Theo Bos (The Netherlands) has won the first stage of the Vuelta de Castilla and Leon 2010, while Tour de France champion Alberto Contador of Spain was 19th in the same time.

The Cervelo TestTeam rider covered Wednesday's 98-mile ride from Belorado to Burgos in 3 hours, 52 minutes, 8 seconds to beat Graeme Brown of Australia and Pablo Urtasun of Spain, who both finished in the same time.

Alberto Contador (Team Astana) said windy conditions made for a nerve-racking ride. Denis Menchov of Russia and Rabobank, another pre-race favorite, finished 47th, also in the same time as Bos.

"We decided today that we would work for me in the sprint. The plan was that we rode the last 25 kilometers full gas to hold everything together," stage winner Theo Bos said after his win. "Actually I didn't feel super well today, as I was pretty tired from Paris-Roubaix last weekend. But when the final started I came into a good position at the front, then my teammates brought me to the front position in the last kilometer, but I didn't want to come early. I waited until I saw the sprinters coming up, then I started my sprint as well. Brown who was in my wheel was not able to pass me and came second. Tomorrow is another chance, probably it will be a sprint as well, we will again give our best. Hopefully we can do it again, why not?," Bos added.

"It was a successful day for the team. The whole team did a really good job and every rider gave his best to help Theo," Cervelo TestTeam sports director Alex Sans Vega commented after the stage and added "We knew the day would not be easy because of the wind and because we changed the action many times during the stage. That made the race difficult to control. Because we were one of the favourite teams today with Theo in the roster, most of the teams put the responsibility on us. But we didn't care, we took [the needed] responsibility in the race.

Thursday's stage is a 130-mile trek from Burgos to Carrion de los Condes.