Riders react to Vuelta a España time cut incident

It was a remarkable day at the Vuelta a España on Sunday, where 90 riders could have been ejected from the race for missing the time cut, including nearly all of the Team Sky squad.

The short stage was blown apart by an early attack by Alberto Contador, which left riders like Chris Froome fighting not to lose too much time over the course of the following 110km.

Others in the peloton, though, were simply fighting to finish the stage, with the vast majority of the peloton eventually finishing well outside the time limit, 53 minutes down on winner Gianluca Brambilla (Etixx-Quick Step).

In theory all of these riders could have been sent home, leaving Froome to continue on his own and leaving Direct Energie with no riders at all. But in reality the organisers made the decision to allow all 164 riders start on Monday.

Was this the right decision? The riders certainly think so.

Monday sees a slightly easier stage for the tired peloton - a 156km stage from Alcañiz to Peñiscola, of which the final 66km is either downhill or flat.