Luxembourg team narrowly beats Liquigas-Cannondale to give Danish prodigy the first leader’s jersey
Victory for Leopard Trek in the opening team time trial stage of the Vuelta a España in the seaside resort town of Benidorm put Jakob Fuglsang into the first red jersey of the race. The Luxembourg team, riding the race without either of the Schleck brothers, completed the 13.5km course in a time of 16’30”, just four seconds quicker than the Liquigas-Cannondale team of defending champion Vincenzo Nibali. HTC-Highroad, another of the potential favourites of the day, finished in third place, just nine seconds down.
“Our goal today was simply to do a good time trial,” said Fuglsang. “We knew if we did a good time trial we could win. This is a really special moment for the team; and for me, to pull on the leader’s jersey at the Grand Tour, that’s amazing.”
Despite the team boasting strong time triallists like World champion Fabian Cancellara, Maxim Monfort and Stuart O’Grady, a crash in the opening kilometres for Davide Vigano and Robert Wagner meant that the victory was a surprise to some.
“Honestly, I’m stunned,” said O’Grady. “We thought we had done a good time trial, but I didn’t necessarily feel like it was a winning day. We were fast the whole time, that’s for sure.
“We are really shocked in a good way. This is incredible.”
Fuglsang’s taking the race lead is of special significance to his compatriot, sports director Lars Michaelson.
“Until today, I was the only Danish rider to have worn the leader’s jersey at the Vuelta,” he revealed. “In 1997, I won the first stage and held onto the jersey for four days. It has been longer than I thought it would be that somebody would come and take the jersey.
“It’s a nice experience to be part of passing along the leader’s jersey to the second Danish rider to wear it.”
A seaside course with plenty of turns
For the second year in a row the Vuelta a España was to start with a team time trial. At only 13.5km it was unlikely to create too many large gaps between the overall contenders but, with an opening drag averaging almost 4% and a number of tight corners, there was to be plenty of room for thrills and spills around the course.
It was 32 degrees centigrade and sunny on the Costa Blanca as Skil-Shimano got the race under way. A stiff breeze coming off the Mediterranean threatened to make trouble on the more exposed roads out of town in the opening half, as well as on the seafront road in the closing kilometres.
Skil-Shimano gets things started and goes surprisingly well
Clearly out to prove itself after missing out on the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France, Skil-Shimano went through the 7km checkpoint in 9’01”. The Dutch team, giving a Grand Tour debut to emerging German sprinter Marcel Kittel, finished in a time of 16’48”, but was not expected to occupy the top spot for very long.
The next team on the course was Garmin-Cervélo, who went through 7km six seconds slower than Skil-Shimano. While the American team’s line up was almost entirely different to the one that won the corresponding stage of the Tour de France, it was still something of a surprise that it was unable to match the Professional Continental team, posting 16’55”.
Quick Step was the next team to finish though, knocking ten seconds off the best time with 16’45”. The Belgian team’s time in the hotseat was just under four minutes though, as Astana lowered it further to 16’40”. The Kazakh’s time was to survive both Cofidis, which was down to five on the exposed seafront road and finished in 17’03”, and BMC Racing Team who posted 16’57”.
Leopard Trek weathers a crash to set the best time
Leopard Trek was next though and, despite a crash from Robert Wagner and Davide Vigano, the presence of strong riders like four-time World champion Fabian Cancellara and former Belgian champion Maxime Monfort saw it go through 7km in 8’46”, then cross the line in 16’30”. Since Fuglsang crossed the line first, ahead of Cancellara and Monfort, the 26-year-old was the virtual race leader.
There were still plenty of fast teams to come though.
Rabobank dropped three-time World champion Oscar Freire midway around the course, but still only managed 17’00”, the slowest time so far. This was lowered further by Vacansoleil-DCM though, who stopped the clock in 17’09”.
RadioShack’s Grand Tour jinx continued, as there was an immediate problem for Janez Brajkovic when his chain came off in the first kilometre. The team didn’t wait immediately but the Russian champion managed to rejoin on the course as the other eight riders eased up. The American team finished with all nine riders, but the incident cost dear and they slumped to a disappointing 16’59” at the finish.
Andalucia-Caja Granada, the lowliest of the four wildcard teams in the race, finished in 17’33”; pushing Vacansoleil-DCM off the bottom of the standings in spectacular fashion, more than a minute behind Leopard Trek. Continuing its excellent progress in team time trialling – after its fourth place in the Giro d’Italia stage with many of the same riders – Omega Pharma-Lotto went through in 16’48”, just 18 seconds behind Fuglsang’s team.
