The Insane Speeds Of The Tour De France Are Mind Blowing | GCN Show Ep. 652

Welcome to the GCN Show! This week, we’re doing a deep dive into the TRULY mind-boggling speeds and power data from the chaotic opening stages of the Tour de France. Find out what it really takes to stay in the front echelon in the crosswinds, with average speeds hitting over 60 km/h on the flat!
We also have the latest news from the Women’s Giro d’Italia, a roundup of all the hot new tech from the Tour (including some bikes that might be illegal next year!), and a look at two incredible ultra-endurance record attempts.

Plus, we ask if Quinn Simmons’ mullet could be the future of cycling safety and, as always, we have your best hacks and bodges!

⏱️ Timestamps ⏱️
00:00 – Welcome to the GCN Show!
00:44 – This week in the world of cycling…
01:34 – The mind-blowing speeds of the Tour de France!
02:22 – The crosswind chaos of Stage 1
06:00 – Stage 2: The power needed for the punchy climbs
09:36 – Cycling Shorts – News flash!
10:06 – Women’s Giro d’Italia & TDF tech update
11:51 – New Selle Italia SLR & Roval’s “reverse mullet” wheels
13:08 – Could Quinn Simmons’ mullet be the future?!
14:35 – Luxury bike of the week
15:08 – Incredible ultra-endurance efforts from Molly Weaver and Amy Hudson
15:58 – Positive news from the US!
17:13 – Low traffic neighbourhoods
18:31 – Hack/Bodge of the week
25:53 – Caption Competition
27:44 – Comment of the week
33:57 – Coming up this week…

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from Morin Lake in Alberta, Canada. Welcome to the GCN show. Welcome to the GCN show. Coming up this week, the ridiculous speeds and power outputs of the Tour of France are laid bare with our deep dive into Rider Straa data from the first two flat stages of the race. I actually can’t quite believe it. I know you can’t. I’ve also got news from the women’s tour of Italy. A whole load of hot new tech. How US champ Quinn Simmons epic mullet could be the answer to cycling safety. And news of two ultra endurance efforts. [Applause] This week in the world of cycling, we learn what it takes to stay safe at the tour to France. Mad skills. Yeah. With a zed or a Z. And this is Kaden Groves. avoiding near certain annihilation with a very neat stopy. Fair play. Yeah, that was skills, wasn’t it? It was. Yeah, double fair play to him because less than 4ks later, this is him delivering his teammate for the win. Cheating death and helping your mate win a stage of the tour. Not bad for 5 minutes work. And we also learned that while we thought that a new wheel size would be the debate for the next 10 years, it turns out that lots of you still aren’t done debating Lance Armstrong. That was the dominant thread in the comment section under last week’s show. Basically, the headline is Lance Armstrong more controversial than tubeless. Yeah, it’s saying something, isn’t it? Now, finally, we learned that the speeds at the opening weekend of the Tour of France were off the charts ridiculous. Which perhaps should come as no surprise because these are the best riders in the world competing at the biggest race in the world. But nevertheless, even as X-P pros, have we mentioned this before? The numbers are quite mindboggling to us as well. Yeah, below average expro certainly here, but still I’m my mind is boggled. If we start with stage one, a pretty flat stage with a threat of crosswinds throughout. The overall average speed for the 185 km was 47.6 kph an hour, which is just a shade under 30 mph. But it’s when you dig into the details that things get really interesting. Yeah. So, Vizma Lisa Bike and their team leader Yonas Vineor, you heard this right, split things in the crosswinds with just under 18 km remaining. Before we get to that point, let’s take a look at the speeds going into the crucial corner with 18ks to go. Okay, so the sprint to get to that corner started after a roundabout. Setting the scene here, aren’t we? H they flew through that at 50k an hour. That’s not bad. But halfway between there and the righthander, Pagatcha hits 69.8 ks an hour, which is 43.6 mph. Now, we’ve got a video coming up soon explaining all you need to know about crosswinds. But positioning is the most crucial aspect. If you’re not at the front, you stand no chance of getting into the front echelon. That’s the front group. Hence, the warp speed sprint ahead of that corner. uh through that corner itself he was still holding 45 km per hour was a real snail’s pace actually compared to the rest and then soon after that of course those of you that are watching will know that that’s where Yonas Vineor went yeah all 58 kilos of it 58 kilos like a what bomb and for the following 2 km the front group