As it happened: Team dsm-firmenich win dark and wet Vuelta a España opener

Hello and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of the opening team time trial of the 2023 Vuelta a España

Here it is then, the beginning of the third and final Grand Tour of the season! 

In many ways, the Vuelta is also the hardest. Certainly for those who aren’t climbers it’s a nightmare to get through, with this year’s route featuring an especially punishing nine summit finishes, including the feared Alto de L'Angliru and an unprecedented finish up the Col du Tourmalet. And Spain can also pose the added challenge of excessive heat, making these hard days of climbing even more agonising.  

This year’s edition can also lay claim to being the most difficult in terms of the line-up. Every winner of the last three Grand Tours are here to do battle: defending Vuelta champion Remco Evenepoel, winner of this year’s Giro Primož Roglič, and Jonas Vingegaard fresh off his Tour de France triumph last month.

With Roglič and Vingegaard, Jumbo-Visma are throwing their all as they aim to become the first team to win all three Grand Tours in a season. But as well as Evenepoel, they’ll have a host of dangerous rivals to worry about, including Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), Enric Mas (Movistar), Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) and the UAE Team Emirates duo of João Almeida and Juan Ayuso.

In about a quarter of an hour, the Vuelta will begin with a team time trial in Barcelona. It’s quite a short one, lasting 14.8km, and therefore the gaps between the top teams shouldn’t be too significant. But team time trials always have the potential to go badly wrong, and each line-up will need to be careful to ride harmoniously and not lose too many riders too early.

The main news in the days preceding the race was the Covid positive that forced Gerben Thijssen to miss the race. That might spread some fear in the peloton of another spread of the virus — especially bearing in mind how one of the top favourites, Remco Evenepoel, had to pull out of the Giro earlier this year for that very reason.

Caja Rural-Seguros RGA will be the first team to set off, due in about five minutes time. You can see the full day’s schedule of start times here

Earlier we mentioned how the heat can play a big part in the Vuelta. Well, today it looks as though rainfall might be what the riders have to worry about. There are grey clouds and wet roads in Barcelona as Caja Rural-Seguros RGA wait at the start line.

And they're off! Caja Rural-Seguros RGA get the 2023 Vuelta under way.

It’s not raining just yet, but should the heavens open later in the day, it could have a big impact on which teams go well and which don’t.

DSM are the second team to start their run. The teams are setting off at four minute intervals.

Now Trek-Segafredo are setting off. They might be splashing the cash in the transfer market at the moment, but have brought a more modest line-up to the Vuelta, without an obvious GC leader

The corners really are lairy on these wet roads. One of the Lidl-Trek riders nearly went down going around one.

Cofidis are the next team out on the road, seeking more success are breaking their long stage win drought at the Tour de France last month

Burgos-BH are off, starting yet another Vuelta having secured a wildcard invitation.

The first preliminary times at the intermediate point are in. Caja Rural arrived with a time of 12.12, and DSM were 26 seconds quicker at 11.46.

And now Caja Rural are the first team at the finish, posting a time of 16-16. That’s likely to be somewhere near the bottom of the rankings come the end of the day, notwithstanding and worsening weather conditions.

Total Energies are the latest team to roll down the start list. They too are lacking a clear GC candidate.

DSM have finished and they've comfortably beaten Caja-Rural’s time, setting a new best time of 15-34

Arkéa Samsic have got their ride underway, and are in a striking yellow strip new for this race - so as not to clash with the leader’s red jersey.

It seems those times for the first two teams weren’t accurate: DSM now being reported at finishing with 17-30, and Caja Rural 16-12. Lidl-Trek have just finished their ride, and are some way down, posting a time 56 seconds slower than DSM’s.

Meanwhile Intermarché - Circus - Wanty are the latest team to enter the course 

Here come Cofidis, who look a bit disorganised as three riders have to slow down briefly to allow the fourth and fifth rider to catch up (the team’s time is taken as their fifth man over the line). They arrive 22 seconds slower than DSM, to slot into second in the rankings.

