Santos Tour Down Under 2024 Recap | Lanterne Rouge Cycling Podcast

In this episode Patrick Broe and Benji Naesen recap both men’s and women’s Santos Tour Down Under.

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

0:00 Intro
2:06 Men’s Santos Tour Down Under
28:46 Surprising performances
39:37 Women’s Santos Tour town Under
52:34 News roundup

Welcome back to the L recycling podcast for our Santos tour down under Mega recap of both the men and women’s editions the 10 days or so of racing has it’s about a week actually of racing has wrapped up now down in Adelaide with I think some pretty I don’t know pretty

Nice things to talk about it’s good to see will longa was back we had some uh interesting Sprints we had a lot of Young Riders performing in both races but what have you been up to Benji I’m cool it’s so hot here it’s like the humidity here and du point is unbelievable it’s

Actually unbelievable how hot it is the last two days I got heat I think I gave myself I did my first intensity on the bike yesterday for a long time with some threshold intervals and I I started too late uh I started at 5:30 I should have

Started at 4:45 in the morning and you’ve got a heat Str I’m cooked yeah I’m completely sleep deprived cuz I spent the last uh the last six days the Santa Su and under at night basically because I’m in the UK doing uh partially the the Twitter account for the Santa Su

And under so it’s important that I do disclose that and contractually I need to tell you that uh my views on this podcast are my own and not that of the Santa s under which I think is pretty obvious but have to say it anyway but man I’m so sleep deprived like four

Hours a night I was sleeping but then it’s also like my circadian rhythm or whatever you call that is so Switched Off to the point that I had to sleep 2 hours in the afternoon sometimes to try and catch up to sleep and I tried doing

A TR today M what sorry so you feel fine now because nor you’ve got you’ve got like another 5 six hours to go normally I feel fine but this stupid guy decided to do a a 2 and a half hour zift race today after six days of sleep

Deprivation I’ve never felt so empty on my bike ever I’ve never been so deep damn well maybe SLE yeah catch up on some sleep would be my recommendation although I’m making you all podcast super late at night uh anyway we’ll start with the men’s race we had uh four

Sprints in the of the six stages one uh sort of mixed Sprint I would say of those as well as the last two stages being the big GC stages will longer Hill and mount lofty Mount lofty was where some excuse me just had some my toast uh

Mount lofty was where Simon Yates won last year Jak came into the race with big Ambitions they brought a very strong team Simon yay blab Caleb Yan three of their five I would say big riders in Gran and Matthews are in Valencia at the moment as well as strong Chris Harper

Was the best domestique climbing domestique any team had in this race I would say and so they had big Ambitions I will say I think pla is getting killed a little bit cuz he said before the race you know we want to win every stage I

Don’t I think what he meant was we have brought a team where it’s a realistic goal that we try we we try to win every stage and that we have a sprinter we have me and and Yates for the 2 GC I think that’s what he meant he didn’t say

You know not F not not five not six not seven championships I give him the benit the doubt of for that yeah for sure definitely he’s not that kind of guy that would be like oh we’re definitely going to win cuz we’re running against peasants that not that’s not really Luke

PL but yeah you said it like three Sprint stages one versatile one that was a start of the sand St and under and I kind of like it and can I say sander St and under without Wonga Hill sorry but I don’t care so will get Hills back I care

About this race again because this is probably the race I’ve played the most in my life on Pro cycling manager CU is the first [ __ ] race you have in that race in that game but anyway let’s start with stage one short recap basically tldr summary wellsford ends up winning

The Sprint after what I would consider a perfect Lead Out by Vamp Popple by Mullen that entire Squad who is the fourth man at Bora cuz was that gumper or was that Mauk uh don’t know I think matuk was like a good signing for them I think

Matuk was doing like the the pacing during the stage and I would guess that gumper is then the F man cuz it’s position what sorry like they kind of the three of them kind of hang out until they want to do their final lead out a

Lot of the time true at the back but they made everyone look like peasants this race this lead out was completely overpowered um there’s a lead out that basically it looked good well it looked good a lot of last year and then they split Mullin and Van Poppel apart for

The tour to France and then Van Poppel on his own actually wasn’t he wasn’t good in the tour no he couldn’t they couldn’t compete with alerson um or even Bahrain and Yambo some stages but yeah this this lead out was unbelievable it was an omen of

Things to come on stage one being a lead out like Merin V pole doesn’t mean that he can do it yourself because you need a vle for yourself then you need that rider for yourself to do the lead out for you to then be able to still Sprint

At the end then otherwise they’re kind of doing the work of both the lead out and the Sprinter so so yeah I think sometimes people overrate how easy it is from a from a perspective of oh why aren’t they not sprinting for merku back in the day when Cavendish was a Sprint

Remember when merku got second and they were like o merku should start going for himself it’s not that easy but we said it wellsford one second stage was the verstile Sprint stage we had this I think it was Fox Creek a hill with about in the last kilometers in the last 10

Kilometers somewhere Luke PL attacks on it very brutal attack straight up drops everybody except nerv can I just say advis really strong raise by him he won the crit yeah he did win the crit ahead of uh ahead of Del Toro and couple other sort of climbers yeah we’ll get to him

