Visma – Lease a Bike 2024 Preview | Lanterne Rouge Cycling Podcast

In the first episode of 2024 Patrick Broe and Benji Naesen preview Visma – Lease a Bike.

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Credits:
Photos | Cor Vos (unless stated otherwise)
Data | FirstCycling

Timestamps:
00:00:00 Intro
00:02:09 2023 Recap
00:14:10 Transfers
00:34:52 Schedules for 2024
01:03:34 Goals for 2024
01:09:14 Hot takes
01:17:17 Public perception
01:25:17 Over-unders

Welcome back to Lantern Rouge cycling podcast for usually our biggest team preview of the Year between them UAE and inos grenadiers it’s the visma Lisa bike 2024 preview and it has the usual format as the other previews reviewing their 2023 season looking at their 2024 transfers and having a look at their

2024 schedule who they’ve announced for the the major races and what who we think they should have sent to the major races as well as setting some goals hot takes over unders or how many World Tour wins they’ll have Etc as well as a few questions that Benji’s got on our list

Uh but when was it the team presentation was what two days ago Benji Thursday yes as of recording this two days ago on the 21st so recording this on the 23rd this will go out a bit later but hey that’s uh you guys don’t know that so we have the benefit of that

Information um and so yeah we’re B recording the preview but we wanted to wait for the the team presentations Before Christmas to come out which the majority have and also some controversial signings to have been uh had the te’s crossed and eyes dotted which is pretty handy as well but uh

Just a reminder you’ll we discussed this in the Q&A podcast which you might have listened to on Christmas day uh that I am on the coaching staff at now visma Lisa bike working with uh the leadership team on Race strategy transfers SK scouting data analysis all that uh Jazz

So it wouldn’t make too much sense in this preview if I said all the transfers are terrible if maybe that means no one’s listening to me um but yeah just if you want to you want to listen to more about that it’s in the Q&A podcast and also there’s the uh the

Release on vima’s website but you want to get us into the 2023 review Benji yes sir 2023 let a pretty good season for uh Yambo Vima what they still were called in uh in this season 38 witer victories to be honest I counted the list multiple times

And once I counted 39 and three times I counted 38 so I hope it’s 38 wter victories out of 69 total victories and let’s talk about the big ones first the grand Tours the Jiro day won withraw glitch the Malia Rosa won plus one stage not necessarily in the most dominant

Fashion but in clutch which is still a valuable Victory obviously to France vingar basically dominated GC winning the mayoon plus one stage laa sepkus wins the overall as well so three ground tours already plus a stage for sepkus vinga and Rit both finish on the podium

Next to seus and Rit wins two stages and vingo wins two stages so in total that is if I recall Seven Grand Tour stages in addition to three grand tour victories and a full Podium at lovea that is that’s already a great list like that’s like a a career defining list if

They didn’t do anything outside of that it still be a successful season I think 10 grand to stages got JC cus one don’t have Al lre um am I mistaken I am mistaken I thought the Doan was a Twitter France I’m a little bit sick so Benji’s driving this

One close I just saw I just saw the French flag on PCS I was like close enough close enough a tour the FR stage yeah they only won the TT and the Juro and the uh they yeah they that’s curious isn’t it they didn’t win a road stage in

The first two grand Tours um somewhat surprising compared to 2022 when they won quite a few stages in the Tour of France so different to 2022 uh in the one-day races uh they won five Cobble Classics I think in a row except the big ones they didn’t

Win uh the tour of Flanders and Ru but they were quite dominant in all of the races preceding all the world tour Classics preceding it not including San Ramo either uh and in the one day oh yes I do want to talk about the classics there for a second you mentioned it they

Won every single one of the the leadup classics omope with fala bot Kun BR but not e Tre which was against the big guns it was against pachu and vpol in the final Sprint there that’s an epic Victory laam gifted by W let’s be honest about

That and dwor L in addition to that Podium Drew Bay and didn’t win rvv if we take a look at those two races plus MSR for a second where can we identify where it went wrong and my take on it is that Ru have got the bad luck you you you

Need to mention that he had a puncture there that’s partially at least bad luck but if you then take a look at the situation in rubbe they were also in that moment in a situation where the initial bad luck or partial bad luck depending on whether you see the

Puncture of laort as bad luck or as equipment failure well there they already lost their numerical Advantage earlier on because Alon was significant when it comes to their numbers in Ru and when it comes to rvv and MSR fol which is better than vanard and pogacha was pretty good in rvv he

Was pretty good he beat the [ __ ] out of everybody like there I look at rvv I’ve looked back at the race multiple times I’m like Dylan vanal was sick I don’t think he did it and then re I’m not sure he got taken out with a crash in irber as

Well um well he had a crash in E3 on Railway cross I think he indeed on the St is that the Cobble segment that goes over the rail railroad crossing that’s where he crashed but I’m not sure if that was the actual cause for his disappearance at rvv probably was but

It’s like wild fat couldn’t have it’s all down to just the individual strength at that point or can is there a way you can anticipate enough to make sure that leaport has to jump with the pon group and then Yambo never pull behind yeah the pon group cuz alberon couldn’t

Pull like they just they were done pulling in um and then then maybe leaport wins maybe mads pson wins but I think you take your chances there uh you also had van hoyon in that group remember who was it was quite good but in the end they

Only had van hyonk there and Van hyon’s not beating asgar and mor CH Patterson in that group so yo had to pull pull behind that that’s not the situation they would have wanted and then it comes down to you close the gap and then basically yeah as I said like pogy was

Just [ __ ] un like second qu 55k to go drops everybody not even just like a little bit off the wheel full dropped and his team radio had to say afterward like after the The Quon all right you can’t do the whole flat yourself just kind of wait like I think even he was

Still ahead and leard bridged to him before the passer B and he dropped everybody again second quamon and then last quamon just like it’s just it was too good way way way too good unless you had that 90k to go group with pison so rube I’d say bad luck but also Le’s

Broken his bike about five times in every gravel or Cobble race in the last three years yeah it’s actually true except the ones where he won even yeah even par tour this year he destroyed it uh so I don’t know I don’t know but um certainly there’ll be goals

And yeah we’ve now done a long discussion on what they didn’t succeed in but I guess gu it’s you know you got a you got a nit pick I guess lombardia it’s not like they could have beat Rish sort of wasn’t that was a bit strange Li

The Arden was kind of the overlooked one right if we had to nit pick as well Benji grand Tours and Stage races like how we know like it was probably the best season ever for a team in stage racing I can’t think of one better correct uh because they also sorry on

Your list just to quickly go through and they also won the do the Bas country Catalonia Toro adriatico Podium of parin I think and then a lot of stages in others as well as winning Guang XI uh but then the Arden vanard RIT vingard skipped them right it’s a

Decision eh it’s a prioritizing other goals to the point that those races didn’t have the leaders and then you have Beno and vter trying to fight it out and at Str that led to some tactical miscommunication and in the actual Hill Classics they just were not good enough

Hgat is just better he he rolls them up if he will to so that’s how I see example also remol but also even the second tier Riders like pitcock and so forth in those races are better than benol and and vter even sometimes combined so I don’t see those riters as

Leading those races and being competitive unless the start list is weaker which at thray it wasn’t then they competed so that’s how you see it for example and yeah 69 wins though 69 wins 38 grand Tours ultimately it’s aason of Dreams probably team didn’t win the U points ranking

Though well I don’t care which says more about the ranking itself I will say p Hogan is is something I do want to point out as in he’s one of those youngsters that is moving up through the youth rankings is finally coming to the World Tour team

This year and I look at him winning two. Pro races already in his first year where he’s allowed to kind of raise those races I see that as a very good sign for his future and spoilers will go into it later I reckon he’s going to be

