Bert-Jan Lindeman formed part of the escape in Sunday’s second stage of the Vuelta a España and put his sights on the mountain jersey, but just missed out on the prize. The stage finished on top of the Alto de la Mesa, where Esteban Chaves of Orica-Green Edge won. The Colombian took the overall lead with his win.

“I started with ambitions today,” Lindeman said. “The first 40 minutes we’re really hard. As a team, we rode strongly by attacking one by one. I was lucky to make it into the break, it easily could have been of one the other guys. The plan was to conquer the mountain jersey, but it was just not in me.”

George Bennett led LottoNL-Jumbo home with a 27th place on the stage.

“The team was awesome today. They protected me all day and ensured that I could start the final climb in a good position. There were many crashes, but we missed most of them. On the final climb, I was just behind Froome’s wheel, but when they started sprinting, I couldn’t follow and I lost some time. I think I’ll do better on the long climbs.”

Martijn Keizer went into the stage with the white combination jersey.

"The boys said it was a miracle that they got through unscathed. Martijn ended up on top of a pile of riders, but fortunately, it was a harmless spill. In that respect, it was a good day.”

The day was crazy, according to Sports Director Erik Dekker. Just like Saturday.

“Yes, they were two strange days. Yesterday was special because the time difference didn’t count and today, the racing was very aggressive right from the start. You do not see that too often during the first day of a grand tour. Everyone felt that there was something to win today.

“Not all of the favourites were equally strong. Bouhanni crashed and Degenkolb has a team-mate, Dumoulin, who’s overall second. In short, with an eye on tomorrow, there are still many questions. With Tom Van Asbroeck, we have a fast man for the sprint, but all the ingredients are there for a breakaway to survive because of the profile of tomorrow’s stage, with an early third-cat climb and first-cat climb in the middle.”