In the best-case scenario, call 2020 a spell in cycling’s purgatory.
No rider’s career is a smooth, flawless spin across the peloton. Racing at the highest level of the sport is a bumpy road at best. Even Eddy Merckx endured setbacks.
In today’s hyper-competitive, finely calibrated WorldTour, only consistency and near-perfection delivers victory. And in a sport as haphazard as professional cycling, no one is immune to the frailties of chance.
Just ask Mikel Landa and Joe Dombrowski. In one instant, both were on top of the world. In the blink of an eye, both were on the ground and out of the Giro, thankful that it wasn’t worse.