Date: Wednesday 27 August
Distance: 24.1km Team Time Trial
Start location: Figueres
Finish location: Figueres
Start time: 16:37 CEST
Finish time: 18:30 CEST
The first place visited upon Vuelta a España's belated arrival into Spain — or, more specifically, Catalonia — will be Figueres, the town where Salvador Dali hails from. Surely the man most closely associated with the art of surrealism, Dali was born here in 1904, before going on to become famous around the world as much for his eccentric public persona (and even more eccentric moustache) as his paintings. He returned to Figueres later in life, and his imprint can be felt everywhere here, most notably the Theatre and Museum which he designed and houses much of his art.
It’s a little ironic that the stage Figueres will host is a team time trial, as this discipline seems almost diametrically opposed to Dali’s own sensibilities. Whereas time trials are all about precision and control, Dali was drawn to the incongruous, ideas that rise from the subconscious to disrupt order. His most famous painting, The Persistence of Memory, depicts an uncanny landscape adorned with melting clocks in an image that has become emblematic of the notion of temporal instability and time’s relativity; in a time trial, there’s nothing malleable about time, and seconds are measured in exactitude.
This team time trial might not be quite so ordered as most. Normally when this format features in a Grand Tour (and in recent years it’s been more popular at the Vuelta than the Giro and Tour, appearing at three of the last eight editions, and every year for almost a decade before that), it’s as the opening stage of the race, functioning as a kind of roll call to introduce us to everyone riding the race that year. This time, however, it comes on stage five, introducing several variables that even the most meticulously planned teams won’t be able to control. A particular hazard is that some teams may already be down a rider, or possibly multiple riders, after four days of racing, which would put them at a significant disadvantage in a discipline that rewards strength in numbers and requires every member of the team to contribute to their leader’s performance.
Another variable that could shake things up is the weather. While the darkness that caused such consternation in the peloton two years in Barcelona at the ill-conceived night-time stage won’t be a factor, the rain that made that stage even more treacherous is still a possibility. And even if it does remain dry, the relatively long distance of this route (24.1km, compared with 14.8km in Barcelona) means this team time trial will have more of an impact than usual in the GC race.
Contenders
Visma-Lease a Bike have always been a strong TTT unit and despite not having the likes of Edoardo Affini and Wout van Aert in their Vuelta line-up, they still boast some powerful riders over flat terrain like Victor Campenaerts, Dylan van Baarle, Wilco Kelderman, Matteo Jorgenson and Jonas Vingegaard himself. They have started the Vuelta well with a stage win for Vingegaard, but they will have to do the TTT without Axel Zingle, who crashed on stage two and had to abandon the race.
The red jersey holders Groupama-FDJ will want to defend David Gaudu's lead and with the likes of Stefan Küng and Remi Cavagna on their roster, they have a good chance of doing so.
Ineos Grenadiers's Filippo Ganna, Ben Turner, Magnus Sheffield, Bob Jungels, Michał Kwiatkowski are all strong TT riders and will be looking to protect GC leader Egan Bernal's strong start to the Vuelta as he currently sits in fourth. The team will be buoyed by Ben Turner's impressive win on stage four.
Two other GC riders, João Almeida and Juan Ayuso are part of a UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad, which could contend for the stage with the likes of Jay Vine, Mikkel Bjerg, Felix Großschartner and Ivo Oliveira. Likewise Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe have a solid team around their GC leaders Jai Hindley and Giulio Pellizzari through Matteo Sobrero, Tim van Dijke, Giovanni Aleotti, and Finn Fisher-Black.
Lidl-Trek were left frustrated by two close losses on stages two and three, but a powerful team of Mads Pedersen, Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier, Daan Hoole and Søren Kragh Andersen, which could challenge for the win. As could Jayco Alula, who have a good track record at TTTs.
Prediction
We think Ineos Grenadiers will win the TTT.