that he and Pagatra were in averaged 61.5 km/h which is 38 mph to establish the gap over those behind them and That was on a completely flat road with a crosswind. And next time you’re descending on your bike, just see what it feels like to reach that kind of speed. I mean, sustaining on a flat road is just crazy. Yeah. I mean, genuinely, I can’t quite comprehend it. Mad. Now, the speed did drop after that, but not significantly. So, for those final 20 km, the average speed of the front group was 55.5 km/h. Even with multiple corners, even with a group that wasn’t always cohesive, it wasn’t always working together. That is a remarkable speed. It is. Yeah. Now, in terms of the speeds of the finish, unfortunately, the top three on the day did not upload to Straa, but Pascal Akaman did. He actually kicked early, I think, hoping to surprise the other sprinters. And in doing that, he reached a peak speed of just over 72 kilometers an hour. He finished 19th. Oh my goodness, mate. 72ks an hour after all of that. Yeah, mind blown. Now, what about the power then? Well, a lot of riders are hiding it from their Straa uploads. Now, just in case people like us want to try and replicate it. Um, but another reason to love Yonas Abrahamson is that he doesn’t. Thank you, Yonas. So, the UNOX rider, you’ll remember, broke his collarbone just over two weeks before the start of this race. But not only did he manage to start, he made it into the front echelon as well. Unbelievable that right. So his power over that final 20ks was 345 W average, which is not excessively high for an 80 kg rider, but it was far from steady, as is the nature of Crosswinds. There was a lot of times when he wasn’t pedaling at all. But equally, over five occasions in the first four minutes when the group split off the front, he hit over 650 watt. Now, out of one of the roundabouts, he held 800 W for 20 seconds with a max of a,000 W. Now, that is the sort of effort that would kill most people, let alone coming after 4 hours of exceedingly stressful racing and still with 15 km of full gas racing to go, you know, like it would kill most people, but also most people just couldn’t do it. There is that point as well. So, yeah. All right. Should we get on to stage two? Yeah, which had a much different more hilly profile. A longer stage of this year’s race actually at 209 km. They had to deal with quite a lot of rain at the start plus high winds and then three short but very punchy climbs over the last 30 km of the stage. Yeah. So for this one we’ve taken a look at Kevin Vakalan’s file. He was one of the main animators of the race attacking more than anyone else and handily he uploaded his rival. Yes. So there was 600 m of elevation gain in that period, the last 30k for context. But let’s look at his power over the climbs themselves. Bearing in mind that he weighs around about 68 kg. Okay, so for the final 30 km basically from the foot of the first major climb over the final two climbs after that and then up to the finish at Bologna Se and the rest of the front group averaged 47.4k an hour, which is again just under 30 miles per hour. Uh so on the coach do oat picho he did 510 watts for 2 minutes 53. Then on the coat de santetino mall he averaged 545 watts for 2 minutes 44. Uh which is enough to see him just about on the coattails of the league group which contain the likes of Patcha, Vinegar, Aipool and Vanderpool. Not a bad group to be in is not bad. Yeah. A fellow Frenchman, meanwhile, Axel Laurance of Inos, took 5 seconds more to cover that climb, but he had a whopping average power of 574 watt. Wow. And then on the final classified climb, the Monte Ri, he averaged, you think I got that right? Pretty spot on. Almost certain. Yeah. He averaged 478 watts for 2 minutes 12 seconds. However, he attacked towards the top of it, averaging 750 W for 20 seconds with a peak of 950 W. And a reminder that came after 200 km of racing. Then for the final minute of the race in the uphill sprint line, after all of his attacks, all those climbs, he averaged 520 W with a max of 835. Right now, we’ve thrown a lot of data out at you there. Any of you who’ve ever used a power meter, I think will understand just how phenomenal those numbers are. And if you haven’t, you can just trust us on this occasion. Even though they’re paid to go as fast as they can, even though their lives are dedicated to riding as fast as they can, the standard right now is off the charts. It is off the charts and they’ve still got three weeks to go. I’ve Yeah, I’d almost forgotten that bit. It’s crazy, isn’t it? Uh, we should also point out that Pagata has barely got out of the saddle on any of these climbs. It already looks like he’s