Tour de France Stage 1 Preview

Today’s stage should put the grand in the grand départ as a tour of Barcelona’s attractions and history with the yellow jersey up for grabs.

The Route: a 19.6km team time trial, the first time the Tour has opened with a collective effort since the 1971 prologue.

The profile and map above say plenty, it’s all big boulevards with 90° corners on a persistent but very gentle rise. As the roads are wide, so are the bends.

The final 5km sees the course head to the Montjuic hill. Here it’s still on wide roads, but with two marked climbs, the second is notably steeper. In past versions of these team time trials we’ve seen team leaders hit out alone to go for the win but this time the slope is more gentle and any solo flourish ought to come right at the end, a strong squad should be able to lead out their boss well into the final climb.

The Rules: “Paris-Nice rules”, the format that has been used since the Dampierre stage of Paris-Nice in 2023. The time for each team is taken on their first rider to cross the line, and each rider gets credited with the time it takes them to complete the course. This means two things:

  • a team is no longer as fast as its fourth or fifth rider, it doesn’t have to finish as a group. If one rider sprints solo to the line and sets the fastest time, their team wins the stage
  • a team with a specialist rouleur can let them go off the front to get the stage win but if they have a GC rider as well, then they get the time they cross the line with. Therefore teams with ambitions for the overall have to guide their leaders to the best time possible

The Contenders: this stage feels like a selection trap. It has lured several teams into picking squads perfect for today in the hope of immediate glory and avoiding potential losses to rivals but it’s only 20km long.

Netcompany-Ineos are a case in point, stacking the team with time trial riders including Josh Tarling who broke his collarbone three weeks ago and alongside Filippo Ganna and Tobias Foss that’s quite the engine room already. If you too have them as your prime pick, then which rider is left to sprint up the final ramp in Montjuic? On paper Kévin Vauquelin goes for glory as it’s just the kind of intense effort to suit an ex-pursuit rider, and Frenchman in yellow would be a publicity bonanza but he was touch-and-go for selection after recent illness. But it could equally be a rampant Ganna.

Visma-LAB also bring Edoardo Affini after injury last weekend to boost an already strong squad. They won the Aura Tour stage. The course was very different but look at the riders they’ve swapped out and they only look stronger for today.

Lidl-Trek have a very good squad and Juan Ayuso, born in Barcelona, would make a fitting yellow jersey. Mathias Vacek was ominous in the Tour de Suisse but they don’t have the Ganna-like rider to pull them 1-2km/h faster but will rely on cohesion late into the stage.

UAE have a poor record in team time trials, often because they’ve ridden without Pogačar who is both an dynamo and a talisman. Pogačar could theoretically take yellow and aim to keep it Paris for then challenge but that’s a tall order, the team is obviously strong – four riders here were in the top-10 in the Suisse TT stage – but can be out-muscled on a short, flat course, plus they’re likely to be a little short on technique. As an anecdote to illustrate, several teams booked the Catalunya motorsport circuit for practice, reserving exclusive 90 minute sessions. But RMC Radio said Lampre UAE showed up without a booking and tried to barter with TotalEnergies to use their slot but the French team said non.

Redbull-Bora-Hansgrohe look solid but how much does Remco Evenepoel pull during the stage versus how much does he back off in order to better launch up the final climb?

Any surprises? This blog will give you a refund if none of the five teams cited above win. It’s notable Mathieu van der Poel went all out in the Tour de Suisse time trial and Alpecin-PremierTech want to do well so he can get in yellow if he can win on Sunday with the time bonus if they won’t win here, keeping him in time bonus range is a tall order. Jayco have the TTT in their DNA; EF look cohesive; Movistar are not chaos engine of the past.

Because today is under 20km the time gaps will be small anyway and while plenty of focus will go on extrapolating the time gaps, a reminder that UAE gave up a minute in the Aura Tour TTT but Isaac del Toro won well ahead of the rest.

While some teams today know they won’t win, all have an interest in going flat out. Riders might find themselves in a breakaway in the coming days and being the first on GC in the group could give them the yellow jersey.

Netcompany-Ineos
Visma-LAB, Lidl-Trek, UAE, Red Bull
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Weather: sunny and warm, 33°C. A light SE breeze at 12-15km/h means a headwind for much of the course and this could gust to 35km/h at times. It’ll drop during the race, a slight advantage for later starters.

TV: the first team is Caja Rural starting at 5.05pm and UAE start last at 6.55pm CEST. If you tune in for the final hour you’ll catch most of the action.

57 thoughts on “Tour de France Stage 1 Preview”

  2. I have new-found respect for Team TotalEnergies.

    Incredible that they are sufficiently organised as to book their practice venue whereas UAE disorganised and/or entitled enough not to.

    And inevitably another in the chorus of thanks to @inrng for simply the best daily and race previews, year after year.

      • Just to pass on some local knowledge: there are other racing circuits near to Barcelona.

