That sort of road would be difficult to walk up. Stage 17 at the 2018 Vuelta a Espana was a brute: 157km through mountainous Basque country, the finish up a rough concrete track with an average gradient of 11% across its final four kilometres, with ramps towards the end of 24%.
A man who continues to feel like an imposter in someone else's world is still meeting triumph and disaster all the way.
