God's Medicine: The 2026 Tour de France Preview

In this episode, God's Medicine Cycling is back to take on the Tour de France. We tackle everything from overall team vibes to the prospects of each frontrunner, and give some some pretty spicy podium predictions. 

Join our fantasy cycling league on Velogames with the code 775623137 –– So long as you have made a team before the start of the tour, you can join our specific league at any time during the race! 

Transcript

Godsmedicinecycling 0:00

Hello, everyone, and welcome to God's Medicine, the world's most esteemed cycling opinion podcast according to Forbes Magazine, which is in no way a lie, and don't Google it. We will be previewing the tour today by going over the route. We're gonna quickly give a summary of major players from every team. We're going to discuss all of the favorites, we're gonna tackle the sprinters, and then we're going to get to the God's Medicine bread and butter, the wild cards. always, we will finish with our podium predictions. As of, um, right now, I don't, I haven't decided on my podium predictions, so really buckle your seat belts.

hannah 0:37

Same boat

Godsmedicinecycling 0:39

For this year's tour, we're also going to be doing the Tour in 10, in which we are going to give a short recap of every stage, plus a preview of the next stage. We're gonna spend five minutes on each. So no matter how much you can or can't watch, it'll be an easy way to follow. We'll give you all the major storylines, and you'll be able to enjoy the tour unfolding. If it's before the start of the first stage while you're listening to this, I also want to plug our fantasy cycling league. Correct, we have a team, or a league, excuse me, going on Velogames. Our Velogames league code, write it down. It's 775623137. Please join us over there. It doesn't matter if you're good at fantasy cycling or not. In fact, I'd prefer if you're bad, okay? So, so please watch out for all of that that's coming up from us for the tour. You can find us wherever you get your podcasts and also on our website godsmedicinecycling.com.

2026 Tour de France Route Preview

Godsmedicinecycling 1:39

Let's dive into the route

hannah 1:40

Okay, the 2026 Tour de France starts in Spain. We're in Barcelona for a team time trial grand départ, and then there are two subsequent stages in Spain before the peloton will make their way into the French side of the Pyrenees, with, of course, a few big climbs. Most notably, we will have stage six on Thursday the 9th of July, where we have the Col d'Aspin and the Tourmalet before a summit finish at Gavarnie-Gèdre.

Godsmedicinecycling 2:05

Week two brings the peloton to the Massif Central and the Vo- Vosges. Do I speak French? The jury's still out. We'll revisit the finish on La Lorière where Vingegaard just eked out a stage win over Pogačar in 2024, and the race's longest stage is on deck with Stage 13's 205, count them, 205.8 kilometers on Friday, July 17th. This week is a lot of hills, and we have high hopes for the breakaway riders

hannah 2:36

The final week, week three, we hit the Alps. We get altitude and probably a lot of pain. There's an ITT on stage 16, which will be Tuesday, July 21st. That has 9.6Ks, 4.2% hill in the first half of the ITT. And then stage 17 will bring the race to the big mountains. Stage 18 on Thursday the 23rd, Orcières to Merlette, has two cat one climbs, a cat two, and two more cat threes, and it only gets harder from there with the double whammy back-to-back Alpe d'Huez days

Godsmedicinecycling 3:09

back Opt Wednesdays

hannah 3:12

Friday's Stage 19 will have the riders tackle the iconic 21 hairpin turns, and then Saturday's Stage 20 has three or category climbs, most notably the Galibier, before a summit finish back on Alpe d'Huez

Godsmedicinecycling 3:26

The final stage of the 2026 edition on Sunday, July 26th repeats the wild success of last year's Montmartre stage. Wout van Aert will not be there to bring the fireworks, but we have faith that somebody else is going to take up his mantle. Van der Poel, anyone?

hannah 3:44

Did somebody say Mathieu?

Godsmedicinecycling 3:46

Actually, I said Romain Gregoire. Ole. Speaking of Van der Poel, let's jump into the team's preview, and will you kick us off,

2026 Tour de France Team Previews

Godsmedicinecycling 3:58

Hannah, with Alpecin?

hannah 3:59

I sure will. Alpecin, we know, we know what they're here for. They've got one of the best sprint trains back in the business with Jasper Philipsen at the pointy end. We personally also have our eyes on one Emil Verschraeren, who absolutely crushed the cyclocross season.

Godsmedicinecycling 4:14

Hello, Emil

hannah 4:15

Hello, Emil. And of course, van der Poel has been in ripping form recently. We saw him do what? Actually try during the Tour de Swiss time trial. What?

Godsmedicinecycling 4:29

What?

hannah 4:29

What could that mean?

Godsmedicinecycling 4:31

It

hannah 4:31

It was

Godsmedicinecycling 4:33

Keep it up, Mathieu. Stage win, queen?

hannah 4:35

up

Godsmedicinecycling 4:36

Another stage win?

hannah 4:37

Another stage?

Godsmedicinecycling 4:39

Bahrain, Bahrain really need to redeem themselves from last year's bad press with the Lenny Martinez sticky bottle fiasco of 2025. For those of you not in the loop, Lenny Martinez held onto a bottle way too long, gained a massive advantage, and there was, let's just say, a lot of discussion about this incident. The question is, who is going to do it? Who is going to redefine their narrative this year? have Tiberi on the team, but he's not having a good year. They have Damiano Caruso, who is ninth in the Giro, and he's retiring after this year, so he could be going after something big. They brought Phil Bauhaus to sprint, and although we have a question mark by his name, with the Tour de France sprints, you kind of never know. And then of course, there is Mr. Martinez himself. Perhaps he will rewrite his own narrative and give Bahrain something exciting again, but without breaking any rules this time

hannah 5:33

But is he redeemable, I guess is the question. We'll find out

Godsmedicinecycling 5:36

I think that depends on if you're a fan of ol' Lenny Martinez

hannah 5:40

Fair enough. next on our team list, listen, we've all been waiting for it. I've been waiting for it. You've been waiting for it. Every single person in France has been waiting for it, and Decathlon is delivering its Paul Sassas Tour de France debut. Decathlon's bringing it. It's happening

Godsmedicinecycling 5:58

I mean, uh, you know, our notes for this is li- there's only one way to find out, and that is the analysis here. If we, we have to wait and see, okay? EF Education, everybody's favorite highlighter pink breakaway team is back again. We will have Richard Carapaz back on, and he's really wily, and we cannot discount him when we start to get into those mountain stages. And then we also have Ben Healy, who had just a absolutely spectacular tour last year. He had days in the yellow jersey. He won stages. So I think he will be tilting his helmet riding to glory once more

hannah 6:42

One can hope. The nation of Ireland can hope. Groupama, six words. I have six words for you: newly minted French champion Romain Gregoire. That's my boy.

Godsmedicinecycling 6:56

covers it. I think that about covers it. He's looked in great, he's looked in great shape. he's coming into the tour peak condition, so... And he's, you know, he's gonna have the French flag on his back. Of course he's gonna push for something.

hannah 7:10

Bastille Day anyone?

