Roadman, it's time for my annual Rowman 2021 predictions
Roadman, it's time for my annual Rowman 2021 predictions. Let's cure our intro! The big question is this. How do we use cycling as a tool to improve our health, our happiness and our longevity? That is the question on this podcast will give you the answers. My name is Anthony Welch and welcome to the Rowman Podcast. Roadman welcome back to another roadman cycling podcast it's Wednesday which normally means it's my full form interview podcast but I wanted to get a little bit of extra time this week for my own meandering thoughts and the reason is I wanted to show down my predictions mainly so I could gloach and you know he doesn't love a nice gloach or come the end of the season I don't want to be that person who said I told you this was gonna happen I told you that was gonna happen but have no documented proof of that so instead I'm taking this podcast as something of historical record so I can reference back to it and say I fucking told you that was gonna happen so I've some pretty loyal and outdoor predictions for the 2021 season I want to jump into all them today and I definitely want to get your feedback as well on where you think the 2021 season is going to go. Who's going to win these big races? Break it down and hit me with a DM over on Instagram. I try and get back to almost all the DMS. If I don't get back to them straight away, I will get back to them. But sometimes I'm just slow. If I get a bunch of them all in one go, it's roadman.seyclan over on Instagram. Before we jump in and we get into my predictions for 2021, let me just remind you about it's that constant push, folks, for heading on over to Patreon. And the reason it's a constant push is the podcast is unsponsored and most of the podcast that you listen to, you know, I'm sure you listen to Joe Rogan's your Tim Ferriss experience. These are podcasts with million Euro budgets. You know, you're talking about Joe Rogan, you're talking hundreds of millions of Euro to keep the show on the road and revenue that they generate. This podcast is entirely funded by your contributions by the generosity of listeners heading on over to Patreon, buying me the price of a coffee, price of a beer once a month. And that's what keeps the show on the road. It's actually, it's a marvel, it's a miracle that we can keep the show on the road for, you know, such a small amount and the passion of you guys to keep it on the road and the passion for cycling is what inspires me to keep going even though at times it has been a struggle through 2020 and now I'm looking forward to we're almost at a year. Can you believe we're almost at a year before that you'll want to start reminiscing. So the link for that Patreon, it's down below, it's always in the same place. It's patreon.com forward slash Anthony underscore watch. Price of a beer, price of a coffee once a month and I'll thank you very much. Yeah, we're almost a year into the roadman podcast and I, it's sometimes I have to pinch myself and I can't believe that it's been a year and that people still want to show up and listen to me and some of you guys have integrated me into your morning routines or into your family routines. You know, people me on in the background having lunch and we've had world tour teams, we've got clips of guys on the way to races and it's playing on the world tour bus which is phenomenal. I must do a look back on the year, definitely like some amazing guests, you know, Tyler Hamilton, Bling, Mattious, Simon Gerns, we've had the biggest world tour guests and then, you know, I really enjoyed last week's chat with Barry Morrie around COVID. If you haven't checked that one out, go back and do it and the romance seminar, the romance so much was a big stand-out point for me, we taught you yes speakers all crammed in to two days so much it was pretty wild, it was pretty intense and you know maybe it's something we'll do again next year and that'll become an annual summit as well who knows but reminiscent is not the focus for today 2021 predictions is the focus for today. Yesterday I levered at news that party Roubaix looks like it might be cancelled, I'm going to give you my predictions for Ruby anyway, but just fingers crossed it goes ahead. We're in such a frustrating period in cycling history and you need to put it into the context of the grander's game of things and how difficult a period the last 12 months has been for people with economic problems losing jobs, default and on loan payments, isolation problems, especially I'm obviously living in Ireland and I've family in rural Ireland which are isolated communities.
