Continuing its recent tradition, the Vuelta a Espana kicks off with a team time trial but unlike last year, the opening stage will be mostly a ceremonial affair. At just 12.6km, the stage will only create small time gaps and will mostly serve the purpose of determining the first leader and give the riders a chance to start their race off on a good note.

 

The course

While the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France have had a mix of opening stages, with the Tour varying between prologues and road stages and the Giro using team time trials, prologues and road stages, the Vuelta a Espana seems to stick the format of kicking off their race with a team time trial. For the fifth year in a row, the Spanish grand tour will kick off with the collective discipline that is a perfect way to present the teams and their line-ups for the audience. The race last started with a prologue in 2009 when ?? won the opening time trial and the race hasn’t started with a road stage since ?? when ?? won a bunch sprint.

 

While the Vuelta organizers prefer to kick off their race with a team time trial, they usually try to make the opening stage rather short and it rarely has a big impact on the final general classification. It seems that the intention is to have a mostly ceremonial opening that is not intended to play a major role in the outcome of the race. Last year they slightly deviated from this pattern as the opening stage in Galicia was longer than usual but this year, the race kicks off with a very short 12.6km team time trial that will probably create minimal time gaps between the teams.

 

After last year’s start in Galicia, the 2014 race kicks off in Andalusia in the southern part of the country. The city of Jerez de la Frontera plays host to the grand opening of the three-week race and the opening team time trial will take place entirely in its streets. The short course is completely flat and pretty technical as there are several corners in the first part. Things get a little less complicated in the middle section where the powerful riders get a better chance to make use of their big engines but in the end, a number of corners, including two U-turns, will again challenge the cohesiveness of the teams.

 

In 2010, HTC-Highroad won the opening team time trial to put Mark Cavendish in the red leader’s jersey. In 2011, Leopard-Trek emerged as the strongest while Movistar was the fastest team in 2012. Last year Astana won the technical opening stage and Janez Brajkovic benefited from the win to become the first leader of the race.

 

 

 

 

The weather

Many riders have feared the start of the race as it can be very hot in Andalucia at this time of the year. With a late start, however, the riders should do the team time trial in perfect conditions. It will be a beautiful sunny evening and the temperature will be just below the 30-degree mark.

 

There will be a moderate wind from a westerly direction which will abate later in the evening. This means that the riders will mainly have a tailwind in the first part and a headwind in the finale. There will be a cross-headwind on the long straight to the finish. As there will be more tailwind than headwind, the abating wind means the early starters may have a slight advantage.

 

The favourites

The opening team time trial of a grand tour always gets a lot of attention. Going into the race, the teams do a lot to prepare the opening day and the media spend a lot of time speculating about the impact the stage will have on the final GC. In the end, however, the time gained in a relatively short, flat team time trial are usually very small and usually they play no role when it comes to determining the final winner of the race.

 

This year the importance of the team time trial is even smaller than usual. At just 12.6km, it is more of a team prologue than a real time trial and it should be a very close affair. The seconds gained or lost are unlikely to play any role at the end of the race and the stage will only have a minor impact on the outcome.

 

Nonetheless, the stage is very important from a psychological point of view as everybody wants to start the race on a good note. Furthermore, team time trial wins are usually very prestigious and several teams have made it a key goal. Finally, the red jersey is at stake and for many riders, this is their biggest opportunity to wear the coveted tunic.

 

For the sprinters, it is very important to limit their losses. The first road stages are all expected to end in some kind of sprint – some of them after some pretty tough climbing – but for the likes of Peter Sagan, Michael Matthews and John Degenkolb who should be able to handle the tough terrain, there is a big chance that they can take the leader’s jersey by virtue of bonus seconds. For their teams, it will be important to limit their losses to keep them within striking distance of the overall lead.

 

The course for the time trial is completely flat which should suit the powerful specialists but a lot of other factors will make it a different affair compared to a usual team event. First of all, the course is very short which means that it will suit powerful teams with many sprinters and track riders more than the ones with big diesel engines. Secondly, the many corners will make it a technically challenging affair that will test the cohesiveness of the team and make it harder for the powerful riders to benefit from their strength.

 

Several teams have made this stage a big goal and most of the big favourites seem to be fairly equally matched. On such a short course, small mistakes can make a huge difference and the stage will probably be decided by just a few seconds.

 

Trek have lined up at this race with a focus on stage wins and they may get their race off to the perfect start. The team lines up a large number of TT specialists and on paper they look like the most powerful squad for the opening stage. With Fabian Cancellara, Kristof Vandewalle, Bob Jungels and Jesse Sergent, they have four riders who are all capable of winning time trials on their own and that amount of firepower makes them the favourite to win the stage.

 

Cancellara may no longer be the time trialllist he once was but he remains one of the best prologue riders in the world. On such a short technical course, he will be very strong and he has a huge experience in guiding a team in a team time trial. Sergent has a track background which should make him perfectly suited to this short, intense effort and Jungels has mostly excelled in shorter time trials and is technically very strong.

 

On paper, Vandewalle may be the second strongest rider on the team but the Belgian may not be at his best on this kind of short, technical course. However, he will definitely be able to lend a hand and on the straights in the second part, he will make a difference.

 

The rest of the team is also pretty strong. Yaroslav Popovych who has always been outstanding in team time trials, and Fabio Felline who is a solid time triallist on short, technical courses. Haimar Zubeldia and Jasper Stuyven will do their best to contribute while Julian Arredondo is the only really weak link. Most teams, however, have a pure climber that won’t be able to do much work and with four strong engines, Trek must be the favourites.