Godsmedicinecycling 7:12

Lenny Martinez who? Uh, Paul Sex is who? Ineos, Ineos, Ineos. What are they up to? 'Cause I looked at their team, I don't know. Oscar Onley unfortunately has crashed out, and he will not be at the Tour de France. He probably would have been the team leader. They have Kevin Vauquelin and Thymen Arensman, who both had really big breakout years in 2025, and who clearly showed that they're able to ride through a Grand Tour at a very high level. So probably they'll be hoping for a repeat performance there. But it's a bit of a mixed bag, this team. And we will discuss some more players from that later on in our wild card section

hannah 7:59

Speaking of mixed bags, uh, we've got a grocery bag from Lidl with the Lidl-Trek team, uh, which is extremely confusing. We have Juan Ayuso, who's presumably their team leader. He's backed up by two other guys who could be team leaders, Matias Skjelmose and Derek Gee West.

Godsmedicinecycling 8:18

Mm-hmm.

hannah 8:18

So what's going on there? was already friction between some of these guys earlier in the season. The vibes seem a little bit off, which is weird for Lidl-Trek. They usually bring immaculate vibes. so this is either gonna be, like, a huge win for them or a really baffling miss, and what's, what's it all gonna hang on? The insane charisma of green jersey contender Mads Pedersen. If anyone can keep these guys in line, it is Mads

Godsmedicinecycling 8:45

Yeah, I mean, probably. It will be, that will be interesting. Obviously the results will be interesting to play out, but I think, uh, well, anybody who is of our minds has one eye glued to that team because they are in a really interesting position, a really interesting position. And there's a lot of big personalities on that team, and I say that mostly with love. Mostly.

hannah 9:11

We'll get into that a bit more later on

Godsmedicinecycling 9:13

Speaking of big personalities, Lotto, Lotto, I mean, everybody's hoping Arnaud De Lie is in shape, stays on his bike. and if he is in shape and does stay on his bike, there's no reason why he couldn't win a punchy stage or sprint stage, even be in the breakaway. Uh, that, that could be a really fun rider to watch on their team

hannah 9:33

Then we've got Movistar, who's another head-scratcher, although, you know, it's Movistar, so what do we expect? Um, th- it, their GC leader, I guess, is Kian Al-Jubouri. It's, it's not really clear what this team is doing. Their... When we prepped this podcast, their full team announcement wasn't out, and I'm gonna tell you, it wouldn't have helped us if it was. It's just confusing. What are they gonna be doing? I don't know. I think we'll see them in the breakaway. But if you know, if you looked at that team announcement and said, "I know what they're on about," listen to me. You are clairvoyant, and you need to go buy a lottery ticket right now

Godsmedicinecycling 10:10

Yeah. Either that or get into politics,

hannah 10:13

Yeah.

Godsmedicinecycling 10:15

NSN, they have Biniam Girmay, who won the green jersey in a pretty high-profile fashion. Everybody had a great time seeing him do that in 2024. But we are not so sure he's gonna recapture that magic this year. They also have Chris Neilands on this team now, and he put in work in the breakaway. So if you are looking for breakaway riders, and we always are, he's definitely one to watch. Plus, he'll be easy to spot 'cause their jerseys... Finally, another team with a colorful jersey. Okay, finally somebody with some pizzazz and some patterns

hannah 10:55

We love to see it Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe is bringing the new trident. Move over, Movistar. Um, their squad has the trio of Remco Evenepoel, Florian Lipowitz, and Jai Hindley, former Grand Tour winner, let's not forget, so is Remco, all of whom could potentially mount a GC campaign. I think this is really gonna come down to sort of how the Tourmalet stage plays out in the first week, and who's in a good position, and, and does the team make a call, I think will be really, really interesting to keep an eye on. I hope we have lots of cameras on these guys

Godsmedicinecycling 11:30

Yeah. And Florian Lipowitz, who if anybody wasn't watching last year, came in third. Okay, so he may not have won a Grand Tour, but if you're talking about who might podium the Tour de France, oh look, this guy's already done it. So we know he can get through the race. on to Soudal. Quick-Step have been returning to their roots as a classics team this year, and they've sort of taken a two-pronged approach to the Tour. They have a green jersey campaign for Tim Merlier, who is a very, very good sprinter, but probably can't get into the hilly stages even. He's not a punchy rider like some of these guys are. And then we have, Paris-Roubaix and Ilan Van Wilder as mountains guys. So again, if you're looking for breakaways, if you're looking for somebody who's gonna try and make a raid in the mountains, would put, we would put some cameras on these two guys

hannah 12:30

Yeah, nobody should forget Ilan Van Wilder coming out of, swooping out of nowhere

Godsmedicinecycling 12:35

Nowhere

hannah 12:37

Ventoux last year to boost Peripatra to victory. These two have done it before. I hope they can do it again. It was glorious to watch. It was really beautiful

Godsmedicinecycling 12:47

Elon Van Wilder was there, and he literally came out of nowhere. Vontu is my favorite stage, and you and I were both screaming at the TV when

hannah 12:56

Yeah

Godsmedicinecycling 12:56

It was genuinely probably, for me, one of, if not the most dramatic moments the whole tour. And it had nothing to do with GC,

hannah 13:05

No,

Godsmedicinecycling 13:05

Just

hannah 13:06

but it was beautiful

Godsmedicinecycling 13:07

you know, "Yeah, like, the GC's already sewn up." Okay, I'm sorry you didn't enjoy that. Sorry you have no love and whimsy in your heart

hannah 13:17

Onto Jayco. Jayco is bringing a team that could make a real run at the opening stage team time trial. They've got guys like Luke Plapp and Mauro Schmid. Personally, I think we're both excited, uh, for Michael Matthews to be in the squad. He was sidelined with injury for most of the season. I think he's done one race sort of in the run-up. Um, so I'm excited to see Bling back in the peloton, and then Ben O'Connor will also be there. And I have nothing further to say.

Godsmedicinecycling 13:46

Okay, I have no further questions. On to, uh, Picnic PostNL. so last year, Oscar Onley, who also had a breakout year, is on Picnic. And now they have just brought, and I say this with, uh, love in my heart, they've just brought some guys. just brought a sort of grab bag of their team. think th- they have no identity. I don't know what their objectives are. They're probably targeting a few stages that will be, I would say, maybe good for punchier riders, don't know what they're here to do. Uh, I

hannah 14:19

Couldn't tell ya

Godsmedicinecycling 14:20

that they know that, what they're here to do. They're clearly in a transition moment as a team, so that's reflected in their roster this year

hannah 14:28

Absolutely. We're into the heavy hitters on the GC end of it. Visma Lease a Bike. They're without Wout van Aert, Uh, Visma has marshaled the cavalry without him. Um, so Jonas Vingegaard is their GC leader. Longtime right-hand man Sepp Kuss will be there for him in the mountains, and his kind of bodyguard, Matteo Jorgenson. We love you, Matteo. they have some absolute engines on this team. The team time trial is gonna be scary, and quite frankly, the ITT. Like, so many of these guys could top 10 that stage. We've got Bruno Armirail, Victor Campenaerts. Eduardo Affini was sort of a question mark, but they have confirmed he is gonna be starting. Jonas won the Giro pretty handily earlier in the spring. He's going for the double. But this is for sure his main goal of the, the season, and Visma keeps saying that he's in incredible shape. So,

