Weather storms continued to disrupt the Vuelta a España and test the morale of the riders, with part of the peloton only arriving at their hotel at 3am after a long transfer north to Valladolid, and many riders forced to train indoors on the first rest day rather than endure another soaking in the rain.
The rest day travel disruption is the latest in a series of race issues and sudden changes due to extreme weather conditions in Spain.
Several teams raced in near-dark conditions during the opening team time trial in Barcelona, with riders concerned about the weather and racing conditions. Remco Evenepoel was especially critical of the conditions, voicing the concerns of many in the peloton.
On Sunday organisers were forced to neutralise the final two kilometres of the summit finish on the Alto de Caravaca de la Cruz after mud spilt across one sweeping right-hand corner just in sight of the line.
After the first week of racing in Catalunya, Andorra and then down the coast towards Murcia, the Vuelta a España faced a 600km transfer to Valladolid in the northwest, with riders taking a charter flight on Sunday evening.
Plane 1 arrived on time at 10:15pm but the other was unable to land due to the storms and was redirected to Madrid due to the thunderstorm. That meant the riders had a three-hour coach journey to their hotels and so a very late night. Dinner was a sandwich, cookies and an apple provided by the race organisers or a long wait until they arrived at their hotels. It became a race transfer from hell, with riders refuting Monday was a rest day.
Soudal-Quick Step and Jumbo-Visma were amongst the lucky teams on flight 1 and so Remco Evenepoel, race leader Sepp Kuss, Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard faced little disruption. However, Edward Theuns of Lidl-Trek confirmed via social media that the riders on flight 2 arrived at their hotels at 3:00am
“At 3.15 am we arrived at the hotel. Until then we have not been able to eat anything. In times when we weigh every gram and do everything for recovery, this is not a boost for morale," the Belgian wrote on social media.
Romain Bardet also highlighted the problems of plane transfers, suggesting the delays were ‘karma’ for race organisers for including such a long transfer in the race route and opting to fly rather than a more environmentally friendly option.
"It's midnight and we've arrived in... Madrid. Just a few more hours on the bus to Valladolid. I think it's karma for the organization: transfers by plane during a Grand Tour in 2023... It's time for a change,” the Team dsm-firmenich rider wrote on Instagram.
After Monday’s rest day, the Vuelta a España resumes on Tuesday in Valladolid on Tuesday with a 25.8km individual time trial around the city.
Kuss could lose much of his race lead in the only individual time trial of this year's race as Evenepoel tries to fight back and take on Roglič and Vingegaard before the climb into the Pyrenees.
Further rain in northwest Spain forced Evenepoel and other riders to train indoors on Monday rather than go out for a traditional coffee ride and reconnaissance of the time trial course.
"The rest day is very welcome. Not only for the riders, but also for the staff after a long journey. It has already been a tough week," Soudal-Quick Step directeur sportif Klaas Lodewyck told Sporza.
"Our team bus had broken down, we had sick riders. We have already had a lot of stress. I have heard that other teams were not in their hotels until after 3 am. We were lucky this time, although I was also afraid when I saw the weather forecast."