In a second but they don’t cooperate and that means that the group behind ends up coming back which leads to what one would think is a versatile Sprint at the end but there was no real organization and someone benefits from that with onek to go some people tried to attack

Earlier like Quinn Simmons and so forth but they too ATT with 1K to go straight up wins like man creates a gap that didn’t exist suddenly is like 20 25 M and he keeps it to the line what I’m learning about like power da and in the

Last especially in the last year or so is that his attack was so impressive and so explosive that it almost made me think he’s going to struggle on with lunger yeah cuz I was or like not win on longer cuz I was like you to hold off the

Pellon being chased by Nick schul Israel brought a good team to this race by the way for these sort of stages Nick Schulz Simon Clark B Steven Williams Corman strong that is a good team for this which we’ll see later that’s a good team for these L stages and they were going

For strong maybe Williams took took too long to get back on the front but for deloro as a sub 70 kilo guy to hold off the pellon with a one minute attack his his power was pilo explosivity must have been unbelievably High and he wins almost comfortably I was like holy [ __ ]

Like this guy got to go to Le or or other all the classics I don’t know just get him in and it’s important to say he didn’t just do that attack at the end of the stage during that stage he fought for the first intermediate Sprint he tried out sprinting Caleb at

The second intermediate Sprint but he put so much power on his pedals that’s my theory he put so much power on his pedals that I think his chain did something and then he had to like stop mid Sprint and then I swear there was a moment in The Descent after the attack

Of Luke PL where he was trying to Pace Fisher black back to the front of the race pulling Fisher black yeah mate he just had an engine that didn’t run out that stage yeah so obviously he he then goes into the leaders jersey with the bonus seconds but I think he finish on

The same time Corbin strong basically just beats his teammate who was leading him out Steven Williams on the bike throw and if we were going to if the race played out any differently in the end could have gone 50/50 hindsight and said well actually Steven Williams

Needed those extra two bonies uh but it didn’t matter I guess in the end but that was a I think Israel we see this a lot that’s why everyone loves these stages that’s why all the race organizers put in these sort of stages because you have a really interesting

Race Dynamic almost guaranteed in the last 10 15 kilom uh stage three W wins with another good lead out uh basically just ruining everybody I think viviani got into his wheel but just couldn’t wasn’t quick enough uh bie the issues with B’s positioning or lack of lead out

Seem to be there as well I’m sure bie does have the 10-second power to be you know at least coming second in all these Sprints but mhm he was struggling to sort of hold position and Yan was frankly Yan was not competitive like he was getting into good position on a

Couple of them and then he just was getting cooked by everybody it switched after stage three because on stage one Yan got a podum if I recall correctly on stage three he sprinted to fifth so in a relatively competitive position and then on stage four you’ve got the fact that

Luke flap crashes out with about 10 kilom to go like straight up crashes out of the race his back looked awful like that man probably didn’t sleep for like the last few days but plap was important in keeping the lead out of J at the front of the pellaton in stage one and

Three and in stage four they straight up couldn’t get to the front they tried twice and they got squeezed the entire way through so Yan was in like 305th 50th positions or something going into the Sprint and then then you can’t compete and at the front you have

Wellsford once again but this time losing the wheel of vle I reckon that he might have been able to follow it but he probably didn’t want to risk his life or S to under stage after having already won two but he still wins the stage so

It doesn’t matter like it’s once again a strong performance three a hatrick an unofficial hatrick because plap on a no because deloro won a stage in between but yeah what’s your what’s your view going into the the last two stage then because Del Toro still in lead yeah well

I thought I thought Del Toro is not going to be a for a formality to drop him on will longa but willanger is actually like a seven to 10 minutes effort actually when you include the they they always do the the little running before which is like 4% they

Still do that over 400 watts so it’s actually like uh uh 10 or eight to 10 minute effort so my question was if no team makes it super hard I think D Toro could just beat the because it levels out in the last 200 I don’t want to you

Wouldn’t want to Sprint against him yeah he he’s so so quick and also he’s got the last stage as well so you’re not going to knock him out of GC but it was really on J they got Chris Harper uh they got to make something happen he’s I

Don’t know how far behind on GC at that point over 10 seconds I think with deloro taking bonies and yeah they had to make something happen Tailwind though which was good but they’re missing PL so normally they’d use PL I think to make the they

Do two reps of Wanga I think they would have used PL to make the first rep nuclear pace and they still did over 400 wats I think but they would have used PL to make the first rep nuclear or I don’t think so you’re you think I I think

Harper for done Harper first rep and try and use flap to attack on the second one because they use the strategy of Y he still in yeah they use the strategy of Yates opening the Gap in front of him to let Harper go on the last W longa Hill

And I reckon that was probably what they would have done with PL because pl’s form on Fox Creek shouts at me that he was strong enough to compete for the victory in this race with a tower wind on 7% getting a gap would have been difficult to bring him back uh and maybe

There’s Dynamics in the grip behind I think Yates lost the race there so yeah they get onto W longa last rep Harper’s smashing It smash over 500 wats and the group is like in a line a lot of the GC contenders are not in the first five positions Del Toro is nowhere Hay’s