Godsmedicinecycling 15:19

Yeah. For anybody who's brand new to cycling, the Giro is another three-week stage race that takes place in Italy. So won a big, big race coming into this. UAE, of, uh, heavy hitters, I mean Tadej Pogačar. It's Tadej Pogačar, he's going for his fifth. he's looked great this year so far. He has a pretty stacked team from UAE because they have all the choice in the world. They're bringing Neils Politt, Tim Wellens, and Florin Rermeersch, who are all on the ruler side of things, controlling the peloton. They're gonna be the ones taking long, long pulls at the beginning of stages and controlling. And then they have a sort of mountain side of the team, Del Toro, Brandon McNulty, Adam Yates, and Felix Grossschartner. I think Del Toro especially, we could see podium, top five, certainly top 10. Yates has podiumed this tour before. We haven't seen him be quite on that level since, but he's a fantastic rider. I also think that, um, there's a lot of versatility in this team. They, they work really well together, which is, as you have noticed, a question mark we have about some teams. But then you get to Visma and UAE and, you know, one of the ways you win races is is absolutely far and away no question who the leaders on these two teams are and what everybody's role is, even with something like UAE where you could have two guys on the podium. I mean, Visma also, there's a run which Visma could have two guys on the podium. Sepp Kuss has won a Grand Tour. Uh, Jorgenson, I think everybody's hopeful that he will be, come big in the mountains. So those teams are locked and loaded. And unlike, you know, Picnic PostNL, they have one job.

hannah 17:06

Speaking of incredible teamwork, Uno X. They... Uh, l- I love these guys. They're, they're fun. They dusted the Norwegian National Championships, and, and they got Magnus Cort the Danish, jersey as well, which was, as he sort of put it, the, the hole in his palmares. He's retiring after this season. So ab- uh, applause to them. Good job. They're going into this tour with two, objectives. I think they're gonna try to support Tobias Halland Johannessen making it as far as he can in a GC bid. He did that to great effect last year with, um, you know, mostly, mostly sort of on his own in the high mountains, and I think it's s- sorta gonna be that again. Um, and they're gonna be stage hunting, which they've done, with great panache in previous seasons, and so we're looking forward to it. I think they have Varnes Bolger's on the roster maybe to contest some sprints as well.

Godsmedicinecycling 17:54

Yeah

hannah 17:56

unfortunately, they used some terrible AI imagery in their tour announcement, so

Godsmedicinecycling 18:02

Oh,

hannah 18:03

big minus points from us on that.

Godsmedicinecycling 18:06

Huge

hannah 18:06

That aside, their social media is great, so follow their Instagram. We, we, we do recommend it even though the tour announcement was really rough

Godsmedicinecycling 18:18

Well, it's baffling because they clearly do have the money. You know what I

hannah 18:22

Right

Godsmedicinecycling 18:24

Like, it's not like one guy who's like, "Oh, I have to do everything. I better use AI." In which case I would say just don't do it anyway. I

hannah 18:32

Right

Godsmedicinecycling 18:33

handwritten names on a Post-It. Also, EF, if you're looking for teams to

hannah 18:36

True

Godsmedicinecycling 18:37

socials, and EF's tour announcement, I have to say pretty slick.

hannah 18:41

That was good. That was good

Godsmedicinecycling 18:43

Um, moving on to Astana. Astana had a great 2025, surprising, I think, a lot of people. they've been pretty quiet this year. They will have climbers who could make a move or try and be part of a move in the mountains. They have Huguita and Tejada, who may try and make a play for it. I think Astana, when they come to the tour, they're always looking to win stages. And if they're going to do it, it seems like these two guys in the mountains will be their best bet. And, uh, as far as I can tell, they will work together.

hannah 19:17

Yeah

Godsmedicinecycling 19:17

always good to have a teammate, always good to have somebody else in the break make a move, some support, have a two-pronged approach, whatever you want. So I think that's not so bad for them, but yeah, more of a narrow, uh, roster as compared to some of their previous years. And then of course they had Mark Cavendish for, like, a bucket load of wins a couple of years ago to try and get a bucket load of wins. So they're also one of those teams that's a little bit of transition period, I think

hannah 19:43

Um, also transitioning, but not in the way they might want to be, Cofidis. They were relegated at the end of last season. it was... The relegation battle was hotly contested last season, um, and they found themselves on the wrong end of it. So these guys are riding for pride. They're gonna be riding for pride. They're gonna be in the breakaway. They will be French riders in the breakaway in the Tour de France

Godsmedicinecycling 20:08

It's a shame because I support their jersey so much. Like, they saw all of the warm colors and they were like, "Color block it,"

hannah 20:16

Yep

Godsmedicinecycling 20:16

their designer said, "Absolutely no problem. On it, boss." Again, I've loved their jersey, so that's a real shame. Uh, speaking of, uh, teams with panache, though, Tudor Pro. T- Tudor Pro basically, they're just charisma farming, okay? They, they

hannah 20:32

Yeah

Godsmedicinecycling 20:33

they have Storer, they have Matteo Trentin, amongst others, okay? We're just pulling out the highlights here for you. mean, they could be in any breakaway. They could cause any mayhem. Uh, I think they could even try for King of the Mountains campaign or a mountain stage win with Michael Storer,

hannah 20:52

Mm-hmm.

Godsmedicinecycling 20:52

we have seen in many races before riding his little heart out on high terrain with no support. This is a team full of people that are, are just willing to put it on the line. Trentin can win a sprint in the right, uh, situation, so they will be... I hope they will be a very fun team, like some of these other teams with just a lot of options, a lot of guys willing to go out and take some risks and make it happen

hannah 21:15

I hope so too. Alaphilippe gave an interview, I think it was this morning, we're recording on Wednesday, July 1st. I think it was earlier today where he was saying, you know, stage one is his huge objective for this tour, and I would love to see it happen

Godsmedicinecycling 21:29

Everyone would love to see it happen. Roman Gregoire who? Paul Sec says who? Lenny Martinez who?

hannah 21:37

Um, okay, so now we've got TotalEnergies. Here, here's what I have to say. At literally every possible opportunity,

Godsmedicinecycling 21:45

Mm-hmm

hannah 21:46

sends somebody into the break, mostly to get TV coverage for their sponsors, right? Because they have struggled to consistently get big tour results. But they are so endearing about it. They are so... There's something so charming about them in the media breakaway. And then last year, they were doing this, and they also managed to get Jordan Jagot top 10 GC Which honestly, incredible result for them. Hats off to TotalEnergy. Nobody saw that coming. Um, and Jordan Jagoth's back on the team. All of their breakaway riders are back on the team. look for them. They will be there

Godsmedicinecycling 22:21

Yeah. I will say when Total Energy gets a surprise, it's a big surprise. So,

hannah 22:28

Soup? Do we remember Jeffrey Soup?

