Fewer time trials and steeper hills await a field of previous winners and bright prospects in the year’s final Grand TourA shadow was cast over the Vuelta a España by Thursday’s withdrawal of Nairo Quintana as the Colombian prepared his appeal against a positive test for the painkiller tramadol during the Tour de France, but even without the 2016 race winner, the final Grand Tour of 2022 is set to be contested by the race’s strongest field in recent years.The unexpected return of the triple winner Primoz Roglic after his crash in the Tour de France means there will still be five previous winners in the field when the race begins in Utrecht on Friday – Alejandro Valverde (2009), Chris...
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...