WURF A PROPER CRACK

Tassie cycling star Cameron Wurf is willing to do whatever it takes to ensure Team Ineos claims victory at the Vuelta a España and finishes the pandemic- plagued cycling season on a high.

THE failure of Team Ineos at the Tour de France has spurred the cycling juggernaut in the Grand Tour, and Tasmanian Cameron Wurf has never been more determined to fire for the Vuelta a Espana.

Previously known as Team Sky, Ineos Grenadiers has dominated Le Tour, winning seven yellow jerseys in eight years with four different riders.

However, this year’s COVID- impacted debacle led team manager Dave Brailsford to conceded that other teams had overtaken his outfit.

When team leader Geraint Thomas fractured his pelvis at the Giro d’Italia another major title looked gone, before Englishman Tao Geoghegan Hart held off Australian Jai Hindley in the final stage to win his maiden Grand Tour.

The end of the Giro overlapped with the first week of the Tour of Spain, where Wurf has done a mountain of heavy lifting to launch teammate Richard Carapaz into the red leader’s jersey.

Contesting his first Grand Tour in seven years, Australia’s No. 1 ironman triathlete said Geoghegan Hart’s success in Italy had spurred the team in Spain to finish the season on a high.

“The team copped a real kick in the head in the Tour, there is no two ways to look at it,” Wurf said.

“It has showed a bit of character of the team that we have gone back, not dwelt on it, and gone to the next opportunity.

“When ‘ G’ ( Thomas) went out of the Giro I was really nervous coming into the Vuelta knowing we had Richard. He had been in Andorra training with me for the last month and knowing how determined he was to win.

“The first days here, I have never been more paranoid or stressed in my life. I love talking and I wouldn’t talk to anyone.

“It was potentially our last chance for the year and as it has turned out Tao has won the Giro, which is fantastic, so now we want to finish the year on a real high and show everyone there is a reason why we have won so many Grand Tours in the last number of years.”

Wurf, who had back- to- back top- 10 finishes at the World Ironman Championships, signed with Ineos Grenadiers in January.