Royal Sprint at Dubai Harbour | UAE Tour 2024 Stage 4 | Lanterne Rouge Cycling Podcast

In this episode Patrick Broe and Benji Naesen recap the fourth stage of the 2024 UAE Tour.

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Rou cycling podcast presented by join cycling for the UAE Tour stage 4 a big sprint stage our second Sprint in the first four stages from Dubai Police Officers Club to Dubai Harbor it’s pancake flat they go south Southeast up to aludra cycle track and then back up

Into the city this stage doesn’t have really Crosswinds because it’s so much in the city protected by infrastructure are not out in the desert on the big highways exposed to the wind and so was this what was the stage Benji where philipsson walked his bike when he

Got off his bike in the headwind I actually don’t know which stage that was it was a pretty similar stage because we also had the big then again every single one of these stag has the big highways but there were excessively big highways on this stage with like seven Lanes I

Was like mate the amount of cards that I would expect to ride in this area I don’t think that fills this entire highway but that’s just my hum L bro please it felt like that it felt like that but but I don’t know if that’s the

Same exact stage or not but to be honest when it comes to the stage I wasn’t expecting Echelon so I put my alarm with about 15K to go unless someone started shouting in the messages crashed by someone or something happened so I didn’t get those messages I only

Know that there was a breakway early on in the stage and that breakway included once again Mark Stewart who who took the points then dropped back to the pelaton and left harv van hooku who was the other rider in the Breakaway solo up there so har van hooku was the solo

Adventurer from that point onwards and eventually got caught by The pelaton Who then started riding at an excessively slow tempo compared to usual to the point that I felt like the stage was going to end an hour earlier but it clearly didn’t so it came to the point that we had a we

Had a run in towards the Sprint and I got to be honest outside of the break breakway I don’t think anything of not happened before the last 3 km just the the goat from dunde Stewart yeah plugging away that’s really the highlight of this stage before that

Because he’s he’s been in the break every single day uh successfully although I’m not sure many other teams had the appetite to even go in in the break but you can tell like when I saw them catching van hooker early and I saw the average speed today was 43 already

42 and A2 instead of 47 of the other stages I like they’re going to go even slower CU there’s no Breakaway why would you push so yeah pretty slow stage today uh I would say if if you weren’t on the front you were dra trining frankly like

Maybe you got to do some do an extra workout uh as well would you say that the tempo that the pelaton was doing during the stage before the last 25 km that you would be able to follow the the pelaton in this stage yes I think my

Issue would be the not being used to riding in group I can’t do the wouldn’t be able to do the neutral start maybe in the Middle East I could but not in Europe that’s the thing people like oh you start no neutral start you get dropped even if you’re like a decent you

Get dropped like they’re not going slow in neutral start uh but like when they’re on the highway if you just put me right at the back and and have to do 100 Watts surely surely and then when they actually start going far I mean maybe we’re overestimating but I’m not

Sure I could but I think the most important fallacy for me would be the actual like group positioning not being scared in like a large bunch of riders not knowing what’s ahead of people cuz I I always find it scary that if you’re like in 50th position you got to trust

Everybody around you as well yeah like first Corner when they go into town I get dropped and I see you later so um I’m talking literally on the highway in a straight line I just stand there 100 wats but um even even out of the corners when they’re going

Easy everyone they’re going to take it faster than you they’re going to kick harder than you you lose the wheel see you later amateure loser Lan Rouge um to answer your question so uh but yeah the it was that sort of stage uh and and speaking of like adapting this what I

Always think right this is part of the join the join read if you send your riters to you I really want to know from one of the the exercise or the the trainers you send R the UA tour and say you send your Rider instead to do to mayorca to alante to

Altitude in tenifa to prepare for say pinise uh coming up or terrano coming up how do you manage for your GC Riders I’m talking about yeah like jayvine how do you manage that D Lo during the stages because like jokes about us aside like they are de they are doing Zone one for

Four hours and then even in the Sprint the GC guys are not doing too much like how do they manage that in their program when they have to do like a hard European style race which could have like you know hard stages in two three in two weeks that’s just it’s just

Interesting to me and it certainly factors into Riders selecting whether or not to do this race some Riders can manage it well like Yates and they come back to Europe and they’re still good in the hard stages uh it’s just that’s interesting to me but speaking of adaptation join cycling is the best

