Vuelta 2023 Favourites stage 1: First red jersey in Barcelona TTT

foto: Cor VosLa Vuelta opens with a 14.8 kilometres TTT in Barcelona. Which is good news for Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic. Their Jumbo-Visma squad is one of the best teams in the world and their line-up in Spain is spectacular. (Slideshow route/profile)

The last team time trial in a Grand Tour happened last year. Also on the first day of La Vuelta. Jumbo-Visma turned out on top, 13 seconds ahead of INEOS Grenadiers with QuickStep-Alpha Vinyl 1 second further behind. The Jumbo Bees are expected to shine again, as their line-up is spectacular – Roglic, Vingegaard, Tratnik, Van Baarle, Kelderman, they’re all renowned time trialists. INEOS Grenadiers also has plenty of firepower, with Ganna, Thomas, Arensman and Castroviejo, while Soudal-QuickStep starts with ITT specialists Evenepoel, Cattaneo and Cerny.

The last TTT in a WorldTour race took place in Paris-Nice. It was an extremely close call, as Jumbo-Visma bested EF Education-EasyPost with just 1 second. That TTT was contested in an unusual format though, as the times were taken individually. Normally, the teams are given the time set by the fourth rider to cross the line, which was the case on the UAE Tour. Soudal-QuickStep took the spoils that day, 1 second ahead of, again, EF Education-EasyPost.