Cycling Coaches React To Paris Roubaix INSANITY 2026

This is the reaction and analysis of the Paris-Roubaix carnage of 2026 men's and women's edition. The biggest piece of news is that cycling is not boring. Are you kidding me? I don't want to hear anything about the fact that POG's dominance is boring. He's unbeatable. We are watching a very special selection of riders and races at the moment, and it is so damn exciting. We cannot get enough of it. So this video is brought to you by Travelo Coaching, where we help cyclists and triathletes like you train smarter to race faster. I'm your host, Jordan Donnelly, and my co-host, also my dad, is a former Australian Ironman champion, 16-time Australian Nationals Masters Cycling Champion, Gerard Donnelly. And Dad, what a day. I think you summed it up perfectly. Once the race was over, you texted and said, the drama of Paris-Roubaix remains undefeated and unrivaled. What a day of racing.

Oh wow. This week is called Holy Week in Belgium because Flanders and Roubaix are basically 7 days apart, and it is probably the biggest week. Belgium is the biggest cycling country in the world, and there's no doubt we've— you and I have been there. My first race was in 2016, Paris-Roubaix, where Matt Hayman actually won, which was an absolute treat to be in the velodrome. You've ridden this Paris-Roubaix course just like I have. You've actually won the Grand Fondo there, which is no mean feat. So you have an experience of what it's like to come into the velodrome. Um, you come in solo, which was even more impressive. So I know you don't like pumping your tires up, but that was an unbelievable experience for you. And, you know, we don't want to make this about, uh, what the Tri-Valley people have done, because this is all about, you know, the pros and Paris-Roubaix and Wout van Aert and, and the players. But, but yeah, you've, you've been on these, on these roads. Give me your, your experience of how you've We had carnies that day. We had one of our guys go to hospital with a broken collarbone. We had a guy flip in front of me and land in the, in the dirt 5 meters away. We had— I think I had 4 punches. I've ridden this race 6 times, you've ridden it 3. I had 4 punches in the one day, which is— I've never had before. There's just so many, so many dramatic things that can— if you get through unscathed, you are the probably the luckiest person on the planet to be able to ride without stopping at some point.

I know, was Christophe Laporte the only person who got through without a puncture or something going wrong? It almost happened to every single person. And a mate of mine, you know, we're all watching at home, everyone's texting each other throughout the race, and I think he put it perfectly. He said it's been a really— the pro race has been a really even series of unfortunate events. You know, it's just there was no one going through unscathed, which I can't remember seeing this many just punctures and mechanicals, especially in the first 150 chaos. So it was serious carnage. Look, riding that course is special, getting to do the Grand Fondo. Any Grand Fondo is fun. Just winning any bike race is fun. And so to do it on the official Paris-Roubaix course, riding the same cobbles as the pros and racing guys from all around the world where our team was kind of racing against some amateur German guys that day. And it was all a lot of fun and a really special day. But I think my summary of it is is— I don't know, I don't want this to come off as pretentious at all, but it's one of those classic ones where you just seriously cannot understand it until you ride it. And you think you watch it on TV, you think you see close-ups of the cobbles and what it's going to be like, but you cannot comprehend it until you ride it. And we've taken groups there, we've done tours there, like you said, many times. And every single rider, cyclist, says the same thing, that once they go on it, they go, wow, I all the pros tell you that it's the hardest thing in the world and you still don't get a grasp of it until you ride it, until you hit it at our measly 32 kph, you know, compared to their 48 kph. But we went through Arenberg Forest and every single one of us lost our bottles in the first 15 meters. You know, our bikes just aren't equipped for it. But you see the pros, their bikes are fully equipped for it and it's still carnage. They're all getting thrown off their bike. We'll chat about the carnage, uh, how it unfolded, but I think The pictures of Arenberg of what the coverage tried to show sums it up for me in that there was so much going on. They didn't have enough cameras. They do such a great job. Cycling just does such a great job of coverage, but they still can't keep up with everything. And every 2 seconds they were flashing to a different rider on the side of the road and you'd quickly, who was that? But then suddenly there's someone else on the side of the road. You know, someone looked like they had a broken leg. They're screaming out in pain. Florian Vermeersch is on the side. Van der Poel's on the side. Wout van Aert's breaking away. Like, there's just too much to keep up with, but 30 riders have got a puncture in the first 100 meters of Arenberg, have crashed. It's— it is pure carnage, and that is what makes the race so special.

Yeah, you would think that, uh, they have to come up with a bike and tires that are puncture-proof, but they've tried for— how long has this race been going? I don't know, 100 years. Yeah, but the race is just— it's just so demanding, and you're trying to have this line between getting the fastest bike that you can possibly ride but have the least impactful from mechanicals. And it's just a really fine line. You know, they averaged, I think, 54 k's an hour for the first hour. Yeah. You know, there was a lot of tailwind, to be sure, but at the end of the day, that is extremely fast. And there was no break. So it was probably the hardest race to ride because when there's no break, there's attacks happening all day. And when the break goes up the road, everybody settles, and the break ride at a certain pace, and the peloton keep them at bay. And that's, that's the status quo that everybody wants to see. But, but it didn't happen. And so the race became, from start to finish, the hardest thing you could, you could possibly want to be, be involved in. And I would love to see the stats of how many people finished, but I would say that would be very few people out of the 175 starters who actually cross the finish line. And, and, you know, a lot of the guys take great pride in— this is one race where they want to finish. And even though they miss the cutoff time, they will still come into the velodrome and finish, uh, because it, you know, it means a lot. You, you do want to say that you have finished Paris-Roubaix in your cycling career. And we're lucky enough as amateurs, we've actually, you know, had 5 or 6 goes at it. And, uh, and it's, it's been a highlight for me to say that, you know, yeah, I've ridden Paris-Roubaix. But my experience on these rocks stones, pebbles, you know, cobbles, is that it is the most violent thing that you could put your bike— I can't believe the bikes stay together. When I— the very first time I hit, uh, I remember I was with Tim and Dasher, two, two really good friends, in 2016, and they took me onto the first set of cobbles in Ronse in Flanders, and I was in shock at how violent the ride was. And it was uphill, so it wasn't that fast, but but the bike was shaking and I had massive blisters for 2 weeks on both palms of my hands just from the vibration. I tried gloves, I tried no gloves, I tried bandages. It's just your hand is just getting sandpapered with the movement from the vibration of the rocks and of the cobbles. And the experience is just a violent feeling and it's indescribable until you actually get to ride it. And when you come back onto good roads and there's potholes and little bumps and we're forever pointing out these things, on good roads. When you've ridden, come back from, uh, from 2 weeks in, in, uh, you know, the cobbles, spring classics, you don't even worry about it. You just ride straight over them.

It's such a good point because we had that exact experience where you just stop pointing out things when you're in that region because— and but you realize how much your bike actually can handle. And then when you go to these mini potholes on the main road back back home, you seriously, you ride through them because you're used to doing that in the cobbles. But I've been— after the first time I did it, I remember saying, I don't know how any bikes survive that, how they don't just shatter and break. And so it's a kudos to a lot of the bikes. But the answer is also they don't survive it, as we saw yesterday. The amount of bikes just not handling it, no matter how much improvement they get, they're just not handling it. And it was 115 finish this year out of 175. That's got to be one of the lowest finish rates out of any one day. Race for the year. So let's, let's go through it. Let's go through the carnage. And I want to open up and just say our theme as we were watching it was that there was just a lot more mistakes being made than we normally see from overall team tactics. A lot of teams were making big, big mistakes on top of the mechanical issues that every single rider was going through. And I think that UAE came in with their typical strategy of just wanting to light the race up for Pogačar, and it was— it's not the race to do that. It's his weakest race, which says— which sounds like it's, you know, he's not a chance to win, he's still the favorite, but it's his weakest opportunity to get away from Van Der Poel and Van Aert. It's the time they're most likely to be able to stick to him or beat him or be stronger than him on the flat cobbles. But they use the same strategy, light the race up, try and isolate the other riders. But instead, Pogačar got isolated himself with no teammates, and I think that was a big mistake from the start. On top of many other things that we'll go through. But, but I, I really wasn't impressed with them just coming in with the— it's almost like they bought into the hype that Pogačar is unbeatable. He's just on this insane winning streak, which is the conversation right now. Um, so let's just do the same strategy. I think they got that wrong.