Adaptive training plan or platform on the market I know that firsthand I had a little Bingle on Saturday touchdown not too bad I don’t need all your sympathies that’s fine uh but thanks for all your well wishes flowers Etc but the perfect thing about join was I just put in mid

Plan I mean my Classics plan for our flandrian challenge in about well 20 days I just checked on the app then was 20 days till the uh go day just put in just had a crash or injured I need three days recovery bang the plan puts it in

There and then adapts the plan going forward for the next 20 days to get me to the best level uh that I can be in noting those circumstances and that reduced availability uh for uh our big dance in the middle of March and that’s why just it does it automatically don’t

Have to call anyone email anybody wait for anyone to be available does it automatically you can still like I did today 45 minutes very easy on the trainer uh to keep me going and just to keep my calories in check and that’s why this is now the second join cycling plan

I’ve used I used the recovery or get back to fitness plan is how I used it in January when I was back in Australia first plan i’ completed in like 5 years and now my second plan is going really really well so I’d encourage you to go

Check it out sorry B sh in how have your crashes impacted your your training as in have you had to switch back to the recovery plural one you looked like you had multiple crashes well it was a Continuum because you hit the ground and then I slid for quite a

Way so I guess maybe in that sense I did um but yeah it’s it adapts to that uh I guess there also a Readiness score you can put in so that just got rolled out that new feature uh if you have something like a a whoop or um a

Smartwatch that tells you your RV H RV HRV uh or your Readiness scores or something like that you can put it into whoop uh into uh join cycling they rolled that out last week and so even if I say I wasn’t say I come back and I’m

Like I’m still a bit sore I can put that in and then the plan will adjust based on that as well uh within the app automatically so I encourage you all to check it out free 30-day trial for lantern Rouge Cy podcast listeners it’s good to see so many of you have signed

Up and are enjoying using the training plan on join uh so if you haven’t already go and check it out but okay that’s a lot on training plans Benji let’s talk about this Sprint where nothing happened except it’s the same well until 5Ks to go don’t you

Think all the Sprint teams are trying to play it smart and they’re trying to come up really really late like Bora and they got burned today I somewhat agree as in we’ve seen teams adapt to that same strategy we’ve seen alpon do it a few

Times in the to of France last year as well as in they also kept drers too late because they don’t want to be at the front with with four 5Ks to go even with three k to go they don’t want to be at the front yet they want to keep their

Four or five Riders to move up whenever they need to in like the last 1.5 kilm to then hit the front and would Bor that was even later but today Bora indeed got burned because if you were with Tre columus to go in that second or third

Level of the pelaton that second or third part of the pelaton not at the back not in the last half or anything but like between 15% and 45% of the pellaton so many people are fighting for that position to then come over in Waves

By the end that it ends up leading to a squeeze and that same concertina effect we mentioned in the past already then causes a crash and this time around it was with I swear it was like just behind a 3K Banner so whoever was involved got lucky because half the Bora train was

Going on I swear I only saw one Bora Rider off to this point I don’t even know which Bora Rider but I don’t think it was well wellsford I think V bule was hindered in in that as well so Bor basically added a question from this point onwards and some GC Riders are

Involved as well I think Vine was there but also vter he lost quite a bit of time but what sorry who was well vaner SC behind as well so those are multiple GC Riders but then again I don’t think they actually hit the ground I think they were just hindered by the crash

Happening around them or in front of them so they will have the the three kilm rule count so they won’t lose time in GC on paper so unless someone put the three kilm Banner wrong no they all got same time yeah should be fine then so we’re looking at

A Sprint coming up and with Bora gone I felt like I was kind of looking for which team was going to pick it up and then Alon hit the front and Alon hit the front with like was it six riders or something my boy Henry UL in third

Position of the train at some point and I was like man’s going to hit the friend with like 2K to go was at the front then just a bit of an offset fun story on the side this has been a guy that’s basically been a friend of me for like a

Few years now and to be able to see this guy go from not being in an alos like team to being in the Alpin de team to them being in the in the wilter team of Alpin now at his first wilter race I’m just so happy to see him yeah grow up if

That makes sense but it’s nice to see uh him in the head of the action with tri to go in a in a race like UAE tour and he did his his work in the Alpin train and that alpon train was actually the most prominent team in that because I

