Roger and Rafa needed each other. Same with Ledecky and Titmus. Or Magic and Bird. Now cycling has reached peak rivalry and we have a Tour de France tiebreaker coming featuring Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard. We’re previewing the greatest race on earth as well as forecasting the chances of the exciting Australians involved. Featured: Matthew Keenan, commentator, SBS Sport.
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ABC Listen, podcasts, radio, news, music, and more. It’s Poga who is the prince of the Pyrenees. He wins again. Tad Pagacha doing Tadai Pagatcha things. The 2025 tour to France starts this weekend and the favorite is the same as the 2024 favorite. The Slovenian is as talented as he is admired as he is feared. But he’s also benefiting from the fact he has a fabulous rival in Yonas Vingort. Magic needed Bird. Rafa needed Roger. Tipas needed Leiddki. This pair have split the last four yellow jerseys and this TDF looms as a tiebreaker. And what of the Australians? Ben Oconor, Luke Plap, Caden Groves. They’re just some of the names from a burgeoning Aussie contingent. Are you ready for sweeping aerial shots of the pelaton ripping around the French countryside? I am. I’m Patrick Stack. This is ABC Sport Daily. [Music] Matt Kenan is the voice of the tour to France for SPS. He is in Liil readying for another edition of the famous race. Matt, we’re going to start with the big guns. Tada Pagacha, Jonas Fingerord from the last four tours. They’re locked at two a piece. This is such a great sporting rivalry. How are you forecasting a clash that looms as a kind of tiebreaker?
Yeah. And across those four tours that they’ve competed against each other. So that works out at around about 13,000 km. They’re currently separated by 90 seconds across those four tours. And it’s Patcha who is just in front.
Is going to leave it very very late almost trackike as he looks over his shoulder. And now the yellow jersey strikes. And a shake of the head from Wengerard who says there’s nothing nothing I can do. It’s pure power. It’s Tatty Pagacha. It’s win number five in this year’s tour of France. Take a massive bow. Tatti Paga. How do we separate them? At the moment, Tatapaga is the favorite because of the season that he’s had and he’s been a dominant winner of a lot of races over the past four or five years, whereas Jonas Fingergore is much more calculated in the way he wins and he has been obviously really successful to win the tour to France twice and he’s probably the second best grand tour rider of this generation, but for absolutely the favorite right now.
How do you see it in terms of quality of team? because we know that the support that these guys are able to put around themselves can be so definitive in terms of their chances of ultimately securing the yellow jersey.
And one of the reasons why Jonas Finger won the tour the first time was that they had two cards to play. So Pagato went into that tour having to keep an eye on Yonas Vingugore and also Primos Roglitch and that worked out really well for Vingugore because they had Rogich attacking. Pagatcha had to respond to that and then it was the onetwo blow where Vingore really put the nail in the coffin of Pagatcha. 150 to go. Yonas Vingugore has still got his nose in front. Here comes Poga. Vingore the two best. The battle for yellow. The fight for the stage. It is a photo. You cannot separate them. Vingore thinks he’s got it. And it looks like he has. This time around, as it was last year, it’s one leader per team. Vingor’s team is slightly stronger, only just both the teams are the powerhouses of world cycling, but Vingor’s team is marginally stronger than Pogacha’s team. But it comes down to who’s got the silver bullet. Because once you get to the final mountain of the key stages, when we go to a place like CO, which is the biggest mountain stage of this year’s tour to France, the altitude gain there is actually more than going from sea level to base camp at Mount Everest. It’s an enormous day of racing. When it gets to the last 5 kilometers there is going to be which one of them is the strongest. So yeah, Vinger’s got a slightly stronger team than Fugatcha, but it’s going to come down to who’s the best at the key moments between the two leaders. Great rivalries are often made by the fact that the two opponents are kind of at each other’s level whether it’s Bur and Magic or Roger and Rafa. Is there a sense that Cycling is living in a golden era of a an incredible rivalry right now? Yeah, I’ve often used the tennis reference for this rivalry between the two and I’ve referred to Roger and Rafa and in tennis we often spoke about the big four and in cycling we’re talking about the big three but I’ve referred to it as the big 2.5 because it’s Pagatcha and Vingore and then you got Rimco even apopul and he was third last year he then at the Olympics he won the road race he won the time trial and if he was born five years earlier or maybe five years later he’d be a favorite to win the tour of France, but at the moment he’s the favorite for third and like all great rivalries, Chris Evan, Martine, and Adred Alovva. The rival makes you better and it makes for a better storyline. The rivalry elevates both athletes. Outside of those two, you obviously seeole as the the man next likely in terms of podium contention. We know Richie Carropaz is out with that nasty stomach issue. The short burst field is stacks as well, Matt. Have you seen a more talented sprinters contingent?
