2024 Paris-Nice Preview: Primoz Roglic vs Remco Evenepoel | Beyond the Podium | NBC Sports

hey everybody Welcome to beyond the podium I'm Bob roll will be joined by Christian vandel today we are previewing Parry n it starts the 3D of March 9:10 Eastern set your alarm clocks especially if you're on the west coast we're going to get into Perry n preview just now the GC contenders the key stages and of course a great field of sprinters but before all of that we're going to talk big headlines from the off seon Christian I have a couple of uh headlines I'd like to get to but for you what's the biggest headline from uh the previous offse I have been growing my beard out for quite a few weeks but beyond that what's your big headline well well thank you for addressing the beard Santa it's good to see I hope the North Pole's okay uh yeah the biggest headline by a long shot has to be Prost R glitch going over toor and it's I think everyone every all the fans at least us at home is happy to see that Juggernaut be split up just a little bit having him yonas oh yeah and by the way sep cous all on the same team winning all three grand Tours in one year it's became a little bit too much too above a monopoly so I think we're all happy to see these big two guys being on different teams yonas and Primos so it's gonna be great to see Primos to see what he could do in his first race of the Year by the way with Bor hrow and it's it seemed pretty Gra ly obvious that there was too many cooks in the kitchen at the VTA for the yumbo visma squads by the way they'll be called visma Lisa bike moving forward be that as it may I am very happy that Ro glitch changed teams maybe he should have done that a year before we could have seen a bigger battle in the tour to France last summer Christian oh yeah I mean there's so many instances where we could have said well this could be such a a better race if these guys were split up a little bit so 24 I mean the races that we've already watched this year have been incredible how fast it seems like every year and we've been saying this and I know it just gets old hearing me say this but it's true last year we think where could they go from here how can they raise the bar yet again and it seems like the whole peleton has done that yet again and it's gonna be interesting to see what effect Primos has and not only himself on on Bora but the entire team many times you see a marquee Rider go in there and they raise the bar for the entire team team and I think we've already seen that we saw Danny Martinez flying already in algar we saw Bob jles coming back to life so two teammates that he won't have Danny but he will have Bob jungle so it's going to be interesting to see how they could go and and not just for Perry n but for the the biggest races the tour to France later on in the year that's what we all have this is pinise a lot of times we look think of this race as a mini tour to France but in March horrible weather of course usually in the 40s wind rain but of everything this is almost like a a precursor to the big dog which is the tour to France and for for my money Primos uh perhaps should have moved a little bit earlier to a different team and uh be that as it may uh I it was a lot of speculation what would happen to Primos after the VTA especially last year and then he wound up on board does that surprise you at all Christian it doesn't surprise me especially like you said it could have been said that he could have moved earlier um he's a winner this guy you can't change a guy with this kind of mentality he it can't be taught this guy when he has his sights on objective he does not miss I was thinking just was looking through some of his stats and what he does in the beginning of the Season he wins almost every objective he does unless of course just a couple years ago he crashed on the last day and that's the only reason he didn't win pinise that year he made men's later so he's either winning trino adriatico he's winning perin and then he's winning bass country after that I this guy does not miss he's getting up there in age though Bobby I mean he's going to be 35 years old I mean think about that he's 11 years older than Remco I mean that's that's a lot of years but you considering that he does have 80 wins and those are all big dog wins they're not small races these are all world to races pretty much every time the same can be said against Remco but yeah we're it's going to be interesting to see this head-to-head battle this early the season 20 state race wins in Primos rog's career is impressive and very likely to add another one at perin what's the purpose of perin in the season uh this year it's interesting we'll get to that a little bit when we look at the race course um looking at the bigger races further on in the year but Perry n for my money one of the most important races in the spring and a big addition to anybody's list of wins if you want to be considered a you know a superstar cyclist no doubt about it I mean like I was saying a little bit earlier it's it's a race that you really starting to see how good you trained or how