Bora-hansgrohe had set the first meaningful benchmark, with Rafal Majka’s team stopping the clock in 16.19.

That was three seconds faster than Lotto-Soudal, who had been second down the ramp, while Aqua Blue Sport – in their debut Grand Tour – had been another early starters, setting a time of 16.36 with Mark Christian in their front group, and Adam Blythe just a second behind.

Team Sunweb, with Wilco Kelderman and Tour de France King of the Mountains Warren Barguil their GC options, smashed 15 seconds off the Bora mark, meanwhile.

Sunweb were ousted by QuickStep Floors, by just half a second, before BMC Racing – led home by Dennis – set what proved to be the race-winning mark.

It leaves Dennis in the red jersey, and Tejay van Garderen the best-placed of the major GC contenders, but Froome otherwise gained time on most of his rivals.

Orica-Scott, with Adam and Simon Yates and Johan Esteban Chaves all in their ranks, were eight seconds slower than Sky, while Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) and Contador all finished more than 30 seconds behind BMC Racing.

Fabio Aru and his Astana team-mates lost 41 seconds to the stage winners (32 to Sky) and Romain Bardet’s Ag2r-La Mondiale were a further five seconds back.

Vuelta a Espana 2017: stage one (TTT) – result

1) BMC Racing – 15.58
2) QuickStep Floors – 16.04
3) Team Sunweb – ST
4) Team Sky – 16.07
5) Orica-Scott – 16.15
6) Bora-hansgrohe – 16.19
7) Lotto-Soudal – 16.22
8) Movistar – ST
9) Bahrain-Merida – 16.29
10) Katusha-Alpecin – 16.31