Which is presumably why Froome called for all riders who finished after the deadline to be eliminated. Losing his whole team would have been a wonderful excuse.
Does he need an excuse? He won the Dauphine and the Tour so has had a successful season. Winning the Vuelta would've made it a great season but the main reason he rides it is to put him in good shape for the winter.
He's a decent short distance TT rider, but the longer the distance the more time he'll concede to Froome.
But the race is lost, when Contador and Quintana mugged Froome on Sunday everyone knew that.