The race kicks off with a TTT, let’s have a comprehensive look at the team strengths:
Top 3
Top 5
Top 7
Duolingo
79
78
77
Mapei
79
78
76
Polar
79
77
76
Minions
77
76
74
GCN Racing
77
76
73
Swisslion Cycling Team
76
75
74
Xero Racing
76
74
72
Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff
76
74
71
Azteca - NBCSN
74
74
73
Valio - Viking Genetics
75
73
72
Aramco DP
75
73
70
Desigual
75
72
70
Bakkafrost
74
72
70
Adastra N Hell Energy Cycling
75
71
68
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
73
71
69
Campari Asahi Procycling
73
70
67
Andorra Cycling Project
70
69
66
Podium Ambition
73
68
66
Berg Cycles
68
66
63
Duolingo, Mapei and Polar seem to be in a class of their own, fighting for the stage win among themselves here, and they have the top GC favorites as well in Gesink, Buchmann and Izagirre. For all other teams, it’s about losing as little time as possible to those guys, or gaining time on other rivals.
Campari Asahi Procycling is first at the line - the 2020 Vuelta al Pais Vasco is officially underway!
Duolingo is already the third team on the road. They are timed at 10’06 at the intermediate time check, 24 seconds faster than Lierse SK and 35 seconds faster than Campari. Both are bottom-half TTT squads, so except things to be much closer among top teams.
Swisslion is 16 seconds slower than Duolingo, a bit of a letdown compared to the other times.
Campari set the first time at the finish line, we’ll see how much this is worth for their captain Slagter.
24’01
Lierse SK beat that time handily, adding another 8 seconds to their advantage of 11 seconds from the checkpoint.
23’42
Berg Cycles were expected to be the most likely last-place finisher today and so far they deliver. 41 seconds down on Duolingo at the time check, but just 4 seconds slower than Andorra.
Robert Gesink leads Duolingo over the line, potentially trying to slip into the GC lead on day one if his team wins this. They’re the first to come in sub 23 minutes.
22’57
GCN Racing, another highly-regarded team for this TTT, is second at the checkpoint now, 15 seconds slower than Duolingo, one second ahead of Team Popo4Ever and also still Swisslion.
In their beaming pink jerseys, Podium Ambition are always a sight to behold. Their performance isn’t as noteworthy so far, coming in right around Campari and Andorra at the time check.
Here’s a quick look at the standings with 10 teams through the checkpoint. Duolingo is in a class of their own, as expected at this point. Adastra is the most recent entry, squarely in midfield of the table.
Berg Cycles come to the line, arguably limiting their losses well at under a minute and a half. Team captain Paulinho will be fine with that, even if he’ll lose an additional second or two coming in as the last rider of the squad.
24’20
Andorra doesn’t have the strongest team here, they will have to hope for breakaways to be successful. A reliable option for that strategy is usually Galiev, who struggles with the pace today. It’s not a particularly high pace either, but enough to keep them ahead of Berg Cycles.
24’08
Team Popo4Ever moves past Swisslion at the finish line and into provisional second place, 25 seconds behind Duolingo.
23’22
GCN Racing are coming to the line now as well. They were one second ahead of the Russians at the intermediate time check and they manage to keep that exact same gap through the second half of the course.
23’21
Diego Ulissi is one of the very best puncheurs in the field, but his time trialing may limit his GC potential. His team does its very best to support him though, as Aramco DP are on a provisional sixth place at the time check, 21 seconds behind Duolingo, the same time as Desigual.
There are a few small uphill sections with gradients of up to 3%. Ascents aren’t necessarily Podium Ambition’s favorite terrain, but this is still manageable, although they do lose a little time and one place to Andorra by less than a second.
24’08
Meanwhile, the Minions are loose! They bring a strong TTT squad so it’s not a surprise they come closest to Duolingo so far. 6 seconds off after the first half of the stage!
Paced by Polish champion Marchewka, Adastra crosses the line in 6th place at the moment.
23’46
Here’s the overview again after 10 teams, this time at the finish line. Not much has changed, the gaps aren’t terribly large either. Good news for guys like Slagter or Paulinho.
The other top teams are on the road now, too. Polar is up first, but they fall short of Duolingo’s best time by 7 seconds, 1 second slower than the Minions even. Up next …
… is Mapei around German TT champ Fiedler and GC contender Buchmann. The beat both Polar and Minions, but are 5 seconds slower than Duolingo. Valio, a few minutes earlier, is eyeing a Top 10 result here today, 18 seconds off the lead at the checkpoint.
Meanwhile, Desigual arrive at the finish. Leader Yates has high hopes for this race, he starts it with a handicap of 34 seconds - 5th place for the Spanish team at the moment.
23’31
Aramco DP are next, 3 seconds slower. A decent result, just around where they’d expect to be.
23’34
Azteca - NBCSN strive to keep Chaves in as good a position as they can today. So far they’re 16 seconds down at the checkpoint.
Fighting for a podium place today, Janse van Rensburg throws himself towards the line. This is a great result for the Minions around top puncheur Claeys - second place for now, just 10 seconds slower than Duolingo.
23’07
Bakkafrost are the final team at the first checkpoint, with Rwandan champion Uwizeyimana (sigh …) and top allrounder Gallopin, among others. They are one second outside of the Top 10 …
… as we can see here in the overview. Xero Racing, riding just ahead of Bakkafrost, is actually on pace for a Top 5 result right now, very strong performance so far.
Valio support both Kanerva and Gautier here and they do well. Fifth at the moment at the finish line.
23’25
Polar were surely hoping for more than the fourth they got at the checkpoint, but they were a mere second behind the Minions. And now? With a phenomenal second half, they handily beat them and they even regain a little on Duolingo, finishing just 4 seconds slower.
23’01
Fiedler pushes Mapei into the final kilometers. As they come closer to the line, we realize that Duolingo’s second half of the stage just wasn’t as great - this will be super close!
And Mapei takes it! By just 2 seconds, they most likely win the stage! Josh Atkins will wear yellow tomorrow, if nothing extraordinary happens!
22’55
Azteca is next, they have a solid day and finish safely within the Top 10, currently in 7th place.
23’22
Xero is the final team that could shake up things in the Top 5. They do finish in there, but can’t topple the Top 3 or the Minions, ending the day indeed in 5th place.
23’14
Gallopin is the last rider to cross the line today, Bakkafrost finishes 11th.
Vuelta al Pais Vasco 