Riding some of the Cobble Classics in 2024 which I’m very much looking forward to I’m very much looking forward to seeing him Blossom a bit next to the likes of sted and so forth so yeah pretty hype for uh the Norwegian youngsters in this team but yeah me too

We mentioned not winning a monument I do want to talk about how dominant was Yambo really when it comes to ground tours because if you take a look at the tour Def and the VTA I don’t think anyone could have stopped them from winning it I think in the VTA

Maybe U could have tried to pick off one of the three Riders on the podium with different strategies yeah maybe but winning the race probably not that doesn’t seem feasible to me to the difference was also too big in the jro I also feel like the difference at the end

Was noticeable enough that it might have not made a difference but the difference between rugit and vinga is that rugit wins by x amount of seconds while while vingo wins by x amount of minutes and you see the same when it comes to the individual onewe races that RIT wins and

That always keeps me in mind of like was there a way that the opposing teams could have ridden differently to try and overturn that and I believe catalunia Remco could have won that with different strategies in my opinion tyano is an odd one because RIT still came back from that injury at that

Point that was his first race back from a shoulder surgery uh for his dislocated shoulders that he had in October which then led to uh him coming back Ino instead of Catalonia and at that race F like he was riding very defensively because he had to ride defensively

And maybe other teams didn’t realize that fast enough and that could have led to a different result that being said he still pulled it off cold blooded killer this threeyear Ro glitch and it also showed in the eventual victory at the jro which we’ve spoken about it in a the

Energy expenditure any’s not benefiting from that but whether that would have actually changed the outcome of the race I’m not sure but it might have been closer there so I feel like the overall view of the ground tours and the onewe races I feel like there was nothing to

Be done about vagar races but there might have been something other teams could have done about RIT yeah maybe in the jro in that third week and Yambo did make a mistake on the bondon stage um during the tour to France I don’t really see it because like UAE had the best mountain

Domestique Adam yat was reducing the group to three including himself whenever he wanted there are slight mistakes in or their proper mistakes in Breakaway formation phases weren’t going to make up the the minutes that V was taking on the stages anyway so that didn’t matter yeah it didn’t like you

Say oh well they didn’t control the Breakaway for the gr Colombia stage when in the end that actually didn’t make any difference because bogy still got a full second Delta coming third so like in the I don’t really see a different outcome uh to be honest uh in of Welter of

Course they’re very they’re the most dominant so uh I think we’ve covered off covered off those I think R can be a little bit deceiving sometimes it’s like he seems he kind of does he does the minimum required to win uh that’s a skill so maybe which is

A skill yeah uh which kind of maybe gives the appearance that he is but touchable but I would say also if you can if you feel so good right that you can just dance away from everybody with 500 meters to go and take you know eight 10 seconds you’ll do it whereas actually

In catalunia he was getting beaten by Chone in an uphill Sprint yeah but is it a choice or is it an application of the skills he is good at like you’re saying as in he has that Sprint he might not have been able to be top at catalunia in

That way every single time but the majority of the time he’s that cold blooded killer that can finish fin it off last minute it’s kind of like I don’t think he has in him to drop people at 5 km to go and keep it until

The Finish Line in most look at KY and look at Trey Chim like him and Thomas were the same I will say and anglu level was different of course yes but that was TR chimi is coming after a big hard stage I know they walked at inos but um it’s

Different to the anglero which is 120 km stage so R yeah he’s he’s so good in in the back end of the year in August uh but yeah maybe the jro was the closest in also Ru that one but still that that rounds off the 2023 season speaking of

Rogl the biggest transfer of the year yeah out of the team after the Welter uh so he goes to Bora Hans grower uh breaking his contract with everyone’s agreement obviously uh and leaves a big gap so like certainly rit’s wins of this year are there’s just no

Way I really don’t see how they can be replaced uh for 2024 at least uh I doubt or his point oh maybe I don’t if I look at the points going out and the points coming in maybe it’s close [ __ ] the points man they’re at the top of the ranking points

Are kind of irrelevant U is winning the points ranking in 20 anyway so it’s not like this will get them over UA necessarily in 2024 but I will say when it comes to RIT leaving they are going to miss the results that RIT can deliver and I would

Also look at it in a way of rug just secur so many onewe races even if he doesn’t win a ground tour any year and yeah the riders that are there already in the team and the riders that are coming in like jensson I Brook ton

Coming from the de team and balet those Riders are very good for the future but might not be able to deliver that yet yes maybe Jorgenson can win Romany this year but I also think he’s got higher hopes than winning Romany in 2024 as well so it’s like maybe par something

That’s a good goal I think parin is the one that he’s he’s lined up for to to do something and maybe he can compete for the podium there maybe he can compete for the victory there but just in general I feel like they can’t replace RIT right now but they can replace him

In the aggregate in the future yeah like maybe maybe in 2025 um particularly when you’re looking at we’re really looking at three Riders here jorens tet kot Brooks can in 2025 those guys get close to the results of rit in 25 I mean as you said maybe in

The aggregate but also cycling isn’t the same as baseball in the sense that sometimes you just need the guy who can just actually win The Grand Tour because like here she had a lot of result in the aggregate in terms of points this year but he wasn’t sniffing early age win or

A Tour stage didn’t go a grand tour I don’t think so uh but but really it’s a moot point because that they couldn’t it wasn’t like they just couldn’t could keep rogl you know it looked like he clearly wanted to go uh to have his chance at

The tour of Bora so it’s kind of a moot point exactly and I feel like it’s also just as a reminder I I don’t believe the the VTA or something or the that drama necessarily was the thing that hit it for RIT either maybe that’s part of the

Whole concept but I think it’s in general the feeling of RIT of wanting to go to a ground tour and lose it on on his own terms and not on someone else’s terms or on tactics terms but on his own terms of being individual leader and

Just not being good enough and I think that’s what pretty much wants for 2024 and I understand that that is a good reason for leaving Vima in 2024 as well even even if people might think they’re it’s a viable thing to think that he

Might be a more likely to win a gr tour with a co-leader at at visma than as a solo leader at Bora but we won’t know that until next year but I think it’s a good choice for primar and I also think that viz itself had to undergo this

Transition at some point in the next few years I might as well do it right now so I think for both parties this will end up being a a relatively good decision for the coming period And Then I then I question you said it jensson is coming

For moar he’s wred at was good in the Cobble Classics anticipating in similar fashion as pison did in rvv for example but let’s be honest about it they’re not getting him just to be a cobble Rider I’m pretty sure about that they’re they’re having him as Mountain

Domestique plus GC talent I would guess in 2024 and Benta is the is the GC Talent Plus hilly guy I would see plus Mountain domestique Keon Brooks from Bora I would look at him as the future GC Rider potentially for the team because let’s not forget this guy is super young one

Laer at the youngest possible age yep and in addition to that his first gr tour last year La welta he finished eight and fifth in a very competitive top 10 yeah good top 10 like with two big UAE guys with Remco having started the race with three yo guys Ricky

Mass uh and so yeah and he was fifth on that tomay stage obviously the TTS a big question mark but obviously Benji mentioned it uh it was it hadn’t been announced before the team presentation and then I don’t know if it was I was asleep but I don’t know if it was

Announced like during the team presentation because he was wearing viz M Lisa B kit but showed up uh Benson reported or there was and then a UCI statement that an agreement between Bora Vima Lisa bike and Al Brooks had been reached with a compensation package uh to let him terminate his contract and

Move to visma Lisa bike which is the same Arrangement that obviously happened with rogl that basically it’s it’s yo paying that compensation not Keon himself right I would expect I don’t know because like if you think about it it just feels more logical to me in this situation that

