In this episode Patrick and Benji recap the last stage of of the 2026 Vuelta a España.
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20 Comments
Thank you guys for your coverage of the grand tours this year again 🙏
Patrick Vs Benji GT Picks
Final scores:
Patrick: 261 👑
Benji: 253
PATRICK WINS!!!
Unbelievably, both Patrick and Johanessen finally take a win. With Wout dropping out of contention for the stage today, his victory was sealed (Was Patrick making phone calls last night? 🤔)
Congratulations to Mr Rouge. Thoughts and prayers to Mrs Rouge because he's going to be completely insufferable isn't he? 🤣
Patrick might have won the battle today, but not the overall war. The tally score for the year is 3-1 to Benji, so Benji takes the crown for official GT Picks Champion 2026.
Stage breakdown:
Patrick
Route release: no pick 0 pts
Week before: Pog 0 pts
Day before: Van Aert 0 pts
Total:
Benji
Route release: no pick 0 pts
Week before: Van Aert 0 pts
Day before: Van Aert 0 pts
Total:
GC and Jerseys
Patrick
GC 1st Pog 0 pts
2nd Gall 17 pts
3rd Skjelmose 0 pts
Youth: Tuckwell 0 pts
Kom: Fortunato 0 pts
Points: Van Aert 20 pts
Total: 37 pts
GC and Jerseys
Benji
GC 1st Pog 0 pts
2nd Gall 17 pts
3rd Onley 0 pts
Youth: Onley 20 pts
Kom: VPP 0 pts
Points: Brennan 17 pts
Total: 54 pts
Thank you to everyone who's followed along, and for the supportive comments. We've got a lovely little LRCP community going on 😊 I wanted to make the GTs a bit more fun (as I personally get a little bit bored by week 2) and hopefully I've done that.
Planning on being back for 2027. But if you don't see me again, it's because Patrick's blocked me because he's had enough of the whole bit 🤣
Ciao ciao
Enric’s smile on the podium >>>>>
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If the finish line isn't the finish line, then you get half the UCI points. There has to be something to lose for the non-GC teams to argue against this nonsense. Yesterday they are fine with 5000 meters of elevation on a road that sometimes wasn't wide enough to be called a bike path, and today they complain about a two lane city street circuit.
If you don't want to race then hang back in the gruppetto.
If there's an asterisk for this win it's for the winning team not wanting to race the full race because they're in the lead.
Last lap neutralisation is so dumb reťard3d.
I watched f1 since 2018. As a recent ‘fan’ It is unwatchable now. I’ve barely watched any in a year
The previous 3 laps, there are likely to be firm control in the peloton. Last lap you are also likely to see a lot of position jousting. So I wouldn’t say this is purely symbolic.
Based Patrick had me rolling, "I understand the overlap in the venn diagram of the pod and people who watch F1 but I don't understand how you watch that shit."
I love Benji and Mr Broe, i love cycling. But hand on heart as cycling fans we can't accuse other sports of being boring.
“Slip-tember” should never have been voiced by human lips. I do not want to hear it again, until the end of Vuelta ‘27.
https://youtu.be/pV6Lf0OsSxg?t=130 sooooo true Patrick <3
You guys complain about passive racing because riders go for placements for points vs risking something to win but then say the points from Mas winning are more important than the actual win???? Worst take this podcast has ever had. Winning a GT is huge for publicity/marketing, and keeping sponsors on board/getting new ones. Points won’t matter if Movistar sponsors pull out end of cycle as it has been reported they want to.
Thanks to Benji for the watch along for the stage….I hit my limit on listening to Bob Roll commentary here in the US after about stage 2!
as someone who watches F1 every race weekend, i completely understand thinking F1 is boring or unwatchable honestly. but i do say the same about pro cycling when my friends think im crazy for watching dudes grinding for their lives vs a steep climb
Cycling and F1 appeal to me for the same reasons – the emphasis on team work and behind the scenes strategy. Both sports depend on a factory full of mechanics and support staff who analyse data in real time and make decisions that impact the success of the race. In F1, success depends on decisions about what tyre compounds to use, how many pitstops are necessary, the most advantageous time to pit in relation to the other cars on the track etc. So – like in cycling, the F1 driver going as fast as he can is only a small fraction of the team's race day plan.
Also – a lot of drivers ride bikes. Valtteri Bottas takes parts in professional bike races during F1 breaks. And Pogacar is famously good friends with several of the F1 drivers. Carlos Sainz often posts pictures of them working out or cycling around Monaco together on Pog's recovery days…
I suspect none of this is going to change your mind about F1… but I had to give it a try 🙂
Now, now Patrick, Benji has been riding steady.
Damn thought Katusha was back for a minute
Finally we can put that Vuelta behind us. Hopefully next year we will have a true champion and not an interim one.
At least we had that Landa win and Roglic showing that he still is very good for a 37yo
Johanssen get in. Finally a win. This vuelta keeps on giving.