Water, wind and many nerves. Copenhagen, a city where cycling is a religion, received the time trial prologue of the Tour de France with a merciless downpour that made the task of some cyclists who accumulated mountains of nerves before the Nordic hell that was presented to them the first day very difficult. In the midst of the generalized panic, Tadej Pogacar (UAE) appeared once again to make the impossible simple, to overcome the conditions and, with beautiful sobriety, overcome all obstacles without taking excessive risks and despite this, outperform all his rivals in the overall. Only the third Jumbo, Wout Van Aert, who made an effort and risked himself in every corner, and the Belgian Ives Lampaert, helped by the improvement in asphalt conditions, were able to beat the double champion and therefore the Quick-Step jersey will be the first jersey yellow. Meanwhile, Enric Mas, Movistar’s hope, begins by losing 49 seconds to the one from UAE.
Given the expected climatic difficulties, the teams tried to get their best runners out as soon as possible. This asymmetrical distribution meant that Roglic started forty minutes before Pogacar, and it is not clear that the Jumbo rider was favored with this strategy. On the contrary, the wind in favor in the last kilometers of the stage seemed to favor the riders who started in the middle part of the day. It was there when Van Aert broke all the records, when Pogacar, without risking too much in the most dangerous corners, opened the first differences with his rivals in the general classification and when the Italian Filippo Ganna, the great favorite of the day, signed a fourth place meritorious under the circumstances. The three were in a distance of just six seconds, an example of the current equality.
No cyclist was comfortable during the 13.2 kilometers of the urban layout, complex in itself but that the rain turned into a danger, designed by the organization. Every curve was a trap. Each white line drawn on the asphalt an enemy to avoid. There were crashes, none significant, but above all there was caution on the lines.
For Primoz Roglic (Jumbo) the day was a new mental battle to overcome. A fall made him lose his options in the last edition and he has lived with that obsession all winter. Yesterday’s conditions invited us to seek safety, but this time the Slovenian took a risk and came out unscathed, at least physically. The eight seconds that he lost against Pogacar are a lesser evil in a stage in which everyone had much more to lose than win. Vingegaard, his squire, traced his time at the finish line and, as expected, both are in a good position to attack the boss of the race.
When the stage seemed resolved, the road began to improve until it dried up and gave rise to the surprise. Yves Lampaert, also a specialist against the clock, appeared there to destroy Van Aert’s best time by five seconds. At the finish line, the Belgian acknowledged his own surprise at wearing yellow: “I didn’t expect this,” he said. This marks his fifteenth career win, including one at the 2017 Vuelta.
Another who did not want to play the guy on the first day was the Majorcan Enric Mas. The one from Movistar erred in prudence and saw his options affected by giving up 49 seconds with respect to Pogacar. Despite this, he was happy: “The only thing that could be done today was to go and secure, we saved the day”, he explained.
1. Yves Lampaert (BEL/QST) 15:17.
2. Wout van Aert (BEL/JUM) at 5 seconds.
3. Tadej Pogacar (SLO/UAE) 7.
4. Filippo Ganna (ITA/INE) 10.
5. Mathieu van der Poel (NED/ALP) 13.
6. Mads Pedersen (DEN / TRE) 15.
Jonas Vingegaard (DEN / JUM) 15.
8. Primoz Roglic (SLO / JUM) 16.
Bauke Mollema (NED / TRE) 17.
10. Dylan Teuns (BEL/BAH) 20.
11. Magnus Nielsen (DEN / EF1) 21.
12. Bob Jungels (LUX / AG2) 23.
13. Adam Yates (GBR/INE) 23.
14. Stefan Küng (SUI/GFJ) 23.
15. Thomas Pidcock (GBR/INE) 24.
16. Jan Tratnik (SLO/BAH) 25.
17.Michael Matthews (AUS/BIK) 25.
18. Geraint Thomas (GBR/INE) 25.
19. Lennard Kämna (GER / BOR) 25.
20. Mattia Cattaneo (ITA / QST) 30.
21. Aleksander Vlasov (RUS/BOR) 31.
22. Florian Vermeersch (BEL/LOT) 33.
23. Benjamin Thomas (FRA / COF) 34.
24. Louis Meintjes (RSA / INT) 35.
25. Christophe Laporte (FRA/JUM) 36.
26. Jonathan Castroviejo (ESP/INE) 36.
27. Maximilian Schachmann (GER/BOR) 37.
28. Patrick Konrad (AUT/BOR) 39.
29. Toms Skujins (LAT / TRE) 41.
30. Max Walscheid (GER/COF) 42.
31. Matej Mohoric (SLO/BAH) 43.
32. Brandon McNulty (USA/UAE) 43
33. Daniel Martínez (COL/INE) 44.
34. Pierre-Luc Périchon (FRA / COF) 44.
35. Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ/AST) 45.
