'Shit happens'; these are the biggest losers after the first mountain stage at the Vuelta a España

The first mountain stage in a Grand Tour is always about seeing where everyone stands, and the Vuelta a España was no exception. Tadej Pogacar clearly stood head and shoulders above the rest, but who did and didn’t show up in the first test in Andorra?

It was no surprise that Pogacar, riding for UAE Emirates-XRG, came out on top. It was also expected that Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), Oscar Onley (Netcompany INEOS, despite stomach problems the night before), Enric Mas (Movistar), and Sepp Kuss (Visma | Lease a Bike) would be in the leading group. Jarno Widar (Lotto-Intermarché), on the other hand, was the pleasant surprise, as was Primoz Roglic of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe.

The Slovenian didn't have a great build-up, but as a four-time winner, he still managed to pull it off. "A few weeks ago, I couldn't even get on my bike, so I'm happy. That was my victory for the day; I'm satisfied."

Close behind them were Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), who managed to limit the damage. The Dane said he might still be feeling the effects of the Tour in his legs, a sentiment shared by polka-dot jersey holder Carapaz. “It just wasn’t my day, and I struggled all day, but we have to keep looking ahead,” he told Eurosport.

Further down the results list, between 7 and 20 minutes behind Pogacar, we find names like Jorgen Nordhagen, Ben Tulett (Visma | Lease a Bike), Luke Tuckwell (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), and Uno-X team leader Tobias Halland Johannessen: riders you’d expect to see in a stage like this, but who may now be looking to make their mark on the Vuelta in a different way.'

The Norwegian finished 13 minutes behind. “I was hoping my legs would feel a little better today, but halfway up the climb I completely ran out of steam—despite the team’s amazing support. It was also to be expected given my preparation for the Vuelta. Now we can just have fun, because that’s when we’re at our best as a team,” said the rider, who fell ill between the Tour and the Vuelta, via his team’s channels.

"That big time loss definitely has its advantages when it comes to chasing stage wins; it creates a lot more opportunities. That's what we're going for, so we're sticking to the plan. Of course, I'm a little disappointed, because you hope for better legs, but shit happens. We’ll just keep going,” said the still-ambitious rider.

Further down the results list, we find riders who were forced to drop out on the first climb. Joao Almeida (UAE), Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), and Carlos Rodriguez (Netcompany INEOS) had expressed hopes of contending for the general classification, but finished 22 minutes behind. Cian Uijtdebroeks (Movistar), after his crash on day two, was even the last to cross the finish line and broke down in tears.

Another casualty was sprinter Bryan Coquard, who crashed. “Tomorrow’s stage could very well end in a sprint, with the sprinter teams likely controlling the race. We’ll see how Coquard has recovered from his crash, and I hope he’ll be able to compete,” said team manager Gorka Gerrikagoitia.