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Meanwhile, at the finish the current standings are: Dylan Van Baarle 9:59, Fabio Felline +02, Andre Amador +03, Seb Langeveld +05, Martijn Tusveld +08.

So, the current top five at the intermediate check is: Edmondson, Van Baarle +04, Fabio Felline +06, Langeveld +07, Jelle Wallays +08.

Here's another big name: Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) is on course now. The British rider had a disappointing Tour de France and is here to support his brother Simon while trying to open up his Grand Tour stage account. That win won't come today, I hasten to add.

Here was how Richie Porte's race got under way. His losses won't be too big today over 8km but it doesn't bode well that he's so off the pace early on. His team-mate Rohan Dennis will be one of the favourites to be in red tonight after an opening ITT win. That should put morale up chez BMC. Both Porte and Dennis off to pastures new next season, it's worth remembering.

Porte's race has got off to an iffy start: the Australian comes home 26 seconds off the pace and that's only good enough for seventh place - and he will drop further down the list once the big guns get going. The 32-year-old has been ill with gastroenteritis and so that performance is perhaps no surprise out there...

The current leading time at the finish is Sebastian Langeveld of EF Education First. He is level on time with Dylan van Baarle of Team Sky - both coming home in 10:04.

And it's that man Porte who has the best time at the intermediate check after 4.6km. His time of 5:51 is 16 seconds faster than that of compatriot Alex Edmondson of Mitchelton-Scott. CORRECTION: Porte was 16 seconds slower than Edmondson!

Richie Porte is one of my riders to watch in this year's race - the Australian crashed out of the Tour de France in stage 9 for a second successive season, and needs a result here to save his season before joining Trek-Segafredo over the winter.

Tiesj Benoot of Belgium is the first big name rider to get going - and that's followed quite soon by Porte, who is now on course.

If I'm perfectly honest, I'm not quite sure how they decide who starts when in these time trials. Usually, it's in reverse order but we have no GC yet and so it seems to be a bit of a mixture. Perhaps teams can choose their orders like football teams would do in a penalty shoot out. The reason I mention is it that Australia's Richie Porte (BMC) starts really early - he's the 19th rider down the ramp - whereas most of the other pre-race favourites come much later. For example, amid the final 15 riders today we have the likes of Victor Campenaerts, Rigo Uran, Peter Sagan, Fabio Aru, Simon Yates, Rohan Dennis (the favourite for the win, arguably), David de la Cruz, Nairo Quintana and Nibali.

The man Cubero comes home to set a target time of 10min 46sec. It will be beaten, but for now he can bask in the ephemeral glory of the winner's enclosure.

This is the first time the Vuelta has started with an individual time trial since 2009, when Fabian Cancellara won a 4.5km prologue in the Dutch city of Assen the year that Alejandro Valverde took the red jersey.

Off goes the 25-year-old Grand Tour debutant Jorge Cubero as this opening ITT gets under way under a warm late-afternoon sun and bright blue skies.

Here's a link to the official start times and a sneak-peak at a rider's eye view from the start ramp. The last rider to get going will be Vincenzo Nibali, the 2010 champion. The Italian from Bahrain Merida has been given the number 1 bib in the absence of defending champion Chris Froome of Team Sky.

We're due to get under way in six minutes with Spaniard Jorge Cubero Galvez of minnows Burgos BH the rider given the honour of rolling down the ramp first of all.

Hello and welcome to live coverage of stage 1 of the 73rd edition of La Vuelta - an 8km individual time trial around Malaga.