A team time trial with a sting in it
The 113th Tour de France opened in Barcelona with a 19.6 km team time trial — and a new rule that changed everything: time taken on the first rider across the line, not the fifth. Which turned the finale into something the Tour has never really seen: a TTT with an attack in it.
Visma–Lease a Bike led at every intermediate check, and then, on the climb to the Olympic Stadium on Montjuïc, Jonas Vingegaard simply rode off the front of his own train to cross the line first. Team win, personal statement, first yellow jersey — all in 21 minutes and 47 seconds.
The opening gaps
Netcompany–INEOS took second at 7 seconds with UAE Team Emirates XRG at 11, leaving the GC after day one reading: Vingegaard, then Filippo Ganna at 8 seconds, then Tadej Pogačar at 12. Small numbers — but in a Tour that would be fought in seconds all week, nobody was calling them nothing.
The full breakdown, profile and result are on the stage 1 page, and the race so far lives on our Tour tracker.
