The Jumbo-Visma takes out the mallet in La Vuelta a España

The Jumbo-Visma, during the victory of the team time trial in the first stage of La Vuelta.LA VUELTA (LA VUELTA)

From the Netherlands, one of the great homelands of cycling, where canals and meadows intertwine with two wheels, La Vuelta came out for the second time, 13 years after the start at the Assen circuit, the cathedral of motorcycling.

It happened in Utrecht and it was with a team time trial on a 23.3 kilometer route, with wide avenues without too many technical complications, even though there were 41 curves.

Although the glory went to the Jumbo-Visma, a true cyclone that took out the hammer at the first change: 13 seconds to Ineos de Carapaz and Carlos Rodríguez, and 14 to Quick-Step de Alaphilippe and Evenepoel;

the other teams that climbed to the podium.

Fanfare for Robert Gesink, first to put on the red jersey because he crossed the finish line with Jumbo before anyone else, and especially for Roglic,

More information

Summary and video of stage 1 of LaVuelta a España 2022

The mayor's office of Utrecht decided not to go through the city center but to go through all the neighborhoods adjoining the urban nucleus, landscapes with canals, markets, flowers, graffiti and even revelry, such as that of the Biltstraat neighborhood, which for a long time days

of Spanish sandwiches to set the mood, also with a DJ until one in the morning.

And the fans did not fail, who packed the circuit and cheered bravely from behind the fences, nor did the umbrellas because the rain made an act on the scene intermittently and without conditioning the teams.

The clouds that hovered over the city, precisely, were the biggest concern of the mechanics.

"It is that if it rains and the asphalt is wet, the pressure of the wheels will have to be lowered so that they have more adherence", they explained, didactic, from the Euskaltel.

"Let's see if the same thing happens as in the last time trial of the 2014 Vuelta, in Santiago, that day that Contador won the general", crossed their fingers with a mischievous smile from Burgos-BH, the team that kicked off the this Vuelta and in reference to the stage that the Italian Adriano Malori won [he started from the first, before a storm raged and invalidated the possible attempts to overtake him].

It did not happen because the drops did not soak the road and Jumbo, the last to start but the fastest to cross the finish line,

He had no rival and claimed the strength of his team, complete like few others.

But it is not normal.

More information

Photo gallery: The first stage of the Vuelta a España

Wheelers love it, climbers often fear it.

The team time trial is not the dream start for some, who wake up with a knot in their stomach, aware that this discipline is rare —there are half a dozen stages a year, at most— and that it can hinder their equipment.

It is a day where there is no room for inspiration or time to enjoy the views, because everything happens to concentrate on keeping up the pace, managing forces and trying to survive, at least five of the eight members of the group.

The tactic itself is alive, directives from the directors on when it is allowed to leave the first runner off the hook, what pace to impose by sections and, above all, how to distribute the relays.

The technicians are the ones who must shoot in the complicated areas,

and the powerful and fast ones on the straights to give gas.

And of that, in Utrecht, there were a few.

That's where Affini and Gesink came in for the Jumbo-Visma, who showed everyone the license plate.

❤️ Classification after stage 1⃣ |

GC after stage 1⃣ #LaVuelta22

📊 Top 10

+ info ➡️ https://t.co/PXynSf4KTx pic.twitter.com/ChuCQX5T0z

– The Return (@lavuelta) August 19, 2022

"It's a lot of stress and requires a lot of effort for those who don't do well on the flat," acknowledged Dani Navarro, from Burgos-BH, at the end.

Juan Ayuso, 19, didn't think the same: “Being the youngest in the peloton just takes the pressure off me, although I'm a little overwhelmed because there are so many people.

But this is a dream and I have come to learn, to enjoy and become a better runner”.

Little demand that Hindley, Supermán López, Almeida or Mas do not share, who are going to slipstream as soon as they start, who are clear that Jumbo-Visma and Roglic are not kidding.

“We have been so strong because our goal is for Primoz to win La Vuelta again.

So tomorrow [for today], I will go back to work for him ”, Gesink summed up, happy red jersey in his country.

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