So near but so far. Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) came within a whisker of getting his Vuelta a España debut off to the best of starts in the opening time trial at Lisbon but instead had to settle for third place, with a possible crack at the lead in the stages to come as a major consolation prize.
Last to start in the 12 kilometres ultra-flat TT test along the shoreline of the River Tagus, Van Aert managed to secure the fastest time by the mid-way checkpoint, one second faster than Czech National TT champion Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek).
