Much talk has been had of records at the Vuelta a Espana, as Jumbo-Visma completely dominated the race and won all Grand Tours this season. Other records are on the making however, and Astana Qazaqstan's Andrey Zeits is close to taking an historic feat.
The Kazakh was relatively absent throughout the race but in a way that was not a negative factor. Zeits did not crash out of the race or abandoned due to any other factor, and with that he's completed the 21st Grand Tour of his career. 21 is also the number of Grand Tours he's started, Zeits has effectively not abandoned a single Grand Tour in his long career.
The 36-year old turned pro with Astana in 2008 and raced there throughout his whole career except for 2020 and 2021 where he raced for (now named) Team Jayco AlUla. He's served plenty big leaders throughout his career, now in recent years had more freedom as Astana struggled to feature as regularly in the fight for overall classifications.
Although he does not yet have a contract for next year, he may continue with the Astana team and if he rides and finished two Grand Tours he will match the 23 of Sylwester Szmyd. Currently he shares the second place in this niche standings alongside Belgium's historic climber Lucien van Impe.
📊🎩 Impressive streak continues. Andrey Zeits completed his 21st consecutive Grand Tour, keeping ✅ GT rate at 100 %, starting from beginning of pro career. Zeits shares 2nd place on all-time list with Lucien Van Impe - 21. Sylwester Szmyd is the leader with 23. #LaVuelta23