It’s similar to RIT where B had paid a buy out some to Yambo to get RIT involved in that sense so but that brings me to this question iook stet jensson thinga a lot of people are saying does that make that there’s too many cooks in the kitchen but I think

They’re far away from the UAE situation especially with RIT leaving because go ahead well I think like obviously I I don’t know Al made it but like Jorgenson’s going to be happy I think to go to the tour to win the Tour as part of the team you know in a domestique

Primarily in a domestique role maybe Al Mater is as well but he like wants to go the tour but then I Uso like I’m not sure they like they’re kind of more progressed in their career the UAE guys like COV has already done that Adam H

Just came third on the tour ao’s Podium the Welter Al’s Podium the jro so and this poy so whereas like tet Jorgenson Kean they got to win a world toour one week they got to consistently Podium them before we’re also talking about Podium grand Tours I agree but I would

Say that COV is not in the position to request ground tour leadership yet based on his previous ground tours and his bad luck in there he’s like the one Rider that I would say is still in a similar fashion as jensson because of his fast of not being able to deliver at that

Space because of various reasons but I agree with you as in they’re not that far in their career yet they’re still having to make that step up and especially toet is for meter Rider that hasn’t really broken true to that point yet Jorgenson has done GC in one week

Races better than toet in my opinion he won to ofan fifth in parin or fourth in parin and maybe second in Romy maybe he was like he was I think he was in the leaders jersey but Yates was cooking and so he had to chase him for an hour on

Ton uh which isn’t Pleasant uh so like yeah jens’s probably shown the most in one weeks K showing the most in a grand tour in the recent Welter and also won lavenir but as you said like they’re just a little bit maybe two years behind

The UAE guys uh not to say that I don’t think they can perform really really well in 2024 actually but um I I think tet’s also a bigger we sort of not we’ll get to the outgoings as well uh but I think is a big addition for the Arden

Especially for something like flesh like he did really well in that race on alberon that maybe that result was why uh inos where wanted him in the first place and then he hasn’t done them in the last couple of years for various reasons uh and also hasn’t done a grand tour since the

J22 so didn’t do a grand tour this year I was starting to feel like he was becoming the dunar at inos yeah yeah yeah that was it that was a feeling I was having last year and he was also being sent toop and when I when I saw I was like man they’re

Done barring this man and I just want to see Benet at the hill Classics again I don’t even care about GC as much as he probably does I think he can be RIT or vingard sort of combo oh wait wait wait that level or yeah yeah yeah he [Laughter]

Like cuz he’s he’s young he’s the right size his TT is his TT is excellent he won the oh sorry the T Norway prologue was up here but his TT is very good for his size he has very good five minutes in punch as shown in uh in Bartly and in

In other consistent results in do pro races um but it’s still far to get there yeah I’m not saying he’s going to be [ __ ] co-leader of the tour next year I’m just saying like the if you want GC contenders I I like them his size Pig coock size um if

They already have a bit of punch and TT about them obviously if it’s Po saivo and nairo who just can’t do a TT of that size then it’s a huge detriment um but if they show they got a bit of TT about them like Simon Yates and the Yates

Brothers as well then um I think it’s a big I think it’s yeah so I’m obviously very high on him uh and K yeah has a big prosect uh let’s let’s do the outgoings before we get to the dev guys uh Dennis retired uh vanemon retired as well

Long-standing member of the team uh Sam Omen to little Trek Teo Rosen to DSM uh and Lam lameer also to DSM I think the norwal yeah the norwal it’s a shame but I think you know te Teo Rose and all like you sort of you hope you can

Replace them with like Bart lemon or loan Bell you know like it’s I’ll be honest I’m not even going to be that that friendly here I don’t think they’re going to miss Dennis vanen alond Ros and fos and lamon at all I think they’re goingon to miss F hon and Rit and that’s

It yeah I think that’s probably true van Hoon I think is I think van Hoon everyone’s talk about going to replace RIT van hon was in the tour team was in the doofan team was in all those Classics victories was in group one in tour of Flanders van honk was like one

Of the most valuable players if you do of this team and he’s gone who was the guy keeping Yona safe from sevenk to go to 3ks to go on the tour and keeping W and Kristoff leaport in good position because they were trying to do a Sprint

Lead out Maran van hoyon on his own lead outs into the base of the H Punchy climb lead out in the parin stage where the three went clear in 2022 like the best ruler I think in the world and he had to retire after his uh you know shocking

Heart attack thank God he’s he’s okay but he’s he’s not replaceable none of the Riders they brought in replace him a can’t replace him so Dylan vanala can kind of do it and he’s a better climber but he can’t do the sprinty stuff and the class and like he’s more of a leader

In the classics but how I see it is that I can see writers in the team replace parts of fang that are relevant to that specific race and we’ll get to that in the schedule I won’t spoil what I’m talking about but I fully agree with you

That F hon is the one on this list that even perhaps more than rocklit is a key element to a lot of victories in this team this year like two different in classic obviously Ro won the races outside of that but without F Hoon those other races might not have been so easy

To win in the first place finger might have crashed a few times at the Tour of France and might have been out in the classics w fat might not have not have been able to pull off whatever he did laort might have not might not have been

Able to pull off what he did etc etc andhim who who went on first kimelberg to create the group that mads pson had to panic bridge to and yakobson Luke thought he was going to win the race but he was in the sh when he attacked with earli it was Van ho

Yeah and like and he’s ruining his own race there outgoing transfers aside because I I I’ll say it again some Alan roll and V and fos I don’t see any issue with those Riders leaving at this point in their career incoming Riders outside of the ones we already mentioned we

Mentioned jensson we mentioned tet we mentioned I Brooks per on hages sted Louis Vella those three are coming from the actual de team I’ll be honest I know Hogan is in stone limited more than I know Lou vonella as in I only remember Lou Vella from lavenir when I was

Watching that specific race but hoganas future Classics Rider is high I perceive it sler Rider because that man is really strong but he’s also relatively versatile because I swear I remember like a a semi mountainous stage wasn’t a pure Mountain Stage but a semi- mountain stage where he was relatively

Close to to the victors in that stage and he’s a rider where I believe he’s already going to be in the classics team this season maybe not in the big races I don’t know yet I haven’t gone through like eight Riders yet but he might actually make some of the big Classics

Like an E3 and so for and an envelope stuff like that and Stor admitted I’m thinking I still see him as a domestique at this point yeah and that’s fine like he you know I assume he’ll do like he did Gran caminho with with vingard this year as a

Domestique that’s always a fantastic learning experience maybe he’ll get to go to a onewe race that uh the tour guys aren’t going to and cuz like there’s still as I said like as we said with ro out there is opportunities yes there’s vingard yes cous may lead a couple of

One weeks but still are you going to tell Stan aitt to fully ride for cous in a in a random one week Roman or something like UAE tour probably you let both of them do their thing on their feet right um at least what I think and

So I think he’ll have a split schedule and yeah but in the big race with the big boys if he gets to go there that’s yeah probably is a domestic uh van Bell’s kind of a good 10-minute absolute power uh sort of overall ruler type Rider um try and develop him into can

Can do a Sprint lead out can ride the classics that ort of thing uh and but we didn’t mention Mr lemi Yet Mr B lemon yes yeah from Human powered health so he human powered Health did Grant Cino with uh viz Malisa bike and vingard

Did he win that TT yes he did P one at the year before actually uh with the drones remember yeah yeah with the Drone footage that was so [ __ ] crazy to the point that was actually endangering V and like the drop off there was just

Like a drop off right of the the road uh he came fourth in that TT which by the way was a similar speed it was like a quite a hilly TT it wasn’t just like an arrow one it’s quite hey good prep for the tour uh he was a minute and five

