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    Can Anyone Stop Brennan? | Vuelta a España 2026 Stage 5 | Lanterne Rouge x JOIN Cycling



    In this episode Patrick and Benji recap the fifth stage of the 2026 Vuelta a España.

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    *Meet the team* 👇

    🇦🇺 Patrick Broe – Host: https://www.youtube.com/@LanterneRougeCycling & https://www.instagram.com/the_lanterne_rouge_/ & https://www.twitter.com/lanternerougeyt
    🇧🇪 Benji Naesen – Host: https://www.youtube.com/@BenjiNaesenTV & https://www.instagram.com/benjinaesen/ & https://www.twitter.com/benjinaesen
    🇳🇱 Luc Grefte – Producer: https://www.twitter.com/lucgrefte

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    15 Comments

    1. @PatrickvsBenjiGTPicks-Ruth1 on

      Patrick Vs Benji GT Picks
      Scores after stage 5:
      Patrick: 68
      Benji: 93

      Benji retakes the lead!

      Brennan won today giving 49 points to Benji and pushing him back into a 25 point lead.

      Stage breakdown:

      Patrick
      Route release: no pick 0 pts
      Week before: WvA 0 pts
      Day before: Brennan 14 pts
      Total: 14

      Benji
      Route release: Brennan 20 pts
      Week before: Brennan 15 pts
      Day before: Brennan 14 pts
      Total: 49

      I'm not going to lie, my mind wandered a lot during todays stage. For instance, did you realise that 50% of Roger Federer's name is 'er.' 🤷

      Stage 6 picks
      Patrick
      Route release: Roglic
      Week before: Pogacar
      Day before: Laurance

      Benji
      Route release: Roglic
      Week before: Castrillo
      Day before: Ormzel

      After yesterday's stage the Lidl Trek director produced some exceptional original comedy. Andersen said in an interview that Skjelmose's team mates "should have been up there." He felt the fact they weren't able to stay up at the front with Matthias was "not good enough." This is clearly a guy who likes to delegate. Specifically, he likes to delegate the blame for the disaster he engineered, by selecting no climbing support for Skjelmose in the first place. It's the equivalent of handing the team a paper shield, a cardboard sword, and then setting them off in search of the dragon.

      For stage 6 Benji said it reeks of "no pain no glory" which is obviously the Belgian way of saying "no hope no glory." Therefore, as Benji often says, "I'll accept it." They both went Roglic on route release.

      In the week before pod Benji goes Castrillo, but Patrick instead predicts a violent massacre with Pog "killing everybody." After being reminded of the strength of the UAE train Benji then considers changing his pick, but ultimately decides to stick to his original guns. So let's see if we get Massacre or Movistar? ….(Sounds like a 90s punk rock album)

      For today Benji went Ormzel, whilst Patrick went Laurance. Here's hoping 6 and 7 will both be breakaways and we'll have some interesting racing.

    2. @SwissZiggy on

      I just love that little kid.. Brennan his biggest wish is to ever maybe win the Tour of Flanders, … Him winning a Belgian 1.1 cobbled in the spring gave me so much pleasure (Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne)

    10. @MrMattie725 on

      Patrick, did you plan to say something crazy hoping you could say "Benji refuses to see the light" for that smooth ad segway or are you just a natural? 😀

    12. @mjwalker8029 on

      *STAT ALERT
      With the pick of Omrzel, Benji is looking for his first Bahrain Victorious (or McLaren) grand tour stage win at the 17th attempt. His only podium from the previous 16 predictions, was Jonathan Milan's 2nd place in stage 5 of the 2023 Giro, to Salerno, won by Kaden Groves.

    14. @7ebo on

      25:52 the problem with a guy like De Bruyne taking red is that even if UAE allows is (they won’t because Pog likely wants to keep it from start to finish) that would mean De Bruyne would have a 4 minute advantage over the other GC guys.

      We saw it historically with Kuss and O’Connor how difficult it is to gain back time on a capable rider in the Vuelta. De Bruyne probably isn’t that level, but there are lots of unipuerto stages, lots of medium mountain stages when the red jersey can be defended, most of the climbs are up to 25-30 minute efforts. As crazy as it sounds, weeks 2 and 3 are not that hard. Similar to TDF, only stage 20 is a proper queen stage, the rest are some sort of a mix.

      Also, let’s not pretend that the GC group minus Pog is on some crazy level. The gap between guys like Roglic/Mas and De Bruyne is not that big, probably only up to a minute on a difficult finish.

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