Javier Guillén defends Vuelta a Espana's decisions on opening weekend: "Yesterday was not a night stage, it was done with circumstances of night due to the overcast sky"

Javier Guillén, the director of the Vuelta a España, spoke on RTVE about the first two stages of the Spanish race, which were marked by rain. In the first one the intense rain caused the sky to darken at the end and in the second one, after an agreement with the riders and the UCI, it was decided that the times for the general classification would be taken 9 kilometers from the finish line, before the climb to Montjuic.

"There is a regulatory formula that is to activate the meteorological protocol, with riders, UCI and the organizer, we have been asked that given the weather that there was by the situation of rain preceded by yesterday, which surprised us in terms of its duration," he said. We were asked that for safety, by the time of the Vuelta in which we are, because there was a risk of crashes. Different options were considered and in consensus it was decided to take the times at 9 of the finish line".

Today because of the rain it was agreed - on two different steps - that the times would be neutralized with 9 kilometers to go. This led to interesting outcomes such as the new race lead of breakaway rider Andrea Piccolo and the stage win of Andreas Kron with all the GC riders missing from the front on the hilly finale.

"The runners have been at all times the ones who have taken the lead, the teams have left the protagonist. We have made the proposals to take the times in Montjuic or below. It was also a gesture. It has been preserved today."

On the opening day however the criticism was quite harsh, from riders and fans altogether. "We are responsible for all the decisions that are made, we opted for the stage to be done. Everything was prepared for natural light. Yesterday was not a night stage, it was done with circumstances of night due to the overcast sky, we did not count on it."

"It is not possible to move the race forward many more hours. The Vuelta is not improvised and in Barcelona even less, we are in a big city and there were some schedules and a deployment of the urban guard. We could not speculate with a forward".