It has been a perfect evening for the Kazakhstan team, Astana, as they won the team time trial with a margin of 10 seconds to RadioShack-Leopard, spearheaded by the Swiss time trial machine Fabian Cancellara, and further 16 seconds to Tony Martin and his Omega Pharma-QuickStep train. Janez Brajkovic is first rider to put on the red leader jersey, as he led his team to cross the line, with striking average speed of 54.830km/h, while Nibali won important seconds in the GC!

The race is still in its very beginning and much can happen, but nonetheless Nibali advanced in comparison to his worst opponents. With 29 seconds down to Valverde and almost a minute to Rodriguez, Astana and their GC star, Nibali, could not have hoped for more.

Danish Jacob Fuglsang from the winning team, reports of a tough day at the office, but that is part of the game, as he explained just after the race.

Also Nibali is pleased with the win, and emphasizes on the strong team effort they pulled of today, as they managed to stay united on a day where most teams were splitted up.

"We’ve done a great time trial. We’ve remained united and been strong from start to finish. Jani [Brajkovic] has had a lot of bad luck in a recent past, so it was fair to let him take the red jersey. My condition is very good but the Vuelta is hard and long. There’ll be some crucial stages. We’ll have to see day by day.” 

Sunday the peloton will force the first out of many mountainous stages on the 178 kilometers from PonteVedra on to Alto Do Monte Da Groba, where it will come to a final conclusion with a 11 kilometer ascent to the finishline.