It's stage 3 of the Tour de France and I'm going to be joined by one…
It's stage 3 of the Tour de France and I'm going to be joined by one of the sprint greats. Let's cue that 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 and this podcast will give you the answers. My name is Anthony Welch and welcome to the Roadman Podcast. Welcome folks, it is stage 3 of the Tour de France every single day I celebrate the fact that we have a Tour de France on. It's amazing today we covered 198km from Niste Sestrion, massively scenic day, one just nailed on for the sprinters and it didn't disappoint. Super Decoy today to have a special guest on the podcast. He is a legend in the cycling world. His name is Mr. Alan Davis. He is a ex-quicstep rider and ex-estana rider. He stood on the podium in the World Elite Roadrace Championships, podium in Milan, San Remo and Commonwealth Games champion. The man is a legend. He knows everything there is to know about sprinting, so I'm really excited to get the inside track on the Caleb Bennett battle from today and see his perspective on how stressful the finals actually are. Like I said yesterday, you got to start calling the final if you want to be prophy. There's my other word for you today. Prophy. You can start calling your sporty friends. It's not brophy you guys before I go any further, I would encourage you to jump on over to patreon.com forward slash Anthony underscore world patreon is how we fund this podcast. It's how we keep the podcast going forward. It's more important now than ever with our daily podcast. It obviously just puts extra strain on her infrastructure. So the podcast is supported on Patreon. I put a link in the boil. It's the price of buying me a coffee or a beer once a month. And it's the way you can tip the cap. Look, I don't sign up to Sky Sports anymore. And I don't pay Sky Sports anymore because I'm like, you know what, forget about Rupert Murdoch. He's an off-money in his pocket. I fund a lot of independent creators because I want to see him staying around. And that's why I chose to go with Patreon that I think independent creators should have a voice and if you guys agree that we should have a voice that's the way you can go and support it. Okay here we go let's get chatting to Mr. Alan Davis. Alan how are you? I'm good I'm good I'm enjoying having the tour back on the television to obviously to watch and And to dissect every day, it was kind of a, you know, it was kind of a plan in the making there at the start of the season if we're going to get a tour to watch, but it's, yeah, hopefully it stays the way it is and we keep enjoying some fantastic racing. What did you make of the carnage on stage one? Here's a weird take on it. I'm not sure if you heard this. I was listening to he who shall not be named Lanter Armstrong's podcast, which is epic if anyone hasn't listened to it. It's very good about the tour. And he was saying one of the boys inside the peloton. He didn't name who it was, texted him to say that he lives around Nice. And the roads aren't that bad in the rain that he reckons it was the caravan that went through before the race was spraying swords on the road. And that's what caused all the crashes on stage one. Yeah, I watched this stage, yes, and it seemed to be crazy, but it's not the first time we've had to deal with those sorts of conditions and those sorts of days where it's like an ice rink. And then I've seen actually that information that you just mentioned. I think it was tweeted or was on social media somewhere. So it's hard to fathom that the race organization, Caravan or a sponsor would do that. I'm not sure how much truth's behind it, but if that was the case, yeah, that's definitely an amateur move by everyone. So hopefully... It does seem to be like that the organizers, for a long time, they don't give that much you'll fuck about the ride or it's what I can see. Yeah, well, you know, the Caribbean in front of the race is, actually as a rider you don't realise how big and you know how much of a show it actually is because you never see it unless you're on the side of the road.