 

It will be interesting to see which rider will cross the line in first position for the American team. Cancellara would be an obvious choice but Popovych would be another option as the Ukrainian is mostly known for his loyal support. However, we put our money on Zubeldia to take the first jersey as it would be a huge moment for one of the team’s veterans to wear the leader’s jersey in his home grand tour.

 

Trek’s biggest rivals could be BMC who have a powerful roster for this kind of team time trial. Very often the team have gone into TTTs as some of the major favourites but for some reason they have often had a hard time delivering the results that they theoretically should. This year, however, they have done really well in team time trials, winning in Trentino and taking third in the Giro with teams that were very similar to the one they have in Spain.

 

Rohan Dennis and Manuel Quinziato are both time trial specialists. The former is one of the very best in the world and has numerous podium spots this year. The latter has rediscovered his time trial legs and this year he has taken several top 5 results in individual tests. On a short, technical course, Philippe Gilbert will be a real asset and Cadel Evans should shine on this route too. Larry Warbasse and Dominik Nerz are solid time triallists too and Samuel Sanchez defends himself well. If Steve Morabito can deliver the performance he did in the Tour de Pologne TT, they have a homogenous team for this test.

 

If they win, they will probably try to put one of their two veterans in the red jersey. Evans could be riding his final grand tour and would be the obvious choice but for Sanchez it would be a great opportunity to wear the leader’s jersey in his home tour.

 

Omega Pharma-Quick Step are the reigning world champions but this time they have not lined up their A team. The squad is mostly built around Rigoberto Uran and so many of their powerhouses have been left at home.

 

However, the team has a great weapon in Tony Martin who has often won team time trials almost by himself. On this short, technical course, the team would benefit maximally from his powers and the German may not be able to make the difference he usually does.

 

On the other hand, an almost identical team finished second in the Giro time trial and they definitely can’t be ruled out. Tom Boonen will be a real asset on this kind of course and as Uran has almost developed into a real specialist, he will be able to make a difference too. Martin Velits and Nikolas Maes are both powerful riders and an in-form Wout Poels have improved his TT skills a lot. It’s definitely not the powerful squad that has won the Worlds twice in a row but as the team proved in Tirreno and the Giro, less may be enough. Omega Pharma-Quick Step is definitely one of the favourites in one of their preferred disciplines.

 

Two years ago Movistar won the opening team time trial on a very technical course in Pamplona. Since then they have had a lot of successes in TTTs and they are definitely one of the best teams for the collective discipline. Last year they were second in the Giro and fifth in the Vuelta. Earlier this year a very similar team did a great ride at the Giro but as they rode under the worst possible weather conditions, they finished back in 8th.

 

With Adriano Malori, Andrey Amador and Jonathan Castroviejo, the Spaniards have three big specialists on their roster but on this technical course they may not benefit maximally from Malori’s power. On the other hand, Castroviejo was the driving force in Pamplona two years ago and he is well-suited to this kind of challenge. Alejandro Valverde should excel on this course too and Nairo Quintana did a great time trial on a short, flat course in the recent Vuelta a Burgos. On paper, Movistar have a very powerful team for this test and they would love to put Valverde into the leader’s jersey on home soil.

 

Looking at the riders, Sky have a formidable team for a team time trial but this course may not be the perfect match for their many diesel engines. Kanstantsin Siutsou, Vasil Kiryienka, Dario Cataldo and most notably Chris Froome are all great time triallists and Christian Knees is pretty powerful too. With his track background, Peter Kennaugh should be another asset.

 

However, Siutsou, Kiryienka, Cataldo and Froome all prefer longer stages where they can benefit from their endurance and this stage is definitely not made for them. On the other hand, the team has so much firepower that it should be up there with the best.

 

Orica-GreenEDGE were the major favourites for the Giro team time trial which they won in dominant fashion. For the race, however, they have a vastly different team and it will be a major surprise if they again take the leader’s jersey on the opening day. This time they have not built their team specifically for the opening stage but they will still try to do a good ride to keep Michael Matthews within shouting distance of the leader’s jersey.

 

Finally, we will select a couple of jokers. Belkin may not be one of the traditional TTT powerhouses but for this year’s Vuelta, they have a very strong team. Wilco Kelderman, Stef Clement, Martijn Keizer and Maartens Tjallingii are all really powerful and Robert Wagner should also be of value on such a short course. A very similar team got their TTT in the Giro ruined by bad weather and they will be eager to make amends and get their GC campaign off to a solid start.

 

Giant-Shimano have traditionally finished last in the grand tour team time trials but this year they will go all out. If they can limit their losses, John Degenkolb will have a great shot at the leader’s jersey in the upcoming sprint stages and they have some really strong time triallists to help their captain. Tobias Ludvigsson, Chad Haga and Lawson Craddock are all real specialists and on a short, technical course, the sprint train should be able to do well. Look out for Giant-Shimano to create a small surprise.

 

Finally, Cannondale deserves a mention. Looking down the names on the roster, one won’t expect them to do too well but traditionally they always perform solidly in the TTTs. Maciej Bodnar and Alessandro De Marchi are both really powerful and Peter Sagan will be really strong on this course. Like Degenkolb, Sagan has a chance to take the leader’s jersey and this will provide them with plenty of incentive to do well.

 

CyclingQuotes’ stage winner pick: Trek

Other winner candidates: BMC, Omega Pharma-Quick Step

Outsiders: Movistar, Sky, Orica-GreenEDGE

Jokers: Belkin, Giant-Shimano, Cannondale