Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard took the yellow jersey on the opening stage of the Tour de France after a thrilling team time trial.
Two-time Tour winner Vingard completed the 19.6km course in 21 minutes, 47 seconds – eight seconds ahead of Italy’s Filippo Gannar of the British NetCompany Inos Cycling team.
Favorite for the overall win was Tadez Pogacar for his UAE Team Emirates-XRG team, finishing third in Vinjegard, 12 seconds down.
Pogacar, 27, is trying to become the most successful rider in Tour history alongside Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Marcoux, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.
On a hot evening in Barcelona for the Tour’s Catalonia-based Grand Depart, the race’s first team time trial for seven years saw the teams ride in a ‘chain’ formation to set the fastest time through the city by shielding their lead rider from wind resistance – with each squad’s seven support riders eventually overtaking their team leader alone.
Wingard, 29, a time trial specialist, has returned to top form since becoming serious In 2024, he suffered a lung injury in a crash in the build-up tour.
As part of his recovery to be able to compete with Pogakkar’s explosive riding style, Vingegaard won two more of cycling’s three-week Grand Tours, including last year’s protest-hit Vuelta a España and May’s Giro d’Italia, where he won the overall by more than five minutes.
“‘It’s the perfect start,’ said Vingard of the Vizma-Liz A Bike team. “I didn’t have to do much. To take the yellow for me personally after the last few years… it’s good for me to feel it again. It’s something special.”
While Pogacar will not be too concerned about losing to the only rider who is considered capable of stopping him from winning a fifth Tour, the Slovenian will know that he is in his best form since 2023, racing against his main rival in the modern era.
The rider originally considered third best in the world, Belgium’s Remko Evenpoel for his Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team, was fifth, 19 seconds down.
France’s big hope for the overall win, 19-year-old Paul Seixas of the Decathlon-CMA CGM team finished tenth, 39 seconds off the pace.
Hinault was the last French rider to win the men’s Tour de France in 1985.