cruising. I reckon there’s a video in that, mate. Why he doesn’t get out of the saddle long climbs? Yes. All right. Let us know your thoughts on this subject then. Do these numbers blow your mind or do you think it’s just a part of their job? Yeah. And they should even be faster. Yeah. Yeah. No, let us know in the comments section down below. You know, a little bit earlier I was looking back at my peak speeds during my career, which is quite some time. Oh, yeah. Dan. Yeah. Do tell us. Yeah. Uh well, you might remember that I found a point where I did 5 miles at an average speed of 135 ks an hour. I do. They did say that cycling was faster back then. Then we realized it was a problem with the GPS. So I didn’t actually do that. But I found another one. So Tour of Cat stage 3 2009 we averaged 53.2 km/h. Really? I mean cuz nothing was arrow back then, was it? What do you mean? I was on the Sevel test team, wasn’t I? Everything was arrow in that scene. Proper arrow. First reference you’ve made to the surveill test team for couple of days now. Yeah, it’s got to be days at this point. You had it was flat with a tailwind there, wasn’t it, that day? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And now it’s time for cycling shorts. Quick news flash. After you recorded this week’s GCN show, Yasper Phillips was involved in a nasty crash coming into the intermediate sprint on stage three. It appears Brion Kakar and one of the leadout riders from Antimar clashed. And whilst they both stayed upright, Finson had nowhere to go and hit the deck hard. Bad enough for him to leave the race there and then. Don’t have any details yet on his injuries, but we of course wish him a speedy recovery. Cycling shorts now, and we’re going to start with the women’s Jirro datalia, which still suffers from its longunning and always baffling calendar in the clash with the men’s tour to France. Some of the biggest name riders are missing in order to better prepare for the upcoming Tour to France fan, Alec Zift. But our eyes are particularly on two veterans. First up, Mariana Voss. She’s looking for her 33rd stage win. And then Anna Bregan, who you’ll remember, came out of retirement this year and is looking for her fifth overall victory, which if she managed it, would come 10 years after her first. That’s not bad, is it? She’s got some strong competition in the form of Elisa Longo Bulini, though, last year’s winner. Um, so yeah, we’re watching that one unfold, weren’t we? Yeah. Mar Royce is absolutely flying based on the prologue of first time travel, isn’t she? Indeed. All right. Now, a little bit of tech for you now from the men’s tour to France. Dan was out there last week. You can check out a full video over on GCN Tech. Plus, there’s another one coming tomorrow. Right. There is. Yeah, it was a busy bee out there. So, loads of really interesting bikes, not least that all of them will be illegal next year due to falling foul of the new handlebar rule or rather the the the brake levers not being quite far enough apart aspect of that new UCI rule. Yeah, a nuanced distinction there. We should say quite highlights to keep an eye out for on the tech video are Matteo Jorgensson’s new Cello R5 which comes in at just 7 kg even in the very large size that he uses plus Jar’s new Envy wheels which are narrower. WA bucking the train in part actually so you can use lighter narrower tires for the hilly days but they forsaken carbon spokes in spite of the weight savings because from what they told me they’re not as arrow again it’s quite nuanced features going on there aren’t they meanwhile launched the fourth generation of their SLR saddle last week as well got it with him slightly shorter with more compliance built into the rails and a simpler naming system as well. That’s right. Now, what’s also really cool is that they’ve tweaked the shape of the saddle ever so slightly based on data from 100,000 bike fits from their ID match system, which includes pressure mapping data from their previous saddles. Cool, isn’t it? They reckon their new 3D printed version is now the lightest 3D printed saddle on the market. Uh, interesting to see in comparison to the first version SLR that size got. Yeah, funny you say that, Dan. Yeah, look at this. Look at the size difference. Oh, it’s quite substantially different, isn’t it? It is substantially different. Yeah. Anyway, we’ll be doing a bit of a deep dive into uh retro versus modern uh using pressure mapping software in the coming weeks. So, keep your eyes peeled for that. Um also, at the tour, Dan, you found Specialized Roal reverse mullet wheels, didn’t they? Which are deeper in the front than the back. Yeah, we got three new wheel sets actually, which