Vuelta a España: Movistar wins Team Time Trial opener

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Two years after winning the Vuelta a España’s opening team time trial in Pamplona, the Movistar squad turned in a faultless repeat performance in Jerez as they once more claimed the curtain-raiser of the third Grand and Tour of the season.


The heat in Pamplona two years ago might have been much more extreme - 40 degrees rather than 30 degrees in Jerez - and the course was 4.5 kilometres longer, and a little more technical than in 2012, but the first rider across the line, and first leader of the Vuelta was the same: Movistar time trialling specialist and team worker Jonathan Castroviejo.
 
Longstanding leaders Cannondale surprised the other favourites to claim second place, six seconds back, with Orica-GreenEdge unable to repeat their victory in Giro d’Italia’s opening team time trial in Belfast, but nonetheless delivering a highly impressive performance to finish a few hundredths of a second behind in third. Indeed, their showing was all the more noteworthy considering how few of their marquee specialists are in the Vuelta line-up.
 
Movistar’s two leaders, Alejandro Valverde and Nairo Quintana can be more than satisfied with the advantage they claimed over Tinkoff-Saxo and Alberto Contador, whose squad finished seventh, 19 seconds down, while Team Sky were further out of the picture than expected, some 27 seconds back.


“We made a very cautious start, and that was perhaps the key,” Castroviejo, whose last victory was the Spanish time trial championships in 2013. “We saw we were all pulling together well early on, and then we built on that momentum.”
 
Indeed, Movistar were five seconds down on Cannondale after 6.5 kilometres but they were peerless in the closing kilometres, making up the ground and then tacking on six more seconds of their own to boot.

“It was mainly a question of self-confidence, getting stronger and stronger as the stage progressed,” added Movistar manager Eusebio Unzue. “Overall, it was a great day for the team.”


Movistar’s cohesion was plain to see as they tore through the seemingly interminable series of roundabouts - 17 in total - on the outskirts of Jerez. Movistar’s Italian time trial specialist Adriano Malori and team-mate Jose Herrada had both eased up by the time the navy blue squad swung through the last two roundabouts in the final kilometre, but they were already punching the air in triumph as they slowed across the finishing line behind the rest of the squad.


The big favourites for the victory, World Time Trial champions Omega Pharma-Quick Step, were only two seconds behind Movistar at the half-way time check. But the Belgian squad faded slightly in the second, faster half and on a short course, as BMC’s Samuel Sanchez pointed out later, “even the smallest error or sign of weakness cannot be answered.”
 
Omega Pharma leader Rigoberto Urán said he was “satisfied” with their fifth place, eight seconds ahead of Contador and ten up on BMC.
 
Contador, for his part, declared himself pleased with his first competitive outing since fracturing his tibia on stage 10 of the Tour de France. The Spaniard was cheered raucously by local fans throughout his warm-up, and he reported no ill effects from his injury after the stage.
 
“I'm happy because I could keep up with my teammates and I was able to collaborate with the pace making,” Contador said. “And it’s a good sign that I did not have any pain in the shin during this short stage.”
 
Froome, meanwhile, admitted that he had “hoped for better” but warned that the race is still long. But if Sky were way off their hopes of a top-three finish with a 27 second time loss and eleventh place, Garmin-Sharp’s 18th place represented an unexpected setback for Dan Martin and Ryder Hesjedal in a discipline where traditionally the American squad have shone far more brightly.
 
In comparison to the Giro d’Italia’s opening TTT in Belfast, though, where Martin was unlucky enough to hit a manhole cover and end his race on the first stage with a broken collarbone, the Irishman has three weeks and eight summit finishes to bounce back. 

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