The Netherlands' Robert Gesink took the first red jersey after his Jumbo-Visma team won the opening stage team time trial on the Vuelta a España ©Getty Images

Jumbo-Visma dominated the opening stage of the Vuelta a España, a team time trial, with Dutch rider Robert Gesink taking the first red jersey of cycling's final Grand Tour of the year.

This year's Vuelta began with a 23.3 kilometre team time trial in the Dutch city of Utrecht, and home team Jumbo-Visma got off to a flying start by completing the first stage in 24min 40sec.

That was 13 seconds clear of closest challengers Ineos Grenadiers and 14 ahead of Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team.

Gesink crossed the finish line first in Utrecht to take the red jersey, with Jumbo-Visma completing the time trial with all eight riders.

The result represented a strong start for Gesink's team-mate Primož Roglič of Slovenia in search of a historic fourth consecutive Vuelta title.

Olympic champion Richard Carapaz of Ecuador is expected to be one of his main rivals for the crown, and helped his Ineos Grenadiers team to rank second in the team time trial with a time of 24:53.

Quick-Step were third, finishing just one second slower than Ineos Grenadiers.

Team BikeExchange-Jayco had set the early time to beat at 25:11, and were followed by UAE Team Emirates in 25:13 and Groupama-FDJ in 25:18.

The 21-stage race is scheduled to continue tomorrow with a 175.1km primarily flat route from 's-Hertogenbosch to Utrecht in The Netherlands.