George Bennett and Primoz Roglic survived the first mountain stage of the Vuelta al País Vasco and finished in San Sebastian in a depleted peloton, three seconds behind winner David De La Cruz.

"This was a typical stage in País Vasco: bad weather and the whole day up and down " said LottoNL-Jumbo Sports Director Grischa Niermann said.

"This was not comparable to the previous days. We waited a long time for the breakaway to form. In recent days, the early break came immediately; it took more than an hour today before a group got its space. Our focus was to keep our GC men safe."

The overall contenders kept their powder dry. Eventually, 40 men remained with Bennett and Roglic. On the descent towards San Sebastian, De La Cruz stayed in front of the peloton and won the stage.

Niermann added, "On the descent, a peloton does not really ride faster than one on his own. On the climb beforehand, there were still some attacks, but the teams were mainly concerned with protecting their own classification riders."

"It was OK today, just frustrating not to get cooperation on the last climb to come back de De la Cruz." Bennett said. "We will see what happens tomorrow and Friday."