Nowhere they’re like P20 uh nav is there but he’s on the limit he’s like on the limit there and it’s early I think yay lost the race there when he let Harpers wheel go I think he didn’t want to go too early but Port always went really

Early I think the reality is he’s not his 2 minutes and 1 minute is not as explosive as nai’s Williams Del Toro and yeah he he let the wheel go I think if he goes there I don’t think nav holds his wheel and then it’s the question of

Who the guys who are way deeper who’s going to pull them back cuz no team really had a prime Mountain domestique uh there except in theory Bart lemon fam Vada was actually that was his role Delo won’t work with each other UAE style yeah so I think that was his only

Option maybe 2020 hindsight uh but yeah he he let’s har as will go I think the PLO pulls for a bit brings nav close nais then has to close the last bit of himself or Hara stopped because then he wasn’t fully gassed then this kind of uh I’m not sure y eventually

Does give it give it a big nudge but it was later in the climb and he closed ala Philip looked pretty good he was back for a bit he looked he looked pretty good mate like on this climb ala Filip was in running to Wi the stage until he

Decided to try and win the km at the top instead of the Finish Line 200 me further imagine you’re at max heart rate you see the climb crests and there’s a line on the ground where the CL Crest it is conf like I know the stra K’s great

And all but like that is confusing um so I’m not going to slate him for that but yeah he Sprints basically full gas 200 me 200 me before the I mean they all yeah oh that would been good but they all do a Recon they all Recon with

Lunger like a million times and they also they literally do a rep before they do re 20 minutes half an hour before so uh excuse that was classic classic Alpha leap stuff and um anyway man we Haven a mention yet the young Scott he’s just there oh sorry Bart lemon gone to the

Front to drive it behind Yates and then he drops V I’m like well that hierarchy is the wrong way around um and he basically then looks back and then starts Runing for his own result and Oscar On’s in the wheels in the wheels in the wheels NIS making all the

Right decisions following Yates not getting closed off like lemon cost himself 3 seconds cuz he let Yates close him off and Al’s just showing really good race IQ gets round before the left hander bang hits Stevie Williams and nais with a big kick like you can see is

He put into a bigger gear and like gaap them and those guys are are fast those they’re fast guys and really really impressive win from him is First World Tour win probably dsm’s best win wa in a while you can’t let this opportunity slide his only will to win nice

Nice yeah it was a good win it was a good win um and I was like he then doesn’t go into the leaders jersey though Steph Williams who finishes uh second he goes into the leaders jersey on countback which is I don’t basically it’s the aggregate stage positions um

Corre so number one number one is the the tiebreaker if you’re close on the same if you’re on the same time zero seconds the tiebreaker the first one is the milliseconds of an individual time tral number two is the sum of your stage positions like you say and number three

Then is the the current stage I think position okay Beyond me uh but that was a really nice performance from Onley they did the same time as Richie Port give or take a second 634 635 on the CL proper but they had a big big Tailwind

So Port doing it you know half the time solo not with them same monster Tailwind obviously going to be different different Watts I think highlights from the climb well not highlights actually just nice things to note I guess was uh Valentine Parry pantra uh in seventh was

A decent result I’d like to see the pp Brothers kick on this year I think they actually they’re good man they’re good Del Toro eighth yeah just a at the end uh of that climb Bart lemon in fifth was a big big surprise yeah uh V wasn’t good

Though he was he won Guang XI which is like a low low intensity race with a sort of finish like this a similar finish he won that last year and he wouldn’t be expecting to finish in the 24th other people who maybe expected to be better would be uh I stora uh

Guess yeah even Simon Yates frankly um so yeah but it was it was a nice climb with some different names in the top but that put us into a very interesting GC position for the final stage Mount lofty which was quite aggressive last year won by Simon Yates uh who won the stage

Ahead of jayvine who won GC they finished one two but Williams basically had to well he had to not lose a single second only this is a but not just only because he also was had NIS on 5 seconds and Del Toro on 5 seconds so if they

Just beat him either of those two they take a 6sec Delta and they win GC if alip on 13 seconds or Simon Yates win the stage and take with three or four seconds on the road which is not much then they win GC so it was all to play

For on the final stage which was like a it’s a lumpy circuit around M lofty I’m not sure we’re watching at that point but what did you think about s’s attack 120 km to go I didn’t watch that what was that he just straight out there was a a breakaway formation phase relatively

Rough one like the entire week all the break just flew out but this one was like 20 km of fighting and one of them included Salon Yates trying to attack away which I found intriguing like it’s it’s enjoyable but it also shows that they just have two little Riders now to

Be able to pull off the hardness of a race that they want to pull off because I think this Mount lofty stage is one Mount lofty less than last year okay and yeah it’s only two or three reps uh I don’t know why they were using

Harper that way in the break formation I would have been trying to make Israel burn numbers uh personally but yeah it was actually not that open a race frankly like there’s a there’s a breakaway with like the first time we’ve seen Moro at the front of a race the UAE

Talent which was interesting also Hill helders on quickstep was very very strong uh I was impressed by him also on this lumpy course uh bastet sat on the back of the break right the whole time and then like was following like attacks at the end so that was a bit strange um

