Despite the strength of their team, UAE Team Emirates-XRG are yet to fully shine at this year’s Vuelta a España, failing to contest either of the punchier finishes on stages 3 and 4, and lacking a fast man to contest the two sprint days, but as the team time trial arrives on stage 5, their first win of the race could be right around the corner.
It’s 24.1 kilometres that they have to contest on Wednesday, as a flat team time trial comes into play and pits the 23 teams against each other and the clock for the first stage in Spain of the race’s 2025 edition.
UAE’s co-leaders, João Almeida and Juan Ayuso, are both adept time trial riders, so that shouldn’t be an issue, but with specialists such as Jay Vine and Mikkel Bjerg also present at the Vuelta, they will probably line up in Figueres with the strongest squad.
That being said, UAE Team Emirates-XRG aren’t overly stressed – about the TTT or having performed relatively quietly as pre-race favourite and key rival Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) already having won a stage – with Ayuso and Almeida’s teammates well aware that Wednesday won’t be the be-all, end-all of the GC battle.
“It will be about 25 to 26 minutes, and it’s not like Paris-Nice rules, where it’s the first guy’s time – you have to get four guys to the finish line. I like it a bit more because you really have to work more as a team.
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