We open the Vuelta with a 16km Individual Time trial in the Coastal city of Porto.
We kick off with an out and back section which climbs steadily before dropping back down to the first checkpoint just over a third of the way through.
The route continues to go downhill all the way down to the riverside for the as the riders ride a short way inland to the finish area for a finish that may suit the power men.
A number of teams have got big powerful chrono men here, perhaps more looking at stage nine's team test. But as a offshoot there is the chance of a high finish today and the honour of being the first red jersey winner of the race.
If you haven't noticed already the honour of being the first rider off in a prologue goes the non leading rider whose name appears last in the alphabet. The team with the highest race number (and theoretically the least likely GC threats) are Spyker and our man off first is Andrey Zeits
The 29 year old is on loan Aker Solutions and what Spyker would give for another superstar climber like Jose Alarcon in their ranks to take on this course. Alas today is not likely to be their day Lars Ytting Bak and Niels Scheunemann will go off a bit later with outside top 20 hopes. Look for Spyker to be on the attack in the coming days though.
Zeits of course takes the provisional lead through the first check and the finish as he is the first rider off. His times are 11.01 at the first check and 23.02 at the finish, Zeits is a weak tester and so this will indicate how much those who have poor chrono skills will lose today.
Bradley Wiggins is one of those road captain types for British team Pendleton's. He is also a very decent man against the clock.
The Brit grabs a bit of glory by going into a clubhouse lead with a first check time of 10.27 and a final time of 21.50. Under 22 minutes looks like the mark of a good run for this 16km course which appears as if it is not quite pan flat.
Wiggins knows in his heart of hearts he is not likely to get the red jersey for the day but he would have liked a little longer in the hot seat than he got. Jack Wolfskin have established themselves as top dogs as far as time trialling is concerned and they really show off here as one of their weaker chrono men ousts Wiggo.
It's Benoît Vaugrenard who no doubt will incur the wrath of Brad's twitter reel soon who equals Wiggins' times at the first check and the finish. He takes the lead on hundredths of a second.
Wiggins will have maybe thought he could have lasted in the VIP area a bit longer and his time was a decent one too. Jack Wolfskin though are really up for today and look scarily good for that big team time trial on day nine of this race. The Dutch team though do not have the very best clockstoppers in the world however and a couple are here. All eyes track Michael Rogers as he rockets around a course that suits him down to the ground.
Rogers canes Vaugranard and Wiggins early best times with 10.10 at the first check and accelerates further to go 36 seconds faster with 21.14 at the finish.
Rider
1st
Finish
1
Rogers
10.10
21.14
2
Vaugranard
10.27
21.50
3
Wiggins
10.27
21.50
The question is how will that stand against the other experts, could Rogers even have done enough to take the red jersey. Lots of Spanish riders as you would expect in this race and internationally they have won both the world championship team time trials. So Rogers will know he will have to watch the home riders carefully. The first realistic Spanish threat is Justo Tenorio
Winner of last year's Tour de L'Avenir, the 23 year old is a really strong time trialler. Indications have been that he is riding for Madrazo here in the Vuelta but Tenorio is arguably capable of riding to a podium finish alone. Any chance of taking a team lead perhaps hinges on an incredible time trial today, but it's not incredible enough. Justo is eleven seconds off Rogers' pace at the first check and finish 23 seconds down on the Australian. You could be cruel and say the provisional second best time of the day is a disappointment, but bigger days in this race are sure to come.
Rider
1st
Finish
1
Rogers
10.10
21.14
2
Tenorio
10.21
21.37
3
Vaugranard
10.27
21.50
A quick aside here as we see Jurgen Roelandts on his run. The Belgian sprinter is here to pick up sprint wins, to add to the couple he took last year. His chances of winning the points jersey do look fairly remote and he will have to consistently take his chances to be anywhere near that. Roelandts chances of an early run in red rest on a decent time trial, it doesn't really look on as he sets 22. 24 at the finish some 70 seconds back from Rogers.
Back to the Jack Wolfskin story and here comes 25 year old, Dennis Van Winden
A fairly expensive new recruit and one that Jack Wolfskin just couldn't pass up, it is also once again a good ride with information surely being passed between team-mates here. Van Winden holds himself together well early on near enough matching Tenorio in the early section setting 10.22 through the first check. The Dutchman then powers his way up the riverside to set a new second best time of 21.34.
