Chaos marks Vuelta a España opening weekend

Remco Evenepoel led after three rain-hit and incident-packed opening stages, reports Chris Marshall-Bell in Barcelona

- Chris Marshall-Bell

Chaos reigned as the Vuelta a España got under way last weekend, with Remco Evenepoel among many riders to blast the organisers for “super dangerous” and “ridiculous” conditions.

The opening stage team time trial in Barcelona took place under heavy rain and thunderstorms, and there was intense criticism levelled at the organisers, Unipublic and ASO, for starting the race at 6.55pm local time.

When defending champions Soudal-Quick Step left the start ramp at 8.16pm, they did so with the sky almost completely dark and the course unlit. Evenepoel likened racing the 14.8km through the slippery streets of Barcelona as “like riding your car at 200kph on the highway in full darkness without any lights”.

Thomas De Gendt, of Lotto-Soudal, said: “They saw the forecast, they should have done something, but in the end they didn’t do anything. The street lights didn’t come on. It was very dangerous and the organisers can be happy there weren’t many big crashes because of the dark. They should learn from this.”

However, the race director, Javier Guillén, said that there was nothing the organisers could have done, and that starting the race earlier was not possible due to the impact it would have had on local traffic conditions.