Godsmedicinecycling 22:31

do

hannah 22:31

win in the Vuelta?

Godsmedicinecycling 22:32

Geoffrey Soupe? Okay, do we? Do we remember? I, for context, this is my best fantasy moment ever. I had put him on my team. I had replaced him as a rider. I had doubled my points on him the day that he came out of nowhere and won that stage. So first of all, I would really like to thank you, Mr. Soupe, for all that you've done for me. really been incredible. then we have, we only have two more teams. We have Caja Rural. I think that they may simply go ham in the Spanish stages. They'll be in their home country, big start, big energy. Um, and otherwise they will be there to, you know, like Total Energy, get in wherever they can, try and get a big surprise, try and find some luck

hannah 23:20

Mm-hmm. And then the last team taking the start line is Pinarello Q36.5. Tom Pidcock's back. Tom Pidcock is back in the tour, baby

Godsmedicinecycling 23:30

He's back and he has free rein, okay?

hannah 23:33

He's back and he can do what he wants.

Godsmedicinecycling 23:35

boy in. T- Tom Peacock is here to ride

hannah 23:39

How will he ride? We don't know, but he's here to ride

Godsmedicinecycling 23:43

He's here, he's, he is, he's riding free. You know what? I think we could see from Pinarello Q36.5 this year is people coming up big in service of Tom Pidcock. Whether or not Tom Pidcock is gonna land something, I think, again, because this, uh, is a team with a very clear point at the front. So that, that could be sort of heartwarming. Here's what I will say, though, as I'm giving the jersey reports. They released their Tour de France jersey, and it looks like the riders are sweating blue sweat from their armpits, and it sort of stained the armpit area of their jersey. That's what it looks like. I'm so sorry they didn't run it by me. For the low, low price of, say, $100,000, I'd be happy to m- no, friends and family discount, 10,000, I'd be happy to give my give my input next year Well

hannah 24:29

our team's

GC Frontrunner Discussion

hannah 24:30

sort of preview. Uh, shall we dive in and go deeper on the front runners for the GC?

Godsmedicinecycling 24:38

we shall. before we start this, last year we saw a lot of breakout riders, a lot of guys fighting super hard in the top 10, and we expect to see a lot of those guys fighting hard again and a, some people coming up. So this is not, like, front-runners in terms of who's gonna make top 10. We're really focused on the podium here, otherwise we, we would all be here for about four and a half hours. We're trying to keep it tight, okay? And in terms of that, and obviously there can always be surprises, but here's our sort of shortlist. Looking at the riders and the teams, you have to start with Tadej Functionally, somebody at this point in his career has to prove that they can win against him a Grand Tour or even something like the Dauphiné for us to say he's not the far and away favorite. And this is with who's won two Tours de France, in the race. he has just been on another level. Um, you know, there's... He's been amazing this year. He destroyed Tour de Suisse. Uh, he had a great classic season. He's got a very strong team. There's the sort of asterisk here for UAE of Isaac del Toro, I think is perfectly capable of podiuming this race. I don't think there will be a leadership struggle. I think it may be one of those things where I think what UAE would like is the last two in the mountains are their guys, and then, you know, you can do whatever you want at that stage. But, that would be... I mean, anybody who's telling you don't bet on Pogačar is a Vingegaard fan. So should we... Do you have other things to say on Pogi, or should we just move it on to Jonas and I can kick it to you?

hannah 26:27

I, listen, if, if we both said everything that we have to say about Pogi, we would literally never leave. So let's move on to Jonas.

Godsmedicinecycling 26:33

Yeah

hannah 26:34

Jonas, as we said earlier, is going for the Giro Tour double. and Visma has been in the media saying he's really on another level compared to where he was at last year, that his numbers are looking better than ever. he's won everything he's raced this year, which has been Paris-Nice, Catalunya, and the Giro, and none of them have looked particularly difficult for him, let's say. he's, he's been cruising. so I think he is in really good shape. I think we're all hoping for a good race between him and Tadea. But as you said, T- Tadea has just been, yeah, at such an elite point that, you know, you gotta, you gotta beat him for him to not be the favorite. Jonas could do it. We'll see. Um, so one of my sort of questions around Jonas is, when Pogacar went for the Giro Tour double a couple of seasons ago, this was this really big like, "Oh, wow, is he making this huge mistake? Will he be able to maintain the level at the Tour?" And I have not been seeing that discussion happening around Jonas at all. Um, I don't know if I just, it's just not the, the cycling folks that I follow or, or if it's genuinely not happening. I haven't been seeing it. there, it has been this kind of like myth around Jonas, m- maybe, maybe it's true, I don't know, that he just gets stronger and stronger as the three weeks in a Grand Tour goes on, that he's at a higher level. I think I saw some, maybe it was Visma, that he's like often at a higher level in the Vuelta when he goes there after the Tour. and so I, it just doesn't seem like anybody's worried about his performance in the Tour, and it seems like a lot of people were really worried about Pogi's performance in the Tour a few years ago. So maybe that means nothing. I don't know. Uh, it's just something that I've been thinking about a lot as we head into, you the Grande part.

Godsmedicinecycling 28:17

Yeah. Oh, man. We could talk about differences in the media narratives of these guys for a long time. Um, but, uh, in the spirit of keeping it moving, I'm going to transition us into Remco Evenepoel. Now, he hasn't raced since Liège in the spring, so it's kind of hard to know his condition. But of course, it is perfectly possible to come into The Tour in great shape just off of doing a training block. There's no law of the land that says you have to race a one-week tune-up or anything else. If he is more comfortable at altitude camp, if it's, you know, that, uh, more controlled environment, things like that, he could be coming in in ripping shape. It will be a wait and see. We do not know. obviously the time trials are going to suit him. And th- th- Remco has an interesting situation. Like, with UAE, there's a sort of asterisk of Florian Lipowitz. think it's actually a little underrating Florian Lipowitz to call him an asterisk. Again, he podiumed last year with not the team that was expecting to do that with him. And this will be, it will just be very, very interesting to see how this all plays out for Remco. The other thing is we've always had this question, can Remco race in the mountains in The Tour? Can Remco race in the mountains for three weeks? We were kind of hoping to answer that last year. Unfortunately, he was injured and he pulled out. so this is sort of a, it, it feels weird to me almost that we continue asking this because he has raced extremely well in the Vuelta. He's raced extremely well in the Giro. He may even have won okay, the, these races, which all contain a lot of climbing. So I'm not exactly sure where this narrative comes from, but this year we'll find out the answer. And yeah, with the, the asterisk, I should say, of Florian Lipowitz, who you have a bit more to say about, I think

hannah 30:06

Yeah. Well, I think that part of the question around Remco comes from the fact that he often, in a Grand Tour, does have a day that he just has a big crap. Like, he has won the Vuelta, but he's also raced a Vuelta where he lost half an hour on the Tourmalet, and then went on a bunch of insane breakaway raids, which was a joy to watch. Um, you know, so he bounced back. But I think that Red Bull this year is hedging their bets a little bit, and they've gone very upfront, and they've announced that Florian Lipowitz is the co-leader of this team. That's how these two are being billed, um, which I think is really interesting. No, they are