See first hand the effect this is having on isolated communities and…
So I see first hand the effect this is having on isolated communities and elderly people in particular and all that is You know, it's painful to watch and so when I say So I cleanse going through a tough time. I don't mean to undermine or diminish any of that because You know so I can just what we all love and care about both that older stuff is definitely at the forefront of our minds as well I want to get started on any of since any yolks They have so many Reuters in the stable. It's like it's borderline at the moment. How many, they talk about how many cooks spoil the broth with Pithcock, Adam Yates, Brannell, Martin is, Lawrence the Plough, Grand Thomas, Richie Porth, Carabas, T.O. Gegenhart. Did I miss anyone? Like they're all, they're Felipe Bogana. These are all top top, grand tourist age winners, if not grand horror winners. And they can't get it together. You just look at Milan San and Raymo of the weekend. Absolutely tragic display tactics, like why Felipe Organa is riding on the Poggio into the topressa, into the base of the Poggio? I have no idea who are they setting up Kiekovsky, former world champion? He hasn't shown the form to follow the big tree guys who are gonna get onto in a minute. You've Tom Pitcock largely unproven. He was a promising junior underage rider. He's stepping up to the seniors. Lucky Shawn Sparks, but he's not exactly, You know, we worked on Earth not losing sleep at night worrying about Tom Pitcock. That's for sure. And when you think about the budget of any else, the salaries they're paying, the background stuff, it's a shambles to moments. They haven't stepped past us. You know, the Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome era very well at all. And we were also used to seeing, you know, for years, twenty, thirteen, twenty, fourteen Wiggins and then the seamless transition across the film. And we're seeing the guys on the front and they just roid Alpointe Mountain past after Milton passed on the front, decimating the rivals, pulling off on their job as finished and leaving the team leader from to just finish it off. Boom, with that killer little acceleration we all came to know and love. That's fallen apart and it's gone badly wrong for team Ineos and we've disgandals around the sort of dopant in the back room and medical doctors on trial. And you know Dave Brestford, he hasn't been as public as I.E. if I was an Ineos fan would of liked to reassure everyone that they're going the right direction and ultimately they're going to answer with their cycling results and they've been a fucking joke in Milan, San Ramo, Terreino Adriatico and all last season. I know they won the 0 with Teal, Gagan Hart but it was a very uninspiring win from a much reduced weekend field. I was going to say that's not the diminishing the win but it is the diminishing the win. We all know the big riders weren't there so he's not stacking up against the best of the best for the 0 That's where Ineos measured themselves. Ineos took over in this modern era of Sauthan from the postals and that's what we expected from them. We expected that dominance and a lot of work at a team now, a lot of work at number one team. Ineos are an overpaid second-rate team at the moment. So I honestly expect more of the same again from them this season. I expect them to I've never had an over-promised and under-delivered. They're like, England gone into a World Cup. I think, as an Irishman, I get no more greater satisfaction out of the English tabloid papers hyping up the English football teams chances heading into a World Cup, only for them to be dispatched easily in the first qualifying round. We've an Irish comedian here, his name is Tommy Tiernan, and he has a great quote saying, know I love English people but I do like to lose them see them lose things such as sport and war so this definitely has an Irish person maybe I have that but in builds in heresids you know cynicism towards any else but I have to say I did like the Chris Froome era and I've been very disappointed since I haven't said all that and almost contradict myself I do think they'll win in one of the two lesser grand tours. They might win a Vuelta or a Giro, and I'll get onto that in a second. But I think the season is gonna be dominated by four riders. We've spoke about the big three. We've Wout Van Art, Machu van der Paul, and Yuleen, the housewife's favorite, Alaphilippe. They're the big three. I think that's gonna be joined as soon as he gets back from injury by Remko Evan Paul to make it a four pronged, big four in cycling.
Really see those for training off for a lot of the big wins
And I really see those for training off for a lot of the big wins. And you know, we're talking about our dens. You know, maybe we could see like a Mark Hershey stepping up in the Ardennes. And but you know, I haven't said that. I don't see him winning. I see Mark Hershey progressing from last season. He was there, thereabouts and he was an entertaining, exciting writer. But I still see our dens being dominated by those big four and maybe put gotcha. I'm gonna go out in a limb and I'm gonna pin my collars to the mass here. I'm gonna say, Pogacha is gonna win Liège. My Tour de France, I'm gonna do them in order. Sorry, I'll go, right, but stay our dance, I know this isn't quite order, but our dance, we're gonna say, Pogacha. Flanders, I'm gonna say Machu Vanderpaul with Peter Sagan second. And for somebody who's new into cycling, you know, my friends that just got into cycling the last 12, 24 months and they're like Peter Sagan, like why is there so much hype about this rider? I never seen him racing well and I think Peter Sagan has been a victim of so much success and the big paycheck to party lifestyle, good looking lad, split up with the wife, I just think off the bike he hasn't got stuff right in a couple of years but let's not forget he's the 2016 and 2017 Ron von Vlanderin, Torroff Lander's champion so look can he do it again if he goes to the line with Matthew Vanderpaul or Wilt Van Ert. I don't know if he's as fast as the two guys anymore, but who knows, looking at him back in Milan Sanremo, look he wasn't at the top top of his game, made it over to climb in his sprint and I think he got forward on the day. So he's back at a level and hopefully he can kick on from that level. Jiro de Talia, if I was giving a race to Team Iniels, I think that could go Jiro again, maybe Carapas, you know, we obviously had Teogig and Hart win last year, but I think Carapas