I saw with Primos Ruggage and Bora Hanser. Red Bull Borah Hansa, should I say. Uh that concept though makes sense but also feels like cycling’s version of an optical illusion. Really does a bit really. Yeah. Uh speaking of mullets, do you think the UCI are going to sanction US champion Quinn Simmons? Well, probably not. I have heard that while the style might be bringing the sport into disrepute. Rumor is this additional turbulence that’s caused by his mullet actually serves the purpose of slowing him down. Oh, does it? So yeah, potentially the UCI’s Safeer Commission are actually considering making mullets compulsory for all riders in 2026. That would be absolutely amazing. Handle by Tashes, too. Absolutely. You can’t make them compulsory cuz that’s discriminatory. I can’t grow one. Oh, okay. So, yeah. I mean, like that would be unfortunate. Just the mullet then, right? Okay. Moving on. I could grow a good mullet. Can you? I’ve never seen that. It’s quite short at the moment. It is. Yeah. I mean, I I don’t want a mallet, but I can grow a good one. I don’t want you to grow a mallet. I say, moving on. I’d have a chuckle at how hard Canyon’s custom paint job must be working this year. So, Yasper Phillips and Mach Vanderpool both had custom paint jobs for the tour to France. Philillips rode his once, then swapped it for a yellow one on stage two, and now a green one for stage three. Vanderpool, meanwhile, had a white one, but he’s now got a yellow one. Yes, one of those guys should go for the Mountains jersey, shouldn’t they? Just for like shits and giggles, they should. Uh, sticking with gorgeous bikes now in what now seems to be a regular section of the show. It’s time the luxury bike of the week. That needs a jingle, doesn’t it? Should do, shouldn’t it? Really? Yeah. This week, Pinella have announced that they have a super limited edition run of just 50 Dogma Fs. They’re calling the Dogma F1K. It’s stunning, isn’t it? Iridescent paint. It’s got matching ceramic speeds, oversized derailer cage, Princeton wheels, and even an SRM crank set for good measure. Yeah. Yours for just £25,000. Oh, I’d start saving up, but they’re limited edition too long. £21,000. So, that sounds better, doesn’t it? Oh, yeah. Still not doable. All right, back to some riding now. Now, we got to give a shout out to Molly Weaver, who’s just broken the record for the fastest circumnavigation of the UK by bike, taking 17 hours off the 41-year-old record, which was previously set by Nick Sanders. It took a 21 days, 10 hours, and 17 minutes to trace the fairly torturous 7,700 km outline of Scotland, Wales, and England. Fittingly, considering that she was riding on the coast, she was also raising money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Fantastic. What a Molly. Another person attempting a bonkers ultra endurance feat is Amy Hudson, aka Amy Cycling Adventures. Uh she’s a third of the way through her attempt to ride the route of the tour plus transfers, which is a distance of 6,600 km in just 30 days. That’s pretty punchy as well, is it? Really punchy. Yeah. Yeah. Uh now lastly uh some good news we think because it is always hard to decipher the pros and cons of US political news. But the recent proposal in the US Senate to sell off 1.2 million acres of public lands has apparently been withdrawn. Various outdoor groups have been lobbying against this proposal because public lands are a hugely valuable resource for recreation and they praise the efforts of millions of Americans who raised their concerns with local politicians and have temporarily at least safeguarded many miles of gravel and mountain bike trails. Did you know Dan that 87% of England is privately owned? I did not know that. Yeah, that’s a lot. It is a lot, isn’t it? Whereas in the USA it’s only 60%. That’s according to my brief Google search. I mean, that does account for quite a lot more land than the 87%. It does. Yeah. Also, more facts. More facts. Yeah. Alaska is 95% public lands. Is it very high, isn’t it? Whereas Rhode Island is only 1.5% public lands. Which I mean is a lot smaller, right? And more densely populated. But Texas, meanwhile, in spite of its size, is comprised of only 4.5% public lands. Should we move on? Yes, let’s move on. Um, although we’re going to stick with political hot potatoes, shall we? I know. I know. In the UK, LTN’s or lowra neighborhoods are about as controversial as it gets. In excess of tubeless or even Lance Armstrong, we should probably disable comment underneath this video for this week. I reckon probably should. Yeah. Anyway, people have literally been burning things on the streets about this subject. Yeah, they have. Yeah. And and what is the controversy or what even is an LTN? First of all, I suppose um effectively they’re bolards, aren’t they? That stop cars from driving through certain residential streets. The idea being that it makes neighborhoods quieter, safer, cleaner by making sure that more cars go on to main roads. You might be able to guess the sticking point here, but it’s basically because it’s making life harder for drivers. So to a certain extent, this new piece of news will land on deaf ears. But analysis of London’s 113 LTN over 10 years showed a 35% reduction in injuries and 37% reduction in deaths or serious injuries. 