It's a fair assumption because he pretty much is unbeatable in most races, but Roubaix is an exception. And in the world we live in, you can have a lot of rules that apply, but there are also exceptions. And I think Roubaix in cycling is that exception because you go to Flanders or the Ronde van Vlaanderen, uh, Flanders Classic, you don't have the same carnage with mechanicals. You just don't. It's unlucky that you have a mechanical at the Tour of Flanders, but, but it's, it's luck if you get away at Roubaix without having a mechanical. And so you can't have the same tactics that you have at Paris-Nice or— sorry, Milan-San Remo or or Gent-Wevelgem or Dwars Vlaanderen or Flanders. They're, they're just different events. And Roubaix is a one standalone race where it is carnage no matter what year you look at. It's the person who has the least bad luck, who's got the best legs on the day, who's going to actually triumph. And, and I think going in with that tactic, as you said, I think was crazy. And that has worked for him. So why wouldn't you go in with that tactic? It's worked 100 times. But as I said, this is an exception. And so to think that you could use up the majority of your team except for two before, before Arenberg is the fatal mistake. And it proved to be correct. You and I were texting, I'm saying this is a bad move, this is not any other race. What happens if, if Pog has a puncture or a, or a, you know, crash, or his derailleur Like, he needs it, he needs a bike immediately.

I mean, it did happen, he needed these bikes, but, but once he was left alone, you know, he was lucky he didn't need another bike then.

Uh, yeah, and to be fair, everybody had bad luck, but POG had used the majority of his team. So the key moments, I think this is why he lost, is because when he had his bad luck, he— the other teams made this mistake as well, but it wasn't as bad. They didn't support him enough, and so he burnt too many matches trying to catch back up to the front. And, and he wasn't the same rider, even though he still is an unbelievably talented rider, and he could still attack Van Aert, um, uh, at the— at Cofalabra and the other 5-star sector. I can't remember the name of it, it's 2 in a row, but but he still had an attacking mentality. But, but he wasn't the same rider. You could tell he was, he was just exhausted. And, and Wout struggled. He really did struggle. And he just made that one effort and got back on the wheel. And I thought, I thought that was a key moment there. Um, and that from that point on, I think Pog was resigned to the fact that I'm not going to be able to get rid of him. And it's because of what happened when his team didn't support him properly. And, and he'll never say that in an interview. I know that because that's not what he's about. He's a really genuinely nice person and he's there to support his team and they're doing their best. But whoever's calling the shots, they should have told Vermeesch and I think, uh, who was still up there?

Um, it was Pollitt maybe, and Pollitt.

It was, yeah, it was Niels Pollitt. They should have said to them straight away, stop, wait. And Visma made the same mistake. Um, Laporte should have stopped and waited for Wout, but he didn't. He stayed up there. And I was getting a little bit frustrated with the commentary saying Laporte's doing the right thing. He was doing totally the wrong thing. That and it cost Pog the race, and it could have cost, uh, Wout van Aert the race. But Wout had two, uh, Red Bull riders to, to work with him who, who, you know, inadvertently were riding for Wout. Um, and they might as well, might as well been a Visma riders, um, because that, you know— but even having Laporte come back and having four of them, they would have got back to the front of the race quicker, which meant they would have spent less time chasing. That's my point. Pog spent too much time chasing. A lot of the time he was on the front by himself with 50 people behind him, and he used all his, his, his riders. And that's when Vermeesch and Niels Politt should have been there to drag him back. What's the point of them being up there? They, they had no impact in the race whatsoever. Why, why should they stay up there? And the answer would be, when, when Pog comes back, they can help him. But if he doesn't come back what good are they? And you know, that, that's what I was trying to say to the group that we were discussing with. If, uh, if Visma don't send, um, uh, Laporte back, Laporte's not going to win this race. You know, Wout is the only option here, and you need to ride for your strongest rider. That is the premise of World Tour riding. You select one rider that you're going to support, and if you hedge your bets by having, oh, Laporte could win No way, that's, that's not right. Vermeesch could win? No, he's got, he's got much less chance than of beating Van Der Poel or Garner or, or Van Aert. And I think there were some key mistakes made by the directors in the cars, definitely.

Yeah, yeah, I know it was all very early in the race that the most mistakes were, were being made. And Jasper Stuyven said a really interesting point at the end, and what a brilliant ride he did to get third, uh, and I'll, I want to talk about that at some point, but as we get towards the end of the race when he made that decisive move to get third. But he kind of said in an interview after he'd resigned himself to a podium before the race started. He just said, unless I have some really good luck, I'm not going to beat those 3 guys, those 4 guys, Pogačar, Van Der Poel, Van Aert, and Mads on the cobbles. He's like, I just know I'm not strong enough. That's not a lack of self-belief. And he said it. He said, with 60k to go, I was barely hanging on. Every single cobbled section, I thought I was gone, and I just made it to the end somehow. But that's his mindset. He's an absolute So, you know, a lot of the teams want to use these second riders as a bit of a card to play, Laporte or Vermeesch. But someone like Jasper Stuyven saying, well, realistically, we're not going to be able to beat them unless some crazy luck happens. And so why not go all in for one rider? And I agree with you. Pogacar said afterwards, he didn't say it was because of his team, but he said, I was absolutely cooked. I was so cooked from that effort to get back, and I was cooked from the constant changes. I just didn't have the legs to get away from Van Aert or beat or beat him in a sprint. But the energy cost of what he had to do to time trial back on for 20k, 5k of that on the Shimano bike, uh, was just far too high. And I agree with you that the call needs to be immediate. Drop back, get Pogačar up here safely, maybe leave one rider in there, you know. Um, but even then, it's, it's just so crystal clear. And they, the, the deliberation, the, the talking to each other, trying to figure out what to do, it seemed like there was just some miscommunication. Or they were not agreeing on the plan, not really sure what it was, but that caused Poggi to lose. And maybe again, they just bought into the hype as well that Pogačar is an alien, he can time trial back and still win this race. And the reason I think that might be the mindset is because he finally got back on after a 20K time trial, which is so, so hard. Like, I just can't fathom— I couldn't even fathom how he won Milan-San Remo. When he crashed and when he's getting dragged back up to the finale, he got back to the back of the peloton on the Milan-San Remo and Brendan McNulty drags him through the peloton to the front. And there's this great overhead clip just following him coming from the back to the front. And these guys are riding on the front, I don't know, 450 watts, 500 watts up this climb for a few minutes. You can see at the back of the peloton these professional riders are struggling to hold the pace. It is lightning and guys are at risk of getting dropped. Like, it's really hard to hang on. Pogačar and McNulty are riding through, which means they're probably riding 600 watts, 650 watts to get back to the front. He gets back to the front, barely has a recovery, and then attacks on the podio and then goes and wins the race in a sprint finish. You know, I just don't think— I think that kind of stuff shows how alien he is and how freakishly good he is. But even then, there is a limit, and a 20K solo time trial to catch the guys at the front of the race is too much. And Then once he got to the front, Vermeesch grabbed him, didn't wait for him to be okay, went back to the front and started driving the pace again. And again, that mindset I just didn't like. They were just hellbound on this UAE tactic of lighting the race up and just smacking themselves on the front to the point where they had no one left by Arenberg. Unfortunately, the only rider they had was Vermeesch, who crashed or mechanical or something. Pogačar was isolated for the next 100K.