bad you train the winter time to really take inventory of yourself and your team going forward race on French roads have a couple Mountain do finishes usually individual time trial and a prologue a thousand years ago when we raced but now this year is going to have a team time trial just like they had last year and then of course really just putting eight days together early in the season and knowing what you need to work on if you're doing good that's great if not we need to regroup a little bit and we have plenty of time before the tour to France so yeah it is a little bit of a tour to France It's usually the race to the sun it sometimes it has been raining down in East but that's usually unlikely um but every time they start up in the north towards Paris it's usually 45 degrees usually a little windy it's not nice it's it's a race that I love to hate and hate the love I mean really there's it's every year come back to this race and just get your teeth kicked after being beautiful Tour of California for example or if you go to Oman like many of these razors were just in uh the UAE tour for example last week and then coming to Paris and it's not nice out so it's it could be a big shift especially some of the Australian Riders doing tour down under so this is another big race that we're going to see everybody but everyone has to race in the same conditions and here we are pinise yet again I can't believe he's already here agreed there Primos rogich very rarely misses when he has an objective just like said Christian but maybe one Rider that would have high hopes of being able to do that the other pre-ra favorite for my money Remco aen aole already successful on the season had a big win to start out rog's first race does that maybe give Remco a little bit of an advantage in Perry n Christian he's got some more race miles than Primos does if it was anyone other than Primos I would say yes but this guy like we're just saying he he can prepare so well by himself whether it's at altitud with a team or by himself at home in Sylvania it doesn't really matter this guy is always on point when he needs to be on point and he doesn't go to a race to train th those days are over for the majority of the pelaton that doesn't happen anymore you have to be ready to go or else you're just going to be get slaughtered out there so Primos I think he's gonna be ready but you're right though Remco looks so good he destroyed the opposition in the time Char Nar he won the overall he wasn't fast enough at the top Danny Martinez beat him two times in a row at the top of the climbs and that's why I give the advantage to Primos Primos is a bit quicker than Remco if there's individual time for example in perin maybe I would give the the nod to Remco um nonetheless Remco almost has never even raced on French soil Bobby you even tell me that you didn't think that he ever even raced a race and and I couldn't really find one as a professional where he had raced in France apart from of course when he had a very horrible day in the Volta espia last year lost over half an hour so I'm sure he doesn't want to think about that uh but this is all in preparation again for the the Twitter France he has this one and then he has the Doan which is another precursor to the Twitter France in June and then we'll see what he could do in the biggest race of the allall in the tour to France yeah and remco's uh uh expectation and I mean the hype around Remco in the tour to France that's another big headline in the offseason as he announced he will compete at the tour for the first time and Perry N is a big rendevu for that but uh maybe rogich I would give him the advantage and Perry n at least team-wise a very strong team for Bora including vlasov and like you said before Bob youngo Christian yeah good good team I mean the team Remco is not bad though either I mean yeah even v v Wilder katel these are very good Riders and they've already been racing they been racing very well um there's no doubt that they have his back that being Remco going into all these Races they know he's a prodal son of Belgian racing and he has the results to back it up he's not a myth going forward he's already won a grand tour he's run some massive races world champion um so he needs to have this at his at his back they've changed the team dramatically over the years usually a sprinters team now they're becoming more of a GC team so again you have to go though to the biggest races to really prove to see what you could actually do and for Remco he's been skirting around the Twitter France for a while now he's still only 24 years old it's not that long of course but he needs to go and see what he could actually do there I I think that of course he's a contender can see what happens um and very strong Contender for the podium that's for sure and who does it matter more this per n uh rogl or aole do you reckon Christian I think for rogich I think rogl goes into every race like it's his last race and I love them mentality of him he's a he's a killer um and of course the fact that we talked about him switching teams so he wants to hit