Advantage Vingegaard as Visma cruise to Tour's team time trial opener

Jonas Vingegaard is back in the yellow jersey of the Tour de France for the first time since 2023 after he led his Visma | Lease a Bike squad to victory in the stage 1 team time trial in Barcelona.

Visma elected to spare their climbers Vingegaard, Davide Piganzoli and Sepp Kuss until the two short ascents in the finale of the 19km test, but they were already the quickest team at the intermediate checks before Montjuïc.

The strategy was a winning one, and Vingegaard danced clear of Piganzoli in the final 500m to lead his team to victory, dislodging Filippo Ganna and Netcompany-Ineos from top spot by eight scant seconds.

Tadej Pogacar and UAE Team Emirates-XRG were the only squad left out on the course at that point, and they were 13 seconds down at the third intermediate check. The Slovenian, however, still had Brandon McNulty and Isaac del Toro for company in the final 3km, and it was clear that this would come down to the wire on Montjuïc.

Pogacar punched clear of Del Toro inside the final 500m but he fell just short of denying his old rival Vingegaard, stopping the clock 11 seconds down in third place.

Remco Evenepoel led Red Bull to fifth at 18 seconds, and he stole some early ground on stablemate Florian Lipowitz, who struggled on the climb to Montjuïc.

Juan Ayuso finished strongly to lead Lidl-Trek to fourth at 15 seconds, while Mattias Skelmose was distanced by a mid-stage puncture.

Paul Seixas, meanwhile, had to settle for sixth at 38 seconds after his Decathlon CMA CGM team were sluggish through the intermediate checks.

Despite a crash for Guillaume Martin, Groupama-FDJ United were the best of the early starters thanks to Romain Grégoire, though their place on the hot seat looked under imminent threat when Movistar scorched through the first two time checks with the best time. 

Movistar’s effort collapsed in the hilly finale, however, with leader Cian Uijtdebroeks visibly struggling. The team elected to wait for him, but the Belgian’s early travails do not augur well for his GC challenge. He lost his teammates’ wheels once again on the final kick to the line, and he would lose almost two minutes in the overall standings by day’s end.

A spirited Alpecin-Deceuninck effort, finished off by a sparkling Mathieu van der Poel, knocked Grégoire out of the provisional maillot jaune, but out on the course, Netcompany-Ineos were travelling at a considerable rate of knots en route to the finishing climbs.

Their effort was complicated, however, by a flat tyre for Kévin Vauquelin, who was their anointed man to attack the final climb up Montjuïc, while Egan Bernal was also distanced. Filippo Ganna was the last man standing, however, and the Italian time trial champion produced a thunderous showing on the final ascent, stopping the clock some 31 seconds quicker than Van der Poel and Alpecin.

Decathlon CMA CGM were subdued as a collective through the intermediate checks, but this was a team time trial of two parts, and Seixas excelled as an individual in the finale, taking provisional second place, 30 seconds down on Ganna and Netcompany-Ineos.

Lidl-Trek broke even with Ineos through the first two checks, and they maintained their rhythm even when they lost Mattias Skjelmose to a puncture a little over 12km in. After Mathias Vaceck swung off, Juan Ayuso thundered up the final climb, but he fell just short of Ganna, crossing the line eight seconds down.

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, meanwhile, were a dozen seconds down on the leaders at the midpoint, though it was clear that Remco Evenepoel would conjure up something special in the finale. Only Florian Lipowitz and Maxim Van Gils could live with him into the two climbs, and the German was already struggling with 3km to go.

Evenepoel cruised clear of his teammate at the base of the climb up Montjuïc. Round one in the internal Red Bull battle fell to Evenepoel, but the yellow jersey would evade him, and he had to settle for what would prove to be the third best time, 10 seconds down on Ganna. 

Pogačar and his UAE team lost Adam Yates and Nils Politt surprisingly early in their effort, but they remained in the hunt thanks to Del Toro and Pogačar’s finishing power. Pogačar looked as sharp as ever on the final ramps, but he had a touch too much to do, and Vingegaard takes the first yellow jersey of the race.

In the overall standings, Vingegaard is eight seconds clear of Ganna, 12 ahead of Pogačar and 19 up on Evenepoel. Del Toro conceded 26 seconds, Lipowitz lost 35 seconds, while Seixas has some early ground to make up after losing 38 seconds. 

The gaps are still relatively minor and the Tour is still very long. But it starts with Pogačar in the unfamiliar position of chasing down Vingegaard. Expect a high-octane pursuit.