American McNulty wins first stage, Van Aert third

American Brandon McNulty won the first stage of the Vuelta a España on Saturday, a 12-kilometer individual time trial between Lisbon and Oeiras, Portugal, two seconds ahead of Czech Mathias Vacek and three seconds ahead of Belgian Wout van Aert.

The American time trial champion set a best time of 12 minutes 35 seconds and will become the first wearer of the leader’s red jersey on Sunday in the 79th Vuelta a Espana, which promises to be very open in the absence of the big three names on the track: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel.

“I didn’t expect to win today (Saturday) at all, I just tried my best and thought something crazy might happen and it did! It’s hard to believe” The UAE Team Emirates runner had this to say about his reaction to Eurosport. “I felt good, my legs were good and I knew I could do some good things. (…) I gave it my all from the start. There are some very good riders here and I expected to be able to fight for the podium with them, but I didn’t think I would win. Today I proved that on my best day I can fight with the best.”he added.

READ ALSOTour of Spain: American McNulty wins first stage, Van Aert third

Wout van Aert, a specialist in this race, finished just one second behind Czech Mathias Vacek, who held the best time before McNulty arrived, while the day’s favourite, Joshua Tarling, a European champion accustomed to track cycling, finished only sixth.

Three-time Vuelta champion Primoz Roglic set the eighth fastest time, just ahead of Frenchman Bruno Amiral and Portuguese Joao Almeida. Sunday’s second stage will still be held in Portugal, covering 194 kilometers between Cascais and Urem.