Primoz Roglic won the opening time trial of the Tour of the Basque Country, even though he made a wrong turn by a few meters at the end. The Slovenian followed the distraction for the following cars just before the finish, had to make a U-turn, and lost about ten seconds.
Second came the Australian Jay Vine (7 seconds), third was the Dane Mattias Skjelmose (10 seconds). Two-time Tour winner Jonas Vingegaard was fifth at 15 seconds.
Remco Evenepoel finished fourth, losing 11 seconds to the winner. Our compatriot started his time trial with a slide: after just 20 seconds of driving he crashed in the very first corner.
“Everything went well. Until we were two hundred meters away,” Evenepoel grinned after his time trial. “I hit the ground. That was a bit of a silly moment. My own fault, I guess. My own risks. Maybe I leaned a little too diagonally in the bend. It was a slick part of town.”
Evenepoel had of course hoped to be in front of Roglic after the opening time trial. “I was hoping to take a bit of a lead today, but after my crash I fell a bit behind. Roglic rode a very good time trial, but it is all close together. I think it’s going to be a tough race starting tomorrow. From now on the Tour of the Basque Country really starts. Hopefully the bad luck is over for us.”
“In general I am very satisfied with the feeling. I could have dropped my head and I could have lost a minute, but I overtook Sepp Kuss and I rode a good time trial.”
According to his team, Evenepoel suffered no significant injuries during his sliding match. He does have abrasions on the right flank.
The Tour of the Basque Country, a six-day stage race for the WorldTour, continues until Saturday. A hilly stage of 160 kilometers awaits on Tuesday, much of which will be completed in the French Basque Country.
Pidcock falls before the match starts
Tom Pidcock fared even less well in the Basque Country. The 24-year-old Brit from Ineos-Grenadiers had a serious fall during the exploration of the course and was taken to the local hospital for further medical checks. This is how the Tour of the Basque Country ended for him before it even started.
The heavy fall comes at a bad time for the young Brit. Pidcock is also aiming for Ardennes classics and would normally start in the Amstel Gold Race (Sunday, April 14), the Flèche Wallonne (Wednesday, April 21) and Liège-Bastogne-Liège (Sunday, April 21).