Rider
1st
Finish
1
Rogers
10.10
21.14
2
Van Winden
10.22
21.34
3
Tenorio
10.21
21.37
It's a big day for Milka and their hopes will be boosted as their second best time trial man Roman Kreuziger sets some good times on the course.
The national TT champion of the Czech Republic sets 10.25 at the first check and finishes with a good time of 21.46. Not on par with Tenorio or Van Winden but a good effort inside of Wiggins and Vaugranard.
It looks a good time to be out there as now Timofey Kritskiy registers a very decent time.
It looked at one stage like it could be a new podium place as the Russian set a Tenorio equalling 10.21 at the first check. But the Russian slowed in a similar way to the Spaniard and slipped behind Van Winden and narrowly behind Tenorio (setting the same time but deemed inferior).
Rider
1st
Finish
1
Rogers
10.10
21.14
2
Van Winden
10.22
21.34
3
Tenorio
10.21
21.37
4
Kritskiy
10.21
21.37
5
Kreuzinger
10.25
21.46
Some big powerhouse TTers are on course now, German champion Sebastian Lang has won these types of things in his career.
But the German TT champion has lost some of his top end power and he disappoints here, perhaps like a few of his teams riders its time to put him out to pasture? The German relatively meanders to the first check in 10.29 and finishes in 21.52.
So it's push over to riders like Lang, can any of the new brigade challenge the 33 year old Michaal Rogers. 24 year old Marcel Kittel must fancy his chances.
A bit like Lang though the early section of climbing really isn't his cup of tea and his first check time of 10.23 is well down on Rogers and a second below Van Winden. Unlike the Dutch youngster, Kittel cannot raise it on the run in and can only slot in at provisional 5th place with a time of 21.40. This is a time that can only be matched by teammate Michael Ford later on. Clearly even the slightest lumps proving too much for these two riders.
He cannot hold that place for long as another Jack Wolfskin rider comes home after setting a sizzling 10.20 at the first check this looks the new best runner up slot and indeed Joost Posthuma squeaks inside of Van Winden's 21.34 by hundreths (sadly not picked up by the camaras, but we have seen plenty of Wolfskin riders!).
Rider
1st
Finish
1
Rogers
10.10
21.14
2
Posthuma
10.20
21.34
3
Van Winden
10.22
21.34
4
Tenorio
10.21
21.37
5
Kritskiy
10.21
21.37
It is looking like Rogers has pulled a big time out of the bag here, no-one can get anywhere near it. That maybe about to change as Jerome Coppel strains to get a red jersey to add to his collection of yellows from last year's Tour de France.
Coppel though is with the mere mortals at the first check setting 10.20, ten seconds off of Rogers' pace. The Frenchman can at least pick things up enough to come home in the provisional runner-up spot with 21.32, but this is 18 seconds off of Rogers and just was not Coppel's day.
Rider
1st
Finish
1
Rogers
10.10
21.14
2
Coppel
10.20
21.32
3
Posthuma
10.20
21.34
4
Van Winden
10.22
21.34
5
Tenorio
10.21
21.37
So a former Tour de France yellow jersey fails to take the red jersey how about a former pink jersey wearer? Michael Faerk Christensen will probably be a Man Game trivia question is the future, but it is fairly fresh on the memory of the B and O squad.
The team is a useful one against the clock as a team, but individually they lack the punch, Christianson does break the 22 minutes barrier with 21.57 but like Lang the earlier hill hurt the Dane.
A better bet is Belgian TT champion and yet another of the Jack Wolfskin crew Dominique Cornu. Brilliant a couple of years ago in the CTour, Cornu has been quieter on an individual basis in the Protour.
Today's run though demonstrates that the Belgian has got great testing talent as he looks set to split Rogers and Coppel with 10.17 at the first split. But Cornu clearly put a little too much into the first section and can only squeeze between Coppel and teammate's Posthuma and Van Winden's time with 21.33 at the finish.
Rider
1st
Finish
1
Rogers
10.10
21.14
2
Coppel
10.20
21.32
3
Cornu
10.17
21.33
4
Posthuma
10.20
21.34
5
Van Winden
10.22
21.34
We move onto the team leaders now and with some decent Spanish tter's left Rogers cannot breathe too easily yet. He will not be too worried as our minor leaders go through, not only are they a little way off the top favourites in the climbing department their chrono skills are also lacking.