It's a huge thing and there's nothing bigger than this order of…
But it's a huge thing and there's nothing bigger than this order of France with the race Caribbean goes in front. So they're throwing out merchandise, all the sponsors want to get up there and have their own car in Caribbean. So, it's all part of the business, but yeah, I'm sure if it's starting to affect the show that goes on behind with the riders, obviously, that needs to be looked at. Yeah, I didn't catch a name of who actually said that. I'm not sure if it was up on Twitter, was it? Do you know who was talking about the sorts? I can't remember who it was, but I think it was quite a few different social media feeds. I'll talk to you about Caramund who was exactly strange. I'm not sure if you're saying today, but a bunch of the Reuters got together calling it like Reuters, you noise at the start. And they were basically, I think Jasper Stuyven was the spokesman for them. And he was saying it's time for the Reuters collectively to come together and take responsibility for our safety. This is something we've been hearing about for years, Reuters trying to do. So I know David Miller and stuff trying to do it back in your generation. Yeah, it's definitely been on the on the cars now for many years and it's been a great idea, but it's never been able to come to fruition because of the, you know, not everyone would get on the same page and it only takes, you know, a few riders or one team not to, not to oblige and they've said the whole idea goes out the window. But I think it's something that's That's good for the writers to give them a voice and give them somewhat control. Let's face it, mate. They're the ones who put them a show that we love to watch as psychically enthusiast these days. So, yeah, I think it's an interesting time and hopefully that they all stay together and united and all stakeholders can discuss situations equally and makes the whole business a lot better. Your old team, Stan, I didn't seem to keen on the ceasefire the other day until, is it is a gear or Lopez that slid out? I think was Lopez. Yeah. He was the one who was third wheel, who did the on sideways head butt in the on the, he actually controlled it quite well in the end, to be honest. He really did. He only crashed, I'd say like 10k an hour in the end. Yeah, he caught all the speed kind of washed off him before he had battered the pose. But you see his bike, his bike was smashed completely in half. Oh really? No, I didn't see that. Yeah, it was completely fucked. Getting on to spring stuff Alan. One of, I suppose, he's not necessarily one of my favourite riders, but he's broadly accepted as one of the favourite lads in the peloton. Peter Sagan, for me, he just doesn't look himself at the moment. he was dropped out of the break yesterday and I know you can kind of say it's a hilly day, it's not a sprinter's day. So I got traditionally he has surprised us on a lot of those medium mountain days. I don't know, it's just doesn't look right or something to me. Yeah, I mean, I think he's kind of, he's not the same age anymore as what we used to saying in four or five years ago, and the level he was promoting with winning pretty much everything he touched. So it was pretty, very always going to be hard to maintain that image also to speak and that parliamentaries. So I think he's kind of, as he's getting older, probably taking a little bit longer fine form. I think, you know, as a racing just starting up at the start of August, he will find himself getting, writing himself into form so to speak, I believe. I think he's 46 races to mount whatever win. I just saying that's that earlier. July 2000 and 19 is his last win, which surprised me. Yeah, I mean, he went through that stage with, I think, was Tinkov, where he could have not shopped a win either, with him. I mean, a lot of seconds and good seconds places and many kind of went on a roll. So it's similar to the back then, actually. I was talking to someone else about it the other day. But yeah, I think a lot of say, mate, as he'll get into form as a tour keeps going and we'll see him, I think, pop up a lot within the last week of the race.
