The 2022 Vuelta a España gets underway in Utrecht on Friday evening with a team time trial that could provoke significant gaps among the contenders for final overall victory on September 11.
At 23.3km, the distance of stage 1 is almost twice that of the Vuelta’s last team time trial, which came on the opening day in Torrevieja in 2019. Astana emerged victorious on that occasion, putting Miguel Angel López in the first red jersey of the race.
Jumbo-Visma suffered a mass crash that day, but the time lost didn’t prevent Primož Roglič from carrying the maillot rojo to Madrid three weeks later.
On Friday evening, the teams set off at four-minute intervals with Burgos-BH the first squad down the start ramp at 18:30 CET. Arkéa-Samsic – minus Nairo Quintana – are off at 18:46, while Simon Yates and BikeExchange-Jayco begin their Vuelta at 19:02.
Ineos Grenadiers are off at 19:46, followed by QuickStep-AlphaVinyl, where all eyes will be on the display of Remco Evenepoel. The kilometres against the clock are key to the success of the Belgian’s Vuelta debut.
Movistar are the penultimate squad off the start ramp as Alejandro Valverde sets off on his final Vuelta, while defending champion Roglič and Jumbo-Visma bring the curtain down on proceedings at 19:58 CET. The Dutch squad won’t want for support on the streets of Utrecht.
| Pos. | Team name | Start time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Burgos-BH | 18:30 |
| 2 | Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert | 18:34 |
| 3 | Israel-Premier Tech | 18:38 |
| 4 | Groupama-FDJ | 18:42 |
| 5 | Arkea-Samsic | 18:46 |
| 6 | Cofidis | 18:50 |
| 7 | Euskaltel-Euskadi | 18:54 |
| 8 | EF Education-EasyPost | 18:58 |
| 9 | BikeExchange-Jayco | 19:02 |
| 10 | AG2R Citroen | 19:06 |
| 11 | Bahrain Victorious | 19:10 |
| 12 | Lotto Soudal | 19:14 |
| 13 | Alpecin-Deceuninck | 19:18 |
| 14 | Equipo Kern Pharma | 19:22 |
| 15 | Team DSM | 19:26 |
| 16 | Bora-Hansgrohe | 19:30 |
| 17 | UAE Team Emirates | 19:34 |
| 18 | Astana Qazaqstan | 19:38 |
| 19 | Trek-Segafredo | 19:42 |
| 20 | Ineos Grenadiers | 19:46 |
| 21 | QuickStep-AlphaVinyl | 19:50 |
| 22 | Movistar | 19:54 |
| 23 | Jumbo-Visma | 19:58 |
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