Took an intermediate Sprint as well yeah I’m not sure he uh was a popular in that break away who wasn’t in this break but I do want to shine a light on him and his team was Luke burns from the Aussie national team yeah so they really played it really well the

Entire week when it comes to qu points to the point that he was relatively secure after three stages because it was likely that GC Riders would take at least one rep of Mount lofty Etc so all that kept in mind they played it really well they tried to steal away points

From other Riders by having multiple Riders fight for K1 points it was really interesting and credits to that team but anyway we get to Mount lofty and uh to be honestly was a it wasn’t a crazy Mount L he was pretty straightforward right yeah basically break gets caught

It kicks off deloro big attack um he it comes back Williams is there Nas is there Williams was kind of he eating a lot of wind off the wheel initially and then py counterattacks cuz he’s not a GC threat on like a rolling bit GC guys

Look at him uh they’re like he’s not he’s fdj not a GC threat eventually deloro goes again and um brings py back keeps his attack going but then he’s he looks back and sees n and and Williams and I feel like deloro needed to back his Sprint at a certain point and and

Mathematically he can still win GC by winning the stage he doesn’t need a gap right if my math tells me correct he just needs to win the stage which a big ask and he basically looks to pull off 250 M to go it’s a Dipper at 200 M

To go and then dips Up Kicks up again and if he just pulled off into Williams will I think he has much much bigger chance here uh instead Williams hits him right into the Dipper gets a big gap on will on nvis and deloro up to speed and

He’s also I think heavier than those guys and then yeah Williams just unbelievable timing played it completely cool uh really really Savvy finish knew the Finish perfectly or played it perfectly and uh he’s got a damn good Sprint especially at a high speed high speed uh compared

To these guys too we saw that in uh we have seen this in previous races but he wins the stage wins GC at the sental tour down under uh and I think that’s we tried to check it’s appears to be Israel Premier Tech’s first ever World Tour GC

Win delor NIS finished on the same time lemon actually comes back finishes fourth and then p is a surprise in fifth on 3 seconds Al Philip led the led the S rest of the GC hopefuls and Williams wins GC 9 seconds ahead of Na 11 seconds

Ahead of Doro and only missed that move and uh moves to Fourth on on 20 seconds good race I was actually I actually really enjoyed it and like Steph Williams is kind of a I’d say Stephen Williams is an interesting character because I feel like he’s the

British Ben hmons is that a weird thing to say as in he shows up inconsistently throughout the year he has we saw him in a few breakaways last year in the jro but outside of that he won Arctic race in Norway last year the year before that

2022 he won it to the Swiss stage which was a really competitive to the Swiss stage as well and then now he wins the S to and under and I’m like this Steven Williams when he’s on he can compete in a lot of races but he’s just not on very

Consistently throughout the year so what is a Steven Williams uh good but not the best five minute climbing and a really good flat Sprint so he basically needs that t to Swiss stage where it’s that climb and they’re leveled off and it’s actually very similar stage to Loft in that right at

The end it it dips down a little bit so like Arctic race again um like was yeah uh yeah yeah some Pia stage like the stage three of Norway uh I think was a similar CL 2.1 case 10.5% but the competition wasn’t as good so I

Don’t think he’s going to come out and just sort of suddenly be top three in the age yeah uh but definitely I think the Ben Herman’s comparison is pretty good uh maybe Williams I think Williams has a better Sprint but a big result for

Israel with a stage win and the g DC win even though strong I think got sick and just missed out on stage two where he won the kick behind Del so for he was already sick when the race started basically okay so he was Ill the first

Few days so to be honest being ill and being so close in GC I wonder what would have happened if he wasn’t ill but this is uh big points for Israel to kick off the season it’s I mean how many points it’s a lot of 500 points for GC so Steven Williams

Already on 640 points before the end of January they will take they will take that uh whereas that’s MSR no yeah 600 is maybe oh maybe they boosted to a thousand do oh might have I don’t know um and yeah Corbin probably took took a few points as well

So there they’ll be happy with that Israel and yeah I think Steven Williams if you keep sending him to the right races yeah he will I think he’ll win more this season not a hot take it’s just I think I think he’ll win more uh I think we’ve already discussed wilsford

And Bora like he it was really good to lead out I need to see it against in UAE tour I still expect it to be good in UAE tour but that’s just the next logical stepping stone to see this lead out um but it looks good so far and Jakob alula

Though Benji they sort of the opposite end for Israel with the points and with their home race they had a bit of a shocker in the end um with crashing and Yan’s performance in Yates so um didn’t work out and it’s like looking at the whole situation I do think their race

Might have ended differently if plap was able to ride the last weekend he would have probably probably competed for the GC but it’s also risk you take when you use your potential GC Rider which PL was certainly looking at Fox Creek if you use that Rider to be your forish man in

The lead out to position your Sprint train he literally crashed doing that job being at the front of the Pelon with 10 km to go trying to position that lead out then you’re taking a risk that’s why R doesn’t do that or usually doesn’t do that that’s why um why vingo doesn’t do

That for for Olaf Coy just thinking of names at the moment like that’s an important factor and that’s the risk you take when you when you allow your GC co-leader to to make such work done he’s obviously quite versatile in that work so he can do that but it came at a cost

