"No one indicated the time," Movistar gets the blame: Vuelta Femenina starts with chaos, Visma | LaB files complaint

Visma | LaB's leader, Pauline-Ferrand Prévot, posted a message on her Instagram, which she has since deleted. "WTF! How can the organization of a major race be so amateurish?” she expressed her frustration. “Was the jury asleep when they were supposed to check our bikes? We were there 20 minutes before the start for the check, and two of our riders weren't done in time. We kept telling the jury we had to go, but it looked like they were just chilling."

Dutch rider Anouska Koster, who rides for Uno-X, told ProCyclingUK her story. “Due to the actions of one of the teams in front of us, we arrived late at the start. We were at the bike checkpoint a good fifteen minutes in advance, but because another team arrived later, we had to wait and our checkpoint was not ready in time," said Koster. This caused confusion and stress among the riders of the Norwegian team. "We had no idea that we had to start already because no one indicated the time. So we were not yet in the starting position, so we were not yet clicked in, and there was no countdown. In the end, we left 10 seconds late."

Movistar seems to be getting the blame for this weird story. The jury fined all the riders and the team management for hold-ups at the bike check. But the Dutch team manager for the Spanish team, Kelvin Dekker, said on X that the delay had already started before his team got there. "When our riders arrived, the jury was still busy with the team in front of us, who came onto the podium 10-20 seconds before the start. Our last rider came onto the podium five seconds before the start. After that, it got worse and worse. We weren't on time, but we still waited."

Visma | Lease a Bike announced on Sunday evening that it would file a complaint with the International Cycling Union UCI board regarding the delayed bike check. "The UCI acknowledged that mistakes were made in the organization of the start process but stated that no further action would be taken," the team's statement begins. "Team Visma | Lease a Bike Women will pursue further steps and file a formal complaint with the UCI management."

"We operate in elite sport, and this is one of the major races on the calendar," said Head of Coaching Jacco Verhaeren. "Of course, we congratulate today’s rightful winners, Lidl-Trek, on their victory. At the same time, we want to stress that sport is about fair play for all teams. Sadly, that was not the case today, and we deeply regret it." Visma | Lease a Bike finished tenth in the team time trial, 20 seconds behind the winning Lidl-Trek team.