Coming up on this week’s GCN Racing News Show, Tadej Pogačar wins his first Grand Tour in almost 3 years, but how does he compare to the other greats? Dan will be looking back at his dominant victory at the race, and the incredible stats of his season so far.

00:00 Welcome to the GCN Racing News Show
00:37 Milan’s bike
00:50 Pellizzari a big fan of Pogacar
01:09 Team Telekom is back
01:20 Pogacar takes time for young fan
01:32 Giro D’Italia analyses
09:52 GCN Shop
10:17 Boucle de la Mayenne
11:02 Victory of Lorena Wiebes
11:41 Tour of Norway
12:51 The return of Wout Van Aert
13:22 The return of Biniam Girmay
13:34 Critérium du Dauphiné
13:45 Transfer Rumour Mill In Full Swing

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coming up on this week’s gcn racing news show today puga wins his first grand tour in almost three years but how does he compare to the sports other greats I’ll be looking back at his dominant victory at the J Italia and the incredible stats of his season so far I’ll also be wrapping up the tour of Norway ride London classic B the lameen and the rundum K this week in the world of racing we learned that Milan’s bike was the Talk of the Town yesterday for the right and for the wrong reasons here’s his pretty spectacular looking Trek madon chick lamino special absolutely stunning but here it is on the side of the road after he punctured with nine K to go more on that later we also learned that Julio pelari is not only a fantastic Rider in his own right but a huge Tedy paga fan on Tuesday he finished second to his Idol and politely requested if he could have his Shades now here’s a picture of the two of them together at the 2019 stra bianc we also learned that team Telecom are back or at least that’s how it looked When U team Emirates turned up to the final jro stage in Rome very reminiscent of the German team back in the day we also learned that t paga can always make time for young fans even deep into a big Mountain Stage that was a very special moment on day 20 wasn’t it right let’s focus then on the dear Italia there’s not too much you can say about pogy’s Victory there that hasn’t already been said we all knew that he was the big favorite going into the race so it wasn’t a surprise to see his dominance that said I personally really enjoyed the whole race although the GC was effectively wrapped up early almost every stage was entertaining and I think that was in part because the other teams knew they would have to ride a bit less cautiously if they wanted to get anything out over three weeks inos grenadiers and the kathon a who are both took stage wins over the 3-we race despite their GC Ambitions so I would give the race a seven out of 10 this year I reckon I really enjoyed it but I’d be interested to hear your thoughts as well leave your ratings for the 2024 J in the comments section below did it entertain despite the inevitability of the overall results or did it not live up to your expectations I’ll do my usual statistical Roundup of Pat’s performance now so it’s winning margin of 9 minutes and 50 seconds was the biggest at the J or any Grand Tour since 1965 he equaled Eddie mx’s tally of five stage wins in the pink jersey but went one better by one in one without the leaders jersey on on stage two at the last Rider to win six stages of a single Grand Tour was Mark Cavendish in 2009 but you have to go back 30 years to find the last non-s Sprinter to have done the same Tony rominger at the 94 Welter his sixth stage win into basana Del grappo was the 13th win of his season so far from a total of 31 race days he’s become the third youngest rider in history to have been on the podium at all three grand Tours that’s behind Bernardino and feliche jimoni and they are the only three riders in history to have finished on those podiums at their first time of trying now the worrying thing for his Rivals is that he appears to be getting better and better that’s certainly what he said himself whilst gar Thomas of inos grenadiers describing as the best Rider he’s ever competed against or with and that’s saying something for a rider that turned Pro back in 2007 now we should also take a moment to commend his team there was a lot of talk about being the B Squad leading into the Jalia with the liks of Almeida iuso COV and Yates all absent but not only did all seven of his teammates make it to Rome they offered him the support he needed every single step of the way there wasn’t really a moment throughout the three weeks where you got the sense they’d lost control of any situation so my hat is tipped to Stark Langan Micah Oliva gr Novak beel and Milano the scary thing is that their tour to France roster is going to be stacked this year as neutral viewers we really have to hope that yonas vine girl manages to get back close to his best the same for Remco AOL and Primos rogl paga has 34 days now to recover and then rebuild ahead of the start of the tour to France which is in Florence on the 29th of June there was some brilliant performances over the final week outside of pagat though which I’ll hone in on now going to start with the final Podium Danny Martinez is best result at a grand tour before