the ground running immediately with Bora and show his team that they made the right decision and and scooping him up paying a handsome handsome to first of all buy out to what was yumbo and now is Vis Vima Lisa bike so they they have to show his worth and to his teams to have the backing of his teams like for example the guys like Bob jungles in Vas that you just mentioned Jonas vingo third in this race behind T pogacha last year not participating going to do some other stage races um but besides the two big guys for my money David godu who was second last year by the way in Perry n should be a one of the top guys Joel Almeida Brandon mcnolty and Matteo Jorgenson two Young Americans also might be in the mixed Christian and I'm I don't I'm really looking forward to Perry I think it's going to be a great race it's going to give us an idea of who's going to be uh racing well throughout 2024 yeah Brandon mcel one of the names that you already brought up has already been racing strong he's already has two wins to his name won the time Tri at uee and then of course in Valencia crushing everybody on the climbs however I will say I don't know exactly what happened on Sunday in the last stage of UAE both himself Brandon mnel and Jay Vine were way off the back in a Mountaintop finish were should suit them in they should be fine so I don't know if they're sick so we'll see what happens this is just the week before perin n we don't know what's happening they are on the start list going into Sunday's race U so hopefully they're okay hopefully they're fit and healthy um but that was very curious to see um I really thought that they were going to easily pull off the entire win it's a massive race for their team UAE obviously that it's a UAE and they're sponsored by uee so that's a big question mark for me um Brandon MCN is incredible we've seen him do in the biggest race T to France and some of the smaller onewe stage races in Mato there another big headline there switching over from of course moar into Vima Lisa bike so that's going to be very interesting to see what he could do for for GC stages look like this a couple of flat stages for the sprinters just outside of Paris uh by the way those roads will be featured in the Olympic time trials and road races a little bit later in the summer Christian per perhaps the most decisive of the early stages is stage number four very hilly and then a tough climb to Mount Brey for the finish I 100% concur with that Bob and got 11,000 feet of climbing you have a day with many Category 2 climbs and of course like you just mentioned 3 kilometers at 7.7% to the finish line so like we always say the Riders make the race but if they decide that they're going to be an angry Bunch that day this could be the day where it really goes Paar shaped testing how strong some of the teams are especially if you had the yellow Jersey after the team time TR this could be really interesting know a little bit of Loop and then of course like you said right back on the mon Bri and you can see that profile not nice got the category one and then back all the way to the category two not nice at all not nice at all and just think of some Crosswinds blow across stage number four that' be awesome we'd be we'd be too lucky to get the crosswind as well but I think with all that climbing I don't know if there's time for Crosswinds in a day like that but these are the kind of days that we're seeing in modern cyclan they don't necessarily need the above category climbs to make it epic I think you a lot of times you need those category twos and threes where people aren't as scared of it and just ready to just wing it so that's one of those days that would really has my attention would have my attention as a bike racer especially if I'm on the back foot for example after the team time my team doesn't do so good we're going to just absolutely go for it in that first 40 kilometers in those climbs and really string out the brunch and see if we could put multiple people in the Breakaway and really put the leaders teams on the back foot so yeah I'm looking forward to stage four that looks like Primos rogl for me anyways written all over stage number four Punchy climber very difficult stage the r weather could be bad that's got Primos written all over it I would imagine he makes a move on stage number four Christian yeah I mean it's it's going to go for what do they calling the rication they were calling for the longest time in in the VTA going for all those bonus seconds I mean you think about whether it's available at the line every time and good luck trying to outsprint him at the top of a climb he's one of those guys who when you think there's nothing left he could always go one step deeper he's spinal tap putting it to 11 every time on the Monta finish he's one of those guys he just has always something a little bit more to pull from his body and I don't think anything is going to be changing just considering that he has different Jersey and helmet on this year another Rider that we take a great interest in who's also on a new team Mato Jorgenson the young American