Almeida and Yates Unstoppable In Tour de Suisse Stage 7 and 8 2024

Joao Almeida and Adam Yates dominated on Villar Sur Ollon on Tour de Suisse stage 7 and 8, both UAE riders finishing 1-2 on both days and in the overall classification. In the Tour de Suisse Women Demi Vollering won stage 1 and 2 mountain time-trial with Gaia Realini, Elisa Longo Borghini, Kim Cadzow, Urška Žigart and other riders performing at a high level.

welcome back to cycling podcast today we are goingon to discuss four stages from T the Swiss from V suron two men’s stages and to women’s stages yeah it was a climbing Fest this weekend which are we are grateful about that it’s better than spring stages and yeah we will start with yesterday’s men stage yeah it is funny though that all four stages actually finished on the same climb but yeah um the first first of the four was the that we’re going to talk about is the men stage seven of the touris WIS which was actually the hardest stage probably if you look at the altitude gain uh in the race nearly 3, met of altitude gain and just below 120 kilm so a short B intense stage and that’s also how the Kil were because I think inos were pacing quite hard the entire day once again just like the onari um with Ethan hater and I think the other Riders as well uh was it Brandon Rivera Brandon no Bron Rivera they save for the last clim like I mean for yeah they also had like some other space Oscar Rodriguez probably I can’t remember exactly but yeah inos made it made it hard in UAE didn’t really feel the need to helped them too much with or big lead in The GC and two stage WIS before as well so yeah it was a intense day obviously in terms of overall fatigue it was still not not very hard not like a super hard day because it was simply too short to achieve that but yeah we had 15.6 4 K per kilogram per hour so very high intensity for just under 3 hours before the final climb and maybe that that high intensity also slow down the r a bit on the final clim because the the speeds let’s say weren’t weren’t as as fast as the days before finally yeah they didn’t set like power records but yeah it was the intensity that killed yeah the wats and the legs for all the Riders also also probably inos also is at fault because they pce the climb and probably slowly with Ethan hater yeah the the the last clim they weren’t they weren’t like the Pace wasn’t very fast from inos it took quite a while to catch the last break over rewarder which was yanus St limitted from wisma but yeah the pace was nuclear because I think inos only had hater who was nearly done he paced like the first two to three minutes and then only Rivera because they didn’t want to spend Pitcock or they didn’t or they didn’t spend him in the end at least so it was just R and he pays for ages because climb is 8.5 km long around and I swear to God until 3 kilom ago was just Rivera he was pacing the entire time and he’s in good shape that we are going to give him that but alone you can’t make the the pace that Nu clear yeah after that yeah probably e guys got bored then Almeida attacked and also Adam yat followed and and then then something finally started on the final climb yeah before the UA guys attacked it was actually Felix gal who attacked but he was he was C by the UA attacks it was Al attacked first and I believe it was rich cerman and the8 who managed to follow or Yates bridge to them that was the four for four Riders before Yates counter attack with Ela and the wheel and the you two UAE guys went Cay just like in the days before and yeah achieved another one two one to win they even crossed the line together probably also lost lost a few seconds of the climbing time in the last 200 meds because they were going slowly they were celebrating together and enemy eight was given the stage win or they agreed to give the statement to Yates yeah at least Yates as like I think ala said that or Yates even yeah yeah said that he asked yeah also said in the interview that he 40 was going to lose the GC on the final stage the time Trail which obviously didn’t actually happen but H but you can mention the wasper kill on the road stage yeah it was nothing special but it was still like okay wats um 6.44 wats per kilogram for the two UAE Riders which they averaged for let me find it for a second uh Jesus Christ where is it oh yeah for 23 minutes 5 Seconds they average 6.44 wat per kogam the two UA rides cross the line together it was far from the fastest time on the climb because yeah again Bernal set quite a nuclear record in that time trial in 2018 yeah the the gaps also weren’t as big as the previous days matf gell the young American finished just 14 seconds behind um pushing 6.36 watts per kilogram and then there was a larger group including um V Kerman Matias kosa B Egan Bernal