78th Tour of Spain
Rainy start to the Vuelta: falls instead of an exchange of blows
The field of riders struggled with a lot of rain at the start of the Tour of Spain. photo
© Marc Asensio Clupes/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
Pouring rain caused many falls during the opening weekend of the Vuelta. The top stars Primoz Roglic and Geraint Thomas also fall. The favorites hold back.
Chaotic conditions instead of seconds fighting at the rainy start of the 78th Tour of Spain: The first weekend of Vuelta did not lead to the first exchange of blows between the stars, as hoped, but to a few falls in the constant rain.
The three-time overall winner Primoz Roglic (Slovenia) and former Tour Champion Geraint Thomas from Great Britain also fell on the second stage over 181.2 kilometers from Mataró to Barcelona. The Dane Andreas Kron secured the stage victory, the red jersey took over the Italian Andrea Piccolo.
Already the start on Saturday fell into the water. In the team time trial, pouring rain and the onset of darkness made for borderline conditions. “It’s totally ridiculous and a shame. We didn’t see anything anymore. The organizers should know what can happen,” complained last year’s winner Remco Evenepoel.
Third stage with a mountain finish in Andorra
The Belgian has at least gained an advantage over Tour winner Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark) and Roglic by finishing fourth with his Soudal Quick Step team on Saturday, because the favored Jumbo Visma team lost 26 seconds after technical problems the Evenepoel team. The German Bora-hansgrohe team with Lennard Kämna and Emanuel Buchmann was even four seconds faster than the Vingegaard team.
Under pressure from the racers, the organization neutralized the final ascent to Montjuic and took the times for the overall ranking nine kilometers before the finish. As a result, Evenepoel and Co. no longer took any risks in the final and finished more than six minutes behind.
On Monday, however, the stars will be challenged when the first mountain finish in Andorra awaits on the third stage after 158.8 kilometers.