Roglic’s red redemption
Felix Lowe rounds up a hectic season with a glance back at the Giro, the Vuelta and Tour of Flanders
When the revised cycling calendar was released back during the first lockdown, all eyes fell on one particular day: Sunday 25th October.
Where most years the best we could hope for this late in the season would be a stage of the Tour of Guangxi, this year promised us the Giro d’italia’s decisive final time-trial, a Vuelta summit finish on the Tourmalet and Paris-roubaix in a triptych inevitably coined ‘Super Sunday’.
In the end, Covid put paid to the prospect of the Vuelta entering France and forced the cancellation of ParisRoubaix. Nevertheless that Sunday
in October was still pretty super if your name was Tao Geoghegan Hart.
Outstanding shifts from teammate Rohan Dennis on the Stelvio and to Sestriere put the ‘Condor of Hackney’ level on time with Jai Hindley going into the final TT, where Tao capped an extraordinary race from Ineos Grenadiers (who won a third of all the stages, with debutant Filippo Ganna bagging four).
Reigning in Spain
Over in Spain a rejigged sixth stage to Aramón Formigal saw Primož Roglič, who’d led La Vuelta since winning the opening stage, concede the red jersey to Richard Carapaz. Two more stage wins put the Slovenian back in la roja before a wobble on the Angliru, where Britain’s Hugh Carthy came of age (or, to paraphrase my Eurosport colleague Carlton Kirby, the Lancashire Longshot became the Lancashire Hotpot).
With Carapaz in pursuit of Carthy and riding back into red on the Asturian peak, Roglič was able to use a Jumbo
Visma teammate as a crutch to limit his losses. Sepp Kuss duly earned his crust, making a name for himself beyond a term of fancy mushroom abuse.
Roglič’s performance in the Stage 13 time-trial put to bed the notion that the Slovenian was over-reliant on his team, and he made sure not to repeat the last-minute capitulation that lost him the Tour. On the penultimate day of the Vuelta, despite a brave attack from Carapaz, Roglič clung on to a 24-second lead as he summitted La Covatilla.
Four stage wins and three sprints to second place meant Roglič pocketed 32 more bonus seconds than Carapaz – an aggressive tactic that proved the difference. Together with his Liège win and his podium in Paris, Roglič proved to be the best rider of 2020 following the lockdown, his redemption complete from that Tour TT implosion.
Shoot-out at the Ronde
Perhaps the biggest disappointment in a season that just about survived Covid unscathed was the gaping hole where the 118th Paris-roubaix should have been. But at least we were treated to a vintage Tour of Flanders one week earlier. As Geoghegan Hart laid down the foundation of his push for pink at Piancavallo, Julian Alaphilippe was busy writing the next crazy chapter of his new book, My Life In The Rainbow Stripes.
Having gatecrashed the latest duel between cyclocross prizefighters Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel, the Frenchman paid the price for not looking where he was going after Van Aert – himself a victim of two early crashes – lured him into the back of a motorbike. With a broken hand ending his season, the two remaining rivals played out the duel we all wanted to see.
As veteran Alexander Kristoff led a chasing group up the final straight, Van der Poel opened up a sprint very late to hold off a regretful Van Aert. Victory for the Dutchman meant both men ended up with one Monument each this season – setting things up nicely for next year.
Let’s just hope we can see them both, and Alaphilippe, on the cobbles of Roubaix in 2021 – otherwise it will be hard to mask the disappointment. Felix is already counting the 130-odd days to go until the next Paris-roubaix
On the penultimate day, despite a brave attack from Carapaz, Roglic clung on to a 24-second lead as he summitted La Covatilla