Swear Coy was kind of being led by one yumo Rider a bit in the distance he doesn’t the best lead out here we’ve mentioned it before so it’s all about trying to get him in somewhat comfortable position Meier same thing with B Le here I think yakobson also had

Only one Rider that was trying to get him into a position so it was all about alason leading the charge and all the other teams trying to get their Sprinter in the right position and I feel like decline is very good at jumping from Wheel to wheel you know and you called

Him a bit of a draft Merchant as a joke the other time but he is a great draft Merchant but he also has a speed in the end you know yeah he it’s a skill to find the right wheel is and to launch at

The right time and to not be boxed in in terms of getting consistent results that’s more important than having a a 50 or 100 watt extra Peak y like okay for actually winning the big big race maybe that’s where that difference comes in but for actually consistent results like

Look at Gran and yakoba he he beating them both in both Sprints I’d be I maybe I don’t know the data correctly but I’d be surprised if he had a higher 5sec Peak than them but he’s positioning timing everything’s been better and Y uh I’m not sure if zyad was here maybe Z’s

Just the goat lead up plumers and zyad they just the goats I don’t know uh but yeah decline was very very good I was first I saw KY being put sort of trying to find Meier’s will and I thought that’s risky because if he jumps at the right time you’re not going to

Come out of his wheel uh and then Mia was thinking of jumping he said after the end chimi screams up the right I thought is that gavia but it was chimala did a really hard lead out on the right no gavia on his wheel Cavs detached from

Serita don’t know where he is it’s kind of a freefor all and we’re waiting for Groves to jump and like Groves if you look at his record in the Big Bun Sprints is not good uh he’s not as on the level of the sort of merer

K de he’s not like those guys in the big big bun Sprints and KY jumps early to the left hand open side and I think if he’d had if he was tacking on to someone it would have been fine but it was just too early I know 200s ago there was a

Wind you can see from the flags from their left shoulders to their right shoulder and he went to the left barrier and it’s right to go to the barrier but because he went to the left barrier mer is getting a decent draft you know on his pocket just behind him on the right

Hand side so yeah he basically meria jumps right there into that pocket decine was following quite up and merer does what I think philipson did to beanie or somebody in the tour last year y just merer just swings and just decine has to like stop pedling or he’s going

To get chopped in the barriers by merer uh to pedling yeah he declined he declined that option uh and like like m is probably faster anyway but he takes that will from him gets in the slip stream comes out and there can only be one winner from that point on Tim mly

Wins his second Sprint very very impressive good timing he’s the fastest here and uh declin second K Peters on his run and he finishes third and interesting who comes the rest of the top 10 is really interesting to me we already got one pro Cony guy in there

Decline fourth previous Pro Cony guy anel kovski uh on kofus you got maresco fifth they’ve beaten yakobson sixth vandar improves his ten of the other day to seventh the lotto Destiny Neo Pro I think he’s a Neo Pro yeah bow housee e8th gavia ninth ODed kogut another Pro

Cony Rider 10th the Israeli young Sprinter he’s quite good he was good in lavir last year and in other races and that they’re beating Bennett Milano grova Groves Cavendish me all those guys who getting paid seven figures so um it’s interesting yeah it’s certainly interesting and yeah you’re

Right Ki launched early did a bit of a a mini gavida I would say it’s not a real gavida because Gava would do it at 250 275 to 400 meters to go but um the thing also with Ki is that he indeed makes that decision to go to the left and it’s

Weird right cuz if you’re not experienced in Sprints and so for your head would be like oh always going to the left to kind of hide from the wind behind the barriers or something but like you said if you then go to the right side you would limit the ability

Of the Riders behind you to come past you because they’d be having to come past you in the wind and yes you’d be sprinting in the wind as well but it’s kind of like uh you have to weigh out the options you know and I’m not sure

Going to the left side would have been the the right decision here cuz it indeed gave Meer The Hiding he needed to come past and that’s also the hiding that then adds to the cine also being able to pass Olaf Coy because he’s also in the draft of those two Riders then to

Come into second position and you’re right first of all marier once again King on top he’s been sprinting so well this year I think he’s won four Sprints this year already two at this uee tour and they’ve been impressive and it’s not the the fact that he’s winning that