uh Oscar only and St pit cook I believe as well it was so yeah not the biggest gaps on this stage oh yeah but there were bigger gaps on the next stage which was a m and time for yeah there were some big gaps actually yeah I mean that kind of expected on such a tough mountain time trial as I think it’s I’m not sure if it’s the exactly the same route as the V of time trial in the T romand 2022 but like it’s very similar at least because there was also a mountain time traal that finished on the V Sur long climb with a few kilometers of flat before the climb that’s exactly what um was the course today as well yeah also you hated the intermediate checkpoints they areed wrongly yeah it’s crazy how how how difficult like it can’t be that difficult to just put the intermediate time check at the bottom of the climb it in in other races ASO race is always at the bottom of the climb toward the France time trial I remember it was perfectly at the bottom um yeah it just makes no sense to put it one kilometer before the start of the climb yeah but this isn’t the ASO race I think it’s like the like the Switzerland themselves are organizing yeah and I remember in the Romy TR that plus of one that was also like wrong spots for intermediat I think that’s also not ASO like yeah yeah that they are not ASO RCS or others yeah they’re like in the in the it’s annoying man it’s annoying man so that’s why the climbing times we can’t be like 100% sure it might be like plus minus plus minus a few seconds here or there because yeah we it’s impossible to know the exact times because if the footage wasn’t like complete for all the Riders at the bottom of the climb and we don’t have the time checks we can just estimate it which is pretty accurate but um it will be like plus minus 5 Seconds let’s say yeah you also said that the average bike change cost like 15 seconds yeah it’s around 15 seconds and um those 15 seconds are included in the what I’m going to mention later on and that means that like if you exclude those 15 seconds where they obviously like were standing still didn’t push power um the whatam would be like around 0.08 higher than the ones that I’m going to mention also yeah every kilogram cost 18 seconds on the climb so it’s also around around that so yeah it’s actually interesting to see that bike change cost like around 15 seconds and 1 kilogram which let’s say uh maybe like the lightest lightest time trial bikes might be just 1 kilogram uh heavier yeah but I usually think they are closer to 9 kilos usually yeah but 8.5 yeah yeah yeah I think the the visma one was 8.1 yeah but that’s uh for super light one yeah that’s for y yonas and that’s like extra small size and I think they also had the lighter setup and everything yeah yeah so I think the a Po’s bike was like 9 kilos set to the front St like something crazy yeah it may be also the reason why I switch but yeah I think the average is around maybe let’s say 8.5 for a TT bike and seven for the the road bike with disc brakes it might not be like the average I don’t think is is actually 6.8 but yeah um so yeah keep that in mind but of course word we also have to mention is that it’s for at least for most part is easier to push the best power on the road bike and that’s why everyone switched to the road bike as well on this climb um so yeah we had a bike change and the bike change was right after the start of the clim but yeah once again The UU ride is very strong as on the climb um uh almea won this one I think yeah he he did a really big negative split and actually won the the time trial because at the T like second time check I think he wasn’t first yet I think Yates was actually first or even skel Mo maybe still Yes it makes sense because I’ll made the one 12 seconds against the y in the last three kilometers so yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah exactly like um he did a really big negative split and actually managed to win the stage and on the climb he averaged 6.7 5 wats per kilogram for 25 minutes 11 seconds and keep in mind like the actual whats per kilogram will be like 0.08 higher around that if you exclude the bike change so that makes the performance even little bit more impressive yeah still kind of impressive yeah it’s like between the generational and the alltime top 30 trend line so it’s still like yeah yeah you have to consider of course that this is a Time TR like a time always crazy whats are possible like there as a Jesus Christ bro I can’t speak um it’s not even the fastest time on this climb as well because again Bernar was a decent amount faster in 2018 and the time trial which didn’t have a flat part before it was just the climb and I think Richie Port was also a bit a bit faster or work glit was it maybe like those three were super fast all three and I