This time and it doesn’t only cost him in the climbs because as a GC Rider he would have probably competed but also in the Sprints like I said it takes away their their Rider that can position their Sprint train in the Sprint stages so I think it impacted them on on their

Entire race and not just the climbing yeah and he had to relay with with nav eyes I think yeah I think you have to relay to establish the Gap and then you can finesse him in the last two Cas and say I have you in behind and Yates behind and then try and

Counterattack him there but I think you have to establish that Gap if you’re right if he is a GC leader then I don’t see why and if you’re like oh well I’m worried about though even if you sit in his wheel but I agree that if you’re good enough you

Shouldn’t be scared you shouldn’t be scared from their Vis for willinger Hill yeah that’s what I mean like okay take it back in W longa um and if you if you’re that worried about NIS then you’re not going to win so cuz probably if you’re not dropping NIS by six seconds someone

Else could drop you well then then you can have Yates attack NIS and everyone looks at NIS and OK Jersey to chase Ona so it just changes the race and uh I think he should have related that but uh yeah they they’ve been going well jco in Valencia last two evenings or my

Evenings uh surprising performances from the men’s race Del Toro being this good uh especially in terms of like explosivity in in basically Sprint stages I didn’t see coming because like frankly if he could do this last year in u23s he would have been literally just riding away on any Hill and winning by

Like 2 minutes um in like any race so uh which he didn’t do last year so yeah that was really really surprising to me uh cuz I thought he was a pure climber uh so that yeah like really really uh good Sprint so I I’d like to see him in the classics

He just on that he he was the youngest winner I think of lavenir and uh since o Brooks which was the year before so that’s he’s a very young he’s a very young winner of he was the youngest winner in the last two years in the in

The last no in the last 12 months he he was the youngest winner of laer in the yeah in the last 12 months well there you go race of the future baby yeah yeah the stats are real the stats are real this man’s dropping facts but it’s true

And it’s like I think um I first heard of Isaac Del Toro in the CBU tour from um o who works with TOA what’s his what’s his what’s his uh tagline in Le LPD yes um he is the one that spoke to me about him the first time but people

Apparently were talking about him for a while CU y Bane had like a tweet up a year and a half ago two years ago about him being at AR monics in a cycl cross race and I’m like oh I only heard of this guy halfway through 2023 and I felt like I was

Early well yeah because his results weren’t good before uh which there’s like like in 2022 they weren’t good uh or that good and then in 23 yeah he sort of first like started being good in the Italian national races and then 10 in jinsky and then yeah cibu good on Bak or

Like okay and then valida third and then clean lavenir so like big Improvement last year and he was in a San Marin so basically if people don’t know the Mexican Federation is banned by the ioc yeah can’t remember why local check probably doing related could be corruption

Um they just siging nefarious um yes and so B that that’s really difficult for uh for Mexican Riders evidently there also not a great pathway so uh for Mexican Riders set up a team based in San Marino AR monx they race out of there but it’s mainly Mexican Riders

And uh yeah he’s got his own coach uh Cruz I think and yes a big like that’s that’s a much more difficult path way than someone who’s getting full support like maybe the northern the Western Europeans the northern Europeans and then I feel like the Aven organizers

Are making it even harder for Riders from those countries to actually go through because they put in a damn team time trial when you know it’s a national team based race so it I’m not attacking Mexican Riders here but there are there’s more of a pool of talent being scouted in for the

National team of France Italy whatever at the moment then there’s for Mexico so equipment as well just everything combined gives them such a a disadvantage in that race that the fact that deloro still won that race after losing loads of time on that team time

Trial yeah the way he won that race was absolutely crazy like they he had a stage where he had a full comeback story and then C Laos also pretty big victory but like yeah this man’s the real thing and also this week like his Sprint is on

Point yeah that’s what he’s got a but that that’s what surprised like like in yeah uh I mean on stage 4 that he he sort of won the he won the kick behind but I was uphill yeah I just didn’t didn’t see the Sprint last year but um

Yeah with the TT like I’m pretty sure Scandinavians they turn 14 they get like a gift voucher the local wind tunnel and like said you know like um it’s not fair having a TT in laen year um but he he what I was goingon to say

Oh but all on that scouting Point like no one beats matchin you’re not going to beat matchin for a hispanophone like he probably would have been talking to Del Toro two and a half years ago three years ago or he’s talking every especially hispanophone so like him

Going to UA not surprising a monx was on colago like see the riding on the wall uh but yeah just watch out for him this year this probably won’t be the last we see of him uh this year I would say already impressing what’s his what’s his

Pathway as in he’s young Rider obviously he’s like now breaking through even more than he already was because like we know who won avanir but mainstream cycling fans don’t necessarily uh don’t necessarily watch lavenir or follow lavenir and Santander is still maybe a bit more to the Forefront than than

Avanir but I also would think that it’s still a bit not everyone watches s or watches races outside of the tour Thrones so what’s going to be his SP upcoming participations in tour of Oman which actually I’m quite looking forward to but outside of that I you said it the

Dude can compete for lbl I wonder what he would do in Italian Classics at the end of the year as well I think he’s going to be pretty Unstoppable in like Trey Valar typ races yeah and that U UA team’s already stacked so I think basically you just

