Big Wins and Near Misses S2E21

This week we’re discussing Jonas Vingegaard’s Grand Tour outlook after another impressive stage race win in Catalunya. We’ll also discuss the ongoing rider safety debate in the wake of Tom Pidcock’s near-miss in that very same race. We’ll include coverage of some big Spring Classic action on both sides of the Women’s and Men’s pro pelotons this week while we update our BTS Fantasy League standings. And as always, we’ll keep it out of the ravine and headed to the finish line in the Broom Wagon.

Cadel: Lungs on Legs website

Lungs on Legs trailer

SBS Cycling Podcast episode with Connor Delves interview

Paul Seixas Please Don’t Go To UAE

Rob Hatch Calling the Finale of Milan-Sanremo

Drunken spectators trying to steal bikes off of the top of Visma’s team car

Jonas Vingegaard, Family Man

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

It's your weekly breakaway for fun conversations on pro cycling. Come join us for another ride beyond the slipstream. I'm Matt Harper, and together with my brother Justin, we'll do deep-ish dives on professional bike races, teams riders, and all sorts of cycling-related stories. Jump in the saddle and tighten up those shoes, the road awaits.

SPEAKER_02 0:25

Hello and welcome to Beyond the Slipstream. I'm Justin, and this is my brother Matt, and today on the show we're plowing our way through the spring classics while Grand Tour season looms ever larger on the horizon. And why are we in mind of Grand Tour season here in late March? Because we now have confirmation that the biggest challenger to the otherworldly dominance of Tade Pagacar in the Grand Tours is on the best form we've seen from him in two full years. And while that rider is maintaining a perfect season thus far, another superstar and a master descender got things far from perfect around a tight corner in the very same race last week. And though he nearly avoided catastrophe, the incident has called to mind a debate which has been simmering away in both the women's and the men's pro Pelotons in recent years. Rider safety. So stay tuned for our chat on the continuing saga of the return of the Viking, the ongoing state of rider safety in the modern Peloton, and as always, we'll try our best to keep it out of the ravine in the broomwagon. Ale. How's it going, everybody? Welcome to the show. We're gonna jump right into it. We got a lot to cover today. Uh, and I think that there is no story bigger than the one that came out of Catalonia this week in the Jonas versus Remco Showdown. Well, I guess it would really have been Jonas versus Remco versus Pidcock showdown.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

But uh we we now know who really it would have been Jonas versus Remco or Lipowitz. Was it Lipowitz that was in that race with him? Yeah, because they were co-leaders. But I get your point.

SPEAKER_02 2:26

And and as I was saying uh on this very show, you know, you last year, uh, you know, I think Lipowitz now has the bigger upside to Remco, in my personal opinion. So but you know, let's let's get into it. So I so obviously um Jonas Vingago uh won the uh stage race in Catalonia this week and uh on excellent form. Uh I think in in all cases uh anytime where he was asked to answer an attack, he was there and um he showed some some amazing class through the week. And more than anything, I just think that he showed one two stages. Won two stages.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

Could could could have possibly won three.

SPEAKER_02 3:17

Yes, but we'll never know. So I mean I you know, the w this is that was a very strange stage that that he you know followed this attack of of Remco, but you know, he showed some class. But I think more than anything, he's he's he's shown that he is the rider that can contend with Pagacar. And he may be the only one that uh, at least as far as grand tours and mountains are concerned, he may be the only one that can really contend, you know, in a stage race versus Pagachar, because no matter what, you know, uh there isn't anybody that we've seen that is able to you know produce the way that he does, and the way that he can distance somebody on a on the on the toughest climbs.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

Yeah, I mean he's now won two straight stage races with authority in both cases, like his his uh outlook was almost never in question in either of those two races. Um you can comb the archives all you want. I've never said that like Remco Evanapol was like a big challenger to Jonas Vinkegaard. Like in my mind, they they have never been on the same level as it pertains to Grand Tours.

SPEAKER_02 4:34

Well, and I don't mean you, I just mean pundits in general. I think you know he got a giant he got a giant contract from Red Bull because this is the expectation. And I, you know, and maybe I'm the only person that that that wants to say it out loud, but you know, I think he's overrated. I really do. Like, I mean, I'm not saying that he's not a A tier rider, but he's not an S-tier rider. If you're gonna put Pagatar as S tier, you have to put you know Vingigo in there because between the two of them, they're the only ones that have come in one or two in the Tour de France in the last five years. It's only been them.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

They're they're oh like I said, I I don't I I I don't know that there's a lot of pundits out there that are saying, you know, Remco's the best thing ever. I mean, like, you know, he is the defending champion at this race, so he's capable of winning stage races at this level. He's he's won a grand tour, you know. Um there is pedigree there. I think that's making a statement like he's not like defending champion in this race.

SPEAKER_02 5:36

No, no, no, no, no. He wore number one, yes, but it was Primus Rogelik that won this race. Oh, that's right. It was Primus, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 5:44

I do think that he has won it, though. Hasn't he won this race before?

SPEAKER_02 5:47

He may have won it in the past, but he was not defending.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

So in any event, um, he has definitely had a drought of stage race wins. Is he still in that drought? I know that it had been like well over two years since he had actually won a one-week stage race or a stage race of any kind.

SPEAKER_02 6:04

But it's very possible.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

You know, maybe as his career enters its its middle to end second half, um he becomes more of just a Filippo Ghana style T T specialist. Um but he's also a bike racer, um and will continue to win things, you know. Um, but can he compete in a stage race with a top form Jonas Finger Guard? Hell no. Correct. Uh absolutely not. Um, but I don't think anybody's out there making saying that he that he can. I mean, maybe he could, maybe if he was on top form, I mean you we also don't know exactly what his form was like this week.

SPEAKER_02 6:52

Um he did have the wreck. Look, I you have to give him you have to give it a caveat, I agree, because you know, early on in the week he has you know an accident after a really hard day, and it seemed to be, you know, fairly traumatic because he went over the handlebars, I'm sure he hit really hard. And you know, it has been said that you know he was feeling it through the week. So you're absolutely right. But he he he still made attacks, he still came in third yesterday, so he wasn't completely off form. But you know, I just I think it's been proven time and time again in in these on these really tough climbs, he does not have the ability. And I do think that Florian Lipowitz absolutely has the ability.

SPEAKER_00 7:39

And it's also possible that the team told him, Look, man, you you you went down in a crash, you you know, your your form is a little bit questionable, your micro form within this race might be a little bit questionable. And here we have Lipowitz who has already, you know, proven himself in a number of ways. And so the focus is off of you and the focus is on him, you know, do with that what you will. And I think if you look at his writing over the course of the rest of the week, uh it certainly might have been the case, you know, that the the his his performance over the rest of the week could have could bear that out. Although in the end, I know he finished fifth like two plus back. Did who who so lipo was in third, right? 130.

SPEAKER_02 8:29

So Lipo was on the podium. For the team for the team, it's not an it's not a a bad week. You know what I mean? It's it's I don't know. Like I said, it's you know, but this goes back to that same thing we were talking about with Del Toro last year with the Jiro. You know, when you don't have a clear when you're not putting all of your effort into the right person, I think that it can net you the wrong result in the end. And and you know, it was proven to UAE last year that they should have gone all in one way and gone with the younger, stronger rider rather than Iuso. And then, you know, obviously here I I kind of feel the same way, but he is electric. I will say this like for all of for all of my criticism, he is electric, he animates races. All right, he made the stage where him and Jonas took off and tried to solo, you know, solo win. Very, very exciting. Okay, absolutely. You know, you can't take that away. Can't take that away from him. You know, he really does animate things.

