Remco Evenpole (Quick-Step Alfa Vinyl) missed winning the team time trial in the opening round of the Vuelta a España, but finished relatively close to stage winner Jumbo Visma.

The Belgian team finished third, 14 seconds behind its Dutch rival and one second behind Ineos Grenadier, another top GC team.

Even though Evenpoel's hopes of victory were not fulfilled, as he explained in the press conference that followed, it was better to lose by a much larger margin given the distance than to suffer a bitterly close defeat.

"Better than losing to Ineos by eight-tenths of a second," he said.

Asked directly by the media if he was satisfied with third place, Evenpoel even tried to soften his disappointment with a little humor, answering with a question of his own: "Yes. Why aren't you guys satisfied?

On a more serious note, he continued: "If you compare this team to Jumbo, they are 10 kilos heavier [on average]. The only one who weighs more is Remi [Cavagna]."

Evenpoel, himself a time trial prodigy, said: "I'm proud of everyone. There was one weak moment right after the first intermediate time split. Right after the first intermediate time split.

"But third place in 14 seconds was really good. There are no athletes here like Kasper Asgreen, Yves Lampert, or Mattia Cattaneo. They are better at time trials than the guys here, but that wasn't the goal here in the Vuelta.

Evenpoel admitted that the lack of pressure to lead the race early on was a point in their favor, even though winning was the goal, but the Belgian press, after stating earlier in the week that his goal was not to take the lead, he finished first He pointed out that he was in first place.

He explained that if Quick Step had been the winning team, he would have been red, but that was due to his role in the overall strategy of the team time trial.

"In the team meeting right before, I said that if I was the strongest in the group, I would pull the last 500 meters," explained Evenpoel.

"We had a long turn at the front. I needed to keep a high pace. If I had taken the red jersey, I would have made a plan to give it to my teammate.

"The finish line was also really narrow, so I decided to let the stronger riders go first and let the others follow my slipstream.

As was the case when other riders wore them earlier this year, Evenpoel's specially designed headsock helmet drew a lot of attention and split the choices. Specialized's TT5 helmet claims a time reduction of 26 seconds over the 40 km time trial, and Evenpoel suggested that such an effect could be seen in the stage 10 individual time trial in Alicante.

"For me, this helmet will prove to be a lot faster than normal," he said. But you have to wait a week for that."

In any case, the real question in Utrecht on Friday was whether Evenepaul was satisfied with his start in the Vuelta.

"Today was less about the leader's jersey and more about winning the stage for the whole team. But if we didn't win, we needed to limit our losses and 14 seconds is not much at all."

"Other teams have done more damage and overall it's a great start. So now we have to focus on the next two days, get through them unscathed, enjoy the rest day, and then the real Vuelta will begin."