10 of the LTNs have subsequently been removed. Lots of people burning stuff basically which statistically is going to cause 16 deaths or serious injuries as a result. I mean that’s pretty significant, isn’t it? Really good. Yeah. Anyway, we’ll leave that now and move on to safer ground 3D printing and zip ties. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Next up, hack forward slashbodgege of the week. Uh, first up this week, this one from Michael Novo. While gardening, I managed to snag my Garmin 495 on a branch, partially slicing through the watch band and leaving it flapping around my wrist. I took it off and ordered a replacement, but I still wanted to track my sleep that night. Enter an old TPU tube I had lying around. I figured why not give it a go as a makeshift watch band. The assembly process worked surprisingly well until I tried to make a hole for the tang buckle. Uh the tube was ridiculously tough to poke through. After a frustrating few minutes, I resorted to a knife, which finally got the job done. Uh while I didn’t trust it enough to hold in place for that day’s group ride, it held up perfectly around the house and tracked my sleep that evening. My word. I mean, I don’t really know what to say with that. Do you want to describe it for podcast listeners? Okay, so it is a watch uh half of which the strap has been replaced by a pink I mean it looks like a pink latex strap basically and um it’s particularly offensive looking. It doesn’t. Yeah, I mean we can’t possibly either give a hack for this surely just based on looks. Well, also based on the fact that uh I still wanted to track my sleep that night just in case if you didn’t track it that night, something awful might happen and you wouldn’t know what to do yourself the next day. I mean, I know you’re a massive fan of sleep data. Yeah, I can live without it if I’m honest. I think I could probably live without it. Really? I don’t think I’d go to um to that level to keep sleep data for one night. No. Okay. I tell you what, though. That’s some epic gardening to slice through a watch brand. What are you doing? Chainsaw. Maybe that kind of gardening. Anyway, so we’re gonna say bodgege, aren’t we? Yeah, bodgege. Sorry. Heenus. Sorry, Michael. Next up, Dan Wilin, uh, has said, uh, a tiny shed, too many bikes hack. Okay. Our garden shed struggled with two mountain bikes and two kids bikes. So, when I took up road cycling, I was told there was no way I could store the bike on the wall in the lounge. I needed to find a solution. Enter the coat hanger. The nose of the seat hooks over a cross beam and a bent wire coat hanger supports the bars. Hey presto, twostory bike storage. I think this is great. This is really good. So, so on the floor of the shed, you’ve got the normal bikes and then elevated above them in pride of place, we should say, is a very nice looking carbon road bike with carbon wheels. I mean, I feel like that that is highly appropriate. Yeah. Well, I think that that’s a definitely a hack from me. I reckon that bike would look quite nice hung on the wall in the lounge. I think it would. Dan, maybe you should uh sort of take that back to your um to your partner. I’m assuming it’s your partner who has told you there’s no way you could store the bike on the wall. Yeah. Um but yeah, this part of the show out, Dan, and let us know how you get on. But yeah, I mean, that is basically art, isn’t it, in bicycle form. Um this one came from Ben Evans. better seat pack placement. Currently running from Norway to Greece on my standard Canyon Grizzle. Very jealous there’s a new one with that power system. Uh the Canyon seat post is split to give you a bit of flex for improved comfort. Normally you attach your seat back just under the saddle. Just ask Connor. But with my fully loaded seat up, there’s not much support and it affected the flex of the seat tube. So I now rest it on the rear triangle and all the weight isn’t hanging off the saddle and putting pressure on the straps. Much more stable, plus no more wobbling. Simply lovely. And I know Sai is going to ask if your legs rub. So before you