Menchov leads the race by a solitary second from Verbrugghe

The Rabobank rider completed the 7km individual time trial in nine minutes 45 seconds, just a second quicker than Belgian rider Rik Verbrugghe.

Australian rider Bradley McGee finished third, a further two seconds back.

Defending champion Roberto Heras lies seventh - 15 seconds behind Menchov - after the first day of the three-week long event.

The time trial was marred by the falls of Ivan Gutierrez and Joseba Beloki, who had to change his bike and trailed in more than a minute behind Menchov.

"I've never been brilliant in time trials in my six years as a professional, so this was unexpected," said Menchov, who finished a diabolical 85th in July's Tour de France.

"But I recovered well from the Tour (de France), spending a week in Russia in August with my family, and that helped my morale enormously. I've trained well since then.

"Today I felt I was on top of my game during the whole ride."

The 27-year-old had trailed Verbrugghe by three seconds at the top of the two-kilometre climb to the Alhambra but made up time in the final stages.

Tour of Spain stage one results:
1 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 9mins 45seconds
2 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Quick Step +1 second
3 Bradley McGee (Aus) Francaise des Jeux +3s
4 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC +7s
5 Tom Danielson (USA) Discovery Channel +12s
6 Ruben Plaza Molina (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana +13s
7 Roberto Heras Hernandez (Spa) Liberty Seguros +15s
8 David Bernabeu (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana +15s
9 Santiago Botero Echeverry (Col) Phonak +18s
10 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Lampre - Caffita +20s