was fifth at the jro in 2021 there he was riding at the service of teammate agan Bernell who won the overall classification but that was the only time that Martinez had ever finished in the top 25 of a grand tour and because of that I really had my doubts about whether he’d have the consistency to finish on the podium here well he proved me wrong martinz put together an incredibly consistent three weeks of racing to finish second overall given who he finished second two I reckon that must feel almost like a win in itself Bor hgar didn’t manage to take a stage win but they contined to rise up the ranks of grandor GC teams G Thomas became the second oldest Podium finisher at the race by coming third and what’s most impressive about him is his ability not to lose chunks of time on days where he’s not feeling 100% by his own admission he wasn’t at his best over the final week of the race but he never panicked he rode his own Tempo and that was rewarded with his fifth Grand Tour Podium placing from his last eight starts at 38 years old now he is starting to wind down his career a little but speaking to gcn he did say he might have one final GC Harrah before he retires uh he’ll be at the tour to France in a few weeks time as well at the service of his teammates fourth overall was Ben o Conor like Thomas he was a little underpar over the last last week so he can be more than satisfied with his ride the cathlon ad2 took a comfortable win in the team classification whilst Valentine Parry pant was one of the MVPs of the race and I reckon his ride on Monte graer on Saturday at the service of ok Conor was particularly impressive Antonio tiberi has given Italian fans reason to be hopeful for the future they’ve not had a lot to cheer about in terms of grand tour GC since fenzo NE retired but deberry’s fifth place and best young Rider win suggests they will do soon and were it not for the mechanical problem that he had on day two he’d actually been very close to the final Podium ton arensman rescued what looked like it could be a disastrous race on the opening couple of stages he rallied really well to take sixth overall whilst Ana Rubio of M Star took his first ever top 10 at a grand tour in seventh aan hit finished a commendable eighth Roman Bard ninth and a great ride by Michael store on stage 20 propelled him into the top 10 he had to feel for bip oana of jako alula that day though he fell at the very last hurdle and unfortunately dropped out of the top 10 Jonathan mean of leel Trek comfortably won the points classification but he was unable to take a win in the final week so on Thursday into PARTA he was called out of position going into the final right-hander and had already made a big effort to get next to Malia before they both kicked for the line then yesterday in Rome well that was a different matter Al together wasn’t it as I mentioned at the start of the show he punctured at the start of the final lap and I gave him around a 10% chance of even getting back to the pelaton let alone then contesting the Sprint at the end of the stage well he did both but must have paid for that effort surely on both those occasions it was Tim malier of sudal quickstep who got the better of him so before this jro he’d actually never won a stage Beyond day three of a grand tour and I think he was very happy to prove his doubters wrong with two wins over that final week today patcha also won the mountains prize but I’ve got to mention the two future superstars who finished second and third in that competition Julio pelari of VF group bani was the youngest Rider at this year’s jro and he had a final week that he’s never going to forget second to batan Stage 16 he received a pair of Shades and a pink jersey for his efforts and on stage 20 he almost ciled the plans of uat memorate by attacking the first time up Monte Grappa it wasn’t to be but his ride that day rewarded him with second place in the mountains competition and so he got to the line up in the blue jersey on the front row at the start of the final day going into Rome incidentally patcha smashed the straa record up Monte Grappa that day he went up it two minutes faster than anyone else on the stage itself and almost a minute quicker than Nar canana was in 2014 in what was a mountain time trout ton arensman whose time was 3 minutes slower on Saturday still averaged 420 Watts on the Monte Grappa climb anyway third in that mountains classification was 22-year-old gor steinhauser of EF education easy post who won stage 17 on the passo Brock on his boss Jonathan vs had already been praising steinhouse fatigue resistance in the opening week of the race and he certainly lived up to that billly what made his win even more impressive that day was that he’d been in the early break that was caught but he still had the strength and the tenacity to make another move which ended up sticking now often when a rider is caught from the early break their motivation is killed and they wait for another day not the case for steinhauer though that was one of the best wins of the entire race and that just about wraps up the first male grand tour of the Season all thoughts will soon of course