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Wait, Chris did you just officially announce your return to the World Tour! Team Knuckle Head 😅. Looking forward to todays stage 16 video 🎉

Just out of curiosity, Chris, do you do this podcast in your hallway?

Hey Chris what the hell is going on with Tadej today? Most of riders are on juice but that man is phenomenal. He is is in beast mode most of the time and he must preserve his powers for TDF

Looking good for 52yrs old. And you've kept off the weight during retirement. You must of stopped with the snickers and burgers before rides. BTW great information and inside knowledge.

Hi Chris, a question: when a rider wins a stage, do all his team mates get a £$ bonus?

pretty sure only Vingegaard would have stayed with Pogacar the others would have stayed with Thomas, or somewhere in between

this vid didn’t age well

The former Chesterfield Professor Horner has not lost his touch!

Also consider the load Jumbo would have put on the race not only on that stage but on almost every stage before that. Remember that their tactic is to make Tadej run out of steam after 2 weeks or so. I wouldn’t have been surprised if Tadej in that situation could have lost the Giro on that stage

Have to say, I watched all of Stage 15 and I didn't understand what I'd seen until I listened to your recap. Hats off. But I don't know about Quintana waiting for Pogacar. I'm not sure if he could stay on Poggi's wheel downhill, but on the final slope certainly not. Maybe he can make an agreement to work together so Pogacar gains more time. And then Poggi lets him have the stage win. Poggi can basically do whatever he feels like in that situation, but would Quintana's help speed him up or slow him down?

Pidcock is going to drop them both badly and win TDF 2024!!

I don't think Roglic is at the same level as Jonas and Pogacar

Just to put this to sleep...here is my observation; according to published data from last year Jonas weighed 132lbs and Pogi weighed 146lbs. No way with a 14lb weight difference was Pogi going to beat someone as good as Jonas on big climbs consistently. Well, from all observations from this year Pogi looks significantly lighter than the previous version. I would venture to guess maybe 138 to 140 lbs. If my observations are accurate, I think that is light enough to now be better or equal to Jonas. Yes, he probably still weighs more but 6 to 8 lbs. is a lot different than 14 lbs. on a climb. Hopefully Jonas can be back in form for the TDF and we will see an epic battle played out!

Hey Chris, given the time frame, do you still think Jonas can get to the Tour at 100%?

Who cares. We will see it on Tour.

Haven't heard on Roglic's progress/ recovery.

I have to respectfully disagree, I don’t think anyone other than a 100% on form Jonas would be able to stay with Pogacar. The numbers Pogacar had to do to ride away the way he did at altitude I don’t see anything recent from Roglic that indicates he can do that after 5k kj’s this deep into a grand tour

When Grosschartner pulled, he let the gap go up from 3:05 to 3:40 😂😂😂

"he wouldnt drop Roglic, he wouldnt drop Remco"😂 Are you kidding??? Really?

Anyways, we already expected this lead since the beginning of the season, afterall.

Let's all just cherish the Pogi, the Jonas, the WVA, the MVP, the Remco.,the Primos of today's cycling are all here to entertain and provide us a guranteed top level competition every time they don their jersey . ❤🚴🚴🚴

Imagine bringing the A team, what would be the gap then, 10 mins +?

I was wondering when someone will mention the reality and the wider picture. Thank you for grounding the media hype about these stages being so 'legendary' and 'historic'. Pogačar is great, but he can only be this superior when the big dogs are not around.

Hi Chris, would you be interested in making a video on how to assemble the best possible uae team for the Tour, who to pick , considering that riders like almeida when they had to help Tadej like in lbl they didn’t do anything? Thanks Davide Ps congrats for your work

As great as Primoz and Remco are, I really don't think they are on the level of Tadej and Jonas. Tadej and Jonas are brutually crushing everybody on pretty much every mountain stage that they race. Anyway, I really hope the three riders that went down in Basque Country are close to 100% for the Tour or else Tadej will just run away with it easily like in 2021. I think Primoz is gonna be 100%, but I have SEVERE doubts about Jonas and Remco. Infact, I am almost certain that they are not gonna be at 100% at the start of the race, but MAYBE they can get there for the crucial part of the race, which really starts for real from stage 14 and onwards. They do have to "survive" stage 4 (mountains, but ending on a descent) and stage 7 (25 km ITT) without losing to much time to Tadej, though, and Tadej would be a fool not to try to gain time on those two stages given how incredibly strong Jonas tends to be in week 3 of a grand tour.

Nah... neither Rog nor Remco are in the same league as the other two.

depends who's more doped up

Tha amount of work a rider has to do to get a pass from Horner...

Bonus info: Jonas is currently training in Mallorca, so he looks in great shape and recovering well. so i guess we will see the the TDF showdown. i think the best part of the Giro is with Tadej being do solid, it just adds so much this years TDF and the narrativ that is going to play out. Roglic on a new team, Tadej winning the Giro with one of the biggest margins and Jonas coming back from a serious injury AND having Wout as is wing man. it is gonna be a spectacular summer !!

