1.Hell of the North in October

Let's talk about Pari Ruby! Q.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 Walsh, and welcome to the Roadman Podcast. Roadman! Welcome back to another roadman cycling podcast. If you haven't had a chance, yeah, go back and check out that Rory Townsend interview. I dropped it day before yesterday, brilliant interview. Rory's super nice guy in the break all day in the world for Ireland last Sunday, and he opens up about contract difficulties and how this could potentially be the end of a cycling career. It's a super episode, go back and check it out. Today, I want to talk about a party roux bay, the hell of the north, and you're probably not used to hearing those words hell of the north in October, but because we have a rescheduled Covid year, that's the way it is, and honestly I cannot wait, I've been checking the weather forecast all week and it looks like it's gonna be raining, so Tink Roux Bay 1985, it's gonna be slip, slidy everywhere. The run up to this event in the mainstream media has been dominated by a little spat between Wout Van Art and the new Prince of Cycling, Remko Evan Paul. And really the story is, I suppose it's germinating from the fact that Wout didn't win the Worlds last Sunday. Like the whole team front of the Belgian newspaper last week was Wout Van Art and won for all. And he didn't pull it off and they had Jasper Stuyve and Remko Evan Paul and Woutvenart in the final selection. For me, Remko responded to Eddie Merck's criticism. Merck's was vocal the week before saying Remko wasn't a team player and for me he responded to that criticism in a no-yeeven immature way and he rolled this crazy tempo on the front which was obviously designed to show he was a team player. But it made no sense. He pulled off with 20k to go and it didn't make boys use it or numbers. It was a very immature display for me. But the story's really kicked off because Remkor was on a talk show, time course in extra time course in Belgium. And he was saying that he felt he had the legs to win and it was team tactics that deployed the mother. So, Welt is not happy about that. Here's a quote from Welt's responding to it in the media today. He said, I expected there will be criticism because we didn't win. But I think it's not wise to add fuel to the fire from winning the team. My Tim Remko said a lot more during the extra time course than he ever said in our team meetings. He was the one who agreed to the tactics, who agreed to the selection. He's been preaching for weeks about how he's looking forward to it. So I think it's a really weird 180 degree turn and I don't think it's wise to show oil on the fire. I was heartbroken that I couldn't finish it off.

2.Remco needs to shut up

I had it been better in the final and I had won, it would have been fantastic. I also saw that everyone was genuinely disappointed. It really hasn't been easy for me. So this has just been added on top. It's just too bad. I really think Remko needs to shut the fuck up. He does too much talking for a young lad. Look, he's promising and he's a young lad, but let's not forget, we never hear this squeak out of the two-time Tour de France winner, Tage Polgacha. He's really, you know, the epitome of what we like to see that sort of quiet champion. But the media love this sort of Remko, Vanderpo, or World fan earth, spots, especially two Belgians fighting each other. So it makes for great drama, but yeah, Remko just needs to shut the fuck up, especially until he starts winning some races at the level that Wilt Van Arth is winning, and he needs to be a bit more respectful. I was initially on his side when Eddie Merkis was coming out in criticism, because I thought that's a little harsh, but yeah, I've kind of, I don't know, I'm going off Remko a little bit. He seems, he is young, but he just seems like he's got it. He seems like he could shoot him in the head, and all that really happened was he'd make a whistle noise when he was so inclined that he wouldn't die. He just is empty in there. He is just no talk from this man from anything that comes out of his mouth. I don't want to give many more airtime. This is not a hard and fast opinion like my hatred for Carapas. This could flip next week and I could be Remco's number one fan again. Let's have a chat about the contenders. It's really difficult to look past Julian Alifleap. I know traditionally you would say he needs a burr, he needs some place to attack. By the way, before I jump the contenders. Did anyone see that interview of Thomas Vochler, the director of the French team and Alephaleep? He said, basically Alephaleep came back to the car wondering if he had to work for a Cenasal with 40K to go and he told him he didn't and then he said, should I attack? And he said, you sure? He said, when should I attack? And he said, you should attack with your heart, Lulu. Attack with your heart. Go on instinct. Have you ever heard anything more French in your life? It could have been, attack with the baguette, Lulu. Attack with the baguette. But absolutely brilliant. So we can't ride off Alaphilippe, you know, two-time world champion only winning the world's last week in massive solo fashion. Maybe the Cobbleton Roubaix, you know, he's not heavy enough to get over them. He hasn't got the Berg's for the launch pads, you can say all that, but with the legs he had last week, he's not going to be far from the mix. The two we're really looking at as the pre-rate favourites are Wilt Van Eart and Machu Van der Paul. I really do think it's hard to look beyond those two.

3.Cyclocross skills and cobble chaos

Welt obviously had good legs last week, he was in the final selection. He seems to look at Vander, when the two of them are there together, they spend a lot of time looking at each other and maybe that presents the opportunity for what I would call the second tier of Reuter. Now I'm really going to put the inverted commas on second tier of Reuter because these are the top tier of Reuter's in the world. I'm talking about people like Peter Sagan, 2008 winner, fourth place last weekend, Yasper Stoyev and Dylan Balbaral. Second last week, Greg Van Avermer, Philip Gilbert, Reuters like this, they could potentially benefit from this looking at each other of Vanderpaul and Wout Van Earth, and that's where I see the opportunity. It's going to be slippy, it's going to be sloidy, we know MVP and Wout have super cyclo cross skills, you can throw in Yasper Stuyvin into that sorry not Jasper Stuyve and Steve Barr into that mad cyclo cross skills poodle or riders as well and he was close in the selection as well on the world's last weekend so we know he has form so we might see these cyclo cross riders coming to the forefront whatever way it breaks don't miss Sunday. Party Rouba is my absolute favorite one day race of the year so be sure to check it out and yeah it's literally, it's get out, get your ride done at a full day on the couch because from when they start hitting the cobbles it counts down until Caroford de Labre and that's just mental. I had the pleasure of going over a few years ago for the Tour de France stage that John Degancob won on the cobbles and it's just, it's unbelievable, it's a teeter of sport. The joy the trenches taper down, the fans just get to sit in the trenches all day, drinking beers, it builds to a crescendo when the roiders come past it just erupts into a cauldron of noise, flare smoke, alcohol, it's chaos and it's absolutely brilliant. Roadman, that's it for me today. I will chat to you again on Monday where we're going to unpack Pari Rubé. Thanks for listening. Hey everybody, it's Anthony again. Really quick, I want to 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 kickster challenge. So regardless of where your fitness is at right now, this is going to be the catalyst for making you faster and making you 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 masters, 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 roadmancycling.com forward slash 14 day or check out the link in the bio that roadmancycling.com slash 14 day.