Although Jonas Vingegaard, regarded as the big favourite for La Vuelta a España 2025, very quickly took the red jersey of leader of the General Classification, in the second stage (he lost it after the fourth stage on Tuesday to David Gaudu, although they have the same overall time), not everything are good news for Team Visma - Lease a Bike.
A crash in stage 2 affected most of the team, and one of them, French rider Axel Zingle, had to withdraw from the race. And in the night from Sunday to Monday, eighteen bikes were stolen from a team's truck.
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Through social media, Visma shared how their mechanics worked hard to prepare the new bikes ready for the race, but some details revealed by Italian outlet Tuttobiciweb, via IdlProCycling, show the damage that the theft caused the team: 18 bikes were stolen, accounting for around 250,000 euros in damages. Three were found later in some bushes, but the rest are still missing, with Italian police investigating.
Visma team boss Richard Plugge thanked Movistar and Lidl Trek teams (whom they shared hotel) as they helped them with some of the work needed. "Both teams were kind enough to help us out with some work. It's great to see that kind of collaboration between teams. So we're good to go for today, no issues there".
The team had to rebuild other bikes from scratch so that everyone could still race on Tuesday, but new bikes will arrive soon, in time for the time trial on Wednesday in Figueres, Spain.