Yeah, you make some really good points, but I think one thing that is missing is the, uh, the watts per kilo. And every time the, the ride goes uphill— and it happened at Flanders, it happened at San Remo— every time the ride goes uphill, Pog is in a league of his own. And you saw, uh, Remco Evenepoel on the flats of Tour of Flanders catching Van Der Poel and Pog on the flats. 2v1, and Remco's catching them. The minute it went back uphill, Remco started losing, and Pog's superiority on hills is his absolute weapon. And when he's chasing Solo on the flats at Roubaix, he doesn't— he's not the same rider. He's still a brilliant time trialist, one of the best 3 in the world as a time trialist, but on the flats it's different. Uh, you know, you yourself have seen Van Der Poel, Van Aert, different somatotype body types who can ride just as well on the flats as Pogacar. And, and, you know, we've got an example. One of, uh, one of our coaches, Nick, and you at Flanders, uh, he was riding away from you at Flanders because he's 8 kilos lighter than you. Yet at Roubaix, you were riding away from him on the flats. And it's almost the same, just in an amateur you know, discussion.

Much slower speed, yes.

Yeah, but it's obvious that, that, uh, a lot of the races that Pog wins, majority of the races that Pog wins, there is some sort of climbing aspect to it. The Tour de France obviously is the main example, but a lot of the, the, um, the spring classics and the monument races have lots of short, sharp climbs of various degrees, various, uh, percentage of gradience where Pog is the king. He is superior to everybody. No one can ride with him. That we've seen that for, for 2-3 years now where he's just that far above everybody else in watts per kilo. And, um, and you know, there's very few people who can hold his wheel. And so Flanders is different to Roubaix. That's the point here. And I think his team underestimated how hard an effort it was for him to bridge that gap compared to when there's climbs where he's in his element there.

I thought Alpecin were riding the smartest out of all the teams up until, up until Van Der Poel's whole incident in Arenberg where he punctured, got back on a different bike, that punctured as well. Oh no, so he got the front wheel and then that new front wheel punctured as well, tried to get on Philipsen's bike, that whole Shimano pedal scandal that has happened where his pedals didn't work. By the way, he it was a complete wrong bike for him anyway, regardless of the pedals. He looked like a tall guy riding a kid's bike, like that was never going to work anyway, but it might have just helped him get out of the forest. And I just loved the zero hesitancy from Philipsen. And that we talked about, you must protect the strongest rider at all times. Philipsen, out of all these secondary riders, Philipsen has the best chance to win, you know. And so he's the one that should be least likely to give his bike to Van Der Poel compared to Vermeeschow or Laporte or something. Yet The second he saw Van Der Poel on the side, he gives him his bike without hesitation. That shows the kind of plan that they had. So I thought they were riding well and probably potentially the most unlucky despite the Shimano pedal gate.

I totally agree. And I think, you know, your point about Philipsen and the team tactics— he's got second, he's got third, he's— he is the only rider out of all the field that's possibly a potential winner. If Vanderpoel doesn't, doesn't produce. Yet he's the only one who actually stops. All the Visma guys and UAE guys, they stay in the front bunch, and, and it's almost like in the back of their mind, oh, this could be an opportunity for me to do something for myself. My team leader's back there. I'm not saying that that's what they're thinking, but in the back of their minds it could be, you know. Whereas Philipsen did not hesitate. He— and he's the one who should be least he, he has every right to stay with the, with the front bunch. And, um, I loved— I think it was Del Grosso straight away undoes his wheel and gives it, gives it to Van Der Poel. I think Van Der Poel and Alpecin were the unluckiest on the day. I really feel for, for Mathieu Van Der Poel, and his team were the most organized, I felt, and they were, you know, unfortunately unable to help him because you know, it was such a deep in the race where, you know, when you, when you get through the Arenberg, it's, it's really hard work to try and chase 2 minutes back. And, and he did such a great job to get within 20 seconds. And, and guess what happened when he got within 20 seconds? Wout van Aert attacked.

Yeah.

And I thought that was absolutely brilliant. You know, he knows van der Poel too well if this guy gets back, you know, even though he's had the hardest chase, you know, Wout was not willing to ride with him, and that was a great move.

Look, you got to say ride of the day goes to Wout van Aert, and we just— we're going to talk about how emotional that was, because if you've ever listened to this podcast, you know that we have been such fanboys of him for so long, and every year we just dream of him winning Flanders on his home soil and getting that happiness for the Belgians. But the emotions behind that are huge. But I will say, despite Wout winning, the ride of the day has to go to van der Poel. To go from that deficit of 2 minutes to solo back to them within 20 seconds was monumental. You know, that is just unheard of, that power and strength. And he was basically pulling a peloton behind him. And some people have criticized saying no one was helping him, and I would say that they probably couldn't. You know, he— like, they were all on their limit and they were just hanging on, like Jasper Stuyven said. So I think Some people pulled some turns when they could, but he basically brought that deficit back to him by himself and still got them within 30 seconds and less and held that right until the last 6 or 8 kilometers when Pogacar and Wout were kind of pushing things again, and then the chase group started attacking each other.

Yeah, I think you're right, and they would have helped if they could have. And it's easy sitting on the couch watching, you know, there was the guys who were surrounding him except for the guys who are from UAE or from Visma, um, maybe Ineos, probably because Garner has a chance. The rest of the guys in there, unless they had someone in the front group, that they— it's in their interest to help him, but they, they really couldn't because he's just such a weapon. Um, and, you know, I thought it was great that a few times he was communicating with Garner when he got together with him and trying to, trying to get get things happening on the ground. And I— what do I mean by that? Well, just riders talking to each other from opposite teams, and a lot of the information is coming from the team cars. So you're, you know, you've got to understand the riders are hearing information all the time coming from their earpiece, and yet they need to make decisions on the ground at the same time. Maybe the team cars can't see exactly what's happening because the footage that they're watching from the car might not be on what's happening in that group. So they need to actually make some decisions themselves. And, and I feel that this point needs to be made. When POG was having all that trouble, this is when decisions on the ground should have been made at the front of the race with, with, uh, Alpecin, with Ineos, with Visma, with, uh, Decathlon, um, with Red Bull, or anybody else who had a rider there. That whole group should have all said to each other guys, this is our only chance to beat the POG. We need to ride now. We all need to forget about teams and ride together. And, and I couldn't yell at the telly anymore. They didn't, they didn't ride together. They, they half did it. They were across the road. Whenever you see a group spread across the road, it means no one's riding. And, and that was, you know, it allowed POG to get back too easy. They hadn't had a real chance there, even though Pog was exhausted from what he had to do, but they had a real chance to keep Pog away, and it would have been a different race had those guys stayed at the front, um, without Pog there. And I would have loved to have seen what happened then. Um, yeah, but, but it didn't. And that, that concerns me, that they're so robotic that they can't make a decision, uh, on the ground, you know, in the heat of the moment.

I'm sure it was just classic cycling, you know, just lack of cohesion. And we talk all the time on the podcast about the fact that Yes, you want people from other teams to work together, but the reality is they don't. And Alpecin were mostly on the front trying to drive it, but they just needed to commit to that. And that's where they start using their team and just get their own train. If they're not getting any help from anyone, then keep the train going. But it just comes down to these, these politics and tactics. And the less cohesion there is, people rolling through soft, people disrupting, people not coming through, Poggi's just on time trial mode. It's just amazing how one guy can beat a group of 25 and And we said that if Poggi wins this race, that was a huge mistake because they let him come back into the race. But yeah, to get a group of 25 guys all working together is always going to be proven difficult. And we've seen that the last 2 weeks in Flanders and Roubaix. Just to touch on Ganna, he was in the form to have the ride of his life. He's that strong. He kept coming back because the power he had. He was probably the most unlucky rider on the day, I felt. He was really there and he was the only one that probably could have helped van der Poel. And they actually were bringing some time back together. It was proven by the fact that when van der Poel was 2 minutes back, he kept passing groups and bunches. You know, he probably would have passed 40 or 50 riders, and 30k later there's only 5 left with him. So it's not like people aren't helping because they don't want to, it's because they can't keep up with van der Poel making his chase back, you know, through the cold section. So it's pretty incredible.

