Having missed out in the Vuelta Asturias, Movistar lived up to their status as the overwhelming favourites in today’s first stage of the Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid as they delivered Juan Jose Lobato and Jesus Herrada to a 1-2. Having bridged across to a 16-rider front group, the pair were the fastest in the 26-rider sprint, with Daniele Ratto (Androni) being the best of the rest in third. Lobato is also the first leader of the race.

We have gathered a few reactions.

Juan Jose Lobato: It is important to show that I can win consistently

The spring season in Spain keeps bringing success to a sensational Movistar Team, who claimed a one-two in Saturday's opening day of the 29th Vuelta a Madrid, a lumpy 174km loop around the region's western Sierra, finishing in Las Rozas, which the Blues dominated relentlessly, even when the situation seemed less favourable to their interest halfway through the course.

Juanjo Lobato prevailed in the day's sprint after the squad directed by José Luis Laguía had to go after the early attacks, early with Jesús Herrada and later on with Rubén Fernández and Antonio Pedrero in a challenging 18-man escape. Excellent work from Ventoso, Arcas and Soler prevented the group from going too far, before Gorka Izagirre strung the bunch out on the second climb of the Cat-2 Alto de la Cruz Verde. The move left only ten riders in pursuit of the leaders, but brilliant technique on the descent by Gorka Izagirre and Jesús Herrada - who went on to finish 2nd today - combined with good work by both Pedrero and Fernandez as well as his two team-mates in the closing phase kept Lobato out of trouble.

The Andalusian - who claimed his third success of the season, the Blues' 19th so far in 2016 - and the whole Movistar Team will do their best to defend the leader's jersey in tomorrow's closing circuit race in Madrid's El Pilar borough, over 19 laps / 95km that are bound to become even harder due to a bad weather forecast for Sunday morning.

Juanjo Lobato said: 

"I think today's victory is the team's, not mine; I just put my name under the stage, but without them, it'd have been impossible to claim. I said during the podium ceremony interview that I'm especially happy because this win confirms I've been able to keep my form constant and victories coming through the last few months. It's always important to win, even if you only do it once, but claiming victories in February, then April, then May... that makes me even happier.

”We saw that on the second ascent of El Mojón the peloton was suffering a lot, and we picked up the pace a bit more. Seeing that many riders were left behind and we remained a bit alone, we decided to wait for the Cruz Verde climb, so Ventoso and Arcas could bridge back and do some additional work so we could focus on setting the pace up there. Gorka told me he was going strong and wanted to move on the climb, and that's what he did. I could barely follow the group's pace, but once we reached the summit, my team-mates saw I could hang on, our move was a good one... and we chose to carry on and chase down the leaders.

"From that point on, it was impressive: Rubén and Antonio Pedrero kept the second peloton always at two minutes' distance behind, and when the Caja Rural riders started attacking the field with 6-7 kilometers to go, Gorka was incredible. With 2km remaining, Herrada started pulling - he made it so easy for me, 'una barbaridad.'

"I was feeling really well in Australia, but due to some problems there, my start to the season was a bit erratic. I was going to be super strong in Sanremo, but in Andalucía I suffered a small injury due to a crash, which prevented me from being 100% in the month I really wanted to do well in. However, I kept training, got back into good feelings... and that's how these last two victories happened.

”Any goals for the summer? I don't mind where I'll be racing, to be honest; I trust Eusebio to choose the best way for me to shine."

Strong Caja Rural team try to destabilize Movistar in Madrid

In was good collective work for Caja Rural-Seguros RGA in the first stage. Fabrizio Ferrari was fifth, Jonathan Lastra sixth and Sergio Pardilla seventh in the sprint. Meanwhile, Hugh Carthy rounded out the top 10 and so they were the best team in the race.

Carthy was part of an early move that was brought back and then Pardilla and Lastra joined the day’s break. In the finale, the team had five riders in the group that sprinted for the win and they kept attacking. Pardilla was first and then Ferrari sought a surprise that ultimately failed.

Sergio Pardilla said: "It became a large break where Lastra and I managed to be. There was not much collaboration but when Movistar came from the back, they have done a good work as Lobato had survived the climb. When I was in ​​the final group, we have tried to destabilize Movistar but it was not possible. I am pleased with the team 's work and we keep trying.”