turn to the warm-up races for the Tour of France and then the gruk itself just before I move on to other races though and I give you another quick plug for our shop where our collection of Italian themed t-shirts and sweatshirts are still available in small quantities along with some special edition mugs and Camelback bottles if you’d like to see the complete collection all you need to do is head over to shop. Global cycling network.com right I had better move on to the other racing from last week now because there was an awful lot to get through I’m going to start with the book de la in France where Alberto Beto took his first ever General classification win the 30-year-old attacked with 9ks to go on stage two to take a solo Victory there which he and his team defended through to the end the cathol ag2r continued their amazing season by book ending the race with Stage victories Ben while Kfar had won the opening day’s prologue while Valentin Rio foed the sprinters on stage three to take his first ever Pro win the team’s already racked up 23 wins already this year level with Leal Trek and only second to UA team Emirates who are up to 38 at the ride London classique there was a clean sweep of all three stages and the general classification no prizes for guessing who the V had the perfect lead out from her team every day and with world champion lot capek as your last lead out Rider it’s quite hard to go wrong isn’t it uh she won with lengths to spare most days in finishing runner up on stages two and three charlotta Cole of Team DSM feric postnl pipped keki for second place on the final Podium the only competition that vibz didn’t win there was the mountains that went to Rebecca ker of unox Mobility vibe’s career Victory tally is now up to 82 and she’s only just 25 11 of those wins have come this year and with only 22 days of racing so far her win rate is even better than patas at the start of the tour of Norway TBO n’s win rate was right up there as well so in winning the opening stage there very comfortably I might add he’ taken five wins in 13 days of racing on the road this year by that point unliking hungry though he wasn’t able to defend his lead the key GC shakeup came on stage two and it Summit finished a good Axel Lon of alberon deer was triumphant there getting the BET of Ethan hater in a small group Sprint to the line Lawrence’s average power for the last 30 seconds was 930 Watts he’s a real specialist in those uphill Sprints isn’t he the final two stages ended in bunt Sprints there the first of which marked the first win for yi mayor since that Victory on the shaiz at the tour to France last year but he had set up a second place on the fourth and final stage where Alexander Kristoff took a win on his Home Road of Stanga that was the third win of Kristoff season and remarkably he’s won at least one Pro Race every year since 2011 that’s some longevity for you laurance hung on to the overall classification which was his first GC win in the Pro ranks that race also marked the return a welcome return I might add of w vanard incredible really to have got packed to competition already given the extent of the injuries he sustained in dworf Landon just 6 weeks earlier and it was quite a solid return too he had a fourth and a third place on the final two stages of the race in those Sprints here’s hoping we get to see him at the tour to France in just under five weeks time and just finally Casper Van Udin won the rundum con in a bunch Sprint yesterday that’s his second victory since turning pro at the start of 2023 in a race that also marked the return to competition of bam gumai who crashed out of the jro the AA train finished second on day uh plenty more racing to come this week by the way rim aapol and Primos Rog Are Back In Action at the Criterium dof which starts this Sunday you can catch that live on Discovery plus and Euros sport where you’ll also be able to catch the ciri Franco belge merant classic and Brussel cycl classic later on this week I’ll move on to the transfer Rumor Mill now and it looks like fdj sewers could have the team of their dreams next season they’re widely rumored to be signing Demi valerin from SD Works Pro time as well as Juliet labu of Team DSM and Elise shabby from Canyon sham with a Vita music already in their ranks plus the likes of Grace Brown sicy utr ludig and Mar cavali that is going to be the team to beat I would say at stage races next season one of the biggest surprises to me at least though was the rumor that Alisa Longo borghini is set to leave leel Trek at the end of this year that’ll be after six seasons with that Squad in that time she’s obviously won a lot of huge races my first thought was that she might replace voling at SD works but it’s sounds like UAE team adq will be her destination it’s also been reported by chiros sco and Dan Benson that Jonathan will leave inos graders and head to U team Emirates next year that would be a real blow for inos if that were to happen Keep Your Eyes by the way on our website which is global cycling network.com for all the latest transfer talk right that is all for now thanks every for watching I’ll see you again next week