Behind vingard and 30 seconds behind Dennis and he beat uh yeah and so fourth that’s good and uh he also I think he was in the military maybe Luke can confirm but he was in the military as well so he’s come to cycling late he that was his first year on human powered

Health so there’s obviously a bit of latent talent in there tall rider and I wonder if they can develop him into like the hn role when Hern retires at the end of 24 and maybe even more they’ll be hoping for but sort of just like he’s Dutch he showed some promise he’s got

Some good some good absolute power and I think they back themselves to to develop him into something something much better than he looked on human powered health I agree there is potential but I’m also on the edge of they would not have signed him if he wasn’t

Dutch I don’t know I I believe that way as in I I I do believe that he’s going to do something next year probably probably if the team’s Italian they get Baron chinii you know like they get Baron chinii instead who is more hyped and has like one world’s U23 that is

That is a fact like that’s how it works or if they’re French they get army rail or something um he’s like a similar profile I think so yeah nationality of course plays into it but I don’t think it’s I don’t think he he’s not just a tokenistic yeah either no

Um yeah but haanz I’m very high on if you go watch go watch Monsterland Jiro and go watch if you can find it Ronda vrena the finals of that andrena he beat Floren VES mangiro he beat Groves Pon and Co not first one was on his own

Second one leaport NE were rolling moves I think he’s got really really good race sense like I think he’s got really good feel So within the system I think he’s going to be really really good um yep and and you also you need those loyal Riders over the years that stay in the

Team that are fine with that that got the chance at 28 to do so and that can be there when for example when you need to fill up a roster of Santos and under you can add a valuable Rider that can actually perform yeah like Stan maybe even as

Well like uh I don’t know if t yeah Milan Vada who won Guang XI so I think winning with the second line Riders is also important but yeah that’s how would you rate their transfers Benji wow let’s be honest about it it’s not horrible eh like I said it most of the

Transfers going out are ones that you that you can 100% replace and the two that you need no choice yeah exactly and the two that you need to replace or need to try to replace or ones that you can’t do anything about van Hong they can’t do

Anything about that RIT he wanted to so you can’t actually put the foot in front of the door without sounding like a dick if you’re team so incoming transfers I am on board with most of the transfers if not all of the transfers to be honest

Like I I don’t know louon Bella enough to say whether the choice of doing it this year would already be a good decision but I guess I’ll see that throughout 2024 I just haven’t seen him race as much as I’ve seen Stone hoges and so forth so can’t 100% judge on that

And that brings me to the 2024 schedule we’ve got the benefit of of knowing where the Riders are planed to ride the danger of teams announcing their ground tour teams in December is that 99% of the time they are changed by the time the ground tour starts

But at least we know their their plans and it starts with the classics the names already written down for that is Ward jensson and tvot I have added question marks in maybe p haes is added maybe on tratnik uh laort I would also name as a r that will probably go to the

Classics and got to be in there as well right yeah vbal got to be in there as well in addition and he just he’s like I see you in July showly hey guys I think I think you’ll do some Classics and we’re at seven Riders now I think but I don’t

Know who the eth is cuz I forgot the list of riders they have in their team yeah so I think van Hoon comes out of that core and you’ve got haanz in uh aeni was pretty important for the classic I say a aen is an incredibly

Important riter for 24 like he is like that Rider that if if he has an issue he he is so important for this team to do like break control lead lead outs into like the mullenberg type things cuz van hyon’s not here anymore also there’s a big opportunity for the van djk Brothers

Like the van djk Brothers with Van hon out is a big opportunity for one of them to step up try and step up into that role in the classics I see would you see hoges or Von get the earlier chance to get into an rvv

Team into an rvv team or Ru those two uh Ohan is is probably more highly touted right now he’s already just won to like semi Classics but in terms of like the earlier work the van djk Brothers Haan is you actually probably try and see if he can can he work in a

Final of kerer brussell kerer you know can he be the final of ker yeah yeah yeah yeah example I see he could do that whereas the van dijk Brothers it’s a big opportunity for them in major races I think now who’s a better brother that is the

Question both good at different things I actually agree it’s like it’s one of those like brother Duos where there’s not a major difference between the two and he could replace one with the other and it might actually not make the the magical difference but then we look at Hill Classics and that’s the

Area where in 2023 they were barely existent I would say maybe that’s a bit too hard but they were barely existent let’s be honest about in the results they were barely existent tbot is the only man written down for it at the moment so we don’t know other names but

I think it’s pretty fair to say that roer like vter will probably do the hill CL even though combination with the jro might not be necessarily ideal but I do expect him to do Hill classic somehow benlet I would love to see doing these races and then I’m starting to wonder

Like we know Milan vad did well at guangji and he’s doing Santos toand he’s at least scheduled to do so I still believe that St bian is a race where I want to see Milan V come to its his actual R after that crash to return and

So for I believe that he’s got a mountain bike history so should be pretty good on [ __ ] gravel so thr definitely V but the actual Hill Classics i’ put him in there as well cuz it’s not like you have V and a line of 10 men ready to write these Hill Classics and

Um yeah who else writes it outside of Berard V vter toet and so forth I would say because then look at the rest of the team and yes Jenson would be great at that but i’ I’d expect to see him at the Cobble Classics and maybe

Amol yeah I mean jensson I think should be good at them uh he was he won Tour of Oman he’s good on on sort of a 5 minute climb I think but yeah it’s not I think there’s just opportunities here yeah for toet vter as

You said but note and but then if does all the it’s positioning and their harder you know their harder races compared to like a five minute effort in Guang XI in the TDU I see potential my friend I see potential yeah if he can get to rute

Fresh yeah yeah for sure but uh that’s a big question mark correct maybe I’d like to see him do it in sort of they don’t really do the little the thing is they don’t do so many of the Italian or Spanish they don’t do leguia they don’t

Do those dot Pros that suit him that are where he could cut his teeth like UAE do or any El do uh but I think yeah the hill Classics is not going to be as strong as their Cobble Classics although I am Keen to see T in flesh uh

And vter and Berard and Co but yeah are should vanat do amol again or B I think he’s starting the the classics early he’s starting with omo and um then he was skipping MSR and Str and he is writing RV for if you if you do want to must be

Amol cuz you’re not doing L and and so forth in a jro year even though vter is trying to combine it but I I would say that I think he should do it but maybe it changes if he wins r b maybe he’s like [ __ ] it might as well focus on the

Jro now celebrate a bit spend some time with the kid and so forth so has he won him still um well not really CU Pitcock won that year yeah so still is still box to be ticked uh anyway talking about yeah the named wrers K Brooks uh to go for his GC

Wilco Kerman as uh climbing support and maybe is that I’d love I’d love to see him go for a stage win sorry but is that disrespect to kelleron just saying climbing support no because I want to see him go for stage win I think

No I don’t no I want him to win say did you just say that Kellman already Podium the tour no Podium uh grand toy put him J in 2020 yeah yeah he did he did he did so fifth in the doesn’t move the needle

For me he need I want him to see him raise the arms now mate you you say that but use your influence tell the people to send them to a [ __ ] stupid one week race I don’t give a [ __ ] to the hungry and let him win on that stupid

Bloody Hill stage that is there you can’t you can’t beat how are you going to beat herey on that he eats on that terrain he’s always doing these top level races which means that he can’t win a BL it’s got be it’s going to be World Tour the Curious Thing is codman’s got

Like a half decent Sprint like he’s not like enry he’s got like a half decent Sprint he’s like it’s not really the same but mcnolty kind of as in like he’s got that kick in similar fashion that magnol does roughly very roughly no Ben heal just threw he just through that

Stage wait what stage the jro stage with mnel whoa Jesus he you’ve read that final very well uh also going for Sprints is the tour of Britain combo of uh olav Koy and w f which is pretty successful there I would say them I assume a is going he’s Italian it’s the