SPEAKER_00 9:39

Yeah, like I said, he'll continue to get wins and he'll he'll probably continue to win stage races. He might win another grand tour. I think it's possible it's within him. I mean, if he he's such a focused guy that if he shifted his focus to a more direct, like grand tour guy instead of like also being the TT specialist, it's just he's so dominant in TT that he has to he has to maintain that. You know what I mean? Like that's just a it's guaranteed wins, you know, that's just like bread and butter that he can dine out on for the rest of his life. And it would be insane to abandon that um in in the pursuit of possible Grant Tour uh you know uh glory. But um yeah, but being on the same level right now in 2026 to be challenging for Grand Tours, no chance. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:27

Um sorry to cut you off. Also, this no no and also this week, you know, I found it very interesting that you know Zhao Almeida just completely non-existent.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

Non-existent, yeah. But that's that's very Zhao. Sometimes he's non-existent, and other other times he's you know, right there, right there challenging, and those times do not include when Jonas Fingergarter Tade Pagacar are in the race. So no, well he's oh he's on Tade Pagacar's team.

SPEAKER_02 10:52

I should so that doesn't what do you think that this means for Jonas? For the, you know, obviously Jonas is is doing the Jiro and then the tour. So what do you think this how do you think this sets him up for the Giro?

SPEAKER_00 11:08

I think it sets him up incredibly well for the Giro. Like the outlook for the Giro is fantastic. Like, who's gonna agree? Who's gonna challenge him with the Jiro? Who can make a move that Jonas Vingegaard can't cover in the Giro? Nobody.

SPEAKER_02 11:24

Well, especially especially when it gets really, really high or really, really hard. You know, it's it's exactly.

SPEAKER_00 11:31

And even and even when it's not really, really hard, how about how about Jonas's um management of Remco's back wheel in this in the stage where Remco crashed? Like Remco was absolutely burying himself, and Jonas was on his wheel like it was a walk in the park. Like there was never, there was never like more than a half a bike length between the two of them. He was just like right there. He's like, Oh, you're going? I'm going. Okay, you're going harder, I'm going harder. Like, no problem. I'm right there with the bigger.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

Should Jonas have worked more? Do you do you do you feel like he obviously he came out and said, hey, look, it's racing, but do you think he should have taken a couple more turns on the front?

SPEAKER_00 12:09

In pursuit of uh a stage win, which he already knew he was gonna get stage wins, I would say, um, and possibly dragging Remco to the finish um to sprint past him, I don't know. I think he played it perfectly. You know, he knew that he was gonna be dominant in that race, that uh, you know, it was his for the taking.

SPEAKER_02 12:33

Uh one of the comments he made was that the that Remco was very arrow.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

So he stuck on he's stuck on his wheel like an absolute champion.

SPEAKER_02 12:47

Well, and then he made the classiest move of of the year so far in pulling up and and letting it go into a bunch sprint.

SPEAKER_00 12:55

And you know, not it was but well, I think that's second second to Kim Lacour Pinard looking after Cassius, second classiest.

SPEAKER_02 13:04

Okay, I'll give you that. At least on the men's side. Um But it but I also think that that's just his character. I think that that is his character. I think that he's a guy that wants to win on merit. He doesn't want to win on technicality.

SPEAKER_00 13:19

Yeah, and he's also a guy that does not sweat wins, and that's part of why I was saying should he have worked more? No, he's not sweating stage three of he's gonna come away from the race with a GC and two wins anyways. He already knows it. It's like a foregone conclusion. Like, who the hell's gonna beat him? He can feel how good his form is. He's already just won a stage race with ease. There's nobody here that can challenge him, and he knows it. You know what I mean? So he's not gonna sweat, sweat a win, especially if it's gonna, you know, take it have any kind of negative shine on him, you know. He's of course he's gonna make that decision every time. All he cares about is getting past the finish line, getting back to his family, and giving his kids a kiss, you know. I mean, that's who that guy is. So so going so so you were getting into like grand tours. What's the outlook for the upcoming Grand Tours? I mean, Giro, no problem. Pogachar's not gonna be there. Like the the Tour de France is where it happens, and he's gonna be stepping into the Tour de France without a Grand Tour, with with a Grand Tour already in his legs, and Pogachar isn't. So he's got his work cut out for him, but he will also hopefully be coming off of having created uh having um achieved the uh the trio, you know, the the the uh the trifecta, the grand tour trifecta, um, and having gotten there before Pogachar. So a second in the tour won't be that big of a deal. Like he will he will have already achieved something huge in 2026, and it takes the it takes the pressure for the tour off of him, and so he can go into the tour just like relaxed. And if it and if this guy is still building form, I mean you saw his you heard his interview at the end. He's like, hopefully, not all the way in form. He's like, Yeah, it felt great to be really informed, but hopefully not all the way in form. Like, we're still building, you know, like it all bodes very well, and I shouldn't be getting excited about it because it certainly didn't hurt Pagacar.

SPEAKER_02 15:08

The year that Pagacar won the Giro, it didn't hurt him to ride the Giro before the tour because he came out and had his most dominant tour to date that year.

SPEAKER_00 15:18

I mean and that was and that was essentially the start of his like magisterial like like floating in the clouds above everybody, period. It was la it was it was two years ago and last year, you know.

SPEAKER_02 15:28

Well, he took five, I think he took five stages in both of those races. I mean that's it's a you know he put on a masterclass in the Jiro, just destroyed everybody, wasn't even cool.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

He won two grand tours and ten grand tour stages in one year. It's absolutely insane. Right. And then he basically repeated all of that again this year, except for he only did one, he only did one grand tour, but uh but he also won a whole bunch of monuments and shit, too. I mean, anyways, I had I had something in my notes uh about uh a little pogachar update. There's just the superlatives just keep on rolling, it's just like so fun to see to see what what what little idiosyncratic superlative he's he's a he's achieved this week. Um but I just think that like as much as I need him to win for our fantasy contest or whatever, like the Jonas comeback story, return of the Viking, I'm loving it. You know what I mean? It's like Visma has uh had all these trials and tribulations this year and they've been off. But you know what? It seems like they kind of got sprinting covered. Coy is gone, but like they got their guy, Maddie B. He's he's he's in and amongst it. He's gonna get some wins this year, that's for sure. Well, Van Art has been looking good. He's avoided injury this year for for the most part. I mean, he had the little kind of cyclocross thing, but he's back, he's in action, he's been animating races as well. Hey, he came third in MSR. You know what I mean? Um, and now you got Jonas.

SPEAKER_02 16:57

Although he was on the podium yesterday, so yeah, almost on the podium yesterday.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

Uh Jonas goes to the tour, and I think he's got Wout and Mateo both going with him, plus Sep Koos, who could use a little bit of uh redemption, and maybe it's like, guys, we're getting the band back together. It's tour to fight.

