Australia's Rohan Dennis has claimed the red jersey after the opening stage of this year's Vuelta a Espana, leading his BMC Racing Team across the finish line in a 13.7km team time trial in southern France.
In a dangerous, curve-filled route, the American team beat out 21 competitors with its time of 15 minutes and 58 seconds.
No other team managed to break 16 minutes, with Quick-Step Floors and Team Sunweb finishing in a tie for second with a time of 16.04 and the squad of British pre-race favourite Chris Froome, Team Sky, finishing fourth at 16.07.
It was an auspicious start for Froome, the three-time defending Tour de France champion, who already has an advantage of more than 20 seconds over several key rivals, including Italy's Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) and Italy's Fabio Aru (Astana).
The team of another potential challenger to Froome, France's Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale), finished 46 seconds behind BMC and 39 seconds behind Froome's Team Sky.
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"Everything went according to our plan. We were a bit nervous when Sky came, I thought that maybe we'd lose it on the line but we came off as the strongest team," the 27-year-old Dennis said. "We executed perfectly. The circuit was very technical. We needed everything to win it."
The Vuelta a Espana will continue on Sunday with a 203.4km flat stage from Nimes to Gruissan.
Riders will first enter Spain on Tuesday during the fourth stage, which covers a route from Escaldes-Engordany, a parish of Andorra, to the northeastern Spanish port city of Tarragona.
Colombian defending champion and Movistar Team rider Nairo Quintana decided to skip this year's Vuelta to focus on the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France, finishing second and a disappointing 12th, respectively, at those races.
