Omega Pharma-Quick Step failed to live up to their status as world champions when they could only manage 5th in today's Vuelta time trial. Having just returned from a four-week break, the team's powerhouse Tony Martin knew that he would not be at 100%.

Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team finished 5th in the opening, 12.6km team time trial at La Vuelta a España on Sunday, crossing the line with a time of 14'24 (+11"), at a 52.5km/h pace.

Movistar won the TTT, having crossed the intermediate point 5" down, but finishing 6" faster than Cannondale. Orica-GreenEDGE was 3rd (s.t. as Cannondale).

"We are OK with this result," Rigoberto Uran said. "I think we did a good TTT. The course was quite technical with 22 roundabouts in a little more than 12 kilometers, and we must also remember that this is just the beginning of La Vuelta. We will see what happens in the next days. As usual the first few stages will be nervous and maybe the wind here in the South of Spain can also be a factor."

"It was the first race for me after a four week break," Tony Martin said. "So, I knew it wouldn't be perfect for me. But I think it was really good speed. We have to look back and analyze where we may have lost time, but that is for another moment other than now. I'm happy to get my first time trial back in my legs after some time off, and now we focus on the next stages here at La Vuelta."

"I think it was really close between 2nd and 10th place at this TTT," Sport and Development Manager Rolf Aldag said. "I think the guys did a good job. We didn't take too many risks on a very technical course, as this is a three week race and there can be many other possibilities to make the difference at this Vuelta. Of course it isn't easy, teams have to make a choice, and we made the choice to stay consistent with a designated leader of Uran.

"I think the priority was to focus on the straight parts of the course and we really showed the power of our team there. Everybody did their job. It was great teamwork and I think the focus they showed in the lead up to this stage is promising for the next three weeks."

“We always want to win but we don’t always win," sports director Rick Van Slycke said. "We’re not really disappointed today because we managed to stick to the plan and we couldn’t do more than the maximum. The best team has won. We weren’t the best today. We had specialists of high speed and it was difficult to handle a high speed on this very technical course.”