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The tricky 7.1 kilometre course in Burgos forced the riders to dig deep amidst sweltering conditions, as Alex Arunburu (Astana) set the early pace before defending champion Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) showed his power and poise to beat Aranburu by 6 seconds to take the red jersey with a time of 8 minutes and 32 seconds.
Not far behind the leaders, Matthews exploded on the uphill part of the course before navigating the winding descent to the finish to cross the line 14 seconds behind Roglic and inside the overall top-10, setting himself up perfectly to challenge for the overall lead in tonight's mostly flat stage 2.
“I haven’t been back to Spain for a while now so coming back here and experiencing the fans on the side of the road was incredible," Bling said after the stage.
"It is really what makes this sport what it is. For the result, I think it was ok, it is my first race after the Tour de France, so you never really know how you’re going to feel.
"The numbers and everything were good on the computer, so in the end I don’t think I could have done anything differently in the race, so I have to be happy with the result.
The goal was to be close enough today, so we can try and get the jersey tomorrow, obviously to try and win the stage first. I still have a lot of days to try and get that stage win so I am looking forward to it.”
One of the flattest stages of the race with no categorised climbs and an intermediate sprint 17 kilometres from the finish in Burgos, the 166.7 kilometre journey is right up Matthews' alley, but he won't be without serious competition.
Among the favourites are Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) who will be looking to bounce back from a lacklustre Tour de France, while Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) finished second on the Champs-Elysees after challenging for stage wins throughout.
Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-QuickStep) is back in his first Grand Tour in two years for the Wolfpack while Italian Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates) boasts four Vuelta stage wins and is always dangerous.
Matthews will need to rely on his BikeExchange leadout men to bring him through to the finish, where it'll be a battle of fast legs and sharp minds to take victory.
The 2021 Vuelta a España continues tonight with Stage 2 starting at 2300 AEST on SBS VICELAND and SBS OnDemand.
