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Dylan van Baarle, Remco Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard begged peloton to slow down in the rain

Stage 2 of the Vuelta a España was once again rainy and dangerous

The rainy stage 2 of the Vuelta a Espana
August 28, 2023
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After an opening TTT the Vuelta a España had a traditional road stage to mark the second day of racing. The weather continued to be rainy and slick, just like the day before.

Amid these circumstances, Lotto-Dstny’s Andreas Kron took a solo win in Barcelona, with the final 9 km rendered neutral. Kron dedicated his victory to his fallen development teammate, Tijl De Decker.
Meanwhile, breakaway contender Andrea Piccolo from EF Education-EasyPost claimed the overall race leadership, displacing fellow countryman Lorenzo Milesi.

During the second stage, there was a crash involving Primož Roglič. After that, the Jumbo-Visma team, and Remco Evenepoel, said enough is enough.

Remco Evenepoel livid over Vuelta TTT: ‘That was shit, we couldn’t see anything’

Dylan van Baarle and Jonas Vingegaard, alongside Evenepoel, who had been vocal about the opening stage which saw many teams ride in darkness, took charge at the head of the peloton. They raised their arms and appealed to riders at the front of the pack who were driving the pace.

“The organization deserves a compliment that they have set the time for the general classification at nine kilometers from the finish. That was a wise and courageous decision,” Jumbo Viskma’s sporting director Merijn Zeeman said after ther ace. “Unfortunately, it started raining again on the way and it was incredibly slippery on the roads, especially at the roundabouts. In the future, we will have to think about how we can do this better.”

Zeeman added that the riders are starting to play an increasingly important role in making decisions such as what happened during Stage 2. “We’re getting to a point where the athletes understand that they have a voice to make decisions that benefit their health. If the risk of falls is so high, I think it’s good that they take action. We’ll have to do it together eventually.”

Dylan van Baarle, Remco Evenepoel, Jonas Vingegaard begged peloton to slow down for safety reasons