The first stage of the Tour de France was the spectacle it deserved, as 23 teams of eight riders powered through the streets of Barcelona. At the end of the evening, the team that completed the 19.6-kilometre course fastest was Visma-Lease a Bike, with Jonas Vingegaard the first rider home eight seconds to the good.
Throughout the evening, it was clear that some of the teams were better drilled then others for the newly revamped team time trial format, and it was no surprise that Netcompany-Ineos was among the very best. The British WorldTeam set a blistering benchmark at the start of the third act, despite some bad luck for some important members of the team including Kévin Vauquelin who punctured around the halfway point. But Vingegaard and co. were fastest from the second time check.
The UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad of reigning Tour champion Tadej Pogačar was last down the ramp, but there was ground to make up after the last time check where Pogačar had 13 seconds to make up. He and Isaac Del Toro worked together until the last kilometre, and Pogačar ultimately crossed the line 11.28 seconds down for third on the day.
[race_result id=17 stage_id=89776 count=3 gc=0 year=2026]
[race_result id=17 stage_id=89776 count=10 gc=10 year=2026]
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