But that wasn’t all.
The Vuelta reached a climax with Chris Froome finding a significant amount of form as the race went on and riding himself into a very very solid second place man to man with Contador in the most brutal of Spanish climbs. He would hang onto this in the time trial and take his second second place at the end of the race. A stunning come-back from injury for both top podium placed riders and a race that started a dull in my eyes but developed into a thriller.
Nearer home there was genuinely thrilling racing in the Tour of Britain. We left this race on with it being shaken up every day and on Friday the race was set alight with a stunning ride form Alex Dowsett who went in a very strong break and powered through cross country to result in a brilliant snatching of the race lead in Hemel Hempstead. His break-away partner Brandle took a second stage win in a deal that gave them both what they wanted. Behind them the peloton both seemed to misjudge the break and then fail to organise themselves to chase as OPQS put everyone form Cavendish to the yellow jersey Kwaitkowski on the front to try and chase it back with no luck at all. Dowsett was exhausted but wore the yellow jersey into Saturday’s stage with many people hoping he could hold it.
On Saturday it became apparent that he couldn’t. He was dropped on climbs and the race lead would go to the young Dutch rider Dylan Van Baarle form Garmin Sharp who finished the stage third behind winner Vermont. This left the final day’s racing in London for the title. The first part of this was an individual time trial, and as expected this was dominated by Bradley Wiggins moving himself up to third overall with a very solid ride that also gave him the stage win in front of a partisan crown in the Capital.
FMFT headed into town in between this part of proceedings and the final city centre circuit race that should set up a classic Kittel-Cavedish sprint.
The cycling circus was in town with the range of vehicles from massive team busses to the odd camper van and transit lined up in front of iconic London landmarks, with a chance to peek into the envy-inspiring lorries and get a glimpse of the stars of international cycling as they warmed up and then rolled to the start.
The race was much as the script expected. Breaks went and gave some excitement, but all would be swept up by the peloton when the big teams decided enough was enough. Wiggins was looking for 22 seconds, but this was always going to be a tough ask over such a short race and at the speeds that were being seen. To cut a longish story short it was dragged back together and we lined up for a sprint. Cavendish and Kittel were placed in perfectly and went for the line. Whether thanks to Kittel’s dominance, or the effort in Cav’s legs after his huge work over the hills to work for his team leader, it would be the German who took the win by a small margin to give his second stage win on the race. The overall lead stayed with Van Baarl to give him am slightly unexpected but deserved race win for a young rider. If history teaches anything on this race that should make him a huge talent to look out for in the future.
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