It is really strong and we’ve got Tim Mer who’s a teammate of Remco even a pool and he asked the question about teams before. Remco’s team is not that strong in the mountains and can’t compete with those other big two teams because they’re hedging their bets as well and they want the first yellow jersey. It’s a chance for the sprinters for the first time in 5 years to get the first yellow jersey. So they’re all in with Tim Mer.
Here we go. Mader on the left as we look at it. Hits the front in the center. Tim Manley going for it again. Tim Man all the way to the line’s behind him. They can’t get to him. And once more, Tim Man is the sprint king in Bah across it. The lead alre team, they had a great jitter to Italy with Mads Patterson. He’s not here at the tour, but they’ve sent their big sprinter, the Italian Jonathan Milan. We’ve got Binium Gay, the Uritan last year who won three stages. He won the green jersey as well.
Gay goes across and it is right in the center. Matt Pison Pison Gay Benium Gamay Benium Gamay wins his first ever stage of the tour to France for Eratraa.
It’s it’s a really strong sprint field and for the Australian Jacul the team they got the Dutch sprinter Dylan Gruner wagon it’s going to be really hotly contested opening stage because for the sprinters this is a rare opportunity for them to win the stage and get the leader jersey. From an Australian perspective, Ben O Connor is probably the best place from the general classification standpoint and we know that he joined the Aussie team in Jako Lula at the start of the season. Is that going to help him or is that going to hinder him as he makes that transition?
I’ll come back to you in the start of August because he was previously with the French team Dathlon AG2R but the tour is important for everyone. It is the most important race of the season without question. for a French team even more so. So Ben has carried that burden already with a big French team and as a foreigner on the number one French team but now he’s the Australian leader on an Australian team and a team who had Simon Yates on the squad ever since Simon Yates joined the Pro Pelaton. Yates left the team for season 2025 and he went and won the tour of Italy. He hasn’t just waited for this moment. He has worked for this moment. 2018. That bit of disappointment is behind him. It has been 7 years in the making for Simon Yates. He finally closes out at Gildalia with the pink jersey on his shoulders. The expectations now for Ben is there is pressure because one out, one in and he’s replacing a guy who has become a winner of the Juda, the second biggest race. Ben’s finished fourth in the tour before. He’s finished fourth in the Jurro. He’s been second in the Vala. But each time he’s achieved those results, he’s done it through getting in a pretty big breakaway that’s given him some breathing space on the other contenders for a spot somewhere in the top five. You can’t count on that every single time. Ben’s been okay this season. He hasn’t been great up until this point, but he’s prepared to put pressure on himself. He’s made a statement that he is all in to get into the top five, but Ben is as capable of finishing fifth as he is of finishing 55th. there’s a really big gap between his best and his worst and you’re not quite sure what you’re going to get with him.
Yeah. Speaking of which, um I was interested to see his portrayal in the Netflix cycling version of Drive to Survive. It wasn’t always flattering. I mean, here he finds himself with a team that he’s going to be focused around his powers. How would you describe someone like Ben Oconor to your mates who don’t really watch cycling?
He wears his heart on his sleeve. He’ll never stab you in the back. He’ll get you in the chest. you’re gonna see it coming. Ben doesn’t have the ability to hide his emotions, which is one of the things that made him so intriguing to watch in the Netflix series. And he was then asked a question about it afterwards. How did you feel about the way you’re portrayed? And a lot of athletes would have gone down the line of, “Oh, it was taken out of context.” And he didn’t take that path. He said, “Yep, sometimes after a race when I’m disappointed, I get upset and I get stroppy and I vent my emotions.” come in from off the stage. You just get into the bus and it’s normally your safe spot and then the camera’s just like right there and you just it’s one thing that really
annoys you because it’s hard to escape and find your own little point or you cross the line, you don’t want to speak to any interviewers and you’re trying to roll back and you’re with the Swany and you just you know you need some sort of release sometimes to speak and then the camera’s right there and they use that grab of audio and it’s just like damn it.
