The team finished the 23.3-kilometre course in 24 minutes and 40 seconds, 13 seconds faster than INEOS Grenadiers and 14 seconds ahead of Quick-Step AlphaVinyl to put Primož Roglič in the perfect starting position in his quest for a fourth consecutive title.
But Dutchman Gesink will first get to enjoy the Holland Grand Depart in La Roja as he rides his ninth edition of the Spanish Grand Tour in another display of commendable team spirit from Jumbo-Visma.
"I can’t really believe it," Gesink said following the stage.
"I’m really grateful to the boys. They were so so crazy strong and I’m really grateful to be in the red jersey. That’s definitely one of the highlights of my career.
"Everything can happen in a team time-trial but I knew this team had the possibility to win for sure because there are so many strong guys in this group. The plan was to stick with Primoz [Roglic] obviously and the strongest guys.
"Usually, my job is to help the team and to help Primoz. I think it’s a really nice way from them to say thank you for the last few years of helping. Riding on home soil with the red jersey will be like a dream come true."
As anticipated, BikeExchange-Jayco set the hottest early time as they rolled through the finish in 25 minutes and 11 seconds to beat then-leaders Groupama-FDJ's time by seven seconds.
The Australian team's advantage then held for some time as Bahrain Victorious, Jai Hindley's BORA-Hansgrohe, UAE Team Emirates and Astana all failed to take them out of the hot seat.
Australian debutant Lucas Plapp and INEOS Grenadiers weren't ready to join that list though, as they put seven seconds into BikeExchange-Jayco at the intermediate checkpoint on the way to an 18 second advantage through the finish to become the new leaders.
Behind them, QuickStep Alpha Vinyl was looking good but Jumbo was even better as Roglic and co were the only team to clock under 12 minutes through the intermediate checkpoint.
And in the end, they showed why they've been the team to fear in cycling this season, flying into the finish 13 seconds faster than INEOS to put the race on notice.
The Vuelta a Espana continues tonight with stage 2, a 175.1 kilometre flat stage from's-Hertogenbosch to Utrecht. Watch the action LIVE from 9:10pm (AEST) on SBS and SBS On Demand.