Green jersey for him again
Green jersey for him again? Yeah, I think he's a favourite, mate, for the Green jersey. To be honest, there's not many days like we've seen today, where it's just flat and, you know, a sprinter's paradise, so to speak, where we can see the sprinters who can climb, mate, and you don't get into a small group and get in those breakaways and get some points along the road where they're not exactly sprinters' stages. They're the ones who are gonna be at the pointy end of the Green Jersey competition on the leaf. Let's have a chat about today. So, cousin from Total Direct Energy. He was kind of the sacrificial lamb. They left him out there today. But then about, when would you say the sprinter start getting switched on? You start thinking about about 20 kilometers to go? Did your head start going to sprint mode? Yeah, on a stage like today, it would be around about that point. You know, it was always going to come back for a sprint. So you could really just switch off and restore the energy levels with your food and drinking and not getting too nervous and wasting too much nervous energy through basically the whole day. And then like you say, 20k to go mate, that's about the game time point where you switch John and start getting your boys around you and you start thinking about where you want to be towards the end of the sprint. So how does that work? Is it coming from the director over to radio saying right boys, Star Find and Alan now start thinking about the sprint? Yeah, pretty much. Pretty much you'll get the call and you know after doing it many times the riders know when it's time to flick the on switch so to speak mate. And it depends on the course and the terrain. If there's a big headwind, you don't really want to be too close to the front. And so it really depends on the terrain and the weather conditions as well. Sometimes it could be a really windy finish, windy sort of last 10 to 20 k's. So you want to be quite forward not to get the lactic sort of whips outside of the corners all the time. That really drains a lot of energy out of yourself and also you lead out men. So every day is a little bit different. But one like today, you can pretty straight run in, you can relax and basically just form together, you know, coming into that last 10 to 15 kilometers. And on a stage like today, Adam, would you back, either back when you were racing, if the tech was there, or now if you were involved and you were a mentor and one of the sprinters, how much emphasis would you put on video technology and looking at the run-in on camera before the stage? Nowadays, it's important and the technology is there to be able to get on your phone or on your have it on file as a sports structure and do a bit of a presentation before the start. You can actually get really good imaging and videos of the actual finish. I think it's important, it's just using technology towards advantage and as a sprinter, if you have the frame, the picture in mind of especially the last kilometer, it's a lot easier to make your judgments and know what's, you know, have that picture in mind to what's coming up, you know, if you haven't seen it before. So I think it's part of being a sports track of these days and, you know, all the teams doing a mate is nothing new or it's hidden, There's a lot of apps and like I say, new technology websites where they just show the exact image of the last convertor, for example. And a lot of people know what it's like before they go in there. And if you're on the back of, say if you're a boys lined up, you know, your standard, your quick step is, if your boys lined up in front of you, how much are you talking to them through the last two, 3K? To be honest, you don't, less said is always better and it's clearer and you can gauge by what your boys are thinking by how they're riding as well and where you're positioned. It's kind of more as said when you sort of lose each other, you know, when it gets a little bit unorganised, that's one of when you need to really say something or just, get on the radio and say, I've lost the wheelboys, I'll find his back.
If it's really easy, and in terms of organisation, there's not too…
If it's really easy, and in terms of organisation, there's not too much technical road furniture, for example, corners and so forth. I always found it was better not to say much and just trust the guys in front of me and then you work off the back of them and they'll put you in the right position coming into that last 150 to 200 meters. And it's that stressful today that's our running for a sprinter, a hectic, no one team taking control at the front, or is it just depend on the sprinter, some of them drive or not? Yeah, I think it's a bit, you know, some sprinters really like it, like in my time Robbie McEwan is really good at it. You know, in someone like Alessandra Bataki wasn't so good at it or Chippo himself, They really like to really be strong, fast, lead out train with not much. This organisation for them to launch their sprint were somewhat like Robbie. And even like today with the scene of Caleb, they really surf the peloton waves really well and really hit themselves and save the energy they're doing so. And then when it was time to dive up the sprint, they had a full tank of gas to do a sprint. It's kind of an individual thing I believe. And it's something that you're born with, I believe. And coming off from the racing background from the track, you find a lot of guys that have done that, have a pretty good and now it's on where to be and how to surf the Peloton waves without a organised train in front of them. Just straight up, a battle between Ireland and Australia here. I'm afraid I came out with the wrong side of it. Yeah, well, you know, I knew we were chatting because me and I had been what's happened earlier in the day. So I knew Adam was going to come on to talk about it. And it was shaping up like it was going to be a Caleb Dennis battle. And I was like, I fucking love it now if Bennett rolls him on this stage. Yeah, it was, you know, it was really, I think Bennett did everything right. He, you know, He got the, you know, if you see the aerial vision from the helicopter, both the boys were way in front of the