Law uh I assume he’d be going to the jir as well and that’s a pretty stacked lead out I must say um um especially for the jro Italian maybe not for the tour to France but for the jro given that most teams got about half a lead out on their

Roster these days because it’s all about the pilot uh that’s but wells will be going with Dyan Popple we assume uh Caleb euan’s going with Groves maybe St Kaden Groves with humor going so not mean and Milano’s going UA named Milano so there’s there’s people there Milan’s

Also going for track yes he’s at track these days he is y I will say heite Brook SC on Olaf [ __ ] W fard Ward needs to be lead out in the regular Sprints I don’t remember the jro parkour fully to know how many chances W fard will have

Outside of that but I think there’s at least one or two stages where he could fight for himself you might know that better TTS y the TTS definitely outside of that in addition to the team I would expect wter to be there even though he’s going to the hill

Classic because if he’s not on the temporary list or the professional list for the T France which why is he not there I IA valter represented I want to see a Hungarian at the T France anyway that Rand the side if he’s not at the tour FR he has to go

To the jro because the VTA would be disrespectful um I agree so Hill Classics jro double for him I would expect aen I fully agree with you can’t just send W and and koi even though that would already be a pretty successful combo adding AI to that would be major

Um that would be a really bloody good lead out correct and outside of that those six Riders are on paper then I’m thinking what else can be added to this and they did mention hn you do but I wouldn’t send hn to this race i’ send him to the

VTA H SN at the VTA always is better my head ping upward true he’s good in the warm conditions like he does TDU loves it every year and then the Welter sted does he get that opportunity at the jro because I feel like if you send to

Thea will be difficult yeah but if if you if you want to use aeni in the lead out and you’ve got Vana and Koy for a Sprint stage and you want to win the stage you have to control the stage like you have you people are not going to do

It for you in the jira so like that Demari uh can’t remember who is with S Clark stage so like that and we got another Napoli stage so they got to have someone who can control and vanala is doing the tour is on that list so with

No van hoonk I think hayn is good at that uh who else is there like St I think hayn is better at that all day then start a m and louan Bell is not in that page yet heson well he he’s still on the sidelines yeah and he’s probably going

To stay there and he’s probably going to be ditched by the team eventually is my guess at this point um who else is there in this team that could play that role truty could do that but I would uh he’s on the list of

The tour front so I he would have to do J2 double after already doing some of the classics most likely so that’s a very busy schedule but but Hing I think is better at it Von brother first ground tour it’s not actually a bad idea Bella might be too

Early yeah so but someone has to do that someone has to do that uh not just the flat stagers too there’s obviously going to be Van Michael few stages uh so it’s Corbin strong stages yeah and you got to Israel should send him to but you got to you got to

Have a strong versatile team that can get over a heill or a sort of 10K 6% climb quickly to to control so it’s interesting the team they’re sending uh Al Brooks probably doesn’t look like too much support for him but well if he’s close in GC then kelman vanard Balter as you

Said and and Co that that’s not bad at the back end of the race I agree after we’re going through the schedule I do want to talk about fard bit but let’s first go to the to the Twitter FR and the VTA team for a second Twitter

FRS yeah go ahead sorry well no no you said we’re going to talk about van in a second I thought yeah were you surprised to see him do the jro I’ll talk about that when I discuss the overall year thing because we also got to talk about Ward VTA and so forth

Which has also been announced to France vus that’s expected after that Jorgenson I see that because well let let’s just go through it fully V Jenson laort tnik they needed to replace V hon they needed to replace Vach who is not riding the tour to France and kinan who is

Going to the jro and how I see it is that thnik is their partial replacement of f hon in this list maybe with some changes in the order of the train in certain stages but that’s at least an attempt to it in my eyes Jorgenson in my

Eyes is a an attempt to replace the vard satellite Rider Plus Train Rider and K is the replacement of keron but that I don’t see keron is just better in my opinion yeah he was yeah kman created the he pulled before cous in on the tolay and shredded group he like dropped

Hindley I think just about correct he pulled he was in the Breakaway on C he pulled very strongly on P Dome Kerman more versatile he wasn’t he is puncher he is like especially in break formation I remember he was uh quite active uh jumping but yeah you got to split them between

The Jiro and the in the tour and I would have switched him around personally and I actually I would have split them around but I do understand if you look at individually the parkours that the tour parkour fits K better than the jro parkour because the longer climbs the

Nonv climbs are in the tour fronts so I see that as a potential reason why kwi is going to the tour fronts instead of Kon but I do believe that Kon even on that terrain I would trust more I think they’re thinking of Sol all and Gia in

22 and so they’re thinking that is a l stage and like that’s what uh yeah I agree Kerman Kerman has been a better rer in 23 and 24 is also two years later than 2022 so it’s going to come to a point where they might re that

Reach that brink of like KW is no more is washed but I’m not sure if they have reached that yet so Leone was a surprise to me as well in 2022 but that was also a bit of a one trick pony event that year it’s not like he did that

Throughout the entire year and then he crashed out of the tour so yeah so there’s also the crash risk how do youash risk uh I see yeah Jon obviously I think replaces van jensson his strike rate of getting into the Breakaway is unbelievably good leaport I think replaces van hoyon in the

Finals oh yeah I see that well he ain’t gone for himself in the Sprints at least I don’t think he should be allowed to got to keep someone has with a bit of O has to keep Ving safe to 3ks and it it’s not vanal or tratnik

So then you got yeah in the mountain stages and so forth I do see trtnik taking the van Hoon roll it’s like it’s a parti replacement yeah so I agree that leaport is the one that needs to go for the for the 10 kilm keep keep your boy

Safe are they weak in the mountains I don’t think you can call this team necessarily weak in the mountains even if I it’s weaker than U right obviously speaking in UAE but it’s it’s got one spear you’ve got a a quadruple Quint Tuple whatever you call

It Trident in in UAE and you don’t know what the order of their yeah what the order of their work is going to be so you’re not going to tell me that the U team will work perfectly together as in it’s going to be a perfect train for

Pachu or something I don’t see that it’s going to be a multileader strategy to try and upset V got and I reckon they will try multileader strategy 100% against F other send 17 leaders in the team but let’s imagine like we got the is stage stage 10 or 12 right now MH bro

Trck benote cus jensson and vingard jumping to get in breaks you think ala is going to be there ala’s not going to be in that Breakaway he’s also not necessarily the rider I’d expect to be in that Breakaway so I are you saying they’re going to do

That in like the mountains like cier they just started jumping okay I see that I see that I think that’s more of an issue because then they’re looking at these Mountain stages for the terrain but they might be they might not have the the the [ __ ] is in the team of like

The medium Mountain Specialists to go and breakaways like um I don’t remember sort of did is is Sol in the T FR team yeah I think he was because he’s kind of that kind of Rider who can go in those moves and play that Rider of Like For Better or Worse yeah depend

Depending on the day no he get sometimes remember he jumped and it brought kman and B in on L as satellite rid my boy Sol is actually so [ __ ] good I agree would you rather have Solair in the team or tratnik or crib or Calderon

Uh see that I don’t think that’s the two because so is more fun no because if you take then you’re really really weak on climbing I would but like him or B or him oric Sol’s VTA level equals higher than anything I’ve seen from CR outside of

Solone I mean Benji when he got to like the third week he [ __ ] himself and he [ __ ] lost 15 minutes on purpose yeah but CZ shits himself on 90% of the mount last years true so listen I’m I’m a cair you know I’m a cair fanboy so you’re

Disrespecting our boy I’ll take I’ll take cair of a vingard um just for the entertainment that’s what I needed to hear but yeah it’s uh it’s a pretty solid team for the toour uh let’s just say that and I and I expect Jorgenson I think people are sleeping on his

