Quarter-Finals, Match Four: Jonas Vingegaard V. Thibaut Pinot

Round Two, Match Five: Mads Pedersen v. Matej Mohorič

Mads Pedersen Propaganda

Simply go read an interview, he is immensely entertaining, and also the sprint he did in the Bemer Cyclassics gave me an adrenaline high that changed my brain chemistry. He betrayed his danish nation by moving away to Switzerland for tax reasons, but he's very open about it at least. Is described by teammates as a good guy and wears many silly Lidl outfits.

Funniest guy in the peloton, like listen to any interview with him. Has a grand tour grand slam (a victory in each grand tour). Look at those thighs. Number six on UCI ranking. Speedy guy. Keeps it real. Doesn’t die in hills as much as other sprinters imo. Just vote the guy, he’s great

Matej Mohorič Propaganda

YouTube

Post-race interview - Stage 19 - Tour de France 2023

The Tour de France 2023 will hold its Grand Départ in the Basque Country, with a first stage in Bilbao on 1st July, and will finish in Paris

Semi-Finals, Match Two: Matej Mohorič v. Jonas Vingegaard

Matej Mohorič Propaganda

YouTube

Post-race interview - Stage 19 - Tour de France 2023

The Tour de France 2023 will hold its Grand Départ in the Basque Country, with a first stage in Bilbao on 1st July, and will finish in Paris

Jonas Vingegaard Propaganda

He is CUTE, he is SMOL, he has a CUTE NOSE and FRECKLES and EYES AS BLUE AS THE ENDLESS SKY---

OK no but seriously, he's amazing. As absurd as it can sound since this is one of the best riders in the world, he's always the underdog in people's minds. Somehow, no one ever thinks "OK I think Jonas is going to win this stage today", and when he does, they're like "OK he won but he still wasn't out of this world, it's because the others were having a bad day", and when he has a stellar day they're like "HE'S DOPING FOR SURE". It's like nothing he ever does is good enough and YET he doesn't give a fuck and keeps performing despite the pressure.

Being consistently good when everyone expects you to win is talent, but being consistently good when everyone hopes you'll lose is something else too.

And he's an incredible human being to boot. He's kind, he's compassionate, he's sensitive, he doesn't have a mean bone in him, he's affectionate, thoughtful. Remember that time during TdF 2022 when he asked Grischa to tell him if he could slow down at the end of the TT to let Wout win the stage? Yeah. He's that kind of guy.

More under the cut:

He's a crier. It's cute and it makes me want to hug him. He loves his family and he always has a good word for his rivals and he's humble and I relate so much to his introverted personality and he's a cinnamon roll and a cutie patootie. But when he puts on his sunglasses, he looks like A WAR MACHINE.

(but a cute one)

He got a lot of heat when he didn't wait for Sepp on the Angliru during this Vuelta, only the instructions of the team before that clusterfuck stage were to battle it out between them and he probably liked it even less than us because he wanted Sepp to win the Vuelta from the beginning.

And need I say anything about the absolute sportsmanship of this man? When he lost his balance in the Col of Spandelles, TdF 2022, Tadej didn't miss the opportunity and powered away from him, but when Tadej was the one who crashed two minutes later, he waited for him. HE WAITED FOR HIM.

And he made the sport all the better for it and gave us one of the finest images in cycling history.

if you like MvDP, consider that though in these days when van der Poel is showing up with a mullet, Jonas did long hair earlier and better.

though there has been a change of style

If you like WvA, consider that some of the BEST hug pictures only exist due to Jonas being the kind of teammate whom others want to hug AND eminently sized for hugs/lifts

(we've all seen this but we can look at it again)

He's got sportsmanship. He's got incredible skills. He's even a dad! Maybe he's not always good at smiling for the cameras but he can sure smile for his family

Most importantly, he's a TdF winner with the time trial of the year and he cannot ride his goddamn bike without hands without his body language screaming oh god someone help me

Wout van Aert is through!

Round One, Match Three: Mark Cavendish v. Wout van Aert

Wout van Aert Propaganda

No propaganda submitted.

Mark Cavendish Propaganda

No propaganda submitted.

Round One, Match Five: Neilson Powless v. Fabio Jakobsen

Neilson Powless Propaganda

I mean just look at how happy he was starting that many days in the polkadot jersey in the tour this year

Fabio Jakobsen Propaganda

how can you not love a man getting back to such a good level after that harrowing crash. The drama of the 16 sec he had left in one of the mountain stages in the tour of 2022 was *chef's kiss*

Round One, Match Seven: Cameron Mason v. Magnus Cort

Cameron Mason Propaganda

Does multiple disciplines, good accent, and has a nice youtube channel with a nice homemade feel to it and POV videos of courses, which I find interesting! Also wore some terrible looking kit while he was with trinity racing.

