2025 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana (2.Pro), Spain

76th edition: February 5 - 9, 2025

Wednesday, February 5: Orihuela 34.3 km team time trial

Course map & profile

Lidl-Trek turned in the fastest time.

Bill & Carol McGann's book The Story of the Tour de France, 2020: The Tour During Covid-19, Better Late Than Never is available in both Kindle eBook and Audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Weather at the race city of Orihuela at 2:20 PM, local time: 17C (62F), sunny, with the wind from the east-southeast at 9 km/hr (5 mph). No rain is forecast.

The stage: The VCV 2025 starts strong with a spectacular team time trial of 34 kilometers. A flat course with some hilly areas, somewhat technical in specific sections, but above all a very fast time trial conducive to very high average speeds. The VCV 2025 will open with an all-out battle between the best teams in the world

The race: Here's the report from winner Team Lidl-Trek.

Lidl-Trek dominate the opening team time trial at Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana winning with an impressive margin of 47 seconds.

The Team went into the day fully prepared, having reconned today’s opening 34.3km-long team time trial at their January training camp, and with one clear goal: to win.

As soon as the group rolled off the ramp, it was obvious that every single rider meant business and an impressively strong team performance out on course saw them stop the clock at 39 minutes 19 seconds to move into the hot seat.

As one of the first teams to start, it was a long wait to see if Lidl-Trek had done enough to secure victory with potentially some of the toughest competition to come in the last group of teams. However, in the end, no one was able to get close to matching the benchmark set by the Team and it was Simone Consonni, Daan Hoole, Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier, Jonathan Milan, Jakob Söderqvist, Edward Theuns, and Mathias Vacek who stepped onto the podium as the first winners of the race.

In fact, Lidl-Trek was the only team to step onto the podium with Mathias Vacek crossing the line first to take the race leader’s yellow jersey, as well as the jersey for the best young rider while, Jonathan Milan will wear the KOM jersey tomorrow with Daan Hoole in the Points jersey.

Mathias Vacek:
It's a really great feeling. We could even think about the margin we had at the finish, about 50 seconds. It’s crazy what we did today. We aimed high, but winning is something special for us, and for the team it’s a great success. We’re super confident now for the next races and time trials. Today we enjoyed our victory and we left everything out there. It feels so great.

It was not really decided that I should pass the finish first, but I was in the first position before the downhill and I stayed there until the finish line, and I’m proud that I can wear the yellow jersey now for the next stage. I want to thank my team, to the other guys because without them it wouldn’t be possible. The team effort we put in and all the details we worked on, now it paid off and it feels great. I don’t want to say that I’m going to win the next stages, but I’ll try to keep the jersey for as long as possible.

I have a good gap to the other teams but for sure it will be hard racing with some tough climbs in the next says. I’ll see how I feel but I will leave it all out there to keep the jersey as long as possible.

Mathias Vacek will start stage two in yellow. Photo: Szymon Gruchalski/Getty Images

Jonathan Milan:
I would say absolutely yes [it went to plan]. The plan was a bit easy – go full gas and give 100% of ourselves, so we were believing in this. We were also try this time trial in the last month, during the January training camp. From the beginning we looked and said that with our team it would be really perfect. I think it’s a perfect result.

I think it was the plan to make Mathias first. In the end everyone deserves this victory, everyone gave 100%. Mathias did a nice pace and I think he can play his cards also in the next days.

I think I’ll have to wait a bit. The last stage should be pretty interesting for me. I’ll have to suffer a bit, I’ll help my teammates and we’ll see.

Results:

34.3 kilometers raced at an average speed of 52.322 km/hr

1	Lidl-Trek	39min 20sec
2	Team Jayco-AlUla	@ 46sec
3	Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe	0:50
4	UAE Team Emirates	s.t.
5	INEOS Grenadiers	0:51
6	Movistar Team	1:06
7	Bahrain Victorious	1:11
8	Israel-Premier Tech	1:21
9	Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team	1:50
10	Alpecin-Deceuninck	2:06
11	Euskaltel-Euskadi	2:19
12	Team Polti-VisitMalta	2:31
13	Caja Rural-Seguros RGA	2:43
14	Petrolike	2:44
15	Intermarché-Wanty	2:46
16	Project Echelon Racing	3:04
17	Burgos Burpellet BH	3:23
18	Equipo Kern Pharma	3:33
20	Team Novo Nordisk	4:18
21	Wagner Bazin WB	4:21
22	Illes Balears Arabay	6:12

 

GC after stage 1:

