The Welshman put a history of dramatic scrapes behind him by keeping his cool in the time trial to all but secure Tour victoryGiven the variety of ways he has managed to fall off his bike over the years, it would have been unlike Geraint Thomas to complete a Tour de France without a jitter of some kind, but a disturbing skitter of the back wheel on an early corner in Saturday’s time trial barely registered on his personal Richter scale. The Welshman is legendary for the injuries he has accumulated, among them the broken pelvis with which he completed the Tour in 2013, the collarbone he smashed in the Alps last year and the collision with a metal spring...
This week’s roundup also features pre-season friendly pass brilliance, waterskiing problems and silky AFL skills1) The Tour de France reaches its conclusion in Paris this weekend, which makes it worth a quick look back at the most memorable finishes on the Champs-Élysées. In 1991, elbows-out sprinter Djamolodine Abdoujaparov wore green into the final stage (despite controversy after he had forced Johan Musseeuw into the barriers on an earlier stage) but crashed on the final sprint – yet clung on to the jersey when the team got him over the line. But that finish pales into insignificance next to the 1989 finish, when Greg LeMond overcame his deficit to Laurent Fignon to time trial his way to victory in 1989. And...
While Simon Yates comes out of the Giro d’Italia with credit, there is still uncertainty about Team Sky and their lead rider When Simon Yates cracked so disastrously on the bottom slopes of the Colle delle Finestre while leading the Giro d’Italia last Friday, it looked like the most humiliating of personal catastrophes. Yet it may have been the best thing that has ever happened to the young English rider, at least if he wants to avoid the fate of Chris Froome, the man who caused his downfall. Yates had gone into his 13th day in the leader’s pink jersey holding an advantage of almost half a minute over his nearest pursuer, with the memory of a trio of majestic...
The Briton’s breakdown raises questions of his team’s strategy but was a reminder that participants are human after allIt will come as little comfort to Simon Yates after losing the pink jersey of the Giro d’Italia on Friday, but he is not alone in his fate. The race has witnessed some epic collapses in its closing mountain stages in recent years. In 2016, Vincenzo Nibali, famously, took advantage of a catastrophic breakdown and crash by the Dutchman Stephen Kruijswijk en route to the French ski resort of Risoul with two days to go, while in 2002, the young Australian Cadel Evans cracked with four days remaining, slipping from pink jersey to an anonymous 14th overall.It is the eternal fascination of...
A Briton is leading the Giro d’Italia but not the one who was expected to and the 25-year-old is doing it with an air of utter confidenceSimon Yates launched his first big move when the riders of the Giro d’Italia were toiling up the slopes of Mount Etna. Sitting calmly in the wheels near the front of a large group full of big names, he waited until the finish line was 1.5km away. Then, with a quiet smoothness, he accelerated out of the bunch and simply glided away.Ahead lay only his team-mate Esteban Chaves, who had escaped with 25km to go. As he rode up to the Colombian, Yates knew he had done enough to put himself in the leader’s...