Chris, I think you overestimate Roglic. Remember at last year Giro, with a field comparable to this year (minus Pogi), he was dropped.

It's been a looong time since someone has gapped the GC on a GT by 6 minutes. Seriously impressive on all accounts. Blame it on the lack of competition if you want. Or perhaps Pogi is a once in a generation talent. If that's the case then how did Vingegaard beat Pogi in the last two TdF?? My hunch says Remco, Jonas and Wout won't be battle ready when the TdF starts. If that's the case then Pogi has an excellent chance to take home the maillot jaune. Meanwhile I can't help, but to wonder how this Giro is just a training camp for this wunderkind. 💯🚀🚂

No he would not drop Vingegaard

Pog pushed 6.9 watts per kg at the end of Foscagno. We know he can push 7.2 or 7.3 when he's full gas and at his peak form. I think it's fair to say he wouldn't have dropped Jonas or Roglic... With Jonas he would have had to ride differently (maybe attack closer to the finish) , with Roglic or Remco he would have had to go full gas and yes he would have dropped them. Just my 2 cents.

this year in lombardia roglic won emilia the week before so he was on good form

I don’t think Rog and Remco can hang with Pog and Jonas on stages with 10k+ ft climbing stages. 2023 was not a good measure between Jonas and Pog because of the broken wrist disrupting Pog’s training leading up to the TdF. Pog is clearly on a different level in 2024 when healthy and motivated. Think UAE is stronger than Visma in 2024. Wishing Jonas is close to full strength this July as the competition with Pog will be amazing. Right now, today, Pog is unbeatable.

So who makes the best UAE team for the TDF?

I don't think Roglic is in the same level of Pogacar or Vingegaard nowadays. Maybe two years ago, yes.

This Years Giro is the easiest Giro I Have seen as far as i can remember! Tailor made to Tadej Podacar to do And the tour de France. Still wonders Why Vingegaard gifted VC away to Sepp Kuss in the Vuelta. So no way Podacar would win. One year Vingegaard will do Giro and Tour de France. Most likely Jonas will be able To Win all three, if it was n't for JV kids. He very much a Family guy. Now TP has he's sweetheart with him! So something is going to happen on His home front. It a interesting thought experiment Chris. Let's see What future will bring? Vingegaard Did had a new Tattoo on left arm. He has been spotted on Mallorca It's a Butterfly ( effect) !?😜

He’s dropping average riders. Gerant was ace but he’s old.

A 50 rider group will never work together, UAE knew it, Pogacar knew it.

Jonas really gets dropped by no one on mountain days like stage 15. It’s the intermediate climbing stages tadej can put damage into Jonas. Additionally, Jonas was tremendously helped by tactical errors by UAE the last two year (solarisms galore) as well as by his own teams ability to perform highly and control the European Peloton (Sepp Kuss and Gesink and Van Art and Kelderman and etc). The problem with the Giro right now is lack of competition for position one. So my attention easily moves to the race for second. Love to see Thomas at 37 schooling the peloton, but next year the Giro needs to bring more firepower. One thing I hate in cycling is a single hero. I like the antagonist riders disrupting greatness. That’s why Jonas is compelling. His steady state consistency and cycling intellect challenges the raw talent of a pogacar. Not to mention the Frida tributes at the line.

Speaking of UAE team depth. How do you rate the team strength of the teams of the other 3 big riders of the tour. Jumbo certainly aren't the powerhouse of the last 4 years. Roglic certainly doesn't have the backing he is accustomed to & Remco is in the same boat, right?

Appreciate the analysis of tactics and strategy of team composition. Slightly off topic question: why do some riders not wear gloves? Also, would like to hear your assessment of the AG2R team with LeMond in 1989. Seems like he had no one to help him win but he pulled it off anyway.

Come on man, surely you understand what Ewan was doing in the break right? He should have rotated through to help... De Marchi? Do what exactly? Neither of them had a chance of winning that stage. Loads of better climbing talent in the break away. Do you really think De Marchi could challenge Nairo Quintana on the queen stage of the Giro if Caleb Ewan gave him a couple of extra pulls? De Marchi to should have stayed in the peloton to help Zanna if anything Blind Freddy could see that Ewan was just catching a ride over the first couple of mountains to give him sliding room for the OTL battle when the serious elevation started. Get a head start on terrain that suits you then slowly drop back to G2, then the Peloton, then through the dropped domestiques and eventually into the grupetto. It's a solid tactic to do less watts when the going gets steep. Sacrificing for a teammate in the break would negate that for no good reason and in that case he might as well just tough it out in the grupetto all day.

Funny Chris garaint not going to beat your record

uhoh, G coming for coaches record!

But was it UAE's fault that 50 riders went away?

Probably not but Pogacar would outsprint him att finnishline.

In my opinion. Answer is Yes!

Awesome, dude! Thank you!