Team LottoNL-Jumbo survived the nervous second stage in the Vuelta a España pretty good. Due to the chance of echelons, the pace was high the entire day. In the last kilometres, leader Steven Kruijswijk lost thirteen seconds to the winner.

Although several teams tried to set up echelons, the peloton stayed together for a long time. The riders were heading for a bunch sprint, but in the end that didn’t happen. “I hoped the worst part was over, because we already had a nervous day”, Kruijswijk said about the final.

“The team did a great job, but it still went wrong. We lost some seconds in the last kilomtres. Fortunately, the differences weren’t too big, but this day cost us a lot of energy.”

Kruijswijk is looking forward to the coming days. “The opening weekend of the Vuelta could have been better. We didn’t want to be surprised today, but we didn’t succeed to stay in front during the whole stage. I hope to become stronger and stronger by the day. The best stages are yet to come.”

Sports director Addy Engels looked back with mixed feelings. “It could have been worse today”, he stated. “It was a dangerous stage due the wind. It was nervous from the start. There wasn’t a breakaway and that says enough. It’s a shame we lost some time in the final. That’s not so strange, however, as Floris De Tier and Antwan Tolhoek crashed badly yesterday. But this time loss won’t make the big difference in Madrid in about three weeks.”