Rising British star Joshua Tarling won the first stage of the Gran Camino on Thursday, a 14.8km time-trial raced on classic road bikes because of strong winds buffeting northwest Spain.
Two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard, in his first outing of the season, eased up to finish 45th, 2min 26sec behind the 20-year-old Briton who rides for Ineos.
Several racers fell during reconnaissance of the route in blustery conditions.
🏅🇬🇧Joshua Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers) gana la Etapa 1 de la 🇪🇸O Gran Camiño 2024 🇪🇸#OGC24 #OGranCamiño pic.twitter.com/ArFSheIwaD
— NotiCiclismo 🇦🇪 #UAETour (@Noticiclismo1) February 22, 2024
Organisers not only ruled out the use of time-trial specific bikes but also decided that the results would not count for the overall standings given the atrocious weather.
Ireland's Darren Rafferty of the EF Education team came in second, at 42sec, with Spain's Pablo Castrillo (Kern Pharma) in third, a further 6sec adrift.
Friday's second stage sees the riders tackle a 151.1km route from Taboada to Chantada.