The third and ultimate Grand Tour of the 12 months has been and gone, with the Vuelta a España drawing to a conclusion on Sunday with a ultimate time trial round Madrid.
It was an exhilarating race – a match for its Italian and French rivals within the three-week stakes – with a race-long duel between Ben O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) and eventual winner Primož Roglič (Pink Bull-Bora-Hangrohe) for the GC, in addition to a captivating battle decrease down the general rankings and within the different classifications too.
Because the mud settles and we begin to stay up for the World Championships in Zurich later this month, let’s take a look at what we are able to take away from what was, principally, one other three-week deal with for bike racing followers.
1. Primož Roglič is pretty much as good as he ever was
Regardless of cramming in a profitable profession as a ski-jumper earlier than his profitable profession as a bicycle owner, the Slovenian has been round for a very long time now. He has received rather a lot, however these days we now have change into used to seeing him come off worse, maybe, than he deserves. See: a number of Tour de France-ending crashes, a compatriot who has stolen almost all of the Slovenian thunder (Tadej Pogačar), and team-mates who simply won’t pipe down and let him take the Grand Tour win he got here for (Sepp Kuss).
So it would have come as a shock to some and a aid to others to search out the Pink Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider along with his type dialled as much as 11 on this 12 months’s Vuelta a España.
He was maybe a little bit too assured early on, permitting Ben O’Connor a near-five-minute GC lead. However his climb again to the highest appeared assured and inevitable, and whereas few will not have willed on O’Connor the underdog, it was additionally a pleasure to look at Roglič firing on all cylinders as he returned to the Grand Tour tree.
(Picture credit score: Getty Pictures)
2. Ben O’Connor is a bona fide contender
Moments after crossing the end line within the Vuelta’s ultimate time trial in Madrid on Sunday, Ben O’Connor rolled to a halt in entrance of cameras that confirmed, clearly, his happiness even earlier than he lifted his helmet visa. And after doing so the Aussie couldn’t maintain again.
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“Sure!” he shouted into the lens, pumping his fist as he did so.
It was O’Connor’s first Grand Tour podium end, and follows his fourth place general at this 12 months’s Giro d’Italia. In Spain there was additionally the appreciable strain that comes with having to defend the chief’s jersey for what was 13 days – the burden of efficiency expectation and the a number of press calls every day. There isn’t any slinking off to the staff bus if issues do not go effectively.
The Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale rider could have discovered from the expertise and can take confidence from his excessive placings. In all chance he’ll return subsequent 12 months a Grand Tour rider reborn that we should always all look out for.
(Picture credit score: Getty Pictures / Dario Belingheri)
3. Is Kern-Pharma the brand new Intermarché-Wanty?
It wasn’t so way back that Intermarché-Wanty was the plucky underdog, placing riders in each break that it may and, typically, popping out on high. The Belgian staff may all the time be seen on the entrance within the Grand Excursions, pushing alongside in a (normally) doomed escape however getting some nice airtime all the identical.
Just a few years again, Intermarché picked up a few Grand Tour wins and now, in 2024, it stays the plucky underdog to some extent however rivals take it significantly – it took three Tour de France victories because of Biniam Girmay.
Coming into this 12 months’s Vuelta, Kern-Pharma was that plucky underdog, concentrating on airtime within the breaks within the hope that possibly, simply possibly, it may choose up a win. It was a method that paid dividends – on the finish of the race the staff was sitting on a haul of three stage victories taken in fashion on a number of the race’s tougher days.
Step ahead Kern-Pharma – 2025 and extra wins await you.
Battling on the steep stuff
(Picture credit score: Getty Pictures)
4. Typically, the steeper the higher
Instantly the route for this 12 months’s Vuelta a España was revealed, it was apparent that it was going to be a really arduous race. Eight summit finishes and lots extra mountains apart from, it was clearly a climber’s race, with few alternatives for the sprinters. ‘Brutal’ was a buzzword, and there have been protests from some quarters that it was merely an excessive amount of.
The route of the Vuelta tends to be powerful, however this 12 months it feels just like the race’s route designer, former Tour de France podium finisher Fernando Escartin, has pushed it so far as he can.
Is a complete of 10 mountain levels an excessive amount of? Maybe, although the riders themselves didn’t make an enormous noise about it, so maybe not. Nevertheless, one of many hardest features of the race was certainly the plentiful steep slopes that outlined a number of the stage finishes.
These had been exemplified by the hors-cat Cuitu Negru summit end on stage 15 with its 24% ramps close to the highest, and the end at Moncalvillo on stage 19, whose ultimate 5.5km all averaged between 9.5 and 11.8%, with ramps of 16. A really nasty enterprise, and the place Ben O’Connor lastly ceded the crimson jersey.
These levels featured a number of the most enthralling battles, to not point out a number of the most alarming grimaces, of the entire race, as riders actually did go away all of it on the vertiginous street.
Lose a number of the mountain levels maybe, however let’s preserve these steep slopes.
5. The Vuelta deserves house to develop
Or, for followers of ’60s musicals, how do you clear up an issue just like the Vuelta? As a result of this race would not all the time get a good rap, written off as an end-of-summer final probability saloon whereas all the massive nobs are poolside toasting their Tour de France success. Or, on the very least, gathering themselves for a tilt on the World Championships.
This 12 months’s Vuelta was a reminder that it may be simply as riveting because the Giro d’Italia or the Tour. However whereas it’s all the time held in such shut proximity to the latter, maybe it would by no means get a good crack of the whip. It is arduous to race correctly in two three-week races in three months. After which there’s the August climate – excessive temperatures this summer time noticed one rider, Antonio Tiberi, retire with heatstroke.
Putting the Spanish Tour within the calendar has been a perennial subject for the UCI. It was in April, then it was shunted to August – pushed round to accommodate different races. Possibly, although, it wants one other calendar tweak. Moved per week or two later may imply much less hostile temperatures and extra probability for Tour riders to get well and mount a concerted Spanish marketing campaign.
As a result of the Vuelta a España has rather a lot to supply, and it is a disgrace to overlook out on that.