will be leading the GC charge for visma Lisa bike formerly called yumbo I'm really excited to see how Mato can do in this week's race Christian yeah I was speaking with him a little bit over text this morning obviously he was not I shouldn't say Obviously but uh after perin last year he was eighth place he was not a happy camper and he was actually was quite upset about it he put a lot of training into it by himself by the way and I think that would that's one of those that really led him to leave moar just because he always had to do these camps by himself so much training now he's racing with an incredible team and they spent a month at the Top Antenna reef and teed so he's ready to go he was absolutely flying an opening weekend on the cobblestones um so yeah I think that this is mato guy he could do it all he's he looks a lot like the George hinat of old or Luke row where he has a pretty standard opening season where he has a lot most mostly Classics focus with Ru and flounders at the end a big break Dolph and the tour to France so he's taking the place as some big Riders because W fan art supposedly will not be at the tour to France this year so he's got some big shoes to fill but he's got some serious class young guy 24 years old you saw him in full display last year the Tour of France and yeah I'm very long when it comes to Mato like this guy a lot way mature for his years one event that hasn't really made a huge difference in time recently in the last couple of years that used to be a big factor in GC aspirations for anybody is a team time trial that's coming back in Perry newes for stage number three what do you expect that to be like Christian I think that like we've seen in the last couple of years not maybe Big Time gaps but maybe significant for at least for teamer out I think so I mean I think it's gonna be tight I really do I think it's going to be maybe spread out by 15 or so seconds over the top three or four I don't think much bigger than that Bob I really don't unless it's really windy or cold or the uh the racing is incredibly hard leading into it but there's only two stages and they're most likely pretty easy for the most part unless it's Crosswinds on stage number two but yeah I think team time is GNA be pretty wide open Bobby it's not so technical it's going to be how strong are your horses and let's go most of these teams like we were saying have very strong teams UAE on paper looking down El MCN Finn fer black jayvine grer Neil poet and Mark Solair every one of those Riders could win stages and there you go look at the profile really not much to talk about pretty fast after that first time split right in the middle and all the way to the finish line so I don't expect it to be massive I in the past especially going to last year's stage race I thought they're going to be really big but I was dead wrong where yumbo Vima only won by 1 second over EF well the visuals in the team time TR are spectacular we'll see what the time gaps are at the Finish Line um could get a little bit of an advantage but uh like you said Christian I think stage number four and of course the closing weekend two big days in the mountains around nce which will Factor heavily in the tour to France later in the summer so the final weekend as usual should prove decisive Teddy paga he was spectacular throughout as he always is but this year's Perry n could be a lot closer than it was last year inos is another team that gosh wasn't long ago they dominated every stage race or nearly every race that they entered and now it seems like they're playing catchup to a number of other teams Christian Rodriguez who was fifth in the tour of FRS will be in their roster uh real question mark is team anyos in this year's Perry needs for me Christian I think you're looking at me a little bit too much Bob with a big beard but it's Carlos yes Carlos Rodriguez not Christian Rodriguez but yeah Carlos Carlos is a stud isn't he I mean we saw him in the VTA two years ago and had a big crash and then he had a big crash again with sep cous actually took sep cous out let's be honest on on stage number 20 last year he is a monster on the bike and I didn't understand necessarily what they saw in him early with in NEOS um but he's he's obviously one of the best rers that they have especially for a general classification even though the Ean Bernal is looking very good early this season but yeah they have a good team not a great team I don't know who they're going to be able to pull it off with especially when the Riders we've already mentioned seem like they're just a step ahead but Carlos or Christian whatever you want to call him Rodriguez I think you think he G be there and now let's talk the sprinters a really good maybe the strongest field of sprinters for any race so far this year led by Olaf Koy maybe Matt's Pon certainly for Leal Trek having a spectacular season thus far yeah I think ola Koy he's already got a win right now I think he's one of the guys who's going to be the one of the stronger especially when you're talking to Matteo like I was over Tex like I said this morning he's