Is Pogačar’s Superteam Too Powerful To Beat? | GCN Racing News Show

This week, Conor Dunne rounds up all the week’s racing action and asks who has the strongest team heading into this year’s Tour: Pogačar or Vingegaard?🚴‍♂️👀

⏱️ Timestamps: ⏱️
00:00 Welcome to the GCN Racing News Show!
00:14 This Week In the World of Racing
01:18 Tour de France Start List Breakdown
06:03 Roundup of This Week’s Races
11:17 Giro Next Gen
11:57 Happy Birthday to Eddy Mercx! 🥳
12:17 Jake Stewart’s Contract Extension
12:32 Geraint Thomas Pulled Out of Tour de Suisse
12:43 Dries De Bondt Working For EF Education Easypost in a Stage?

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What do you think? Visma or UAE? 🤔👇

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welcome back to the racing news show coming up this week we round up all the week’s racing action and ask who has the strongest team heading into this year’s tour Pagata or Vinegard this week in the world of racing we learned that the UCI are looking at potentially restricting gearing in pro races boxing has the weigh-in cycling has the backwards gear roll out we also learned that Rubber Bank are back at least they will be for the tour to France visma Lisa Bike put out a teaser video for their new kit that we’ll see in competition a week on Saturday we also learned that Yasper Philipsson can not only sprint like a champ but he can avoid crashing like one too that was a shrimp finish of the Balwis Belgium Tour yikes nearly as impressive actually though as Tom Pigok’s handling skills which he again put on display last week on a descent whilst being filmed by 2018 Dhakar Rally champion Matias Walner in Bavaria incredible speeds but I think I’d have whimped out on a tow rope finally we learned that next year’s Geoditalia women will take place at the end of May straight off the back of the men’s race a great move I’d say because right now it overlaps the men’s tour to France which means it’s often overshadowed and doesn’t get the attention it deserves onto our main talking point now and with the tour getting ever closer I’ve been looking at the start list shaping up now squads aren’t fully confirmed as of writing this show but it’s pretty close for Vizma and UAE currently we’re looking at Venard Simon Yates Jorgensson Kusfeni Bonut and Campon to back up Vinegar for Vizma Lisa Bike then for UAE we’ve got a long list of Adam Yates Almeida Plet Civacov Solair Wellins Navarez and Novak i’m going to be pretty ruthless and be a fantasy tour team boss by narrowing UAE down to just eight for the purpose of this so I’m really sorry Novak i’m sending you back on an altitude training camp this July for the Vela both squads though have some insane talent just last week Yoyi won two stage races in the form of Bowar Belgium Tour and Tour to Swiss while Almeida was particularly strong in Swiss winning three stages and the overall he’d be a tour contender in his own right and of course could well be if Pagatcha does suffer any serious bad luck visma of course though are a force to be reckoned with also Venard counting for two riders and then you’ve got this year’s Jirro winner as your super domestique 35 race starts at the tour for Vizma Lisa bike all in only one debutant Afini 35 starts also though for UEE navarez is the debutant there if he does make the cut officially in terms of wins UAE are definitely ahead on this front mainly thanks to Almea who has had a remarkable string of results she’s won three stage races on the bounce this year Bass Country Roman D and Swiss which is pretty crazy he’s had the most world tour wins this season behind the rider he’ll be supporting at this tour today pigatcha Visma Lisa Bike are a little behind on this stat front but arguably the races they have won count for slightly more simon Yates of course winning the Jirro and Jorgensson taking home Parry Nice when the race heads uphill and into the mountains I actually think though that Vizma are the ones who will have the most riders left as the pace gradually ramps up despite UAE’s hit list this year and their strength in depth Vizma still nudge it for me on this aspect almeida I think is going to be present until the very end as is Adam Yates for UAE but personally I think Simon Yates Jorgensson and Kus will also be left present in any similar situation giving Vizma perhaps one extra teammate for when things do get super sticky in the mountains whether this stat is relevant or not in terms of climbing prowess I’m not sure but if you look at the weight statistics UAE come in as an average of 67.8 kilos whilst Vizma are 69.4 kilos and that is looking at data listed from pro cycling stats just taking into account those support riders who has the biggest engine though now this one is a tough ass because both teams have some serious diesel