I really felt for Ganna, and every time the camera was on him, he was having another mechanical. And, and he had a lot of that at, uh, the race he actually won, um, Dwars Vlaanderen. He was off, off his bike 3 times and ended up beating Wout in the last 10 meters. Imagine if he actually gets to a race where he doesn't have an issue. I think he's in the form of his career, and that was his actual first road race other than a time trial at World Tour level at Dwars Vlaanderen. I think he would have featured in this race had he had he not been so unlucky. And it's a real pity, but you know, hopefully he's in the form again for next year to, to come back. It's super exciting because, you know, this is the only race Pog hasn't won. He hasn't won Roubaix. He's got— he's only done it twice, he's come second twice. So I would be— he's always been on record to say, I want to, I want to go to every race and win it. And that would be one of the races he hasn't And so it is pretty exciting.

Yeah, yeah. I thought, I thought my favorite part about the race was that you're against the race itself. You're not just against the cyclists, you know, and that, that's the beauty of the spring classics. But, but there was barely, barely a move, a specific move or an attack until Wout's decisive move at 54k to go or whatever it was. Up until that point, riders are getting blown off the back by the sheer speed of the race. By the sheer carnage of the course and the elements and everything that was happening. You know, it wasn't like there was any breakaways or tactics that were blowing the race up. It was— it's just the nature of the race. And then suddenly, without any actual moves going, there's only 6 riders or 8 riders left at the front of the race. And then Van Der Poel was getting himself 20 seconds back. And then this is where Wout won the race. And what a move, like you mentioned, that, you know, I don't want anyone to say that Pog lost this race and Pog was unlucky. Wout made that decisive move and split things up, and he wouldn't let Van Der Poel get closer. He attacked with 54k to go, and a lot unfolded after that. That wasn't the winning move, but him doing that showed his intent, and you make your own luck, and he created the race from there.

And look, we forget about Mads Pedersen. Mads Pedersen was— the three of them were away, and with those attacks that Pogacar and Wout were doing, Mads actually just got dropped there, and that was you know, that wasn't a mechanical fault. That was— he just wasn't at that level. And he will— he has been and will be at that level again. But from his injury, um, he just hasn't quite made it in time. And that's, that's a lesson for a lot of people who are in sport, that, you know, you, you can be lucky to get your peak fitness at the right time. And I think, I think all— everything worked for Wout this time round. And as, as we know, he's come second and third probably the most out of any any pro rider. I mean, I know that Sagan came second the most out of any rider, and he won pretty much the most. So there's a lot of riders who've come first, second, or third. I mean, that shows you're a chance every time, doesn't it? But, but Pog's been unlucky where he actually hasn't won a lot, whereas van der Poel has won, you know, world titles and key races. Um, uh, Wout's won a lot of great stages at the Tour, and— but this is probably one of the, the biggest things of his career that he'll you'll never ever forget.

Yeah, it's unfortunately, you know, the great Van Aert and Van Der Poel rivalry is a little bit overshadowed by the fact that Van Aert hasn't had the monument success that Van Der Poel has had, and everyone still puts them in the same category because of their epic battles. What Van Aert has done at some of the Grand Tours and the Tour de France has just been beyond exceptional, but you forget that this is his second monumental Spring Classics win ever, you know, only second. He won Milan-San Remo in 2020. I just want to read through his placings since then across Flanders, across Paris-Roubaix, across all the years, Liège-Bastogne. After that win in 2020, he's come 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 7th, 8th, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 4th, 3rd, 4th, 4th, 3rd, 4th. You know, he's just there every time and hasn't been able to manage a win. Wins Paris-Roubaix 2026, and everyone that watches cycling knows the emotional roller coaster he's been on, the setbacks he's had. The last 6 years throughout various phases, the crashes he's had that put him out, the comebacks. He got really back in form early this year and then crashed again and broke his ankle, uh, just relentlessly. And so, um, to see him mono e mono with the POG in the last 50k of this, despite all the bad luck van der Poel had and the rest of the race, he had his own bad luck. He had to fight back, um, to go on a couple of times, and he actually had his teammates help him, and then he had some BORA guys help him, like you said. Um, everyone had to battle that in different elements, some worse than others. POG, you know, the 20k a solo time trial, arguably harder. Van der Poel, a 2-minute gap, almost impossible to overcome. You can keep going through it, but just to see, see Van Aert to get to, to have this opportunity, be in this position, and then take it and win. It is just every, every single cycling fan breathes some relief and, and celebration to, to, you know, get to put him in that category of he was always going to go down as a great cyclist, but to get that win and that title next to his name just makes all the difference.

He definitely is a sentimental favorite. I watched the highlights from the British broadcasting team, and all 5 of them— Sean Kelly, you know, they're all in tears. And it's not that they don't like POG, it's just that, that they want— everybody wants Wout to get some success that he probably deserves, or maybe doesn't deserve it, but, but no one deserves anything in the world. But, but certainly, certainly for sheer determination and consistency in turning up. And, and he's, he's always got a happy smile on his face. He's never negative. He's just a likable character. And Pog is the same. And that, that group of people, they are really good for cycling. That they're— that they make people want to watch the sport. And, and it was just so satisfying. And I think if you want to win a race, you want to beat the greatest of all time wearing the world champion's jersey. You can't get a better scenario. And, and, and wow, no one can take that away from him. Who did you beat that year? Oh, I beat the greatest of all time, Tadej Pogačar, and he was wearing the rainbow jersey that day. You know, that's something that is spine-tingling. It's, it's, it's, you know, it makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck. It's, it's just a, it's just a brilliant scenario for him out of all the things, negative things that have happened to him over the journey. I would say it's almost worth it for, for that one victory that he's got now. And, and I think it meant a lot to him. He was like a blubbering mess at the end of it. And, and, you know, he could not talk. He, he was just— it reminded me of Matty Hayman when he won in 2016. He was just in shock. Um, did I just do that? Did I just beat, you know, the pinup boy Tom Boonen? Um, you know, who was going for his 5th Paris-Roubaix. And, you know, coming into the velodrome, that guy was never going to lose, and yet he did.

So, which, as it's a great where were you moment, because as, as the probably few Aussies in that velodrome against an army of Flandrian and Belgian supporters, you know, we actually interviewed Matt Hayman on our podcast, and you can go find the interview. It's, it was done about 5 or 6 years ago. But reliving that and, and your experience was, you know, the whole stadium is going for Boonen, and then this unknown Aussie who has no right to win and spoil the party party and spoil their sentimental kind of victory for Boonen-Daas. And you were the only Aussies jumping up and down in the stands with everyone looking at you.

It was an aha moment. And Tim, and for those who know, we've talked to, we've interviewed Tim on the podcast, and Dasher, both ex-pro cyclists, by the way, and both lived in Belgium, both Aussies. They both lived in Ghent and in various other places during their pro career. They took me to the velodrome in Roubaix in 2016, and we were in amongst all the Belgians. It was a party atmosphere, and Tom Boonen was going to win his 5th, and, and the crowd was euphoric. And they come around, one lap to go, on in the velodrome, and, and there was dead silence pretty much once, once Matt Hayman put his hands up with victory. And we were just yelling, and there was only 3 of us in the whole, the whole velodrome. People looking at us going What are you cheering for? It's like being at a soccer match when you're in the wrong end of the spectators and your team scores. So, yeah, so it's been a— I love this event. It's 10 years now since I first went there, and I've ridden it, as I said, 5 or 6 times. And you've actually won it as a grandfondo rider. It means it's one of those special sporting events that Flanders is one thing. It's a different version, but Roubaix has got its own uniqueness about it, mystique about it. And the elements, as much as the physicalness of the riders, impact the result every time.

There is a special energy around the Vélodrome, you know, and you just feel it. There is this aura around it and inside it, and it's a really— you can feel the weight of it when you're there. And I got goosebumps hearing Van Aert talk at the end and the dedication to his friend. But I really, I just, I got emotional when he just said, you know, I, I've struggled a lot. And, and the interviewer said, but you always believed, right? And he said, no, I didn't. I, I stopped believing many times, but then I woke up the next morning and then got back to work, you know. And I just, for me, that is just the epitome. It's just pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and go again. And despite, you know, despite not believing, despite lacking confidence, despite all those failures and mistakes, fourth, third, second, third, fourth. For me, that was just so special to hear, and, and that's what it's all about.