Makes it impressive to me it feels like it’s his intuition and his decision- making in the Sprint itself as in there’s been these moments where I was like at this moment m is in a position where he needs to make a decision to stay where he is and risk being boxed in

Or launch or follow a certain Rider and every single time I feel like he makes this the right decision and maybe there’s a tiny bit of luck involved but I think it’s mostly intuition and kind of experience of being in these Sprints knowing what could happen and then being

Able to respond in the right way to those moments and right here I feel like he didn’t launch directly and Co launches directly from him and he follows Olaf Cory from that point onwards and I feel like the decision what sorry Malia baited him he sprinted into uh

Dilia or bad’s wheel on alerson and then I think KY thought he was going to use that momentum to launch and then like I’m committed I’ve already started and he and then M jumped he baited him um um and that’s what makes it most impressive for me you know

Like that because with philipson we always say we know he has the speed we know a lot of sprinters have the speed and yes it matters that a philipson is being put in a good position without spending as much energy as others because all of a gets him into that

Position the thing with philipson is that he’s so good at finding gaps that others don’t and knowing when to respond in certain ways at certain moments in the Sprints feel like that’s been one of the highlights for philipson as well and to see that in marer some that I swear

Two years ago three years ago I feel like merer had more issues being boxed in not making the right decisions at certain moments and I think that that’s been an improvement there in the same way that we’ve seen Ki improve a little when it comes to assertiveness in the

Last two years in Sprints and it’s it’s nice to see the the progress of all these sprinters but we got to have the conversation now how close do we see DE merer after all these victories this year to a 2023 philipson because we haven’t seen Yer philipson yet he starts

In the weekend atop and they’ve got Sprints coming up tyo they’re riding together against each other of course classic BR Depon PR is going to be a good one and uh K Dam if it is a Sprint which is still a big if but I’m so that

Finish brother you that for free right now I think so too that’s why I’m making it a big if but I’m looking forward to seeing them sprint against each other cuz I feel like merer is coming for the King right now and so far he ain’t missing

Yeah but he can’t go the tour so I don’t know if he’s doing the jro so I think I think they were looking at getting him one ground tour he needs to ride a ground tour it’s a shame for him he should do the jro yeah it’s got flat

Sprints and I don’t know what who is Van doing GC or something ala fib and asran toodling around getting their contracts extended uh or renew or office so I think he the J ah it is interesting how he played these two sprints and in terms of that

Progression like is he cuz he’s 30 or something you think oh is he still learning positioning uh or he can’t still be learning positioning maybe he is because he started late eh yeah he was doing chesses right and I would I would also mention don’t know what that is just ignore

Gots yeah but I mean it’s not a bun spring in the UAE Is It Anyway there’s sometimes similar amount of sand he he won both exactly the same way there’s like the ball of the the triangle of the lead out the road is so wide there’s still space left

He’s position positioned himself on the open side of that ball Bert’s positioned him actually quite well both times ber van lber is position him on the open side of that ball getting half draft so you got to be good that’s the thing it’s like not everyone can do this cuz half

The guys if you position yourself in half draft on the open side like that with the wind coming from your left shoulder you’re cooked and you can’t Sprint or your Sprint will be rubbish and you look look at Groves when he opened up he went backwards uh and so and then he’s

Basically waiting for someone to jump and stage one it was the Colombians stage this stage four it was koi and then as soon as he see someone going to give him the lead out bang he’s good enough to get in the wheel and aggressive enough in on the open side

Now in Europe it’s difficult there’s more corners the road is narrower uh rers are more tied coming into the Finish perhaps it’s not possible but uh he’s done it perfectly both times and it’s been very similar and on one end you’d say Barett F ler bringing him in

Like P10 from which he moves himself up from that point onwards that’s in the eyes of someone that is analyzing Sprint not ideal but the combination is working because merer does have that that Insight of moving up in the right moment and then I then I look at so many other

Sprinters right now in that same pelaton and I’m thinking yakobson joined DM yakobson himself is not great at positioning DM is not great at positioning a sprinter at least in the last one and a half years and then you see that yakobson is nowhere in in the

Run into the Sprint and has to like move up himself as well but he doesn’t do that as elegantly as a as a merer does and then he ends up finishing fifth fourth those positions because he starts from an uncompetitive position and then when I think about I don’t know