even get to the chance, no, they don’t. I am concerned with leg rubbing. It’s got to be said, my legs would be rubbing on your frame bag, actually. Um I don’t get on with those massive frame bags. It’s part of your legs. My knees actually, not my ankles. Uh yeah. No. So I I I think they’re wicked, those frame bags. I think they look amazing. But for me, my knees are too close to the top tube when I pedal. So I can’t use them. Otherwise, I get uh horrific tendinitis. Anyway, there’s an interesting segue for you. But going back to this, so fully loaded this bike, isn’t it? I mean, Norway. It’s like of all the bike packing trips, that’s the one where you need to be fully loaded. Um I put my stuff in the following car. This uh I I like it. I’m not going to lie. Anyway, we’re digressing for podcast listeners. So, what we’re looking at here is your typical giant saddle bag for bike packing complete with flip-flops attached to the side. But, but yeah, so instead of it being attached to the seat post and then underneath the saddle, the lower clasp goes around the uh top of the seat tube underneath the top tube. And it looks like it looks genius. It looks like a why we not thought about this before kind of genius. I’m saying hack. I’m saying hack. I think that’s amazing. I’m just And it You’re sure it’s not wobbly? I’m just I’m trying to zoom in, Dan. I can’t. How is that not wobbly? Do you want to get back to us in a minute whilst I I don’t think I’m going to get my answer cuz it looks like there’s some quite serious strapage going on. But yeah, that to my mind feels like it’s going to sway. But if if he says not, then are you calling Ben a liar? No, I’m just saying I cannot compreh video video evidence, please, Ben. Um, no, we were asking quite a lot of uh our submissions this week, aren’t we? I suspect he’s got quite a lot of time on his hands. If he’s already watched uh the uh information or last week’s show, probably. Yeah. I mean, if you’re riding from Norway to Greece, that’s quite a lot of leisure time, right? So, that’s a hack from both of us as well. Although S might be holding reserving judgment until he sees a video. Yeah. Well, well, I just be interested then, that’s all. Yeah, last one comes in from Dan at Vintage Vellows. Following Connor’s uh more baguette stuff is the title. Following Connor’s love of a baguette on a bike. Check out the picnic basket on my vintage deve at last weekend’s neu vintage festival. Uh that is a very I tell you what, Dan, you’d be impressed with that as well. It’s not just a baguette stuck to the side of his bike, but a nice bottle of plunk as well. Well, it’s white wine. How long that is that going to stay cold in current climate? Well, that is a good point. I mean, even even red would be undrinkable, Dan, if you strap the side of your panty rack. I think that’s very cool. Lovely uh patterner on your uh on your rack on your um bag there. That’s very cool. It does look like a very classy bag and saddle and setup in general, I would say. So, I’ll give that a hack as well. Yeah. Um, for viewers out there, uh, Dan is probably more familiar to you as a supplier of some of our best retro bikes that we’ve been lucky enough to ride over the years. So, uh, so yeah, thank you very much to Dan for that and the, uh, and the hack submission. Thank you very much. Well, we’ve successfully moved away from political issues, I think, by this point. Don’t forget, you can get involved in this part of the show. Uh, all you need to do is go to globalcycling.com/uploader. uh where you can upload your own hacks and bodges or any you’ve seen out and about. I suspect temperature of wine might be uh one of those subjects that some people can debate quite extensively in the comments. I’m sure it is. It’s time now for caption competition. That part of the show where you get a chance to get your hands on a coveted GCN Camelback water bottle. All you got to do is put a witty caption in the comment section down below. We’ll pick a winner next week and we will start as always with revealing the winner from last week. Uh this was your photo for last week. Remco aort the Belgian National Championships with his hand on somebody’s lens. Uh as they take a picture. Our winner this week is Shel Shellywell. Caption from the Pro Pelaton. Welcome to the GCN show. Nice simple did that intro for us. That would be good, wouldn’t it? Be great. Yeah. Seeing as you’re watching, just uh you got a bit of time on your hands as well this month. Yeah. Well, we have to wait until he’s in a slightly better mood. He wasn’t too happy after stage one, was he? No, he’s a bit better after stage two, wasn’t he? That is true. That is true. Yeah. Okay. Uh, right then. This