Magnus Cort Propaganda

No propaganda submitted.

Primož Roglič is through!

Round Two, Match Three: Neilson Powless vs. Primož Roglič

Neilson Powless Propaganda

I mean just look at how happy he was starting that many days in the polkadot jersey in the tour this year

Primož Roglič Propaganda

No propaganda submitted.

Round Two, Match Eight: Remco Evenepoel v. Thibaut Pinot

Remco Evenepoel Propaganda

No propaganda submitted.

Thibaut Pinot Propaganda

No propaganda submitted.

Semi-Finals, Match One: Wout van Aert v. Tadej Pogačar

Wout van Aert Propaganda

muddy wout. you agree

Tadej Pogačar Propaganda

No propaganda submitted.

Round Two, Match Seven: Jonas Vingegaard v. Marc Soler

Jonas Vingegaard Propaganda

No propaganda submitted.

Marc Soler Propaganda

He may be ranked #130 in the UCI rankings but he is #1 in my heart ❤️

More propaganda under the cut.

As you may know, Marc Soler moved to UAE Team Emirates in 2022 and has since been one of Tadej Pogačar's most valuable mountain domestiques – pulling the peloton for kilometres on end, being there in the final group before Tadej and Jonas start attacking each other. Then there's stage 17 this year; his infamous ‘scary eyes’ and comforting hand, pulling his leader up the Col de la Loze and helping maintain his podium place.

However! There is much more to Marc Soler than that! Before 2022, his entire professional career was spent with Movistar – that blue-clad stalwart of Spanish cycling hopes. With them, he was again an invaluable domestique to the likes of Enric Mas, Alejandro Valverde, Nairo Quintana, and Richard Carapaz. In the intra-team ~drama~ that plagued Movistar’s 2019/2020 seasons, he remained if not neutral, but relatively uninvolved. This is well-documented in their documentary ‘Movistar: The Least Expected Day’, the series that first endeared him to me.

In 2018, he had his day as a GC challenger – a week, really, swooping to victory at Paris-Nice to take the overall win with a fantastic attack on the final stage to make up more than a minute on Simon Yates

Now let me discuss stage 5 of the Vuelta 2022: Marc’s second stage win at this race – the first being in 2020. There was a battle for the breakaway, and Marc missed out! Never fear – the intrepid Spaniard did what he does best; launch a seemingly futile attempt to bridge, riding solo or in a small group for 50km+ that never really gets anywhere. Not today, though! He joined them, when Stewart attacked he countered brilliantly and rode solo for the final 15km. Brilliant stuff. This won him the stage, the combativity award, and later actions brought him the overall super-combative award, all while supporting Juan Ayuso to the podium.

Oh yeah, did I mention the mullet?? And the earring??

Outside of racing, he comes across as a genuinely nice guy – though I have yet to come across an interview in English, translations of Spanish-language seem cheerful and respectful, having fun in UAE’s social media videos!

He recovered brilliantly from having to abandon in both the Giro and the Tour in 2021 – breaking both of his arms in a crash in the latter, yet soldiering on and completing the stage.

Soler in his natural habitats; pulling the peloton up some steep, steep slopes, or breaking away for a hail-Mary attack that’s seemingly done only for the sheer joy of doing so. He’s a valuable domestique, brilliant rider, and most certainly embodies the spirit of ciclismo!

Thus concludes my Soler propaganda.

Vamos, Marc!

Quarter-Finals, Match Three: Matej Mohorič v. Mattias Skjelmose

Matej Mohorič Propaganda

YouTube

Post-race interview - Stage 19 - Tour de France 2023

The Tour de France 2023 will hold its Grand Départ in the Basque Country, with a first stage in Bilbao on 1st July, and will finish in Paris

Mattias Skjelmose Propaganda (submitted by poll-runner)

Personal: He’s a super lovely guy with an adorable smile, looks like an elf, likes a cheeky bit of gossip and has no filter, great friendship with Mads Pedersen.

One time he crashed and fell 15m down a ravine, climbed back up himself and yelled “I’m fine, just give me a new bike” which is just. Insane to me

Professional: He’s had a really interesting journey as a rider. He was on top of the world as a junior, rivalling Remco Evenepoel, but was a total dick. Then he got banned for doping because he took some contaminated dietary supplements. Came back a year later and then signed to Trek-Segafredo (much to the irritation of Mads Pedersen, who knocked on Mattias’ hotel room door and asked him why he should believe he had changed, but found himself pleasantly surprised by the type of guy Mattias now was) and now he’s thirteenth on the individual UCI ranking. Rouleur did a great article on him:

Rouleur

Mattias Skjelmose never gives up

This article was originally published in Issue 117 of Rouleur magazine.  I first met Mattias Skjelmose in the spring of 2018. He was 17 year