Nowhere I forgot he was at this race but yeah you’re right gunen is nowhere and thing with gunen I always feel like I have the similar opinion on him we we analyzed this at least in the in the tour last year where it was very obvious during that tour of fron that he

Struggled with the alpon lead outs as in the alpon lead outs were so Fierce that he arrived at the actual Sprint and he was basically out of energy to Sprint and then when the stage had an easier run into the Sprint which I think was the Lor stage the Alon wasn’t in full

Force there and right there in that stage you notice that they had it he had it easier to be in the right position and actually had a good finish and feel like when it comes to these UAE tour Sprints they are pretty damn hectic but

I also kind of expected him to be there you know cuz this is not to the France level uh it kind it’s as close as it gets but I don’t feel like it’s as fous as the Alps and Lead at the tour to front no no it’s much more like linear

They stay at the front and then they don’t have they do have Rickard here but there’s no vandero with like an explosion with Philips to your point original question is you know merli versus Phillips and I think Mer’s top end is faster I think it is faster than

Phillips um but but that’s not sprinting is not all about that as we’ve just discussed it’s about positioning and timing and gaps uh and philson still quick so but uh in a straight line if if you had to put me on the spot straight line 10 seconds who’s quicker over 100 meters I

Would say mly 10 seconds oo maybe I think 10 seconds day like if kerer in a bun Sprint of 30 guys Philipson’s [ __ ] lethal like look at him in R game second so they’re different Riders I feel like philipson has a slightly higher acceleration in my head so that’s why

I’m thinking 10 seconds there 15 seconds is a long Sprint a hell of a long Sprint yeah but then I’m leaning very much maler and it’s like I’m looking at both of these Riders and looking at tyano and what if marier actually outs Sprints philipson straight on multiple times in tyrano

Will people forget about that when judging the Sprinter Awards in November October by the end of the year just because he wasn’t at the torr because that’s a major hit not being able to ride what sorry we won’t forget yeah that’s true maybe well tomorrow stage

From alaka to Alin 183 K there is a 7K 2% climb at the start of the stage maybe we’ll see a break form that’s more than just Stewart I doubt it um this is the finish that grovin actually won last year in UAE so if he’s going to bounce

Back uh for him you would hope it would be tomorrow last year he went but the thing is like he went fifth the day before in Dubai and then one and then third the next day so maybe he’s just got to get it right I don’t know maybe

Just got unlucky but uh 21st and 17th in the two sprints at what point uh I’ll say that question who do you like tomorrow Benji um I think my leer in every Sprint here is who I like 40 Sprints but I’m I’m curious about echelons because this

This is a parkour that takes us like in my opinion I’m looking at a map and it’s sand colored so I’m guessing there’s a desert there yeah yeah yeah cuz it started is going through to like the the hill SL Mountains from the right side to

The left side of the country and it goes straight through a Sandy place so I’m guessing there’s options for echelons in that behavior depending on because they also twist when it comes to angle a lot as in they go NorthEast Southwest they go west from the start sorry I had to

Had to had to figure out what direction it was they go west from the start then go Southwest a tiny bit and then in the last like half of the race they they decide to turn back before turning you turning back towards the actual Finish

Line so I feel like there is options for echelons in this stage I think so if the wind is right uh in terms of technicality uh there really is none the last turn is it 5Ks to go last right hand turn and then it’s like it’s a straight line with four roundabouts that

I presume they’ll be able to blast through uh to the north of the the country inal Kain so it’s going to be high speed Sprint and it’s not technical so maybe it’s good for grov maybe there space for him to get moved up but yeah

What point do they switch Yan and him at the at the tour well I don’t think Yan would be doing much better so I think they’re you don’t no I don’t think y would be fall out of position at the UA tour probably right probably right it’s interesting though

No gr doing parin it be it would have been interesting if if Yan did tyano and gr did Parise and like Yan W the stage and was good in a couple other and gr continu this then at what point do you change it around um but is it too late to change

It due to preparation probably probably already too late frankly because they’ve already told them what they’re doing and Gran was decent in the tour last year he had uh four top fives and five top 10 which was actually a lot of points so he was