they're bringing him thinking about the wins especially and they think about aeni leading him out how strong he is what he could do on the other there gonna be some good Arvid de Klein didn't know much about him actually raced for an American team rally but he's been very strong what big Sprinter a newcomer maybe even though he's an older Rider to look out for Dylan Gro wagan like you said mt's Arnold dele Bobby yakobson I don't know he's kind of been he's been invisible let's just say up until now so there's a lot of good sprinters actually more than I thought Bob to be honest with you I feel like many times some of the big sprinters go to the Italian races this time of year they realize it's such a hard paring so much climbing that it's not worth it for them but maybe looking at the lack of hills and the opening stages they have some opportunity and they could go home if they want to over the weekend speaking of the opening stages for the sprinters presumably stage number one however pretty lumpy for Category 3 climbs throughout the precedings but stage number one also the first leaders jersey up for grabs for my money this has got mads Pon written all over it Christian tough climbing day see what the weather's like if it's raining I'm not betting on anybody else except mad pson yeah I wish I could disagree with you but I cannot Bob and it's big old Loop like you said pretty Lumpy almost 6,000 ft of climbing so not the flattest but not the hilliest and there is a little bit of uphill in the last kilometer 2.2% in the last kilometer so that is usually for mattz Peterson he's one of those guys who's always coming across the line up in the in the podium if not winning especially if you think in the Volta espia so they're all like we said a lot of good sprinters here but I would considering how fast he's been riding up until now this year you have to have matad Pon at the top of the list and a lot of these RADS will be in the Olympic Games in the time trial in the road race later on in the summer uh stage number two very similar stage number one and we're expecting the sprinters maybe only two opportunities throughout perin stages five and six Hillier could presume me possibly be a day for the sprinters in those two stages but it might be the only two chances for the sprinters days one and two in this year's Peres it all depends on the breakway does in B I mean these days bringing back a strong break of five or six Riders if they get a big gap and the teams that with the sprinters don't really collaborate that much there's no way you're bringing these guys back these days and like you said it's hiler 7,000 8,000 feet of climbing on the stages you just mentioned it's interesting but at the same time these sprinters are so strong Matts Pon he could climb like nobody's business and he's a Bonafide Sprinter so they pretty much flatten the small hills these days days with the speeds that they're going over so I can't call it these days I mean it's what they decide and what the Pelon decides on that day how I just like I said on stage four it's a hard stage but if they decide they're going to go all out yes it could be shrapnel but if they don't decide if it's rainy or whatever they just woke up on the wrong side of the bed and they just want to recover from their earlier days then maybe it won't be that big who knows it's going to be awesome to watch the sprinters the first couple days and maybe throughout I'm going to give you my Podium Christian and then I want to hear yours I'm going to say rogich aan aole and Matteo Jorgenson for the podium uh any disagreement there or is there maybe a a standout Rider that we should have on our raidar that we don't so far that we'll see in Perry doing really well not that I would not okay I'm gonna agree with you on the first two after that not that I would I would love to see Mato joran s up there in third place but it if you wanted me to call somebody out from maybe not the top of or tip of your tongue Matas skelos from Leal Trek that's a rider who's been riding strong and strong he had a great tour to France last year actually helped mads Pon win the stage that won when the uphill finished just like it's very similar to what we're going to see on stage number one that'd be my riter that I put in third place up there of course Brandon MCN a massive wild card right now just because of the way he performed last weekend I don't know if he's sick or not um but yeah that would be mine one if proba going to say apart from Mato which I again I would love to see or Brandon MCN with massive bias to the United States but I would put up another Dane Matas skelos all right well that'll do it for beyond the podium uh Perry n preview join us Sunday 9:10 amm Eastern third of Mark Christian I'm stoked to get the season started with you I can't wait to see you brother it's gonna be great and say hi to Mrs Claus and or Cell Block C wherever you are right now Bobby from the library

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Id: l9-Iqy5uuA4

Length: 25min 12sec (1512 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 28 2024