Nordhagen puts thirteen seconds into Yates as Visma | Lease a Bike take O Gran Camiño GC lead

The battle between Visma | Lease a Bike and UAE Team Emirates-XRG at O Gran Camiño has begun. The two squads are the ones to watch at the Spanish stage race. And in the opening stage, UAE struck first thanks to Julius Johansen's surprise win. But a strong Jørgen Nordhagen already looks to have levelled things for Visma, taking time in the more important GC battle.

O Gran Camiño kicked off on Tuesday afternoon with a time trial around the Tower of Hercules in A Coruña. Over the fifteen-kilometre course, Nordhagen immediately made his mark with a sharp time, but several riders went faster afterwards.

First it was Nelson Oliveira for Movistar. The Portuguese was eleven seconds quicker than the Visma Norwegian, before compatriot Rafael Reis (Anicolor) went one second faster still. Johansen was the very last rider to tackle the time trial for UAE and did so successfully: he claimed his first ever professional victory.

So while it looked like 1-0 to UAE, Visma | Lease a Bike effectively took the lead on Tuesday. The Emirati team brought Adam Yates to Spain this week, and the Briton appears set to be the main rival for the overall win. Nordhagen, however, put thirteen seconds into Yates, who finished sixth on the day.

"I'm really pleased with my performance," the Norwegian said afterwards on his team's website. "That I could post such a strong time on this course, I maybe didn't entirely expect, but I felt good. Unfortunately three others were faster, but I can definitely be satisfied."

With that advantage over his main GC rival, Nordhagen heads into the rest of the week in good spirits. "Tomorrow and the day after, the main task is to get through unscathed. The battle for the overall win will kick off at the weekend, and I'm looking forward to being in the mix. With my performance today, I'm in a good position."

Alongside Nordhagen, Polish rider Patryck Goszczurny also had an excellent day for Visma. The talent — who won the combativity prize at the Tour of Oman after spending several days in breakaways — finished seventh, just four seconds behind Yates.