Saturday, August 17, 2024 at 8:32 PM
Brandon McNulty has claimed the first red jersey of the 2024 Vuelta a España. The American from UAE Emirates clocked the fastest time in the 12-kilometre opening time trial. He was faster than Mathias Vacek and Wout van Aert in and around Lisbon.
Lisbon was allowed to host the start of the Vuelta for the second time. The Portuguese capital had already seen a Vuelta peloton leave in 1997 when the coastal city hosted the start of a sprinter’s stage. In this 79th edition of the Vuelta, the spectators were able to enjoy Lisbon a little longer. A twelve-kilometre time trial was planned to nearby Oeiras. However, the historic centre of the capital was ignored: in the suburb of Restelo, the riders rode west along the coast to Oeiras.
Just before half past five Dutch time, Luis Angel Maté (Euskaltel-Euskadi) set off as the first rider in the peloton. The necessary top riders would soon follow. For example, Enric Mas sped to a temporary fastest time for almost twenty minutes, but Victor Campenaerts – who managed to win a stage in the Tour de France and made an impression in the first time trial – and Jay Vine were also on their way. However, it was Edoardo Affini – without a closed front wheel – from Visma | Lease a Bike who temporarily sped to the hotseat with a time of 12:43. That means an average of more than 56 kilometers per hour!
Affini clocks the fastest time early on – photo: Cor Vos
First Class Men
The teams were allowed to decide when their riders would start, which meant that the entire time trial was spent looking out for GC contenders. For example, around half past six it was Mattias Skjelmose who recorded a good final time of 12:57. He was already faster than competitors Antonio Tiberi, Daniel Felipe Martínez, Enric Mas and Richard Carapaz, but could not improve on Affini’s still fastest time. Adam Yates joined the aforementioned names later on the rankings, while Cian Uijtdebroeks had to concede a little more time.
After seven hours it was time for Thymen Arensman. The Dutch INEOS-Grenadiers hopeful could not match Affini’s time, but only lost one second to GC contender Tiberi. In the Giro d’Italia, Arensman had a bad opening weekend, so the climber starts the Vuelta a lot better. After Arensman’s arrival, it was not long before the Dutchman’s teammate and the favorite for the day’s victory. Joshua Tarling started his individual race against the clock around half past seven.
Mathias Vacek: the surprise of the day – photo: Cor Vos
Tarling doesn’t come
The current European time trial champion immediately clocked the fastest time at the first intermediate point. The tall Brit was three seconds faster than Affini, who was still in the hotseat at that moment, after just over seven kilometers, but had to give up 0.28 seconds to the Italian’s time at the finish. For a moment it seemed that only teammate Van Aert – as the last starter – could spoil an Italian surprise party, but none other than Mathias Vacek blew away the fastest time.
The 22-year-old Czech from Lidl-Trek recorded a time of 12:37. Stefan Küng was unable to beat Vacek’s time. The Swiss from Groupama-FDJ had to give up four seconds to the man in the hotseat and so it was a matter of waiting for the biggest challenger yet to come, Wout van Aert.
Wout van Aert just came up short at the finish – photo: Cor Vos
Top favourites general classification
Among the top favorites of the general classification, it was now time for João Almeida and Sepp Kuss. The Portuguese home rider recorded the fastest time of the classification riders up to that point with a time of 12:54. The American winner of last year had to give up more time, but stayed within 35 seconds of Almeida. Primoz Roglic did dip under the time of the number four of the Tour de France, although it was not much different – with an advantage of two seconds.
In the battle for the stage win, all eyes were now on Brandon McNulty and Van Aert. The Olympic bronze medallist was one second faster than Vacek at the intermediate checkpoint, while the American champion finished two seconds below Vacek’s time not much later. Van Aert could no longer beat the time of the UAE Emirates speedster and ended up in third place.
Stage winner Brandon McNulty in the red leader’s jersey – photo: Cor Vos
