"Our plan was to not take many risks" - Juan Ayuso gets safely through tricky opening TTT in Barcelona

UAE Team Emirates rode a solid opening time trial. The strong team, including classification riders Juan Ayuso and João Almeida within their ranks, lost only five seconds to Jumbo-Visma. However, the men from the UAE lost half a minute to Remco Evenepoel.

Despite the loss of time, Ayuso was very pleased with the opening time trial in his home grand tour. The young Spaniard is one of the shadow favorites for the overall victory and especially wanted to get through the stage safely. "We set off with the plan not to take too many risks because of the bad weather conditions," said the young talent.

"We lost some time in the last kilometers," Ayuso continues. "But luckily it was a good time and no one else fell from the team. So we take enough positive aspects with us after this stage. We have twenty long, hard days ahead of us to fight."

Co-leader Joao Almeida crossed the line 15 seconds behind his teammates. However that was due to a mechanical in last kilometer which required a bike change. The Portuguese was thus awarded the same time as his teammates.