OK TTT opener

Euskaltel put in a slightly disappointing ride to finish 13th in yesterday night's team time trial opener in the Vuelta a España. The team finished 27 seconds down on the untouchable HCT Columbia machine, but more importantly 17 down on Nibali's Liquigas outfit, 15 down on the Schlecks, 14 back on Sastre, 7 down on Purito, two down on Arroyo and LL Sánchez, and six seconds ahead of Menchov and his Rabobank team. The differences are minimal, obviously, so it's not that big a deal, but I am not completely satisfied by the ride, especially not considering the strength of the team. DS Gorka Gerrikagoitia seemed to be of the same opinion. "The place we got is good, and we didn't lose an excessive amount of time", he stated, before admitting "but it is true that we've lost more time than we thought we would. We were a little below where I expected us to be, but it's not very relevant. There were some mishaps that we resolved underway thanks to out excellent attitude, and we gave it our maximum. They gave it their all. The experience (a night-time TTT) was spectacular. I remember a night-time 1km ITT in the Giro d'Italia, but this was different, bigger, for the teams... The ciruit was well lit up and they crowds turned out in huge numbers. It's been a fantastic experience that I will remember for many years to come". Euskaltel finished with the minimum requirement of five riders, with captain Antón leading the way over the line. With him was, not surprisingly, Beñat Intxausti, Pablo Urtasun, Koldo Fernández and Gorka Verdugo. Egoi was the last one to go out the back and conceded only 9 seconds, while Juanjo Oroz and Nieve ended up 24 seconds adrift and Amets 37.