had less time to recover from his injuries that might actually be counterintuitive does that make sense yeah and we won’t know until week two or three or week three because there’s like okay the stage four is the Gia stage but it’s like 130 K long and it’s like 4% climbing that ain’t going to be where you do anything so we won’t know we won’t know until weeks two and three because yeah they start with an Italian Classics opening uh opening weekend and if we then take a look at the team that’s around them you mentioned it already uh you look at well and spoit as potential rulers and then next to that the rumored names are Solair COV Adam Yates almea an Ao no mic yeah and a lot of climbing like I do think that Adam y’s proven that he can do that M car role if not better he’s pretty good yeah so Adam y’s a pretty good Rider AO and almea are pretty good Riders individually but I can’t trust Almeida to be where he needs to be to perform the work when he needs to every single time of the week un l d he was supposed to do more than just show up and try and be in position and not being able to achieve that position he was in leash he tried to position he was he was supposed to position uh to help lead out pogacha on lud but he wasn’t there when it comes to his positioning and Novak had to solve it so that’s one of the examples that I can’t expect almea to be there every single time when necessary and on the other hand you’ve also got a question are they going to go for the allout pachar leadership or are they going to consider okay is we’re in nirro we’re going to have a Uso as as Tiny backup leader in certain occasions I don’t think you’re GNA be dingo with a yo but then again maybe Uso made a step forward that we haven’t seen yet so far so those are possible things he also got cooked hard by Carlos Rodriguez in Romy three weeks ago yeah I agree with you that bll and will on paper they’re good rert like don’t get me wrong Poland Williams are [ __ ] good riters they were like top five Classics riters this year but the problem is let’s say w fad goes to the tourron or or Mato jensson goes to the tour FR as expected if po ain’t bringing back in a medium Mountain Stage he ain’t controlling Jenson jumping on 67% exactly so I’m I’m looking at those situations and thinking okay can they solve those situations and how quickly will the other Mountain Riders like almea yo and so for fold into that domesti role when necessary I hope fast enough because well C used as a semi- rer yeah I I don’t see that as a great option I think he’s not great but at least he’s like 70 kilos or something and he can ride the the flat you know yeah that’s true but so so that’s one thing there Juro t double perfectly possible he’s the favorite to do it is my opinion pach UA the t is a much more interesting Prospect than this jro yeah this jro yeah no he he brought that T A Team he brought Langan and Micah and grard and berj he brought his tour team of previous years and so it’s a new UA team it’s Uncharted Territory for patcha and there should be better competition in the tour uh they definitely maybe the team itself exactly and and there’s also the io work card what does he think his role is yep uh so yeah that is a much more enticing Prospect for GC and then if we take a look at World Championship ships for example if I don’t if I’m not wrong it’s Zur parkour which is a bit of a circuit where it’s got a climb in there and if I take a look at the climb 1.9 kmers at 6.2% on one end bachu is one of the favorites of this parkour but on the other hand he’s been outplayed by Remco he’s been outplayed by rco a few times on world championship so I he he has a team around him with Slovenia Novak is probably going to be there tck’s probably going to be there I’m looking at those kind of riders and I’m like okay they will be supportive of him will will Slovenia show up with both pachra and Rit I don’t know if they they love working together too much but I still feel like the I’m while I would I would love to see pogacha World Championships at some point in my lifetime because I feel like at some point in his career he deserves to be world champion but if I take a look at this parkour it would wouldn’t shock me if a a group goes away early that pogacha is not a part of that ad is a part of and he benefits like Wong again from that situation so it’s not super likely either despite being a co- favorite for that race for poach I don’t know it’s hard to say j t is perfectly possible jur tour worlds is of course more difficult because there three races uh but I think it’s possible who’s the last Rider that did the Triple Crown in cycling I don’t know cuz Triple Crown to be clear is jot tour World Championships not jot tour VTA and I think that’s that that dates back from the days where where the wela was earlier in the season which made it hard or impossible to combine Steven roach in 87 yeah and hasn’t been done for like 40 years 37 years or on the women’s side Von Von that’s a slightly different story2 um yeah of course he probably will be the favorite for worlds although I don’t know I agree with you that like that circuit when I see that and the Belgian team they they really have some good cards to play uh particularly with with remle C in the pool uh okay finally Benji before we get out of here how would you rate the Jalia out of 10 and your then General subjective feeling did it uh disappoint you you pleasantly surprise you how do you how are you left it’s weird because I started this ground tour with zero expectations because I thought it was going to be a an absolute bore Fest because I in one day races I’ve made my state and clear that I I I like seeing greatness happen but on on the other side of it by far yeah word spring Classics we’ve covered I agree and that’s because I like unpredictability in my races every now and then which on the other hand this jro gave enough for me to have enjoyed the entire race but I’m also going to think back to what ground tours are marked in my mind what ground tours are marked in my mind and then I’m thinking are the nibbly comeback in 2016 for example that’s one of them the 2020 jro with hindy keron