think they were all three a bit faster than the riders today well but they didn’t have the stupid yeah flat part and bike change and so on yeah yeah yeah definitely that that helped them as well to be faster and they also had a easier race not five Mountain stages in a row um but yeah Adam Yates over the whole climb two seconds slower 6.7 forwards B for him and then the next ones would be Matias kelos Mafia richell and Lenny Martinez and Tom pitock who are all between 6.67 and 6.5 WS per kilogram those were the fastest Riders on the clan yeah Pelos and Lenny Martinez they are like kind low what low kilog Joel Merchants like on the tough Mountain stages they might crack let’s say yeah at least so far in their career we can say it which you tell like I think if you look at his whole career it’s crazy to see how it did the difference in results on uni or Mountain trial stages because he also performed well on the Mont luari last year in the jro and if you compare that to the full Mountain stage it’s like night and day they say yeah as you said it’s also true for skelos um Lenny Martinez and pitock but pitock actually like this year so far he’s been kind of good on the OU stages because I remember the Tano Monte Pano he was strong and that was a quite a hard stage and even in the hardest stage of this race which wasn’t super hard but was still the hardest stage he also performed quite well yeah at least from these four guys he might perform better on the tougher stages but they’ll still need to see a grand tour where pitock doesn’t completely crack and also this might have been the best GC performance by P ever yeah it’s a sixth place in t Swiss in the war tour race and before that the best was I think tyano in ninth ninth yeah yeah this year already yeah so he might have improved a little bit this year yeah maybe he can beat Brian kakar and the djf queen stage this time yeah finally but then there are like other Riders like enrik M or angam Bernal who might perform on harder stages but didn’t perform today yeah that well yeah yeah especially again Bernal really not a great performance from him just 6.31 wats per kilogram for 2641 like almost 2 minutes slower than he was in 2018 on the same climb and also like even lost his GC spot which which seemed almost like safe before the stage I think it was 40 seconds he was a whole minute ahead of skos and he actually yeah now he is actually 10 seconds behind him GC which is kind of crazy but yeah but not a great performance from B but again like it’s nothing big he already have won the T before that his France win it 2019 I think yeah and to the Swiss also 2019 yeah and yeah it’s okay it’s not a big deal it’s at least it’s not the final time in t France or Jalia yeah like you just have to like appreciate the the level that he’s back like he’s at his best ever level probably right now after the big crash like he’s better than in 2019 when he won the Tour probably uh but still it’s it’s going to be hard for him in France yeah to do I know like yeah top six is going to be a great result for him I think yeah I think the top 10 top 10 is a reasonable Target for him I don’t think you should look look further than that at the moment like if he does you know it’s great but I wouldn’t expect more from him at this moment yeah but it’s going to be hard because they have also caros Rodriguez don’t team Thomas I don’t I don’t expect from him anything as well oh holy yeah but the good thing is that I don’t need to pce on the climbs because probably U gonna gonna be doing that very likma Orma yeah oh yeah visma too yeah yeah they if they don’t don’t crash out all all the guys early yeah but yeah have let’s say free free fre leaders now for the tour it will be interesting to see which of them PRS best Rodriguez probably on paper the strongest but yeah pitco and Bernal also looking good in the T at least so I think it can be can be a good good performance yeah but I would say the biggest surprise from the tour SS is poo Sanchez performance especially today like I had no idea he is such a great climber okay like I knew after J Italia and the last year’s welta but yeah because like after last year’s welta I thought he would be like a super great climber on movie star and then the in the jro he didn’t actually climb that well he was great on The Punchy stages but on the climbs he didn’t look that great and now he’s flying on the climbs as well so it was a great pickup I think we even called it or like we said that M Star should sign him after the performances in the worlds and thank God they did because he performed real well so far I think he won also like a mayorca race or something early in the season maybe or at least was in top three something like that yeah yeah yeah so like he’s already having a great season