Perseverance is, is a trait that is something that we really should all aspire to. And, and not dropping your, dropping your head. It's okay for a second to be disappointed and to be upset with yourself and the result, but you need to move on quickly. And that's a trait that is, that is, it can be such a positive in people's lives. Uh, it doesn't have to be in sport, it can be in anything in life. But, but as a sports person, if you're that athlete, you will eventually succeed. And that determination to not let— you know, that song, I Got Knocked Down and I Got Up Again, I, I just love that. And that song actually inspires me, you know. It's— I love screaming that out, you know. It's, you know, you're— so many times things happen and you don't get the outcome you wanted. You can be woe is me and feel sorry for yourself. And, and, you know, for some people you should do spend some time doing that. But, but the, the mark of a, of a woman or a man is who can get back up and, and try again. And, um, and it doesn't mean yet you will have be guaranteed success, but, but you'll enjoy your, your experiences because the challenge is what it's about. And, and succeeding in the challenge is euphoric. It's, it's, it's brilliant. But the journey is what's more euphoric. It's, hey, how did you get that, that, uh, that victory?

You cannot criticize Van Der Poel's effort yesterday. And so I don't know how to say this without it sounding like criticism, because I'd like to see his power profile from Arenberg when he was down by 2 minutes to 6k to go. He was the fastest and strongest rider in that whole period. I'd love to know what he averaged, and the data might come out when they got back with him. He got within 20 seconds, then Pogacar and Van Der Poel broke it out again, and then the group got back within 25 seconds again with 6k to go. That effort would have rendered him exhausted. But in his interview afterwards, and you could see it in his body language after Arenberg, he was defeated. He thought race over. And the rule that everyone keeps saying, and Matt Hayman said this in our podcast, he said you just get told, never stop riding. Keep riding, just keep riding, because anything can happen. And I was a little bit disappointed to hear Van Der Poel say that, that he said race was over. You know, it wasn't. He got himself back within 25 seconds. Pogačar and Van Aert almost crashed multiple times. They almost sent themselves out around the corner. That 20 seconds is gone. Suddenly Van Der Poel's in front, you know, and then he might be thinking, well, what's the point? I'm exhausted. Like, just because I'm here, I've got nothing left. Those guys behind him didn't have anything. They were just hanging on. You know, Pogacar and Van Aert were absolutely cooked. They both said it themselves after, they were dangling off the front but they didn't have much more to give. And so it doesn't matter, it's a complete hypothetical, but I thought that, you know, anything can happen. And they were very close to crashing multiple times, and so was Van Der Poel, because they were just sending it around those corners. But it is a race of attrition.

I think you're right. And look, in normal circumstances, if Van der Poel, the rider that he is, gets to within 20 seconds, he is going to cross that gap. But he was that exhausted. I think that was his mindset, Jord. Look, even if I do cross this gap, I've got nothing. But you can't think like that. You've got to remember everybody else is exhausted. You can't think that it's just you. But he had the hardest ride, so, so in his mind he's going, well, you know, and I— everybody knows how you watch him do the you know, the winter cyclocross races. This guy is— he's untouchable. He's got the power to ride across a 20-second gap. But when you're on your limit, you've already been time trialing— I don't know how long you've been out there for, um, you know, it was 90K. Yeah, you know, you don't have the zip left. And, and I think in his mind he's just going, I'm absolutely fatigued, I can't even cross this gap. And that's the beauty of bike racing. 20 seconds is only— it's literally 150 meters up the road, you know. You can see the cars and, you know, you— they're just there. And Remco experienced this the week before at Flanders. He got within 5 seconds and you think, come on, just close the gap.

Yeah, yeah.

And, and you can't. And I think, I think that they're the things that, as as people who are watching can't understand that it's not that easy. And, um, I think you've got to give them a little bit of, uh, leeway here where, you know, if they could, they would. And, um, and it— but that— where— that's where it comes down to the mindset. And that's, I think, what you're alluding to is, you know, keep the mind positive and you never know what can happen next. And, you know, the Keep Riding theme just keep riding no matter what happens. Just keep riding. You don't know what's going to happen next. And we talk about that in a lot of our podcasts. You don't know if there's good things happening in the future. We haven't got a crystal ball. We don't know how our lives are going to pan out, but you just keep living. You just keep being positive. And there'll be really good things happen. There'll be really not so good things happen, but it's the way you deal with them is, is where you get the satisfaction from, I think.

Yeah, and that is why I love Jasper Servants. Comments afterwards because he just said he was on his limit with 60k to go and he thought every cobbled section, I'm done here, I'm not hanging on. But you just, you just do the next one, you just do the next one. And then suddenly he goes, well, now we're 6k out and I've hung on, I'm just going to go for it here. And he launched an attack at the perfect time when everyone was not wanting to do anything. Van der Poel was pretty done, he couldn't be bothered towing everyone back anymore. And everyone looks at each other for that, for— it just takes 2 seconds, 3 seconds for everyone to look at each other and he's 50 meters up the road and And then Van Der Poel just said, I'm not chasing, I'm like, my race is done here. So Mads Pedersen went and he's one of the strongest guys to go and Van Der Poel follows Mads Pedersen. But yeah, that stands out for me that Jasper Stuyven, you know, just stuck in there that whole time and got himself a 3rd place at Paris-Roubaix, which is absolutely exceptional. And then the last point on that is that Van Der Poel still came 4th, you know, so despite all of that, he won the bunch sprint out of everyone. And despite his exhaustion, that shows how alien-like he is. To do that whole ride, tow everyone there to the line, and still win the sprint. That, for me, apart from Wout van Aert, that was the ride of the day.

Yeah, and it just shows you how much it means to him. You know, he doesn't want to come 7th or 9th in that bunch sprint. He wants to be the winner of that bunch sprint, and he threw the bike to the line. And it's a really good example for amateur athletes to, you know, every race you're in, don't sit up. Finish the race off. Doesn't matter whether you're fighting for 15th or 50th, you should actually be finishing off. And Jasper Stuerven, that is the epitome of hanging in there. And he gets 3rd in one of the hardest, toughest races almost of the decade, where the 5 best riders are all on show, and Jasper Stuerven comes 3rd. Like, like, he just he just took an opportunity that, that no one else did. And he, he risked everything. He wanted to come 3rd or 9th, you know. If he, if he came to a sprint, he was going to be 9th or 10th. Uh, so what have I got to lose? And if it didn't work, so what? At least I had a go. And, and then he, as you said, you never know if they're going to look at each other or chase. And, and, you know, Mats Pedersen wanted third, definitely. And so did Mats, uh, so did Matthew van der Poel. You know, they want to be on that podium. It means everything to them. And, and they were just so exhausted, they couldn't actually bridge that gap that Stuyven had created. And, and then they're going to look at each other again, and Stuyven stays away, just like the two at the front were. So, you know, that scenario keeps playing itself out all the time. And, and, you know, it's the never-give-in attitude that will eventually you'll get some success.

So the last point I want to touch on is this whole, uh, the Pog versus Wout workload. And, you know, between 50k and 20k, potentially Caffè Labbra, the last 5k, 5-star cobbled sector for Poga to try to get away. I think everyone was holding their breath going, is Van Aert doing too much work here? Is he doing the same mistake as Van Der Poel last week? Is he just helping Pog and then Pog's going to blow him out of the water? And it wasn't the case. It was, it was, uh, Van Aert was strong, Pogačar was tired. Um, Van Aert did enough work to keep them away but not so much that he was wrecking himself. In hindsight now, he did the perfect amount of work and Pogačar got a bit rattled. You know, he, he, he was more rattled because it didn't— wasn't playing out the way that it normally does for UAE. He was isolated, he was by himself, he was tired. He didn't know he was having to do more work on the front than he normally does. Uh, he said Van Aert played it so smart, you know, he just wasn't letting me get away with, you know, not doing as many turns. And, um, and so brilliant race by Van Aert, but we were definitely holding our breath and you were texting going, please don't, he's making a mistake, he's, he's just letting Pog gonna jump in again. And, and turns out this time Pogačar wasn't strong enough to get away.