Lotto-Dstny are the next team, and begin their Vuelta under a tragic shadow. Their young new recruit Tijl De Decker died in a training accident just yesterday. 

Here's a shot of DSM out on the road earlier setting what remains the fastest time. As you can tell, these roads are concerningly wet.

Burgos-BH have set the slowest time so far, 1-13 down on DSM

Bahrain-Victorious are one of the first teams to start so far with real GC ambitions. They have Mikel Landa, Damiano Caruso and dark horse Santiago Buitrago on their roster.

EF Education-EasyPost begin, and have a strong history in this discipline. Time trial specialist Stefan Bissegger will be their driving force today.

Unfortunately, we’ve had our first crash of the day. Three Arkea riders went down as they went around one of the last corners before the finish line. Their team arrived at the finish in ones and twos, and finish with the worst time of the day so far, 1-18 down on DSM.

Alpecin-Deceuninck have begun. They're here to chase stage wins rather than a high GC placing, so will likely take the course carefully with no risks.

Intermarché–Circus–Wanty finish with the third best time, 33 seconds slower than DSM. This time by DSM is proving to be an impressive early benchmark.

The main benefactor of that DSM time is Romain Bardet. The Frenchman is used to losing time in stages against the clock, but should be well up there in GC contention by the end of today’s.

Jayco-AlUla are off. Their main GC man is Eddie Dunbar, looking to build on his top ten finish at the Giro this year.

Lotto-Dstny just miss out on third-place by one second. Here is the current podium spots:

1.DSM 17-30

2.Cofidis at 22secs

3.Intermarché–Circus–Wanty at 33secs

Bahrain-Victorious are on the finishing straight, and become the team to get closest to DSM so far. They post the second fastest time, 10 seconds slower, which their GC contenders can likely be content with.

Now here goes Bora-Hansgrohe. This is one of the most exciting line-ups at the Vuelta, featuring established GC contender Aleksandr Vlasov, untested young prospect Cian  Uijtdebroeks, and a host of other quality names such as Sergio Higuita and Lennard Kämna.

EF Education-EasyPost get even closer to DSM’s time than Bahrain-Victorious, coming just six seconds within beating it. This is what the top five looks like now:

1.DSM 17-30

2.EF Education-EasyPost at 6secs

3.Bahrain-Victorious at 10secs

4.Cofidis at 22secs

5.Intermarché–Circus–Wanty at 33secs

The real GC contenders are beginning to take to the road, as Ineos Grenadiers are the next team to roll off the start ramp. Geraint Thomas is their main man, and they have no less than Filippo Ganna to help propel him to a good time today.

Problems for Alpecin-Deceuninck as they have a faller around the same corner that affected the Arkea team. They had been set for a very competitive time, but instead their fifth rider rolls over the line to see them place seventh at 41 seconds.

Another crash, this time earlier in the route, for Ineos Grenadiers’ Laurens De Plus He’s back up and on his bike, but won’t be contributing anything more to his team today, and will lose time on the GC.

Not a great time for Jayco-AlUla, whose leader Eddie Dunbar also slid out on one of the final corners. He remounted immediately, but loses 51 seconds to DSM with the rest of the team.

A good time for Groupama-FDJ, who negotiated the final corners without any fallers. They’re the third-fastest so far, 6 seconds down on DSM.

Now come the team we've all been waiting for - Jumbo-Visma. The evening sun's just coming out as they begin, but won't arrive early enough to dry out the wet roads.

6th place at 28 seconds for Bora-Hansgrohe at the line, a solid but unspectacular effort. Here’s how the top five looks now:

1.DSM 17-30

2.EF Education-EasyPost at 6secs

3.Groupama-FDJ at 6secs

4. Bahrain-Victorous at 10secs

5.Cofidis at 22secs

UAE Team Emirates are off, needing a strong time for Juan Ayuso and João Almeida, while also making sure neither crash.

