CYCLING
‘The worst tour I’ve done’ – inside the hell of this year’s Giro d’Italia
Twenty-four hours with Ineos Grenadiers as they contend with biblical rain, crashes and illness while Geraint Thomas dreams of pink
Thomas shows the strain on another brutal day of rain at this year’s Giro d’Italia
LUCA BETTINI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
The Times
The rain began to fall again just before the Pink Jersey group of Geraint Thomas climbed past the wooden chalets of Verbier in Switzerland. In the distance dark clouds framed white-topped mountains and on the road the race leaders flew by uphill — much faster than most amateurs would manage on the flat.
The riders continued up past the bar from where I watch with Roger Hammond, sporting director at Ineos Grenadiers, to the sound of cheers and rattling cowbells and towards Croix de Coeur a further 6.5km and 644m up into the Alps, before descending between piles of snow on wet and slippery roads. Amid weather concerns, the stage had been shortened that morning to 75km, very little of which was flat — just
