After his disappointing showing at Tirreno-Adriatico, many had started to write Cadel Evans off as a possible Giro contender but the Australian bounced back today with a solid performance in the first stage of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco. While the team's original leader Tejay van Garderen failed to live up to expectations, Evans finished 8th on the stage in the first chase group behind the superior Alberto Contador and Alejandro Valverde.

BMC Racing Team's Cadel Evans finished eighth on Monday's opening stage of Vuelta al Pais Vasco as Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) soloed to victory. 

The up-and-down profile of the 153.4-kilometer course that started and finished in Ordizia featured eight categorized climbs, the last coming less than 10 km from the uphill finish.

Four riders – Fabricio Ferrari (Caja Rural), Matteo Montaguti (AG2R La Mondiale), Romain Sicard (Team Europcar) and Davide Villella (Cannondale Pro Cycling Team) – broke away in the first 10 km and built a lead of nearly five minutes. The chasing efforts of the Movistar Team and Tinkoff-Saxo swept them up with 25 km to go.

After the BMC Racing Team brought back a brief escape by Tom Dumoulin (Team Giant-Shimano), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) attacked and only Contador could follow. But with seven kilometers left, Contador put in a dig of his own and soloed over the top of the final climb with a 14-second lead over Valverde, which he held to the finish. Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) finished third, 34 seconds later, followed by five-rider group containing Evans at 36 seconds.

Two others from from the BMC Racing Team also finished in the top 20: Samuel Sánchez was 15th and Tejay van Garderen 18th. Both arrived in a group 58 seconds after Contador. 

"For an opening stage of a stage race, it was a very selective and difficult stage on a difficult course," Evans said. "Solid racing all day with really, short, steep climbs that are typical of Pays Basque. For an opening stage, it was not quite what we were used to having – such an important, selective stage to open with.

"I am reasonably happy with how I was. I was close when the real attacks went from Valverde and Contador. But they were really in a class of their own here anyways. That didn't really change much for me."

"It was a very hard first stage," sports director Valerio Piva said. "I am happy with the team. Everybody did a good job. We started with two protected leaders, Tejay and Cadel, so the team was in support of these guys.

"I saw that we always had good position for them. Cadel was in good position when Valverde and Contador attacked, but he told me he was not strong enough to follow. But he arrived 15 seconds behind Valverde and 36 behind Contador, so the tour is still open. We are only on the first day so we cannot forget there is a time trial at the end."