photo credits @ WTFK
Astana stamped its authority during the opening stage of the Vuelta a Espana today, after the Kazakh team set the fastest time of 14:51 along the 13.4 kilometer course to win the Team Time Trial ahead of Deceuninck-QuickStep and Team Sunweb.
Meanwhile, Jumbo-Visma suffered a huge crash involving four of their riders that could only be described as a “disaster”.
UAE Team Emirates also reportedly suffered a crash on the same corner, ultimately losing 40 seconds to Astana.
After Astana set their winning benchmark, only Movistar and Deceuninck-QuickStep posed a viable challenge.
However, the Spanish team was already 13 seconds down at the first check and would eventually finish seventh on the stage, while Deceuninck was hampered by a Jumbo-Visma car that had stopped in the road to aid a rider.
Angel López took the first leader’s jersey for Astana, while with Deceuninck’s Philippe Gilbert the next non-Astana rider on GC, two seconds down in seventh place.
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