A super collective effort saw Team BikeExchange-Jayco put in a great ride to finish second in the opening stage of the CERATIZIT Challenge by La Vuelta, as the five-stage race kicked off in northern Spain with a Team Time Trial.

Teniel Campbell, Kristen Faulkner, Alexandra Manly, Ruby Roseman-Gannon, Ane Santesteban and Georgia Williams worked excellently together to fly around the 19.9km parcours in Marina de Cudeyo in a time of 23’37”.

It was an effort that put them in provisional first, and they eventually finished second by just six seconds, narrowly denied victory on day one.

The result sets the team up well for tomorrow’s Queen stage, a 105.9km course that packs in five categorised climbs, two of those being category one.

Kristen Faulkner
“I was really surprised by how great it felt today. We hadn’t actually ridden all together in a TTT, so it was amazing and quite impressive how smooth the entire race went.

We knew we had a headwind going out and a tailwind coming back, so we tried to take some shorter pulls going out and then really push it on the way back. I think we executed the team strategy really well, and we ended up second overall.

We’re always going for the win, but it was close and I think we showed the strength we have, and now we can play a little bit defensively in the next few days and put the pressure on the other teams to chase any attacks.”

Alejandro Gonzalez-Tablas (Sport Director)
“We are extremely happy. We came here with one goal, the team time trial and we went close, just six seconds behind a stronger team today.

I think the girls did a perfect race, there are a few, little things, that we can improve on, but there is nothing to regret. We got the result we deserved, and it sets up perfectly for how we want to race the next four stages.”

Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta, Stage 1 Result
1. Trek Segafredo, 23:31
2. Team BikeExchange-Jayco, +0:06
3. FDJ Suez Futuroscope, +0:11

Photo by Getty Images