Team Sky got their Vuelta a Espana campaign off to a strong start in Galicia with fourth place in the opening team time trial.

The team clocked a competitive effort of 30 minutes and 21 seconds to take time out of a number of rivals as the race got under way in Galicia.

In his Grand Tour debut it was 23-year-old Welshman Luke Rowe who led the team across the line, finishing in a six-man unit with general classification hopefuls Sergio Henao and Rigoberto Urán safely ensconced. Top time on the day went to Astana, the Kazakh squad putting in a benchmark 22 seconds quicker than Team Sky and 10 up on nearest rivals RadioShack-Leopard.

Team Sky could be a candidate to the red jersey with their best-ever start to the Spanish Grand Tour in terms of position. Sports Director Marcus Ljungqvist told the Team Sky webpage that he was happy with the team's start to what looks to be a long and tough three weeks.

"It's a really good start and we have to be happy with that," he said. "It was a good ride and a well-managed effort. We're happy we managed to get a result out of it at the end. But obviously there's a long way to go. The guys went really quickly on the mid-section of the stage. That was where we lost Edvald [Boasson Hagen] and Christian [Knees] but we did it right I think. It was a difficult one and the important thing was not to over-do it early on and keep the team together over the climb. We're looking forward to getting out into the stages now but it is going to be a tough start to the race. There are some tricky finals and for us it is a case of keeping Sergio [Henao] and also Rigo [Urán] out of trouble."

According to Dario Cataldo the team could have finished better with Edvald Boasson Hagen at the end.

“We’ve done it really at the maximum of our possibilities. Unfortunately, Edvald [Boasson Hagen] got dropped at a top of a hill. With him till the end, we could have done a little bit better.”

The race continues into Sunday with a 177.7km from Pontevedra to Baiona and an opening summit finish on the Alto do Monte da Groba.