Roglic misses the last corner but wins the Basque Country time trial, Pidcock in hospital after fall

NOS Cycling•today, 5:42 PM

Primoz Roglic has won the first stage of the Tour of the Basque Country, a ten-kilometre time trial. The Slovenian Bora rider took a wrong turn within sight of the finish, but still set the fastest time: 12 minutes and 34 seconds.

In the last bend, in the center of the start and finish town of Irun, Roglic followed the exit where support cars are led off the course. He soon realized his mistake, quickly turned around and was able to laugh about it after the finish.

“The legs were clearly good, but I made a mistake,” Roglic told Eurosport. “Maybe I had reconnoitered too often. Then we had to turn right instead of to the finish. I did that now too. Fortunately I was able to correct it.”

Roglic’s time trial victory falls on the last day on which the ‘main sock’ can be worn. This aerodynamic aid, which the Bora team has been using for years, has been banned by the UCI cycling union from tomorrow, April 2.

After all the top favorites, who started early due to predicted rain, had finished, Jay Vine came close to Roglic’s time. The Australian from UAE Team Emirates set the second fastest time, seven seconds behind the winner.

At the end of the afternoon, the leaders were proven right with their chosen early start times. The predicted rain even turned out to be hail, which made the streets of Irun extremely slippery, causing several riders to crash.

Ineos rider Ethan Hayter noticed what the precipitation did to the streets. Hayter clocked the second time at the only official measuring point along the way, just one second above Roglic’s time. Not long after the measuring point the shower started and Hayter could no longer take any risks; he came ninth.

World time trial champion Remco Evenepoel had left well before the rain, but still tumbled outside the podium of the opening stage of the six-day Tour of the Basque Country. The Belgian crashed in the second corner just after the start.

Evenepoel quickly recovered, but was 11 seconds short of the win at the end of the time trial and, in addition to Vine, also saw Mattias Skjelmose dip below his time.

Evenepoel’s slide denied him the chance of victory, earlier in the day Tom Pidcock was the bigger victim of a fall.

Pidcock crashed during the exploration of the course. The Ineos rider was reportedly blown off his time trial bike by a gust of wind just outside the city.

After consultation with doctors from the race and the team, Pidcock was carried from the team bus and taken to hospital for examination, according to reports. https://twitter.com/INEOSGrenadiers/status/1774770017910845906.

Jonas Vingegaard, riding with the Visma space helmet that is still permitted after tomorrow, came fifth. The Danish tour winner did not look dissatisfied with his time, fifteen seconds behind Roglic. Vingegaard, last year’s overall winner in the Basque Country, will focus this week on the tough final stage of the Basque stage race.