Stage 1

The road

At the start

A route drawn for climbers

Pamplona, seventeen kilometres of team time trial, and then three weeks with almost nothing in them for anybody who likes flat roads: summit finish after summit finish and a single individual time trial. Alberto Contador starts his first Grand Tour since a doping suspension that ended a month ago. Chris Froome arrives second at the Tour de France. Joaquim Rodríguez arrives to win a Grand Tour at last.

How it was won

1. 19 km to go

   Sky fastest at the check

   Rabobank come through the first time check only eighth quickest, and then Sky, Saxo Bank, Astana, Katusha and Lotto all beat their mark. Nobody assumes anything: Pamplona's streets are narrow and technical and there are still nine kilometres to the bull ring.

2. 22 km to go

   The teams come apart in the bends

   One squad after another loses riders through the final corners. An impatient Jurgen Van den Broeck rides away from his own Lotto team-mates; Sky, fastest of all at the check, simply run out of fuel.

3. 3At the line

   Movistar, last down the ramp

   The home team goes last and goes fastest, ten seconds up on Rabobank, and Jonathan Castroviejo — who was not even meant to ride this Vuelta — takes the first red jersey. Contador loses fifteen seconds, Froome twelve, and Juan José Cobo, the defending champion, is dropped by his own team within sight of the line.

The result