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An emotional Yves Lampaert speaks …
“My mind is exploding,” says the Belgian, with tears pouring down his face. “I came with expectation that I might be in the top 10 but I have beaten all the best. I can’t believe it.
“I’m just a farmer’s son for Belgium,” he adds. “To win a stage in the Tour de France, this is something I could never believe would happen and now I’ve done it. To beat Van Aert, Van der Poel, Ganna … it’s unbelievable.
“The potholes were full of water and the road was wet but I always thought in the corners ‘Yves, trust your tyres!’ I’m only going to realise when the Tour is over that I will have had the yellow jersey for at least one day. Or maybe on Monday, when I see my girlfriend and child.”
Stage one top five
- Yves Lampaert (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) 15min 17sec
- Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) +05sec
- Tadaj Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +07sec
- Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) +10sec
- Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin–Fenix) +13sec
The last of the riders is out on the road. Spanish cyclist Marc Soler is last man down the ramp while Yves Lampaert remains in the lead and is extremely unlikely to be caught.
Behind him, it’s been a good day for most of the main General Classification riders, many of whom completed the course in fairly diabolical conditions but none of whom encountered anything resembling disaster.
As things stand, Wout van Aert, Tadaj Pogacar, Primoz Roglic, Jonas Vingegaard, Filippo Ganna and Geraint Thomas awill all finish within 30 seconds of Tadaj Pogacar, who currently sits in third place in the stage standings.
Yves Lampaert speaks: ““I have beaten the great Wout van Aert,” he said, shortly after finishing his circuit. “It’s incredible! I never expected that. For now, I don’t understand. It’s the Tour de France, the best riders have completed the course and I’m in the lead. It’s dryer now. There are many riders yet to come so it’s possible that someone does a better time but I might as well win.” We have yet to hear any more news on sock-gate, which suggest its probably not going to be an issue.
Froome finishes the course. He’s got home unscathed and it’s not a bad time, albeit one that’s 1min 15sec slower than clubhouse leader Yves “No relation to Frank” Lampaert.
Chris Froome update. The 37 year old is making his way around the course very gingerly and it’s no big surprise considering how hard he’s had to work to make it to the start line of this Tour and the severity of the injuries he’s endured in recent years. The Briton broke his femur, elbow, hip and ribs in a 2019 crash only to return to the Tour last year, but he had to delay his preparations for this season after doing his knee a mischief.
Chris Froome is out on the road. Plying his trade for Israel-Premier Tech, the four-times Tour winner is a rank outsider to win his first Tour de France since 2017.
Uh-oh. There is a suggestion that Yves Lampaert might fall foul of the UCI’s controversial ‘sock height rule’, introduced in 2019 as part of the organisation’s crackdown on clothing being used to gain an aero advantage.
It has, in the past, led to farcical scenes where race officials have been spotted measuring riders’ socks before and after stages. No, really.
“Socks and overshoes used in competition may not rise above the height defined by half the distance between the middle of the lateral malleolus and the middle of the fibula head,” declares the rule in question.
Translation: the top of the sock sock must not advance beyond the halfway mark between the ankle and the bottom of the knee. “These checks have been doing on all year, but because it’s the Tour de France I think it’s the first time the general public have noticed it,” wrote Nico Roche in a newspaper column in 2019.
“In the event somebody might get past the rule by pulling their socks down a little bit before they’re measured, they even have random checks at the finish. It’s ridiculous. Our sport definitely has more important issues than sock height.”
Yves Lampaert takes the lead!!!
Wow! In improving conditions, the 31-year-old Belgian Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl rider puts in the time trial of his life to take the lead from Wout van Aert, who shakles his head in disbelief on the leader’s throne. He knocks a massive five seconds off his compatriot’s time and posts a new leading time of 15min 17sec.
Geraint Thomas speaks: The Ineos Grenadiers rider finished 20 seconds down on on Wout van Aert, a decent time but he was not best pleased with his performance.
In an interview with Eurosport he says he was overly cautious, cornering dreadfully and struggling to find a rhythm over the first half of the course but upon hearing how he was doing at the intermediate checkpoint, he got the finger out and went for it.
Curiously, he went out wearing a gilet over his state of the art skin-suit, having forgotten he was wearing it ahead of the start. “That blinking gilet!” he says, being careful not to eff and jeff on live TV. “That was in my head as well. I just forgot I was wearing it and nobody pointed it out to me before the start. But at least my legs felt good.”