41 Comments

  1. I give it a 9/10. Sure the expected happened, but the dominance Pogacar showed was nothing short of amazing. Fastest Giro on record. Brilliant performances on many stages as well by other riders. And GT, as always, takes the podium for class. Amazing GdI for sure.

  2. 420 watts for the whole climb while stilling on the wheels for most of the climb and getting a draft. While Bjerg pulled 4k +-, then Grosschartner 4k+-, Then Donmen Novak 4k+-, then Rafal the first to go full gas, afterwards Arensmen was dropped and finished 12th on the stage. That's 11 riders averaging better than Arensman's watts. 🤔😳 . I don't believe it.

  3. I do worry when you get "unbelievable" riders doing "unbelievable" things. I'm sure RCS Sport got the show they paid for and UAE can make lots of this in the UAE (good PR for the Country) but… it's very whiffy. I do think the UCI would be part of the story too. Watched cycling since 1987 and never seen the ease of this win. Even LA would look like he was trying, truly a bizarre sight and event.

  4. 5/10 for me. As expected, Pog amazed us all but the lack of a compelling GC contest must've got to me in the end. I found I was watching less and less of each successive stage.

  5. Just a correction, Rund um Köln was Girmay's 4th race after he'd dropped out of Giro d'Italia. He'd already showed quite some power at Ronde van Limburg, where his leader Thijssen unfortunately couldn't follow him in the finish.

  6. Grand tours are always drama filled for those contesting the top 10, even if there is one clear winner. Enjoyed the sprints, as a good battle there too. And always love the Italian countryside and picturesque villages etc so enjoyed the Giro.

  7. 8/10. The Italian teams were certainly bold and entertaining. They delivered a big GC margin for Pogacar and one of the most iconic stage win and come back for Alaphilippe.

  8. 10/10 it’s a privilege to watch Pog in action along with G and the bunch fighting it out for the podium. Young riders making a name as well along with Milan putting on a good show!

  9. For some time now the giro has been the best GT. I suspect it will be the same this season too. As for Trek’s cyclamen bike: pigs and lipsticks come to mind!

  10. 9/10 – I had the chance to watch almost all the coverage and can say that I really enjoyed this year's Giro. Kudos to the riders, route planners…My all time favourite Grand Tour has to be the 89 Tour de France. 🙌

  11. A lot of times, elite riders take themselves too seriously, but Pogačar is just so likable. Sure, he’s a great rider, but I find myself rooting for him in a way that I never root for, say, Vingegaard or Evenepoel.

  12. Nowhere near the biggest margin since 1965. 1984 TdF – Fignon's winning margin over Hinault was 10m 32s. 1981 Hinault won by 14m 34s. 1979 TdF – Hinault won by 13m 07s. 1969 TdF – Merckx won by 17m 54s.

  13. Only watched the highlights most days, but will give a 8/10. Pogacar and his team had it totally under control but still went for it, which makes his stats even more impressive. Wasn't that bothered it was a bit of a one man race as I don't really support any particular rider, but think we should acknowledge history was made by an athlete at his peak. A great winner.
    Great job done by Geraint Thomas at 38, his after race interviews were great being so honest and respectful.

  14. Love you Dan and these shows on Monday and Tuesday.
    Have to make a small correction though (can't help it): while it is true that Pogacar's winning margin of 9:56 was the biggest at the Giro since 1965, it is not true for all the Grand Tours like you said at 2:35.
    In 1984 Fignon won the Tour by 10:32 against none other than Bernard Hinault!

  15. #GCN Racing, do you think Dan could give us a TDF mini course on the ins and outs of the big races. Like what do coloured jerseys mean? What's a GC? Breakaway? How points are earned? Team cars following the riders, towing them up to front group after a crash. Why is the peleton so big? Who are all these different classes of riders, like domestiques? Where does all the food come from, for riders and staff? How big are these teams? How many busses do they have? What about the mechanics? I can go on and on, but would love to hear about this pro world. Thanks

  16. My favourite bit was Pog solo breaking, winning a stage by 2 mins and looking like he's on a Sunday morning park ride, unbelievable stuff!!!!

  17. We knew that Tadej would win, as long as he kept the rubber side down. It wasn’t his fault concerning the lack or level of competition, so what it turned out being was the perfect hill and tempo training for the TDF. I was disappointed in Bardet’s performance; Nairo had flashes, but wasn’t at his top form; G was G…I’ll give it an 8 out of 10.

  18. I give it a 9/10. Pogi is perhaps my favorite pro cyclist. I really enjoyed the epic performances of dominance. I thought G Thomas gave great interviews and was a gentleman. I listened to Danny Martinez' interviews in Spanish and he seems to be a class act. My only complaint would be with race organizers on the snowy stage not putting the safety of the riders first.

  19. I loved the Giro. A pleasure to watch. The Pog winning will never be boring because everything that he does is entertaining. And his personality is great for the sport.

  20. The Giro was excellent. I agree 7 out of 10. 3 out of 10 lost to the lack of competitiveness in the world tour in current era. You can almost pick the top 2 of most top races at the first site of the rider names of the race.

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