Godsmedicinecycling 30:44

They've, they've had a little flippy-floppy from some of these comments

hannah 30:50

I'm pulling up their team announcement, 'cause I swear I read that, like, today

Godsmedicinecycling 30:54

But they've previously They have had, what I've seen in the media is they are saying from one side of their mouth these guys are equal, and from the other side of their mouth they're saying they're equal but Remco Evenepoel is more equal than Lipowitz. It seems like there's, they're not 100% sure what to, how to play this. I don't know if they're managing in- internally or external pressure or what it is, but it feels a bit inconsistent from what I've seen

hannah 31:24

Well, I, I mean, I think it's both. I think they're trying to sort of hedge from both sides, from inside and outside. But they do, in their official Tour announcement, the headline is, With a dual leadership approach, and then the lead is Remco and Florian will lead Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe as co-leaders. So I, I am sure, yeah, that there's been, like, different things sort of flying around, but that's the official party line that's on the website, which I think is really interesting. I think is really interesting. And as we sort of said earlier, my guess is they're gonna wait until the Tourmalet, which is very early in the Tour. It's in the first week. Um, and they're gonna see how it goes, and they're gonna see who loses time or who gains time, and then they're gonna back whoever's in a better position, would be my guess. I don't know. I'm not in their minds. Lipowitz has had a good start to the season. He came in second to Pogačar and Romandie. He was only 42 seconds behind, um, so that's a great result for him, honestly. Um, and he was third in Catalunya, which Jonas Vingegaard won. Um, Lipowitz was 1 minute 30 back. Lenny Martinez was just ahead of him, and then he and Martinez flipped spots in, in Romandie. So he's had a good tune-up. It seems like he's in good shape. As you've mentioned, he podiumed last year. I see no reason why he won't have, you know, a, a good Tour. I think this is just gonna be what is Bora's game plan, and how long does it take them to make a decision? I think that could be the thing that hurts, honestly, either rider or both riders, is if team management waits too long to make a call

Godsmedicinecycling 33:03

Well, so I just fact-checked myself, and, uh, Rolf Dank said late June that Remco is still the team leader and Florian Lipowitz is a bit of a second man. Um,

hannah 33:16

Fascinating

Godsmedicinecycling 33:17

so that's what I'm saying about, they're kind of saying one thing and then the other.

hannah 33:22

Yeah

Godsmedicinecycling 33:23

I mean, I take all your points. I'm not arguing with your poi- I think it's just that we don't 100% know what's going on there, and the thing that will be really interesting is do they let them fight it out on the road

hannah 33:35

Mm-hmm.

Godsmedicinecycling 33:36

There's a world in which that is the stupidest

hannah 33:39

Right. That's what I'm saying

Godsmedicinecycling 33:40

the middle of the Tour de France, I mean, this is this is actually th- this is a perfect transition to want to use some little trek. There's also another way in which when you are managing these personalities and everybody really does think, "No, I'm the guy." And by the way, you have to think I'm the guy to get on the podium at the

hannah 34:01

Mm-hmm.

Godsmedicinecycling 34:01

so I don't have a problem with any of these people thinking, "I'm the guy." That's a type of delusional, you know, fuel that you need to be a professional athlete. when you have two people like that, are they going to accept anything other than the cold hard fact of, did this guy actually literally beat me the race? Which is tough. It's tough when you're supposedly in a little team sport, okay? And you're all supposedly on the same team. Speaking of Juan Ayuso on Little Trek, and then as you mentioned, we've got Derek G West and Matteo Scalmozza. Now, I would say, and I love Scalmozz, so this is pains me to say, I would put... Honestly, I would put Derek G over Scalmozz or Juan Ayuso just because had really consistent results. He is-- His head is very cool. He knows how to play his cards, and we've seen him deliver big, big results, not always with the full behind him.

hannah 35:13

Mm-hmm.

Godsmedicinecycling 35:13

It was a big move for him to come to Little Trek I think Juan Ayuso and Skulmosa are both very talented riders. Both have not quite lived up to maybe what some of the media said they were going to do, maybe some of what they themselves thought they were going to do. and so this is a very, like how are they going to deal with this and these personalities on the road? I do not know.

hannah 35:40

Yeah, me neither. Here's what I'll say, just to add on, is that, um, everybody should be watching both the Spanish and the Danish media very carefully as we go through this, the navigation here, because Juan Ayuso has been known to really run his mouth in the Spanish press, and Mattias Skjelmose is incapable of not running his mouth to the Danish press.

Godsmedicinecycling 36:02

Yeah.

hannah 36:03

The, the drama will be there.

Godsmedicinecycling 36:05

capable of

hannah 36:06

Yes.

Godsmedicinecycling 36:06

to the media. In fact, that seems like his number one trait, which you know what?

hannah 36:10

He,

Godsmedicinecycling 36:10

okay?

hannah 36:11

it for him. He will keep his mouth shut. But the other two will be airing their dirty laundry, and I can't wait to read about it

Godsmedicinecycling 36:19

Gee came fifth at the Giro this year, so that's

hannah 36:20

Mm-hmm.

Godsmedicinecycling 36:21

person who's been... And that's the case as well with, um, Jai Hindley was at the Giro. So we have some people who are, you know, these are quote-unquote, "supporters" on the team, and maybe they've had their race, but then again, if they look really, really good, if I was Little Trek and Derek Gee looked amazing, not gonna be like, "Oh, well, he rode the Giro, so..." Like, I don't really think that that's how it works

hannah 36:45

Yeah

Godsmedicinecycling 36:46

trying to get results on the road, that becomes where we get a lot of politicking, uh, which again, we will see leak out to, to the media. And then we have, we have Pauwse XS, which is, it's a question mark because nobody's seen him ride the Tour de France before. uh, but everybody wants to. and he is the only person, maybe other than Van der Poel in recent memory in a classics race who, when Poggy absolutely went shreddy spaghetti on everybody, kind of stuck around in the hills. So I think that got everybody kind of double excited, 'cause they were

