Hello you beautiful cycling fans and welcome back to another A1 Tour de France show special. So we're three weeks in and it is all done and dusted. It's been an amazing Tour de France and today I'm going to have a look back at Kayla Bion who took victory today. I'm going to have a look back at overall winner Eigen Barnal, what it means for Colombia to have their first ever grand tour winner. Where does this leave Grand Thomas in the sky pecking order now with four grand tour stage winners on the current Ineos roster. Gonna have a look at Wiggins sauce on the back of the motorbike. How other teams need to raise their game. What it means for Luke Groat and not beyond the Shaun's Alize. And will we have a forced ever Colombian world tour cycling team. So we got a busy show ahead. So So when I'm further ado, I'm going to jump right in. So our stage today, they call it the Sprinters World Championships, race down the Champs-Elysé. We finished off with Caleb Yoon taking the win, Dylan Granaweg in second and Bonifacio a little bit unexpected on the podium, but after three weeks of race, the farmbook is nearly out the window. It's hard to know how so many sprinters have come through the Alps and the Pyrenees. I had myself a little wager on to this stage on Paddy Power. I got Saigon, I think at 6 to 1 and then I got Caleb, I'm gonna say 15 to 8. Look, there was big money stuff there, the tenor on Saigon. It was kind of my bet that I was looking to come in. As I said yesterday, show, heart set Saigon, head set Caleb. So I went with a 10 euro on Saigon at 6 to 1 and a 5 or on Caleb to hedge So Caleb won and I ended up breaking even so very exciting stuff there my hedging betting strategy Look it worked well It's I think if you know the if you know your cycling and especially if you're listening to you sort of daily podcast You're keeping a breast to your cycling You probably know a lot more than the bookmaker and it's quite easy to pick out those smart little bets Like you know if you had a blade a little bit like like a Grunewagen Caleb and then Viviani, for everyone each of them. You're almost guaranteed to take the win out of the trade and you're gonna come out ahead. So it, very, very easy to beat the bookies on the cycling stuff, especially on stages like that. They're a little bit formulaic and we have a good idea. You know, we know what a break's never. Has a break ever stayed away on the shots, Lisa, I don't think so. Not that I can remember anyway. I was saying Greg Van Evermaert had a good ping off at their late British shows, which fast these lead-out trains are gone because Van Avermard had a good ping off it and we know the power he has he's insane or he looks a bit chunky this year. I don't know what the story is in me he definitely looks chunky and that CCC's brat a kid's name on the mountain forum. He's absolutely hit our old BMC and he would be one of my favourite roiters but he doesn't know he looks a bit tired and old and withered or something this season he needs to get himself on that red light therapy. Yes, he's very, but anyway, he still got that big horsepower. So, he took a floor at 4 or 5k to go with the shoot. So easily shut down, it was untrue. Some sprinters had bad locust balls, we'll call them for, to use a disparaging phrase, we'll call them second-tier sprinters. Michael Machus and Sony Calbrelli both had mechanicals. And so it the last 15k or so. Yeah, Cabrelli got back in here. A nice little domestic to drop back from Vincenzo and Eblie. 11 grand tour podiums for Vincenzo and Eblie. The best GC rider of a generation. Chris Frome and Cleo would have to save Vincenzo and Eblie at the moment. Obviously he's a lot more chapters to write in that legacy. I think Frome's forward toward the France wins and a well to win. Yeah, it's pretty hard to, Naby's consistency 11 podiums is insane and when you throw in your Milan San Ramos into that equation, I just tip it to Naby over from, but from his back, from, from, from his back, from a, from his back on the trainer, he's back with one leg, you'd have to wonder if that's the owner's recovery and he goes, it looks like it's brutal painful, he's one leg on a sponge or some shit and he's got the other leg pedaling away more for the cameras I'd say or maybe for his morale. I've been that soldier myself. I remember breaking a collarbone in racing in Canada. No, I was racing in Florida on a block of the collarbone. I was rehabbing in Toronto and going back to Toronto, getting the surgery and like a day after the surgery, two days after the surgery, back on the tourbo-trainer, cutting all the bars, sitting up, rowing some sort of shelf to prop my arm up, back on the tourbo-trainer, barely turn their legs, the road rash to fuck all over and just looking back like what benefit are you getting out of them sessions?
