Despite arguably being one of the best descenders in the peloton, Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) found himself losing time in the opening stage at Vuelta Ciclista al País Vasco - Tour of the Basque Country.

Sánchez lost five seconds to a string of general classification contenders but insists that the demanding six-stage race will decide the overall winner and not the small deficit he carries into stage 2.

Sánchez was one of many who found themselves in a frenzied chase to the finish line after a crash occurred inside the final 10 km of the 156 km stage. A group 17 riders hurtled themselves down the technically difficult road into Elgoibar with Alberto Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff) seen taking huge risks in order to gain valuable seconds.

Though evidently dissatisfied with losing time on the first day, Sánchez pointed to the challenging parcour of the race and hinted that there would be plenty of other possibilities to regain lost time.

“It was a demanding stage, as they will all be in this race,” Sánchez told Biciclismo.com “At a race as tough as this, five seconds will not be decisive, but nobody likes to start by losing time.”

“There are still a lot of options and our objectives remain the same. We will have to stay focused every day and make sure we are consistent,” he added.

Sánchez has failed to claim a win since winning stage 3 on his way to the overall and the points classification in last year’s edition of the Vuelta Ciclista al País Vasco.

Don't forget that you can follow the action from the Vuelta Ciclista al País Vasco live here on Cyclingquotes.com starting at 14.45 on Tuesday