Ellen van Dijk leads Lidl-Trek to victory in team time trial as La Vuelta Femenina gets underway in Barcelona

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A dramatic start to this year's La Vuelta Femenina saw Lidl-Trek come out on top in the time trial after a stunning display from Ellen van Dijk and her team. SD Worx-Protime were just three seconds away from taking the top spot during the final run of the afternoon, but they were forced to settle for second. Demi Vollering got the defence of her title underway with FDJ-Suez.

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Ellen van Dijk inspired Lidl-Trek to victory in Stage 1's team time trial as the 2025 La Vuelta Femenina got underway in Barcelona.

SD Worx-Protime had the chance to move into top spot on the last run of Stage 1, but they finished three seconds behind their rivals and were forced to settle for second place.

Liv AlUla Jayco came in third with a time of 9:33.63, while defending La Vuelta Femenina champion Demi Vollering and her team FDJ-Suez took fourth.

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Lotto Ladies were the first team down the ramp at the first Grand Tour of the season, finishing in a time of 10:07.27.

They were knocked off the top spot by Cofidis, who moved to the top of the overall standings after finishing in 9:57.86.

However, Picnic PostNL responded in style, posting a time of 9:39.06 to storm into the top spot in style.

British rider Cat Ferguson suffered a nightmare puncture on her Grand Tour debut to dent Movistar's hopes.

A strange start to the event then took another strange turn as Visma-Lease a Bike and Uno-X Mobility were forced to get their run underway without their full complement of riders.

Liv AlUla Jayco moved into first place after finishing the time trial in 9:33.63, but they were not there for long as Ellen van Dijk inspired eventual winners Lidl-Trek to a time of 9:30.20.

SD Worx came close to replacing them at the top of the pile as the day's action drew to a close, but they finished three seconds behind them and had to settle for second.

Van Dijk: 'These are the best wins'

Van Dijk was key to Lidl-Trek's victory in Barcelona, and she believed her team executed their strategy perfectly.

"We are super happy," she said after the race. "We really wanted this win, we trained really well for it, we had the whole team really going for this, not just the riders, but all the staff.

"We're here with a lot of staff so we really, really wanted this win. To do it in the end is super nice.

"It went super fast. I saw it was 9'30 or something, so before you know it you've finished!

"We had a really good strategy and we executed it really well.

"I think we did almost everything the way we wanted. Maybe we would have done some things a little bit different, but that's always the case."

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SD Worx's strong showing meant the Lidl-Trek team were made to sweat as they waited to see the final standings.

Van Dijk admitted it was a relief to find out that her team's time was enough to wrap up the victory in Stage 1.

"We were satisfied with the performance, and then of course it's just waiting, waiting, waiting until the other teams finished [to see] if we made it or not," she added.

"When you hear you've won it's such a relief. These are the best wins because you can celebrate it all together, and like I said, also with the staff.

"It's a phenomenal win from all of the team of Lidl-Trek."

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