firepower for when it’s needed but personally I think you can’t beat Ward on this front i’m sure many of you will agree too yes UI have the likes of Plet Wellins and Nvarez to pull far and fast when needed but I think it’s the versatility of Venard and the sheer power that man possesses which makes him the most valuable teammate for anyone in my book his performances at this year’s Jurro for Simon Yates I think are perhaps the most recent proof of this fact over at UAE though I think you’ve got to take into account Tim Wellins as the rider who perhaps fills this role and also is someone who’s going to play a really pivotal role at times for Pagatcha he has huge horsepower too but I’d say his value over someone like Venard is that he’s going to go much further into Helia terrain than his compatriate time and again he has shown this by consistently being exactly where he needs to be to put down some serious power at the front setting up a key attack for Pagatcha just look at the way he strung out the bunch out on the suppressor at this year’s Milan Sam Remo as a perfect example personally looking at each squad I’m looking at Vizma Lisa Bike as the slightly stronger squad heading into this year’s tour on paper at first glance you either have an incredibly strong lineup we’ve been talking about it here at GCN HQ this morning actually even riders who aren’t listed on the long list that can step in it’s probably easy at first look considering how much they are winning at the moment to be like right yeah they are the strongest squad at this year’s tour but for me when you really dive into Vizma’s squad they too have a list of riders like no other essentially what we’re looking at at this year’s race is a head-to-head of two super teams who will come out on top that’s up for Pagata and Vinegar to decide ultimately but it’s going to be one heck of a battle what do you think Vizma or UEIE let me know in the comment section down below right onto a roundup of the week’s racing with the DFA complete it was the turn of the Tortois Swiss to take center stage as the men’s world tour finishes final tuning ahead of the tour to France it was Raal Almeida who took the overall win as we said after a dominant display in the final mountain TT and a solid bit of riding all week actually in which he won three stages including that final TT stage one was a rain soaked affair with Roman Gregoire of Group Armor FDJ taking the stage after showcasing some strong descending skills to chip away solo from the day’s breakaway the second stage was taken by Vicenzo Albanazi of EF Education Easy Post who won the uphill sprint to the line with a powerful finish he edged out Fabio Christen and Lewis Asi into second and third respectively with Gregoire holding overall onto stage three and it would be Quinn Simmons of Little Trek who won from a breakaway going solo with around 20 km to go holding a small gap to the finish again Gregoire held overall by the day’s end but it would be on stage four where he would be tested yao Almeida won the day on the fourth stage for UAE team Emirates and took a minute back on Gregoire as a key GC favorites came to the four oscar Hley and Ben O Connor rounding off the day’s podium onley would win the following day stage before Jordi Moose won the bunch sprint on stage six almea though would then go on to turn things up a notch on the penultimate two stages winning both and laying down a big ride to win that final TT stage by 24 seconds to cement overall victory over in Belgium we saw the Bowar Belgium tour last week a five-stage race that saw the likes of Philip Oana Tim Merier and Yasper Phillips present it would be Merllia who took a pretty chaotic stage one win a race finish I remember well actually with a number of pretty sketchy corners and tramline crossings to add some spice and adrenaline philipsson nearly went down in the running but looked to hold himself up by the skin of his teeth that was a save and a half it would be the Belgium though who would take stage two philips just winning the throw to the line ahead of Milano at the line in put stage three would be an individual TT time for Ghana to shine and gain some good race TT practice ahead of the tour favorite for the stage then but it actually be Ethan hater of Sudal Quickstep who took the win the British rider beating Ghana by 4 seconds over the 9.7 km course averaging 55.4 km an hour florian Vish came in third 16 seconds back that win for hat though put him into the lead heading into the rac’s fourth stage by just two seconds was his first of the season two and some solid competition into the hillier terrain of the Ardens though and typically this is where the race is really decided in terms of the overall hater did his best to hold on to overall but ultimately it would be Jenno Burke Moose of