Surprise at the Valenciana! Lidl-Trek dominates TTT as UAE Team Emirates loses 50 seconds

Stage 1 of the Volta a Comunitat Valenciana was a huge team time-trial of 34 kilometers and as it turns out, a few teams couldn't manage this effort well. Lidl-Trek, a team without GC aspirations at this race, put their lineup to it's best use to take a surprising and dominant victory against the clock.

It was a victory that very few would've expected, taking into consideration the quality time-trialists that UAE Team Emirates - XRG brought and their technological prowess with the TT bikes. But the Emirati team could not get anywhere near the hot seat when it crossed the line.

The American team set a very strong early time, taking 46 seconds on Team Jayco AlUla but surprisingly, these were the teams that would end up fighting for victory on the day. The expected big favourite team was yet to cross the line but it had to settle with third, losing 50 seconds to Lidl-Trek. Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe finished with the same time.

Behind INEOS Grenadiers lost 51, Movistar lost 1:05 minutes and Bahrain - Victorious shed 1:11 minutes, meaning the gaps behind were small. The fight for the overall classification sees Ben O'Connor take a slight lead on his rivals, but into tomorrow's queen stage it is expected that a lot will change.