"I've gone all in for this Vuelta and didn't make the cut" - Luke Rowe 'f*cking gutted' to miss out on INEOS Grenadiers selection

Geraint Thomas will be hoping to challenge for the Red Jersey over the coming weeks at the Vuelta a Espana. One man who won't be joining him however is his fellow Welshman and 'Watts Occurring' podcast partner, Luke Rowe.

"I'll tell you what's not occurring, me joining you on a lap of Spain mate," says the vastly experienced, 33-year-old, Rowe, getting straight into the story on the latest episode of the INEOS Grenadiers duo's entertaining podcast.

Rowe has previously been road captain for both the INEOS Grenadiers and under their previous guise of Team Sky with multiple Grand Tour victories under his belt and the Welshman had hoped to try and take another although this disappointment now means Rowe will not ride a Grand Tour in 2023.

"I've noticed you've had a haircut as well," Thomas quips before Rowe explains his disappointment. "I've gone all in for this Vuelta and didn't make the cut. I said to you before didn't I that it's a bit like that Homer Simpson emoji where he's walking back into the hedge and says 'nope'."

"I'm pretty f*cking gutted actually," he continues. "I think for the last four months it's been all towards this. You know I've raced and I've trained really well but maybe it's a bit of my naivety really that I thought I was more in the door than I really was."

"You have setbacks in life and in sport don't you? But I think what you've got to remember is it's a bike race. Let's keep things in context," Rowe concludes. "That being said. A career is full of highs and lows and you can be going really well, looking forward to great things and then the next moment told 'you can't do them'."