SPEAKER_02 17:13

He's got his absolute you know lieutenant in the camp and arts. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:18

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And maybe, you know, this is the year that Pagacar falters. Who knows? And and and they draw even on Tours de France wins. Oh, that'd be amazing.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

God, it'd be so great. Just like like, all right, let's put a cork in, let's put a cork in that on a great note, and and all right, let's talk about let's talk about Tom Pitcock. All right. So Tom Pitcock was descending uh down essentially by himself. He had no camera bike with him, he didn't have any other riders with him.

SPEAKER_00 17:50

And this is on stage five, correct?

SPEAKER_02 17:53

Yes, yeah, stage five. And he decided to take a drink and miscalculated the turn and went off the road, and no one saw it happen. All right, he went down into a ravine very dangerously. He he said that he is ninja-like now. He is now he is now claimed, self-proclaimed himself a ninja. But he literally says that he probably would not have been found had it not been for the radar.

SPEAKER_00 18:23

I mean, I'm sure they would have found him eventually, but no, the the the radio, not the not the not the GPS. That's the radio.

SPEAKER_02 18:31

Yeah, no, no, no, his radio. He would had to he was telling the team like, okay, here's where I'm at, I've wrecked, and and that's you know, essentially what they used to find him. And you know, this is not the first time, this is honestly this is the second time in in two weeks where we've had descent dangerous, you know, wrecks. And you know, it goes back to the same thing that you know we've been talking about the GPS with the riders and teams being reluctant for it, and I'm just I just I don't understand it. Like I don't understand what the reluctance is to put GPS, you know, on these guys. I get it that like putting it as part of the bike adds weight to the bike, but look, you can put an air, I have an air tag in my backpack. All right, if I get 10 feet from my backpack, all right, my my phone starts going off and saying, Oh, hey, my uh your backpack's not with you. All right, like you're telling me we can't put an air tag in their helmet that doesn't impede them in some way, that's attached to the GPS, the device that's already on their bike, by the way. Because I don't think putting it on the bike is is where is the way to go. I think it should be in their helmet because if they get separated from their bike, what if they're in one place and the bike got stuck in a tree or the bike?

SPEAKER_00 19:49

Right, but you could also say, what if their helmet gets ripped off? But I get your point. Well, let's just assume for the purposes of the conversation that like there are no technological limitations here. If they wanted to, they could stick a GPS unit on the bottom of everybody's bike seat or on the bottom of every on the back of everybody's helmet or whatever they wanted, they could do it tomorrow. I mean, think about what bikes were like even 10 years ago and how much lighter they are now. The difference, you know what I'm saying? Like, if you if minimal. Yeah, so so so that's that's so that so that's a foregone conclusion. The discussion becomes like, why aren't we doing that? Now, with the Pidcock situation, um, yes, he was saved because of a couple of things. Number one, he didn't hurt himself in the crash. Number two, he was conscious when he finished the crash. Number three, his radio was still attached to him at the end of the crash. Number four, his radio did not get damaged in the crash. Like all of those factors led to Tom Pidcock being able to get uh rescued quickly. And as we saw, he actually finished the stage that day, although he he DNS'd the next day. But um nonetheless, it it still raises the issue in our minds, you know, because in the past, most specifically two years ago, when the junior pro Muriel Ferrer uh perished in the world championships and the junior world championships raise in her home country of Switzerland, when she went off the road in a crash, was unconscious, and was not found for a long period of time because nobody knew where she was, and there was nobody around her when she went off the road. And I think that's kind of what what the Pid what the Pidcock situation uh bears in resemblance to that one is that he went off the road. Certainly there were some riders slash motorcycles slash automobiles that were the nearest ones behind him when he went off the road that went right past and had no idea that he had crashed. It was only that he was able to get on the radio and get to his team car. The point here is that what if his His radio had had been knocked off him. You know what I mean? What if his radio didn't work or whatever, got disconnected or something like that? What if he was knocked unconscious? Then in that instance, everybody's driving past because it is a fact that in a pro biking race pro bike race, there are places where you could fly off the road and land in an area where you can't be seen. And if you were by yourself, there's no way that anybody would know that you're there. That is a fact of procycling. And based on that fact alone, why are there how come there's not a GPS on both the helmet and the bike? You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_02 22:35

Well, that's my whole point is they could literally put it, they could they could put a tag in the helmet that if the brider because it now mind you, my phone, your phone knows if you get into a car accident, your phone knows that it stopped and it was traveling at 60 miles an hour, and now it is stopped instantly. It knows that because I know because my phone did it once.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

Right.

SPEAKER_02 22:56

All right. So if the GPS tracker stops suddenly, all right, and all right, these two things separate, like you know that something's happening. If the if it stops suddenly at all, you know they have they that they've had an accident at least. So the fact that we don't employ you know apply this technology or this ability that we already have to this situation to make it safer for these riders that are by the way, you know, going you know, I've I've seen what what what what's the crazy number that we saw? Was it like 80 kilometers an hour downhill sometimes? Like that's insanity.

SPEAKER_00 23:34

No, they go over a hundred kilometers downhill, kilometers like miles per hour, they go like they go 50 plus. Yeah, 50 plus miles per hour, six close to 60.

SPEAKER_02 23:43

The fact that we're even debating them doing it is is is unconscionable to me. I think it is irresponsible as far as I'm concerned.

SPEAKER_00 23:53

It is an insanely dangerous sport, and we should be taking every safety precaution that is available to us, especially the ones that will not inhibit the racing one little bit. Now, let's let's do our due diligence, let's put out the other side of the argument, which I am sensitive to. At the Tour of Romandy women's last year, um, five teams were kicked out of the race, um, disqualified, because they refused to comply with us a somewhat spur-of-the-moment um requirement by the UCI to use this race as an experiment for GPS tracking units. They gave one unit to each team, told them how to affix it to the rider, and said, choose said, choose one rider that you're going to affix this to. And so, and some of the teams just had a problem with that. They don't like having the control of their equipment and their riders taken away from them in any way. And their point was there's a better way to approach this. So, what I think with this particular issue, it should be something simple along the lines of this. UCI says, Okay, we've got our task force together that's gonna find the five best technologies for GPS tracking. We're gonna submit them to all the teams on this date. You have six months to do your testing. You have to give us a you have to vote on which one you want by this date. At that time, we go with that one. Then we get we're then we're gonna, you know, give you X number of races to get it fully incorporated onto your team so that by X date you have to be fully compliant and then we're done with this.

SPEAKER_02 25:31

I agree. You know what I mean? I agree. I I I think that is a perfect way to handle it, and I think it's something that should be done immediately. I just think it I I feel like the the fact that this is an argument is d the dumbest thing ever.

SPEAKER_00 25:47

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um I mean Geno Mader lay dying in a waterfall down a ravine, um and there were there were people around him, but you know what I mean? Like the fact that that that that you know poor Muriel Ferrer just laid out there and died alone in a in a in the woods, you know, because it just it's unconscionable. Like you you you said it perfectly, it's absolutely unconscionable. Well, hey, when they asked uh Jonas Vingergaard um what how he would feel if uh if his uh kids came to him and said, Daddy, can we get in a bike race? He'd be like, No, absolutely not. It's like no way I would let my kids race bikes. You know, it's a dangerous sport. I mean it is a dangerous sport.

