Submissions Are Officially Closed. The Official Bracket Will Be Out Shortly And Round 1 Will Begin Next

Hello everyone, little update:

We’ve had submissions open for a week now and 17 of the 32 slots have been filled. I will keep the submissions open for another week until next Sunday, and if we still don’t have enough we’ll go from there.

So if you have any cyclists you want to submit, shoot me a message on this account and we’ll get them in!

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

Wout van Aert Propaganda

muddy wout. you agree

Tadej Pogačar Propaganda

No propaganda submitted.

Mathieu van der Poel is through to round two!

Round One, Match Two: Mathieu van der Poel v. Michael Vanthourenhout

Mathieu van der Poel Propaganda

No propaganda submitted.

Michael Vanthourenhout Propaganda

Tall and super blonde, he is Eli Iserbyt's knight in a shiny armor and won the cyclocross European Championship twice so his jersey can match his role.

I just love Eli and Michael, and watch them race together in cross. They bring team tactics in cyclocross races and it works.

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!

Round One, Match Sixteen: Thibaut Pinot v. Victor Campenaerts

Thibaut Pinot Propaganda

No propaganda submitted.

Victor Campenaerts Propaganda

he’s a cheeky boy and his bromance with Jasper De Buyst is so cute! https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cul3prPL5Cv/?igshid=ZDE1MWVjZGVmZQ==

Magnus Cort is through!

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.

Marc Soler is through!

Round One, Match Fourteen: Lennard Kämna v. Marc Soler

Lennard Kämna Propaganda

No propaganda submitted.

Marc Soler 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.

Tadej Pogačar is through!

Round One, Match Eight: Michał Kwiatkowski v. Tadej Pogačar

Michał Kwiatkowski Propaganda

No propaganda submitted.

Tadej Pogačar Propaganda

No propaganda submitted.

Thibaut Pinot is through!

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

Remco Evenepoel Propaganda

No propaganda submitted.

Thibaut Pinot Propaganda

No propaganda submitted.