American Brandon McNulty (UAE) took the first red leader’s jersey of the Vuelta by winning the opening time trial between Lisbon and Oeiras, 12 kilometers long, with a time of 12:35 minutes, at a supersonic average of 57.197 km/hour.
In an exciting debut, surprises followed one after another, and among all the contenders for the honor of opening the red, Brandon McNulty (Phoenix, 26 years old), national time trial champion, emerged to break the bank ahead of all the favorites.
McNulty, one of the last to take the start, came in first. He was two seconds ahead of Czech Mathias Vacek (Lidl) and three seconds ahead of Belgian Wout Van Aert (Visma), the three main protagonists of a time trial that went from surprise to surprise.
The overall favorites did not appear in the top positions. The best was the Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe), eighth, 16 seconds behind the winner. And regarding the triple winner of the Vuelta, Almeida dropped two seconds, Enric Mas and Carapaz at 22, Carlos Rodríguez at 29, Kuss 36 and Mikel Landa at 48.
“I didn’t expect to win, but it was a pleasant surprise. At the Olympics I was close (fifth), and today I gave everything from the first meter to the last. I’m very happy and it’s an honor to wear the red jersey for the first time. Now let’s see how we can defend it,” said the first leader, who already has 14 victories to his name, including four time trials wins this season.
Mas very early: “I’m an errand boy”.
The Vuelta started again from Portugal 27 years later, now with an individual time trial, not a team time trial, as in the last two seasons. It was a short, fast, straight line along the banks and estuary of the Tagus, of pure strength, where the wind was the only threat. Trip to the neighboring coastal town of Oeiras, in the middle of the sun and beach season.
A “lynx” from Marbella, Luis Angel Maté, the oldest of the round with 40 years, opened the Vuelta 2024 “excited”, and a few minutes later the first of the illustrious names, Enric Mas, was launched, almost three hours before his rivals in the general classification.
“I’m an errand boy,” said Mas, who clocked 13.14 minutes at the finish line, a time that did not bode well. The Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz, who stopped at the finish line 1 second behind the Movistar leader, made his debut at the same time.
This Sunday will be disputed the second stage of the Spanish round still in Portuguese territory, starting in Cascais and ending in Ourém, on a route of 194 kilometers on hilly terrain.
Vuelta a España (2.UWT)
Results Stage 1 (ITT) | Lisboa – Oeiras (12 km)
| 1 | Brandon McNulty | UAE Team Emirates | 12:35 |
| 2 | Mathias Vacek | Lidl – Trek | 0:02 |
| 3 | Wout van Aert | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 0:02 |
| 4 | Stefan Kung | Groupama – FDJ | 0:06 |
| 5 | Edoardo Affini | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 0:07 |
| 6 | Joshua Tarling | INEOS Grenadiers | 0:08 |
| 7 | Mauro Schmid | Team Jayco AlUla | 0:16 |
| 8 | Primož Roglic | Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe | 0:16 |
| 9 | Bruno Armirail | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | 0:18 |
| 10 | João Almeida | UAE Team Emirates | 0:19 |