Yeah, I agree to a point, and I still disagree a lot of the tactics. Um, uh, if Pog hadn't been so fatigued, then the tactic that Van Aert was using would have come, uh, unstuck. And obviously there's no hill where he can ride away, but he almost gapped Van Aert. Uh, he got 5 or 6 meters, and Van Aert made one last effort and got back on the wheel, which was a winning, a winning last effort. I, I felt that was decisive. And then Pog had the realization, I'm never going to get rid of him now. And, and I think I think Wout still did a very good job on all of the cobbled sections and letting Pog sit on the front. And he was, if you noticed, something that the amateur cyclist should never do, which is half wheel, uh, and he was right underneath his back wheel. And so, you know, Wout's a big guy, Pog's pretty light, so to get any wind protection, that's the only spot that he could find, uh, because the wind was coming from the left on a lot of the times, and, and Wout had his bike halfway along the back wheel of POG, which was hugely dangerous on cobbles. You know how, Jordan, how much the bike bounces on those. But they make it look like it's a flat road, but the bike is literally violently bouncing from rock to rock, from cobble to cobble. The slightest left deviation or right deviation, he would have been in the gutter with a pedal through his front wheel. And that was a huge risk, but it paid huge dividends because he was saving so much energy and And Pog said, I did a lot of work on the cobbles and that was really tiring me more as well. And I think he played a beautiful tactic and he came through when he needed to. I'm an advocate of, you know, you're the world champion, I don't need to do anything. But in this scenario, he did actually have to do something to keep the 30-second group at bay. And he did that beautifully. He just came through and, and I think he was getting confident because I felt that that Pog looked physically tired. And, you know, he'd given— he'd given his last— his last effort at Carfalabra was his last attack. And from that point on, I think he was resigned to, I need to keep rolling here because I'm going to get first or second. I don't want to be back at the pack sprinting for third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth. So I think he was willing to sacrifice winning just to stay first or second. And And I think that's different thinking mindset from Pog from his, his whole career, that he had to actually think through this differently. And that's all I've been asking all the World Tour riders to try to do something different against Pog rather than let him dictate the whole time. And finally, um, it happened.

Yeah, and, and we will never know, you know, how things would play out differently if Pog didn't— if Pog got dragged back by his team, he wasn't that fatigued, could he have ridden away from Van Aert? You think absolutely. I'm not as convinced. You could definitely see it, but I almost think if the situation was different, Wout would ride a little bit different. I think if Pogačar was showing that he was way too strong, Wout wouldn't have pulled through at all. We hope that, you know.

I'm not so sure, Gerard.

Van der Poel didn't do that at Flanders.

It's not in their nature. It's absolutely not in their mindset or their nature. And, you know, our last Flanders podcast, we got a little bit of negativity from people who are couch potatoes and and, uh, probably not as knowledgeable about cycling tactics. And it's interesting listening. Everybody's got their opinions and they've got the right to share those opinions. I never would be stopping that. But, but it's interesting that, you know, people were saying that everybody needs to do turns. Uh, that's the etiquette of cycling. And I would agree with that, but in training, that's, that's the rule. But this is a race and there's no rules in racing that says everybody has to do equal turns. And so that was a lot of the flak we were getting was, you know, everybody knows you have to do equal turns. Well, that's actually not true. But I want to make that point clear. In racing, the smartest rider is going to win, and that doesn't mean that you roll even, even turns with the world champion who is cut and shoulders above everybody else in the field. That is actually the worst tactic you can do. So So let me make that clear. You should not be working in rolling turns with someone who is going to just ride away from you. That's actually just being a domestique rather than a racer. You're actually riding for that person, not against them. So try something different and make Pogačar's brain have to think differently about, I have to come up with another tactic of how to beat this guy because he's now refusing to roll through. What do I do now? Vinegar does this a lot, and, and it could— and he has beaten Pog by doing this a few times, by making Pog stay in the front, because Pog's not willing to let the field catch back up again. And it's a game of poker here. And, and I think that's what a lot of the, the couch potato list viewers are missing, that, you know, there's no hard, fast rule that says everybody has to do equal amount of work. And, and if you think that, then you haven't done many bike races, I think.

Couch peloton, I think, is the politically correct term. We're all couch peloton slash couch potatoes yelling our advice at these world champions. But I agree with you, and yeah, we caught some flak last week, but we— yeah, I stand by our comments last week that Van Der Poel made a critical error in helping Pogačar until Pogačar just rode away from him. He said after the race, what am I supposed to do? You know, I want to keep rolling turns, like, you know, and he kept getting flak throughout the week. And there's a lot of team for and team against, you know, a lot of people saying don't be a wheel sucker, you know, do do the etiquette thing. And he actually said that himself later in the week. He said, look, I'm going to be racing Pogačar for years to come. I want us to have a good relationship. I don't want to be that person. And I thought that was a very interesting comment because nothing is guaranteed. You've got a chance to win Flanders or any race. I wouldn't be— me personally wouldn't be doing out of etiquette. But, but, you know, I just want to—

I want to say one last thing on that. It is controversial, but you're almost saying I'm going to keep riding this way and you're going to probably lose more than you're going to win. You may beat him now and then, but he's going to win almost every time on a, on a hilly course like Flanders or Milan-San Remo or Liège-Bastogne or Flèche Wallonne. You, you're not going to have many victories if you're going to employ that tactic. So, so you might think it's the right thing to do, but it's actually not going to be beneficial for you to be a winner. And, and, you know, we're not in— we're not in these races to be great mates. We're in these races to compete each other against each other and be very, uh, friendly after the race or before the race. But when it's man on man, you've got the right to employ any tactic you like, and there's no rule that says you have to do what van der Poel's saying. And, you know, so I disagree. And, and if he's okay with coming second 9 times out of 10, fine, then stay with that tactic.

Yeah, and I'm not sure his sponsors or his team owner would be that stoked with him, you know, riding for etiquette and not riding for the win. But, but yeah, we've been down that rabbit hole and we know where we stand, and, and it's great fun to discuss it. And I love the team, the arguments from both sides. And the anti-Visma fans out there, there's plenty of them, that the team POG and the anti-Visma and the anti-Vingegaard and now Wout. I already see online are calling him a wheel sucker and and just saying, you're just like Vingegaard, you know, you're, you know, no, uh, no morals in this race. You only beat Pogačar because your wheel sucked. And, you know, no one will remember that down the line, but they'll remember when Wout van Aert won Paris-Roubaix 2026.

I think I'd rather be a winning wheel sucker than a second place wheel sucker.

Yeah, yeah, interesting. I want to touch on the women's because, uh, Visma, while on the men's side had had such an emotional victory, they, they had a really, really disappointing and and I would say regretful performance in the women's side. And honestly, I was disappointed with the race overall, except for the winner, Franzi Koch, which is my best attempt at a German accent of her last name. But her performance was nothing short of astounding. It was strongest, smartest, boldest performance she could have given, and she played that perfectly. And she beat two of the most incredible cyclists in the peloton on the same team I don't know how she pulled off a 2-on-1. It is up there with Stannard levels or Hayman levels of, you know, of not underdog victory because she deserved to be there, but to be in a 2-on-1 and for Visma to lose is very disappointing, and I want to break that down. Plus, I just felt like the rest of the peloton was super disappointing in, yeah, just the way that a lack of teams attacking the race and wanting to win. You know, and, and yeah, I really want to talk about, uh, just, just, hey, let's put it all on, on Francie Koff because her, her performance was well deserving of a monumental, uh, inspirational Paris-Roubaix victory. But I don't know how— I know how Visma mucked up a 2-on-1 and it was, it was hard to watch.