Climbing I really do like I really think on those long like cool on Isola on cestria I think Jorgenson is could be cooking uh so don’t sleep on him I think people are underrating how easily 2023 wild fard can be replaced 2022 out finard very difficult to replace I don’t

Know how you can replace that that was a monster ultimate MVP but 2023 I’m only really looking at the tmal stage being able to get breakway take that could Mato Jenson have got in that Breakaway with toas johanneson M kovski and got over the tooray and pulled the valley in

The first 10 minutes of cter yes yeah problem solved the gravel stage you probably would want wout instead of yeah someone else but you’ve got but then but then Jorgenson doesn’t have you don’t have the conversation with jensson about going for the win on that St stage yeah

It’s like you’re sitting next to yonas all day like and he knows that oh let him have a crack what let him have a go no I’m not allowing it all fair enough you’re not going to tell me that you’ve been you’ve been hitting on the hammer of wildart needs to Rite the

Couble stage for this leader for for for so many years and now laort is going to get a chance Belgium romantic let French let French Riders have a crack wter do they is that who else they announc toet hn is on the list I don’t know if hn is confirmed and toet is

Confirmed I think toet was confirmed toet mentioned that he’s going for the VTA um in 2024 uh Chris fard and Vaga as well and if I look at those five Riders I see that as logical I see hn as his final grounda VTA with the stuff he’s

Done for the team he deserves that well the exactly and who knows we might see raing back and he might suddenly be fighting with vagar for the victory RIT sty I don’t think so they got a lot quick they got a lot quicker than 10 years

Ago who else would fit in this team I I don’t think we should be predicting the velta rest of the spots yet because there’s so much that can happen throughout the year who knows St kme might crash out of the Twitter front which is there’s a solid chance of that which

Is unfortunate to say he’s got a high crash R which means he might end up into VTA you got ker goat you got uh valter could do two you’ve got Stan you got loads of guys could do the Welter it is time to get my Belgian flag out and ask

Is W fard being disrespected I saw the Articles already is wild fernard being disrespected by having to play his little game in the classics then having to go to the jir and the VTA to try and reap up some rewards that are left out to of the T front because Ving L

Priority for the T fronts and then have KY be added to the jro team as well to the point that he can’t even Sprint for the flat stages so chiclamino is going to be difficult for R fad so he’s just going to be going for

Stage at the J which is maybe three of them that he has an opportunity in including the time Charles no it’s more than three it’s more than three yeah but he’s not going to win more entry it’s not going like he’s going to win all of them that he has a chance

In now the PO is going stage one stage one looks a lot different yeah I agree with pogy going someo stage will be harder because there will be more more interesting from the viewership pers perspective that being said he’s not going for GC so that’s uh that’s something that is very clear unless

Someone makes a GC wout account that’s what I heard M say on the on the presentation that was legit just someone just made up that he that he was going for GC and I actually went back and like gazetta didn’t actually even report that he was going they said he might go for

GC and that article was being placed out of context with like I he going for GC and I’m like no no no no no not ever happening nothing had been decided it was still in we were still in meetings and seen these article saying he’s going

For GC I was like what like nothing had been decided um but but is he being disrespected I saw I saw this already saying yes number one yes he gets the opportunities in the classics that he needs to want that he wants to have that’s more of a sentence that’s fine

That’s what he wants in life that’s the priority he needs to win rube or rvv this year that’s what he needs to do well W will say I don’t need to do anything which is true he’s a pretty good Rider outside of if even if he does

Doesn’t win those two races but ideally he wins one of those two races how I perceive it when it comes to the other races at a tour France he’s definitely changed with with Vaga and has limited opportunities so he probably partially chose to go for the jro is how I see it

I don’t think they forced them to go for the jro necessarily and then I think the only thing that a bit that’s a bit shady is having Coy in the team which I can understand from a fun art perspective that that’s not fun is that reduces the

CH for chiclamino but Co is a better Sprinter and in my opinion has just as much chance of winning stages that the jro den vard does especially with vard as a lead down and aini has a lead down so I’ve been shouting for KY to go to a

[ __ ] gr tour at this team for two and a half years now they’re finally sending him to the J should happened two years ago when Duman with the best with the best lead out in the world now yeah uh like he’s finally there so I’m fine with

That the obviously if not season will be focused on Olympics and World TT I don’t know about the road race I haven’t dissected the gradients of the Zur clams yet so I don’t know if if it’s viable against pugachu and so forth it’s going to be a bit more difficult I think but

Olympic should definitely be a big goal of of V fad and then I think Bel just trying to reap up some more awards at the end of the season in the season where he’s focusing on other goals and that’s something where he can all stages

Win a stage in all three grand Tours for example but I must say that I’m coming to a point where I feel like he’s not necessarily being disrespected but this is the year where I feel like okay if he was on a different team he would probably be riding the classics

Plus the tour to France as leader not necessarily for GC obviously but San Style probably yeah but but would he be as good outside of yumbo yeah and you could also go to the tour and not win a stage like Vanderpool and prepare all that

Time and not win a stage vpol had a pretty good season outside of that but I’m just saying like I think it’s not a bad and also like no one’s forced to do anything like yeah you know there’s the big star Riders don’t just get handed

Their race schedule and say here it is thanks you’re doing that next year thanks for coming if V wanted your ‘s position at the T front Jorgenson would not be in the T FRS which I don’t mean that Jorgenson doesn’t deserve to be there wat just has more of a string to

Pull in the team I reckon yeah and like he’s done that role he’s been part of the two winning team for two years so like yeah there wouldn’t be any reason to not take him if he wanted to go in that role so correct but I think it’d be good for him

To just win a lot of races like just win a lot of races in 24 and there’s nothing wrong with you know you may not win the monument bad luck puncture another guy too good on the day he’s winning R yeah sure sure sure but it’s a lot easier to swallow that I

Think if you look back at the end of the season and you won 10 World Tour races including six grand tour stages then you’re like well [ __ ] it it wasn’t that bad a year was it like all that altitude camp and stuff was still still worth it

So and of course he’ll be one of the top three favorites for the worlds in Olympic TT uh well maybe not g tying Remco but uh so no I don’t think he’s being being disrespected but I do agree that yeah if he for sure if he was at uh well if he

Was at quickstep with rco does he have to does he have to help Remco on the gravel stage yeah but there Quick Step too imagine the Press actually Quick Step I reckon that you wouldn’t have to stay with with NCO on the gravel stage because they’

Probably have oain to do that or someone else true they have someone in addition to that that would yeah it would imagine R fard at quickstep would it be that different is alren better than V Bara at the moment no asrin turned up for like three

Races a year last year that being said I’m still he pretty good in certain those three but true but hey we spoken about wild out a lot we spoken about whether the new to the FR Riders can replace the old Twitter FR Riders realistic aims for

Vimal laab in 2024 for sorry I’m I’m shouting vimal laab but they officially mentioned the words yellow B in their article onite I think that’s just like the holding company yes they were they renamed Blanco procycling to Yellow B and the idea behind it is to make no one

Called them Blanco anyway yeah but that’s different this is different they’re changing it to Yellow be for a reason they’re not doing it just for oh we’re changing the holding company they’re doing it to try and make a wolf pack like thing and I’m not [ __ ] having it I’m not having it we’re

Calling them the Beehive or the killer killer bees if you’re going to put honeycomb on the Jersey then that’s what you’re going to get called the yellow submarines submar very random uh yeah so realistic aims for vimma lab in 2024 uh yeah win win a monument but

Preferably a cobbled one because I don’t think vard’s doing s Rama uh so win rvv or Ru that’s got to be that’s something they’re missing uh correct if you won three grand Tours and R leaves well you still got to win two of them so win the Tour

