Late Friday, Richard Kalapas (Ineos Grenadiers) expressed quiet satisfaction with his 13-second gap to winner Jumbo-Visma in the team time trial at the opening round of the Vuelta a España.

On a day when the Dutch team proved to be a step above the rest, Quick Step-Alfa Vinyl was the only team to come within a whisker of Jumbo-Visma, losing 14 seconds, while Bike Exchange-Jayco was more than double that time.

Ineos Grenadiers also managed to put Ethan Hayter at the top of the young rider awards, and while a repeat of their victory in the opening TTT of the 2016 Vuelta was out of reach, the British team still put in a very solid performance overall.

"I am happy with the start of this Vuelta. We knew it was going to be a difficult start and we got through the day very well," Karapas told reporters after the race. [The team has been here for a few days and today we were able to practice the circuit and we knew that the start was quite complicated and the most dangerous place. [We knew that the start would be quite complicated and the most dangerous place.

Calapaz has been training at high altitude in Ecuador and is targeting Spain for this year's Grand Tour.

"Ever since I talked to the team after last summer's Tour, I knew I wanted to do well in this year's Vuelta.

"And I didn't want to miss the chance to do well in the Giro and compete in the Vuelta this fall.

With noisy South American fans cheering him on, Carapas said he was not looking for any kind of sporting revenge after losing on the final day at the 2022 Giro d'Italia. But he did not deny that he wanted to see if he could wipe out that defeat in the Vuelta.

"I was aiming for the Grand Tour this year, and I was happy with my result in the Giro," he said. But there are a lot of opportunities in the Vuelta and a lot of summit finishes."

However, he denied that he was aiming to beat Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe), especially after his Giro loss, saying, "There are a lot of rivals for the podium here."

Regarding the team change to EF Education-Easy Post for 2023, which was officially announced on Friday, Kalapas explained his reasons for the move, "I learned a lot at Ineos Grenadiers, and I was treated really well here. But for personal purposes, it was time to move on."

"Right now I want to focus on the Vuelta and see what I can do here.