hannah 37:29

Oh, yeah

Godsmedicinecycling 37:29

this guy got, has got the watts," as if everybody was not already excited

hannah 37:35

Yeah. I mean, he's had a bunch of good results. He had, I believe, a crash in the Dauphiné, which the team says he's recovered from. He d- but he did DNF the Dauphiné, so I guess we should note that. Um, but he won Itzulia Basque Country. He won, or he came second in Algarve, I think. yeah, he won Fleche Wallonne. He was second in Liège. He's had a really good season so far. and it's all building up to this, and it's sort of... It's hard to talk about Paul Saxe without talking about, like, the, what the French media is doing to him, and what they have done historically to anybody who looks like they could contest the Tour de France. I'm thinking of Thibaut Pinot. I'm thinking, of course, about, you know, one of our favorite riders, Romain Bardet, who they have... Decathlon has actually brought Bardet on to, uh, I think his role will essentially be to mentor Paul Saxe, but he doesn't start until the 2027 season. and I, I almost wish that they'd managed to bring him on board for, for the debut, 'cause I think it's just gonna be a lot. I think the pressure is gonna be maybe the heaviest on Paul Saxe over all of the, the favorites. I mean, I know Remco is constantly under fire in the Belgian press, and the pressure on Pog and Jonas to perform is, is always there. But it feels different, because it's, you know, f- it's a French kid in the Tour de France. The French media is going bananas, and they have been going crazy about him for years already, and he's so young. And, you know, we ha- he hasn't been through it at this scale yet. So, what is gonna shake out is anybody's guess. I hope that the team, you know, is, supports him in the way that he needs to be supported and sort of, like, circles the wagons around him, if needed. And I, I would love to see this kid have a great race. I think that's another sort of question, because of all of the media around him, is what, what does a good Tour de France result look like for Paul Saxe? Like, is this win or bust? I think a lot of France would say yes. I think that's crazy. I don't know.

Godsmedicinecycling 39:39

if he was on the podium. I

hannah 39:41

Yeah.

Godsmedicinecycling 39:41

what is a good result for him is, uh, even could be further down than the podium for me. Do you wanna know something that I don't hear enough people talking about? Paul Sexius has never ridden in any Grand Tour. This is not just his first Tour de France. Poggy raced the

hannah 40:00

He did the wheel tilt.

Godsmedicinecycling 40:01

won the Tour. Remco raced the Vuelta, he raced the Giro before he did the Tour. Like, most people are not coming onto their teams in this era as the team leader, as the big hope in their first And that's sort of something where I guess... And again, maybe it's just the outlets that I'm reading, everybody's like, "It's his first Tour de France." It's his first Grand Tour, period.

hannah 40:30

Yeah

Godsmedicinecycling 40:31

I'm sure he really wants to go. I'm sure the team is not forcing him. I'm sure it's been, this has been his dream since he got on a bike I don't know. I don't know. Maybe he's an extremely mature, very professional, you know, absolutely outstanding young rider who is going to be capable of absorbing this all without a problem. I mean, it's not as though we haven't seen young riders do that. I mean, I, I actually think Florian Lipowitz last year is a great example of taking a lot of, in that case, a bit more unexpected pressure, but, you know, he very clearly was able to manage that very well. It's not that nobody is that guy, but if he isn't that guy, it's gonna be very painful for the team, for the media, not just for him. Um, although obviously I, I do think that there is some sort of pastoral responsibility for somebody this young on the part of Decathlon, which is obviously why they've brought in Bardet Okay, we're gonna move on to the sprinters.

Green Jersey Flash Rundown

Godsmedicinecycling 41:28

Um, unlike the GC guys... Well, first of all, sprinting is very chaotic, okay? So you cannot predict always who's gonna win, and also a lot of crashes. Pretty hard to say who's gonna be in the jersey, in part because they have to, they just have to get to the end of the race. So we're going to, as the sprinters I think would want us to do, absolutely speed run this. it away, Hannah

hannah 41:52

Okay. Jasper Philipsen, Olav Kooij, Pippo Ganna question mark, we'll get there later, Mads Pedersen, Arnaud De Lie, Biniam Girmay, Tim Merlier, Michael Matthews, and Soren Waerenskjold. Any of them could, any of them could win any of these sprints. It's, this field is wide open

Godsmedicinecycling 42:11

And also other people that we didn't mention.

hannah 42:13

Yes.

Godsmedicinecycling 42:14

are gonna be nuts.

hannah 42:15

Yeah

Godsmedicinecycling 42:15

especially on f- the super flat stages with a bunch sprint. Who knows?

King of the Mountains Disclaimer

Godsmedicinecycling 42:22

Uh,

hannah 42:22

Shall we get to our King of the Mountains disclaimer?

Godsmedicinecycling 42:25

Yeah. Remember how we said, no one can really predict this sprint? If we were going to try and predict King of the Mountains, we would need a crystal ball. Because so much of this depends on what has gone wrong for your team. Are you all of a sudden a lieutenant that's there out on the road alone? You know you're not gonna podium, and your team decides, "We'd rather see you in the jersey. We'd rather win you a prize and have you on the podium." Because there are teams that would rather have that or rather send you on a stage win than have somebody come, 12th. That's completely legitimate. So a lot of the times in the past few tours, how we've seen the KOM coalesce is people who have gotten strategic points. Sometimes it's people who are gunning for it specifically, but sometimes it's later in the race guys realize, "Okay, maybe I won a stage I didn't expect to win. Maybe my leader is gonna have these points 'cause I was riding with him, and I've collected enough to take this seriously." And then we can kind of see these battles. So it's a combination of factors here. I am not a betting man when it comes to KOM. Do you have anything to add? Do you think I've misrepresented things here?

hannah 43:38

Well, I think what I would add is that the other thing that happens with KOM is that there's a lot of points for summit finishes, and those often go to the GC contenders. So if it's not a sort of concerted effort, and depending on how the points are weighted out across the stages, which we'll dive more into in our, like, route previews as we're going through the Tour in 10, the KOM goes to the, whoever wins GC, right? Like, Pog has been in the polka dot jersey for many days in his tours, for example. Um, and so that's... I think that's the, the other asterisk on KOM, is that it's not always a fight between guys who are specifically gunning for it.

Wildcard Discussion

Godsmedicinecycling 44:18

Yep. That, that is a great point. We are now going to move on to the wild cards. As with everything, we could spend ages talking about all these guys. We'll start with Emil Verstraeten. What I have to say is I watched this kid ride in cyclocross. Man, can he ride. He has an engine. He's not afraid to make a move. riding for Alpecin, and they are always happy to pull out the stops in the tour, and they always give guys chances. I think he's a good candidate to take a chance

hannah 44:50

I agree. I would love to see an Emil Vristringa breakaway. That's, that's what I will say about him. He had some good classics results, and I think if he picks the stage, if Alpecin picks the stage, off he goes

Godsmedicinecycling 45:01

Tiesj Benoot, listen, devastating for me, 'cause I had just decided to be a Tiesj Benoot fan. He's been injured basically all of this year, so we don't know what his form is like. But I think that there is a chance, uh, depending on how things go for Decathlon, that he could get a leash to do something. I think we could also see them send him as some sort of weird satellite rider. He could be controlling things. I know he's a good rider, and again, part of the wild card is what is happening on your team. We don't know with Decathlon, it's a big question mark. he is... He has a lot of racing experience, so if they need somebody to step up and try and make something happen, I could see him doing it

hannah 45:47

I think part of the reason Tiesj is in the wild cards for me is not necessarily for an individual result for himself, but because I think he will be one of, if not the key teammates for Paul Seixas. I think he is so experienced, and he was so successful for Jonas when his time on Visma. And Seixas needs that because as we've have discussed, he's so young, and this is his first grand tour. I think Benoot is really gonna... If Seixas is gonna get a good result, it will be in part because of what Benoot brings to the team