1	Mathias Vacek	Lidl-Trek	39min 19sec
2	Jonathan Milan	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
3	Daan Hoole	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
4	Jakob Söderqvist	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
5	Edward Theuns	Lidl-Trek	@ 30sec
6	Jelte Krijnsen	Team Jayco-AlUla	0:47
7	Ben O'Connor	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
8	Michael Hepburn	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
9	Jasha Sütterlin	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
10	Joao Almeida	UAE Team Emirates	0:50
11	Felix Grossschartner	UAE Team Emirates	s.t.
12	Brandon McNulty	UAE Team Emirates	s.t.
13	Pavel Sivakov	UAE Team Emirates	s.t.
14	Aleksandr Vlasov	Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe	0:51
15	Jai Hindley	Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe	s.t.
16	Frederik Wandahl	Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe	s.t.
17	Matteo Sobrero	Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe	s.t.
18	Giovanni Aleotti	Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe	s.t.
19	AJ August	INEOS Grenadiers	0:52
20	Tobias Foss	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
21	Carlos Rodriguez	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
22	Thymen Arensman	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
23	Jonathan Castroviejo	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
24	Michael Leonard	INEOS Grenadiers	0:54
25	Ivan Romeo	Movistar Team	1:06
26	Nelson Oliveira	Movistar Team	s.t.
27	Pablo Castrillo	Movistar Team	s.t.
28	William Barta	Movistar Team	s.t.
29	Jefferson Cepeda	Movistar Team	s.t.
30	Julius Johansen	UAE Team Emirates	1:08
31	Lenny Martinez	Bahrain Victorious	1:12
32	Jack Haig	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
33	Santiago Buitrago	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
34	Pello Bilbao	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
35	Rainer Kepplinger	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
36	Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier	Lidl-Trek	1:19
37	Ethan Vernon	Israel-Premier Tech	1:22
38	Alexey Lutsenko	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
39	Joe Blackmore	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
40	Hugo Houle	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
41	Nico Denz	Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe	1:41
42	Simone Consonni	Lidl-Trek	1:42
43	Ivo Oliveira	UAE Team Emirates	1:50
44	Mark Donovan	Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team	1:51
45	Gianluca Brambilla	Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
46	Walter Calzoni	Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
47	Milan Vader	Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
48	Rory Townsend	Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team	1:55
49	Gianni Vermeersch	Alpecin-Deceuninck	2:07
50	Oscar Riesebeek	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
51	Henri Uhlig	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
52	Kaden Groves	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
53	Jokin Murguialday	Euskaltel-Euskadi	2:20
54	Xabier Berasategi	Euskaltel-Euskadi	s.t.
55	Xabier Isasa	Euskaltel-Euskadi	s.t.
56	Jon Agirre	Euskaltel-Euskadi	s.t.
57	Txomin Juaristi	Euskaltel-Euskadi	s.t.
58	Mikel Bizkarra	Euskaltel-Euskadi	s.t.
59	Edoardo Zambanini	Bahrain Victorious	2:28
60	Davide Piganzoli	Team Polti-VisitMalta	2:32
61	Mirco Maestri	Team Polti-VisitMalta	s.t.
62	Samuele Zoccarato	Team Polti-VisitMalta	s.t.
63	Francisco Muñoz	Team Polti-VisitMalta	s.t.
64	Edward Planckaert	Alpecin-Deceuninck	2:35
65	Jannik Steimle	Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team	2:39
66	Andrii Ponomar	Petrolike	2:43
67	Edgar Cadena	Petrolike	s.t.
68	José Juan Prieto	Petrolike	s.t.
69	Jonathan Caicedo	Petrolike	s.t.
70	Carlos Garcia	Petrolike	s.t.
71	Alex Molenaar	Caja Rural-Seguros RGA	s.t.
72	Jaume Guardeño	Caja Rural-Seguros RGA	s.t.