In the wela yeah win a lot of grand tour stages in the Welter and jro especially the jro I’m saying for 10 across the Year yes n 15 really I was being relatively I thought I was already stretching it out 15 ground tour stages that’s CO’s job

Yeah but he’s only going to one grand tour let’s repeat that he’s not going to 10 yeah but Van’s also going there with full chains off and the wter if fard is there with [ __ ] and 100% leads him out with AI then Coy should be able to get

At least at least two to three yeah gr to stage at the ja wild F should be able to get at least one of the time TRS and maybe another stage that’s five yonas is not cleaning 10 Grand Tour stage and the tour and the VTA combined that do in the VTA

Yes but you have to set a high goal if you have three grand Tours the year before you have to set a high goal that is already high no 15 or bust okay 15 ground Tour stage or Yo’s completely watched is what you’re saying finish franchise yep okay uh well

Franchise true well they’re still selling produce right Luke yeah they are they’re still a supermarket okay they just don’t give a [ __ ] about anymore cuz one of their Founders who who was the real person I think Carl vaner might have been making this name up was part

Of the the yumbo management that decided to to go into the team and he passed away a few years ago or a year and a half ago and the new management just doesn’t give a [ __ ] about cycling it seems or not enough yeah hot uh hold on hold on I was

Thinking I was trying to use my brain uh another goal I think is very very important with RIT going is you have to get these young guys progressing and it’s something we talked about with inos a little bit as a very important like maybe the most important

Goal for inos was one of Chef pitcock Rodriguez arensman tling stepping up into like the hater stepping up into like God mode tier pck marketing wise is but in terms of like Road performance he’s not he’s not there yet uh but and I think Yambo need one of Jorgenson tet staled

Haran alter Brooks I’m missing people obviously glog we haven’t mentioned at all even VTA can he improve a little bit they need these guys Koy even can Koy turn into philipson I don’t know uh they need these guys to improve I don’t see either yeah but you

Never but one of these guys has to or two of these guys has to they got to build up up those guys to replace rogich and his wins I think that in general the overall feeling with the realistic games is that their aim should be to be the perceived

Best team in the world what I mean with that is yui celebrating their little trophy of UCI world ranking team best team thingy pretty sick trophy though pretty sick trophy but I don’t give a [ __ ] about UCI world ranking winner cuz yo was the perceived best team of

2023 and then I look at 2024 and they need to get that again and we know that from a roster standpoint it’s unlikely that vimma will be the leader of the UCI world ranking for teams at the end of 2024 UA will probably be that so be the

Perceived best team in the world is the aim for visma lab in 2024 and to be doing that you need to win two ground tours you need to win one of ruv and rube you need to win like 75 ground tour stages according to Patrick he just confirmed that well

755 race wins stages you said Benji there’s only 63 every year come on uh don’t you count the S Andre yeah the fourth Grand Tour grandland yeah uh hot take time okay like it’s hard to figure out a hot take here I’m saying that why WIS R

Which after the amount of years he’s tried might be considered a hot take at this point but I think what we haven’t mentioned is that with pogacha not riding rvv W has a better chance of actually winning rvv yeah I think so and the numerical advantage of Yambo or vimal laab will be

More likely to be in a factor in that race with poacha not being there so I think very focus on mvdp if there’s any year of the last six or so where I believe vard can actually win one of the two if not both of them it might be

2024 yeah it’s unlikely that he wins both based on just the fact that he might have some bad luck somewhere but he’s going to win one of rvv and Ru and I think it’s more likely to be Ru even though I just said that I just said the

Opposite I just said that if you look at rvv look at the competition fact that pogach is not there it’s more likely that the visma effect the numerical Advantage will be a thing there that’s not a hot take [ __ ] it hot take Ward wins both our and

Ru jeez that would be the a big like comeback well not a comeback is that the hottest Ste of the season so far no no I think I’ve said some insane [ __ ] I think I said like Ben would win the jir Ben aono did I I don’t know but

We’ll count it now I’ve called a lot of people to win the jir uh no calling the second favorite to win those races and the first favor for rub no I’m not giving it to as it’s a hot take but uh not fully unhinged I would say I think I think

Uh okay you think a lot I think GC C’s Podium is the tour it’s not unlikely but I’d find it a lot funnier if let’s say vingo wins the tour to FR again that we’d see like five UAE riders in position two three four five that

Would be very very amusing yes it would be very funny I don’t see CZ necessarily ping the tour so I’m I’m going to accept that as a a hot take I’ll accept it yeah uh father podiums three Welter races to under bolog Andi true true cuz bolog has that Hill

Stage GUI has that Hill stage and has Wonga Hill I’m seeing it yeah it has Wonga Hill and it has uh one song with P can’t remember trying to think of another hot take H what is J and nugget smoked in the TTS not really does yo visma win a world

Do they win a world tour TT next year yes which one in the jro most likely canana has days where he’s not that great sometimes true poy on the flat TT is probably going to get beaten by white fard even even if he has a bad day I’m going

To do I got to I got to do a negative one I I got do a negative one Welter go for an extreme negative one I going do a negative one uh they don’t put him any on tour h no it’s possible like vingard has a crash all of a

Sudden uh yeah I’m going to say they don’t win a world tour TT uh and I don’t think they man welta who who’s going to beat white fard and the welta in TTS is going there or rco or I don’t know man remco’s not it’s a hot take

Because it’s unlikely you know yeah yeah true that’s by definition that’s the point I will say that I think out Brooks pod is a jir as well I think that’s possible but I’ll still allow it for a hot take and I think Jorgenson wins Ru uh not Ru Flanders Flanders that would have

Been a hoton winning Ru and a top 10 Rider I think he wins RV and he’s a top 10 rider in the world by by by points the crazy thing is I don’t see is that that hot yeah it’s kind of like the scenar right no not even as in even yes

Yes even he need to roove to do that but the rvv scenario that I see in front of me is that Alpin cannot control the anticipations of multiple yumbo visma riders or visma lab Riders including Jorgenson and jensson benefits from that I can actually fight out against al P

Whoever the [ __ ] in that group we can drop bigger guys on the climbs yeah but pon might still be hard to drop in rvv especially if it rain yeah yeah for sure for sure for sure does Jon have a have a rain bonus does that exist in America

Rain I think jenson’s pretty good in [ __ ] weather yeah I think he’s he’s got a bit a mongle dog in him where’s he from Boise he Idaho think it’s cold there and they ski and stuff I think his family ski so I think he’s good in dog

[ __ ] weather same with Haan is from Norway obviously I think B wins flesh that’s a hot take but I also see it uh is there any is there any for boing like thing of Doom coming upon them Benji like we mentioned for UAE or any no more like you already you know

Obviously you can’t really be negative about the 2023 year and to be honest we’re also bullish no yeah yeah I mean I don’t mean things like that I more mean like are they are they too light in certain roster position s and other teams are overtaking them towards

Looking to 25 and 26 are they getting the best young Talent like are there any cu like I think inos Benson just said they announced Theodore storm for 24 Albert Phillipson August Phillipson Albert philipson went to uh Tre they Del Toro is going to UAE big name

Yeah it’s like you don’t need to have every single generational Talent if you can foster the ones you have and have enough to be able to deliver with them and I don’t think they’re going to be starving Vaga alone if he stays healthy is enough to be very competitive at the

Tour to France to be able to win that tour to France in the next five years and he just got extended to 28 I think and cous to 27 yes and I would say that AO is proof that it’s not super easy to go from that isak Del Toro position to

Winning ground tour victories in the span of two three years that you need some time to grow towards that position as well yeah and like when your 26 roster is Jorgenson haanes Nord haen sted cus laort vingard alter Brooks vanard like that’s a pretty good core for three