So he owned it and I really I found that endearing. It was I thought it was refreshing that he said, “Yep, that’s me. Sometimes I lose it.” Speaking of the word endearing, we’re enormous fans of Luke Plap, just 24 years of age. He can be so dynamic, Matt, like he’s going to have to play a support role to Okconor at Jo. Um, it’s been less than a year since he had that nasty crash at the Olympics. We know he can win a stage when uh things go well for him. How are you seeing his campaign? Well, it’s going to be a real challenge for Luke Platt because most of the time when he races, he’s one of the leaders. He’s one of the protected riders. And one of the elements of racing in the pro pelaton that Luke has struggled with is riding position at the front, which is the role that you have to do when you’re protecting a teammate. So, on the flat stages, the Western Australian Luke Durbage will be doing that role. Come the mountains, there’ll be an expectation that Luke Clap is going to be there to support Ben O’ Connor. But the day that I’m looking forward to most of is seeing Luke Plap in action is stage five cuz that’s the individual time trial. You mentioned the Olympics from last year up until the point where he crashed. He was on target for a bronze medal. So now we’re going to get an opportunity to see where Luke measures up against Remco even apool tatapacha Jonas Vingugore in his pet event the individual time trial. And given that it’s only 5 days in hopefully fatigue won’t be a major factor and he’ll have avoided any crashes. and I’m expecting at least a top 10 finish on that stage from Luke Plab. Then let’s see how he goes in the mountains. I’d love to see him make it all the way through to the finish in Paris. It’s his first time around.
If you had to pick one Australian we have not mentioned to keep an eye on, who would it be? Matt, keep an eye on Kaden Groves. So Kaden Groves is making his debut. He’s riding for Alpus in Dernik. He’s normally the lead sprinter for that team, but they put him in the B squad and they send him to the vault Espña, the Tour of Spain. He wins stages and he wins the points classification. They send him to the Jeta and he’s a stage winner there as well.
Hayden Groves poised waiting fine on his wheel. Groves kicks kicks as well. Olaf Koi caught on the barrier forcing his way out blasting up the middle of the road. Kaden Groves the Aussie clean set of wheels convincing stage win. He’s never been to the tour to France because this team has got Yasper Philipsson who won the green jersey two years ago. He’s I’ve lost count of how many stages he’s won. Yasper Philipsson one year he won three stages alone. He won a stage last year. Now Kaden Groves is going to have a role. Instead of being the protected sprinter, he’s going to be the lead out rider for Philipsson. But this is also the team that’s got Matthew Vanderpool on the squad who’s one of the most exciting cyclists on the planet and can win just about any stage that’s not in the high mountains. and Kaden Groves is going to be central to the success of that team and it’s going to be really interesting to see him in that role as a lead out rider in the same way as we saw Mark Renshaw previously do the job for Mark Cavendish but it can be hard for somebody who’s normally the leader the protected sprinter to go into being the second guy the number two in the pecking order but then if anything goes wrong with Philipsson Kaden Groves will get his opportunity I’m really looking forward to seeing how he goes
the tour to France returns this weekend you can catch Matt Keenan and the team at SPS covering it all. Matt, thanks so much for your time. Appreciate it, mate. Thanks, Pat. Headlines. Jordan Thompson loves doing things the hard way. The Aussie needed another five setter to reach the third round at Wimbledon as he came from two sets to one down to beat Frenchman Benjamin Bonsi. Thompson is actually running a pack brace, which is very athletic dad areas.
Yeah, I mean it’s been brutal. I mean, uh, winning the last point helps, but it’s more the relief of that I don’t need to play another one. I get to, you know, just sit down and relax cuz it’s been super tough on my body and yeah, I haven’t really been enjoying it that much.
He will next play either 461st ranked Brit Wildard Arthur Ferry or Italian Luchiano Dairi. Live coverage of Wimbledon is on the ABC listen every single night. Could four-time world champion Max Vstappen quit Red Bull for Mercedes? Maybe. Definitely maybe. He is contracted with his current team until the end of 2028, but F1 circles are buzzing with reports he could leave at the end of this season, the British Grand Prix this weekend. So, we’re going to hear more soon. Turns out the British and Irish lines are really quite good. They’ve thumped a plucky Queensland outfit 52 to 12 in Brisbane. The Reds actually led 12-7 after 27 minutes, but the weight of talent eventually told as the tourists romped to another victory. Freeman forward Michael Walters has retired after 239 games. The Dockers legend hasn’t played a game in 2025 as he has not been able to overcome a knee injury. And a reminder, the NLW season is here. You can hear the opening game on the ABC listen app Thursday night as Kronella play Paramea. I’m Patrick Stack. This is ABC Sport Daily produced by Poppy Penny. Thanks to SBS TNT, The Tour to France, Life in the Pelon podcast, and Stanport for the extra audio used in this episode.
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