On Friday at 1pm less than 24 hours before the 2025 Vuelta a España started, Finlay Pickering received a last-minute call to replace Damiano Caruso after Caruso fractured his hand. Pickering, 22, is 15 years younger than Caruso and had never ridden a Grand Tour. He finished 23rd overall at the Vuelta a Burgos and maintained a rough reserve training program. Pickering reached Turin in time to appear at the mixed zone on stage 1 after a rapid travel scramble that included a 200-kilometre taxi from Andorra to Toulouse, a delayed flight and a missing suitcase, though he managed to pack two pairs of shoes.
On Friday at 1 PM, less than 24 hours before the 2025 Vuelta a España was due to get underway, Finlay Pickering received the phone call that would indelibly change the Bahrain Victorious' racer's second half of the 2025 season - and perhaps even more. Teammate Damiano Caruso fractured his hand which left the Italian veteran out of action for the Vuelta on Friday morning.
"It was actually really lucky, because I had a problem with a pair of training wheels and they were in a bike shop, so I was a bit late going out training," Pickering recalled to reporters. "I was on the way to pick them up when I got a call from management saying how quickly can I be in an airport?"
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