As a result of the times not counting towards the GC, the team-time-trial was nothing more than a show piece, highlighted by Team Sky coming third-last, more than a minute behind the winner, Team BMC. Thankfully the likes of BMC, Tinkoff-Saxo and Orica GreenEdge, proud competitors in team-time-trials and with an eye on next months World Championships, still took it serious and raced it hard with BMC covering the course in a time of 8min 10sec, a mere second better off than Tinkoff and Orica.
But enough on that. The real action and first attempt at time gains took place on the Sunday and it was no gentle induction into the third Grand Tour of the season. Rather, a stage with hills and a short-sharp summit finish to Caminito del Rey in which Esteban Chaves of Orica GreenEdge timed his attacks to perfection coming in a second up on Tom Dumoulin with the Irish pair of Nicolas Roche and Dan Martin coming in at 9sec and 14sec respectively.
Nairo Quintana was the biggest of the big names to show his hand when he attacked but he couldn't sustain it, perhaps evidence of post-Tour rust, though he did gain a psychological 4sec gap on Chris Froome.
But all the drama was reserved for the 2010 Vuelta champion who, perhaps in seeing a second successive Grand Tour go up in smoke when held up by a stage 2 crash, reached for the panic button. Vincenzo Nibali, while at the front of a large chasing group, suddenly grabbed onto his team-car, and within a handful of seconds had gained a huge gap on those with him. The penalty to later disqualify him may have seemed harsh in the moment, given how often we see riders 'taking a tow' behind a team-car following an accident or indeed using the services of a 'sticky bottle', but when helicopter camera footage later emerged showing how blatant the offence was, the decision was obvious.
It's a shame though because it would have been good to see Nibali in the mix with Froome and Quintana, and indeed to have seen how the inter-team rivalry between himself, Aru and Landa would have played out. But we can thank the crash itself for that as much has his own stupidity because even had he not held onto the car its clear he would have lost significant time and likely have put himself out of the running, much like stage 2 at the Tour. Even the 10 minute time-penalty he longed for would have done that.
Nibali later apologised for his actions and said he felt a time-penalty would have sufficed while claiming this stuff happens more than you think before criticising his team for not waiting for him en-mass, but it's hard to feel sorry for him. Perhaps it's understandable why he did it: a moment of desperation, or frustration, that forced his hand, though the better question he might have asked of his team was why, in the heat of the moment, the team-car actually agreed to speed up when he grabbed hold? Either way, the rules are clear and so too was the video footage.
| Stage 2 result: | Overall: | ||
| 1. Chaves (OGE) 2. Dumoulin (TGA) 3. Roche (SKY) 4. D. Martin (TCG) 5. Rodriguez (KAT) 6. Quintana (MOV) --- 7. Froome (SKY) 8. Valverde (MOV) 10. Aru (AST) 12. Landa (AST) 15. Van Garderen (BMC) DSQ. Nibali (AST) | in 3h 57' 25" @ 1" @ 9" @ 14" @ 26" ST @ 30" @ 31" @ 37" ST @ 45" DSQ | 1. Chaves (OGE) 2. Dumoulin (TGA) 3. Roche (SKY) 4. D. Martin (TCG) 5. Rodriguez (KAT) 6. Quintana (MOV) TTT results: 1. BMC 2. Tinkoff Saxo 3. Orica GreenEdge 4. Lotto-Jumbo --- 20. Team Sky | in 3h 57' 25" @ 5" @ 15" @ 24" @ 36" ST in 8' 10" @ 1" ST @ 8" @ 1' 11" |