Godsmedicinecycling 46:21

Moving on, Filippo Ganna. Um, has anyone watched a bike race with him in it? I think we understand why he's on this list. c- could sprint, he could win a TT stage maybe, although these aren't necessarily the best for him. I mean, I think Ineos is gonna try pretty hard on the TTT, uh, he has had success on slightly less mountainous classics he's willing to attack, he's willing to ride. If he's trying to shut something down, I'm pretty sure it's gonna get shut down. So, and I think Ineos has the leeway where if he's feeling good, not?

hannah 47:04

Yeah. I think Ganna's so funny because he shouldn't be a wild card, right? He should be a lock for sprints. He should be a lock for TTs. He should be a lock for anything that's classic style. But you kinda never know what you're gonna get with him, and, you- well, with the time trials, you more or less... With a flat time trial, no question, you know what you're getting. But everything else is kind of like, which version of Ganna is gonna- are we gonna get? Is it gonna be classics Ganna? Is it gonna be ruler Ganna? Is it gonna be Ganna sprinting? So, it, you know, I'm excited. Which Ganna will it be? We'll all find out together.

Godsmedicinecycling 47:38

Chris Askey, pretty quick mention here. He was second at the British Championships very recently. He had a really solid classic season. He's on NSN, which is a team that certainly will be happy, I think, to send riders in the break and try and make something happen, and he seems like he's in shape, and why not?

hannah 47:58

Yeah, he rode really well in the spring, like you said. He seems to have a good race sense. I think he could get something done for NSN

Godsmedicinecycling 48:04

Maxime Van Gils we have next. I feel like this is a little bit of wishing and hoping because he is on Bora,

hannah 48:12

True

Godsmedicinecycling 48:12

If Bora is falling into line, he probably will be a really great mountain domestique. But if things blow up, baby, I'm, I'm, I'm Team Maxime Van Gils. I think he, I think he will be a very key rider, no matter what actually, because he is versatile, reliable, and we've seen him stick around in some pretty dicey situations

hannah 48:38

Yeah, I agree. I think if, if disaster strikes Red Bull, why not Maxim Van Gils, you know, mountain stage win? Why not? Could happen. He's in good shape right now, I think

Godsmedicinecycling 48:50

Yeah. And I'm just gonna, uh, amend this as well. If we had to throw another Bora rider in there, Jai Hindley. He's in

hannah 48:57

Bye

Godsmedicinecycling 48:58

He's he- heeking on the breakaway. He's been in the yellow jersey. Again, just in a world where chaos is reigning on Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe, maybe he profits

hannah 49:09

Well, and this, he's kind of similar to Derrick G. West in that he is, like, so kinda chill and even-keeled, and if his feathers are ruffled, we're not gonna know about it until after the fact. So if things are, you know, exploding around him, he's just gonna keep riding up those mountains, baby

Godsmedicinecycling 49:29

He also will be a really key domestique,

hannah 49:31

Yeah

Godsmedicinecycling 49:32

and very well could be the last guy up for them. Or even if they're all feeling good, we might see three Bora guys and they have options, and that's the best wildcard situation is who are they gonna send up the road? Are they gonna triple attack? What's gonna happen here? To have Jai as somebody in that position with you would... It, it's an embarrassment of riches. I mean, Bora does have a very, very strong team. It's the politics we're worried about, not the talent of the

hannah 49:58

Yeah, absolutely. Moving on, we've talked about him a little bit already, but we love him, let's mention him again, Ilan Van Wilder. The boy can climb, and he, he wants results for his team. You know, I think he was very clear about that last year and he got it done. The Ventoux stage, again, lives large in both of our memories. It was... That was electric. And he got the result for Paris-Nice that day. I would love to see him get a result for himself in this tour

Godsmedicinecycling 50:25

I, yeah, I agree. I don't have anything else to add there, especially 'cause we've already talked about him. That's, we're on the same page. We've put on this list Jasper Stuyven and then a bunch of question marks. First of all, he's looked good this season. I mean, he's looked good many seasons. He's a very, long-standing member of the Peloton. He's got a brain in his head. He knows how to win. I think, why not? I think everybody would love to see Jasper Stuy- I think he will be in breakaways, I think he will be using his smarts, using his skills. Why not? Why not-

hannah 51:00

Yeah. Nothing to add. I think you've covered it. Now we've got Ion Izagirre. He's won stages before. He's having a decent season. Breakaway could work out for him if the sort of right combination of things happens, and if that does happen, I think that would be, you know, that would really make Cofidis' tour. So they will try to, to manufacture that for him

Godsmedicinecycling 51:23

Yeah, I agree. And because Cofidis you know, I think they will be trying to throw something out there and looking at their team, he certainly, well, we know he can win stages in Grand Tours, and that's always,, I think something that makes you confident when you're, you might be trying to find that move is, you know, you kind of have the rhythm of that and how those stages play out. Moving on, we have another Brit, who will be very easy to spot hopefully, because he's actually the British champion yet again, not his first time in the jersey. It's Fred Wright. in good shape. I mean, clearly he's just won the British Championships. he's on Q36, so I think I think that whole team is gonna ride really hard for Tom Pidcock, but I, I don't know what their relationship is, but I, I would imagine they know each other because they're both British cyclists, and I would hope they get along and have a rapport. And I think he could be a key rider for them both in supporting Tom Pidcock, but also in maybe taking his own chances and going for, you know, his own opportunities if, if the team is going to let riders do that. I think we have seen that Fred Wright has potential and can make moves. We haven't necessarily always seen it pay off. But that's, again, that's not exactly what the wild card is about, right? It's not always about the payoff. Sometimes it's about the gumption of making the move

hannah 52:44

I agree. Uh, the only thing I would add is that, yeah, I think all of the Q36 riders are gonna be marshaled around Tom Pidcock. But I think that also as long as they do that, they will have the leeway to go for their own chances whenever the opportunity arises, because I think this is a team that results of any kind in this tour. So yeah, why not? And then our, our last inclusion on the wildcard list, I think a favorite of both of ours, it's Kwiatkowski, the perennial wildcard. You can never count this man out. He is so wily. He is so slick and so sly. I love the guy. I love watching him ride. I love him in a breakaway. Who doesn't love him in a breakaway? Watching him just outwit and outplay in terms of the tactics the other guys in the breakaway and, like, whittling them down one by one, it is a masterclass. It is glorious to watch, and I hope that we get to do it

