Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-hansgrohe) took the victory in the opening time trial of the 2019 Tour of the Basque Country.
Schachmann topped Daniel Martinez (EF Education First) and Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) by 9 and 10 seconds, respectively.
“I don’t know what to say, it’s my third victory this year,” Schachmann said. “Many time trials I’ve been in front, and I’ve never won. It’s a special victory for me. It was a very hard time trial. I don’t know how I did it. There were a lot of strong guys like Kwiatkowski. I’m speechless.”
Other GC contenders finished in top 10, with Michał Kwiatkowksi (Team Sky) in third, Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) in fourth and Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) rounding out the top-five.
Tour of the Basque Country 2019 – stage 1 results (Zumarraga – Zumarraga ITT):
| 1 | Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-hansgrohe) | 17:10 |
| 2 | Daniel Martinez (EF Education First) | +09” |
| 3 | Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) | +10” |
| 4 | Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | +12” |
| 5 | Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | +16” |
| 6 | Patrick Konrad (Bora-hansgrohe) | +19” |
| 7 | Ion Izagirre (Astana) | +22” |
| 8 | Enric Mas (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | +24” |
| 9 | Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) | +30” |
| 10 | Hugh Carthy (EF Education First) | +31” |