SPEAKER_02 26:31

How many sports can you say that people have died? Died dead, yeah. In the you know, not one, not some random one-off. All right, this is multiple people over the last few years and over the course of time, it's even more.

SPEAKER_00 26:48

And been terribly injured as well. I mean, we need we need not look back any further. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right off the side of her bridge. But we we only need to go back a week and and look at at the the poor girl that flew off the thing on to uh above Cassia and Awa Doma. She right, but but the second one, but the second one the second one would not have been found were it not for another rider standing up at the top of the little incline that she fell down onto, seeing the safety person now coming down and saying, There's another one down there, so that they immediately went down there. Again, the the GPS units. Now, in a situation like that, there's a lot of people around. She probably would have been found pretty quickly. But once again, cementing the point that like knowing where the riders are at all times during a race is essential.

SPEAKER_02 27:44

But we've we've talked about these smaller races. We have the technology. We we absolutely and we've also talked about these smaller races that are just as dangerous as MSR, okay. But it but mo MSRs, of course, there's there's more cameras, there's more everything, it's a bigger race.

SPEAKER_00 28:00

There's tens of thousands of people lining the course.

SPEAKER_02 28:02

There, but in these smaller races in the in the itsul Bass Country, all right, in in Catalonia, in uh at Taleb uh at Tal de Basseg, uh there are way less people, way less you know, parts of the you know, members of the organization, there's way less, you know, commissaries, there's way less everything, but it's just as dangerous. So the fact that we don't do something and make this sport safer just doesn't make any sense to me. I don't get it. I don't get it at all. I don't get why there's anybody is on the ro on the other side of this argument. It's it's just it's it's maddening. And imagine if Tom Pidcock had actually been seriously hurt. Would that have been enough? Would that have been enough for them to do something about it?

SPEAKER_00 28:52

He's certainly a high-profile writer.

SPEAKER_02 28:54

Um I mean he's not he's in the what if Pidcock had had not just had been hurt, but what if Pidcock had been thrown off, like had not been found?

SPEAKER_00 29:07

You know what I'm saying? What if Tom Kit Pidcock had the exact same same thing happen to him that happened to Muriel Ferrer? You know what I mean? Thrown off course, knocked unconscious, maybe he survives, you know what I mean? And and it's uh once again another near miss, but like he was knocked unconscious and laid in a field for 12 minutes while they looked for him.

unknown 29:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:28

You know what I mean? Would that would that immediately spark like by would like by the Tour de France, would every rider have a GPS unit on their thing? Because they could, they could do it that quickly, they could do it in a week. They could implement something like that in a freaking week.

SPEAKER_02 29:41

They could just say you're doing it. I mean, the UCI could just come out and say, look, this is you know, the enough's enough.

SPEAKER_00 29:46

Yeah. You know Well, what if what if what if uh they took an approach like this? We're we're going to create a a um what's what's the word? Uh uh a hub. You know, uh an online hub where you know all of the teams are responsible for creating a login and having some sort of mechanism for real-time uploading of all of their riders during a race. You know what I mean? So they all so they can use their own system, they just have to provide this specific data, the UCI, which is where is your rider at all times during the race? Like, like, so that the UCI is tracking it, but the information they're using is coming in from all the different teams. So that way the teams could still feel like they have a semblance of control over how it's mounted to the bike. Although there's a part of me it's like that should be a standard thing. All teams should have to be like, you you have to put this thing around your seat post. End of story.

SPEAKER_02 30:58

So convene a council, all right, have you know DSs, riders, commissaires all on this council, and they need to debate it and figure it out. And and but but get on it, man. That that's my whole point, is is there's literally no reason to hesitate. They should be on this immediately because as everything gets faster, and we know that it's continually getting faster and faster and faster, that increases the danger and it increases the likelihood that something catastrophic is going. I mean, that look, catastrophic things have already happened, but at some point it's going to be a big name. It's you know, a big name writer is gonna is gonna have one of these things happen, and then all of a sudden it's gonna be, oh well, we should have done this a long time ago. So yeah, I I agree. I don't I don't see what the hesitation is, but you know, UCI, get your act together, all right, get this going, get, get this done.

SPEAKER_00 31:54

Beyond Slipstream is officially uh in favor of GPS tracking for all riders in the Pro Peloton starting as soon as possible.

SPEAKER_02 32:04

Um I now didn't you want to did you not want to say something about to uh uh about cameras involved in in recs too? Wasn't there there's something that you're gonna do?

SPEAKER_00 32:15

Yes, thank you for bringing that up. Um we saw this a lot in the Milan Sanremo crash with Cassian Ewadoma, um where when the race, when the the race producers um, you know, in Italy would choose to go back to the shots of the crash, you caught the announcers saying, Oh, we're so sorry that you're having to see this, you know, this is not us. We're not the we're not the ones deciding to show these images and like this is disrespectful. And when it happened with the Vingigaard crash, I think, is when is when um uh Chris Horner on his um YouTube channel, his very popular uh YouTube channel, Butterfly Effect, uh, and beyond the coverage, he made it a huge point to say that it is essential that during the live broadcast of a bike race where there is a bad crash, that they keep the cameras firmly affixed to what is going on with the crashed out riders for a very specific reason. And that reason is that if their family is watching back home, there is no better way for them to get up-to-date information about their loved ones than watching the live feed of what is happening right there. Um, relying on the team boss to be making a phone call, to be telling information, it's not fair. Nobody deserves that. You wouldn't want that if it was your family member, and that's a no-brainer. So please, uh, for racing fans, keep that in mind when you hear announcers saying, Oh, we're so sorry you have to be seeing these images. No, it is essential that we see those images as difficult as they are to watch.

SPEAKER_02 33:55

I agree, I agree. And you know, you gotta keep nobody can understand what it's like to be a family member of someone that they just watched just completely, you know, eat shit across a road and into a into a ditch. So um on that note, we're gonna take a quick break. We're gonna come back. Things are heating up in the beyond the slip stream fantasy uh game, and so we are gonna use that to frame our conversation about a lot of other races that happened this week. So stay with us, exciting stuff to come. Be right back.

SPEAKER_00 34:29

Please check out our other show, Inglorious Brothers, a pop culture show with Cult Classic Swagger. Search and subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube, or click the link in the show notes.

SPEAKER_02 34:48

Welcome back. All right, so there was a lot of other racing that that happened this week, and we're gonna get into that. Um heated up over the weekend with uh uh me able to grab a few points. Matt had grabbed some early points in the week and was extending his lead. And uh at least for the for the month, um the weekend was very kind to your boy here, uh, because I was able to make up some ground in the in the overall and and pretty much close um close the gap as far as as the month was concerned.

SPEAKER_00 35:36

Um so uh Yeah, call it it makes me think to myself, you know, is Pogachar that great of a fantasy pick for our purposes here? Because like the guy is just like only doing the biggest races of the of the year. Now, granted, he's probably gonna win them all. Probably win every one that he enters.

SPEAKER_02 35:55

Uh nonetheless, well you can you can you can go in the tracker month by month and see and see if see what kind of points he's collecting.

