Today I want to talk about the five most memorable moments of 2020
Today I want to talk about the five most memorable moments of 2020. Let's cure 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 on this podcast, and give you the answers. My name is Anthony Welch and welcome to the Rowman Podcast. Hello you beautiful roadman! Welcome back to another roadman cycling podcast. I hope you've all had a great weekend. I've been doing a few little office renovations this past weekend. So excuse if last week's podcast sounded a little bit echoey. That was probably the sound bouncing off some paint cans around the place. But now set with my new soundproof absorption walls. I am ready to rock again. Really excited about this week's podcast and just the upcoming stuff I have gone on the roadman because I am deep into this summit and preparations for us. If you haven't signed up for it already, what have you been doing with your life? Go and do it. It's over on roadmansummit.com. It's a free sign up. I just wanted to put together something everybody's so doom and gloom around Covid and I want to put this to put together something in this case a summit to bring a smile onto people's face. The podcast has given me great leverage a place if I'm honest I never thought I would be in to be able to reach out to some of these speakers, world tour guys, chefs, you know celebrity chefs saying yes today and I'm gonna as I go I'm gonna confirm people and today I suppose I'll let you in on one that's confirmed today. the Happy Pair of Confirmed as they're on the summit this year, which is amazing. And you know, the Happy Pair, huge celebrity chef, brothers, build restaurants, cookbooks, online courses, and they're confirmed on the summit along with another 29-order absolutely amazing speakers. So please jump on over and get your ticket there for that. Today I'm going to talk about the top five most memorable moments in 2020. I'm going to do them in reverse order because you know what I've just taught that to be cool, taught how to build a little bit of suspense. Before I jump in, guys, I'm going to remind you of Patreon. Please, please, please head on over to Patreon. Like, the summit, the podcast, it's a super amount of work, and the only reward and way to make this sustainable at the moment is Patreon. We haven't taken on a show sponsor, so patreon.com forward slash Anthony underscore Walsh. The link is in the bio. Patreon is the way to say tanks. If you're signing up for a free ticket for the summit, if you're getting value from these daily podcasts, please dip into that law of reciprocity. If you're getting something from it, give a little something back. Even if it's not something that's normal to you, and I know a lot of people, and especially me years ago, had that mentality, like, why would I pay when I can get it for free? Because honestly, it might not be around forever. And I talked about the A1 show and how that had huge numbers, and It just wasn't, it's not around anymore. So pleased to make this sustainable, volubly and to be a part of that, buying me a point of beer once a month and you'll get access to the secret podcast where I give away all the best bits I'm talking about DNA test and how to use key tones for performance and a bunch of other stuff. Let's jump in, top five moments of 2020 and regrettably, some of these moments are memorable for the wrong reasons and that's where I'm gonna start at number five. I have Dylan Groone of Wagon and Crash with Jakobsson from Quickstep. It was the Tour of Poland and it's a crash that's gonna live long in our memories. And I suppose as much for the consequences as the cause. And I feel like that's how the UCI have approached this. They gave, grown away in an annoying month ban.
Ban in my view is more because the injuries to Jakobson were so…
But the ban in my view is more because the injuries to Jakobson were so substantial. And I don't know if he'll ever race a bike again. Let's hope he does. But for me, the organizers have to hold their hand up at the Tour of Poland and say, The safety protocols just weren't enough there. The barriers were dangerous. They weren't sufficient to protect the riders. They caught up, they nearly killed the Jacobson. Someone has to be accountable for that ordering ground away again because it was a boy grace and it wasn't completely out of what we normally see in boy crisis. So I feel sorry for Jacobson, obviously in the crash, but I feel sorry for ground away again on a nine month ban on something that happens in almost every bone sprint. That's number five. At number four we have just as one, Dishiro Ratalia and him in eels. That's kind of our heading for this. And I think everything from the crash with Grand Thomas where that bottle got dropped and he hit it and he came down so hard to losing all the time on the stealthy of that day. To T.O. Gegenhart, his last ditch smashing grab in the time trial on Milan on the last day, I think it was possibly a change in the guard. And we're seeing the Frumes, the Thomas's, the last generation of cyclists maybe seeing them passing the torch to the newer guys like Tio Gaganhart and I think for that reason the Jiro d'Italia was super memorable and team Inios' role within it. At number three, I should have been a game show host, at number three we have Liège and we have the absolute comedy of errors from our world champion Julian Alafleep in Liège. We had Alafleep nearly killing the open common mark her she maybe that's a bit strong he didn't nearly kill him but he switched them and nearly crashed him out leading into the sprint and then he arrogantly as only the french can do and maybe double