La Vuelta a Espãna 2022

I thoroughly enjoyed the Vuelta, finding it, in contrast to many media commentaries and much fan grousing, a tremendously exciting and important race mostly due to the emergence of Remco Evenepoel as a Grand Tour winner and Tour de France contender. It was a marvel to follow the 22-year-old Belgian – whom I barely recognized with his new, hard-chiseled look – as he, and his Quickstep team, defied every criticism and smashed back every attack – racing and media – handling it all with a maturity and aplomb far beyond his years. The tantrum- throwing brat of yesteryear seems to have disappeared right along with those fat baby cheeks.

Evenepoel took the Red Leader’s jersey on Stage 6, up the near-vertical finishing climb the Ascensión al Pico Jano, one of the “goat paths” that the Vuelta specializes in, dropping three-time Vuelta winner Primoz Rogič by a minute. Just ahead of the charging Belgian, who was defying criticism number one – that he was unable to handle steep climbs – was the stage winner, Aussie Jay Vine, the Cinderella story of the race.

Vine, who wastes precious media time by complaining about how little he is paid, came into the ProTour by winning the Zwift Academy program. He in fact looks as though he’s on a home trainer when he rides so little does his bike move side-to-side, even when out of the saddle. Vine won again two days later, took the Climbers Jersey, and held it for the next 10 stages before sadly crashing out of the race.

The Quickstep team, defying criticism number two – that they couldn’t handle the defense of a leaders’ jersey, (“What are you talking about”, snapped Team Manager Patrick Lefevre, “We defended Julian’s Yellow Jersey for two weeks in the Tour.”) really did punch above their weight, even after losing key climber Pieter Serry on Stage 9 (Covid positive) and Alaphilippe who crashed out on Stage 11. Rèmy Cavagna aka ‘The TGV of Clermont-Ferrand’ spent countless kilometers on the front defending, the others such as Ilan Van Wilder, he too only 22, rose to the occasion fighting to their limits every day in expert ways.

The Stage 10 Time Trial showed us that we were witnessing something and someone very special. Evenepoel, using a 60-tooth front chainwheel (normal for TT’s is now 58…) redefined ‘warp speed’ in cycling by winning the 30.9-kilometer individual race by a whopping :48 over reigning Olympic TT champ Rogič at an average speed of 55.676 kph. Cavagna was third btw, see criticism number two. His ride stunned the entire peloton and entourage. Roglič was now 2:41 behind, resurgent Enric Mas of Movistar at 3;03 with the rest of the top-ten ranging from three to nine-minutes. The race was Evenepoel’s for the losing.

Roglič, ever the champion, fought hard, clawing his was back to 1:34 behind the Belgian by Stage 15. The next day the Slovenian was again grabbing seconds, leaving the Red Jersey behind near the finish and fighting for the stage win when tragedy, controversial tragedy, struck as Roglič collided with young Brit sprinter Fred Wright, falling hard and out of the race, this after crashing out of the Tour de France. Unfortunately, Jumbo-Visma issued a press release three days later blaming Wright for the crash – there is no way to assign blame in a sprint like that, things just happen – which only added to the damage that Roglič had already suffered.

It was a real blow to the race as well, the tension was out, the other teams, except Movistar and an exceptional UAE Team Emirates, raced for the remaining places and the search for UCI points to avoid the ill-conceived UCI relegation rules (Israel Premier Tech’s Sylvan Adams is correct in invoking ‘force majeur’ in his complaint – 25 and counting racers went home just from the Vuelta alone due to Covid positives).

There were so many other highlights to savor in the race. The rise of Dane Mads Pedersen, the former and unfortunate World Champion who, now much thinner, showed that he is in fact a fine climber for a big man, dominated the Points Competition, demonstrating superb team leadership throughout the race. He is now poised as a serious rival to Van Aert and Van der Poel come the Spring Classics.

Olympic Road Champion, Street Fighting Man Richard Carapaz, after failing in the fight for the Red Jersey, bounced back to win three stages and the Climber’s Jersey, all through displays of sheer will and guts. He will leave Ineos on a high note and with honor. EF Education finally have a real treasure on their hands, let’s hope they know how to handle it.

UAE Team Emirates placed 19-year-old Juan Ayuso on the podium, the youngest podium finisher in a Grand Tour since 1909. The team rode a wonderful race. Marc Soler has found his proper place, winning a stage and racing beautifully for his team from the mountains to the final lead-out in Madrid. He’s recovered from the portrayal in the Netflix documentary that must have put his moral in the toilet for at least a year. They dominated the Team Competition, winning by almost an hour over Ineos and topped it off by winning in Madrid. Special mention for the fine performances of their Portuguese star Jõao Almedia whose race-exploding performance on the stage through Extremedura was magnificent; he finished 5th overall.

Spain is back. Enric Mas actually attacked a few times but backed off to insure his second place (the UCI relegation threat really affected tactics, much to the benefit of young Evenepoel who had rival teams doing all the work for him). Ayuso and the courageous Spanish Champion Carlos Rodríguez (who ripped half the skin off his left side in a crash yet finished seventh) have Spanish fans dreaming.

Criticisms numbers three (can’t handle the heat), four (can’t climb the high mountains) and five (won’t handle the third week) were completely rebutted, shut down and destroyed by Remco Evenepoel and his Quickstep band of brothers. I waited with bated breath on every stage for something to happen to him, and, after a rough, post-crash period at the end of the second week, the Belgian was simply imperial in the final days of the race leaving us with the dream scenario of Remco v. Pogačar v. Roglič v. Vingagaard. But when? Lefevre wants Evenepoel to wait for the Tour until 2024 preferring the Giro as the next step, a delay that will allow him to strengthen the team in the mountains. I think it a wise approach; the Vuelta is not the Tour, there are no monstrous Col du Glandon’s to climb and in cycling, just like its sister sport boxing, you want to save a true champion for the matches they are sure to win. So much to look forward to in this new Golden Age of Cycling.