HEARTBREAK ITALIA

Think of Italian bike racing and you inevitably think of some of the most passionate scenes in cycling. The flipside is the heartbreak when it doesn't go to plan. James Shrubsall counts down seven of the most devastating

- James Shrubsall

GIRO D'ITALIA STAGE 3 2020

Geraint Thomas

The Welsh Tour de France winner doesn't really do heartbreak, at least in public, preferring a pragmatic shrug of the shoulders and a rueful grin before refocusing on the next goal. It's impossible not to see the work of former British Cycling psychiatrist Steve Peters in this approach, and it has no doubt stood him and many other former members of Team GB in good stead.

But having waited for all of 2020 to be able to show his mettle, Thomas would have to have been made of stone not to have been stunned by a major crash on stage three of that year's Giro d'Italia that ended his season before it had even got started.

Following a summer season decimated by the first lockdowns, Yelon Thomas, and other members of Team Ineos then had to endure widespread criticism for not measuring up, after a poor showing at the postponed Critérium du Dauphiné. The Welshman's goalposts were moved and instead of the Tour de France as planned, he was given the Giro. Having followed his preparation strategies to the letter, it was all ended by a stray bottle in the neutralised zone.

"It's quite hard in my head at the minute to think, like, get back into winter training," he said shortly afterward in his Watts Occurring podcast with Luke Rowe. "I feel like all I've done so far this year is train. It felt like my season was just getting going and then... three days in I was on my arse, and that was it."

STRADE BIANCHE 2021

Elisa Longo-Borghini