Sergio Pardilla is a pretty decent minimum waged rider for Bacardi who as mentioned in the preview are looking to their climbers to get in breakaways and set up sprints for Michael Van Stayen
Another Spanish climber with stage win ambitions is Carlos Barredo
The Warner Brothers team have been rooted to the bottom of the team standings all season, it is hard to see too much happening for them at the Vuelta, unless they get lucky with the breakaways.
Wikipedia have been low key in races without superstar youngster Taylor Phinney. Young German climber Christoph Mai rode around the Giro and leads a modest team here at the Vuelta.
Mind you the Giro was not a completely fruitless exercise for the former Protour champions as Matty Goss nabbed some stage wins. Juan Van Heerden must be added to a list of decent stage win shouts in this race.
First check for Plaza is 10.21, that is level with the likes of Tenorio but 11 seconds down on Rogers and four seconds down on teammate Cornu. He finishes in 21.36...
Rider
1st
Finish
1
Rogers
10.10
21.14
2
Coppel
10.20
21.32
3
Cornu
10.17
21.33
4
Posthuma
10.20
21.34
5
Van Winden
10.22
21.34
6
Plaza
10.21
21.36
It's 4th best in his own team, but does indicate the awesome team time trial squad that Jack Wolfskin have. Plaza you may notice has the Spanish colours on his sleeve, the current Spanish TT champion is David Abal
Rather eclipsed today by his team-mate Rogers, Abal has a low key time trial coming through the 1st check in a modest 10.27 and finishing a shade behind Kreuzinger setting 21.46. It's not a great start for Abal, but then this race will not be decided by today alone so certainly not worth getting worked up about.
Stefan Denifl produced a decent Giro performance. The Austrian is a low budget classification rider, who is growing a reputation as good stage racer for the forward thinking Nestle squad.
A solid but not spectacular time trial run see's Denifl just outside of 22 minutes and just outside of the top 60 on the day.
In this company of exalted chrono men this is more of a damage limitation exercise for the Spanish climber. He finishes in a time of 22.13, nearly a minute back on Rogers though he will be looking forward to the climbing in the very near future.
Talking of future, Pearl Adidas have really been investing in their squad this year and Tiago Machado had a very impressive Giro D'Italia. If the Portuguese can avoid crashes it will be interesting to see how high up the leaderboard he can go here.
It's a far from disgraceful effort against the clock today as well as Machado sets 21.48 at the finish and good enough for a top twenty on the day.
Last year Beñat Intxausti
stamped his ambitions in this race on the opening day.
Today though it is only an ordinary effort, the Vesuvio riders seemingly concentrating on the stages ahead. Intxausti sets a time of 21.47, the riders are finding it hard to differentiate too much between themselves today.
Jaroslav Popovych a Tour de France podium man last year, may be seen as a surprise entrant here. But why not challenge yourself he does the Vuelta an honour by challenging the many Spanish favourites.
Popovich is marginally slower though than the big Spanish time trialling rivals setting 21.50 at the finish. He will take that as it's just 14 seconds slower than Plaza.
It is faster than Alejandro Valverde who takes the time to wave at the fans as he cruises round the time trialling course.
Someone needs to tell the highly paid star that the race starts now, he still breaks the 22 minutes though but only just with a time of 21.56.
Another foreigner doing the Vuelta an honour is Emanuele Sella not that the Italian enjoys today though!
He finds himself having lost time to all of the big favourites today, but that is no surprise he will look to punish everyone in the mountains. Sella loves a mountain top finish and does pretty well against the clock on a mountain time trial, so setting 22.17 today is hardly a disaster.
Last two riders are the big Spanish climbers and the unfortunate Alberto Contador does not look any the worse for that last day California crash.
Alberto sets a Intxausti equalling time of 21.47 which shows that he is up for a big race here in the Vuelta.
The final rider off and what a wait it has been even today, as we look at the big Santander project Angel Madrazo
It is a fine effort from Madrazo today to put in a psychological blow ahead of the mountains setting a time of 21.41. This places the Santander big gun 4 second behind his teammate Tenorio but ahead of plenty of his GC rivals.
Here is the top three and some of the GC favourites:
