In this episode Patrick and Benji recap the second stage of the 2026 Giro.

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*Meet the team* 👇

đŸ‡ĻđŸ‡ē Patrick Broe – Host: https://www.youtube.com/@LanterneRougeCycling & https://www.instagram.com/the_lanterne_rouge_/ & https://www.twitter.com/lanternerougeyt
🇧đŸ‡Ē Benji Naesen – Host: https://www.youtube.com/@BenjiNaesenTV & https://www.instagram.com/benjinaesen/ & https://www.twitter.com/benjinaesen
đŸ‡ŗđŸ‡ą Luc Grefte – Producer: https://www.twitter.com/lucgrefte

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41 Comments

  1. Patrick Vs Benji stage 2 results

    Total scores:
    Benji: 0
    Patrick: 0

    Benji Stage 2 picks
    Route release: "I dont care Patrick it's in a year!" 0 pts
    Week before: Lund Andresen 0 pts
    Day before: Christen 0pts
    Stage 2 score: 0

    Patrick Stage 2 picks
    Route release: Van Der Poel 0 pts
    Week before: Turner 0 pts
    Day before: Narvaez 0 pts
    Stage 2 score: 0

    Still at zero points all round, but that finale was very unpredictable. Still hoping to get off the starting blocks tomorrow.😂

    Looking to the next stage Patrick, during the week before picks, changed his mind multiple times. For stage 3 he initially selected Milan. Patrick was then reminded of the existence of this spreadsheet and started fiddling with his picks, much to the annoyance of Excel. He then changed his stage 3 pick to Malucelli. We'll see tomorrow if that was the right decision or not.

    On Benji's side of Excel it's not looking overly promising points wise, as he didn't lock in a pick again on route release. With Patrick picking Kaden Groves back in December, this could be a chance for him to take a lead…..Let's just hope someone takes a lead soon! 🤞

    (To avoid this becoming too tense and exciting I can confirm both competitors failed to lock in 3 picks each on route release, across the 21 stages. This means both have an equal chance of success as the race progresses. Normal dull data focus can now be resumed)

  2. interesting conversation between Remco & Pellizzari…. "why the f**k are you working with that wheel sucker?…."

  3. I thought as soon as Jan Christen closed the gap to the Vingegaard group, it is better for vingegaard to not sprint because with Jan Christen you never know if he puts you in the barrier

  4. 1. Third race this year where Jonas benefits from the crashes of main rivals: Ayuso, Pidcock and now Adam Yates and two of his lieutenants. I guess we need to wait for TdF and Tadej to see good he is.
    2. Think at the back of his mind Jonas thought about matching Tadej for a Stage 2 Giro win.

  5. To quote “I’m not having it..” You chastise any rider who relays with Pogacar siting “he’s the favorite so do not work with him”, defending Visma (Wout van Aert, Jonasâ€Ļ) failure to help pull, and then question the 2 riders’ decision not to help more with Jonas, when he is by far more the favorite for this Giro than Pogacar was in the Monuments! Wout can out sprint Pogacar. MvdP can best Pogacar and has. Hypocrisy. No way should they have helped Jonas win the stage and gain an advantage over them. I won’t ask if “that’s fair” because it is. 😊

  6. Benji, thank you so much for your comments at the end of this episode. (And Patrick for chiming in as well.) I just had the 5-year anniversary of my sister passing away suddenly at age 23 (not cycling related, but not so different from someone like Wouter Weylandt either), and it's exactly as you said, death is a devastating thing but when you aren't able to talk about it that can be even more devastating. Here in America at least, people seem to avoid thinking about death at all costs, and that at times, including the last couple of weeks, has made me feel isolated and crazy when trying to cope with the experience of grief. I wasn't expecting a cycling podcast to be the thing that made me feel a little better today, but it was – so thank you for that. I really appreciate, today and every day, how you guys manage to mix technical cycling analysis, fun and humor, and meaningful personal reflections all into the podcast.

  7. Question, with all of the millions these teams invest in the riders and the talk of rider safety why not make it mandatory for teams to use “rain tires” or tires with some grip in the wet, when there is a probability of rain. And if people say these tires are slower, surely thats a good things in the rain. Love the show .

  8. Someone in chat said Vingegaard can't sprint. He can actually, he has really good snap for a GC guy, like Tadej does. However in that situation, its a lot of risk to try, and he is definitely more risk adverse than Tadej. Which is probably smart but less fun for us =)

  9. Hey guys, been following the pod for 5 years now and never had a complaint, but I gotta say the women's Vuelta deserves to be more than a side note on a podcast of a men's race. I know you're busy people, but the women's GTs need everyday episodes! Especially with an exciting and unpredictable race like this Vuelta.

  10. Could someone who's raced explain to us why Soler is pedaling at that point?
    You're in the second wheel, so in the slipstream, leaning on slippery asphalt, what the hell are you pedalling for?
    If you look at him, he falls off right then.

  11. The Hainan field and by extension, Dusan Rajovic, being completely vindicated day by day at this Giro, serious wheel-knowers already knew.

  12. as far as i know it's a range of about 5w between a brands flagship tire to the same brand's ~faster TT version~ of the tire. shouldn't that mean it's a merely a drop in the bucket in comparison to the hundreds of watts they're pushing… no?

  13. If there’s a mass peloton crash like this, they should just neutralize GC times on the stage and leave the stage win and time bonuses on the line up for grabs only.

  14. If ever there were a situation where a race director could neutralize a descent BEFORE someone gets hurt, this would be it, right? No breakaway, rain, sketchy roads – come on. As a fan, I'd much rather see the stage get mixed up a bit by a neutralization than see riders taken to the hospital. Pro cycling needs to admit that the descents have to be slowed down.

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