Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard took the yellow jersey on the opening stage of the Tour de France following a tense team time trial.
Two-time Tour winner Vingegaard finished the 19.6km course in 21 minutes, 47 seconds - eight seconds ahead of Italy's Filippo Ganna of the British Netcompany Ineos Cycling team.
Favourite for the overall win Tadej Pogacar finished third, 12 seconds down on Vingegaard for his UAE Team Emirates-XRG team.
Pogacar, 27, is looking to try to become the equal most successful rider in the Tour's history, alongside Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, 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 teams ride in a 'chain' formation to establish the quickest time through the city by protecting their lead rider from the wind resistance - with each squad's seven support riders eventually peeling off to let their team leader cross the line alone.
Two-time Tour winner Vingegaard finished the 19.6km course in 21 minutes, 47 seconds - eight seconds ahead of Italy's Filippo Ganna of the British Netcompany Ineos Cycling team.
Favourite for the overall win Tadej Pogacar finished third, 12 seconds down on Vingegaard for his UAE Team Emirates-XRG team.
Pogacar, 27, is looking to try to become the equal most successful rider in the Tour's history, alongside Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, 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 teams ride in a 'chain' formation to establish the quickest time through the city by protecting their lead rider from the wind resistance - with each squad's seven support riders eventually peeling off to let their team leader cross the line alone.
4 months ago
