The director of La Vuelta a España, Javier Guillén, has assured that Barcelona “is extremely prepared to host a stage of the Tour de France, as well as to host any major sporting event”, despite the problems of lack of light in the first stage of La Vuelta, last Saturday.
In an interview with RAC1, Javier Guillén considered that “the response from the public in Barcelona was overwhelming”, that “everything was very easy in the city” and that the time trial “should not be canceled” because there was no certainty that it would rain .
Guillén has attributed the problems in the time trial to the unexpected storm that darkened the city “the last 15 minutes in a way that we did not foresee”, and has maintained that turning on the public lighting would not have been enough.
“A night stage needs a lot of light reinforcement that an urban circuit does not have. If (the lights) had been turned on, we would not have alleviated the night we had either. I do not think that the city council can be held responsible,” he declared.
Regarding the presence of thumbtacks on the road that yesterday, Sunday, in the second stage of La Vuelta, caused punctures to the bicycles of about fifteen riders and that the Mossos are investigating, Javier Guillén pointed out that this “could not be avoided” because it is impossible to control “everything” in the 180 kilometers of the route.
“Who can prevent a man in hiding from wanting to throw away these thumbtacks? It is impossible for someone to do this on public roads,” argued the director of La Vuelta.
