Imanol Erviti is one of the experienced cyclists in the peloton. The leader of the Movistar team entered the Vuelta a España unexpectedly due to Carlos Verona’s illness.
He granted an interview to Eurosport after a second stage that was marred by several controversies due to the reluctance of the general classification riders to compete in the final kilometers of the race.
Erviti explained that the safety of Enric Mas was a priority for the team, especially considering the setbacks they faced in the early stages of the last Tour de France: “It was a typical tough day for those who are thinking about the general classification, and we came from a Tour with a crash that affected the entire race; here, we started on the right foot.”
Regarding the moment when Vingegaard, Evenepoel, and some INEOS riders requested the peloton to ease up, Erviti criticized that they did so right after the crash of Primoz Roglic and Geraint Thomas, although he understood that it was a time to take it easy:
“It was funny, they asked for calm after the crashes of Roglic and Thomas, because it suited them. It’s a difficult line to decide, it’s hard to assess how far it’s right and how far it’s not, how dangerous it is, how far we can measure ourselves sportingly without anyone getting hurt. It shouldn’t depend on the cyclists but on some organizer who has been on the field and made a fairer decision.”