Jonas Vingegaard took first blood in his battle with Tadej Pogacar at the Tour de France as victory in the opening team time trial in Barcelona put him in the yellow jersey.
Vingegaard took 12 seconds out of his great rival on the 19.6km circuit, delivering victory for Visma-Lease a Bike and donning yellow for the first time since he won the Tour for the second time in his career in 2023.
UAE Team Emirates’ Pogacar, who is seeking a record-equalling fifth Tour crown this summer, had to settle for the third fastest time on the day, with Netcompany-Ineos rider Filippo Ganna splitting the pair, eight seconds behind Vingegaard’s time.
The win will be a significant confidence booster for Vingegaard, second to Pogacar in each of the last two Tours after injury-disrupted build-ups but who travelled to Barcelona on the back of his Giro d’Italia win in May.
“It’s still a long Tour obviously but it’s the perfect start,” the Dane said. “My team-mates did an amazing job today. They were so strong, I didn’t have to do much, they just drove me all the way to the finish.
“To take the stage win for us and to take the yellow jersey for me personally after a few years without it, a few hard years, it’s nice for me to experience it again.”
The team time trial used an alternative format making its debut in the Tour – each team’s time was taken based on the first rider over the line rather than the fourth, but with each individual getting their own time for the purposes of the general classification.
Juan Ayuso was fourth fastest for Lidl-Trek while Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe’s Remco Evenepoel, aiming to disrupt the anticipated two-way battle for yellow, was fifth, conceding 19 seconds to Vingegaard.
There was double frustration for the British-registered Ineos team. Not only was Ganna pipped to victory, but their primary general classification hopeful Kevin Vauquelin suffered a puncture which saw the Frenchman lose 74 seconds on the opening day.
Tom Pidcock, back at the Tour with Pinarello Q36.5, sits 18th overall, 57 seconds down.
