'We couldn't be prouder' – Josh Tarling takes third in Vuelta time trial a week after brother Finlay's death

Finlay Tarling was killed in a crash at the Volta a Portugal last week. The 19-year-old raced for the NSN development team, and he had aspirations of joining his older brother in the WorldTour. 

On Thursday, Netcompany-Ineos announced that Josh Tarling had decided to race the Vuelta in honour of his brother. “Finlay was so incredibly proud of his big brother, and would be watching nose to the TV and shouting as he competed,” parents Michael and Dawn wrote in a post on social media. “So it is right that Josh honours that love.”

There was a generous outpouring of applause for Josh Tarling when he rolled down the start ramp in Monaco on Saturday evening. After the depths of grief experienced over the past week, the bike offered a sense of routine, if nothing else, and the former European time trial champion was quickly up to speed.

Tarling had the quickest time at the intermediate time check, and he was the fastest at the finish, too, taking up temporary residence in the hotseat. His time was later surpassed by compatriot Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step) and stage winner Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), but the result was always of secondary importance. Tarling’s presence was a victory in itself.

“For a start, it’s just great to have him here,” Netcompany-Ineos director of racing Geraint Thomas told Eurosport. “You know, he was really keen to ride. He just wanted to get back to the day job, so to speak, and find comfort just in the process and being around the team and everything being as normal as possible and to be fully back in with that. 

“Obviously, it’s just been unimaginable what he’s gone through the last week or so. But to put in a performance like that at the end of the week he’s had is just fantastic, really. It just shows the class of him as an athlete and a person. We couldn’t be prouder.”

Tarling looked a possible winner as he scorched through the intermediate check and his held up well over the second half of the course, setting a time that only Pogačar and Hayter could better. 

“I haven’t had a chance to see him since, but I think the course suited him in the way that technically he’s one of the best,” Thomas said. “Yesterday was probably the first time he’s ridden the bike properly in a while, so to still put that in is insane, really.”

Netcompany-Ineos start this Vuelta with the high GC aspirations for Oscar Onley, who had to settle for 106th, 50 seconds down here on a course that was ill suited to his talents. But Thomas is aware that this Vuelta is not only about the result.

“We’ll just continue to just be normal around him now and support him as best we can,” Thomas said of Tarling. “It’s hopefully the start of hopefully a good trip for these eight boys on the bus.”