Tadej Pogacar had to settle for third place on Stage 1 of the 2026 Tour de France as fierce rival Jonas Vingegaard secured the yellow jersey in Barcelona on Saturday.The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider, who is aiming to secure a record-equalling fifth Tour title, finished 12 seconds behind Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) after a 19.6km team time-trial that saw Filippo Ganna (Netcompany Ineos) claim second. Dane Vingegaard, 29, was expertly led out to the final ⁠hill by his teammates and led them to the finish line to take the ​yellow jersey ⁠for the first time in ‌three years with a time of 21 minutes, 47 seconds – eight seconds ahead of Italy's Ganna.Defending champion Pogacar and his teammates were last to go but were soon playing catch-up finding themselves 13 seconds at the third check. The Slovenian – and debutant Isaac del Toro – turned up the gears with 600 metres to go but could only reduce to gap to 11.28 seconds on Vingegaard.“It was a super good performance,” said the Slovenian. “Of course, you always aim for the victory, but I think we did a really good, super team time-trial. I am super happy that the day is over because it is really hard to do this day. “It is long and you prepare for just these 20 minutes with the team. It is really stressful, but I enjoyed it today because it has been a long time since I did a team time trial, and actually, it was a really good performance. We can be happy with today and be really motivated for the next days.“Good news that I have climbing legs [and the polka dot jersey], but it was quite a short climb, and Isaac did a really amazing job. He is such a good kid, and all the team did super good today. Everybody went over the limit and also thanks to the team I have this polka dot jersey.”Vingegaard's 2026 season has already been productive, with victory at the Giro ⁠d'Italia on his debut in May, and he is bidding for a rare ⁠Giro-Tour double. The last rider to achieve it was Pogacar in 2024 – only the eighth cyclist in history to do so.“It's the perfect start,” a visibly pleased Vingegaard said on Eurosport. “It's still a long Tour, obviously, but it's the perfect start. My teammates did an amazing job today. “They were so strong, I didn't have to do much, to be honest. They just drove me all the way to the finish, and to take the stage win for us, and to take the yellow jersey, also for me personally, after a few years without it, a few odd years, it's nice for me to experience it again.“I'm here to do the best possible GC, and to try to win, but it's only Stage 1. There's a long way left – we have a small gap now, but of course, this is the perfect start for us.“I've had a few tough years for obvious reasons, but, coming back to the Tour, just to be wearing the yellow jersey, is something special, something that I will enjoy.”Vingegaard won consecutive Tour de France titles in ‌2022 and 2023, but ⁠was removed from cycling's throne by Pogacar, ​who won the event in 2024 and 2025. That made ​Pogacar ‌a four-time champion after also winning in 2020 and 2021.French teenage talent Paul Seixas, making his Tour de France debut at 19 years old, finished in 10th place, 39 ​seconds behind Vingegaard. “We expected to see time gaps like that, I think we put in a good performance today,” Seixas said.Sunday's ​Stage 2 is a hilly 168.5km course that travels through Spain from Tarragona and along the Mediterranean Sea before heading inland and finishing at Barcelona's Olympic Stadium.Stage 1 team time-trial results1) Visma-Lease a Bike 21mins 47secs2) Netcompany Ineos Cycling +8secs3) UAE Team Emirates-XRG +12secs4) Lidl-Trek +16secs5) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe +19secs6) Decathlon CMA-CGM +39secsStage 1 general classification1) Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) 21mins 47secs2) Filippo Ganna (Netcompany-Ineos) +8secs3) Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +12secs4) Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) +16secs5) Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +19secs6) Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +26secs