73	Jakub Otruba	Caja Rural-Seguros RGA	s.t.
74	Sebastian Berwick	Caja Rural-Seguros RGA	s.t.
75	Cesar Macias	Petrolike	2:46
76	Iúri Leitão	Caja Rural-Seguros RGA	s.t.
77	Huub Artz	Intermarché-Wanty	s.t.
78	Gijs Van Hoecke	Intermarché-Wanty	s.t.
79	Louis Meintjes	Intermarché-Wanty	s.t.
80	Kevin Colleoni	Intermarché-Wanty	s.t.
81	Joan Bou	Caja Rural-Seguros RGA	2:49
82	Giovanni Lonardi	Team Polti-VisitMalta	2:56
83	Hugo Scala, Jr	Project Echelon Racing	3:05
84	Samuel Boardman	Project Echelon Racing	s.t.
85	Caleb Classen	Project Echelon Racing	s.t.
86	Laurent Gervais	Project Echelon Racing	s.t.
87	Kieran Haug	Project Echelon Racing	s.t.
88	Cade Bickmore	Project Echelon Racing	3:07
89	Brendan Rhim	Project Echelon Racing	3:21
90	Riley Sheehan	Israel-Premier Tech	3:22
91	Hugo de la Calle	Burgos Burpellet BH	3:24
92	Sinuhé Fernandez	Burgos Burpellet BH	s.t.
93	Clément Alleno	Burgos Burpellet BH	s.t.
94	Ander Okamika	Burgos Burpellet BH	s.t.
95	Jose Manuel Diaz	Burgos Burpellet BH	s.t.
96	David Martin	Burgos Burpellet BH	s.t.
97	Vojtech Kminek	Burgos Burpellet BH	s.t.
98	Lars Boven	Alpecin-Deceuninck	3:30
99	Sente Sentjens	Alpecin-Deceuninck	3:32
100	Davide Bais	Team Polti-VisitMalta	s.t.
101	Iñigo Elosegui	Equipo Kern Pharma	3:34
102	Diego Uriarte	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
103	Ivan Cobo	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
104	Unai Iribar	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
105	José Félix Parra	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
106	Ivan Sosa	Equipo Kern Pharma	3:35
107	Luca Paletti	VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè	3:41
108	Matteo Scalco	VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè	s.t.
109	Filippo Fiorelli	VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè	s.t.
110	Luca Covili	VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè	s.t.
111	Alex Tolio	VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè	s.t.
112	Lorenzo Milesi	Movistar Team	3:56
113	Gianni Moscon	Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe	4:07
114	Alessio Martinelli	VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè	4:08
115	Filippo Baroncini	UAE Team Emirates	4:16
116	Matyas Kopecky	Team Novo Nordisk	4:18
117	Filippo Ridolfo	Team Novo Nordisk	s.t.
118	Nathan Smith	Team Novo Nordisk	s.t.
119	Hamish Armitt	Team Novo Nordisk	s.t.
120	Michiel Lambrecht	Wagner Bazin WB	4:21
121	Loic Vliegen	Wagner Bazin WB	s.t.
122	Quentin Bezza	Wagner Bazin WB	s.t.
123	Louka Matthys	Wagner Bazin WB	s.t.
124	Tom Portsmouth	Wagner Bazin WB	s.t.
125	Johan Meens	Wagner Bazin WB	s.t.
126	Floris De Tier	Wagner Bazin WB	s.t.
127	Alexander Kamp	Intermarché-Wanty	4:38
128	Filippo Zana	Team Jayco-AlUla	4:47
129	Robert Donaldson	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
130	Christopher Juul-Jensen	Team Jayco-AlUla	4:47
131	Jake Stewart	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
132	Lorenzo Galimberti	Petrolike	5:25
133	David González	Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team	5:30
134	Vicente Rojas	VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè	5:41
135	Riley Pickrell	Israel-Premier Tech	5:54
136	Kamil Gradek	Bahrain Victorious	5:59
137	Fernando Tercero	Team Polti-VisitMalta	6:12
138	Joan Albert Riera	Illes Balears Arabay	6:13
139	Jose Marin Aragón	Illes Balears Arabay	s.t.
140	Jose Maria Garcia Soriano	Illes Balears Arabay	s.t.
141	Alvaro Sagrado Perez	Illes Balears Arabay	s.t.
142	Pablo Gonzalez Asier	Illes Balears Arabay	s.t.
143	Pau Llaneras	Illes Balears Arabay	s.t.
144	Gonzalo Ariño Bolinches	Illes Balears Arabay	s.t.
145	Bob Jungels	INEOS Grenadiers	6:16
146	Marton Dina	Euskaltel-Euskadi	6:24
147	Jorge Arcas	Movistar Team	6:27
148	Tyler Stites	Caja Rural-Seguros RGA	6:52
149	Declan Irvine	Team Novo Nordisk	7:04
150	Gerben Thijssen	Intermarché-Wanty	s.t.
151	Adrien Petit	Intermarché-Wanty	s.t.
152	Miguel Angel Fernandez	Equipo Kern Pharma	7:09
153	Antonio Polga	Team Novo Nordisk	8:46
154	Bailey McDonald	Team Novo Nordisk	s.t.