Pretty good in the tour last year um so maybe he’ll just he just needs uh some more racing Fitness more Fitness in the legs I don’t know uh who I’m picking tomorrow I’m going to go with arva decline tomorrow because malier chopped him today and he would have won out of

Co wheel so I’m going to go with ARA decline I picked a d for today and yeah didn’t get it done uh any other news Benji around the traps wait wait wait who does the drafting Merchant Draft when there’s no one to draft ahead of him true that’s the real question

Well like yeah does he hit the wind and just evaporate he just like in The Avengers he just Theory it’s a I’ve not seen it disproved yet I’ve never seen over decline in the wind so I don’t know like Shing his cat how can you win the race If I

Decline cannot be in the wind uh there has to be zero win speed yeah yeah has to be something maybe the rider ahead of him wins but gets relegated so then he wins but he got to draft them all the way to the Finish yeah and if there’s no win speed

Then there’s still like wind resistance cuz you’re moving so monster T I don’t know but he’s my tomorrow he’s look good uh declined so maybe guess they done for his biggest win so far uh in other news uh The alip Saga not not too much from the actual main protagonists or being

Marian Rus J Al and Patrick lafra uh the French uh head of their Riders Union gave an interview to leip basically saying in any other industry this would constitute employee harassment and you’d be able to file a complaint other disagree I would say uh with that and then uh a bit in the

Gossip columns but I’ll mentioned it anyway um Philip Jar’s partner just had a very strange response to Marin Rose uh what I thought Mar Marin R statement was pretty like middle of the road I thought which was like can you just leave us alone um and she basically had a massive

Go at Mar ruse about criticizing writers on TV and then not being able to cop it um which is completely different by the way uh to have your employer criticizing you and Roose analy performance the exact words translated you spend your life talking badly about people behind your mic hidden in your

Studio it’s like she’s like a keyboard Warrior Marin Roose is like the most public facing person she’s on stage at the tut of France presentation in front of a thousand people in the audience and all the media in France she’s like after Christian pom maybe ahead of him there

Like public facing person on national TV where are the keyboard Warriors it’s my job so yeah that was and I was like you want to criticize performance Phil jber took probably seven figures or whatever from Lotto Destiny got him relegated with his performances when he was under contract with them um and also

Was didn’t he like promote another bike brand while he was like at the team as well just like I think so let’s not play that game let’s not play that game because everyone has bad periods uh I will say she deleted the Instagram reaction oh really very swiftly because

I’m guessing that she realized it was not the right way to was like can you not potentially but hey it’s uh it’s another uh pile on on the already uh dramatic discussion I would say I think uh I saw some pictures on I think it was

L the news in Belgium or something that at the actual uh Recon of or something this morning Al phip and marus they were very nicely welcomed by the staff of quickstep there so I think there’s like no bad blood between actual stuff like I don’t think he has beef with

Mar he probably he probably he’s probably like holy [ __ ] I have to drive the car and direct these guys for opening weekend in in 36 hours mate some people were expecting that like cat meme where willf patri is the person like trying to roast the cat and then and the

Cat is like Mar sitting at the table not happening bizar um what do you actually what do you actually expect of Al Philip’s level cuz I was doing this mental maths yesterday cuz then I was thinking how much cuz I’m a spiteful person so like if I was him how bad

Could I be and still get a good contract next year like like what is he what’s he’s got to do to still get 2 million out of total we also got to add something that we haven’t mentioned yet that was also an update after what we said on the podcast

Yesterday where the favor spoke to H new blood if I recall correctly where he said the words that were said in humo the magazine that said it were actually about 2022 so basically this is indirectly linked to me as in remember when I was in that Wolfpack documentary in November

2022 in diam in Brussels that was recorded and apparently that same day was the day that LE took Alf felipa’s side and said the words that he re reset in that humo magazine along the lines of you’re drinking too much blah blah blah blah blah so he didn’t apiz rth wait

Wait I agree he also added that since 2022 November Al Filip hasn’t touched a single drop of alcohol I don’t know why it’s it’s then how he know allegedly didn’t touch a t drop of alcohol why that was then reset again in that humo article why he he he must have

Reset it in that interview then for it to come up in the article but this doesn’t excuse the Mario Rus part nor the fact that he keeps on batting on about the DEA phip thing if it’s already fixed in his own words exactly if he’s been an exemplary teammate he hasn’t

