BARCELONA, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Jonas Vingegaard of Team Visma-Lease a Bike landed the first blow in his battle to win the 2026 Tour de France as he ended Saturday's first stage in the leader's yellow jersey following the team time trial in Barcelona.
Vingegaard crossed the line of the 19.6-kilometer course in 21 minutes 47 seconds, 12 seconds ahead of four-time winner Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates XRG), who finished third on the stage, with Filippo Ganna (Netcompany Ineos) second, eight seconds behind Vingegaard.
The stage was raced in high heat and humidity, which clearly took its toll on several riders, especially in the closing kilometers, which saw short but draining climbs up Montjuic, with the finish line at Barcelona's Olympic Stadium.
The stage also saw Juan Ayuso put in an excellent ride to sit in fourth place, while Remco Evenepoel finished fifth, 19 seconds behind Vingegaard.
The team time trial is a specialist event which sees the team start with eight riders, with team members dropping behind after making a big effort to set their team leader up for a strong finish.
Sunday's second stage is a hilly 168.5 kilometers from Tarragona to Barcelona, which again finished at the Olympic Stadium.
It looks set for some early breakaways and could produce a new leader given that Vingegaard's Visma-Lease a Bike team won't want to make the effort of defending the yellow jersey throughout the Tour. ■
