So much hard work, all done for by a tossed water bottle

CImproving audience figures have seen the new series of Top Gear broadcast on primetime BBC1

ycling continues to be the cruellest of sports. The Italian version of the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia sees Britain’s 2018 Tour winner Geraint Thomas aim for victory.

He was dropped from the team for Le Tour this summer, so focussed all his efforts on winning this, the second of three Grand Tours. Day three, and in the peloton

Geraint runs over a discarded water bottle thrown away by another rider. He falls heavily at speed. He gets back on but by now he is 11 minutes down on his rivals and his race is over. Three weeks of riding to come and no chance of winning. His only relief, a small fracture to his pelvis means he can withdraw. All that training, all those miles, one fall, all over.