UAE-Team Emirates just goes from strength to strength. Saturday launched the 79th Vuelta a España in Lisbon, Portugal with a short chrono. The race’s first-ever start abroad was in Lisbon in 1997. Brandon McNulty earned his second Grand Tour stage victory. Primož Roglič, who is seeking to tie Roberto Heras’ record with four titles, was the best of the GC favourites in eighth, while reigning champ Sepp Kuss was the worst at 62nd. Lone Canadian entrant Michael Woods, dreaming of a third Vuelta stage win in the next three weeks, placed 118th.
The Course
A little longer than a prologue, this 12-km chrono from Lisbon west to Oeiras was fairly flat and set the intermediate time check at Kilometre 7. The northwest wind increased over the day.
🏁 RACE DETAILS ⤵️
🇵🇹 @lavuelta
🔢 Stage 1 TT
⏰ 17:20 CEST
↔️ 12km
#️⃣ #LaVuelta24 pic.twitter.com/OIwnZyBqO9— GreenEDGE Cycling (@GreenEDGEteam) August 17, 2024
Around the midway point Visma-Lease a Bike’s Edoardo Affini knocked UAE-Emirates’ Jay Vine off the hot seat after a 12:43 roll. The wind increased before the day’s favourite, European chrono champ Joshua Tarling, headed out of the start house.
Tarling clipped Affini’s best intermediate time by three seconds. However, the Italian kept his seat by 0.28 seconds.
Another best intermediate time was set by Lidl-Trek’s Czech Mathias Vacek. This time Affini’s throne was usurped. The new fast mark was 12:37.
Wout van Aert was the last to start. Starting just ahead of him was American time trial champion McNulty, who was a second off of Vacek’s best intermediate time. Hard on his heels, van Aert cracked Vacek’s marker by a second.
McNulty beat Vacek by two seconds. Van Aert was the third fastest, an echo of his time trial bronze at the Paris Olympic Games.
Stage 2 remains in Portugal, where a Cat. 4 climb close to the finish in Ourém might make it a little too hard for the sprinters.
2024 Vuelta a España Stage 1
1) Brandon McNulty (USA/UAE-Emirates) 12:35
2) Mathias Vacek (Czech Republic/Lidl-Trek) +0:02
3) Wout van Aert (Belgium/Visma-Lease a Bike) s.t.
118) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +1:19
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