Brandon McNulty sees off Mathias Vacek to win Vuelta a España opener

The American Brandon McNulty won a thrilling opening stage time trial at the Vuelta a España by two seconds. The flat 12km blast around Lisbon was won by the UAE Team Emirates rider in 12min 35sec, with the Czech Mathias Vacek second in 12:37.
The Italian early starter Edoardo Affini had led for a long time but ended up fifth, 8sec down. His Visma–Lease a Bike teammate Wout van Aert looked like topping the time sheets but the Belgian had to settle for third in the standings, 3sec behind McNulty.
Britain’s Josh Tarling, riding for Ineos Grenadiers, came sixth, fractionally behind Affini.
The defending champion, Sepp Kuss, finished 53sec behind, losing time to other general classification favourites including the three-time winner Primoz Roglic who was eighth, 17sec slower than McNulty.
The coastal wind played a pivotal role as riders went through a speedy route near the mouth of the Tajo River, going from Lisbon to Oeiras.
“The wind was really strong but we knew that so I was counting with it,” Vacek said. “I think it was the same for everybody. It was about pure power and I gave it everything. The pacing plan was like one minute slower. We can be really, really satisfied.”
McNulty will get to wear the red jersey in Sunday’s hilly 194km second stage from Cascais to Ourém. “I don’t know if I expected to win. I knew if something crazy happened I could, so I guess something crazy happened,” McNulty, who could be a GC threat, said afterwards.
“I was hoping for it, but this is hard to believe for me. I had super good legs and I’ve been feeling really good in training.”