I enjoyed it. Best event I intended this week was another of the Wim Hof called immersion workshop this week. With a beta group, it's kind of a biohacked. Cyclist group with a lot of corporate type guys on it. It's a close group, it's not open for clients, but we experiment with a lot of stuff like cold thermogenesis control and blood sugar levels, with strategies like lotus extract, apple cider, vinegar, upregulation, a glue for transponders. We're walking about with some photo boya modulation, it's kind of like light terpians, bunch of crazy wacky stuff like that which you know I shouldn't put the tuck crazy wacky on it because I would have a couple of years ago but stuff you know rooted in some cool science now and it seems to be only the top execs and stuff can afford this but yeah no I'm happy to be a part of that kind of I guess the new way for coaching which we're definitely enjoying being a part of and leading leading a lot of the research into it so that's fun. I've seen Wiggans sourced on the back of the motorbike today, which was really funny. I've had a lot of time for Bradley Wiggans. Wiggans, I guess I would have grown up with cycling long before I ever raced a bike. The TV would have been always on my house with bike races on and Wiggans just strikes me as that type of character as well. He's an old romantic the way he sees the boy, the way, you know, I seen him, he posted a picture of himself in Vincenzo and Eebly yesterday and he said he was nearly fighting the French fan for Eebly's bottle at the top of Valeras, Valeras yesterday, the horse category climb on the shortened stage. He can strikes me as a fan, even though he's a grand tour winner, he's a fan almost, and I love that, but today he was on the back of the motorbike and he was gone from car to car and he was getting a glass of champagne off every car so if you're looking for a bit of entertainment jump on the weeds it's twitter account there and you'll see him completely sauce talking about Jules how little he's had to eat that day and he's a bit of danger on the back of the bike I'm sure you'll get he'll probably get but I don't think he'll get sacked from your sport for us because he was great value for the whole thing but you'll definitely get complaints about it's promoting irresponsible drinking on the back of an order bike yeah yeah yeah the sterile police. The podium that we rounded out with, it's not a podium I didn't expect it, it's not a podium that even won a stage this year, it's 22 year old Aegon Bernal standing on top, Garand Thomas in second, a Christwick, the nine Dutch man to stand on a podium in Tord. Sagin, obviously the institution that he is wrapped up the green jersey competition, with two French men standing on the podium, Bardet, who looked like his tour was over in week one, so to pull out a king in a mountains jersey, There was a great twist this morning from Barday when he was a kid watching the tour wearing a King in the mountains jersey for so for him to stand on the podium in Paris with a King in the mountains jersey on you know that means something and it means something for engaging the French fans as well and we almost couldn't have had a podium it would have been a different race without the most aggressive rider in the race Yulia and Alifleep. People like Alifleep and Saigon they're essential for cycling they're the great characters in cycling and they're what's gonna attract sponsors or what's gonna attract kids They're absolutely brilliant and I'm looking forward to watching them for the next decade. The podium meant something different to everyone. As I said for birthday, it's the realisation of a childhood dream. For Bernal, we went through that with the poverty that has come from the common up, being identified by Brails for the country on the Italian team. Is it sake or something like that? that brought him in an Italian team. And, you know, now it's obviously vindication that this is a career for him that he can make money out of it, he can support his family out of this. You know, it means a lot and then powers the whole country as well. You know, I was at lunch today with a friend and his girlfriend, son, is a Colombian. And, like, he's a sweater, eh? Like, it's a cycling conversation. You know, how many 12 year old kids see me in Ireland that it's a cycling conversation straight away. They just love it. It's their football. It's what they do. It's their main sporty. Like I didn't see him 20 seconds till he mentioned the word Cantana. Cantana is his favourite writer. So it's brilliant to see. And then I think Christwick, you know, 32 years old, he controversially or more unluckly than controversially lost to Jiro a couple of years ago. So, he's... it's nice for him to stand on the podium.
So that's unbelievable I think we a lot of attention today goes on The guys who are standing the podium with their hands in the air Especially the guy with the big loin and the yellow jersey that we've talked about so much But the sacrifice it takes to finish the Tour de France is phenomenal. You're talking 365, 24, 7, these guys are switched on. It affects every relationship they have. It affects every travel choice they have. It affects every food choice they have. It affects every aspect of their life from what time they got to Beda to what time they wake up at to how much they're hydrating to how much they're trying and it can't be overemphasized how all encompassing being a Silicon pro is when you contrast it to, you know, at football pro tennis pro golf pro, it's just so full on. So anyone who gets to that level, it's just to ultimate in sacrifice. And it's an obvious, the opportunity cost is so high for somebody goes. And you know, for like the cost benefit analysis, I suppose, for Bernal, guys who are with the we know their names, you know, your Caleb Eons, your Bernals, your Bling Matches. The benefit again is huge out of huge contracts, huge publicity, potentially media careers after sponsorship and doors, mentor, celebrities and huge paychecks. And Jeff Orgone, obviously a career, they could be doing something else, but it's well watered because of the financial and financial rewards they're getting off it. But to go, I'm going to go out in the back of the pedal tunnel. The guys here are saying riding on the front every day into the wind. Some of these guys aren't getting huge salaries. I think it was a car past one, the Giro d'Italia, and he was on 55,000 a year, I think. Something around that, don't quote me on that figure, but it wasn't over 70k as far as I remember. And he won the Giro d'Italia. He was the winner of the Giro d'Italia. So think what's on the domestic, so make it 35, 40k a year. They're putting their life on the line every day. They're putting their body on the line every day. They're doing long term damage to their body with someone to race and have to go to a race and sick, race and injured. It's a difficult, difficult sport. So to those guys, to the guys at the back of the peloton, that's who I want to give their old man award today. So thank you for just making the last three weeks possible. They're the guys who are facilitating the great champions. Sometimes they're doing to work before we even come on air. are ferrying the bottles up, they're keeping the team leaders warm, they're keeping them shelled, they're keeping them motivated, they're bringing them back from crashes, they're giving them their bikes, they're helping them out for the stage with little bits and pieces. You know, they're the guys I want to take my hat to, the road men. And I think that's a nice place to leave it for today. I think it's touching after 11 o'clock here because of the late stage finish. I'm sure in Paris the guys are about to just wind up the after party and get stuck into So, for me, I'm about to stick on the pajamas and do my final piece of editing to get this out to you guys immediately so you can listen to it tomorrow. And this concludes our A1 Tour de France podcast. I'll be back next week. I'll start confirming check out our social and I'll confirm times and days that we'll be back. And yeah, I'm looking forward again, stuck into some of the more substantive training topics as we go. So, if you've any requests for what you'd like me talk about. Guess you'd like me to interview. Keep that sort of stuff coming. So for me, Bonuit et vivalator, the 100th anniversary of the Yellow Jersey. It's been taken by Colombian Egan Bernal. He'll go down in the history box. Thanks for tuning in and chat to you soon.