Jumbo-Visma's hopes dashed by crash in Vuelta a Espana team time trial
Jumbo-Visma's riders were grim-faced and disappointed after a brutal opening stage of the Vuelta a España in which several of their riders crashed and their top riders Steven Kruijswijk and Primoz Roglic both lost time.
After winning the opening stage of the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France, as well as the Tour's TTT, hopes had been high for the Dutch squad.
However, a crash mid-way through the Torrevieja TTT course, caused by a pool of water which materialised between training rides and the real event for no obvious reason, saw several riders hit the deck. Roglic, widely tipped as the Vuelta's main favourite, was amongst them.
Teammates said later that no rider suffered serious injuries and both Roglic, despite cuts and bruises, and Kruijswijk could finish the course with the main group of Jumbo-Visma riders.
But the time loss of 40 seconds and 18th place on the opening TTT for both constituted the roughest of starts to the two Vuelta a España contenders for Jumbo, with the team gunning for the overall victory in Madrid in three weeks.
Neither Kruijswijk, fourth in last year's Vuelta and third in the 2019 Tour, nor Roglic were willing to talk to journalists at the finish line, with the Dutchman pedalling rapidly away and Roglic following suit.
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