Even more interesting. No sooner do I type that than Laporte comes down in the same spot that Stefan Bissegger had his second fall. As I mentioned earlier, there’s a Danish flag painted on the road in that exact spot and it might that which is having a detrimental effect in these wet conditions.
Interesting. Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma) is quickest through the intermediate checkpoint, three seconds faster than Wout van Aert.
A quick recap: Filippo Ganna knocked Wout van der Poel off of the leader’s throne, beating the Dutchman’s time by 2.64 seconds.
Before Ganna had even unclipped his cleats, his time was obliterated by Wout van Aert, who finished 5.67 seconds faster with an average speed of 51.54km per hour.
Directly behind him, Tadej Pogacar posted the second fastest provisional time, just 2.48 seconds behind the clubhouse leader.
Ninety riders still to go: It’s over half the field but one suspects they’ll feel like they’ve turned up at the pub just after the bell has rung for last orders. I suspect Wout van Aert is going to have a long wait on the leader’s throne and will be astonished if anyone of the remaining riders get near his time.
Tadaj Pogacar finishes. The reigning champion finishes two seconds behind Wout van Aert and is currently second fastest of the day. He’ll be pleased with that.
Wout van Aert takes the lead!
My word! Almost certainly before Ganna had dismounted his bicycle, the Belgian obliterates his effort, posting a time of 15min 22sec.
Filippo Ganna takes the lead …
The Ineos Grenadiers rider knocks 2.5 seconds off Wout van Aert’s time.
Mathieu van der Poel remains in the lead. With so many big hitters out on the road, it’s worth remembering that the Dutchman’s time of 15min 30sec remains the one to beat.
Tadej Pogacar is out on the road. No mean time-trialist, the man seeking his third consecutive Tour de France win is unlikely to go all out to win today’s stage. Getting around safely will be his priority, one imagines.
Wout van Aert is out on the road. The Belgian winner of last year’s ITT sets off with mystery surrounding the state of his injured knee. Is it still giving him gyp? He claims it is but there are suspicions that he could be bluffing. Time will tell.
Filippo Ganna is out on the road. Riding in his first ever Tour de France, the Italian Ineos Grenadiers rider and World time trial champion is likely to give this stage his all, despite the atrocious conditions. The road looks like glass in parts and is covered in paint – white lines and riders’ names painted on by fans – which are serving to make it even more slippery.
Jonas Vingegaard finishes. Another GC contender and a home-town favourite, Jumbo-Visma’s Jonas Vingegaard finishes half a second faster than his team-mate Primoz Roglic.
Mathieu van der Poel remains the clubhouse leader. With 123 riders still due to set off, the Dutchman remains in the lead and his time of 15min 30sec will take some beating.
Question: “Is there a chance an American wins the tour de France this year?” asks Kurt Perleberg.
Answer: None whatsoever. There are seven riders representing the USA in this year’s Tour and five of them are under 23 years of age and very inexperienced.
The pick of the American bunch is probably Sepp Cuss, who is a strong climber and won a stage last year. He’s on the same Jumbo-Visma team as Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard and will be riding in support of them.
Primoz Roglic is the first of the main GC riders to finish the course and is less than three seconds slower than Mathieu van der Pol. It’s a terrific time for Roglic, not least because he managed to miss the worst of the weather. It is currently bucketing down in Copenhagen.
Primoz Roglic. Slovenia’s second best rider is out on the road and has lest than two kilometres to go.
Stefan Kung: The European time trial champion but without a win in the discipline to his name this year, the Swiss Groupama–FDJ rider sets off in pouring rain.
Mathieu van der Poel. The Dutch Alpecin–Fenix rider passes his minute man Christopher Hamilton shortly before crossing the line. His is now the time to beat: 15min 30.62sec.
Stefan Bissegger finishes. The luckless Swiss stops the clock at 16min 29sec, almost a minute down on Dutch time trial champion Mollema, which isn’t so bad when you consider he had remount twice and must have been a bag of nerves in the closing stages of his ride.
Bauke Mollema smithereens Bauer’s time: The time to beat is now 15min 34sec.
Stefan Bisseger crashes again. Cycling over a Danish flag somebody has painted on the road, the Swiss rider’s back wheel skids out from under him and he hits the deck for a second time. It’s a nightmare start to the Tour for a 23-year-old who really fancied his chances of finishing the day in yellow.
Jack Bauer posts the fastest time so far: The BikeExchange-Jayco rider was second out of the starting hut and posts a time of 16min 11sec.