36. Luis Leon Sanchez (ESP/BAH) 45.
37. Romain Bardet (FRA / DSM) 45.
38. Gorka Izagirre (ESP / MOV) 46.
39. Nils Eekhoff (NED / DSM) 47.
40. Hugo Houle (CAN/ISR) 47.
41. Martijn Tusveld (NED/DSM) 48.
42. Matteo Jorgenson (USA/MOV) 48.
43. Kasper Asgreen (DEN/QST)
44. Neilson Powless (USA/EF1) 48.
45. Fred Wright (GBR/BAH) 49.
46. ??Nairo Quintana (COL/ARK) 49.
47. Alberto Bettiol (ITA/EF1) 49.
48. Connor Swift (GBR/ARK) 49.
49. Jasper Stuyven (BEL/TRE) 49.
50. Gianni Moscon (ITA / AST) 50.
51. David Gaudu (FRA / GFJ) 50.
52. Nélson Oliveira (POR/MOV) 51.
53. Jack Haig (AUS/BAH) 51.
54. Luke Durbridge (AUS/BIK) 52.
55. Kobe Goossens (BEL/INT) 52.
56. Andrea Bagioli (ITA/QST) 52.
57. Nathan Van Hooydonck (BEL / JUM) 52.
58. Florian Senechal (FRA / QST) 54.
59. Tiesj Benoot (BEL/JUM) 54.
60. Quinn Simmons (USA / TRE) 54.
61. Alexis Gougeard (FRA / BBH) 54.
62. Jack Bauer (NZL/BIK) 54.
63. Giulio Ciccone (ITA / TRE) 55.
64. Jakob Fuglsang (DEN / ISR) 55.
65. Damiano Caruso (ITA/BAH) 55.
66. Jonasrutsch (GER/EF1) 55.
67. Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR / TOT) 55.
