MADRID: Chris Froome became just the third rider in history to win the Vuelta a Espana and Tour de France in the same year as Matteo Trentin won the 21st stage of the Vuelta through the center of Madrid on Sunday.
Froome beat four-time Grand Tour winner Vincenzo Nibali by 2min 15sec. Russia’s Ilnur Zakarin took third place.
“Thank you so much to everyone who’s been a part of this journey,” Froome said to the crowds gathered around the Cibeles fountain in the heart of Madrid.
“It’s been a whirlwind past three months and so many people have contributed.”
The Briton joins Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil (1963) and Bernard Hinault (1978) as the only riders to win the Tour and Vuelta in the same year.
But Froome is the first man to win both races since the Vuelta was moved to after the Tour in the racing calendar in 1995.
Froome, a four-time winner of the Tour de France, had previously finished runner-up at the Vuelta on three occasions in 2011, 2014 and 2016.
The Sky rider led the race all the way from stage three to Madrid thanks to wins on stage nine and the individual time trial on stage 16.
Trentin claimed his fourth stage win of the race on the sprint to the finish line after a 117.6km ride from Arroyomolinos to Madrid, ending in a nine-lap circuit through the center of the Spanish capital.
His victory was Quick-Step’s sixth of the race with Yves Lampaert and Julian Alaphilippe also successful.
“I came here to try and win stages, but knowing the parcours didn’t allow too many sprints or easy finishes,” said Trentin.
“Thanks to the team in three stages of my four we controlled the bunch from the beginning.
“We also won two more stages, so I think we pretty much dominated this Vuelta in stage wins.”
However, the Italian was denied the green jersey as winner of the points competition by an insatiable Froome, who sprinted to maintain his lead by finishing 11th on the stage.
“He told me he wanted to defend it and he did,” said Trentin.
“With four victories I don’t have the jersey, it’s kind of a joke.
“It is a pity but I can survive.”
There was also an emotional send-off for Alberto Contador on his final day as a professional cyclist.
The three-time Vuelta winner signed off in style with victory on the steep mountain climb to Alto de l’Angliru on Saturday and was given the honor of leading the peloton around the first lap of the Madrid circuit.
“The whole race has been special,” said Contador, who also performed a lap of honor before the adoring Spanish crowds.
“Yesterday was as good as it gets. It was a stage I’ll always remember and I feel very fortunate.”
A winner of seven Grand Tours, Contador is one of just six riders to have won all three of the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta.
Froome completes historic Tour-Vuelta double
Froome completes historic Tour-Vuelta double
Russell, Antonelli lead Mercedes in one-two qualifying positions for F1’s Australian GP
- Russell topped all three sessions in F1’s knockout qualifying format, finally casting aside questions of where Mercedes team was in the new-era pecking order
MELBOURNE: Mercedes has revealed its dominant hand during qualifying for Sunday’s Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.
George Russell earned his ninth-career pole position Saturday ahead of his teammate Kimi Antonelli for the team’s 83rd front-row lockout and its first since the 2024 British Grand Prix.
Russell topped all three sessions in F1’s knockout qualifying format, finally casting aside questions of where Mercedes team was in the new-era pecking order. His pole time, at 1 minute, 18.518 seconds, was almost eight-tenths faster than the nearest non-Mercedes challenger, Red Bull rookie Isack Hadjar, who completed the top three.
“It was a great day, we knew there was a lot of potential in the car, but until we get to this first Saturday of the season, you never know,” Russell said. “But it really came alive this afternoon, especially when the track temperatures cooled, we know we tend to favor those conditions.”
Antonelli was relieved to have made it onto the front row alongside his teammate after a crash in final practice at the exit of turn two meant it was a race in the Mercedes garage to get him out for qualifying.
“It’s been a very stressful day. Unfortunately, I went into the wall (in FP3),” he said. “But the guys (in the garage) were the heroes today to put the car back on track.”
Hadjar was impressive by qualifying third on debut for Red Bull, his highest-ever grid position.
“The only thing I can do is take them at the start, but they’re just too fast at the moment,” Hadjar said of Mercedes. “I want to keep my position and a second podium would be cool.”
Ferrari showed it’s neck-and-neck with McLaren on pace, with just one and a half tenths seconds covering the four drivers just beyond the top-three — with Charles Leclerc qualifying fourth, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in fifth and sixth respectively, and Lewis Hamilton in seventh.
Racing Bulls showed they’ve taken a step forward over the winter, with New Zealander Liam Lawson eighth ahead of his highly-rated rookie teammate Arvid Lindblad.
The big surprise of the session came from four-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen, who triggered red flags at Melbourne’s Albert Park after he lost control of his Red Bull car in braking for turn one in the first half of Q1 and ended in the barriers.
The Dutchman, who was unhurt from the crash, though upset that his brakes locked up, will now start from the back of the grid.
F1 heads into a new era this year, with unprecedented changes across the chassis (car) and power unit, which now feature an almost 50:50 output split between the turbo 1.6-liter V6 engine and electrical energy harvested from the brakes, one that requires a new, often counterintuitive driving style from the drivers.
