Cycling Weekly – August 22, 2019

34 | August 22, 2019 | Cycling Weekly

VUELTA A ESPANA

There are up to eight stages in this

year’s Vuelta in which it might be

reasonable to assume there’ll be a

bunch finish.

The fastest men in

the race are likely to

be Fernando Gaviria

(UAE-Emirates) and

Sam Bennett (Bora-

Hansgrohe). Both have

had limited opportunities

to shine this year. Gaviria was forced

to go home early from the Giro

d’Italia after a knee injury flared

up, which also kept him out of the

Tour de France. He was

awarded a stage win

in the Giro, but only

after Elia Viviani, who

was first across the

line on stage three,

was relegated for

deviating off his line.

Bennett, the winner of 11 races

so far this year, will finally get his

first Grand Tour outing of 2019 after

being overlooked for Giro d’Italia and

Tour de France selection. Crowned

the Irish national champion in June,

he took his first win in his new jersey

on the BinckBank Tour.

Other sprinters who may appear

on the start line include John

Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo), Luca

Mezgec (Mitchelton-Scott), Max

Walscheid (Sunweb) and Fabio

Jakobsen (Deceuninck-Quick Step).

Despite three runner-up spots,

R igoberto Urán remains a kind of wild

card. History says he only has three

settings for Grand Tour results, finish-

ing second, seventh or out of the top 10

altogether, so it ’s difficult to imagine

the Colombian climbing onto the top

step of the podium. Yet, Urán is now

one of the most experienced riders in

the field. Remarkably resilient these

days and with enough of a racer’s

instinct to have several big stage and

one-day wins to his name, he is not

one to rule out.

Tao Geoghagen Hart was supposed to

have a crack riding for GC at this year’s

Giro d’Italia. The crack turned out to

be to his collarbone, crashing out just

as the race was hitting the mountains.

Bone and ambitions reset, he’ll now get

another chance at the Vuelta. Under no

pressure to get a result, his mission is to

learn the ropes of riding a Grand Tour

as a protected rider. It ’s a natural step

for the 24-year-old, having shown his

talent as a domestique and, in tandem

with Pavel Sivakov, dominating the

Tour of the A lps this year.

TAO GEOGHAGEN HART

Ineos | GBr

RIGOBETO URÁN

EF Education First | Col

Despite a string of top-five

performances, Steven K ruijswijk has

not looked close to winning a Grand

Tour since he mistook his Giro pink

jersey for a snow plough with just two

days of the 2016 race remaining. His

ride to third place in this year’s Tour

was a waiting game that he’s possibly

still playing now. Given the Dutchman’s

lack of flamboyance when targeting the

overall, it ’s hard to see him succeeding

on the array of terrain that the Vuelta

comes up with. But he’s a solid

performer who was fourth last year.

STEVEN KRUIJSWIJK

Jumbo-Visma | Nld

THE FASTMEN

Sprint battle

Bennett: national champ

Days racing in 2019: 47

Wins in 2019: 0

Podiums in 2019: 4

Days racing in 2019: 39

Wins in 2019: 2

Podiums in 2019: 2

Days racing in 2019: 40

Wins in 2019: 0

Podiums in 2019: 2