With a star-studded line-up including Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Chris Froome (Sky) and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo), the 2014 Vuelta a Espana is shaping up to me the most fiercely contested Grand Tour of the 2014 season. After three stages we're already seeing some of the GC contenders near the top of the leaderboard and there have been some memorable performances already. In this post Jim Fryer and Iri Greco from BrakeThrough Media share some of their fantastic images from the first three stages.







The 2014 Vuelta a Espana began with a 12.6km team time trial in Jerez De La Frontera with Team Movistar taking line honours ahead of Cannondale and Orica-GreenEdge. Jonathan Castroviejo crossed the line first for the Spanish squad, earning himself the honour of wearing the red leader’s jersey on stage 2.

The second day of racing, from Algeciras to San Fernando, was one of only a handful of sprinter-friendly stages in this year’s Vuelta and Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ.fr) was billed as the top favourite. He didn’t disappoint, winning the bunch sprint, while Alejandro Valverde finished well ahead of his Movistar teammate Castroviejo in the bunch, taking over the lead in the general classification ahead of stage 3.

And on the third stage the race started on an aircraft carrier in Cádiz before heading to Arcos de la Frontera. Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) added to his stage victory at this year’s Giro d’Italia, edging out Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp) in the uphill kick to the finish. The young Australian now leads the general classification as well; the second Grand Tour he’s led this year.

As we wait for stage 4 to begin, enjoy the photos from stages 1 to 3 courtesy of BrakeThrough Media. Click through to follow them on Instagram and Twitter.













































































