Chaos in the Basque Country: Roglic wins time trial despite wrong turn, Evenepoel falls | Cycling

Roglic completed the 10-kilometer time trial through the streets of Irun in 12 minutes and 34 seconds. The 34-year-old BORA-hansgrohe rider rode into the wrong street just before the finish, but soon found out.

Despite the wrong turn, Roglic kept the competition well behind him. Australian Jay Vine came closest to the three-time Vuelta winner and finished second at seven seconds. The Dane Mattias Skjelmose finished third after ten seconds.

Things went wrong early on for Evenepoel. After twenty seconds the Belgian slid in a corner. He quickly got back on his bike and finished fourth, eleven seconds behind Roglic.

In addition to Roglic and Evenepoel, Jonas Vingegaard is also participating in the Tour of the Basque Country. The Visma-Lease a Bike leader was fifteen seconds slower than his former teammate in the time trial and had to settle for fifth place.

The three top favorites for the overall victory took action early in the time trial. In the last hour it started to rain and the road surface became very slippery, making Roglic’s top time unattainable for the riders who started later. Ethan Hayter was one of those riders and was only one second slower than Roglic halfway through, but eventually gave in by nineteen seconds due to a sudden hail shower.

Tom Pidcock didn’t start at all. The Briton crashed during a reconnaissance of the time trial and withdrew. Pidcock was taken to hospital for further examination. The nature of his injury is still unclear.

The Tour of the Basque Country lasts until Saturday and continues on Tuesday with a hilly stage over 160 kilometers from Irun to Kanbo. Vingegaard won the Spanish WorldTour race last year and Roglic in 2021.