Stefan Bisseger crashes: We have our first faller off the day, with Bisseger slipping on some painted white road markings as he tried to take a tight right-hand turn.
He’s up and away again but his crash will provide food for thought for the main GC contenders, who will want to post a quick time but will be unwilling to take unnecessary, potentially race-ending risks given the wet conditions, the slippery road markings and the stretch of cobbles that awaits riders just past the “three kilometres to go” flag.
Stefan Bissegger is out on the road. Pedalling an absolutely massive gear, the Swiss EF Education-Easypost rider sets off on his race of truth against the clock. He’s among the favourites for today’s stage and his finishing time is likely to provide a fair indication of what it will take to win this opening stage.
How it works today: We have 176 competitors from 22 different teams competing in this year’s Tour and this afternoon they’ll set off at one-minute intervals. TotalEnergies veteran, Edvald Boasson Hagen, a late call-up to this year’s race, is the fourth man out of the traps. He’s followed by another old-timer, Bauke Mollema from Trek-Segafredo.
It’s raining in Copenhagen …
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beeeeeeeeep! With crowds five or six deep lining the streets, Jeremy Lecroq rolls down the ramp of the starting hut and on to the slick rain-soaked streets of the Danish capital. The conditions are far from ideal in a time trial, particularly when plenty of these riders are going to be as nervous as kittens. We’re likely to have fallers today on some of the extremely tight corners.
More on those police raids …
Europol has announced that raids which took place in 14 locations across Europe this week are focused on “possible doping allegations of a cycling team participating in the Tour de France”, PA Sport reports.
The European law enforcement agency said it had conducted searches in France, Belgium, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Poland, and Slovenia between Monday and Thursday.
The announcement comes a day after Danish police, acting on a request from French authorities, searched the hotel of the Bahrain-Victorious team in Copenhagen, where the Tour de France gets under way on Friday.
Earlier this week, riders and staff from the team had their homes searched prior to leaving for the Tour. Europol said the searches were part of an investigation being led by French authorities under the supervision of the French public prosecutor’s office in Marseille “to look into possible doping allegations of a cycling team participating in the Tour de France”.
“Three people were interrogated,” the statement added. “The investigation is ongoing and the evidence seized is being forensically examined. The properties of several riders and their staff were searched in Belgium, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Poland and Slovenia.”
Europol did not name any of the individuals involved.
Today’s favourites
While the honour of rolling first down the ramp this afternoon falls to Jeremy Lecroq (B&B Hotels-KTM), a 27-year-old Frenchman who is riding in his first Tour de France, he is not among the favourites to win today’s time trial.
When it comes to predicting which rider will be zipped into the yellow jersey in a few hours time, it’s extremely difficult to look past Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) and as luck would have it, the three of them set off within two minutes of each other. Ganna is out at 4.03pm (BST), Van Aert goes at 4.04pm and Pogacar hits the road 4.05pm.
Police raid Bahrain Victorious team again
The Tour de France starts today with a cloud hanging over it after the Bahrain Victorious team, winners of three stages in last year’s race, was subjected to a second police raid in a week. Jeremy Whittle reports …
Stage 1: ITT around Copenhagen (13.2km)
A tour of the Danish capital’s beauty spots – the Little Mermaid, the Kastellet fortress, the Tivoli Gardens – in a time trial opener that is long enough to create real time gaps between the main contenders, and has a wealth of corners to cause mayhem if it rains. The distance will suit Primoz Roglic but the big favourite will be a specialist such as Filippo Ganna (Ineos) or Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma).
Your team-by-team guide to the Tour
Our in-depth look at every team, the main riders to watch and the cast of characters racing through France this summer. Words: William Fotheringham.
Tour de France 2022: stage one
The 109th Tour de France kicks off in Copenhagen, with a short, flat, extremely technical 13.2km time trial that will take the 176 riders from 22 different teams on a scenic route around the Danish capital that will hardly leave a cliche unexplored as they take in the Little Mermaid, the royal palace of Amalieborg and the city hall.
The winner of the last two Tours despite being just 23 years of age, it is no surprise that UAE Team Emirates rider Tadej Pogacar is the overwhelming favourite but the young Slovenian will need plenty of good fortune to go along with his undeniable talent if he is to finish in yellow and make it a hat-trick of wins.
With a distance of 3,328km to cover, incorporating six flat stages, five summit finishes, several unpredictably punchy stages, two individual time trials and up to 20 kilometres of cobbles all manner of things could go wrong. The fun starts today and the first rider is due down the ramp in Copenhagen at 3pm (BST)
