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Groupama – FDJ sets the best time in the first reference and this is already a really demanding time. 12′ 26” for the French squad, 15 seconds behind Israel Premier Tech.
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The Movistar Team begins!!! In his ranks, Alejandro Valverde and his great bet for the general classification, Enric Mas. The Balearic cyclist has finished on the podium in two of his last three participations in LaVuelta (2nd in 2018 and 2021). He has been the only cyclist who has managed to win the Youth Grand Prix twice.
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The Euskaltel Euskadi starts!!! With its traditional orange color, we hope that its cyclists will acquire great prominence and be one of the great drivers of the race.
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Better time already at the halfway point for Israel Premier Tech. 12′ 41” for Chris Froome’s team, six less than Intermarché – Wanty – Gobert Matériaux.
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The Cofidis team begins its journey in LaVuelta, with three Spanish cyclists in its ranks. They are Jesús Herrada, José Herrada and Rubén Fernández.
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The Intermarché – Wanty – Gobert Matériaux sets the fastest time in the first reference. 12′ 47” for the Belgian team, 11 seconds better than Burgos BH.
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Burgos BH has already passed the intermediate timing point, located at kilometer 11. It has set a time of 12’58”.
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Arkea Samsic begins his participation in the race and does so without the one who was going to be his leader, Nairo Quintana. The Colombian, winner of LaVuelta in 2016, has not started after testing positive in the last Tour de France for tramadol.
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Groupama – FDJ is already underway, with Thibaut Pinot as leader. Perhaps not to win the race, but surely the Frenchman will be able to shine in many of the mountain stages scheduled for this edition of the Spanish round.
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Take the Israel Premier Tech exit!!! With Chris Froome in their ranks. The Briton is taking part in LaVuelta for the eighth time. He has finished on the podium in four of his previous seven starts in the race, including victories in 2011 and 2017. With his triumph in 2011, he became the first Briton to not only win the Vuelta a España, but one of the three Grand Tours and today he is the only cyclist from his country capable of winning the Tour de France (4), Giro d’Italia (1) and LaVuelta (2).
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It doesn’t rain intensely, but it is true that there is a lot of humidity in the atmosphere and the asphalt is slightly wet, so the conditions are really dangerous for cyclists.
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THE VUELTA A ESPAÑA 2022 BEGINS!!! The Burgos BH team starts, with the final drop of Manuel Peñalver, who has not finally started and that was one of the cyclists who was starting in the Spanish formation.
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The Dutch town of Utrecht has already served as a stage finish in one of the three Grand Tours. It was in 2015, in the first stage, but on that occasion it was an individual time trial with victory for Rohan Dennis. Curiously, the Australian also participates in this race and does so in the ranks of the Jumbo Visma, so he too has a chance of winning today.
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As for the great candidates to take victory in this first stage of the Spanish round, in addition to Primox Roglic’s Jumbo Visma, the Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team, Astana, INEOS Grenadiers or Bora hansgrohe.
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The first team to start will be Burgos BH, at 18:30, while the last will be Jumbo Visma, one of the big favorites to win the stage on this first day of LaVuelta 2022.
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This is the first team time trial in LaVuelta since 2019. On that occasion it was also in the first stage with a route of 13.4 kilometers ending in Torrevieja and Astana was the team that prevailed.
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If he manages to complete the race, Alejandro Valverde will equal Federico Etxabe, Chente García Acosta and Íñigo Cuesta as cyclists who have finished the race the most times throughout history (14).
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EL ‘BALA’, THE CYCLIST WITH THE MOST PODIUMS IN LAVUELTA. Alejandro Valverde faces his last participation in LaVuelta (16 appearances), being the cyclist in history who has achieved the most podiums (seven, including his victory in 2009).
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In addition to Roglic, there are other great candidates for the final victory in Madrid. This is the case of Jai Hindley (winner of the 2022 Giro d’Italia), the British Tao Geoghegan Hart (winner of the 2020 Giro d’Italia), the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz (winner of the 2019 Giro d’Italia) or the Colombian Miguel Ángel López.
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Primoz Roglic (three) could equal Roberto Heras (2000, 2003, 2004 and 2005) as the cyclist with the most titles in LaVuelta and be the first non-Spanish with the most victories in the race.
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ROGLIC, ALSO A STAGE COLLECTOR. Primoz Roglic has won the Vuelta a España on the three occasions in which he has participated (2019, 2020 and 2021), achieving nine stage wins in this period, more than any other rider (Fabio Jakobsen, five).
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ROGLIC, GOING FOR THE FOURTH CROWN. Although the truth is that the great favorite for the final victory is Primoz Roglic. The Slovenian is looking for his fourth LaVuelta crown after winning the last three editions consecutively, becoming the third cyclist to achieve this milestone after Tony Rominger (from 1992 to 1994) and Roberto Heras (from 2003 to 2005). No one has ever won the race four times in a row.
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Mikel Landa and Enric Mas are presented as the strongest assets in Spanish cycling, although we cannot forget Alejandro Valverde who faces his last participation in LaVuelta. And with an eye on the future, the presence of Juan Ayuso and Carlos Rodríguez, the two young local pearls, is exciting.
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The local cyclists will try to overcome a prolonged period without triumphs, not only when it comes to winning the race, but also in stage victories. In fact, the last triumph of a local cyclist was precisely in the 2020 edition when Ion Izaguirre won Aramon Formigal.
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HISTORICAL DROUGHT OF SPANISH CYCLING. This is the 77th edition of the Tour of Spain. Spanish cyclists have won the race 32 of the previous 76 times (42%), although a Spanish cyclist hasn’t won since 2014 (Alberto Contador), the longest period in race history without local winners.
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And it is that, for the fourth time in history, LaVuelta starts outside of Spain after doing so in Lisbon in 1997, Assen (The Netherlands) in 2009 and in Nimes (France) in 2017.
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Buenas tardes !!! Welcome to the live broadcast of the opening stage of the Vuelta a España 2022, with a 23.3-kilometre team time trial in the Dutch town of Utrecht. Ready? We start…