versus ta gagen Hart for example on the stelvio with Dennis bacing on that climb that kind of stuff that that comes to mind immediately so then I see the pattern where my favorite ground tours of the boss seem to be the ones that have an opposite in the third week where something happens in week three that stays in my mind engraved in my head and I’m like oo those were the moments where where the whole world of cycling was oh on the edge of their seat and we didn’t have that in this ground tour so I’m kind of in between two minds up of this race was better than I expected but I don’t think it’s a memorable race you know it’s like between those two so initially I would have probably given it a seven but I think I’m going to go for like a a six six and a half I think it’s about a yeah about a five five or six because yeah the the Sprints were really really excellent quality MH with two of the best going head to-head uh the Breakaway winds were very very good quality and also like the break fights on those stages were almost the whole stage it really was entertaining from from the gun it it really was good but yeah the lack of top NGC action just cannot happen above a six you just can’t when it’s when it’s that when it’s like that uh and also the reason it’s not like oh but people if people like oh but it was terrible how can you say it was even a six you know which is maybe a passing grade how can you say that uh when it was you know 10 minutes won by GCS goes well we’ve seen the alternative Benji yeah this was a better race than last year Y where there was 14 seconds decided GC at the end okay one stage one exciting TT a race do not make and I know the alternative is that if pigat wasn’t here it would have been a three we staring contest apart from Berry it would have been and not CU Danny Martinez doesn’t have kones he does but [ __ ] lipit abandoned and without lipit he could do nothing you just got to try your best which is what he did on the last grapper stage so it would have been a staring contest and uh so I thank pachu for his attendant and Bey Cony I think on TV said that apparently pach is returning in 2025 the words of bee Conti are the are trust me bro sources be scy sources are trust me bro like it’s pure manifestation he’s like okay wow we can try and Pacha back if we say now that Pacha will come back the the that’s going on so you reckon RCS got their money’s worth I think they did I think they did as well I think it’s worth having him on especially because it’s not just because of the jro but also the jro tour the jro tour world like it’s it’s a storyline and being part of that storyline as the jro might make for something if it does happen it if if he achieves the Triple Crown then this jur will be part of that history don’t you think there’s a network effect in that they should be not shouldn’t they be paying multiple top GC Riders you know what I mean like yeah I think so too if you if you pay whatever they pay Pacha and then you pay the same or whatever for for a roit of vingard or Remco then it actually is worth more than you know it’s as a network effect because if vingard is is a Theo 25 with Pacha that could be the race of the year I could that could eclipse the tour it won’t nothing will eclipse the tour but in our minds it could be eclipse the tour so um it’s there but they got to get another big gun if he does come during the during the team Sky era to the FR was not my favorite ground tour no the jury were better than the tour often the jro was a better ground tour back then and the Juro theala fell off it’s as simple as that it’s not my favorite ground tour anymore the Tour of France has a ST which probably good for the status of the sport at T FR is the best round tour and the wels the welters made a come like last year all the Welter been pretty solid exactly like the welta has been interesting the jro’s come to the point that I’m I’m indeed doubting whether is a second best ground tour either so parkour wise in the past it was legendary the jro it was often backloaded though so that makes for not that interesting second weeks of the race but on the other hand I I hope to see the jro it’s weird because H I don’t know if the organization really runs the Jal perfectly if that makes sense like communication wise stuff like that like if if I’m looking at the the whole yearly neutralization drama yeah like what the hell like me and you are going to do the same joke in October and we’re going to say which stage is the one that’s going to get cancelled back and we’re not even joking we’re not even joking like we knew steio was probably going to get cut yeah like yeah that’s uh but at least I insulted it a few times beforehand well we the thing is this year we didn’t care because yeah whatever it’s is a shame that they did have the linho stage but even that 7% climbs so yeah hopefully they bring also adapted yeah yeah all righty uh I think that’s all from ajro recap if you the Delta between preview and recap in terms of how we read the race I think is a positive gain of about three points or so giving us both us giving about six or so out of 10 uh so I would say it outperformed expectations and was a pretty solid Edition well how about we ask the public comment below what you like about the ground tour what was your favorite stage is it better than last year what was your favorite stage answer all the same questions we answered in this podcast I want to hear your opinion because hey your part of this too thanks everyone for your support during the three weeks we’ll be back with a weekly uh weekly show this week as well as then Criterium to doofan coverage on Sunday I believe it starts where there’s going to be remle Ritch uh the big American bad baddies Jorgenson and cous and uh I know I’m sure that’ll be a good race too that is uh you just go treat yourself go treat yourself right now little Monday morning treat go and check the last three stages of the do profiles filthy stages some WIS delightful stages uh I wish they’d have full coverage of them but uh that’s the uh for us to look forward to on Sunday we’ll see you sometime this week thanks for your support ciao