Godsmedicinecycling 53:37

Agreed. Then we have a sort of twist on the wild cards. We talk a lot about teams that give a lot of chances, so we want to shout out. We think we have a few teams that have the sweet spot. They have the talent to do something, they have the leeway where they don't have the, the Poggi or the Jonas on the team where that's just kind of gonna be it, and they have the sort of willingness to let people take different chances and go for some different goals. That's our sort of golden triangle here. The three teams that we've picked out for this is EF, Quick-Step, and Uno-X. We've already talked about them. I'm pretty sure you can understand why. those are teams that we can really see having that wild card gumption, making those moves, taking their chances, being in the break, sending a rider out, seeing what happens. And sometimes, it, you know, again, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but I think that they will do it

hannah 54:38

And then there's the other team that we've included on our full team of wild card stack, which is Little Trek, which we've also already talked about a bit. They're here because they might totally implode. The politicking that is gonna happen could completely derail them, in which case this is an extremely talented team that will be doing whatever they can to salvage the situation. Their, their team is stacked, and if the GC absolutely falls apart, they're gonna... I mean, they're for sure gonna back Pedersen for the green jersey. They're gonna do that anyway, but they'll really put most of their eggs into that basket. And then I think literally everybody else on the team will be told, "Just win a stage however you want to." And who would I love to win a stage? All of them, but Toms Skujins. I want a Toms Skujins stage win for Little Trek. Toms, we love you

Godsmedicinecycling 55:30

Yeah. Imagine this. The team absolutely shatters, okay? Pedersen gets the weirdest, longest sprint train That obviously

hannah 55:43

Yeah.

Godsmedicinecycling 55:44

want Mads Pedersen, uh, to clean up at this tour, and I think that's also their, you know... If Mads can be out there doing Mads Pedersen things, there's no reason to think he can't get some big results. And if things are falling apart on one end, I, if I know one thing about Mads Pedersen, he's not falling apart. He

hannah 56:07

Correct

Godsmedicinecycling 56:07

he's going out and trying to get it, and whatever else is happening, know what? Fine, okay? So I think, know we've been kind of hard on Little Trek. It's 'cause it's impossible. I would love to be a fly on the wall.

hannah 56:20

Oh my God, yeah

Godsmedicinecycling 56:21

a fly on the wall. But if there is one thing that will be an anchor for this team, not just because of his personality, but because of his singular dedication, it is Mads Pedersen

hannah 56:32

Yeah. And everybody on the team loves him. Like, this team rallies around him, and he, and he deserves it. He, he works as hard for them as they do for him, so Okay, shall we get into what we're

Podium Predictions

hannah 56:43

both, I think, putting off a little bit, the podium predictions?

Godsmedicinecycling 56:47

I, I, don't understand to do this Um, okay, you go first.

hannah 57:00

Okay, here's what I've got. Pog to win, Jonas second,

Godsmedicinecycling 57:05

Yeah

hannah 57:06

I think maybe with a closer gap than last year in terms of the timing, but I think Pog first, Jonas second. And then I think a Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe rider will be on the third step. Which one? Gun to my head, I would be boring,

Godsmedicinecycling 57:20

right

hannah 57:21

and I'm gonna say Lipowitz. I think it's gonna be the same podium as last year. I don't know why. I, uh, you know, I actually think that Remco's lack of race days might be in his favor, because he's not injured. so it could very well be Remco. I just have a good feeling about Lipowitz. I think he's a really good climber, and I think he is pretty even-keeled, and I just... That's just my, my sort of gut feeling. I think it's gonna be a Red Bull guy and, and it could be an- any of the three, but gun to my head, I'm gonna say Lipowitz

Godsmedicinecycling 57:51

Yeah. I'm about to do something nuts. Just in the spirit, the wild card spirit of God's Medicine,

hannah 57:58

PulseX Oscar winner?

Godsmedicinecycling 57:59

win. No. I think Poggy's gonna win, and then I think it's gonna be Remco Evenepoel, and third, I think it's Florian Lipowitz. I think Remco's gonna get the edge in the TTs. everybody's gonna be neck and neck. I think the Giro-Tour double... I don't know if I actually think this,

hannah 58:19

Mm-hmm.

Godsmedicinecycling 58:19

But I, for the sake of saying something that somebody hasn't said before, the Giro-Tour double is a gamble. I think Vingego is going to get fatigued. I think he doesn't have the team that maybe is as agile in the mountains as Bora. And I think somehow Florian Lipowitz, Remco Evenepoel are gonna mind-meld. They're gonna want to attack this guy after Poggy goes off, and they're just gonna grind it away. everybody's gonna be shocked and floored, and it's gonna be like headline after headline. You heard it here first, okay?

hannah 58:59

I'm sure you remember Oscar Onley telling the press last year, "I have to stop buying Red Bull because these guys keep rolling attacks on me and I can't keep funding it."

Godsmedicinecycling 59:09

Yeah

hannah 59:10

We're gonna see it again potentially.

Godsmedicinecycling 59:12

Yeah.

hannah 59:12

my only question...

Godsmedicinecycling 59:14

unites people, it's a common enemy.

hannah 59:16

Yes

Godsmedicinecycling 59:16

I'm talking, like, I'm talking, like, enemy number one wanted posters in the Red Bull Bar Hansgrohe bus, and it's just Jonas Vingegaard, like, photocopied.

hannah 59:29

My question before we wrap up this segment is, are we both going to rue the day that we left Paul Sechasa off of the podium?

Godsmedicinecycling 59:38

Okay, actually, I take it back. Uh, Pogacar abandons because he gets rocked by Paul Sexxus and immediately decides to retire while he's still on top. Paul Sexxus wins the Tour. And then

hannah 59:51

And then Remco Levrets. Okay

Godsmedicinecycling 59:56

Well, if we're just saying crazy things, I would

hannah 59:58

One user goes missing somewhere in the massive central

Godsmedicinecycling 1:00:02

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Actually, he'd never leave Spain. He thinks, "You know what? I, I could stay here for the rest of my life." Just riding around Barcelona for fun now.

hannah 1:00:12

Let's wrap it up before we get any more outlandish with it. So for this Tour de France, as we said, we are going to be doing the Tour in 10. This is a 10-minute recap plus preview every day. We will spend five minutes on the day's action and five minutes looking ahead to the next stage, so you can stay on top of all the story lines even if you can't watch a given stage. For longer discussions like this one, we will be back on the rest days for extended pods, and we will have a big old Tour recap once it is all over to try and make sense of one of the most beautiful and chaotic events on the sporting calendar. Do not forget, if you are listening to this before the first stage of the Tour, sign up for our Velogames fantasy leagues. This is Velogames. This is set your team and then pray. You do not have to make substitutions. You do not have to points double. You will drive yourself insane making your team, and after that it is zero effort. So join our league. The league code, once again, is 775623137, and you can find us at godsmedicinecycling.com

Godsmedicinecycling 1:01:21

One more thing about the fantasy league. If you are listening to this after the tour has already started and you made a VeloGames team for any other leagues, you can add yourself to our league. If

hannah 1:01:31

Yes

Godsmedicinecycling 1:01:31

make a team, you gotta get that in before the Saturday cutoff. But if you've already made a team, you can join ours after the fact. Okay, please not if you've discovered you're really good at fantasy cycling. Only actually maybe if you've discovered you're bad at fantasy cycling. But you know what? You do you. Okay? And we will see you guys very shortly on July 4th or early July 5th with our analysis of the first stage. We can't wait. Thank you so much. We will talk to you soon.