Bahrain McLaren's Mikel Landa finished second in his season debut in his new colors on the opening stage of the Vuelta a Andalucía on Wednesday.

Fuglsang overpowered Landa on the final climb up Puerto de las Palomas and then pushed Landa out on the last few hundred meters of the climb.

"Very happy with my first race. On the final climb, I attacked for the stage win, but I found a strong rival in Jacob," Landa said in a team press release.

Nevertheless, it is an encouraging start to the season for the 30-year-old Spanish rider. Just three weeks ago, Landa was hit by a car while training.

"It's been almost 20 days since my training accident, I'm getting my confidence back and I'm feeling good," Landa said. I'm also happy to be able to compete with the other guys who have already competed this year, because you never know what's going to happen on the first day [of racing]."

In addition to Tuns, who overcame mechanical problems in the last 10 km to finish third, Pero Bilbao also finished fifth, making it a satisfying day for the new Bahrain McLaren organization.

"Tactically we were good and we proved that we are a really strong team," said Tuns. 'Personally I'm fine and I still have good legs, as I did in Valencia Forta a la Comunitat Valenciana.'

Gorazd Stangeri, Bahrain McLaren's sporting director, added: "I want to highlight the performance of the whole team, which sent three riders from first to fifth place. We have other tough stages ahead of us and we will do our best to bring home the yellow leader's jersey."

The team's team director, Golazd Stangeri, said, "We have a lot of work ahead of us.

The five-day mountain race will conclude with a second stage from Siviglia to Iznájar on Thursday, followed by a 13km individual time trial around Mijas on Sunday.