Chris Froome and his Sky team went into the opening team time trial as one of the favourites but had to settle for 11th. The 2013 Tour champion admitted that they had expected more and was impressed by Movistar's performance.

Team Sky kicked off the 2014 Vuelta a Espana with a ride to 11th place in the opening team time trial.

With a time of 14 minutes and 40 seconds, the team made it through the technical 12.6-kilometre course in Jerez without issue, 27 seconds back on the winning time of Movistar.

Chris Froome returned to racing action for the first time since crashing out of the Tour de France and finished alongside his team, who were led over the line by Vasil Kiryienka.

The day belonged to the last team down the ramp, with Movistar setting an impressive time of 14:13 to take the win by six seconds and ride Jonathan Castroviejo into the red jersey.

Up until that point it had looked like Cannondale were destined for victory after the Italian outfit had edged out Orica-GreenEdge by less than a second over a tricky course saw the riders enter roundabouts 21 times.

Team Sky put themselves in the mix, crossing the line with five riders as Kiryienka and Froome were joined by Mikel Nieve, Philip Deignan and Pete Kennaugh.

“I’ve got to admit that we were all hoping for a better result," Froome said. "But a difference of thirty seconds is not much. There are 21 days of racing. I’ll try to make up time wherever I can. Any opportunity, you take it.

"On a course like that, you give everything regardless of what’s coming up next. It suited teams with riders able to accelerate after every corner. We’ve had a few radio problems. It didn’t help our communication. Movistar has been impressive today, so was Tinkoff-Saxo.”

"We lost time which is not ideal but the time gaps are quite limited to most of the teams," said Sports Director Dario Cioni after the stage.

"It was good that we came through without issues and there are a few teams with GC contenders who lost even more than us. Naturally when we set out we were hoping to do better, but when you consider we had a few riders coming back from longer breaks, I don't think the performance today reflects the strength of the team and what we'll be able to do in this race."

The Vuelta continues on Sunday with an expected bunch sprint on stage two into San Fernando.

"Tomorrow the wind will be the main factor," Cioni continued. "If there is no wind it should be an easier day, even if the finish is quite tricky, especially in the last few kilometres. Our goal is to not lose time, but if we do get some wind it could create some opportunities. It's a good chance for Chris to open up his legs in the group given he hasn't been in a peloton since the Tour."