Click through: Snow chaos on the 1st stage of O Gran Camino
Jonas Vingegaard makes his season debut at O Gran Camino, a four-stage race in north-west Spain. However, it went very badly for the Dane from Jumbo-Visma anything but pleasant. Like the rest of the peloton, the 2022 Tour de France winner was exposed to heavy snowfall on stage 1. The race therefore had to be cancelled.
Three mountain classifications on stage 1 of O Gran Camino
The first stage of O Gran Camino was originally scheduled to cover 188 kilometres from Muralla de Lugo to Sarria. Three 3rd category mountain classifications had to be completed.
The day initially unfolded as usual for a cycling race: a breakaway group pulled away and built up a lead. As the finale approached, the peloton caught up again and was close to catching up with the escape group. But then the snow started to fall.
Snow slows down bike races
There were still around 20 kilometres to go when the riders tackled the climb to the Alto de Montan and the race then came to a standstill. Some riders - including Vingegaard - argued with the race organisers, and a little later they got into the team cars. The three remaining breakaway riders - Gianni Moscon (Astana Qazaqstan Team), Sebastian Schönberger (Human Powered Health) and Vicente Hernaiz (Radio Popular-Paredes-Boavista) - initially continued on, but were then stopped. The O Gran Camino convoy turned around and headed back to the destination of Sarria, which they had already passed through.
On Friday, O Gran Camino will continue with the regular 2nd stage. This leads over 184.3 kilometres from Tui to A Guarda.
Start of the season for Vingegaard
For Jonas Vingegaard, the four-day race in the second category is the start of the season. The Dane last raced at the Tour of Lombardy in October. This spring, the 26-year-old wants to ride Paris-Nice in March and the Tour of the Basque Country in April and then put in a training block until the Criterium du Dauphine in June in preparation for the Tour de France.
Copyright 2023, dpa (www.dpa.de). All rights reserved