week’s photo is this one. Dan, what have we got here? Well, let’s describe it. So, this is Tad Pagatcha at the start of stage three where he’s in the polka dot jersey. Lots of other polka dots. I will get you started. Despite multiple requests, Pagatcha is not prepared to reveal his poker face. Yay. That is good. Thanks, mate. That is very happy with that one. Yeah, I’m not surprised. Um, you know what, right? Like I know the polka dot jersey is a coveted classification, but you do look like an absolute cloner, don’t you? Particularly with the polka dot shorts. He did say in his uh his press conference that even though he’s won the polka dot jersey outright on two occasions, he’s only ever spent one day in it before, or maybe none. I can’t remember now cuz obviously he’s normally in the yellow jersey at the same time. Yeah, there is there is no way of making that look cool, is there? Let’s put it that way. No, I think you’re probably right. No. Just before we let you know what’s coming up on the channel this week, we’re going to read out a few of our favorite comments from last week. And before we do that, we’re going to promote our own GCN shop, aren’t we? S I sporting some rather fetching new t-shirt designs today. And this one is proving particularly popular. I understand it’s what we wore last week, wasn’t it? G10 racing news show pre or G10 racing preview show for the tour to France. So, thank you to all of you who support us with a purchase and if you’d like to make one, there should be a QR code on screen now that will take you directly to that page. Yep. shop.global cycling.com. Right, then comments time, Dan. Right, we’re going to dive into this, are we? Well, yeah. The first last week’s show, the first one, we’ve had to pull out uh one Lance Armstrong comment, haven’t we? Uh David Heyman says the problem with Lance Armstrong having any presence in pro cycling in any capacity isn’t that he was a doper. Almost everyone who did well in his era was. The problem is that he used his position of power to bully others into silence and possibly doping and ruined other people’s careers. He never sincerely apologized for any of it. Yeah, there were a few comments like that, weren’t there? There were a few comments like that and then there’s always a few comments defending him, etc. as well. So, it’s a difficult subject to tackle. I mean, you don’t want to bring Lance’s name up really because you’re going to get some comments criticizing you whatever you say, but we’ll carry on doing it regardless. Well, I mean, you can’t you can’t ignore his influence, Dan, can you? Totally. The conversation will be ongoing. Uh, CR Crob BW, would you say that is? Uh, yes, please. More options are better. This is about the tech, of course. If S doesn’t need that, he doesn’t have to have it, but bikes need to evolve in all directions. I mean, that’s certainly true that if you don’t want it, you don’t have to have it. But wheel size, you try talking to a mountain bike who likes 26-in wheels. Not many around these days. You kind of have to have it. So, uh, anyway, but yeah, whatever. Knock yourself out on your 32-in wheels if you want them. Um, the, uh, Stanley Russell um says, “Oh, here we go. 32in wheels. You have to buy a new bike because no frames fit those wheels.” Yet another con by the industry, he says. Cra, it’s another controversy theory going on, isn’t it? Well, how long are you talking about? 10 years, aren’t we? Yeah. Debate will rumble on, I’m sure. Better get used to it. Uh, Cherokee 140 driver. Let’s just get over it. Get it over with, should I say? 36in wheels and 155 mil cranks. Done and dusted. Good point. Yeah, there we go. Um, and then, uh, Cabon Mabe said, “Um, it always makes me laugh when Sai says something to note for your diary.” I don’t know why that is. Maybe it’s cuz you know that, uh, my diary is, um, it’s fairly poor excuse for a diary. Um, but then he also, did I get a perm? No, I haven’t got a perm. Are you going to get a perm and a mullet? I don’t think I need a perm. My hair is naturally curly down, and if I got a mullet, it would naturally sort of perm itself basically. Very good. Unneath weird things you didn’t know about the tour to France. MN bicycle commuter put, “So great to hear Marian Martin’s accomplishment mentioned. I’m the guy in the state at group ride. When someone says Greg Lemon was the first American to win the tour to France, I’m a huge fan of Lemon, but I always point out Marian Martin as the first American. I get blank stairs. Her story isn’t known to most American riders.” Yeah, it’s cool, isn’t it? Um, and then, uh, Ian 23 said, “Connor proving that math, statistics, and interpretations of charts is not