probably one of the better riders for movar in this whole season you know uh nearly or like 11th nearly in the top 10 and through the WIS won a stage and finished second on a stage in the in the jro so yeah yeah he won the trao poen as well yeah in in a six-man Bunch print yeah I remember that race because mariio my was the big favorite there and okay it was kind of surprising that poio Sanic actually managed to beat him in the Sprint yeah damn I didn’t expect that the other Riders I don’t know Matthew richell yeah that’s also the big fifth or six in GC so it’s a crazy high place in such a competion yeah and he was like super great on the I don’t know if he maybe had like one stage where he didn’t perform that well but Jesus Christ I think the first stage he wasn’t that good the first Mountain Stage yeah g he finished only 10th I mean 10th still okay but then on the next stage he he was even better yeah but again like osar only was in that group who finished six so he like was in the group that finished yeah only only five five Riders managed to only only four GC Riders managed to get a higher time than him because from the breakway so he actually you’re right you’re right you’re right um I just remember because I think he was on the climb proper he was a bit behind and then he called back to the group on the descend that’s why I remember that a bit differently but yeah great performance from him I I hope he can perform on in the future on harder stages as well because then we could have a big GC Talent or at least a huge climbing Talent uh from America as well yeah he’s only 22 and on PCS he is listed to doing CBU cycling tour and W SP yeah that’s maybe races that should should suit him quite well to be fair because the Welter stage not obviously not as hard as the tour FR stages on average so yeah maybe we can hope for a stage win or even like a top 10 NG GC from him there yeah and then civia tour there’s going to be a lot of Destiny with Leonard atal U tour winner then Ricardo tole from the nuclear Austrian Cy team yeah the another strong guys I think also oh maximan sedman the British 50 kilo guy also is there yeah Anton shiffer the but yeah yeah in that in that like in that storyist he maybe like richell should be the favorite maybe next to um leld for the for the queen stage or even the GC because we have a time trial and then the queen stage to Bal alak where rich should perform well yeah okay there was also happening a women’s race this weekend which started on Saturday with a road stage which finished up the the same clim we mentioned wither alone and again like SD Works didn’t fully committed for demi wallering but her teammate European Champion Misha Brad at least space for some time and yeah the ballering did her inine pacing and yeah yeah yeah I mean it was also like a short stage only 58.6 kilm which is like even short for the women’s Women’s World Tour races which are usually quite short but yeah that all definitely helped the wats because they were quite quite nuclear on the final climb not only by vering but by a few other Riders as well as yeah as you mentioned Misha bral pays Bas the start of the climb and then a bit later it was Ving who attacked first and then also g realini Who counterattacked and realini actually pulled like at least equal or more than wering on the uh on uh while they were chasing the break R rer was which was Elise chabby she was caught at just below two kilometers to go like she had gone solo on the first climb of the day they called the lra and yeah she was out and nearly won the stage in the end I think she finished third I believe yeah she finished third on the day only realini and wering uh above air and wering attacked with 1.2 km to go and yeah um dropped r l as well pushing I believe it was 5.5 yeah 5.5 wat spe for 26 minutes 36 seconds a really hyper level performance for uh the women’s on this day and realini just 22 seconds behind 5.44 was b g also massive performance by her yeah proly like all the GC climers yeah perform well because it was again like a perfect situation like in the men’s race uh it was a good wats per kilo FTP test for 28 27 minutes 26 for wallering G yeah yeah yeah and yeah as we said the fatigue before the final claim also was quite low which obviously helped and I think didn’t wering and uh realini both break the red trend line yeah yeah exactly the generational one which is like there are only like a couple performances in the women’s database that has uh been better than that yeah I mean to be fair we have to mention that um yeah the database on the women’s is more incomplete like I don’t have everything yet and also like for a lot of the performances there’s just no footage so we don’t even know how fast they climbed especially from 10 years ago or more