Years three seasons from 24 Brooks you’re right but so is UA so is UA 100% but that’s the beauty of the sport we’ve got things to look forward to yeah no in our Q&A we did socialism and we took every all these Riders and distributed them across evenly across

All the other teams um is there I one thing I would mention is don’t you think the perception of the team has changed a the last two years 100% I think they viewed a lot more negatively now a lot more on one end you’ve got the

The team Sky effect of if you start winning a lot you’re going to have more criticism but I think outside of that they had a few PR disasters as in the I still can’t get over the fact of the RL versus Fred Wright article coming out

And they never went back on that the fact that they never went back on that alienated so many fans from Yambo Vima at that moment and there’s still a lot of people questioning that moment and going further from that I think the way they handled Keon not necessarily a horrible thing but some

People might be turned off by that and it’s a reason for already hat it it’s it’s an extra reason for the people that already hated yo visma to add on to that and let’s be honest about it there’s always going to be people talking about um about cheating and so forth when it

Comes to teams that are very very prominent at the time hmon probably didn’t help in that case yeah positive yeah there’s no real update on that I think there was a Willer flitz article today about heson as in why it’s becoming quiet and apparently yumbo just hasn’t heard much

Of an update from the UCI and so forth because the UCI wants to leave it in the ITA the testing agency and well I thought I think the ucci don’t really know either because it’s yeah the German anti-doping like the national anti-doping body uh is is running it so like and and it’s

A criminal offense so they yeah they don’t really know uh but it’s good that he’s suspended and he’s probably going to get thrown off the team the first opportunity they get in the same way that Robert sard was ditched the first opportunity OPP got once they realized I think his contract

Expired as well yeah but yeah I think that’s something that will probably if they keep winning that will that will continue and like you said the Kean thing like because you know the press the Press announcement came out before the agents post came out that said he terminated

His contract or tried to on December 1st it looked like Yambo who just announced the signing of a ryer who was still under contract and then that was debatable and then there’s been a settlement obviously between the the two teams in rder but even like that the timing of the two

Things there I feel like there’s a whether it’s I I’m I’m not sure who in the team it is but there’s someone in the team or an idea in the team that is slightly out of touch with how they think people will react as in they don’t

Think about how people will react to certain things they do even though the moments that happened are also rare moments it’s like they didn’t Rose Fred R every week which good but it was a it was a written press release on a website you know 3 days afterwards I I fully

Agree and it it felt like a a major blow I think to the fandom of of Yambo Vima fans and I think the fact that they never went back on that was Major for me but hey we’re here to talk about a 2024 season and that but that is important how you

Have perceived is extremely important for for your you’re trying to your Revenue source is getting companies who want exposure to give you money and so it’s important in addition to that I would also say that Richard PLU is probably playing a significant role in upsetting a parts of opposing fans as in

The whole beer Gade with with mol back did not respond well to that obviously like if you’re going to say that French riters aren it it came over to me as if plugo was saying these French Riders aren’t getting results because they’re drinking beer after their training and I

Can assure you that there’s a lot of riders in France and French teams that don’t drink beer that are perfect athletes and obviously French fans aren’t going to like that yeah um but will fdj didn’t like it I will can I will I I brought this topic

Up myself but I’m now going to play Devil’s Advocate against myself yeah that if you are if you were within these teams at races there is a lot of [ __ ] that goes on even at teams you think are hyper professional that you as an amateur would be like I cannot believe

This happens during a grand tour or they’re doing this this way so like but of course I think it’s just not and that was like a red rag to a bull like French fans already not just French fans were already like not the biggest fans of of

Yambo and dominating the tour um but it’s it is strange like a year before grol everyone was super happy cuz I think pogy was less popular in 2021 yeah in pogy is way more popular now I think than in 2021 but I also think a major effect is also the fact

That they won three ground tours on Podium dvta the vaa was a big thing in terms of their them puming that and also RIT leaving and they not being certainties outside of the team of what the situation was internally who was at fault for what etc etc that also

Alienates Danish fans against Slovenian fans they’re fighting on social media and as a consequence if RIT leaves then Slovenian fans are going to be like well and then afterwards the management of yozma came out with um just talking about the reality internally and that

Puts rit in a in a less desired light a tiny bit for some people as in if you say he he wanted to ra and so forth some people might don’t like that but Slovenian fans will feel like that is the management [ __ ] on Ro glitch

After he left you know e if it would be yeah yeah I do think it’s like it’s kind of a good thing and a bad thing because even like when I scroll like R Pelon or I scroll uh like cycling news or or gcn or the websites like a disproportionate

Number of articles about this team and this probably the longest preview of a team as well that we’re doing so like I guess it’s a good thing but like success breeds contempt but also I think a big Focus for 24 should be don’t go out of

Your way to make people dislike you 100% but I will end on like the the points that I spoke about earlier cycling has a history when it comes to doping and so forth to the point that it’s okay to question Great Performances but I’m never going to go

Out of my way to be cynical about stuff like that and be like oh he did something great so he must be doping and I feel like there’s portion of will do that but not just fans like to me like the comments of uh the fdj performance

Guy I think they cross the line as well I don’t remember specifically the comments but I think I agree yeah so but that being said hey it’s Sky had to endure that for [ __ ] 10 years thing I had B thrown at him so he’s getting the good

Side I mean and everyone that’s think Everyone likes inos now we were doing the inos preview me like wouldn’t it be great to get back to the good old Sky days like up there competing with UAE and Y so it’s good old Sky days can we

Get frean back as doctor or it’s a rose no more bring that train back baby um in the black and blue anyway uh I think this a pretty good PR we got to pick their wins Benji uh Jesus [ __ ] Christ wter wins how many they have again 38 38 this year I

Have a problem mate what’s your problem I don’t know what percentage of wins I’ve already spent on other teams could point point at M we’ll have to either do zero for the last like two or three we’ll have to do like 20 for in Mar I’m going to go with

RIT victories are going to be gone and he won multiple stages in tyano W St World T stages he won a 28% of 26 I think they replace those stages with W fard being more prominent in victories because of the schedule he has and that places me on 38 worlder victories really

I’m going to go with [ __ ] yeah true Co n roic won too much it has to be less he won too much cuz he also won Catal and TR I’m going yeah buty didn’t many races and bar he’s going to do more in 2024 right yeah there might only be SE Sev are still a pretty good H you’re

Saying they’re going to win 15 ground tour stages yeah but they have to I think they’re going to be weaker in one weeks in winning stages okay I’m going to go with 33 okay that’s actually no it’s fine how many did they win in how many world two wins they

Winning they won 24 and 22 which is a pretty good season so I’m going the average of those two years with ro out 33 uh okay that’s the the visma Lisa bike preview let us know what you think uh down below and if the numbers don’t

Up add up for the world tour WIS Benji we just do a lot of Destiny Israel preview and add some more in but I think we’re going to be running out of them to be honest now that we’ve added them in uh we still got so what Bor H girl to do

So they’re the next ones we’re recording thank God the two teams got the agreement together because thank we had to do this pre we thank God the than God because we had to do this preview today and uh it would have been tedious to try to figure out where Brooks was going so

I feel like you’ve cured your illness during this preview Bri I feel ratchet so so if I’ve said anything off hand I’m just going to say well I sick it doesn’t count who who is surprised that if you take half the calories that a human needs that you’re starting to

Feel sick after a bit no no the trick is what you do right you do extra exercise and then eat what you’re normally used to eating and then your stomach thinks you’re fine and then there’s your deficit and you get sick so yeah anyway thanks for all your support thanks for

All the uh everyone’s listenership on the previews and we’ll see you with the Bor hands gr one next until then ciao