could be the man for this year, although I hate the little bastard, so he's my most hated writer in Saitland after watching the movie star documentary on Netflix. So I hope he doesn't win it, but he is strong, he looks good in Vuelta, Catalonia at the moment, so we'll see, we'll see, but that's my bold pick. We're gonna say Carapas for the tour of Natalia, the tour of France, I'm going to throw him out of the left field for you in Tour de France, but I'm also going to give you a good bet for the bookies. Remco Evan Paul is my pick to win the Tour de France, and I know that is a wild shout. Remco Evan Paul has never proven himself in a three week grand tour, but either have Pogacha. So, you know, if you're good enough, you're old enough. And he'd be the, I think he'd be the youngest ever Tour de France winner. Correct me if I'm wrong on that one. I think he's only 20. Pogachio was 20 and he was the second youngest but I think the way the months work I think Remco would be the youngest ever Tour de France winner if he used to do it but I think he's gonna be pushed all the way this year but Chris from and a lot of people including the bookies have written off Chris from Chris from is 25 to 1 with the Irish bookmaker Patty Power you won't find a better bet in the world of sport this year than Chris from a 25 to 1 he's a new YouTube channel from you which is actually worth watching he's away in Tenerife, trying to altitude before Tour de Catalonia. He's with Israel's startup academy. Their entire project is focused on Chris Froome, winning the Tour de France. He's won the Tour de France five times before. He's had a two-year hiatus with injury, but he's back. He's focused. I know he hasn't won back at the level since the injury, and that's why he's been priced at 25 to 1, but that's a mistake. You need to Now look, look, look, no further to see that's a mistake than the bookies don't know what the hell they're doing because Tom Dumelan is a 15th one favorite to win the Tour de France. Tom Dumelan, unless you're, just in case you're not Mr. Coron of the Fairs here, Tom Dumelan announces retirement four months ago and he's still 15th one to win the Tour de France. So do yourself a favor and show 10 year-on Chris Froome to win the Tour de France. If I'm going to pick a podium and absolutely out there podium, it's Remko Evan Paul, Chris This is from Wilt Van Erte.
All Trade him can climb, Wilt can he climb the very high mountains at…
All Trade him can climb, Wilt can he climb the very high mountains at altitude with the GC guys? Time will tell. But Rog Litt just seemed magnetized to bad luck and he only needs a small bit of bad luck early in the season again. Like he's had it already this season and in Parry Nees he creased himself crashing twice in the Yellow jersey on the last day. I just see web planner stepping up this year in much the same way we had go around Thomas, you serpent, Chris from the year he won the Tour de France when we had 2019-2018, it was a great year I was at that stage on up to us and it was very very enjoyable Well that's funny I'm gonna show another wild card actually, Eunrich Mass he was second in 2018 and I can see him stepping up again he's making progress I follow a lot of stuff on his social training has gone great, numbers are gone great. I can see him stepping up again. By all accounts he's a super nice guy so I'd love to see him stepping up. Stana, I don't see them being a factor at all this season. They're mad, vina cura of Daupem plan that they've been on for the last decade. It seems to be waning and I could frugal sign who was on the hoist of the juice for the last couple of years in my view is weaned off the juice and he's on to something less potent at the moment. So with Tivo Pino, we're at FDJ, I just see his career has basically gone. He's two Tour de France abandoned over the last two years. The team have surely got to start thinking about David Godot as the principal. He won two mountain stages last year and he was eight overall in the Vuelta. He looks a great kid, he looks strong, he looks everything at Pino's not. He's a weak little crybaby. But I am super pumped for the season ahead. Like there's so many directions this could go. There's so many exciting battles like we spoke about the Big Four, the Remko, Evan Palm, Wilt VanArts and Alafelib. But equally we could have Saigon ramping in and just taking a bunch of the classics wins. And we've so many teams poised because it's not the dominance that we previously seen from any else in the Grand Tours. Yeah we have Lotto as the big team and Roglic looks pretty unbeatable But look, we see in Pagacha last year, probably the most dramatic finale on La Plata Belfied that I've ever seen in the Tour de France. I wasn't old enough and I wasn't a cycling fan at the time that the Greg Le Mans battle on the final day. So look, the drama last season was there. If we can replicate that again in any way this season, it's a sport that's on the open up. They've done a great job of managing COVID all the way through. It's you know, I see it just taken off the goisery and in huge cash at the moment and you know more power to them because it's a dangerous Sport and it's a hard sport and I just think we're in for an absolutely cracking 2021 so I'm happy to get down my predictions on the record now you can hit me I know there's some wild ones out there honor commas for the the world that is a wild prediction. Other than that, I'm pretty confident. I'm actually pretty confident in all my predictions. So hit me up over on Instagram, let me know your predictions for the season. And you know what, I'm gonna be back again tomorrow for another roadman podcast. Thanks for joining me, folks. Hey everybody, it's Anthony again. Really quick, I wanna invite you to join arguably the best thing I've ever put out inside the roadman community. It's a challenge. It's a challenge called a 14 day Kickstarter challenge. So regardless of where your fitness is at right now, this is gonna be the catalyst for making you faster and making you the leaner. I've created this challenge to take the guesswork out of everything. It's 14 days of training plans, regardless of what your level is. There's the master's beginner, advanced. There's meal plans, shopping list, and even a video course holding your hand and talking you through at all. So what I recommend you do right now is just stop everything, press pause on this audio and go to roadmansoycling.com forward slash 14 day or check out the link in the bio that roadmancycling.com slash 14 day.