where they probably pushed crazy Pace in the ’90s or the early 2000s where we only have like one or two performances from that time yeah at least in the modern era yeah it’s it’s yeah really great yeah L and voling and realini in the road race has yeah I think that’s the only three that yeah and puts in sky from the the 2000s guys but yeah from the is only wering luten and um realini have crossed the red line so far or at least to my knowledge probably there’s like a few more that I that I missed from like three or four years ago maybe five six years ago but yeah so it was a great performance that’s for sure and that puts Demi ring runs again in the lead’s juice after the first stage which means she was in full position to take another GC Victory after wter Burgos it’s only V SP so yeah she’s dominating all the stage races yeah which is great because it’s fun to see her like seeing that like like she tries in on every clim climbing stage pushes herself to the Limit practically yeah that’s that’s that’s always good to see better than just that just wait for the final Sprint like rug for example sometimes um so yeah that’s at least good to see on then on the next day or today let’s say we had another finish on v s long um this time again in the time TR I think it was yeah it was exactly the same parkour that the men’s roote on 15.7 km with like 6 km or yeah six a bit more than 6 km flat and the final climb and yeah there results were kind of similar as on the previous day because Dei Walling once again one the stage real realini didn’t perform that well but the rest was kind of similar so yeah voling I think even she like did a big negative split as well not only on the climb like she was super slow on the the flat section before the climb and then she gained back all the time on the climb especially in the last last three kilometers where she pushed Highwoods kilogram I think it was 5.7 74 yeah 5.7 yeah 5.74 or what’s kogam for the last 9 minutes 35 and over the whole climb it was 5.4 47 minutes yeah 5.47 yeah for 30 minutes 25 seconds so actually not that much higher overall than on the previous day which was a road stage which was maybe a bit surprising no it wasn’t because wering is type of Rider who performs after like fatigue and yeah other like lber pushed let’s say uh 0.1 and 0.2 whats per kilo morph and this was also including that they that the clim was four minutes longer yeah than yesterdays yeah yeah a lot of the other Riders perform better than on the previous day only kind of Waring and realini didn’t if you look at the wats like they also the gaps were like much smaller overall um than other the previous day from voling to the rest of the riders that just shows that probably after fatigue she’s even better yeah but like some Riders like realini and Mario bonell they lost like they performed sign significantly worse than today than yesterday okay they are like rers yeah it might be the reason that like the they pushed so hard on the flat station because I think was even in the top 10 after the flat section okay or like she was not far away at least like she was faster than voling I’m pretty sure on the flat section so it maybe that those like smaller Riders overcooked on the on a flat section trying to stay close and then didn’t have enough energy left um for the final climb unlike Vol who really took it easy on the first first eight minutes of the time trial yeah I think also Urka jigar performed significant Wars yeah she pushed 0.24 Watts lower yeah today than yesterday it’s actually kind of surprising I don’t know if she’s also that small yeah I think she’s like yeah yeah kind of small yeah probably uh but yeah it was V man’s races yeah like yeah there were like how many mountain stages there were like in tour this week like yeah five in the five in the men’s race and now two in the women’s race as well especially now that they were both on the same days as well is crazy but yeah one rer we also have to mention I think from the time time TR is Kim kzo who was the second fastest even on the on the climb in the time trial pushing 5.39 wats per kilog for 30 minutes 47 seconds so really good performance from her she’s been climbing quite well but this might be your best moment of the Year oh yeah she’s only 22 I think became a pro last year with Yambo whsm after being a tri right lead for in New Zealand yeah so she has a lot of potential also she has improved massively if you look at the results uh in the last in the last year or even in the last months compared to what so yeah I I have to say like if I if I need to take a guess she might become in the next season or next season the best climber in the world if she continues to progress yeah I know it might sound crazy but at least second best because wall ring is is