compound the by the fact that his world champion throws his hands up a little bit too early and he is mugged on the line by Primoz Roglic. Roglic an absolute complete pro and despite his ever-growing palmaras, he still, to the front of his mind, has a piece of advice we all got when we were started cycling, sprint past the line, sprint past the line, Roglic dipped him for a famous, famous Liège win and honestly after his tour de France and the mugging he got there, I think so many of us were rooting for Primos, he's just a dude as well. At number two, we would account down the drama. At number two, we have Tour of Flanders, and we have more drama again involving Alafleap. Is it the course of the Rainbow Jersey? I'm not too sure. I don't really believe in the course of the Rainbow Jersey because, so I got to have some pretty cool years and Vavard, they had a pretty good year. But we have the tree best formed boy curators in one day racing at the front of the race. Julian Alafleap, Wout Van Eart and Vanderpaul. They're coming for the line, it looks like it's going to be a three-way duel and I was really excited to see it because I knew Alephleap, everyone knew Alephleap, he was going wrong, he was going to attack at a weird place, miles out and then we were going to have this battle Wout vs Vanderpaul, what was going to happen because they'd looked at each other in Liège and were he going to look at each other again, was Alephleap primed to win Flanders with a Belgian team? That means a lot to Belgians. It's like Christmas Easter, Hanukkah, all rolled into one. And he was deprived and I don't think there was anyone to blame really, especially not the motorbike rider, but it was a dramatic fashion. We sang Alifleap, crashing out. And I think breaking an arm, if I remember, hitting the motorbike in spectacular fashion with the World Champ flying through the air.
Then we had Wout and Vanderpaul, Dyson it out and Vanderpaul,…
And then we had Wout and Vanderpaul, Dyson it out and Vanderpaul, ultimately victorious. Now number one, we could do best moments of the decade, and this could potentially still be number one, and I think for any bike fans, it's gonna live up there with Finion, Le Mans in the 1989 Tour de France, for me, mainly because I can't remember the 1989 Tour de France, but this one, La Pla de Belfie, it's Pogacha and Roglic. Pogacha going into the final time trial, the final meaningful stage, they were cruising into Paris the day after. He'd a 57 second deficit to overcome. And we did 30 kilometer flat stage with that 6K climb and that decisive bike change where they chose to ride a TT bike into the base of the climb and change. And actually I had Craig Gager, the Mitchell and Scott mechanic on the roadman summit. And I've just recorded that interview. And Craig is talking about just the pressure now that's put on mechanics because a mechanic is, in the background, he's not normally seen and now their trust center stage for these bike changes. And that's brilliant to get his insight into and also obviously to get the little tricks and hacks he's talking about. You know, the waxes they're using as opposed to lubes, how their lube and bearings, what like aftermarket adjustments they're making. That was pretty cool. Anyway, I digress as I often do. The 57 second advantage didn't last long once. We got onto the final 6K on the plaid of Bellphi and we watched Roglech fall apart before our eyes. None of us seen a comment and especially his teammates watched Dumelan, Wiltfannert, almost just crestfallen, didn't know what direction to look. It was hard to watch, it really was hard to watch as a boyk fan and a fan of top athletes and true champions, Rogloch's boat and it was hard to watch him fall apart. He was fifth on the stage but in the end, you know, I got you on the stage if my memory serves me by over a minute and 20 and it was a historic win. This was my favourite part of the entire season because Roglic, the great champion, reigning Vuelta champion at this stage, go on to defend it again this season. His team mate, his country man, his training partner has just won the Tour de France and he's taken it from his grasps. But what does Roglic do? How does it react? This is the sign of a true champion. As Pogacha is in the middle of a press conference, he walks in, he gives him a hug, gives him high five and says congratulations buddy. It nearly brought a tear to my eye. It was a true moment of amazing sportsmanship and I'm honestly tearing up a little bit here even thinking about it. It's how champions should behave and champions aren't justified by the results but they're defined by their actions and their processes and Roglage definitely catapulted in my mind and the mind of the public as the water true champion is and the genetic makeup and the class of a true champion. There we are, the top 5 memorable moments of 2020. Thanks for listening, roadman, and I'll be back again tomorrow. Roadman before you go, I've got an important announcement to make because over 2 days and the 8th and 9th of December, I'm going to speak with 30 of the world's leading fitness experts and I want you to join me, free of charge from the comfort of your own home. This is the first ever Roadman Virtual Performance Summit, for aiming to bring together the best minds and fitness and they're going to share their secrets for biohacking your physiology as you melt away body fat and smashing your cycling goals. Would you like to learn their secrets? It's easy. All you have to do is register for your free ticket over at www.roadmansummit.com forward slash free. That's www.roadmansummit.com forward slash free. The link is in the bio.