Bad luck for some teams as mechanicals and crashes disrupt the rhythm
Fuglsang’s former team Saxo Bank-SunGard was another to suffer ill luck out on the course. There was an immediate problem for Jaro Marycz, who seemed to be in the wrong gear as the team started. Confusion on a roundabout later on also saw Ronde van Vlaanderen winner Nick Nuyens run off the road and come down hard on his back. Six riders from the Danish team – riding without all four of its Spanish personnel in the race – finished in 16’58”.
AG2R La Mondiale managed to get around the course without incident, but was 42 seconds off the pace at the finish with 17’12”. Team Sky however, was uncharacteristically untidy. The British team was surprisingly slow at halfway, 24 seconds down on Leopard Trek, and was momentarily down to four riders on the exposed seafront road. Xabier Zandio managed to chase back on while the stronger men almost freewheeled, and the team that came so close to taking the Tour stage slumped to 17’12” at the finish.
There was another incident at the start, for Lampre-ISD this time. Marco Marzano suffered a rear wheel problem on his way down the ramp, and was forced to stand and wait while his team mechanic went through the laborious process of changing the wheel. By the time he got going, his team was long gone – although Francesco Gavazzi sat up to wait for him – and the remainder of the blue-fuchsia squad finished in 17’02”.
The Movistar team, despite riding without any obvious overall ambition managed to get around the course without incident in 16’44”. Riding for the interests of Joaquim Rodriguez though, Katusha managed to reduce itself to five at the finish but could only manage 16’55”.
HTC-Highroad is fast but the fastest man in the World isn’t
From the outset, HTC-Highroad was riding fast, crossing the 7km point just six seconds behind Leopard Trek. The American team was apparently to fast for super sprinter Mark Cavendish though, who was repeatedly dropped on the way around. Without the Manx Missile, the team that included specialists like Patrick Gretsch, Tony Martin and German champion Bert Grabsch managed to clock 16’39” at the finish to slot into second place.
Third from last to start was the Geox-TMC, carrying the overall ambitions of both Denis Menchov and Carlos Sastre. The wildcard team appeared to be going well until David Blanco went down on the u-turn at the top of the climb; the team eased up and allowed him to rejoin and finished in what turned out to be a disappointing 17’13”.
Euskaltel-Euskadi, a team which famously dreaded this particular discipline, and who still routinely comes in last managed to complete the course in what a few years ago would have been a surprising 16’58”.
The only team left out the course now was Liquigas-Cannondale, but the men in acid-green still might trouble Leopard Trek as they went through the 7km check a second faster. On the exposed second half of the course though, Nibali’s men couldn’t match the raw power of Cancellara’s and, despite being down to five at the finish and pushing it all the way to the line, they finished in 16’34”, four seconds down.
Fuglsang took the first red jersey of the race, thanks to crossing the line first, but will likely come under pressure from teammate Daniele Bennati in the likely sprint finish of stage two between La Nucía and Playas de Orihuela.
Result stage 1
1. Leopard Trek 13.5km in 16’30”
2. Liquigas-Cannondale @ 4s
3. HTC-Highroad @ 9s
4. Astana @ 10s
5. Movistar @ 14s
6. Quick Step @ 15s
7. Skil-Shimano @ 18s
8. Omega Pharma-Lotto @ 18s
9. Garmin-Cervélo @ 25s
10. Katusha @ 25s
11. BMC Racing Team @ 27s
12. Euskaltel-Euskadi @ 28s
13. Saxo Bank-SunGard @ 28s
14. RadioShack @ 29s
15. Rabobank @ 30s
16. Lampre-ISD @ 32s
17. Cofidis @ 33s
18. Vacansoleil-DCM @ 39s
19. AG2R La Mondiale @ 42s
20. Team Sky @ 42s
21. Geox-TMC @ 43s
22. Andalucia-Caja Granada @ 1’03”
Standings after stage 1
1. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Leopard Trek
2. Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Leopard Trek
3. Maxime Monfort (Bel) Leopard Trek
4. Thomas Rohregger (Aut) Leopard Trek
5. Daniele Bennati (Ita) Leopard Trek
6. Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale @ 4s
7. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
8. Eros Capecchi (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
9. Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
10. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale