Dan Martin third after mountainous opening stage of Vuelta a Espana

Sam Bennett is also taking part in this year's Vuelta

File photo of Dan Martin

Dan Martin finished third on the first stage of the Vuelta a Espana, won by defending champion Primoz Roglic.

This mountainous 173km stage was an unusually brutal way to open a Grand Tour, but it had been intended as stage four following a planned start in Utrecht which fell victim to the pandemic.

So instead it was straight on to the climbs from Irun to the Alto de Arrate above Eibar, causing major splits amongst the overall contenders for the red jersey, with Roglic and Martin both making early gains.

An attack from Roglic’s Jumbo-Visma team-mate Sepp Kuss inside the final five kilometres made a decisive split, with the likes of Martin and Richard Carapaz following but Tom Dumoulin and Alejandro Valverde among those left behind.

After they crested the climb, Hugh Carthy struck out for glory on the short descent to the finish but could not distance his rivals and it was Roglic that made the winning move as they passed under the flamme rouge.

Martin outsprinted Esteban Chaves to the line for third but was pipped by Carapaz for second.

Etapa 1 - Stage 1 | #LaVuelta20

🇪🇸 Vive el último kilómetro de la victoria de @rogla gracias a @CarrefourES

🇬🇧Live the last km of Primoz Roglic's victory thanks to @CarrefourES#CarrefourConLaVuelta pic.twitter.com/J2HJ7YjSlr

— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) October 20, 2020

With bonus seconds applied, Roglic, who is desperate to make up for his disappointment at the Tour de France, where he lost the yellow jersey to fellow Slovenian Tadej Pogacar on the penultimate stage, takes a five-second lead over Carapaz, with Martin a further two seconds back.

Two-time champion Chris Froome, riding his final race for the Ineos Grenadiers, was dropped on the final two climbs of the day as the full impact of the career-threatening crash he suffered some 16 months ago was given another brutal illustration.

Chris Froome was made to suffer on the opening stage of the Vuelta (Alvaro Barrientes/AP/PA)

The 35-year-old said on Monday he was unsure of his form coming into the Vuelta but got immediate confirmation he was not in shape to contend for an eighth Grand Tour title as he was distanced on the first serious ramps of this 18-day race.

Ironically, it was an injection of pace from Froome’s own team – working for Carapaz – that did for the two-time Vuelta winner as he dropped out of the back of the peloton on the climb of the Alto de Elgeta, still 18km from home.

That left little hope Froome could get back on come the more challenging final climb of the Arrate, and he ended the day having conceded 11 minutes.

Dumoulin and Valverde are already a minute down on Roglic while the likes of Thibaut Pinot and Aleksandr Vlasov suffered even greater deficits.

Sam Bennett is the other Irish rider taking part in this year's Vuelta and he finished safely 15 minutes down the field. He will be targeting wins on the flatter stages and another potential green jersey bid after his Tour de France heroics.