Barcelona (AFP) – Jonas Vingegaard took the first leader's yellow jersey of the 113th edition of the Tour de France as his Visma-Lease a Bike outfit won Saturday's opening team time-trial in Barcelona.
Issued on: 04/07/2026 - 20:10Modified: 04/07/2026 - 21:06
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Vingegaard will wear the jersey on Sunday for the first time since he last won the Grand Boucle in 2023. "It's the perfect start, still a long Tour obviously, but it's the perfect start," said the 29-year-old Dane, who won all three of his previous races this season. "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 to take the stage win for us and to take the yellow jersey. "For me, personally, after a few years without it, a few hard years, it's nice for me to experience it again." He finished the 19.6km course eight seconds quicker than Filippo Ganna for Netcompany Ineos, with reigning champion Tadej Pogacar earning third place for UAE Team Emirates at 12sec. "It's the biggest race of the world, it's an amazing victory for us, especially when it's a team time-trial where we're eight guys," added Vingegaard, who won the Giro d'Italia in May and the Vuelta a Espana last September. "I have seven teammates who sacrificed for me today." Having won three stage races in 2026, this was Vingegaard's 13th World Tour level victory of the season – already a personal record. Tour de France 'ready to adapt' amid extreme heatwave Pogacar rocket Throughout the stage, Visma had been almost neck-and-neck with Netcompany and the Lidl-Trek team of Spaniard Juan Ayuso.