rest of them. So they both did really good sprints that were just Caleb, like I said, he lost two riders but before the start, remember, with Dagenkal were really good lead-out rider and also Philippe Gilbert. So Caleb really didn't have any other option other than to surf the peloton waves. And he got the gap when he needed it. And you can see that from the helicopter vision. So, Osamie did a really good sprint and sprinted in the wind. And Caleb basically surfed it well and it opened up. And the gap stayed open for him when he needed it and got thrown the last few meters all along. Caleb looked insanely fast. Like if you looked the way he picked this way, passed Saigon on the fence and then entered a next gap, he looks like he's the fastest man in the race of the moment. Yeah, if everything, like a lugsomate, if you can, when you're by yourself, he has no other option of too much of a lead out from his own team. So he will have to surf the waves and there will be sprints where he will be stuck. I'll fair bit back and then move forward. He's gonna have to step out in the wind. And anyone who's done his sprint to move forward at 7.5K now, he takes a lot out of you. So he will need the luck on his side and the gaps to open up and he'll always be there. But I think Sammy will have the full team support in terms of the best train in the race at the moment. Before I let you go, I want to get your take on this one because it was stage one. And we had Tony Martin coming to the front, sticking the hand up, peloton slowing down. But what kind of pissed me off, and I've seen commentary from Benus after, as well, saying he wasn't too happy about it either. Bennett has to fight so hard to stay in the front early in that stage. Caleb gets dropped and then the bunch holds up. Caleb just rolls back on. All that energy that Bennett wasted fighting, trying to get back on through the car as early in the stage. Caleb's had to waste none of that energy.
Just doesn't seem, Caleb didn't win that stage in the end, but it…
It just doesn't seem, Caleb didn't win that stage in the end, but it just doesn't seem fair with these sort of roid or decisions to slow the race down. Now I know there has to be some sort of emphasis on safety, but where do you draw that line between fairness to the sprinters who have dug in and fairness to the laws on safety wise? Yeah, it's always a case with those situations, but it's, you know, everyone's got their own story that comes out of it, and that's exactly the other side of the story from, you know, from going down the safety track option. You know, there's, you know, that's exactly right. It's a really good example where Sam was kind of annoyed because he put in all that energy and the team for one of his main opposition rivals, you know, to get back into the peloton and not spend too much energy doing so. That's always gonna be the case when you see that in a race where it's kind of like a neutral decision to neutralize the race for the riders. Everyone has the gains from it and unfortunately there's going to be negative size and losses to individuals performances from it as well. So they have to keep that in mind. You can see the veteran riders, the older riders, are the ones calling the shots. And now like we mentioned before, with the uniting of the riders have to keep every option in mind and it's going to be very tricky to get everyone happy with with the unanimous decision because of that exact reason. Do you miss it, Alan? Do you wish you were there today? Bumping shoulders with K11 Sam? You know, days like, I do miss the camaraderie. I do miss the, you know, the racing. In terms of competitiveness, I've, you know, I've sort of worn that candle out to be honest. I'm more of a, you know, I'm a social cyclist now and enjoying my coaching and, you know, I'm a technical advisor for the UCI as well, so I do get to be there and in person at the races as well in the world tour. So I get my fixes by what I'm involved in at the moment. It's just smashing guys now underway that a coffee stops sprinting for town signs. Exactly, mate. Exactly, it's more, my competitiveness is more on the rugby field these days, made as an old veteran, bloody rugby player. What do you make it is, somewhere finished tomorrow? Do you know anything about it? Up to, we're in the Hôt Alps, I think it's Merlet, to cut one finish up to the summer tomorrow, it's 7.1 kilometres long, at 6.7% average, have you written it? No, I don't I don't think I have made I don't I don't recall it anyway Maybe I have once to see it as one of those climbs that you sort of don't see it on paper but you know going over and an apparent sneeze or or somehow of the tourist off but You know I can't any cat one climb that finishes on top. You know that the climb is It's one of those days, maybe can you know, you really you really have have an opportunity to lose a race if you lose time but But also it's also so early in the race as well, you know, so maybe they won't be playing their cards too much. And someone else like I was saying yesterday, with what do you call it, the Prince of France or the King of France? Ah, yeah. Uli and Alaphalea. How's Roy's favourite? How's Roy's favourite? He could, you know, give another stage win himself or someone on that style of that second tier GC-Roddy, you know. do you fancy for the overall hard to look past Rog Lecher? Do you have someone else? Yeah, I'm at the moment and I've got him as my favourite, Roglish, but I do believe Bernard. Bernard Widdle, sorry, will like a bit like Sagan, he's kind of, his form, I think, will, will be, it'll be clear towards the last week of the race, how they've timed in terms of form. And it'll be interesting. You know, I think all the cards are in a lot of jumbo favor at the moment, but as the race goes on, that's when it'll be. It'll become clear if they've made their timing right with terms in terms of form. But one thing with Roglic, which I have him as favorite now is because of what he has under his belt, you know, with the Giro last year and obviously winning the Walter, that's two big grand tours that he would have improved a lot in his body volume, would have improved a lot and it'll help his endurance in the three week races a lot.
