It all sounded like a wonderful idea at first: the Vuelta a España having its Gran Salida in Barcelona, one of the world's most-visited cities.
The opening weekend, however, has been anything but wonderful. Stage one's opening team time trial was described as "dangerous" and "ridiculous" by defending champion Remco Evenepoel who had to ride the 14.8km in near-darkness, while other riders complained about riding back to their team buses without lights on their bike and through busy traffic.
