Favorites stage 1 Vuelta a Espana 2024 | Portuguese time trial, but pay attention to the time difference with Portugal!

Track boss (and former rider) Fernando Escartin has set out a stunning 12-kilometer route with the organizing committee from Unipublic and Portuguese stakeholders. The riders will start near the Tower of Belém, one of Lisbon's major tourist attractions. The team presentation was also held there on Thursday.

The riders will pay less attention to that; they are mainly in their cocoon, riding as fast as possible. The course is relatively easy and primarily follows the direction of the Tagus River to the Atlantic Ocean, over twelve kilometers to Oeiras.

The course has no real curves but has some rolling roads along the coast. The first driver starts at 4:23 p.m. local time, so for the Dutch and Belgians, with the time difference of one hour, this is 5:23 p.m. Dutch time. We will know the winner around 7:30 p.m. Portuguese time (8:30 p.m. Dutch time).

Climbs
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Timetable
Start: 4:23 p.m. (first rider) - 5:23 p.m. Dutch time
Finish: 7:30 p.m. (last rider) - 8:30 p.m. Dutch time

On Friday, Lisbon will be scorching, with temperatures heading toward 37 degrees Celsius. The riders will be pleased that the time trial will be in the evening. The wind will blow from the northwest at an angle most of the time. The chance of precipitation is 0.0 percent.

It's a time trial for the powerhouses, and then we get to one absolute top favorite for this time trial. That is Joshua Tarling of INEOS Grenadiers, the cannon from Wales. The European time trial champion missed out on an Olympic medal two weeks ago due to a failure, but he can forget about that at the start of his first major tour.

The second favorite on our list is Wout van Aert from Visma | Lease a Bike. The Belgian had a high day in Paris with his bronze medal but was also the first to recognize Tarling's strength at last year's European Time Trial Championships in Drenthe. Van Aert realizes he is an underdog but can provide a good starting position to have a shot at the red jersey later.

UAE-Team Emirates has made a solid time trial step compared to a few years ago and is competing for prizes in every chrono. For this Vuelta, we look to Brandon McNulty, Joao Almeida, Jay Vine, and Isaac del Toro: they have all completed fabulous time trials but lack the status of a Tarling or Van Aert.

The GC riders will want to throw themselves in as well. Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) would typically be the third favorite, but how will he perform? Other men with good times are Roglic's teammates Aleksandr Vlasov and Daniel Felipe Martínez, as well as Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) and Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers). The others will mainly want to minimize their losses.

Furthermore, quite a few known powerhouses made the trip to Portugal. Stefan Küng is always there when it comes to racing against the clock but is having a more challenging year in that field. Home rider Nelson Oliveira (Movistar) will be on top of his motivation, which Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Dstny) always is for a chrono.

Furthermore, we would still like to name Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek), Edoardo Affini (Visma | Lease a Bike), Kasper Asfreen Mattia Cattaneo (Soudal Quick-Step), Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R) and Oier Lazkano (Movistar) as good time trial riders.

Top favorites:Joshua Tarling (INEOS Grenadiers) and Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike)
Outsiders:Brandon McNulty, Jay Vine (UAE-Team Emirates), Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) and Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ)
Long shots: Isaac del Toro, Joao Almeida (UAE-Team Emirates), Nelson Oliveira (Movistar), Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Dstny), Mattias Skjelmose, Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek), Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) and Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious)