Vuelta a España stage 5 preview - Team time trial to shake up the GC

Stage 5 is the latest that a team time trial has taken place in the Vuelta a España since 1974 on stage 8b in Madrid, won by the Spanish squad Kas-Kaskol.

Will the impact of four stages in the legs, as well as the fact that some teams will already be a man down, have a significant impact on the outcome of the team time trial?

Key information: 

• Date: Wednesday, 27 August
• First start: 16:37 (CET)
• Expected finish: 18:30 (CET)
• Stage type: Team time trial
• Stage length: 24.1km
• Elevation gain: 86m

Follow the team time trial live at Domestique with our live report

The city of Figueres, near Girona in Catalonia, will host the first stage of the 2025 Vuelta that takes place on Spanish soil, and is the only stage that is 100% Catalan. Figueres is home to the Dalí Theatre-Museum, in honour of the artist Salvador Dalí, who was born in the town. 

Despite its location, Figueres has never previously hosted a stage of the Vuelta, but will make up for that by hosting both the start and finish of this team time trial. Instead, the city has been prominent over the years in the Volta a Catalunya, hosting a stage on 39 occasions. 

Standing at 24.1km in length with a flat profile, this is a time trial where the specialists and rouleurs will be able to make a big impact for their teams with few significant features of the course.

There are four roundabouts to contend with inside the final 2km of the time trial, meaning that the teams who are best able to hold their speed around the corners could take an advantage at the end of this time trial, where the road rises towards the finish line.

Visma | Lease a Bike won the last team time trial in a UCI WorldTour-level stage race back in March at Paris-Nice. That seven-man squad featured three of the seven riders who are set to take to the start on Wednesday: Jonas Vingegaard, Matteo Jorgenson and Victor Campenaerts. 

A disadvantage for the team is the loss of Axel Zingle, who has abandoned the race, leaving the team a man down for the time trial. The Frenchman was also part of the Paris-Nice winning team, so his loss will be felt. However, the Dutch team is well-equipped for this discipline, with Wilco Kelderman, Ben Tulett, Dylan Van Baarle,and Sepp Kuss rounding out the squad.

With this team time trial five stages in, there was always a strong possibility that some riders would have abandoned the race at this point, leaving their teams with less strength in depth.

It remains to be seen what impact the loss of Axel Zingle will have on the Visma | Lease a Bike team, who will be one of the pre-stage favourites for Wednesday's team time trial.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG will be aiming for the best possible result with the GC ambitions of João Almeida and Juan Ayuso. Handily, both are well accomplished time triallists. 

Additionally, Jay Vine has won two time trials in his professional career, Felix Großschartner has three, Ivo Oliveira has two, and Mikkel Bjerg has one - and he is also a three-time former under-23 world champion in the individual time trial.

Another team that should be towards the pointy end of the standings is Lidl-Trek, who boast Mads Pedersen, Søren Kragh Andersen, Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier and the winner of the stage 10 time trial at the Giro d'Italia and Dutch champion Daan Hoole as some of their strongest rouleurs. 

The American team will also have the added incentive of ensuring the best possible result for Giulio Ciccone, who is within touching distance of the red jersey. 

David Gaudu is the new leader of the Vuelta based on countback, and will don the red jersey in Wednesday’s event. On paper, there’s a strong possibility that the Frenchman could lose the jersey with the GC still tightly compacted, but Groupama-FDJ will certainly refuse to throw in the towel. 

Gaudu will have plenty of support in his corner with one of the best in the business in Stefan Küng, a two-time European champion and winner of the last time trial in the Vuelta twelve months ago. Remi Cavagna is a former two-time French champion in the discipline, whilst Thibaud Gruel is powerful on the flat and a solid time trial rider.

After a fine victory on stage 4 with Ben Turner, the Ineos Grenadiers will believe that they are capable of going back-to-back. Beyond the Briton, the team features no less than the two-time former World Champion Filippo Ganna to call upon. 

Magnus Sheffield and Michał Kwiatkowski are two more strong riders who could help give the team a chance for the stage win and help Egan Bernal's GC ambitions. Ineos will also be one of the teams with the advantage of a full octet compared to Visma | Lease a Bike

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe,Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, and Jayco AlUla are also teams that could be ones to watch for their GC leaders, Jai Hindley, Felix Gall, and Ben O'Connor, respectively.

Vuelta a España stage 5 favourites

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Visma | Lease a Bike

⭐️⭐️ UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Ineos Grenadiers, Lidl-Trek

⭐️Groupama-FDJ, Red Bull-BORA Hansgrohe, Jayco AlUla, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale

Compared to the other Grand Tours in recent years, the Vuelta organisers have been much more keen to use the team time trial discipline. 

The 2022 and 2023 editions kicked off with a team time trial and remain the only two times that the discipline has featured in a Grand Tour in the 2020s.

It's difficult to compare these editions to what's to come here. The 2023 edition, which kicked off in Barcelona, was a chaotic event in rainy conditions, with many teams even racing in the dark. On that occasion, there was a surprise victory via Team dsm-firmenich. 

In terms of UCI WorldTour-level time trials, the most recent was the aforementioned Paris-Nice stage, which was won by Visma | Lease a Bike, who won comfortably. However, that time trial featured 264 metres of elevation gain compared to the 86m that the Vuelta peloton will tackle on Wednesday. Therefore, the role of the rouleurs should be much more significant. 

Here is a guide on how to watch the 2025 Vuelta a España live. Below you can find the broadcasters for the United Kingdom, United States, Canada and Australia.