Lotto who took the stage victory with hater coming in 20 seconds back in fourth place was Filipo Balanchini of UAE though who managed to tip ahead on the GC C by just 4 seconds quite a dramatic finish too on a stage that finished up a climb to Derwis and scorching heat as we’ve seen across most of Europe the past week the race’s final fifth stage is won by Merlier bookending his race and showing good sprint form ahead of the tour the European champ edging Milano to the line gc held as of the previous day with Balanchini taking the win by those four seconds ahead of hater in second and Jenna Burkmoose in third thanks to that brilliant win the day before all in then two overall victories for UEE in just one week over in France it was the four stage long route to Okitane nicholas Prudong took overall victory for Dathlon agent Toara Montial mostly thanks to his performance on stage three which he won by 1 minute 53 seconds on the summit finish to Luz Arden over David Picanolei of PY visit Malta and Steph Klass of total energies who was 2 minutes 26 seconds back overall positions which stayed the same until the finish of the race ral Garcia Piera of Arca B&B Hotels won the race’s opening TT whilst Mariam Vandenberg took victory in the sprint finish on stage two for EF Education Easy Post and T-Br won the final stage for group armor FDJ in Denmark it was a new world tour race called the Copenhagen Sprint for both men and women with equal prize money on offer for both a mostly flat route for both as is typical in this part of the world the woman raced over 151 km with the action concluding with a predicted bunch sprint lena Vabus powered to victory proving how she is the fastest rider in the Pelaton at the moment winning by several bike lengths over Alisa Balsamo and Kiara Consi in the men’s race I did a slight double take actually when I saw that Jordi Moose took victory in what was a chaotic finish the Red Bull Bor Hanssgrow rider had of course taken victory at stage six of the Tour to Swiss just two days before but had managed to receive permission to leave that race early skipping the final two stages and heading to Denmark where he Julie delivered lots of racing last week then and don’t forget you can catch all the action on Discovery Plus and Max it wasn’t all though as the Jirro next gen took place as well a stage race that is seen as a solid future predictor of pro talent alongside races such as the toaler big shout out to the Irish riders in the race who took backto-back stage victories good job guys solid effort it was Sha Dunwoody of Barrain Victorious’s development team and Adam Rafati of Haggins Burman’s Jacob who took stage four and five respectively it was Slovenian Jacob Omrael of Barin Victorious’s development team though who took overall victory by just 12 seconds over Luke Tuckwell of Red Bull Bora Hansrow rookies i’m sure we’ll be seeing those names again very soon in other news a belated happy birthday to Eddie Merks who turned 80 last week interestingly in media interviews following that birthday the greatest men’s cyclist of all time said that both Pagata and Evanool should take on the hour record which is quite a quite an interesting one will be great to see he felt his career wasn’t complete without it a three-year contract extension was signed for Jake Stewart of Israel Premier Techch last week the British rider won a stage at the Dofane recently aboard Factor’s head turning new aerobike and has ridden strongly all season and also took a win at the four days of Dunkirk in May unfortunately Grant Thomas was forced to pull out of the tortois he didn’t start stage four as a precautionary measure after a crash the previous day he’s hoping he’s fit and healthy for his final tour to France according to Dan Benson Sam Wilsford is set to join Inos on a two-year deal the Australian had a great start to the year when winning in three stages at the Tour Down Under during this year’s Jirro Belgium rider Dice Deont made comments to the media about how he had worked for rival team EF Education Easy Post on stage 20 mainly as a way of proving himself and essentially marketing his strengths with a view to gaining a potential contract since then it’s emerged that the events have been referred to the UCI ethics committee due to the fact the integrity of the sport has been called into question sounds like a potential misstep for the age to mandial rider with possible sanctions of consideration it seems depending on the findings of the committee but I I do admit it sounds slightly harsh to me especially as he was quite open in explaining why and what he did anyway that’s about all we have time for this week folks stan will be back next week after he’s recovered from a rather long bike ride here in the UK between Manchester and London take it easy all