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Vuelta a Espana: Stage 1 preview

Stage 1 of la Vuelta a Espana is a team time trial, where Orica-Bike Exchange have a good chance at taking the win. (Image: Sky).
Roar Guru
19th August, 2016
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Despite the Olympics reaching its finale, more late nights are ahead for Australian cycling fans, as la Vuelta a Espana rolls out with a 27-kilometre team time trial from Balneario de Laias to Parwue Natuico de Castrelo de Mino.

The course for the Stage 1 team time trial is completely flat.

Furthermore, while the route contains several direction changes, it is really not that technical. Horsepower and team coordination will be the difference between the teams.

Picking a winner from this stage is extremely difficult, due to the lack of time trialing talent in all the key general classification teams. However, a teams deserve a mention.

Orica Bike-Exchange come into this year’s Vuelta with potentially two GC contenders. The main rider for them will be talented Esteban Chaves. However, Simon Yates will be waiting in the wings to also ride a high place in support of his Colombian teammate.

They are my favourites for today’s stage, with plenty of time trialling talent in the squad, with experienced Canadian Svein Tuft, Sam Bewley and Damien Howson.

Alejandro Valverde starts his third Grand Tour of the year, as Movistar look to support Colombian Nairo Quintana.

Movistar traditionally do quite well in team time trials, and with names like Jonathan Castreviejo and Imanol Erviti, they have the flat-land horsepower to finish inside the top five at the end of the day.

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After winning the Tour de France convincingly, Chris Froome will want to back up and also take the Vuelta crown, something he has yet to do in his highly successful career.

With strong riders like Christian Knees, Peter Kennaugh and Michal Kwiatkowski in the squad, and Froome showing his time trial form in Rio, where he finished third, they could take the win today.

Other teams to watch out for include Astana, BMC, Tinkoff and Etixx-Quickstep.

The Roar will be live blogging every stage of the race, so make sure to catch our coverage!

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