Czech cyclist Mathias Vacek finished second in the opening time trial of the Vuelta in Portugal on his Grand Tour debut. American Brandon McNulty beat this year’s national champion by two seconds on the 12 kilometers between Lisbon and Oeiras.
Twenty-two-year-old Vacek, after finishing eleventh in the time trial at the Olympic Games, announced shortly before the start of the Vuelta that he wanted to attack the top ranks in the time trial.
On the flat track in Portugal, the member of the Lidl-Trek team clocked a time of 12:37, thanks to which he sat in the leader’s seat for several tens of minutes, from which he was “kicked out” only by the penultimate rider on the McNulty track. Belgian star Wout van Aert, Olympic bronze medalist from Paris, finished third, one second behind Vack.
In his first start at one of the big three-week races, Vack, a native of Beroun, narrowly missed a stage victory, which was won by eight Czech cyclists before him. The last time Jan Hirt succeeded in this was in 2022 at the Giro d’Italia, in 2013 Zdeněk Štybar and Leopold König triumphed two days in a row at the Vuelta z Čechy.
“I worked hard on it and it finally paid off. I don’t think I could have gone better. I didn’t expect such a time, our schedule was about a minute slower, so I think we can be very satisfied,” Vacek said in a televised interview shortly after reach when he was at the head of the order.
“There was a very strong wind, but we knew that, so I expected it. Moreover, it was the same for everyone. We simply bet on great power and I gave it everything,” added the Czech cyclist, who was the only rider together with McNulty, who completed the time trial at an average speed of over 57 km/h.
McNulty, a two-time American time trial champion, had an ideal distribution of forces. At the first split shortly after the halfway point, the UAE Emirates team member was third on Vack and two seconds behind overall leader Van Aert, but he was fastest in the final passage and the first to wear the leader’s red jersey in the 79th edition of the Vuelta.
“I am very satisfied. This first time trial was one of my main goals, I said to myself that I would definitely like to fight for the red jersey. In the end I was quite close. Now it is easy to say that two seconds are close, that I could give it more, but I know that I gave it my best in the race and it couldn’t have been more,” said Vacek in a recording for the media from the representative agency Sportegy.
He will start Sunday’s stage in the white jersey of the best young rider, but he would like to wear an even more valuable jersey after it is over.
“We are in a good position and I will definitely want to fight for the red jersey tomorrow. In the rest of the race, I will want to help the team and our leaders,” said the Czech cyclist, who narrowly missed out on a fourth professional victory.
McNulty claimed his second Grand Tour triumph today after last year’s stage success at the Giro.
“I don’t know if I expected the win. I knew that if something crazy happened, I could win, so I guess something crazy happened. I was hoping for it, but it’s hard to believe. I had great legs and already in I felt very good during training,” said the American.
Three-time Vuelta winner Primož Roglič from Slovenia took eighth place with a gap of 17 seconds. Last year’s defending champion Sepp Kuss from the USA took a more substantial loss, who was 53 seconds behind and belongs to the 62nd position.
The second Czech debutant on the Grand Tour, Pavel Bittner, whose specialty is sprints, finished in the top 100 in the time trial with a gap of 1:09 minutes.
The Vuelta will continue on Sunday again in Portugal with the undulating 194 km stage 2 between the cities of Cascais and Ourém. The peloton will arrive in Spain only on Tuesday, the winner will be crowned after 3300 kilometers on September 8 in Madrid.
