2018 Vuelta a Espana - Stage 1
This is so exciting as the first stage of the 2018 Vuelta a Espana kicked off with an individual time trial of 8km through the city of Malaga. This year saw an unexpected victory for the time trial as the Australian Rohan Dennis took the victory for his BMC team in 9 minutes and 39 seconds. His time was a full 6 seconds ahead of Poland’s Michal Kwiatkowski, rider for Team Sky and 7 seconds ahead of Belgium’s Victor Campenaerts for Lotto Soudal.
Link to the stage one route map
The tour has started twice previously in the coastal town of Malaga, back in 2000 and 2006. The riders weaved through the city streets out past the iconic town lighthouse and pier, which then took them along the cost before taking in a 1km climb in the middle of the time trial. Riders continued through the town to then ride the Calle Larios and then finished on the Plaza de la Constitución.
Of the 176 riders to take to the streets it was Dylan van Baarle of Team Sky to set the early pace, being the first rider to make the course in under 10 minutes. Nelson Oliveira of Movistar was then upped the stages by getting 9 minutes and 56 seconds, but Rohan Dennis took a further 17 seconds to take the lead and now hold the Spanish Grand Tour leader’s jerseys.
Tomorrow Stage 2 Start From Marbella
The second stage of the Vuelta will be a 163km journey from Marbella to Caminito del Rey, which will be the races first mountain stage with a 5.1km climb at the finish of the stage. Marbella is home to some of Spain's wealthiest homes with the course covering numerous large villas, luxury apartment buildings and golf courses.
Link to the stage one route map
The riders will take on a 7.5km climb early on in the stage, with riders reaching the top of the Puerto de Ardales with still a further 44km to go before the finish line. Riders will run part of the route for a second time as climb again into Caminito Del Rey, where the final climb of the race is a 3.3% climb, which could still mean a fast finish if there are no break aways during the stage.
I'll be covering each stage of the Vuelta A Espana, giving a breakdown of each days stage, my previous post for @cyclefeed was a quick introduction to this years Vuelta, so feel free to have a look:
https://steemit.com/cycling/@run.vince.run/the-2018-vuelta-a-espana-is-aproaching
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Please Note all maps are made by me using Strava
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