Stopped training it said for over a year here then this is 14 months he’s been exemplary why would you bring it up and like you said yesterday and we’ve brought it up a few times already the year that it’s about is 2022 strade crashed lbl crashed braon sella got hit

By his own team car came back one in the tour to waloni uh in front of aramburo which I’m still really sad about on and then had Co and then came back for the VTA apparently was pretty good in form going into the not selection of I’m

Pretty sure Le fav thinks he he could have continued after that crash he slid out in the Welter yeah on that random Corner Argan Le fav thinks he just packed it in so he could get ready for wel yeah but all all this together he was injured 75% of the year

What the [ __ ] are you expecting from R that’s injured 75 and if it’s then fixed since November 2022 then all we’re talking about is 2022 and Al like he andless prayers that running where gagh har and COV crashed on Stage Nine of wter ala Filip was unbelievable for Remco he’s a good

Teammate um at least I can see but yeah my point was yeah what what do you expect from he was pretty good in TDU some say he won that stage on M longa depending on where you draw the Finish Line uh do that’s a stretch some say the Wonga

Denius May believe that won that but he like is he really going to get dropped in the hills in kerer would you be surprised if he was in group one with wellin morid visas I would not be surprised to the point that sport has this kind of

Fantasy fantasy game that I always make like a team for and then one day later I forget I have that team today I haven’t forgotten yet because I added A6 million euro ala Philipe in my selection this time because there is a chance rank like is expensive it’s 1 million less than

Merer and it’s about no for like the races are the main Classics but also the [ __ ] we’ve got we’ve got the big deal here they do that for those races all included but I shouldn’t going into one of them the minimum is 2 million so he’s

6 Mill and we’re talking about vpol is 12 million roughly and vard there same price yeah I guess vanard does more of them right so he’s doing opening weekend I need to look into the scoring system obviously I Crush fell games can’t be stopped um so I selected Al FIP so I

Have some hope that he might do something I do too like why would he just get a straight Dro maybe he’s washed I don’t know but maybe if it’s raining yeah of course yeah yeah yeah some but if it’s not raining it’s true it looks cold and wet this weekend uh

But yeah I think I can’t see him winning flesh and the opening stage of the Tour of France right in Italy he I can’t see that coming back no first and he’s not going to the tour so that would be difficult to win if you’re not on the start list

As I always say um but if he wins a doofan stage or a Swiss stage comes fifth in flesh isn’t that good enough for the A Team to still give him the bag I think so based on full sang I think so uh anyway our last thing

Was STV an interview I’m not sure if you read it this morning Benji just speaking of the classics we we’re in the classics week it’s about the classics this Saturday yeah uh it’s it’s in it was by our colleague Bram Vella yes I know he tweeted it he does good he actually does

Exclusive interviews and content like he did a lot of bike stuff he did it’s in uh HLN I believe check that out uh basically say St was talking about he got he said he got read the riot act at the end of 23 in America by seven people

At a round table for his level in the previous year or two are you surprised that that happened do you think it should have happened like I’m actually I’m not surprised it did happen I’m not surprised it happened but I also think it’s not solely sten’s

Fault as in I also think the team management is partially responsible for the tactics that they employ and some of the tactics just were weird with the Riders they had if you have Pon and you have styen you tend to use them different than the way they

Did in certain races and for example if it’s about the last two years then we’re also including huam where he wasn’t the top four but he was riding in the group with ban with Christoff laort where he definitely wasn’t going to win the Sprint with a group with Pon behind that

Kind of situation I don’t blame him solely for that that’s a team card’s fault that Sten keeps riding with bino and Kristal laort that he doesn’t know that he’s going to get beat there it can be himself overestimating himself a bit but also the fact that it’s not clear

That Peterson is the clear the clear leader in that situation I feel like that’s the kind of thing I’m looking at top 10 at rub in 2022 top 10 at Bon top 10 at rub is a good result seventh in my opinion but then I look at he he just

Didn’t write as many Classics as I expected them to 10 fedo 15 that c those are those are decent results but why is STK expecting this man to win every bloody classic he want a fluke Ono this is who he is he’s a rider he can only win riding