It looks like Ineos are struggling a little in the aftermath of De Plus’ crash. They reached he intermediate check down in fifth-place. 

And they remain fifth at the finish, conceding 20 seconds to DSM. Not as good as you’d expect from such a star-studded team, which perhaps indicates they were taking a safety first approach in such treacherous conditions. 

Movistar are the penultimate team to set off. The local favourites will be under pressure to perform, even in such tricky conditions.

Jumbo-Visma not looking especially cohesive on the road. There was a split for a few moments as a few of their riders got a gap over the others. 

AG2R Citroën Team finished with the twelfth best time of the day. Not bad for an outfit with no star names to speak of.

And now finally, here is Soudal-QuickStep, the last remaining team. Remco Evenepoel’s title defense begins here.

Astana Qazaqstan have gone very well, posting the fifth best time, just 17 seconds slower than DSM. That’s better than most expected.

It seems Jumbo-Visma are having problems out there. At the intermediate sprint, they’re way down in 10th on the rankings, almost half a minute slower than DSM.

Jumbo-Visma cross the line, and they’re down in ninth-place. That’s much worse than we would have expected, but, in the grand scheme of things, the 32 seconds they lost to DSM isn’t too bad considering how things would have been had any of their men crashed.

UAE Team Emirates aren’t setting the world alight either, but are quicker than Jumbo-Visma. At the intermediate time check, they’re seventh.

New fastest time at the intermediate time check - and it’s Movistar! The Spanish teams are flying on home roads, and are in contention for the stage win.

Movistar can’t afford to ease up though, as they were on exactly the same time as DSM at the check.

UAE Team Emirates finish with the 12th fastest time, at 37 seconds. Not great, but far from a disaster.

A tense wait now for DSM, who have occupied the hot seat virtually all day

Correction: actually Movistar were seven seconds quicker than DSM at the check. It seems likely they will take the win, provided they avoid any incidents over those treacherous final corners.

Movistar approaching the finish now...

It's going to be very close...

...so close in fact that as Movistar cross the line, it's unclear whether they or DSM have won the stage!

We're awaiting official confirmation, but it looked like there was barely anything in it between the two teams

It's been confirmed, Movistat's time was a fraction slower than DSM's!

We’re still waiting for Soudal-QuickStep to finish, and they were still in contention at the intermediate check. This isn’t DSM’s stage yet…

Soudal-QuickStep are approaching the finish...

An they're six seconds slower than DSM, meaning DSM win the stage!

Remco Evenepoel is unhappy at the finish, remonstrating at the camera and pointing to the sky. He won't be the only rider unhappy at what turned out to be such a dangerous course in these wet conditions

Here's the final top ten:

1. DSM 17-30

2. Movistar at same time

3. EF Education-EasyPost at 6secs

4. Groupama-FDJ at 6secs

5. Bahrain-Victorous at 10secs

6. Astana Qazaqstan at 17secs

7. Ineos Grenadiers at 20secs

8. Cofidis at 22secs

9. Bora-Hansgroge at 28secs

10. Jumbo-Visma at 33secs

Evenepoel’s gesture might also have been directed towards how dark it was by the finish. Here’s what it looked like when the team before his Soudal-QuickStep line-up, Movistar, were finishing.

Evenepoel has just given an animated interview, and has confirmed that it is the dark conditions that has upset him. Whereas there was nothing they could do to prevent rainfall, he says the organisers should have known what time it might get dark, and therefore not have started the stage so late. 

As for the red jersey, sprinter Lorenzo Milesi was the first of the DSM riders to cross the line, so he’ll have the honour of wearing the jersey tomorrow. Few would have predicted that at the start of the day!

Here's today's winning team

And here's Lorenzo Milesi resplendent in the red jersey. Five Movistar riders are all on the same time as him on GC, so the 21-year-old will have to be very attentive during tomorrow’s finale if he’s to keep it, especially on the late climb.

Thanks for joining us today! Be sure to read our report on all the day's happenings, and tune in again tomorrow for live coverage of the second stage.