2023-08-26 22:48:00
Remco Evenepoel was beside himself. Immediately following crossing the finish line, the defending champion was fuming, waving his arms wildly and pointing uncomprehendingly at the dark sky over Barcelona. “That’s ridiculous,” the 23-year-old raged following he had stopped and gestured angrily at the TV camera: “It sucks, you see dirt!”
The defending champion did not want to be appeased. “Calm down what? If you don’t say anything, nothing changes,” Evenepoel became clear.
The anger of last year’s winner was directed at the organizers of the 78th Vuelta a España. Because the team time trial on the first stage in Barcelona was characterized by difficult conditions. Heavy rain with increasing darkness presented the drivers with considerable problems at the start of the Tour of Spain.
When Evenepoel and his team Soudal-Quick Step crossed the finish line just following 20:35 local time, it was already pitch black on the Mediterranean. A danger for the athletes.
Evenepoel scolds organizers: “It’s ridiculous”
“You might have known that it would be dark in the evening”, Evenepoel was annoyed in an interview minutes following crossing the finish line and showed no understanding for the late orientation: “You have the whole day to do a team time trial. But we have to complete the whole Wait a day even though it was still dry then.”
Evenepoel rumbles: “It’s just crazy”
Eurosport expert Robert Bengsch also criticized the conditions in the live commentary: “From the organizer’s point of view, one might have expected these weather conditions.”
Only at 18:55 did the Spanish second division, Caja Rural, open the opening stage of the Tour of Spain. Soudal-Quick Step around Evenepoel started at 8:19 p.m. as the last racing team through the center of the Catalan metropolis.
Jumbo-Visma loses a lot of time at the start
Fotocredit: Getty Images
“The organizers have to know that it’s dangerous. They should pay attention to safety. It’s a shame,” complained the Belgian superstar, who emphasized that the criticism was not related to the start in rainy conditions, but to twilight: “It It’s just crazy that they let us drive in this dark.”
Conditions affect overall rating
Team colleague Louis Vervaeke found even clearer words. “We were like monkeys in the zoo,” he made clear at the finish and described the conditions on the route. “You mightn’t see the water on the road, the petrol, the lines, almost nothing,” said the 29-year-old, admitting that the drivers were “afraid” of the dark.
This is one of the reasons why the top drivers in particular avoided a high risk – with an impact on the sporting result. “It affects everyone,” explained Evenepoel: “All the classification teams drove really slowly because you mightn’t see anything and mightn’t drive at 100 percent.”
The British Ineos Grenadiers captain Geraint Thomas had instructed his team before the start to step on the brakes in the curves and only speed up on the straight sections, as he revealed in the Eurosport interview.
Thomas: “We wanted to relax in the corners”
Evenepoel gains a lead over top duo
The favored Jumbo Visma team with Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic also exercised caution and fell 32 seconds behind the surprise winner Team DSM-Firmenich, who benefited from the early start time (6:59 p.m.).
The top duo lost a lot of time to classification rival Enric Mas, who finished second at the same time with his Movistar team. “Mas gains half a minute on Roglic,” said Bengsch: “You would never have expected that under normal conditions.”
The health of their team members was the priority for the Dutch anyway. On Twitter/X, Jumbo-Visma wrote: “Luckily all our riders crossed the finish line safely.”
Evenepoel, whose team crossed the finish line just six seconds behind, also had a clear lead over Roglic and Vingegaard. “That’s the good news today,” said Evenepoel almost casually.
Ineos driver has to give up Vuelta
But there wasn’t much more positive to report on Saturday evening – on the contrary: numerous drivers fell under the conditions, including Thomas’ Ineos colleague Laurens de Plus, who fell shortly following the start.
Highlights: Jumbo loses time in Barcelona controversy
“It’s a big shame. It made some people even more nervous. It was one of those rides where you didn’t feel like we got into a rhythm,” said Thomas, adding wryly, “A great way to start .”
In the evening, the British team announced that de Plus had to give up the tour. The Vuelta already has its first big controversy on the first day.
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