Absolutely. And don't take anything away from this victory. This was one for the ages in the women's peloton. And to, to beat the Tour de France last year's winner, and Vos is arguably, you know, the most winningest woman that cycling has seen for, you know, she's up there with forever. And to come into the velodrome with two, you know, the defending Tour de France champion and the winningest sprinter of the peloton, I can't believe that she beat them. It was incredible. And she actually rode the velodrome beautifully, and that actually contributed to her victory. And the way Pauline Prévost was trying to help Vos win, that actually contributed to Francie winning as well, I think. She just didn't do a very good job, and she was trying her heart. She sacrificed herself, so we can't be critical. It's really hard to be critical when a person of her level has sacrificed herself. And yeah, it's It's an interesting outcome, one that you would just bet against if you saw with 40k to go that there's 3 riders and 2 from Visma. And Visma have a history of doing this in the male peloton, but I just, I would not have backed that one of the 2, Prévost or Vos, was going to win this.

Yeah, was that last year or the year before where it was 3-on-1 with Visma and Wout was in that group and they mucked it up so bad and and Wout lost, and he was just devastated after that.

It was Dwars Landeren, and Wout got second, and he got second again 2 years in a row. He got pipped on the line, so it was the same race. Yeah, yeah.

No, yes, I want to break it down how it happened, because it's, you know, how can, how can a rider beat, yeah, Marianne Vos, one of the GOAT sprinters and greatest racers of all time and most decorated, and Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, PFP, yeah, current Tour de France winner, but but also Paris-Roubaix winner last year. But she announced before the race that they were working for Vos, so that was a late surprise. But their big mistake was they just stuck to that plan despite the race in front of them. I think this was what was disappointing, is that they just— but they were robots to that plan and they didn't adjust. You know, she decided to ride for Vos for the day, but then when you get in a breakaway, there was 4 riders and Blanca-Cat Vos Vosk got dropped, so there was just 3 of them. And when you're in a position where it's 2-on-1, the robotic plan of ride for Vosk has to go out the window and you have to start riding 2-for-1. And they didn't do that. She just stuck with, hey, I'm riding for Vosk today. And that allowed Francie Cole to make the race, to stay in the race. Once she figured out that that's kind of what was happening, she could adjust herself just to make sure she gets to the velodrome and try her luck in the sprint. And she was very, very strong in that. Now, I will say a caveat is PFP said after the race, look, it's been a really emotional period for Vos. She is our, you know, our women's cycling hero. She is one of the GOATs, and out of a bit of respect for her, we wanted to ride for her. She lost her father in the last couple of weeks, I believe. And so they wanted to ride for her, and I get that emotional pull, and fair play to them if they say that's what we're doing. But I think once you're in a 2-on-1 situation, despite the emotional pull of that, you've still got to ride differently. And I imagine Vos would understand that. You know, in that position, you don't have to stick to that same plan.

Yeah, in life there's always exceptions. We don't want to have too many exceptions. We want to have a good plan, but there always has to be exceptions. And we talk about this a lot in triathlon where, you know, you've got a plan, but it's just a guide. And, uh, if things change, you have to also adapt. And I've said, you know, loud and clear in world tour cycling, you have one leader and you must ride for that leader. I said that in the men's race, and so I'm saying that as well in the, in the women's race. If they've selected Vos, Marianne Vos, as the leader for the day, they need to stick to that plan. But the exception is, yeah, when you're away with two teammates and one other rider. So, so even though Vos is the person you're riding for, the, the best way to help Vos win is to attack the other rider. So you need to roll turns and then make sure that, uh, uh, that the Pauline, um, sorry, Francie eventually has to work. And so, so you need to, you know, double up on her and you need to send one of you up the road. And, uh, the minute, um, that Francie's on the front and someone's just done a turn, the other Visma rider— doesn't matter which one, that's the beauty of— you need to, after, uh, Francie has done her turn, you need to attack.

Yes. Yeah.

And, and then make her chase, and then continue to do that until you break her down. And that is the way you support your leader. And, and, you know, Pauline should have been that first person to do that, and you know, that's just a normal classic way to attack, you know, a 3-man race, 3-woman race.

So yeah, she just wasn't doing it. And when she was doing it, it wasn't strong enough because she was spending a lot of time on the front just pulling all 3 of them, just keeping them away from the peloton behind. You know, it just wasn't the right way to go about it. And your exception is true. If Laporte had been with Wout and Pog and it was a 2-on-1, they would have changed tactics. They wouldn't have gone with just Wout. They would have done 2-pronged attacks for sure. And they would have done what you said, they would have just gone with one rider then. It's a change of circumstance. So let's go back to Francie. I mean, she made this race, she won this race, she made the break on a 5-star section with 48k to go or somewhere around there. Vos and PFE went with her, so two Visma riders. SD Works rider Blanka Katt Vos, who was not one of their main riders to win the race, got in that break. So there was 4 of them away, and what was most disappointing for me was that gap, you know, Cock made that, that gap really strong. She put in an effort and a lot of the peloton couldn't go with her. Lottie Kopecky was caught napping, wasn't anywhere near there to get in that break. She was at the back of the peloton in that section. And so that break formed, it got to 20 seconds very quickly. And what was so disappointing for me was there was absolutely zero urgency from the peloton to close that gap, and it blew out to 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 60 seconds very quickly with no organization from the teams behind, no desire from the teams behind. It was is, you know, normally if there's a chase on, the peloton is strung out, it's single file, it's riders on the front gassing themselves, rolling off, doing big turns. They were bunched up 4, 5, 6 riders wide, tapping along. And I know that they're not tapping, that's a really critical thing to say, but they're still, you know, within range. But there's no pace on. It was really disappointing to see all those, all those riders, all those teams that had no rider in the break. What were they doing? Little Trek, Canyon-SRAM, Even SD Worx, you know, Lottie Kopecky and Lorena Wiebes, both top favorites to win this race. Yes, they had a teammate up the road, so they have a reason not to pull. But I thought Grace Brown, who's Olympic champion, Olympic time trial champion, her commentary I thought on this was really appropriate. She said that yes, Blanka Katvarsky is up ahead. She said this before as the move was happening. So she had this foresight, and it was perfect in hindsight, but she had this— this was great commentary from her. She said, look, she is not— she's the weakest rider out of that 4-breakaway. She's the least likely to win here. Capecchi and Wiebes need to make sure this gap doesn't go too far because otherwise the race is over for her. And that is exactly how it played out. You know, they maybe they shouldn't have chased, but they maybe wanted to keep the gap just close enough in case, um, Blanca-Kat Vos, their teammate, got dropped. And she did. She got dropped relatively quickly, within 15 or 20 k's or so. But then by then the peloton was too far back. Kopecky and Webers couldn't bridge the gap, you know, they couldn't. They were a minute plus behind, um, the gap had ballooned out and the break's away and the race is over. So just classic stubbornness from the peloton. But I was just really disappointed in that. This is Paris-Roubaix, it's such a special race, and there was just such a lack of urgency to win. So I thought that was really, uh, frustrating to see play out.

Yeah, I totally agree. Right across the board from all the teams, especially the teams who had no one up there, why weren't they Why weren't they riding? I mean, SD Works, it really had an excuse not to work. They did. But as I said before, Vasse is not their main rider. So, so they should be actually contributing to, as you said, to keep the gap at a minimum, 30 seconds, 20 seconds. And so that any chance that Vasse gets dropped, then they can just bridge the gap. And, and I don't know what the other teams were thinking. It's, it's just a classic poor communication, and, and you've just wasted the, the whole race and played into the hands of the front 3 perfectly. And so it was a— yeah, it was a really disappointing strategic race from watching it. It became boring because, you know, there's nothing actually happening. The peloton's not doing anything, and you've got, you've got every reason why the peloton should be doing everything to make sure that that situation doesn't happen. Um, and it's not just the SD Works who should be doing it, and in fact they should be the least ones doing it. But you know, there's 8 other teams in there that, that could— that had, had people who wanted to do better than, you know, are they all fighting at that stage for 5th place? Is that what they're all riding for? Well, that doesn't interest me as a director. I would, you know, I want to at least say to my sponsor, well, we had to go. But as you said, when you fan across the road, it means no one's working.

