No Tarling and no Van Aert either: Brandon McNulty gives UAE victory in opening time trial Vuelta

The Vuelta a España kicked off Saturday with a flat 12-kilometer time trial. After a short but vicious endeavor, the riders rode off the starting podium in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon to finish in the coastal town of Oeiras. The flat course offered the time trial specialists an excellent opportunity to capture the first red leader's jersey. The main contender was the still only 20-year-old European time trial champion Tarling (INEOS Grenadiers), who unfortunately missed out on a medal in the Olympic time trial at the end of July due to mechanical failure. Wout van Aert, Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), and Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) were his main competitors for the opening time trial.

Among the early starters were time trial specialists right away. Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Dstny) set the first reference time. That one was disappointing, especially after he recorded a fast intermediate time. In the end, he stalled in the second part and was, for example, only seven seconds faster than Enric Mas (Movistar), certainly not a specialist against the clock. Campenaerts was thus quickly pushed off the hot seat by Jay Vine, who was eight seconds faster.

However, the Australian, who recently won the time trial at the Tour of Burgos, could also go straight to the shower because Edoardo Affini improved Vine's time. The Italian of Visma | Lease a Bike was sixteen seconds faster. Unlike Campenaerts and Vine, Affini could sit comfortably on the hot seat.

In the meantime, some classification riders had also finished. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) and Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) had a good start. They stayed within 20 seconds of Affini. Mas, Richard Carapaz (EF-Education-EasyPost), and Daniel Martinez (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) conceded more time but still within a decent margin. Ben O'Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) and Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Dstny started a bit less, with a gap already over forty seconds on Affini. Mikel Landa (Soudal-Quick Step) also found himself losing considerable time. The number five of the past Tour de France lost almost a minute on Affini.

It was not easier for the remaining riders to beat Affini's time. According to the organization, the wind increased considerably, including strong gusts. However, despite the increasing wind, Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers) rode an excellent time trial. He registered a time that was 21 seconds slower than Affini's. The Dutchman was thus among the better classification riders.

Meanwhile, Arensman's teammate and favorite for the time trial, Tarling, departed. The strong wind did not bother the tall time trialist at first. He went four seconds below Affini's time at the intermediate point. However, previous riders showed that a lot could change in the second part. And the same applied to Tarling, although it was close. He finished just 28 hundredths of a second short of Affini. It was another big blow Tarling had to take after disappointing fourth place in the Olympic time trial.

With Tarling unable to match Affini's time, the Italian started seriously dreaming of victory and the red jersey. It would not be the first time he would wear the leader's jersey; he already wore it once in the 2022 edition. However, the race was not over yet. There were still some fast riders to come, such as Mathias Vacek. The Lidl-Trek rider had an excellent start. He was a whopping five seconds faster than Affini at the intermediate point. Unlike Tarling, could he keep up the pace? The answer was yes. Indeed, the strong Czech gained a few more seconds and beat Affini by six seconds.

Meanwhile, the time trial had reached the final starters. Among them, Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), and Van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) still had a chance for the day's victory on paper, but were they able to match Vacek's very competitive time? Before McNulty and Van Aert took their turn, we saw some important classification riders, including Sepp Kuss and Primoz Roglic. Kuss stayed just within a minute, minimizing the damage to many of his competitors for the GC. Roglic was the overall winner, a few seconds ahead of João Almeida.

Then, the battle for the day's victory, with Küng first. The Swiss had to make up seven seconds on Vacek after the intermediate point. Despite a solid effort, he did not succeed, leaving the Swiss second at four seconds. Next up was McNulty. The American got off to an excellent start, only one second slower at the intermediate point. Van Aert, in turn, was a second faster than Vacek at point one. It became a nerve-racking finale, and still no Vacek, as McNulty was two seconds faster. Ultimately, he won the time trial, as Van Aert came up short and finished third.