A team time trial especially one that essentially acts as one long leadout train for the protected rider always creates notable differences among the general classification riders, and stage one of the 2026 Tour de France has left a number of key riders already playing catch-up.The 19.6km TTT in Barcelona ended with a climb up to Montjuc, the fortress that overlooks the Mediterranean port city. Jonas Vingegaard, twice a Tour winner, proved victorious, with defending champion Tadej Pogaar finishing 12 seconds in arrears to his rival. Thats a time gap that could be closed as early as stage two, but there are others with a lot more work on their hands.Paul Seixas, the great French hope, finished 39 seconds back from Vingegaard, while Britains Tom Pidcock was 57 seconds slower than the stage winner. In fact, Seixas and Pidcock lost time to all of their expected rivals in the battle for a top-three finish.Uno-X Mobility's Tobias Halland Johannessen, viewed by some as an outsider for a top-five spot, was one minute behind, and Netcompany-Ineos are already facing an uphill battle Thymen Arensman was 1:01 adrift, and Kvin Vauquelin was 1:14 shy of Vingegaard.Nineteen-year-old Seixas, however, was in an optimistic mood, having made his Tour debut. Really good, was his assessment of the day. It was special because it was a TTT and we were really focused on it. "I took it as a normal TTT and we did a great job today. We did the best we could do today and thats the most important thing for me.Like Pogaar, Seixas is aiming to claw back time as soon as stage two, which finishes on the same Montjuc circuit. Its a good stage for me I think, he said. I did different work for this race so we will see how it goes and how I feel. I hope it will be a good stage tomorrow.They [Vingegaard and Pogaar] are the best in the world so we will see how it goes during the coming weeks. I hope to really perform and see what I can do.Pidcock, who hasnt publicly stated his ambitions in the race, is also needing to fight back if indeed he is targeting the GC as is assumed. He had known he would have had to, but he also would have hoped to have lost less time than he did.Its a hard final and you want to keep Toms best skills intact hes very explosive and powerful on that kind of finish and our strategy was to save as much energy as possible. I dont think it was a bad strategy, Pinarello-Q36.5s coach Kurt Bogaerts said afterwards.Pidcocks punchiness makes him one of the top contenders to win stage two, but claiming yellow seems out of the question now. I think there are many stages that are good for Tom on paper, but it all depends on how the ball falls on the day, Bogaerts said. That kind of finish is all about momentum, legs and having a little bit of luck. We will definitely go for tomorrow.On the flip side, the TTT confirmed the positive condition of some of the other podium contenders: Juan Ayuso of Lidl-Trek was only 16 seconds slower than the winner, and just four seconds back from Pogaar. Time trial world champion Remco Evenepoel, meanwhile, was 19 seconds down but crucially finished 16 seconds faster than his Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe teammate Florian Lipowitz. The difference was limited, Red Bull sports director Klaas Lodewyck told the Belgian press, who like most are intrigued who will come out on top in the Evenepoel-Lipowitz battle for team leadership. Does this immediately clarify the hierarchy between our leaders? I dont think so the final reckoning will only be made in Paris.Evenepoel uttered the same thing. Whether I am now leader number one? Im not concerned with that. I just did my thing, the Belgian said.This is more or less the result we expected. It was quite OK. I dont think we could have ridden any faster. It was a successful first day.One day down, and the GC is already taking shape.

The 2026 Tour de France will take place from the 4th to the 26th of July. Throughout the21 stages, the peloton will be racing through the mountains, sprint stages, cobblestones, individual and team time trials, and even. We take a look at all stages, their official profiles, and preview the days -...

