Vuelta a Espana 2021 - Did nearly-man Ryan Gibbons deserve to win Stage 20 over Clement Champoussin?

Did Ryan Gibbons deserve the stage win?

Some would say he did as, on the run-in to the Stage 20 finish, UAE Team Emirates’ South African was closer to a Grand Tour stage win than he had ever been before.

He might have previously finished higher than he ultimately did on Saturday, but top tens in sprint stages won by the likes of Fernando Gaviria and Caleb Ewan don’t really count as "close". Close is when you’re riding solo with a ninety second lead, 4km away from the summit finish.

Gibbons rode valiantly, and opportunistically to find himself in that position. He made it into the break, alongside team-mate Matteo Trentin, then marshalled his efforts, and guarded his reserves, when he was there. He followed wheels, then swept past them, all at the appropriate times. He rode with riders when he needed to, solo when he could, for almost 40km. He did what he needed to, and no more.

On the final few climbs, through glorious Galician countryside this rider who, as mentioned, was regarded as more of a sprinter not so long ago, battled his way on slopes so steep that some might need a rope (or at least a battery pack) to make it up. It was a struggle for him, clearly it was, especially compared to the likes of Enric Mas, Primoz Roglic and Jack Haig behind.

For those reasons and more, many of us watching will have wanted him to get to the line alone. Whenever a lone escapee is caught, particularly one who has ridden as impressively, fought as valiantly, worked as hard, as Gibbons did, our soft hearts cannot help but break just a little.

But that does not mean he deserved to win.

Because in a sporting sense, “to deserve” implies the existence of a more meaningful measure of the rightful winner of a contest than the ones agreed upon in advance. That is to say, the individual who actually finished first (or jumped highest, or scored the most points, or lifted the heaviest weight.)

We're not even opposed to the possibility that such a measure might exist, but it seems reasonable to expect it to be agreed upon by participating parties ahead of the event. That makes the playing field a level, fair one, providing participants with something to target, to think about in tactical terms. Sometimes, especially in cycling, we do find ways of rewarding riders in such a way. The additional competitions, mountains, points, young rider and especially the combativity prize can be seen as there for someone who makes an especially good showing in a slightly different area, and that’s perfectly fair and right but we all know about these in advance.

“Deserve”, in contrast to any of these, is entirely arbitrary, in the eye of the beholder. What’s more it implies the existence of a category of the undeserving. If one rider, like Ryan Gibbons who did not win, deserved to, does that mean Clement Champoussin, the actual winner, did not? It’s hard to imagine anyone seriously arguing that, but it is the logical extension of the thought.

Even as it is employed with kind intentions - often as an endorsement of the actual outcome than a refutation of it - that class is still created.

More than anything it implies the existence of a moral space, of a form of justice that has no place in sport. As long as the rules were appropriately abided by, then a victory will always be just and right. Part of the appeal of sport is that unlike much of the entertainment we consume, it is unpredictable, unscripted; one reason we favour it over real life is because it offers up clear, unambiguous outcomes.

To talk of “deserve” is to inject ambiguity back in.

This might not be a new phenomenon but, in part thanks to the Olympics, this "D" word has been getting even more airtime of late than usual. But really it should be eliminated entirely from the collective critical vocabulary.

Champoussin crossed the line ahead of everyone else, while Gibbons provided excellent entertainment and finished eighth. Those are the things we can be sure of, because they are true. Let’s leave it at that, eh?

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