Jonas Vingegaard about the Volta ao Algarve stage 1 chaos: "There wasn't really anyone to show us the way"

The opening stage of 2025 Volta ao Algarve caused much more commotion than anyone expected. What should've been a regular sprint finish turned into a chaos when most of the peloton headed wrong way on last roundabout before the finish with riders flying full-speed on the wrong side of the barriers.

"It's the organizers' fault. The riders are stressed," says cycling expert Brian Holm to Ekstra Bladet. In his opinion, the correct course should've been marked out better to prevent such chaotic turn of events.

According to Holm, the athletes performing beyond their limits shouldn't be required to think about which way should they go too. "I bet some of the riders knew they were riding wrong, but you can't move. You're in the peloton and have to follow. If you turn left when the others are riding right, you'll crash. If you're locked in, you can't get out. There's simply no oxygen to the brain of the first rider."

It was almost a miracle that nobody was harmed at such situation. "Luckily, no one crashed. The first thing I thought was 'no, no, no, what if someone torpedoes a car?' It was completely unbelievable that nothing happened."

"There were no children coming at that moment. Imagine the field as a herd of oxen coming running. The cyclists are a tidal wave on the road. You can imagine someone wanting to run across the road, and then the peloton came. It's an insanely dangerous episode. You can thank the higher powers that there were no spectators or cyclists hitting each other."

"There wasn't really anyone to show us the way. There was a roundabout that wasn't properly blocked off. There's nothing to indicate that we should turn left around it, so we take the short way around - the right one. It's very normal," Jonas Vingegaard told Ekstra Bladet after the stage.