Vuelta a Espana race director Javier Guillen has said that the finale to the season’s last Grand Tour more than made up for the controversial beginning the race endured.

“This final compensated for the displeasure,” Guillén told Spanish newspaper AS. “There is a good aftertaste because the Vuelta ended very well. This suits me because it didn’t all begin as well as it could have.”

He was referencing the dismissal of Vincenzo Nibali after stage two for holding onto a car, and the numerous crashes caused by motorbikes, which led to Peter Sagan and Sergio Paulinho having to leave the race, and Tinkoff-Saxo considering pulling their team out of the race.

He said he was left with no choice to disqualify Nibali, regardless of his status as a big favourite and former winner.

'The regulation is clear,” said Guillén. “One: the organizer is not responsible if a rider holds onto the car. Two: the decision, which we share, is from the UCI jury. The rule does not provide another possibility. What would have happened to the credibility of the race with another decision?”

“The rider apologised, the Vuelta has nothing against him and hopefully he will return.”

He also said that the motorbike incidents shouldn’t have happened, but his motorbike riders are experienced guy and there is no way cycling could exist without them.

“The accident with him (Sagan) and Paulinho shouldn’t have happened but it did. With it happening to two riders, one of which is very important, it’s also a problem that happened at other races, so it became a very big thing.”

“The people that are in the Vuelta are experts. The driver involved in the Sagan incident has done six Vueltas,” he said. "The bikes are necessary and, even with everything that happened, no team has asked them to be removed.”