With a team mostly made up of sprinters and climbers, Astana went into the team time trial of the Vuelta a Espana hoping to limit their losses. Having finished the stage in 13th, they were satisfied with the outcome and now turns their attention to sprinter Andrea Guardini.

"We rode at our maximum, but the stage was not for us," Alexey Lutsenko said, summing up the stage. "Tomorrow we have a pure sprint finish, and we will work for Guardini for the victory."

Lutsenko and all eight teammates finished 13th out of 22 teams, 30 seconds behind stagewinners Movistar, from Spain.

With two designated riders for General Classification - Tanel Kangert and Fabio Aru - Astana comes to the Vuelta with ambitions solidly grounded in reality against a strong and motivated field of riders but a Top-5 finish in three weeks time is fully possible. 

More likely in the short term is a strong fight for stage wins, starting on Sunday with an expected sprint finish along the Atlantic coast in San Fernando.

Lutsenko worked with teammate Andrea Guardini most recently in Denmark, where the Italian rider won two sprint stages and the Kazakh was the winner of the tough individual time trial in Middelfart.