hard to beat but who knows yeah I agree that she could be should be up there I’m not going to lie what I was going to say like I didn’t even know her before the Le Baston Le like I don’t follow the women’s races like that much except the climbing and I don’t think she had a stand up performance on the climbs last year yeah no not in the big races at least yeah let’s say the first race where she performed was in 2022 in Monument two Challenger she finished fifth but she she was riding for Cony team the Italian toell kman Islands con team and she lost only to cavali kenberg a music and Royers so yeah andby be also Chapman so yeah she beat a strong climbers there yeah I’m actually pretty I calculated that performance for I just forgot it probably because she was that relevant like overall but yeah this year she’s been really strong she was in the breakway and Le B Le finished at the first group I believe it was where she didn’t she like Chase an attack in the final kilometers yeah she she also almost crashed in one of the corners because she is a triathlete and not so technical maybe yeah okay yeah but yeah that was a great performance and then right afterwards the we had the W espia where she finished 10th in GC performing kind of well on the climbing stages like very consistent not among the best but always in the top 10 strongest climbers finished top 10 on all the three Mountain stages so yeah strong performance there and now she’s probably going to finish even higher than 10 in the T Swiss GC H I would say she’s like um women’s version of Jay wine yeah maybe comparable yeah yeah because in the tour of Scandinavia last year I think she lost lost lot of time on flat stage but on the queen stage she finished in the same group with CES IG and anemy yeah finished third there so but she lost a lot lot of time on the first stage like which is a spring stage like I mean like I’m looking she’s so low that I cannot find in the results uh she lost three minutes on yeah okay that obviously didn’t help the the GC GC results uh but also she started a season with winning the New Zealand time trial Yeah by like two minutes she be M Harvey from UE team because yeah she oh she’s from New Zealand I for the entire time she’s from Australia also inter thing that that might help her she’s one met and 80 cm tall she’s like one of the tallest uh women’s riders in the pellaton so it might be even a big plus if there are like many time TR kilometers and yeah maybe yeah I mean it’s hard to like guess what she weighs at that like size she might be a bit like heavier than the pure climbers some something below definitely 60 kgs it’s like 55 yeah I mean that’s like almost everybody is below 60 kilogram in the women’s peleton I would say yeah because like men’s Riders like let’s say sub Coast he’s around like 180 and 60 kilg so I mean even how less muscles usually if they especially like Lamers so yeah yeah she’s probably like 50 50 to 60 somewhere but she’s also like one of the leanest I think in the women’s P like she’s like so lean yeah yeah it makes sense for a clown I guess yeah yeah that’s probably all we will be back next week with something special maybe special special episode and then we are already like look forward to the tour to France I guess because is anything else like before the tour still maybe M on two challenge only like national championships and that’s all yeah what’s with M on two challenge does it thing still exist I think they cancelled it this year because of the elections or oh no it was because of I think I think because they have no money or something like that probably as usual right okay I mean yeah like they’re a shame I guess yeah they’re going to be national championships but usually there are like on like made for Classics rers for for sprinters so yeah our Hills like it’s usually another climbing climbing climbing stage yeah like I also I’m going to go to Estonia to commentate on TV Baltic championships which also is like a hilly C but the biggest clim is like 1 kilometer long than 7% so it’s only like three three the favorite is it um uh I don’t know because squinch and N aren participating because they are in the altitude camps for France only from L Le pinch then for Lithuania I mikutis you under 23 guys and then there are like many estonians like madis mels might be the favorite yeah I was about to say he might be the favorite I mean it’s one one 7% is not that easy if it’s like a circuit but yeah they are doing that climb like five times and the whole circuit is like hilly it’s I would say it’s something like amall gold race so yeah I mean yeah it might not be the easiest form to survive then against all the attacks but he should probably still be the favorite yeah but it’s going to be like 3 hours 30 minutes very fast