For most of the early evening, as the sun slowly dipped towards the horizon along the coast of Portugal’s charming but crowded capital of Lisbon, things were shaping up pretty perfectly for Visma-Lease a Bike. Their Italian rider, Edoardo Affini, had caused somewhat of a minor surprise by setting the fastest time in the 12km time trial, a benchmark that not even the thoroughbreds of this discipline – Ineos Grenadiers’ Josh Tarling especially – could match. And Visma still had their main man, Wout van Aert, to go. A one-two was, quite surprisingly but gratefully, on the cards.
Wearing number one as the Vuelta a España defending champion, Sepp Kuss knew he would cede time to some of his GC rivals, but he was optimistic it wouldn’t be that much. His understudy, the chatter-box Cian Uijtdebroeks, had famously left Bora-Hansgrohe a year ago because of their apparently lousy time trial equipment, so aboard a much better set-up at Visma, he’d surely be in the frame and not be losing much time to his opponents on day one of the fight for red.
Oh, how momentum swings. Within half an hour, Visma’s perfect day had slipped away from them, and picking up the victories, both literally and morally, were riders from UAE Team Emirates who could be about to do what Visma historically did only 12 months ago: win all three Grand Tours in the same season. For while Affini’s time was eventually bettered by four riders, it wasn’t Van Aert winning, but instead, UAE’s Brandon McNulty, the American denying 22-year-old Mathias Vacek of Lidl-Trek a maiden Grand Tour victory by just two seconds.
And instead of Kuss and Uijtdebroeks posting respectable times that didn’t immediately pressure them into chase mode, they finished 53 and 45 seconds adrift of McNulty, respectively. In fact, all eight UAE riders finished above them, with João Almeida, the home favourite during the Vuelta’s Gran Salida in his native Portugal, just 19 seconds back from the American winner; Jay Vine, who suffered spinal injuries only four months ago, was 24 seconds off McNulty’s winning time; and Adam Yates, the man whose looking to become the second Yates from Bury to win the maillot rojo, was 34 seconds back – but, crucially, ahead of Visma’s top dogs. The late afternoon that started so well for the Dutch team ended rather sourly.
Dipping a hand into the Atlantic and rubbing a salty palm on Visma’s wound was Primož Roglič, now of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, formerly, of course, Visma’s “king”. The Slovenian, in his first race back since doing what he heartbreakingly does so regularly – crashing out of the Tour de France – was 17 seconds off McNulty’s impressive time but the best of the rest in terms of the probable GC contenders. The 34-year-old’s ride not only stung Visma’s mood but was a clear verdict that he’s definitely recovered and that he’ll be in the hunt for a record-equalling fourth Vuelta win.
To achieve that, however, he’ll have to win the battle of his teammates first – and he only needs to rewind the clock 12 months to see that that’s easier said than done. His young teammate, Florian Lipowitz, was notably only four seconds slower than he was, underlining why he is the tip of some pundits to be the surprise GC package, while Aleksandr Vlasov, who also abandoned the Tour, finished 29 seconds in arrears. Red Bull have brought a mightily strong team to the Iberian peninsula.
Time trials are the race of truth, and the reason the Vuelta is so stubbornly wedded to beginning every edition this century except two with one is that it immediately produces a hierarchy in the general classification. And while that order can and does get reshuffled, the time gained and lost on the first stage can and does prove crucial to the final outcome 20 stages later.
It would be irresponsible to overstate the results of día uno, but as the race moves a few kilometres across Lisbon’s headland, it is UAE Team Emirates who are in the driving seat and Visma-Lease a Bike on the back foot.