Pull ulissi out and put in um is what they’re going to do and that’s going to be pretty effective next to COV and leared big at and Adam y Italian Classics team is ridiculous and uh yeah Morgado I don’t really know what type of

Rider he is yet uh I think he’s sort of an all round one day Rider uh but whether he can ride the classics I don’t know bot lemman was a big surprise he was a captain in the in the Dutch Air Force join went to sort of pro cycling late

Uh fourth in ground communo TT behind vard last year on the now uh defunct human powered Health men’s team and he very very good data uh test well so um I wasn’t actually too surprised to see him there is Bart lemon Dutch rogich no no no no I’m I’m just looking

At the situation that they both kind of broke through on Slovenia to Slovenia okay see what you mean no he’s much I think he’s much taller um Dutch people don’t come under 180 cm ex he’s exactly 180 so offici unofficially yeah maybe just Luke’s just correcting on the the Mexican Federation

I feel like it might be UCI and Mexican it might be at the UCI level um but yeah yeah so it’s not the ioc I’ll just correct that it was uh the UCI suspended the Mexican Federation for governance issues uh which was confirmed in the 2022 UCI Congress so um but still

Functioning the same uh the Federation which makes it much more difficult for Young Riders from Mexico uh but yeah lemon lemon good performance uh perhaps cost himself riding on the front for Vada chasing after Yates on Wanga don’t know what to see from next he’ll be in

The ardens I think so we’ll see what he can do there uh Lawrence py very very good in this race as well for fdj the climb much better than I expected and L bver was also climbing better than I expected and sprinting better than I thought uh at alberon who didn’t send

Groves to this race uh probably wisely in the end because I don’t see him beating wellsford in these super easy stages so I think uh I think yeah B Elson chose to keeping Groves in Europe probably the right uh thing to do but that was the the men’s TDU pretty

Interesting race o overall there’s I would like to see a ramass finish one year uh so which does exist really there’s yeah montue Road I think next to Norton Summit so there there’s like a million different roads up to lofty there’s montq Norton Summit freeway uh

Green Hill and there’s uh then I think monague or there’s another one just sum there’s old n Summit there’s so many roads up there how many streets or places in in Australia are called Mount Pleasant there’s another Mount Pleasant next to M lofty really it’s not the same

As in Wong gong right because Wong’s on the other side right wenong that’s like Russia to Belgium it’s a long way away that’s Woodland’s way I’m thinking of Woodland’s way I think they might have done it before there’s some steep CLS up there so I would like to see a

Ramp pass really steep finish maybe that wouldn’t be I mean probably good for Simon Yates actually it was a much steeper climb uh as well uh Na look out for navis in the classics would be my tip he looks like he is cooking uh so I can’t wait to see

Him there but yep any last thoughts on that before we do the women’s rice Benji want to talk about Lauren spiffy for a second the guy was really good three top fives in stages was also also on Mount lofty relatively close did a bit of a tactical thing there where he where he

Uh decided to attack instead of staying in their wheel in the last kilometer which sprinting against them would have probably been better but he might not have been able to follow Steven Williams attack in the first place but that being said piffy good race lot BV a good race

The way he climbed plus the way he sprinted really really good he was also in that was that Chat gbt Race Super Eight classic last year where from the pool went off with a group and I think bvin was in that group um but anyway those are my uh other surprising

Performances I reckon but I think we solidly wrapped up the men’s Sant student under now so uh let’s talk about the women’s one as well for a bit we’ve got three stages in women’s s St and under first of all we have a a Sprint stage secondly a pure stage and thirdly

Wunga Hill so it’s kind of like gradually growing to the end of the race yeah if there were four stages they would have invented an alz there they well I mean if they couldn’t if they made it too much too hard early then I think Gigante would have ended

The race so it’s kind of probably a good thing the way they planned it but yeah fre stages and yeah saying different for everybody the first stage of Sprint Was Won by Ali walliston now on AG Insurance sudal team so they started their race uh pretty well she was

Already good last year like if you look into her results as someone who’s young probably doesn’t have the best lead out she won Sarah tiit GC winning the last stage and uh won the Schwab classic so she’s got a good Sprint uh well like you won the schw classic I agree with the

Other one but you really got that Australian CR there just because you can yeah but it’s all the riders that are about to do the TDU and it’s a Sprint it’s like it is relevant and Del Toro were good in there in the shwy Classic this year it was

Relevant um and also good in in jedon third and Fifth and the last two stages so she’s kicked on obviously had a good offseason came here in good shape Ahad of Georgie Baker for Liv alula I was I must admit a little bit surprised I guess can Roseman who finished yeah rosan ganner

Probably just never winning on like staying close enough on W longer anyway so it doesn’t matter who that they had to go for Baker um but yeah bered SOLO third uh stage two this was a stage where a lot of different Riders could win finishing in Sterling these are

Really grippy these are horrible roads like a lot of these roads around here where like they look like four or 5% or they say that but they’re so slow some of these roads and the sort of laps around Sterling in particular I’ve done that laps around there it’s uh maybe