SPEAKER_00 36:04

Uh I know. I I'm I'm just I'm just kind of joking a little bit. I mean, when we get into the grand tours, like if the guy does two grand tours, God knows how many how many stages he could win. So, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:14

So for the month of March, all right, you have totaled up 211 points to my 205. So we are neck and neck in March. And I was distraught a week ago. Like I was so far behind. And like what did and what did I say? Yeah, it's ridiculous. It's all gonna even out, yeah. So um, that puts us on you on 336 for the year so far, and me at 309 for the year. And that does take into account I did go back and double check everybody's points to the beginning of the year based on our conversation last week, where we decided that we were going to um essentially add in an extra rider for each of us and um do away with the the substitutions unless someone is out indefinitely. So um that being said, um we can we can go in and we why don't we break down a couple of these races? So you grab the early points this week with the E3 E3 Saxo classic, um, with Mr. One Once in a Generation talent, Matthew Vanderpool.

SPEAKER_00 37:29

Dude, what a racer. What a racer. The way he out foxed those fools. Oh my god, that was so great. Did he okay? So hold on.

SPEAKER_02 37:39

Did he out fox them or did they just were they just stupid?

SPEAKER_00 37:43

Because, like, no, he out foxed them, and I'll tell you exactly why. All right. He allowed them, they were at one point, they were like two bike lengths behind him. They had they had for all intents and purposes caught him. Yes, they were right behind him, like less than one second behind him. Um, and you watch his body language throughout that whole part when they're just about getting close enough to him. You watch his body language, he is looking so beaten, and he knew damn good and well he had one more hard turn in him, like no problem. You look at his body language, go back and watch the tape. He's so and so they're looking at him thinking, okay, we got him now, like now we can cat and mouse. He played it perfectly, and that's what they that's they immediately start cat and mousing each other, and he very quietly slips away again, and before they know what's happened, he's he's he's eight seconds in front of him again, and now and now they're now they're through the flam rouge.

SPEAKER_02 38:46

Yeah, you know, and and they it I I've never like it's it's mind-boggling to me. Okay, these these four guys, all right, worked so hard, all right, to catch him. And and and and worked so well together. And they get to that to that, and you're absolutely right, dude. They are you could have they could have they could have spit on him, they were so close.

SPEAKER_00 39:14

We should call out who these writers were, by the way. Stan Stan DeWolf, Jonas Abra Abrahamsen, and Per Strand Hagen is. And I wasn't Vermirsch with them as well.

SPEAKER_02 39:22

Yes, Vermirsch was with them as well. Florian Vermirs, Per Strand, uh DeWolf, and Jonas Abrahamson. And we're talking 20 Ks of hard work to catch him. All right, 20 Ks. And they blow it in the in the in the in the worst possible way in the last you know, 1500 meters. I mean, it's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_00 39:48

Yeah, longer than 20 Ks, too. Vanderbur uh uh Vanderpool got away on the Paderberg with 43 kilometers to go.

SPEAKER_02 39:56

Right, but they had they had spent 20 K's in that chase group. Yeah. All right. Like I it just, you know, and your heart breaks for them, but uh it also doesn't because they lost he didn't win the race, they lost it, in my opinion. Like, if they would have kept going and swallowed him up and forced him to get in behind them, which is what they should have done, and then sprinted for it at the end, they'd have been fine. But they they all let up at that exact moment, and you're absolutely right. And he decided to put in one last hard effort, and it was enough to get him the win, and and and good for him. All right, but that shows you the difference between Matthew Vanderpoel and the rest of the world.

SPEAKER_00 40:43

Yeah, yeah. He's a wily, he's a wily racer. That man is seasoned, he's been in a zillion bike races in his life, and he knows exactly how to play these fools. Um, yeah, so that was uh definitely to my favor. Um, nothing nothing came to pass for either of us in the uh in the two Ronda von Bruga races. However, I did enjoy watching those races, to be sure.

SPEAKER_02 41:07

I did as well. Um, as far as the men's is concerned, we we you gotta shout out Unibet Rose Rockets, Dylan Grona Vegan. That's like his third win in like two weeks. Yeah, third win, third win in two weeks. They got another win at um, they got another win this week as well at um sorry, I have it at the in the production notes. Uh what is that race called? The LaRue Torangele Central Val Delour.

SPEAKER_00 41:40

So Yeah, and it was it was also their first World Tour win. It was Dylan Gronovegan's 81st career win.

SPEAKER_02 41:47

Yeah, Digro is on fire. The team is on fire, all right? That team, it something's going right on that team. They've got good headspace, they are working well together, they have badass kits, like you know.

SPEAKER_00 42:03

Does this mean, does this mean you're gonna say absolutely not, just look what happened on the weekend? I already know the answer to your question. Does this mean that Jasper Phillipson is sliding down into the ranks of like he's now one of the guys that had his peak and now he's past his peak because he's he's getting beaten head to head by Dylan Gronovegan, who who expertly got right into his slipstream and took two big gulps of air and blasted right past him like easy peasy, sprinting 101. Now you say no. Look at that.

SPEAKER_02 42:39

I'm gonna say no because ask me at the end of the year if he's if he's slid down. At this point, I can't say that he's slid down out of that grouping. We because because we haven't seen we basically haven't seen Tim Merlier. Okay, we saw him a couple of times really early on in the year, and that's it. We haven't seen Tim Merlier. We you know, are are we trying to say that uh Paul Monnier and um Max Cantor and and uh Tobias Lennant and Dreson are the new or the new guard in the in the sprint? Like, come on, man, it's Jasper Phillipson, dude. He's a disaster, but he is a winner in big spots, and and it's also early in the season. So once grand tour season starts, if he's not winning sprints, then we can have that conversation.

SPEAKER_00 43:30

That's just a little hot for you to chew on. Um let's talk about the women's Karis Lloyd I can remember hearing, but I don't recall that I've ever uttered that name.

SPEAKER_02 43:45

I don't I'm sure we've never talked about her. So she's one of the the two women or British women that that were picked up um and highly touted uh along with Kat Ferguson. Okay, her and Kat Ferguson were Highly touted young riders.

SPEAKER_00 44:02

And she's they're both good friends with each other, too.

SPEAKER_02 44:05

Yeah, and I think this is gonna be the first of many wins because let's let's let's state it because it hasn't happened in since like 2024. She's the first person to beat Weebus in an actual heads up sprint where Weebus was not like you know completely hampered by some other uh you know mitigating factor. She got boxed in, she was not able to really. So now mind you, she was boxed in, she didn't get to completely unleash the sprint, and if her leadout had been like it normally is and been better, she probably wouldn't, you know, Karis probably wouldn't have won that race. However, she did.

SPEAKER_00 45:04

And Weebus Do you think Weebus was throwing stuff around the team bus that afternoon? Screaming at people?

SPEAKER_02 45:11

I don't know. I don't put her on that. I don't put her on that. Like I know it at all. Yeah. Like, I don't put her on like a lot of people.

SPEAKER_00 45:18

But her leadout was literally non-existent. There was no one around her. I don't know what happened to her team in the run into that finish, but she had nobody for the longest time.

SPEAKER_02 45:27

And then she was just like that race was a disaster. I mean, it was pouring rain in the it was absolutely epic.

SPEAKER_00 45:35

There was hail, there was rain like pouring rain, like yeah, like a nasty, there was a nasty crash. One one chick just went face first into the pavement. That the cash that took out Mackenzie Copeland. Yeah, so it was so nasty.

