Vuelta stage 1

Euskaltel got off to a reasonably good start in the Vuelta a España earlier today. The TTT will never be the team's specialty but for once the riders looked coordinated and united and finished up 12th out of the 22 teams only 28 seconds down on winners Leopard-Trek. More importantly though, Antón only ceded 24 seconds to main GC threat Nibali, 10 to Van Den Broeck, three to Purito, and even gained a few seconds on overall contenders like Menchov, Wiggins, Klöden, Brajkovic, Scarponi and Kruijswijk. All in all a positive start. Antón led Martínez, Nieve, Verdugo, Azanza and Oroz home to grab that 12th place, while Isasi eased up inside the last kilometre after taking a massive pull and ended up 44 seconds in arrears. Diminutive duo Txurruka and Cazaux, neither exactly suited to the discipline, went out the back early on after giving their all in the first few clicks and lost 1:16 and 2:21 respectively.

"It was a good stage (for us)", de Galdeano, talking to www.fundacioneuskadi.com, summarized post-stage. "We prepared for this stage and I think we succeeded in doing a good crono. We got off on the right foot. I'm pleased with how the team worked as a unit".