Because I are on particularly slow but yeah uh utra bludwig wins that stage and this is the perfect sort of finish for her she has a really really good uh uphill kick and which we saw when she won the twit FR F stage two years ago and she

Was like no really people were in the picture but there were five b links behind her where the days where we we were saying that the didn’t have the punch back in the day like that switched across a span of two and a half years where she now is one of those riders

That is the go-to for a stage like this so really good progress on that end and it’s also this two stage we mentioned so far we’re won relatively dominantly like other Riders didn’t exactly get close to winning it was UWI clearly winning walliston clearly winning and would that

Be the same for stage three which is well the obvious Wonga Hill one difference is that it’s only one uh one rep of willinger Hill in the women’s race it’s about a 94 km stage from my memory SE right yes and there were some echelons or something before we started and higante

Was in trouble at a certain point I think with 30k to go there was an Echelon where she was somewhat caught out and she was able to save herself last minute from that problem but anyway that that’s an important factor otherwise she might have actually [ __ ] it for herself and that’s important for

The future to realize like she she’s a pure climber although she does have a good TT but maybe like Crosswinds is or sort of messy race situations is where you could put her under pressure I dare say um probably doesn’t have the volume of racing in Europe compared to some of

The more experienced Pros uh she certainly has the was though but I think I want to point out one from I just saw one Rider from race from stage two it just popped up randomly it’s not the biggest thing but she finished in the top 20 and it was an uphill finish it’s

Yanina kusov uh an USC r who’s 22 who was riding for the Tash Kent City team in this race and she finished top 20 uh so like I didn’t first of all I didn’t know uh that team was here but that was actually a really really good result for mate TT

FR really yeah because they that was the USC team that first of all had the the kind of USBC championships that was a bit questioned and then they won all those other races that gave them a lot of UCI points that were kind of like USC centered or Asian games I don’t remember

It there was something like that they won so many points in like the aana kind of races yeah that they now have enough to go to the ton F I’m pretty sure okay uh well maybe we’ll see her win on to or whatever there um your favorite Riders up in SK

There still going Still Still top 10 world TT worlds book it now but yeah that came will longer Hill uh there was the big favorite the qom holder who sah Gigante who nuked this clim back in the Festival of cycling in or no in 2019 I think

She nuked it right no 2021 was Festival of cycling I swear she did a quick time in 2019 as well uh but yeah 2021 she she destroyed everybody was during co uh and yeah she was the big favorite and the question was when she was going to go

And it was pretty much at the base even into a headwind she went with Ludwig in the wheel Ludwig was there for 500 meters and basically the Gap just start to slowly slowly open and Gigante uh yeah destroyed everybody into a headwind she was just too good just moved to AG

Insurance sudal team Brum ma star I think they uh with mutual agreement broke the contract she had I think another year this year on her contract with moar but it clearly wasn’t working there or for whatever reason they wanted to move and uh it appears to have been a

Good choice because she wins on Wanga by 16 seconds ahead of uh Nena vinka which and takes out GC by 20 seconds so start nink vinka 19 years old second o willing Hill second in GC that’s insane like the whole top three as well NE Brad also

Still young pretty sure there was uh oh what’s her name um fourth in the stage no fifth in the stage Dominica vodar flar yeah something like that she’s also really young as well Amanda Sprat is the the not 20 year old of the of the top five but so many

Youngsters in the top five of this Wong Hill performance which also shows that they’ve got some interesting years to come but about sort of Gigante is it Gigante or Gigante I’ve say I’ve been saying Gigante for years I don’t actually know you’re Australian you should know is it kangaroo or kangaru

Kangaroo Okay no sh sirl anyway um onto a a different topic gig that’s an Aboriginal world gangar uh I’ll I’ll cor Sarah for the sake of this argument Sarah she’s had loads of trouble in the last few years as in numerous issues along the likes of myopericarditis

Which pericarditis is the thing that the cleric had which was the inflammation of one part of the heart but she had inflammation on two parts of the heart where like she she came back from that now and I think she’s had some other injuries or struggles throughout the

Last years as well last two years and to see her coming back from that with this performance yes it’s a 902 time which is 50 seconds lower than the 2021 time that’s due to heavy headwind but then she shows up after the women’s through under on that it was it was pretty hyped

Up as in this event after the women’s s through under a time trial up up Wonga Hill like a bit of a hill climb competition like they have in the UK 753 she did on that one so she she’s a new qm again breaking her old time so

Obviously it’s a TT so it’s a different environment Less kils in beforehand perfect preparation probably in advance of that climb but man it’s like I’m happy she’s back yeah it’s good to see one of the big talents from uh yeah like when she she broke onto the

Scene and we like this is like the new climbing talent and then she went to melar I thought she’s going to be the replacement they probably thought she’s going to be the replacement for an m vanon is going to be their totter France leader but uh certainly they they

Brought a good team to this race AG Insurance sudal team like uh Velda chanti uh walliston andow they were really really good and um yeah I can’t wait to see her in Europe fighting for GC in the in the big stage races I think uh it certainly makes it much more

Interesting if we have realini gigantti others trying to actually fight voling because yeah voling is pretty good uh yeah that’s the conclusion of today ball Ring’s pretty good um anything else from this this women’s race uh Benji I guess ludvig that’s kind of just doing what she’s

