Ivan Sosa (Team Ineos) joined the overall contenders for his third Vuelta a Burgos after a tough opening stage that was marred by crosswinds, two climbs before the finish, and the loss of teammate Sebastian Henao to an injury from a crash.

Sosa gave Ineos the advantage on the first of the two climbs of the Alto del Castillo, and teammates Eddie Dunbar and Richard Carapas also finished in the same group, 10 seconds behind stage winner Felix Großschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe) The second stage was damage control.

While stage 2 will likely be a stage for damage control, recent history has shown that the summit finishes of stages 3 and 5 are more to the liking of Colombian climbers.

Before the race began, Sosa told local newspaper El Diario de Burgos that he will share the leadership role in the team's victory goal with new teammate Richie Calapaz of Ineos, who finished third overall last year.

"The idea of the team is to win here with me or with my other teammates," he said.

"And the ideal strategy is to be in a good position every moment we can, so that we can see in the first mountain stage who will lead the subsequent stages.

Sosa admitted that his return to racing in a competition he had won two years in a row was "deeply motivating."

"It's a very important race for me. It's only been a week since I flew from Colombia to Europe, so I'm still getting used to the time zone here.

Apart from the fact that the peloton in Burgos was unusually gung-ho compared to previous years, Sosa was aware that the level of competition in the race would be tougher than in other seasons.

"There are so many quality participants," he told El Diario de Burgos. I think the race will be very full and very fast." As an "old-timer" in Burgos, his knowledge of the two big mountain stages, the same as in 2018 and 2019, was more extensive than that of the relative newcomers in the five-day Spanish race.

Sosa came through the opening stage unscathed, but his compatriot and teammate Sebastian Henao was much more unlucky. Henao was involved in a multiple crash with 50 km to go and was forced to retire from his first race of the resurgent 2020 season with a dislocated right shoulder.