One thousand and seventy seven days. That's how much time has passed since Jonas Vingegaard last wore the yellow jersey in the Tour de France. But when he finally tried it on for size again in Barcelona on Saturday evening, after leading Visma-Lease a Bike to victory in the stage one team time trial, he found it still fitted him just fine.Vingegaard stormed through the finish with eight seconds in hand over second-placed Filippo Ganna of Netcompany-Ineos, after his team pulled off a near-flawless TTT masterclass. Above all, though, he triumphed over Tadej Pogaar, his Tour de France nemesis and the defending champion that many consider near-unbeatable.Vingegaard has worn yellow before he is a double Tour winner, don't forget but it was clear that this jersey meant as much to him as it has ever done, and maybe more.Describing it as a "dream come true", he said: "Being back in the yellow jersey is for me the most important. I'm just extremely happy, it's something I dreamt of for the last three years."It's a dream for everyone in cycling, I think, and just to be wearing this jersey is something special, and I will enjoy every moment in it."Much has happened in Vingegaard's career during those 1,077 days since he last wore it in Paris at the end of the 2023 Tour de France. Perhaps most significantly, a massive crash at Itzulia Basque Country in early 2024, which left him badly injured and, in the immediate aftermath, believing he might die. Being able to wear the maillot jaune once again, he said, provided a certain level of closure."I've struggled at times in the last few years," he told journalists, "[but] now I feel like I can close this chapter in the book, if you can say it. Of course, it will always be a part of my book, laying there on the ground, believing that I'm going to die. And then coming from that to this point is also for me a bit emotional."Much as wearing yellow once more was a huge moment for Vingegaard, it wasn't won in a straight fight between himself and Pogaar. Both riders were beholden to their team's abilities against the clock, and while Pogaar's UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad were 13 seconds behind come the third and final time check, when both riders were unleashed up the final climb of Montjuc, it was the Slovenian who prevailed. He was three seconds quicker than Vingegaard's 1:26 and hence will wear the polka dots on stage two.Vingegaard was acutely aware, he said, that his stage one victory was only the very beginning of a long three weeks. He is now a expecting a hard fight that will begin almost straight away."I think the next stage will already be very hard," he said. "I think it's just gonna be, from now on, fighting every single day to do the best possible, to be honest."Visma-Lease a Bike sports director Marc Reef emphasised that the team's underlying goal was yellow in Paris, and that Vingegaard would not necessarily attempt to keep it in the immediate future."[Paris] is the goal; it's not the goal to directly keep it, but of course when the chance is there it's OK," he said. "And of course tomorrow we have immediately another explosive stage; stage three is another explosive stage with an uphill finish We'll see day by day we're happy with the situation we're in. We have a small gap over our opponents but in the first place we're happy with this win."

At the Tour de France, the racing does not always end at the finish line. Sprint deviations, sticky bottles, feeding breaches, littering fines, time penalties, yellow cards and relegations can all become part of the daily story, especially in a race where every stage result and jersey position is wa...

While the Red BullBorahansgrohe mechanics tried their best to keep it under wraps, the camouflaged Specialized S-Works Shiv TT bike of World Champion Remco Evenepoel has garnered a fair bit of attention at the Tour de France Grand Depart.In the automotive industry, striped camouflaging is used to hide the shape and detail of a new test mule, but the downside is a vivid and easy-to-spot object - no riding incognito here. The same can be said for Specialized and what is clearly an all-new S-Works Shiv TT bike, a fact validated by the UCI prototype sticker on the upper seat tube.(Image credit: Aaron Borrill)Originally launched in 2019 at the Tour de France Grand Depart, the Specialized S-Works Shiv TT has long needed an update - despite still being competitive and winning races, Olympic gold medals and World Championships under the legs of Belgian Remco Evenepoel. Known for its lightweight chassis and sleek aerodynamic design, the Morgan Hill-based company has looked to up the ante of its best time-trial bike and bestow it with a more contemporary design.(Image credit: Josh Croxton)Like the newly launched Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL9, the new Shiv will undoubtedly benefit from a fresh Fact 12r layup, entirely new tube shaping, and balanced weight distribution throughout the chassis. In terms of the new blueprint, the bike benefits from a radically narrower leading edge on the headtube, which is also deeper in profile than the current model. (Image credit: Future)The fork, downtube and seat tube are also notably deeper and sharper, and more in line with current aero trends, while a distinct Win Fin-style seat tube cutout extends over and hugs the rear wheel. (Image credit: Getty Images)The rear triangle, in particular, is akin to an arrowhead: the seat stays join the seat tube at 90 degrees, mirroring the chainstay below, and then meet at the dropouts. We expect this to have been implemented for a boost in aerodynamics, compliance, and tyre clearance (presumably up to 32mm) - and one that visually sets it apart from its chief rivals. Like his teammates, Evenepoel's prototype Shiv was running 30mm Specialized Turbo TLR tyres.Aaron BorrillAaron BorrillCloser examination of Evenepoels spare bike on the roof of his team car showed a SRAM Red AXS groupset complete with a whopping 68T chainring paired with a 10-36T cassette and 160mm cranks. Theres also a new aerodynamic seatpost clamp allowing saddle tilt and fore-aft adjustments. The cockpit is fairly similar affair to what weve seen used by Remco in the past, with a vee-shaped basebar attached to custom carbon-fibre extensions. As has become commonplace on SRAM-sponsored teams at this year's Tour de France, Remco is using custom Leap Components Aero Grip Blip Mount shifters emblazoned with his initials, R.EV.(Image credit: Aaron Borrill)While the Roval solid disc rear appears unchanged, the front Roval wheel is notably deeper than that of his teammates, all of whom are riding the current Specialized S-Works Shiv TT.We'll update this with more information and details as we receive them.