Been doing really really well for a for a while but I guess is I want to see these Riders at UA to like I want to see ninka vinka now on on her feet in uh just under a month yeah but I also want to mention I also felt like the was

Doing their her usual Sicily things on Wonga Hill as well where she tried to follow kante’s attack to the point that she blew up and didn’t finish second like the same thing we’ve mentioned a few times when it comes to her she has adapted a better strategy a few times

Now since we mentioned it last time in the to Scandinavia I think few years ago but it’s something she did again on willinger hill so I was like oh maybe that’s something that she needs to once again oh wow she finished 14th on that stage she lost 102 so she must have lost

She must have completely blown up cuz she would have been the other Rise that finished say on 47 seconds like she was way ahead of them in the first half of that climb so yeah she went but I guess you got to she was thinking about

Winning GC and if you don’t if you don’t hold ganes will you lose GC um other pure climbers to note uh is Marian Brunell she uh she didn’t finish she only only finished 12th on Wonga during the main race but yeah during that TT I think she

Came second closer to gigantti so maybe struggles in the bunch a little bit obviously like a pure Climer she’s 19 on Selle mavic or uh cat TR tra is that right is that really how they have to say it not only is it such a long name but then the French for

93 is is for 2013 wait they say Selle s Melle mavic for 2013 you prefer the wonan version which is non what’s that not like 93 93 in wonan so wait hold on hold on breaking news wonan French has the real a real word for from

The numbers from 80 to 100 you guys decided no this is stupid well not you guys you’ll see enemies but really yeah they do and I was not allowed to say it that way I was no that’s the thing I was I had eight years of French or something in school and

They taugh me that I needed to do the correct French way and not the wonan one so is that anti- wallonian behavior in F in Flemish schools I don’t know about that I didn’t know that that’s really interesting so if you if you say that this that’s true I

Didn’t know that um but yeah that’s that’s a mouthful that that team name with when you factor in uh the extra words for 93 uh but yeah just just watch out for her if she gets into a if there’s like a uni PTO stage somewhere

In the year uh without the big guns she could go pretty pretty well uh other news any other news around cycling Benji I guess one thing I had was what is going on with the some pretty bad Lids going around going around some bad haircuts people offseason Remco unveiled one

Where he basically he looked like he said to the barber fam just cutting cutting in two Ines into my into my part um so there was that one and then pagat is unveiled I know who told him to do that I mean say these guys have all the

Money in the world they can’t get a good hair what happened to BU I think he dyed his hair blonde though like blond oh my God he did it looks like Ellen De generous Jesus Christ what a comparison so guys guys need racing back is what I’m learning is guys they’ve been

Training too much they’ve just been doing back toback 30 hours a week in Spain they get these guys back racing because they they’re going the wrong barers and they’re just they’re getting bored uh so yeah local flash those mullet that’s okay right V pool’s mullet yeah that one to me that’s not that’s

Like that’s play on that’s like a business modet you could go work in Australia without in a corporate job problem that brings me to my story time I was in Dena a week ago for a week I stayed at a hotel there and I thought okay I’m just going to go

Here going to make a bit of content on the bike enjoyable turns out I was in the hotel with Canyon Shram the entire team with Mach VPO at breakfast and in the elevators with with yasper philipson at breakfast with Javier Romo Quinton hmons I was

Like I felt like such an imposter like I I’m the guy doing two watts per kilo up a climb and dying and these guys are doing 17 watts per kilo and and celebrating I felt so out of place man I felt so out of place well at least you’re training and

And having fun I mean that’s I’m I did I’ve going pretty well I mean we’re we’re trying to organize we’re going to we’re going to Flanders to film some content in uh in March I hate the way I said go go to film some content we’re

Going to try and make a couple of videos uh together in Flanders in in uh middle of March and so what clim should we race up we should let the let listeners what climbs in Flanders should we race up would you want to see our our best efforts on is

It the carmont should we try to see how far away from pogy on the quamon are we or should it be the pober which one should we do I’m down to rise out quadon I’ll try to survive the P that’s a difference between those two right

Yeah I try raise aquon but and also at aquon that’s interesting because on the steeper early part you’ll get an advantage but on the flat Goble part second part I might be able to grind some grind some WS but you might have had a well who knows how close it is

Yeah um so that’s what we’re going to we’re going to do we’re training for so maybe we got to have Luke’s time as well um yeah that’s all that’s all from us uh otherwise there’s uh there’s the sort of Valencia points farming races at the moment there’s like a one day race every

Day in the same region uh the first sort of proper stage race coming after here you is the valenciana dopro that’s on the 31st of January uh that that starts but otherwise there’s just like all these MK uh meor or Valencia races uh in the next week There’s also in a week

Starting sorry not in a week starting oh yeah there’s GB Marcel which is the first French uh 1 which is a couple of days before ET de Bes uh which is usually a decent race to has cross wins Mount to finish TT uh on the 31st as

Well so season in Europe is already here don’t know where the off season went and uh yeah thanks for listening as always and I think our next pod will be the preview yeah of moar Canyon and Tre uh so thanks for listening as always we’ll see you probably mid week till then ciao