2015 La Vuelta stage 1 TTT

Neutralized or not, the finish line awaited each of the 22 teams and at the end of the night, one man would wear the leader's jersey.

MTN Qhubeka led in by Louis Meintjes.

Team Colombia.

FDJ.

Lotto Jumbo.

AG2R.

Cannondale Garmin.

IAM Cycling.

Cofidis.

Caja Rural.

Europcar was among the teams who didn't push it during the TTT, finishing last as the only team to go over 10 minutes for the 7.4km course.

Orica Green Edge took the opposite approach and raced the stage from start to finish. With track cyclist Cam Meyer leading them in, the Australian outfit set a new fastest time of 8:11:09.

Fabian Cancellara and Trek.

Peter Sagan sprinted the closing meters, leaving his teammates behind in his (literal) dust. (Insert joke here about Sagan finally finishing first.) The neon yellow team bumoed Orica out of the hot seat by half a second.

Lawson Craddock brought Giant Alpecin home.

Race staff cleared the finishing ramp of sand and dust with a leaf blower. Of course.

Etixx Quick Step had ridden the course several times in the afternoon, but something must have gone wrong. Immediately after they stopped, one of the riders pointed his finger angrily at a teammate and began shouting at him.

Lotto Soudal.

Lampre Merida.

With Peter Velits at the helm, BMC flew across the finish line and set the new best time at 8:10.

Astana.

Movistar.

Young American Ian Boswell at the front for Team Sky. Like most of the teams with GC ambitions, they played it safe and rode conservatively, landing in 20th place.

Katusha was the last team on the road but they weren't on pace to upset BMC, so I hurried across the sand to the podium. I was somewhat underwhelmed by last night's team presentation ceremony, but the minimal podium tonight was perfect. Why distract from such an impressive and natural background?

Stage winners BMC.

Peter Velits receiving the red leader's jersey.

Sagan, as the fastest rider of the second place team, took the green points jersey, something he will be aiming to still have in Madrid in three weeks.

Martijn Keizer in the KOM jersey.

Cam Meyer was awarded the combined jersey.

Meyer was also the most combative rider on a neutral stage. Hmm.