The favorites for overall victory include the two Slovenians Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) and Primoz Roglic and his teammate Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma).
At the start in Copenhagen, however, the all-rounders shouldn’t be able to compete for the stage win right away.
On Friday everything revolves around the time trial specialists, with world champion Filippo Ganna from the Ineos Grenadiers team having a chance of winning the day.
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Frenchman Jérémy Lecroq (B&B Hotels-KTM) opens the time trial at 4:00 p.m., at 7:10 p.m. the last rider finishes and the first yellow jersey is awarded.
Eurosport.de accompanies the first stage of the Tour de France live in the ticker.
Kämna is missing 20 seconds
Lennard Kämna (Bora – hansgrohe), the German time trial champion, has crossed the finish line and was 20 seconds slower than Wout Van Aert. That’s enough for rank 15 for the time being.
New pecking order: Van Aert leads ahead of Pogacar and Ganna
The streets are still wet, but not as much water comes up from above – and Wout Van Aert, Filippo Ganna and Tadej Pogacar use that one after the other to set new top times. Van Aert now leads in 15:22 by two seconds over Pogacar, five seconds ahead of Ganna and eight seconds ahead of van der Poel.
5:10 p.m. – Rain stops!
The rain in Copenhagen has let up and now things are getting exciting as three hot contenders are on their way to win the day: Wout Van Aert (Jumbo – Visma), Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) and defending champion Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates).
Vingegaard is also slower than Van der Poel
It’s a real thriller in Copenhagen: After Roglic, his co-captain Jonas Vingegaard also crosses the finish line and only just misses van der Poel’s record: 2.3 seconds slower than last year’s second.
Roglic fails by 2.5 seconds
The time trial Olympic champion crosses the finish line and is a bit slower than Mathieu van der Poel: When the rain got heavier, Primoz Roglic (Jumbo – Visma) failed by 2.5 seconds at the Dutchman.
4:30 p.m. – Van der Poel sets the best time
15:30 minutes, that’s the first real benchmark in the wet time trial in Copenhagen – and it was set by Mathieu van der Poel! The Alpecin – Deceuninck professional leads in front of his compatriot Bauke Mollema (Trek – Segafredo).
Favorite fall in the rain
Stefan Bissegger (EF Education – EasyPost) started the opening time trial of the Tour de France in Copenhagen as one of the favorites. But the Swiss fell twice on the wet roads – from the dream of the yellow jersey!
16:00 – The tour has started
Jérémy Lecroq (B&B Hotels – KTM) is on the road, opening the 109th Tour of France. It’s drizzling in Copenhagen, the streets are already damp. For later, however, even heavier rain is expected.
INFO – Weather is getting worse
In the fight against the clock, the top favorites for overall victory opted for early start times. The background should be the weather forecast: In Copenhagen there should be heavier showers in the afternoon.
Defending champion Tadej Pogacar (UAE), for example, starts the race as 66th of 176 starters at 5:05 p.m. instead of last. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo – Visma) even starts as the 21st driver at 4:20 p.m.
INFO – Favorites of the 1st stage
The course of the 1st stage is made for specialists like World Champion Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers).
But also all-rounder Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) should be considered, as well as the two Swiss Stefan Bissegger (EF) and Stefan Küng (Groupama). You shouldn’t lose sight of Mathieu van der Poel and, in front of her fans, the Danes like Mikkel Bjerg (UAE), Mads Pedersen (Trek) and Kasper Asgreen.
Of the overall favorites, Tadej Pogacar, Primoz Roglic and Geraint Thomas rank highest, while the pure climbing specialists have to do damage limitation.
INFO – Welcome!
The 109th Tour de France will open on Friday in Copenhagen with an individual time trial. It starts at 4:00 p.m., the Frenchman Jérémy Lecroq is the first driver to go in search of the best time. Eurosport.de accompanies the events for you live in the ticker from the first to the last of the 176 starters.
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