68. Enric Mas (ESP / MOV) 56.
69. Michael Morkov (DEN/QST) 57.
70. Alexander Kristoff (NOR/INT) 57.
71. Kevin Geniets (LUX/GFJ) 58.
72. Gregor Muehlberger (AUT/MOV) 59.
73. Andreas Leknessund (NOR / DSM) 59.
74. Marco Haller (AUT / BOR) 1:00.
75. Aurélien Paret-Peintre (FRA / AG2) 1:00.
76. Amund Jansen (NOR / BIK) 1:00.
77. John Degenkolb (GER / DSM) 1:01.
78. Owain Doull (GBR/EF1) 1:01.
79. Ben O’Connor (AUS/AG2) 1:01.
80. Alberto Dainese (ITA / DSM) 1:01.
81. Anthony Turgis (FRA / TOT) 1:01.
82. Jérémy Lecroq (FRA / BBH) 1:02.
83. Guillaume Martin (FRA/COF) 1:03.
84. Krist Neiland (LAT/ISR) 1:03.
85. Taco van der Hoorn (NED/INT) 1:03.
86. Felix Großschartner (AUT/BOR) 1:04.
87. Mikkel Honoré (DEN / DQST 1:05.
88. Mikkel Bjerg (DEN / UAE) 1:06.
89. Simone Velasco (ITA/AST) 1:06.
90. Michael Gogl (AUT/ALP) 1:07.
91. Sepp Kuss (USA/JUM) 1:07.
92. Ion Izagirre (ESP / COF) 1:07.
93. Amaury Capiot (BEL/ARK) 1:09.
94. Franck Bonnamour (FRA / BBH) 1:09.
95. Fabio Felline (ITA/AST) 1:09.
96. Tim Wellens (BEL/LOT) 1:09.
97. Maxime Bouet (FRA / ARK) 1:10.
98. Simon Geschke (GER/COF) 1:11.
99. Stefan Bissegger (SUI/EF1) 1:12.
100. Warren Barguil (FRA / ARK) 1:12.
101. Hugo Hofstetter (FRA/ARK) 1:12.
102. Pierre Latour (FRA/TOT) 1:13.
103. Chris Hamilton (AUS/DSM) 1:13.
104. Andrea Pasqualon (ITA / INT) 1:13.
105. Antoine Duchesne (CAN/GFJ) 1:14.
106. Imanol Erviti (ESP/MOV) 1:14.
107. Kevin Vermaerke (USA / DSM) 1:14.
108. Kamil Gradek (POL/BAH) 1:14.
109. Rigoberto Uran (COL/EF1) 1:14.
110. Christopher Juul-Jensen (DEN / BIK) 1:14.
111. Georg Zimmerman (GER/INT) 1:15.
112. Christopher Froome (GBR/ISR) 1:16.
113. Sven Erik Bystrom (NOR/INT) 1:16.
114. Thibaut Pinot (FRA/GFJ) 1:21.
115. Benoît Cosnefroy (FRA / AG2) 1:22.
116. Geoffrey Bouchard (FRA/AG2) 1:22.
117. Matis Louvel (FRA / ARK) 1:22.
118. Philippe Gilbert (BEL/LOT) 1:23.
119. Aliaksandr Riabushenko (BLR/AST) 1:23.
120. Danny van Poppel (NED / BOR) 1:23.
121. Nils Politt (GER / BOR) 1:24.
122. Tony Gallopin (FRA/TRE) 1:24.
123. Daniel Oss (ITA / TOT) 1:24.
124. Steven Kruijswijk (NED/JUM) 1:25.
125. Brent Van Moer (BEL/LOT) 1:25.
126. Valentin Madouas (FRA / GFJ) 1:25.
127. Jasper Philipsen (BEL/ALP) 1:26.
128. Simon Clarke (AUS/ISR) 1:26.
129. Guillaume Boivin (CAN/ISR) 1:26.
130. Stan Dewulf (BEL / AG2) 1:28.
131. Nicholas Nick Sch (AUS/BIK) 1:28.
132. Marc Soler (ESP/UAE) 1:28.
133. Olivier Le Gac (FRA/GFJ) 1:29.
134. Michael Woods (CAN/ISR) 1:29.
135. Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA / LOT) 1:32.
136. Andreas Kron (DEN / LOT) 1:32.
137. Sebastian Schönberger (AUT/BBH) 1:32.
138. Dmitriy Gruzdev (KAZ/AST) 1:32.
139. Fabio Jakobsen (NED / DQST 1:32.
140. Peter Sagan (SVK / TOT) 1:32.
141. Oliver Naesen (BEL/AG2) 1:32.
142. Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (BEL/ALP) 1:33.
143. Luka Mezgec (SLO/BIK) 1:34.
144. Dylan van Baarle (NED/INE) 1:34.
145. Cyril Lemoine (FRA / BBH) 1:36.
146. Michael Storer (AUS/GFJ) 1:38.
147. Ruben Guerreiro (ENG/EF1) 1:38.
148. Cyril Barthe (FRA/BBH) 1:4
149. Marc Hirschi (SUI) 1:42.
150. Joe Dombrowski (USA/AST) 1:42.
151. Anthony Perez (FRA/COF) 1:42.
152. Alexis Vuillermoz (FRA/TOT) 1:43.
153. Rafal Majka (POL/UAE) 1:43.
154. Carlos Verona (ESP/MOV) 1:44.
155. Andrey Zeits (KAZ/AST) 1:45.
156. George Bennett (NZL/UAE) 1:47.
157. Lukasz Owsian (POL / ARK) 1:48.
158. Albert Torres (ESP/MOV) 1:48.
159. Vegard Laengen (NOR / UAE) 1:49.
160. Alexander Krieger (GER/ALP) 1:50.
161. Maciej Bodnar (POL / TOT) 1:53.
162. Caleb Ewan (AUS/LOT) 1:57.
163. Edward Planckaert (BEL/ALP) 1:57.
164. Victor Lafay (FRA / COF) 1:57.
165. Silvan Dillier (SUI/ALP) 1:58.
166. Mikaël Cherel (FRA / AG2) 1:58.
167. Adrien Petit (FRA/INT) 2:00.
168. Kristian Sbaragli (ITA/ALP) 2:07.
169. Luke Rowe (GBR/INE) 2:07.
170. Dylan Groenewegen (NED/BIK) 2:11.
171. Mathieu Burgaudeau (FRA/TOT) 2:22.
172. Alex Kirsch (LUX / TRE) 2:24.
173. Guy Niv (ISR/ISR) 2:25.
174. Pierre Rolland (FRA/BBH) 2:30.
175. Luca Mozzato (ITA / BBH) 2:34.
176. Frederik Frison (BEL/LOT) 2:41.