SPEAKER_02 45:49

Yeah, that that race was disgusting. So, but it is Karis Lloyd's first, you know, major win, first pro win.

SPEAKER_00 45:57

You know, well and at that point, fantasy-wise, I'm feeling like I dodged a huge bullet. I'm like, all right, one down. Like somehow, somehow, he didn't get points with Vivus. Like, that's insane. But that happened.

SPEAKER_02 46:11

It is insane. Because that because my melancholy was was at full force when when Weavis didn't win that. Because I'm like, okay, I'm gonna make up some ground here.

SPEAKER_00 46:21

Did you get points for Jasper's podium?

SPEAKER_02 46:24

I did get points for Jasper's podium.

SPEAKER_00 46:28

So I did get and then E3 comes along, and I'm bak I'm basically equalized at this point. More or less.

SPEAKER_02 46:36

Yeah, so you so you're you're good. Um I'm actually ahead at this point for the week. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:41

Yeah, I mean, way ahead. No, no, I'm talking about like this week when we're talking about like just what's happening this week.

SPEAKER_02 46:48

I'm like, you're you were playing even with even with garnering a few points from Phillipson on the podium, it's it still was not, you know, like I'm you're still well ahead at this point. So no, I had taken a couple of uh I had taken a couple of uh stages with Jonas, which did help. So Jonas has been my workhorse, dude. This month, Jonas is like almost all my points. It's like a hundred.

SPEAKER_00 47:13

But not at that point during the week. I'm like talking about like I'm looking at this as the week is going along. So the first I'm pretty sure the first races were the Von Brugger races, right? This is correct. So like so like as the week starts, I'm like, okay, bullet dodged, he gets some points with Phillips in, but at least he hasn't, he's not on the top step. Then comes E3. By the by E3 day, Jonas has gotten himself a stage win. So now I'm like, oh god. So then Vanderpoel gets back a win there, and I'm like, all right, well, that's good. That that sort of equalizes me a little bit, but we're rolling into the weekend, and it's already a foregone conclusion that Jones is gonna win the goddamn GC.

SPEAKER_02 47:51

The day that Jonas and and Remco took off, I'm like, I'm super excited because I'm like, we're both getting points. Can I win? And then Remco wrecks and he and he stops. He stops racing, and I'm like, as cool and classy as it was, I'm like, no, go for the win, dude. Go for the win.

SPEAKER_00 48:13

It's arguable whether whether he would have been able to maintain it to the finish, anyways. There was still a fair bit of space between him and the finish line when he sat up and that Peloton was hard charging, but he could have made it. We'll never know.

SPEAKER_02 48:27

In my head, I'm gonna say he won. He could have won. I'm keeping it, keeping it that way. All right, that's how it lives in my head.

SPEAKER_00 48:34

Yeah. So I mean, but it was already clear that I wasn't gonna get any production out of Remco uh that week. He just was not off that week. So we discussed that earlier in the show.

SPEAKER_02 48:44

You did you did pick up some some uh some some uh what do they call it? Like uh some some late some late points there on on stage seven. He did come in third, so you did you did pull you did pull some minimum points there, some garbage points.

SPEAKER_00 49:02

But headed into the weekend, you already knew that Jonas was gonna was gonna win at least one of those mountain stages, if not both, he wins both.

SPEAKER_02 49:09

He wins both, and and no, he's I know and he's got the GC in hand, so I know I've got 25 points in hand there. So I'm like, okay, so alright, let's go. And then we get to to uh Gent Web Gent Levelgum. I know it's called in French.

SPEAKER_00 49:24

You went on both sides for God's sake.

SPEAKER_02 49:26

And well, no, but so Wow, wow, in in Vanderpol go off the front. Like, first off, like can we talk about how great that was real quick? Like Wow. Matthew Vanderpool working together, like going, you know, trying to take the race by themselves. Like, there could like I was I was that was sublime.

SPEAKER_00 49:48

But once but once again, when Vanderpool, when Vanderpol's going head to head against Wow Van Art in a setting up your teammate for the win mode, Vanderpol wins.

SPEAKER_02 49:58

Yes. So obviously what ends up happening is that they those two end up getting swallowed up, and it goes into a bunch sprint, and Jasper Phillipson finally comes through for me.

SPEAKER_00 50:13

So Phillipson grabs grabs me the win there, and I'm Phillipson got you something, he got you something two weeks ago though, right? He won that midweek race like two weeks ago. Or did that what did that one not count?

SPEAKER_02 50:26

I don't think no, I don't think that counted.

SPEAKER_00 50:28

Yeah, no, that was a no, he won, he won No Corra Curse. That one counted. Because I got because I got Copeckies. Oh yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_02 50:35

He did right. You're right, you're right, you're right. Are wait, I is it No Current? I think Nokura Curse is a is a 2.0 pro race.

SPEAKER_00 50:43

Oh, maybe so.

SPEAKER_02 50:44

I don't think either of us got points on that one. So all right, so into the women's race now.

SPEAKER_00 50:54

And which Well, I did want to mention in the men's race, um, the the uh we got another little got got another little taste of Alex Sagart. That kid can ride a bike, man. Almost made something happen. It was uh cool to see, cool to see him pop out there. Um and happy to see Laporte on the podium.

SPEAKER_02 51:14

Yeah, um the the Christoph Laporte like rehab and back again is great. Vesma's got a great video on their uh on their YouTube channel about about his trials and tribulations and his comeback. It's really good. Uh highly recommend. So that takes us to the women's race, which I did find to be, even though you had the wow in Vanderpool of it all in the men's race, I thought from a racing standpoint the women's race was vastly more interesting. Um yeah, that that kind of you know, essentially it was a Peloton for most of the race, and then you had a a big group, including you know, Weebus and and others. Hold on, let me sure I have it in my notes somewhere.

SPEAKER_00 52:03

Well, towards the end it was Webis, Gasparini, and Swinkles, Fleur, Moores of Little Trek, and Ali Shabet.

SPEAKER_02 52:11

Yeah. So in this, now I'm going, okay, out of these five, I've got two riders.

SPEAKER_00 52:18

Yeah, you got two of five, including the hot favorite who who dusted everyone on the climbs. Did you notice that?

SPEAKER_02 52:25

Yeah, she was bossing it, dude.

SPEAKER_00 52:26

And on the camel burg? Ridiculous. She dropped everybody on the camelberg. Incredible.

SPEAKER_02 52:31

She was answering attacks left and right. Um, managed everything.

SPEAKER_00 52:35

Yeah, she is every she go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 52:37

I was gonna say she managed everything that day just perfectly.

SPEAKER_00 52:41

She is very clearly transitioning from a flat sprinter specialist to a puncher Vanderpool style, like before our eyes.

SPEAKER_02 52:50

I mean, I just think she is so talented that she can pretty much do anything she wants at any point.

SPEAKER_00 52:55

RV RVV. She she is racing RVV, yes.

SPEAKER_02 52:58

Uh let's look in the I I don't have her on this list. No. No, I do not. She may be, but she at least she wasn't on the start list that I the potential start list that I was looking at.

SPEAKER_00 53:14

Um she's on there on on PCS. Oh, RBV, Harry Ruvet, Amstell Gold. I'm like, this woman could win any of these races. Or all of them. It's crazy. It's crazy. She you know she wants to win RBB.

