La Vuelta 23 1. Etappe: Barcelona – Barcelona – TTT – 14,6 Km

Ein Witz diese Veranstaltung, bei Dauerregen und in der Dunkelheit ein Teamzeitfahren zu starten, muß erst wieder ein schlimmer Sturz passieren?
Den Regen kann man nicht beeinflussen, die Startzeit aber sehr wohl…………

1 TEAM DSM-FIRMENICH NED TEAM DSM-FIRMENICH 00:17:30
2 MOVISTAR TEAM ESP MOVISTAR TEAM 00:00
3 EF EDUCATION – EASYPOST USA EF EDUCATION – EASYPOST 00:06
4 SOUDAL QUICK-STEP BEL SOUDAL QUICK-STEP 00:06
5 GROUPAMA – FDJ FRA GROUPAMA – FDJ 00:06
6 BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS BRN BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS 00:10
7 ASTANA QAZAQSTAN TEAM KAZ ASTANA QAZAQSTAN TEAM 00:17
8 INEOS GRENADIERS GBR INEOS GRENADIERS 00:20
9 COFIDIS FRA COFIDIS 00:22
10 BORA – HANSGROHE GER BORA – HANSGROHE 00:28
11 JUMBO-VISMA NED JUMBO-VISMA 00:32
12 INTERMARCHÉ – CIRCUS – WANTY BEL INTERMARCHÉ – CIRCUS – WANTY 00:33
13 LOTTO DSTNY BEL LOTTO DSTNY 00:34
14 UAE TEAM EMIRATES UAE UAE TEAM EMIRATES 00:37
15 ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK BEL ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK 00:41
16 CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA ESP CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA 00:42
17 AG2R CITROEN TEAM FRA AG2R CITROEN TEAM 00:48
18 TOTALENERGIES FRA TOTALENERGIES 00:50
19 TEAM JAYCO ALULA AUS TEAM JAYCO ALULA 00:51
20 LIDL-TREK USA LIDL-TREK 00:56
21 BURGOS-BH ESP BURGOS-BH 01:13
22 TEAM ARKEA – SAMSIC FRA TEAM ARKEA – SAMSIC 01:18

Gesamt:
1 MILESI Lorenzo ITA TEAM DSM-FIRMENICH 00:17:30

2 POOLE David Max GBR TEAM DSM-FIRMENICH 00:00
3 BARDET Romain FRA TEAM DSM-FIRMENICH 00:00
4 FLYNN Sean GBR TEAM DSM-FIRMENICH 00:00
5 ONLEY Edgar Oscar GBR TEAM DSM-FIRMENICH 00:00
6 HAMILTON Christopher AUS TEAM DSM-FIRMENICH 00:00
7 MAS Enric ESP MOVISTAR TEAM 00:00
8 RUBIO REYES Einer Augusto COL MOVISTAR TEAM 00:00
9 OLIVEIRA Nelson POR MOVISTAR TEAM 00:00
10 GARCIA CORTINA Ivan ESP MOVISTAR TEAM 00:00
11 ERVITI Imanol ESP MOVISTAR TEAM 00:00
12 BISSEGGER Stefan SUI EF EDUCATION – EASYPOST 00:06
13 VAN DEN BERG Marijn NED EF EDUCATION – EASYPOST 00:06
14 CAICEDO Jonathan ECU EF EDUCATION – EASYPOST 00:06
15 PICCOLO Andrea ITA EF EDUCATION – EASYPOST 00:06
16 CAMARGO PINEDA Diego Andres COL EF EDUCATION – EASYPOST 00:06
17 CARTHY Hugh John GBR EF EDUCATION – EASYPOST 00:06
18 EVENEPOEL Remco BEL SOUDAL QUICK-STEP 00:06
19 CATTANEO Mattia ITA SOUDAL QUICK-STEP 00:06
20 PEDERSEN Phillip Casper DEN SOUDAL QUICK-STEP 00:06
21 BAGIOLI Andrea ITA SOUDAL QUICK-STEP 00:06
22 VERVAEKE Louis BEL SOUDAL QUICK-STEP 00:06

Milesi, from the rainbow to La Roja

From the world championships to La Vuelta, Lorenzo Milesi is enjoying a formidable August. The Italian youngster, winner of the rainbow jersey in the Under 23 individual time trial, is the first leader of the 78th edition of the Spanish Grand Tour after he led Team DSM-Firmenich to victory in the opening team time-trial. The German squad went early, as thunder roared over Barcelona, and nobody ever managed to overthrow them. Movistar came the closest, only trailing by half a second, while Remco Evenepoel’s Soudal Quick-Step lost 6’’ and Jumbo-Visma 32’’. La Vuelta 23 begins with a spectacular surprise!

The 78th edition of La Vuelta starts from Barcelona with a 14.8km team time trial visiting some of the most iconic areas of the city. The riders will start from the coast, on the Somorrostro beach, and ride through the city, passing by iconic monuments such as the Sagrada Familia, until the finish on the avenue Reina Maria Cristina, next to Plaza de España.

DSM-Firmenich set the reference in the rain

The first team to start is Caja Rural Seguros RGA, at 18:55, followed by DSM-Firmenich 4 minutes later, and then Lidl-Trek at 19:03. They do so under a grey sky, after a few sunny and hot days in Barcelona. The thunder roars and the rain wets the roads.
In these conditions, DSM-Firmenich set the first strong reference: 17’30’’ to cover the 14.8km with a powerhouse such as Lorenzo Milesi, the U23 ITT world champion crowned a couple of weeks ago in Scotland.

A very wet final kilometre
Arkea-Samsic have a much different experience when Hugo Hofstetter’s wheels slip in the final kilometres, taking down his leader Kevin Vauquelin, who drops over a minute. Bahrain Victorious (+10’’), EF Education-EasyPost (+6’’) and then Groupama-FDJ (+6’’) are more successful but DSM-Firmenich hold on to the best time.

The final kilometre is particularly wet, which also leads to crashes for Maurice Ballerstedt (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Eddie Dunbar (Jayco-AlUla). Laurens De Plus goes down earlier in the race and Ineos Grenadiers finish with a time of 17’50’’ (+20’’).

Movistar come agonisingly close
Jumbo-Visma also struggle, trailing by 28’’ after 9.6km and eventually dropping 32’’ on the line. Enric Mas’ Movistar come much closer, only dropping half a second on the line! But when Remco Evenepoel’s Soudal Quick-Step finish with a gap of 6’’, DSM-Firmenich seal the win and Lorenzo Milesi takes La Roja.