Visma manager reveals shocking aftermath of organizational disaster during Barcelona TTT: "UCI is playing dirty, telling other teams that we asked to disqualify them..."

While Marianne Vos was able to bounce back with a victory on day two from the hardships Visma | Lease a Bike had suffered during the opening team time trial in the streets of Barcelona, the negligence of La Vuelta Femenina race commisaries continues to spark heated emotions. 

Visma | Lease a Bike communicated on Sunday what they thought went wrong in preparation for the team time trial. "Although the riders were present well in time for the mandatory bike check prior to the team time trial, there was a delay in the checking process because another team arrived too late. In addition, the check was initially only carried out by one person, which further increased the waiting time."

"A second inspector was only deployed later, but at that point Team Visma | Lease a Bike Women no longer benefited from this. As a result, some riders received their bikes back so late that they could no longer appear at the start on time," according to the team.

Visma coach Jacco Verharen went to get clear answers from the race jury afterwards, but the response he received was far from assuring that these incidents won't repeat in coming days... "They also indicated that this did not go well. We work in top-level sport and this is one of the major races on the calendar. We deeply regret it."

Team manager Jos van Emden was more emotional in his reaction on Instagram. "To give an idea of ​​how the UCI operates, I want to share some information. To be clear: many teams were disadvantaged by the bad behavior of the UCI, so I don't blame the teams. But the UCI is playing dirty, telling other teams, in this case Movistar, that we asked to disqualify them. My trust in the UCI was already low, but now it's completely gone. Fair play... my *ss."