SPEAKER_02 53:34

And so, you know, now it didn't I ended up obviously, you know, she dusted everybody. Uh, but I did not get any points with Shabet. She did not come in uh she did not get a second or a third place, so no points for for Elise. Um, but it was it did make it very, very, very exciting. Like I, you know, I it it kept my interest hardcore.

SPEAKER_00 54:02

Meanwhile, I didn't have any I I I didn't have well, I had I had Phillipson in that race, but like I mean I had uh Vanderpol in that race, but like half the time I'm thinking he's he's setting up Phillipson. Like this is just to help his teammate, which is makes it even more bittersweet when they lose, and you see your guy just just just thrilled. Vanderpol's back there, just like rejoicing, shaking his fist in the air. I'm like, fuck you, man.

SPEAKER_02 54:26

Because they both got wins this week.

SPEAKER_00 54:28

Yeah. Yep. Yep, yep, yep, yep. Oh well. Say la V.

SPEAKER_02 54:35

Say la V. Um, so let's uh let's talk about we got Holy Week directly in front of us. Um I can't wait. We'll what do we start with Duar's Door on Wednesday?

SPEAKER_00 54:50

Yeah, so Duars, yeah, Duar's Door, men's and women's are both on, I think, Wednesday. Um in the men's side. You got uh basically the same crew from Gwen Gent Wevelgham earlier this week. Peterson, Philipson, Delee, Anderson, uh, Wout Van Art, Paul Manier, Roman Gregois, uh who's Brennan? Brennan? Oh, oh, Maddie Brennan, you mean?

SPEAKER_02 55:12

You did that, not me. You did Dwarzdor.

SPEAKER_00 55:15

Oh, Brennan, it must be uh Brennan, uh Jonathan Milan and Biniam Gurmay. Um, yeah, so you don't have Manier activated, right? You got Phillipson, not Manier.

SPEAKER_02 55:29

I'm pretty sure I went with Philipson and Manier is my is my backup.

SPEAKER_00 55:35

Sure about that? Because this whole conversation could change. No, I already looked. You got him in there. Um but uh no Vanderpool there.

SPEAKER_02 55:51

Yes, do you got Wild Van Art though?

SPEAKER_00 55:56

But he's not he's not on my squad. I'm just thinking.

SPEAKER_02 55:58

Well, I I understand that, but for for just for just like how sweet would it be? Because I I I mean Duars Dor Vanderlyn was like our favorite race last year. Like it was one of the best races that of of the whole season last year, as far as one-day races are concerned.

SPEAKER_00 56:15

Um, as far as as far as our fantasy contest goes, it's Pederson and Phillipson versus Brennan, basically. So big big big test for my boy. Um on the women's side, you have Vollering and Shabet and Bradevold, right? Don't you have Misha Bradevold as well?

SPEAKER_02 56:34

Yes, I do.

SPEAKER_00 56:35

Um, so yeah, so you're stacked, and then I'm also stacked with Roysa, ELB, Kapeki, and Kim LeCour Pinard. Yep. So three versus three versus four advantage me on the women's side.

SPEAKER_02 56:52

RVV is is even is even more so. Wait till we get to the to the names on on that side for for us. I mean it's like basically our entire squad. So on the women's side at RVV, all right, we have ELB. So just from the fantasy, I'm I won't even mention anybody else. Just we have ELB, we have Capecki, Bradebolt, Volering, Shabet, Voss, Roysa, Lacourt, uh, and then waiting in the in non-actives. I also have Lippert in there as a non-active as well. I mean, and then you also have Charlotte Cool, Puck Petersa, Consoni and Baxst, Gasparini. It is this is this is a race, dude. This has got some hitters!

SPEAKER_00 57:47

Hitters! Awesome. All right, so so I so I have one, two, uh, three, four, and you have um one, two, three, three, four, four. Yeah, because you don't have because you don't so it's four four on four. So it's it's four on four on the women's. So, and then in the men's uh let's see, I have uh you have pog Vanderpool and Brennan.

SPEAKER_02 58:21

Yeah, I mean that's um I've got I've got I've got Pederson. That's that's that's my only that's my only real person in that race.

SPEAKER_00 58:31

Oh, so you have to say when you look at the entire weekend or the entire week's outlook, um, you got me two to one in Dwar's door, but I've got you three to two and Duar's door women. Three you got me two to one in men's, I got you three to two in women. Uh RVV women were dead even, but I got thr I got you three to one on the men's side.

SPEAKER_02 58:55

I mean, I I I you know it's most likely a you know, a foregone conclusion at RC's.

SPEAKER_00 59:04

The women's is wide open, though. I feel like the women's absolutely wide open.

SPEAKER_02 59:10

I can't wait for that one. Um yeah, no, I I you know I who knows. I mean, like, it'd be cool to see something, you know, something happen. Um you know, with with another rider. It'd be be awesome, but I just I just don't see it. Do me a favor, because I didn't see it on the start list. Is is Pause Shoss riding in uh no? I wish.

SPEAKER_00 59:34

I wish.

SPEAKER_02 59:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 59:37

Oh well. He I did activate him last week as we discussed. Um you uh anything else anything else on that stuff?

SPEAKER_02 59:44

No, not really. Um, I'm going through, I think that was all of it.

SPEAKER_00 59:54

So Okay, well you're the host of this week's show.

SPEAKER_02 59:57

Sorry, sorry, I'm just making sure I didn't miss anything. Um, all right, do you want to uh you want to jump into the into the broom wagon? Absolutely. Alrighty, so I know you have a special one, so we're gonna let you go second. Uh I'm gonna I'm gonna throw mine out there is this little video that we're gonna link in the description um from a man named Kilo. All right, K-I-L-L-O-W. And he did a song about Paul Seychas begging Paul Seychaz to not go to UAE. And in the song, he says that he'll build a statue for him in his garden, and he's better than just being Pagacar's successor. It is extremely funny. Um, he said it would be wouldn't it be great to win the Tour de France on a decathlon bike? And I just I you know it was one of those little one-off things that like I, you know, that pop into my feed all throughout the week and it tickled me. It it's it's it is it is it is the most heartfelt song about cycling that I feel like I've ever heard.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:14

I I didn't notice um it if he speaks at all during that video. Does he does he speak? Is he a French person? Do we know what his nationality is? I think he knows French. It just shows you just the relationship that people have to cycling around the globe and and how these these these things, these these moves that can happen in cycling, you know, trades to other teams, how they can affect us on a deeply personal level, you know. Well, and that's please don't go to a super team. Please, please don't please don't go chase the Arab oil money, Paul Seychast. Please don't.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:52

I think we can all agree that we don't want Paul Seychaus to to chase the money that you know, I think it it would be beneficial for for racing in general to for him to stay on a different team and and make it more competitive. But good lord. It would it, you know, it would just oh I could just see them doing it though, man. I just I'd hope that I hope that he beyond hope that it's that my he's not money motivated.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:21

There's like seems like a nice kid. He's still living at home with his parents. I don't know. Maybe he is uh, you know, maybe he is a he's a stark raving nationalist for the country of France and a proud, you know, patriot and Frenchman, and he wants nothing more than to stay racing in France for a French team, and we have our fingers crossed. We do, we do.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:40

