Entire Movistar team fined after start ramp chaos at Vuelta Femenina

All seven riders of the Movistar squad were fined 200 CHF (£182, $242) each for arriving late to present their bikes on stage one of the Vuelta Femenina on Sunday.

The incident appeared to cause a chaotic ripple effect on the teams who started immediately afterwards in the team time trial – Uno-X and Visma-Lease a Bike – each of whom began their efforts without their full line-up of riders.

Following the stage, Visma-Lease a Bike revealed they had filed an official complaint with the UCI, claiming in a statement that they had been "disadvantaged" due to a "procedural error". The Dutch squad ended up finishing 10th on the opening stage, 21 seconds down on the winners, Lidl-Trek.

"Although the riders arrived well in time for the mandatory bike check prior to the team time trial, delays occurred due to another team arriving late," the Visma-Lease a Bike statement read.

Movistar were fined 1,600 CHF (£1,458 / $1,935) collectively for not presenting their bicycles and equipment for checking "at least 15 minutes before a rider's or a team's start time", according to the race communique. This fine was 200 CHF for each of the seven riders, and a further 200 CHF for the sports director, Jorge Sanz.

Uno-X were due to begin their effort three minutes after the Spanish squad, but set off six seconds late, due to delays in one rider arriving. The team mentioned "unfortunate technical difficulties" in an Instagram post later in the afternoon.

Three minutes after Uno-X's start, Visma-Lease a Bike rolled down the ramp with only five of their seven riders. A sixth followed seconds later, before Imogen Wolff was forced to chase her team-mates, entering the course from a service vehicle exit at the side of the road.

Wolff wrote on Instagram afterwards that the organisation was "too slow with bike checks", meaning her team had to deal with "chaos".

According to Visma-Lease a Bike, there was only one race official inspecting bikes before the start, with delays felt after Movistar's late arrival.

"A second inspector was deployed later, but by then, Visma-Lease a Bike was no longer able to benefit from the extra capacity," the team wrote. "As a result, some riders received their bikes back so late that they could not reach the start on time."

Movistar went on to place seventh in the team time trial, finishing without Cat Ferguson, who experienced a puncture in the opening metres. Kelvin Dekker, one of the team's sports directors, wrote on X later in the afternoon that Movistar, too, were delayed by jury checks before their start.

Visma-Lease a Bike finished 10th, while Uno-X placed 11th.

"Sport is about fair play for all teams," said Jaco Verhaeren, head of coaching at Visma-Lease a Bike. "Sadly, that was not the case today, and we deeply regret it."

The Dutch team has said it will "pursue further steps" and file a formal complaint with the UCI management.