Chaotic conditions instead of a battle for seconds at the rainy start of the 78th Tour of Spain: The first weekend of the Vuelta did not lead to the first exchange of blows as hoped, but to a few falls in the continuous rain. Three-time overall winner Primoz Roglic (Slovenia) and former Tour champion Geraint Thomas of Great Britain also fell on Sunday in the second stage over 181.2 kilometers from Mataró to Barcelona.
The stage win was secured by the Dane Andreas Kron, who can therefore also wear the jersey of the best sprinter on Monday. The Italian Andrea Piccolo took over the red jersey of the overall leader. Matteo Sobrero took over the mountain jersey. Kaden Groves and Andrea Vendrame sprinted to second and third place behind stage winner Kron. After 181.3 km, Ben Zwiehoff (Bora-hansgrohe) finished as the best German, seven seconds behind.
Vuelta organizers react
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. “This is totally ridiculous and a shame. We haven’t seen anything else. The organizers should know what can happen,” complained last year’s winner Remco Evenepoel.
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.
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Under pressure from the racers, the organization neutralized the final ascent to Montjuic on Sunday 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.
This Monday, however, the stars will be challenged when the first mountain finish in Andorra awaits on the third stage after 158.8 kilometers.