 

Stage 1 map & profile:

Stage 1 map

Stage 1 profile

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Start list with back numbers, February 4, 2025:

	UAE Team Emirates
1	Brandon McNulty
2	Joao Almeida
3	Filippo Baroncini
4	Felix Grossschartner
5	Julius Johansen
6	Ivo Oliveira
7	Pavel Sivakov
	Bahrain Victorious
11	Santiago Buitrago
12	Pello Bilbao
13	Kamil Gradek
14	Jack Haig
15	Rainer Kepplinger
16	Lenny Martinez
17	Edoardo Zambanini
	Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe
21	Nico Denz
22	Jai Hindley
23	Matteo Sobrero
24	Gianni Moscon
25	Aleksandr Vlasov
26	Frederik Wandahl
27	Giovanni Aleotti
	Team Jayco-AlUla
31	Ben O'Connor
32	Michael Hepburn
33	Christopher Juul-Jensen
34	Jelte Krijnsen
35	Robert Donaldson
36	Jasha Sütterlin
37	Filippo Zana
	Movistar Team
41	Jefferson Cepeda
42	William Barta
43	Pablo Castrillo
44	Jorge Arcas
45	Lorenzo Milesi
46	Ivan Romeo
47	Nelson Oliveira
	Lidl-Trek
51	Simone Consonni
52	Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier
53	Jonathan Milan
54	Edward Theuns
55	Mathias Vacek
56	Jakob Söderqvist
57	Daan Hoole
	Intermarché-Wanty
61	Huub Artz
62	Kevin Colleoni
63	Louis Meintjes
64	Alexander Kamp
65	Adrien Petit
66	Gerben Thijssen
67	Gijs Van Hoecke
	Alpecin-Deceuninck
71	Kaden Groves
72	Gianni Vermeersch
73	Oscar Riesebeek
74	Edward Planckaert
75	Lars Boven
76	Henri Uhlig
77	Sente Sentjens
	INEOS Grenadiers
81	Thymen Arensman
82	Jonathan Castroviejo
83	AJ August
84	Tobias Foss
85	Bob Jungels
86	Michael Leonard
87	Carlos Rodriguez
	Team Polti-VisitMalta
91	Giovanni Lonardi
92	Mirco Maestri
93	Francisco Muñoz
94	Davide Bais
95	Davide Piganzoli
96	Fernando Tercero
97	Samuele Zoccarato
	VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè
101	Luca Covili
102	Filippo Fiorelli
103	Alessio Martinelli
104	Luca Paletti
105	Vicente Rojas
106	Matteo Scalco
107	Alex Tolio
	Euskaltel-Euskadi
111	Txomin Juaristi
112	Xabier Isasa
113	Xabier Berasategi
114	Jon Agirre
115	Marton Dina
116	Mikel Bizkarra
117	Jokin Murguialday
	Burgos Burpellet BH
121	Clément Alleno
122	David Martin
123	Ander Okamika
124	Vojtech Kminek
125	Hugo de la Calle
126	Jose Manuel Diaz
127	Sinuhé Fernandez
	Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
131	Joan Bou
132	Sebastian Berwick
133	Iúri Leitão
134	Jaume Guardeño
135	Alex Molenaar
136	Jakub Otruba
137	Tyler Stites
	Equipo Kern Pharma
141	Ivan Sosa
142	José Félix Parra
143	Diego Uriarte
144	Unai Iribar
145	Miguel Angel Fernandez
146	Iñigo Elosegui
147	Ivan Cobo
	Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team
151	Gianluca Brambilla
152	Mark Donovan
153	Walter Calzoni
154	David González
155	Jannik Steimle
156	Rory Townsend
157	Milan Vader
	Wagner Bazin WB
161	Loic Vliegen
162	Tom Portsmouth
163	Johan Meens
164	Louka Matthys
165	Michiel Lambrecht
166	Floris De Tier
167	Quentin Bezza
	Team Novo Nordisk
171	Hamish Armitt
172	Matyas Kopecky
173	Declan Irvine
174	Bailey McDonald
175	Antonio Polga
176	Filippo Ridolfo
177	Nathan Smith
	Israel-Premier Tech
181	Joe Blackmore
182	Hugo Houle
183	Alexey Lutsenko
184	Riley Pickrell
185	Riley Sheehan
186	Jake Stewart
187	Ethan Vernon
	Illes Balears Arabay
191	Gonzalo Ariño Bolinches
192	Jose Maria Garcia
193	Asier Pablo Gonzalez
194	Pau Llaneras
195	Jose Marin Aragón
196	Albert Riera Joan
197	Alvaro Sagrado Perez
	Project Echelon Racing
201	Laurent Gervais
202	Hugo Scala Jr
203	Kieran Haug
204	Brendan Rhim
205	Caleb Classen
206	Samuel Boardman
207	Cade Bickmore
	Petrolike
211	Jonathan Caicedo
212	Edgar Cadena
213	Lorenzo Galimberti
214	Carlos Garcia
215	Cesar Macias
216	Andrii Ponomar
217	José Juan Prieto