The Tours bold new first past the post TTT format was the talk of the town in Barcelona and sparked an early GC battle between the favourites. But what did the riders and teams make of grand tour racings latest innovation?

The 2026 Tour de France got underway with a 19.7-kilometre team time trial through the streets of Barcelona, introducing the peloton to the race's new format. While the stage victory still went to the fastest team, every rider received an individual finishing time for the general classification, mea...

Second on the stage, Egan Bernal in the green jersey, and still there was a feeling that Netcompany-Ineos had started the Tour de France with a dash of bad luck. In the races opening team time trial in Barcelona, Filippo Ganna steered the team to within eight seconds of the stage win, and the races first yellow jersey, won instead by Jonas Vingegaard and Visma-Lease a Bike. It seemed like a plan almost perfectly executed. Except Ganna was never meant to lead the charge to the line, Netcompany-Ineos director of racing Geraint Thomas said. It was supposed to be Kvin Vauquelin, who punctured with 7km remaining of the 19.6km course, and finished a minute back. It was a tough one, really, with Kvin puncturing, Thomas told Cycling Weekly. He was our guy to finish it off. He was the one that was going to, well, he was sitting on to sort of save the legs really for that last effort. Due to the new timing system, whereby riders received individual times across the line for the general classification, a stage win would have put the Frenchman in the yellow jersey. That dream quickly fell away, but in the face of potential disaster, the team improvised, and Ganna took on the baton himself. Everyone stepped up and did their bit, Thomas said. The way the boys responded to [the puncture] and adapted to the plan was really good to see. Pippo, fair play to him, we wanted him to empty the tank by the top of the first climb and he had to finish it off [on the second]. As I said earlier today, you have your plan and it'll never go to plan. It's how you adapt to it. It's just a shame to lose Kvin with that puncture. I feel for him, because he hasn't had much luck this year, but it's the way it is, and I think everyone did what they could in the moment. Netcompany-Ineos have two riders in the top 10 after stage one: Ganna in second at eight seconds, and Tobias Foss in ninth at 38. Vauquelin, who placed seventh overall last year with Arka-B&B Hotels, is 26th, one minute and 14 seconds behind the leader Vingegaard. Thomas assured the Frenchman's time loss is not a catastrophe: [Vauquelin] was coming here to not worry about the GC and just go after the stages, he said, adding that the team plans to treat the race like 21 one-day races. As a final, unexpected treat after the stage, Egan Bernal was called to the podium, where he was presented with the green jersey, as leader of the points classification. The 2019 race winner earned the honour by being the fastest to the first time check 5km into the stage. Asked by Cycling Weekly if it was the plan to go for green, Bernal said: No, for sure not. The objective was to ride as fast as we can for the stage. Like Thomas, the Colombian's take on the day struck a bittersweet tone. I think it was good. We came second, he said. Of course, you always want to win, but this is cycling, were in the highest level in the world, and I think the others deserve the victory.

Tadej Pogacar did not get yellow in Barcelona, did not beat Jonas Vingegaard, and still finished the opening day of the 2026 Tour de France insisting he was happy. UAE Team Emirates XRG placed third in the Stage 1 team time trial, 11.28 seconds behind Team Visma | Lease a Bike, leaving Pogacar 12...

Jonas Vingegaard became the first yellow jersey of the 2026 Tour de France after Team Visma | Lease a Bike won the opening team time trial in Barcelona. Visma finished 7.33 seconds ahead of Netcompany INEOS, while UAE Team EmiratesXRG placed third, 11.28 seconds behind after Tadej Pogacar rode the...