his strong point.” No, it’s definitely not his strong point. Not really. Um, meanwhile, under Sunday’s video, which was me blackmailed into the longest ride of my life, uh, Kim Brink 8257. Isn’t it amazing how doing one positive thing for yourself snowballs into something magnificent that you’ll look back on for years? reclaiming your health to getting on the bike more regularly to well-intentioned blackmail to a gravel bee race leading to the world champs all before the main event. Uh all the while helping incredible cause and inspiring others shaped down. Well, thank you very much indeed. Yeah, I I actually spent a long time looking through all those comments down under that video and I couldn’t find a bad one which which I was a bit annoyed with. I think there were a couple. Well, I’ll pull them out for you. I I put one up and then got deleted so I assume that was you. Um, Rick Passley was one of a lot of people um who said, “As someone with an autistic young adult in my life, I cannot tell you how much I appreciate this video and the knowledge it’s bringing to your audience. Thank you for your efforts on the bike and in this video on behalf of the autistic community. You’re a bright spot in the world, Mr. Lloyd, not just cuz t-shirt.” Matt Actton Varian says, “I can’t work out what was more brutal, the ride itself or the roasting from the commentators and meshes of support that you got, M. Well done, Dan. Post ride beer welld deserved.” Sorry, mineral water. Uh, we should probably point out that we we asked them, didn’t we, to um to be fairly critical. Well, we did. Yeah. Yeah, we did. I don’t want you to think that Fabian Canelara and Mark Bowman and Robin Mchuan are that um way inclined. Yeah, for the record, if you’d asked me, I would have been mean without being asked, but uh this one, this comment intrigued me. Dan Dr. Mofit said, “Ultraong rides are how you maximize intracellular free radical damage. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Then I was just about to ask you the same thing. I’d imagine a bad thing. Well, yeah, there you go. Um, I mean, are are you feeling all right or do you feel like you have maximized your intracellular free radical damage? I probably have, I think, yeah, should probably back off, I think, now for a few more years. Probably. Yeah, it’s time to go back into hibernation. What would you do in 5 years? How fit can I get in 10 weeks? That would be a good idea, wouldn’t it? Great. Um, and then I’ve put this comment in that’s not actually from that video, but it’s one I like very much. Uh B. Vagara said, “My wife says Dan looks like Hugh if Hugh Hackman stopped creatine and went on as him. Yes, that also made me chuckle a little bit. I love the fact that you are on creatine and have been for 2 years and you still look like Well, I mean this this cycling malarkey is cannibalizing my muscle gains. I mean, is it Have you actually lost weight since you started? Have you actually? Yeah, I’ve gone from like 76 and a half to just under 74. No. Yeah, I didn’t. And I don’t want to lose weight. No, I know. I know. So, it’s very annoying. Anyway, what’s coming up on this channel this week? Uh, well, tomorrow, Wednesday, which got a video coming out for you on the GCN racing channel, uh, which we mentioned earlier. It’s your complete guide to Echelons. I do a bit of a deep dive onto some of the more complicated parts of Echelons as well. Best bit of bike racing as well, isn’t it? Um, yeah. On Thursday, you uh were dissecting along with our international colleagues uh how tour to France riders climb so fast. Indeed. Uh on Friday, there’s new bike launch. Yeah. Over on GCN Tech, which we can’t say any more about at the moment. And on Saturday, uh Oie’s been doing his challenges again, hasn’t he? He has indeed. This time, Everesting up the Stelvio, which uh yeah, many of you will know is an absolute monster of a climb. But if you thought that was hard, wait till you hear what’s coming on Sunday. That’s right. I think you better introduce it, Dan. Um I took a Straa Kow on a tour to France climb before the race rolled through. And I’m going to show you what happened next, which was a bit ridiculous really. Hopefully it’ll be entertaining. It will be entertaining. And uh next week’s GCN show will be on um the crazy speeds and power outputs of Daniel Lloyd whilst he’s doing a KM attempt. Um no, that’s going to be uh that’s going to be good. That I can’t wait. Um right, I’m pretty sure that’s kind of the end of the GCN show this week, isn’t it? Yeah. Uh story cycle shorts hacken board caption what’s coming up. Yeah, we are indeed. Right, just in time to watch the end of the tour of France stage. See you next week.