Away from a group in the last 10 kilm through group dynamics and that’s a f [ __ ] great way to win that’s how you wanton K that’s how won Milano Sano a great palmeres or against a very bad Sprinter like lampart in omope in 20120 he want a Sprint do you possibly

So he could beat Kung maybe in it but like his Sprint is not that good like compared to the door or beanie or uh the Le Sprint ain’t that so this is but this is what a continuation of the favorite thing Benji where I’m like I’m looking at the team

Here you won the monument you then probably extended him as a monument winner that doesn’t mean he’s a monument winner exactly value wise I agree as in the repetitiveness of him winning a monument is not huge when it comes to St it’s still a rare chance which he’s a

Great Rider he’s got got made group one in Ru against isolated Riders it is possible blers it to me is impossible Y and so it’s different Monument winners are not built the same if a guy goes to tour ofers and drops everybody on the cinberg and rides away to win that’s

Replicable he’s a freak yeah and you pay him the Superstar money but Sano like you said s k could have won or it’s it’s more of a lottery so and listen agents in the Riders should go ask for the most money possible based on the what they’ll

Get paid I’m not saying that’s wrong but then and I also feel like Sten probably got the most out of his career when he comes to the victories he has winning omop winning he’s got a nice right winning Sono winning a VTA stage he was closer to the front stage at some point

That’s something he he might still try to win and I think reckon it’s not impossible to do that for y Super S but he’s not who can we compare him to that he’s not for example as in is he much better than what naan van hoyon was that last year honestly not

Really like and who the hell was sit down with van hoyon and be like why didn’t you win a mon Podium a monument this year yeah and like I’m not and that’s not disrespecting so I’m saying van last year was [ __ ] good I’m just saying like the palar really

Really taints the previous wins taint World people’s perception should be of future wins uh that being said we’ve done a lot of Defending yasper servant just then he does say some things in this article which I encourage you to read where I’m like they ask him Point

Blank do you see yourself and mads in the same hierarchy in the classics and he pretty much says yeah I’m like come on man um that ship is sailed so the the likelihood of pson winning is so much higher because there’s so many different scenarios that Peterson can win in Pon

Can win in the scenario that St can win in important is Sprint exactly the Sprint is there he also has the quality to just simply ride people out of his wheel and Paris were Bay that’s not impossible the likelihood of doing that to vanderpol and and fard is limited but

It’s not impossible if someone has a bad day or something happens and with styen I feel like he’s the he’s the kind of Rider that I seen that that team as Peterson is the now they’ve got three Riders right they’ve got Milan as the pureon like hry evam Sprint option

Behind ferson has the man that will try and get into grooves but styen is also one of the guys that goes into early moves and I think Sten is a tactical play as in you put him in groups to put pressure on other people and he can

Still win the race potentially yeah but it’s just I was curious to read that that I was like and listen Maybe we don’t know what happened on it maybe he carries himself around the team like he’s the Superstar and gets paid like a superstar and wants to decide his

Schedule and his program and his training locations and then they’re like hold on sorry but you you scored you know like average I don’t know 600 UCI points 700 UCI points the last 3 years I was wrong less more than that but you know what I mean like mate

We don’t know how he carries himself around the team but uh that was just interesting to hear uh he’s contracted through 20 like what next Benji they you get balol mmer in front of you in 2028 when he’s 41 years old and say well the [ __ ] didn’t you be pogy on Lombardi this

Year Well to be fair M’s contract is also one of those that next to Fang or like one of the worst in the sport at the moment together with we don’t know the money about the MMA one but I’m guessing the fullsong one MoneyWise has to be relatively High f is obviously the

You can’t beat the F contract but I rate MMA pretty high in that yeah Dylan turn’s also not flying either um at Premier Tech so probably also not the highest ba though I don’t think he got that uh in 22 and he he just won flesh right he just won

Flesh and sixth in Le age eigh in sixth in Flanders and Rick fuger was like come here buddy um anyway that was an interesting interview go check it out uh if you read Dutch uh or have access to it ONN butn but we’ll be back with the Sprint stage tomorrow Gran

Camino TTS this afternoon it’s not counting for GC so we don’t care uh Josh tying should win that it’s on road bikes though so it uh all makes no sense to me I know there’s Wind and Rain conditions but it’s just very strange uh what’s what’s happening I don’t really know how to

Take that but until tomorrow stage uh ciao that