And it wasn't even like, it wasn't even that exciting. Like, the 2-on-1 should have been super exciting. It should have just been Vos and PFE just swapping turns, just trying to break Koch and see what she would do. But they weren't doing that. They weren't counterattacking properly. There was a little bit of it, as I said, but it was a bit of a masterclass from Koch. She created the break. She was the strongest and smartest rider. She beat 2 teammates, and not just any 2, 2 of the strongest riders in the peloton. And yeah, she held on to PFP every time that move was made, and Vos wasn't doing enough herself to counter either, probably saving herself for the sprint. And yeah, Cockatrice realized, okay, once I can get this— and she was actually attacking herself, she was attacking them, you know, that was the most surprising part actually. The pace wasn't on enough that she was trying to out-attack two of them, you know, that in no in no world should that be happening. If you're a 2-on-1, that rider should be so isolated and fatigued from trying to follow your counters that— and it's not always that simple, of course, you know, they're 3 riders with a lot of fatigue in their legs, but she shouldn't be attacking you. That should not be happening.

Well, I just think that she actually had the best fitness out of the 3 of them, to be fair. And probably, you know, we can talk about tactics, but if you don't have the fitness to implement the tactics, then As you saw, every time, uh, even, you know, even when Vos did some efforts, it wasn't really hard enough. And, and I think, uh, Pauline, her efforts are definitely not— they were, they were too soft. And it was easily, uh, Francie could easily cover those moves. So, um, so I think, I think we're underestimating, I think, the fatigue levels. It's easy watching saying they should be— why aren't they doing this? But, uh, but yeah, there was a lot not happening. Uh, that's, that's the best way to describe it. A lot not happening rather than a lot happening. And, and I just think that, that, you know, a lot of teams wasted that race, uh, from, from making it as exciting. Roubaix should be exciting. There just should be things happening all the time. And there were in this, in the, in the women's race, there were a lot of, you know, casualties along the side of the road, just like they were in, in the men's. But But you know, anything could happen. So why weren't they riding better, more cohesive? And, and why weren't the director sportives in the car screaming to them to, to get organized? And, and if, you know, you can play the bluffing game for so long, but there comes a point where you can't bluff anymore. You have to actually make the race. And that was what disappointed me.

That is an important distinction. It wasn't that black and white. It wasn't as simple as the two riders weren't doing anything. They were countering in periods. They were doing a bit of a mixed strategy. But it just wasn't strong enough. And I think, like you said, that especially if that overall fatigue is there, you're probably doing too much work in between stuff. And the flat sections, you're spending too much time in the wind, you know. You should be freshening yourself up so that you can blast off a really, really aggressive attack and see if that breaks her. But at the end of the day, you're right, she was too strong, she was too good in the sprint. Once it came down to the sprint, I still just thought, okay, they've mucked it up to here, they've gotten her into the velodrome, which is not ideal. But 2-on-1 in the velodrome, you can still win this. I'm not a good sprinter, so I can't really comment on the tactics here, but I feel like, again, PFP was just a bit of making up the numbers in space there and not actually— she didn't provide Vos any assistance. There was no advantage. It was just 1-on-1 Vos and Koch, and therefore Koch was stronger and better on the day. I feel like PFP needed to bury herself to get that front position Bully, get forced into second, not let, um, let Francie get into second position. Make Francie be even third. PFP just bury yourself, you know, right until 200 meters to go, right about where Wout took off. Stay her line, let Mariana come around her after sitting in the wind. I'm interested to know if you thought this would work. And then that way Francie has to come 3 wide to get around them. Instead, PFP was third, never contested the sprint. PFP is on the front but not but Vos was last, so wasn't getting that advantage. She now has to come around all three of them to get around, and Francie, you know, did actually push her wide as well, wider than Pog pushed Wout, to make her go that extra distance. Potentially, if she didn't have to cover that extra distance, she wouldn't get that— she would have got over the top of her. But yeah, I thought the positioning of the Bismarck riders in the— and who am I to comment on Vos's sprinting? She's won enough in her time to know her positioning, but I just felt like PFB didn't actually, actually let out Francie there rather than Vos. That was my interpretation. What do you think?

Yeah, look, I think the tired legs has a lot of an impact in what you can actually can and can't do. Certainly once Francie got to the lead, she pushed Vos really high on the bank and was able to cut down really quickly. And, and that's, that's really good smart track riding. But I think the scenario should have been definitely PFP on the front, but, but moving to the middle of the track so that she was pushing Francie high on the, on the track and letting Vos dive down on the inside. And then, and then Francie still has to go around higher on the track, and I think that would have been a better outcome. Um, but yeah, it just didn't— you know, it's easy in hindsight to— but yeah, I just think the best rider actually won.

So I don't know whether Yeah, they never get to practice a velodrome sprint except for this race. So I wonder if they talk about— I don't know if they'd ever talk about, hey, if we're in a 2-on-1 scenario in the velodrome, here's what you do. I can't imagine that that was explicitly discussed. It's hard to know what to do.

I must say, when Wout was interviewed, he said, I practiced this in my head for years. I'm going to go at this point and this is how I'm going to do it. And he said, it played out exactly how I wanted it to. And I know that Sean Kelly was commentating and he was saying, too early, too early. and it wasn't. It was exactly, uh, in that scenario, it was perfect.

Yep, I love that from, from Wout. He was— yeah, he had dreamed of that and he had envisioned it. And, and, and in Pogačar's own words, his legs were spaghetti. He said, I had some hope for the sprint, but once Wout went, he goes, he's just, he's just too strong. And boy, what a day that was. So, um, yeah, incredible wins on both sides and incredible stories, and, and we just love that. And, and You know, we kind of thought this might be a 30-minute recap, but it's just so exciting. There's so much to talk about. We're an hour 20 in, so we hope you've enjoyed this one. Any final thoughts on that? And there's still some Classics to come and monuments to come. And Pog said this last week. He said, I'm not— it's hard to win a race. You know, I'm not just going to magically win all of them. And yesterday proved that. You know, it's very, very hard to win. And he was very flat at the end. He's just going, far out. You know, I thought Milan-San Remo was the hardest. Now I think this is the hardest. He's going, just, it's hard to win, and he's just not going to win 5, all 5 monuments, you know, magically every single time. It's not a foregone conclusion. It's, it's cycling is, it's just so much fun, and there's so much more to it than that.

People forget, Jord, that every decade there are standout riders. And I know Pog is a centurion standout rider. He's one in a century. But you just go back, and I was talking to you off air, Peter Sagan was almost unbeatable. He 3 World Championship jerseys. Cancellara, um, Tom Boonen, you know, he won, he won 4 Paris-Roubaix. And we forget that, you know, that was literally 15 years ago. And there, each decade has a period of brilliant riders. And this is no different with, uh, Pedersen, Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel, Pogačar, Remco, Vingegaard, that, you know Roglic. There's 7 riders, but, but we had Greg Van Avermaet, we had Sagan, we had Cancellara, we had Boonen. I could just keep rattling off. In there, they're all— and they're all beatable at, at any point. Pog just happens to be dominating this, this 18-month period, and he is brilliant uphill. That is his, his forte. And unfortunately, the rest of the spring classics have got Liège-Bastogne-Flèche Wallonne, which finishes on hills. Um, Amstel Gold, similar. And POG, these are races that he could win, but I want to see Remco in these races, and I want to see, uh, teams not riding with him on the hills. I want to see that tactic change and, and work together and leave him out there. That's, that's what I want to see happen. Otherwise, he's going to win the next 3, uh, um, monuments for sure.

Well, that's it for this episode. If you've enjoyed it and if you want some cycling coaching or cycling tactics, we, we absolutely love to, to do that and coach people through, cyclists or triathletes. So go to our website triathletecoaching.com.au to apply to get coached there. That's it for this episode. See you in the next one.