Okay, so I have been I was told to not go look go down into your notes.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:47

Don't don't overhype it. Don't overhype it. I'm just excited to tell you about this thing that I discovered this week.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:52

So Okay, all right, so go on.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:54

Matt, what's the bream wagon item? First, I'm gonna make you indulge me with a couple of quick speaking of uh speaking of chasing that oil money, um, some quick stats about my my number one rider, Tade Pagacar. Uh he was the first rider to win Milan San Ramo in the Rainbow Jersey in 43 years. Giuseppe Saroni was the last one, a man who once won seven stages of the Giro in one year. Uh Pog now has 11 monument wins, which puts him two, puts him into a two-way tie with Roger DeVlamek for second all time, and he's uh and he's behind Eddie Merckx by eight. Merckx has 19, which is just nuts. That's crazy. So he's crazy. He's still got a long way to go on that particular record. Uh he has podiumed eight monuments in a row. It's never been done before. Um, he has 110 career wins as of right now. Um how crazy it is it that his race program so far for this year has been Stratobianki, MSR, Slanders, Roubaix, LBL. That's his whole program. That's just crazy. And I mean, he's you know likely to score big in all of them, but it's just absolutely wild that that would be a rider's program. Um, he literally only rides in the biggest races.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:12

Um wait, so wait. Could he win all five in the same year?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:18

Oh, did you hear Dan Lloyd speculate that that exact thing? I mean, he's got one checked off. Who who's gonna beat him this weekend?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:26

Nobody, probably. I mean, it would take it would take something happening for it to happen.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:32

Who's gonna beat him in LBL and Lombardia?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:36

So Perry Roubaix is is the one. Is the one so if he wins Perry Rubet, has any okay, did you look? Did he did did Dan Lloyd say if anybody's ever gotten all five in the same year? No, it definitely never happened. That would be insanity. All right, so look, if he wins, if he wins Perry Rubet, I I am so on your bandwagon. I want him to win all five monuments. I want him to have 150 points in our game off of that because that would be that'd be historical. I mean, it would be we would literally be watching cycling history.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:14

Yeah, that that's like on par with with cat with Cavendish breaking that route. Like it's one of the great, all-time great, great, great things. Yeah. Um and if it's gonna happen, it's gotta happen this year because he has made multiple comments to the effect that he is not interested in doing MSR again. Now that he's checked that box.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:32

It doesn't surprise him. Why would he put why would why would he put himself through that? I mean, it was he had to empty. That's the one of the few times in in recent hit history that we've ever seen him completely empty himself.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:44

Yeah. Yeah. Um, I did also want to mention that uh the writer who flew over the wall in the horrible crash, Cassie with Newodoma crash, uh, was Deborah Silvestri. Uh, five broken ribs, microfracture. On her shoulder that could have been way worse.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:04

A clavicle, right? Isn't that what it was? Her clavicle?

SPEAKER_00 1:06:08

Shoulder.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:09

Yeah, I think it was. I think she actually, the brake is in the clavicle.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:12

Um, the other rider that flew over the wall, by the way, from Vis Melisa bike was Margovy, and she uh finished the race, got on up, got back on her bike, came 77th. MSR. Pretty freaking impressive.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:24

Um she is now a certified ninja.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:27

Certified ninja. She is in the ninja club. We should, we should, we should, we should create a ninja hall of fame for badass crash survivors who go on and finish races. Uh I will on on air on air production meeting. Add that add that to the files. Um, also, Nairo Cantana announced his retirement at the end of this year. All right, let me get into my roomwagon. All right. Uh I came upon a a stage show that as of now is only in Australia. If this thing ever comes to the Washington, D.C. area, I will be the first in line to see it. It is called Cadell, Lungs on Legs. This was a smash hit play that a guy named Connor Delves wrote and stars in. He premiered it at the uh at the uh Edinburgh Festival, you know, the fringe festival, the big, the big stage festival that happens at Edinburgh every year. You are you familiar with that? I'm aware of it. Yeah, Edinburgh Fringe, huge festival, lots and lots of shows, one-man shows, stage shows, plays, all kinds of stuff. It's like the it's like the south by southwest for theater, and it happens every year in Edinburgh, Scotland. This thing won the top prize at the Edinburgh Festival, as far as I can tell. Um, it's called Cadell Lungs on Legs, and it is the life story of Cadell Evans depicted by one guy on stage who has a who has a bike that's mounted on stage. It's like on a tripod, so he can spin it around. And he basically he plays Cadell Evans and he and it's like him giving the autobiography of his life. There's a giant TV screen behind him that shows like race footage and puts him in the race. If you watch the trailer, it's amazing. Like he's got all the different, like the national, you know, the national champions jersey and his BMC jersey out there and his Tour de France jersey. Cadell Evans is the only Australian to have ever won the Tour de France, and he is an absolute like household name in Australia. Like uh never buy a beer again in Australia, kind of a guy, like an absolute national hero down there. He's got he's he's got a race, he's like one of the only people that actually has a big name race that's like pro, you know, that that's got top pros going to it every year. Like he's he is a big deal in Australia. I mean, we did a whole segment about him for God's sakes. Well, this show sounds amazing, it looks amazing, and I love the fact that this dude, like, he's got to be fit as heck because he is not only riding the bike for an hour straight, basically. I mean, he gets off the bike at times and stuff, but like he's getting on the bike and like gunning it whilst narrating this story. And it it just sounds it's it sounds and looks fascinating, and I'm I'm so here for it.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:08

What an amazing idea? Like, if you watch it.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:10

There's you can't watch the whole show. Like, you can you can you can watch the trailer and you can go to the website and see some still photography and some clips, but uh, and I'll put both of those links in the in the show notes. But as of now, it is uh it's just in Australia and not not going elsewhere anytime that I know of. But if it does and it comes here, we are seeing it. Like it looks so cool. So cool. And I think there's I think there's one other person that appears on stage with them as like a swanier and like in various other like sort of supplementary roles, but it's like so you can grab a bottle or something, yeah. Different different stuff like that. So or or maybe they play fans or whatever. But um, I just was so absolutely just like, yes, I was I was so in the bag for this thing, man. It looks awesome. So did you find it? Uh oh, it was from listening to that Australian, the SBS cycling podcast that I listened to, that's from Australia. They interviewed the guy on the show. You know what? I will link to that as well now that I'm thinking about it, because uh they yeah, they interviewed the guy, and as soon as I'm hearing this interview, um, I'm like, oh yeah, this is this is uh awesome. Right up your alley. Yeah, so I'll put that link in there as well. Uh it's called Cadell Lungs on Legs, uh starring Connor Delves. Do uh check out the trailer, it's really cool.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:33

Awesome. Well, that's all for today's show. Join us next week as we guzzle a Belgian triple and break down the cobbled action at the men's and women's Rhonda von Vlanderen races, aka the Tour of Flanders, aka the second monument races of the year. Until then, for my brother Matt, I'm Justin Harper. Thanks for listening. We hope you'll join us again soon for another ride Beyond the Slipstream. Ale.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:04

Beyond the Slipstream is a part of the Harporama family of podcasts. Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Please like and subscribe, smash that button, leave a five star review, and most importantly, tell all your friends about us. Thanks for listening. Talk to you next time.