Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Back to news
news
Racing
Vuelta: Peter Velits is race's first leader after team time trialVuelta 2015 logo

Vuelta: Peter Velits is race's first leader after team time trial

BMC rider led his team across the line, but no time gaps as organisers neutralise timings
by Simon_MacMichael
Sat, Aug 22, 2015 20:00
0

Peter Velits of BMC Racing Team is the first leader of the 2015 Vuelta, leading his colleagues across the line at this evening's team time trial stage in Marbella to take the red jersey.

BMC won the 7.4 kilometre stage in a time of 8 minutes 10 seconds, with Tinkoff-Saxo the next quickest team, 1 second back, and Orica-GreenEdge in third place, on the same time.

Tour de France champion Chris Froome's Sky team was 20th out of 22 teams in a time of 9:21.3.

In the days leading up to this year's 70th edition of the race, a number of riders had criticised the inclusion in today's beachfront parcours of a section where the surface was sand.

That led organisers Unipublic to declare yesterday evening that while the stage would be held on the same route, time gaps would be neutralised. And because of that a number of teams, notable Team Sky and Team Cannondale Garmin, took it easy on the beachfront course.

Vuelta 2015
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

Latest Comments