In this episode Patrick and Benji recap the 17th stage of the 2026 Giro d’Italia.
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🇦🇺 Patrick Broe – Host: https://www.youtube.com/@LanterneRougeCycling & https://www.instagram.com/the_lanterne_rouge_/ & https://www.twitter.com/lanternerougeyt
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6 Comments
Patrick Vs Benji GT picks
🚨🚨Patrick retakes the lead!🚨🚨
Odds of Benji starting the pod with "I'd like to report a crime" are now high.
Total scores after stage 17:
Benji: 157 🦖
Patrick: 170
Breakdown:
Benji Stage 17 picks
Route release: Adria 0 pts
Week before: Christen 0 pts
Day before: Narvaez 0 pts
Stage 17 score: 0
Patrick Stage 17 picks
Route release: Schmid 0 pts
Week before: Valgren 15 pts
Day before: Pellizari 0 pts
Stage 17 score: 15
For stage 18 there has been mutterings of the phrase "versatile sprint" in previous pods. Honestly, at this point, hearing the words "sprint" and "Giro" in the same sentence gives me a similar physical recoil to sniffing out of date milk. I want no part in this. Uh nuh. Nada. No thank you. Get it away from me. I'm going out for the day.
Nevertheless we shall persist with the picks summary.
Patrick initially said Magnier back in December, but then changed his mind and switched to Godon. In the week before preview he felt this would be a "100% versatile sprint stage" controlled by Decathlon and NSN; he then picked Lund. Today he abandoned all hope of a sprint and went for Garofoli.
Benji meanwhile picked Abrahamsen back in December, and Stuyven just before the race, with his reasoning being he wanted it to be a breakaway stage. He then doubled down on this today. Let's see if he can claw back the lead….
What is Jayco even doing in the race? They neither have a real GC guy nor a sprinter in the race any more and don`t send anyone in the breaks. Why?
Hot Take: tomorrows break will win by 15 minutes if there is no GC Rider in there
The Norwegian commentor on Eurosport, Lars Saugstad, called it out early when the breakaway was established: "Follow Michael Valgren, he's a beast in these situations.". Andreas Leknessund failed twice: he had to bridge Valgren's attack after 44 km and he wasn't on the wheel of Valgren when he attacked right before the last kilometer. The third second place for Andreas Lekenessund, but of course he would trade it all for a win.
Fun fact whalgren and vingegaard worked on the same fish factory
What’s in the water in the Nothern Part of Denmark?! First Vingegaard and now Valgren!