Vuelta a España organisers Unipublic have expressed painfully guarded neutrality in the face of the UCI’s decision on Friday that the race's opening 7.4 kilometre team time trial will only count for the teams classification. However, all the signs were that Unipublic’s boss, Javier Guillén, was quietly but firmly in disagreement at the decision, which effectively means that the 2015 Vuelta GC battle will be one stage short of a Grand Tour load, and will only start on Sunday.
The decision to delay the individual classification battle for 24 hours because of fears over rider safety on the TTT route first began being discussed, at length, as an emergency measure on Thursday and was made official on Friday. Other last-minute options, like altering the route, had already been ruled out because of traffic issues.
Choosing his words carefully, Guillén emphasised to a small group of reporters that, as he saw it, the UCI, rather than the Vuelta, were responsible for the 2015 race having such an odd start.
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“It’s their decision after a great deal of reflection and meetings with all of the various parties involved, including the UCI themselves. The confirmation of that decision was only made this morning," he said.
Asked directly what he would have preferred, Guillén stated: “I expressed the Vuelta’s position, which is that the individual times should count. But after all the arguments were carried out, the UCI had to make a decision, and now that decision has been taken, we are hoping for a great team time trial.
"Over the last few days, the riders, teams and the UCI themselves had expressed some concern, and we responded to that with a formal meeting. The different points of view were made, and the decision was taken."
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