Without those two races and the form you had leading into it, you…
Without those two races and the form you had leading into it, you know, I'm probably not picking as my favourite, so I just feel like the wheels would fall off towards the end of the race when it gets really hard. But Now he's got that under his belt mate. I think he will be hard to beat and his endurance and race volume has improved a lot for Ryder. And does Sky make a mistake or any old Scranada make a mistake in leaving Thomas and for him behind? I don't think so. I think with the team they've picked and leaving those guys, we still have the duo in the world, two big races to be we run them one. So, you know, they, once again, they could be winning a three grand tours. You know, they didn't put all their eggs in the same basket for the tour, but they have the duo winner from last year, Carapas there. So if he's, he fees on form, but also on form, you know, they're, that's enough, you know, you can plan a really strong winning tour to France team around those two. I'll leave you on this one, Alan. Here's an interesting conspiracy theory I have with the COVID situation and the way it's developing. We had a UCI president saying he'd be surprised if it makes it all the way to Paris. And whatever the chance of making it all the way to Paris is, I actually think it's going to change how people race. I think Yumbo-Vizma are going in as the race favourites or any else as the second race favourites. I think historically you wouldn't want to take the jersey in the fourth week. It's buttoned to much pressure on the team, especially with smaller teams. But I think with the race potentially not making it all the way to Paris, whenever they call it off, whoever's in the jersey is gonna be declared the winner. I think there's an argument for saying, we'll expand a little bit of energy in week one to take the jersey. Yeah, definitely, that definitely makes sense. I've never looked at it that way, to be honest. That's definitely, that will be the case. Yeah, if it does get, you know, at post-pined, Anything can happen in the way this 2020 years going with the pandemic. It's such a uncontrollable situation. It definitely could happen. And that will fall in the favor of, you know, the guys are starting the race in, you know, top form and not really that really have to ride them self-interform. Yeah, that's definitely, I agree. Mate, that will definitely try to cater my superiors and the ones to an also a lot of leap. We've seen a really good example of what he did last year. But it's picking up stages, time by seconds, and doing a good time trial. He was really hard to run down with the last four or five days to go. If you can sprint, you can time trial and you can climb. There's not much to do only to win the tour. That's a really interesting point. It'd be definitely interesting to see how it plans out. Alan, thanks for catching up. We might catch on with you again on one of the flat sprint stages if you're up for it. Well, too, mate. Absolutely. Pleasure. That was Mr. Alan Davis, sprint legend and all around. Good guy. Thanks for listening to the Realm Man podcast today. We're back each and every day all the way through the Tour de France. Tomorrow stage, it takes us 145 kilometers from Cestrian to, I'm going to absolutely butcher this and you wouldn't even believe that I raced for the French team for a year or Sears Marlatt and it's a cat one climb topping out at 1,825 meters. Tomorrow I promise this to be a spicy day and a forced way of mix up in GC so I'm looking forward to joining you for the analysis for that one. A quick reminder if you haven't already to head across to patreon.com forward slash Anthony underscore Walsh that's the way you can support the podcast that's the way you make sure that we make it a part. Thanks for listening folks, I'm another Jati again tomorrow.