Heartbreaking loss

I don’t know how to start here. Fabio Aru’s win or the collapse of Tom Dumoulin in the penultimate stage of the Vuelta a Espana last Saturday.

As I have written in my last column two weeks ago, the Vuelta a Espana is the poor cousin of the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia, but what it lacks in prestige is made up by the exciting and emotional race.

It also showcased new talent in professional cycling. At the early part of this three-week race, it was an unknown Colombian climber riding for an Australian team, Orica-GreenEDGE, who made the headlines. Tweenty-five years old Esteban Chaves, won stages two and six and dominated the Vuelta at the early part. Dutchman Tom Doumulin, a big guy and an elite time trials, took everyone by surprise. Then the red leaders jersey went to Aru before he lost it to Dumoulin in the stage 17 time trial.

Dumoulin’s lead of three seconds after the time trial was precarious. There were still plenty of climbs ahead although this wasn’t presented in the race book. So, it was assumed that it was Dumoulin’s race to lose. In reality, it was the other way around.

The following stage, Dumoulin just followed Aru and both arrived at the same time. On stage 20, Dumoulin finally thought that he could win this all. He dropped a bewildered Aru and gained three previous seconds. Remember that everyone knew that  Dumoulin was a decent climber, but dropping Aru on a climb? Well…

Stage 20 was the last opportunity for Aru to get the red jersey and get it he did. And it was a heartbreaking scene. I couldn’t bear to watch it. I’m not the biggest of both riders but it was painful to see. If Dumoulin was just simply dropped, then it would have been ok. But to getting distanced agonisingly slow, then allowed to get back, then dropped- it was just heart-wrenching. The prize was within Dumoulin’s reach and he could not just grasp it, he could smell it for the longest time. And then it was gone, bit by bit.

Dumoulin didn’t even podiumed. He had a six-seconds lead that became a sixth place overall. Cruel, really. But as the cliche says, thats bicycle racing, that’s sports.

As far as I’m concerned, Aru’s win in the this 2015 Vuelta did’t cement his reputation as the next Vincenzo Nibali or Chris Froome. In fact, this Vuelta would have been different had Nibali not been DQ’d for holding on to his team car and the fragile Froome not crashed and broke his foot.

In the end, it was Aru’s team Astana that won the Vuelta for him while Dumoulin’s team Giant-Alpecin, went AWOL in the mountains. But in fairness the Giant-Alpecin, the team was not built for the mountains around Dumuolin, but for the flats, as a lead out to springter John Degenkolb.

In the next few days, Dumoulin and Giant-Alpecin will have nights ruing what could have been. But they should be excited for Tom for he reminds me of Miguel Indurain, the guy who won five consecutive Tours.

While Aru may have won the Vuelta, his presumed leadership on team Astana over Nibali will be put to the test.