The Day After. That was kind of it Wednesday for Visma | Lease a Bike in the Vuelta a España after leader Wout van Aert had to leave the round one day earlier on his way to Lagos de Covadonga in an ambulance. "It is now up to us to turn the switch," first team leader Grischa Niermann tried to keep his men sharp.
The stage towards Santander was one in which the riders crossed the finish line completely soaked. So, too, did the Visma | Lease a Bike team, for whom the day was about getting through. Edoardo Affini finished in twentieth place on the stage, which was won by Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
Visma | Lease a Bike tries to turn switch
Yet it was still mainly about Van Aert. "It's a big disappointment for the team to lose Wout," Niermann said. "They won't take the three-stage wins away from us. Unfortunately, the goal to stand in the green and the polka dot jersey on the Madrid podium is gone. Our Vuelta was all about Wout, who was in top form. It is now up to us to turn the switch because there are certainly still opportunities for this Vuelta."
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"Sepp Kuss is close to a place in the top ten of the GC. A stage win is also possible, although that was out of the question here," the German said after the seventeenth stage in the north of Spain.
"The rain made the stage difficult. The teams that still had a sprinter in the team wanted a bunch sprint," Niermann analyzed. "It was a treacherous stage with some steep climbs and challenging descents. The traffic circles many turns, and a wet road surface makes it delicate. We needed to get through this day as well as possible."
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