Missing in Murcia

Euskaltel had an off-day in today's opening stage of the Vuelta a Murcia. There's really not much more to it than that. No one figured in the breaks, and the best placed rider turned out to be Rubén Pérez in a distant 33rd place. Landa, Minguez and Nieve even conceded 20 seconds to the front group, while Antón and Alan Pérez ended up 37 seconds back. Jon Izagirre found the going tough and lost a full 5:33. Not a good day in other words, and already after the first stage the riders seem to be out of contention for GC. The one positive, though, was that none of the riders ended up on the floor, as numerous crashes plagued the last kilometres. Tomorrow will be hilly and hard, so hopefully they'll be there or thereabouts come the end of the stage!