Etixx - Quick-Step finished 5th with a time of 8'20" (53.280 km/h) in the opening, 7.4km TTT of La Vuelta a España on Saturday, on a coastal parcours that included several surface changes between the start and finish.

BMC Racing Team won the race with a time of 8'10", at 54.367km/h. Tinkoff-Saxo finished 2nd, just a second down. and Orica-GreenEDGE finshed 3rd, just slightly slower than Tinkoff-Saxo.

Race organizers decided before the race that the stage would not count toward the general classification, though Peter Velits of BMC Racing Team will start the next stage in the red jersey as race leader. The stage only counted toward a stage victory.

"We wanted to win and we really failed big time! It's terrible," Maxime Bouet said after the stage.

Etixx - Quick-Step looks next to 165km Stage 2, from Alhaurín de la Torre to Caminito del Rey, on Sunday. The stage is up-and-down, with two Category 3 climbs in the finale, including the second one that heads into the finish line.