Dario Cataldo (Sky) offered some sort of consolation for his team as he claimed a strong fifth place on stage one of the Vuelta a Burgos yesterday after a tough opening day for the team.

Cataldo bridged across a gap on the final incline of El Castillo to edge fifth over Jens Keukeleire (Orica-GreenEDGE), the pair finishing three seconds back on the day’s victor, Simone Ponzi (Astana).

The opening day in Vuelta a Burgos was marred by a large crash in the bunch involving a number of Sky riders, including Cataldo who finished the stage without a transponder on his bike.

Christian Knees was compelled to abandon the race after hitting the deck, the German among the first to go down in a bunch crash. Also in the accident were American duo Joe Dombrowski and Ian Boswell - all three forced to abandon the race on day one.

Sky Sports Director Marcus Ljungqvist reflected on the tough luck that struck the team but also praised the team's positive work as Cataldo battled his way back.

"We lost Christian, Joe and Ian in a really big crash half-way through the stage," Ljungqvist confirmed on the Sky website.

"It took a really long time to get everyone back to the car and change bikes and things like that. It was a tough situation as Dario went down as well but after some good work from the team he was able to come back for fifth. No one wants to crash and see a situation like that. The guys are bruised up but we're hopeful that they should be okay for their upcoming races. Kiri was out front and did a really good job getting in the break. He was on the attack from kilometre zero and then we saw a good ride from Dario today."