For over an hour during stage 18 of the Vuelta a España, it looked like Scottish rider Callum Thornley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) was about to shock the established specialists and take victory on his Grand Tour debut, but he was narrowly denied by a flying Stefan Küng (Tudor) by just two seconds.
While it wasn’t to be for the 23-year-old in Jerez, just about everyone who commented on him after the stage was only expecting him to kick on and become one of the top triallists in the world.
“We’re super happy for Callum. We tried to ease off him the last two days to have him as fresh as possible today, and in his first Grand Tour, I think it’s amazing,” said Red Bull DS Patxi Vila at the team bus.
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“We were dreaming of the win, but Stefan Küng is a specialist. Callum is young; I’m pretty sure he will get some nice wins in time trials in the future.”
Fellow Scot and someone who raced alongside him in the junior ranks is the current best young rider at the Vuelta, Oscar Onley, who said, “It was really good to see. I’ve known he’s had that in the legs for a long time.
“We were teammates in juniors, and he’s always been strong. Now that he’s figured out how to race as well, he’s going to be unstoppable in a few years. He’s going to be at the top of these TTs and especially the Classics as well, I think.”
As one of the earliest starters, Thornley had his first major obstacle to face before he even crossed the line, and that was British compatriot Ethan Hayter (Soudal-QuickStep), who had started as one of the main favourites.
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When GT first-timer Thornley arrived in Jerez, found some shade and rapidly cooled off at the team bus, he was delighted to say the last, even hours before he would know what his result would actually amount to.
“I’m really happy with that time, especially to beat Ethan by that margin,” said Thronely, who grinned ear to ear.
“I think I seem to have managed the fatigue quite well in this race. At the start, this TT wasn’t a goal because, really, just making it to stage 18 was the most important thing, being my first Grand Tour and stuff, but to beat Ethan by that, and then hopefully a good result in the end, I’ll be happy with that.”
While it didn’t bring the major GC win they were hoping for, as Enric Mas (Movistar) defended superbly from their leader Primož Roglič, there were clear signs of the major investment into time trialling from the German team, with three of their riders finishing inside the top six.
Thornley was second, Roglič fourth, and Finn Fisher-Black was sixth, who also pointed to how such a performance from the flying Scotsman was certainly on the cards given his love of the discipline.
“I’m stoked to see Callum on the top still; it’s really cool. I think he rides his TT bike every day back home, so it’s nice to see it paying off for him,” said Fisher-Black, speaking ahead of the arrival of Küng when Thornley still occupied the hot seat, enjoying a bocadillo during his time on there.
“I was hoping to get to the finish and still see he was up there, so that’s good for the team. The team’s invested a lot in the TTs this year, so it’s nice to see it coming out on the road, and I’m also pretty yeah pretty stoked with my ride.”
Aside from the strong legs he showed out on the 32km course, Thornley gave big credit to Red Bull’s cooling strategy, which he likened to the bizarre sight of Netcompany Ineos’ riders cooling their arms down with tubs of water before the opening team time trial at the Tour de France.
“This is the first TT I started where I was shivering. We had a lot of stuff going on, ice cooling, you know, the thing that went quite viral that Ineos were doing, which I think originally Dan Bigham [team’s Head of Performance] was doing with Filippo Ganna for the hour record,” he said.
“That’s actually been the priority to be honest, more than anything, and I noticed the difference because the first 15-20 minutes I was really under control, not over the limit. Then I certainly felt myself getting hot in the second half, but the coolant certainly made a difference.”
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