Jonas Vingegaard took the first yellow leader's jersey of the Tour de France 2026, the 113th edition of the race, as his Visma | Lease a Bike outfit won Saturday's opening team time trial in Barcelona, Spain.
Vingegaard will wear the yellow jersey Sunday for the first time since he last won the Grand Boucle in 2023.
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"It's the perfect start, still a long Tour obviously, but it's the perfect start," said the 29-year-old Dane, who has 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."
Vingegaard finished the 19.6-kilometer course eight seconds quicker than Filippo Ganna for Netcompany Ineos, with reigning champion Tadej Pogačar earning third place for UAE Team Emirates at 12 seconds back.
"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 España last September. "I have seven teammates who sacrificed for me today."
Vingegaard already has won three stage races, and this was his 13th World Tour-level victory of the season - already a personal record.
Tadej Pogačar Finishes Like A Rocket In Opening Stage Of TDF 2026
Throughout the stage, Visma had been almost neck-and-neck with Netcompany and the Lidl-Trek team of Spaniard Juan Ayuso.
But Visma went quicker over the second half, and Vingegaard made the difference on the final 800-meter uphill drag to the finish.
Pogačar ended like a rocket for UAE, which had been fourth at all three time-checks, to snatch third place from Ayuso, who was 16 seconds off Vingegaard's time.
Ayuso leads the young rider standings and will wear the white jersey Sunday.
World and Olympic time trial champion Remco Evenepoel also finished strongly to take fifth for Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe at 19 seconds.
There also was an impressive debut at the Tour for teenage French prodigy Paul Seixas, who took sixth place with his Decathlon CMA CGM team, which had been as low as 15th at the first time check and still down in ninth at the third.
Visma, Lidl-Trek and Netcompany were within a second of each other at the first time check and within two at the second. Visma started to edge ahead at the third with a six-second gap to the other two.
Netcompany suffered a blow between the second and third checks when the team's designated finisher, Kevin Vauquelin, suffered a rear puncture, meaning a quick change of plan and the much larger former time trial world champion Ganna going full throttle all the way to the line.
Lidl-Trek also lost Mattias Skjelmose to a puncture midway through their race, depriving Auyso of a key helper over the two short, sharp climbs at the end.
UAE and Red Bull were a little off the pace at the three time checks, but Pogačar and Evenepoel proved their class with rapid finishes.
Pogacar was fastest up the final climb and took the lead in the Mountain's Classification.
He will start Sunday's second stage in the polka-dot jersey.
His Mexican teammate Isaac del Toro finished strongly and is sixth overall, with Vingegaard's Italian teammate Davide Piganzoli seventh and Red Bull's joint leader Florian Lipowitz eighth.
Seixas will start Sunday's 169-kilometer second stage from Tarragona to Barcelona 10th overall at 39 seconds.
Tour de France 2026 Stage 1 Results – Top 25
*There are 23 teams at the TDF 2026.
- Team Visma | Lease a Bike – 21:47.87
- Netcompany INEOS – 21:55.20
- UAE Team Emirates - XRG – 21:59.15
- Lidl - Trek – 22:03.14
- Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe – 22:06.02
- Decathlon CMA CGM Team – 22:26.19
- Alpecin - Premier Tech – 22:26.23
- Groupama - FDJ United – 22:28.82
- Bahrain - Victorious – 22:34.81
- Team Jayco AlUla – 22:38.03
- EF Education - EasyPost – 22:44.11
- Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team – 22:44.65
- Soudal Quick-Step – 22:45.79
- Uno-X Mobility – 22:47.01
- TotalEnergies – 22:49.49
- Caja Rural - Seguros RGA – 22:59.93
- Tudor Pro Cycling Team – 23:01.65
- NSN Cycling Team – 23:03.75
- Cofidis – 23:04.55
- Movistar Team – 23:05.93
- Lotto Intermarché – 23:23.07
- Team Picnic PostNL – 23:42.90
- XDS Astana Team – 24:05.95
Tour de France 2026 Overall Standings – Top 25 After Stage 1
- Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) – 21:47
- Filippo Ganna (Netcompany INEOS) – 0:08
- Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) – 0:12
- Juan Ayuso (Lidl - Trek) – 0:16
- Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) – 0:19
- Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) – 0:26
- Davide Piganzoli (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) – 0:28
- Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) – 0:35
- Paul Seixas (Netcompany INEOS) – 0:38
- Tobias Foss (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) – 0:39
- Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin - Premier Tech) – 0:39
- Romain Grégoire (Groupama - FDJ United) – 0:41
- Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain - Victorious) – 0:47
- Matthew Riccitello (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) – 0:50
- Lenny Martinez (Bahrain - Victorious) – 0:50
- Michael Matthews (Team Jayco AlUla) – 0:51
- Alex Baudin (EF Education - EasyPost) – 0:57
- Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) – 0:57
- Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step) – 0:58
- Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) – 1:00
- Thymen Arensman (Netcompany INEOS) – 1:01
- Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies) – 1:02
- Mathias Vacek (Lidl - Trek) – 1:12
- Alex Molenaar (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) – 1:12
- Yannis Voisard (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) – 1:14
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