        For instance just south of Barcelona, there is a half-secret racing circuit for testing new cars. When out and about, you can often encounter several new camouflaged sporty super cars all being driven up there in the morning and then back down in the afternoon.

        The circuit is actually near to where Marc Soler can sometimes be seen training in the winter – so surely UAE is aware of its existence.

        Also, I do remember seeing Team EF all riding up in its direction just before the Vuelta TTT a few years back. It was curious, because they were riding extremely slowly and in so doing causing a huge build-up of traffic behind them as well as chaos for anyone riding in the opposite direction as cars tried to overtake them on the narrow road featuring several hairpin corners.

        Is it not possible that EF were on their way to practice their TTT skills?

    • It should not be a surprise for us to hear of UAE turning up without booking. Having purchased the best riders using their unlimited (de facto) funds, they don’t think they need tactics or organisation. Cf Finestre stage on 2025 Giro, where they were completely clueless.

  3. I’m guessing a few teams will be glad if Ineos/Net co win as they can have the yellow jersey and all the accompanying media duties.

    • For most teams the media success of a yellow jersey even for one day (the first day!) would very much outweight any media “duties”.

      • OK, rereading your post, yes, a *few* teams might want to avoid the media duties, like 1 or 2. But 1 of them not even sure they care any more at this point.

        • Everyone would like to win but whether they defend it is another thing. Pogačar could keep it to Paris if he wants but when asked by L’Equipe about this the idea is he wants to set records by winning new races and more races, rather than doing more anecdotal things such as matching Anquetil’s 1961 Tour where he took yellow on the first day (NB Stage 1b) and kept it to Paris. So unlikely. Similarly Visma-LAB would probably unload the jersey, and not just for media duties but the burden in the race on the team. But Ineos and Trek? Maybe they’d value it more to keep for a few days. More to think about, we’ll see the results.

  4. Not something I ever thought I would have to say but I think our host has cheated.
    Citing teams for the win rather than individual riders is, in my mind, a cop out.

        • But whilst an individual might find themselves first on the GC after today, they won’t be the sole stage winner – the stage win will be awarded to their entire team. So I think our host has done it correctly.

          • My original comment was only made lightheartedly but as the art of the new format is to judge which rider to propel to the line I would have liked to have seen our host use his considerable predictive skills to suggest tomorrow’s yellow jersey wearer.

          • It’s not obvious for the winner, but Vauquelin is tipped above as is Ganna. At Red Bull it’s Lipowitz and Evenepoel with the latter much more punchy for the final metres… and secretly wanting to get ahead too. For Visma Vingegaard is obvious to have him back in yellow for the first time since 2023 but Jorgenson in yellow is plausible, a reward and also to spare Vingegaard. Lidl-Trek has to be Ayuso, Spanish, born in Catalunya and their big money signing plus ideally suited.

  5. If Ineos had really stacked the team for the TTT they would have included Watson.

    I hope they’ve corrected the dropped chain problem!

  6. These previews somehow seem worth more than ever due to the lack of live TV coverage in the UK; the offer of a refund in the case of an error in prediction is therefore very generous.
    Thanks for your efforts INRNG.

    • Just in case people in UK didn’t know, there are a few stages live and free-to-view on the Welsh channel S4C (also available on BBC IPlayer), including the first 3 stages.

      • Thanks Paul, it looks like they are doing st18 to st21 as well. A good opportunity for me to learn some Welsh.

        • Channel 5 is showing one hour long daily highlights in an agreement with TNT of entire tour from this year and next 2 tours plus Vuelta and Giro. Utilising TNT/Eurosport commentary but a new C5 studio segment and host. You can also watch on catch up.

      • I’m trying watching S4C today via the BBC iPlayer but I’m unplesantly surprised to find it has advert breaks. I didn’t think any BBC channels were allowed to have adverts (apart from adverts for other programmes, which are annoying enough) so that’s disappointing. I suppose at least I’m not having to mute it for the adverts since it’s muted anyway, as I don’t understand a word of Welsh.

  7. Having Pippo Ganna in Yellow would be something, a bit like when Cav won the first stage in 2016, seem to remember Geraint Thomas did so too on a soaking wet opening TT somewhere in Germany (Düsseldorf?).

  8. No postcard today? That’s ok, I’m in Barcelona for my first in-person visit to the race I’ve followed here for so long. Thank you INRNG, the best Tour guide anywhere!

    • In good time. In order to allow more space to discuss the racing they’ll be separate posts, normally with the review/preview going out in the evening and then in the morning the postcard post…only today’s one might struggle to go out this morning as pushed for time.

      • A bit late but would s good topic be why has Barcelona presumably paid for grand depart status to promote itself when many of the locals believe it’s suffering from over tourism?

        And I’m still annoyed that the race is visiting the national park at gavarnie

        • Agree with you re Gavernie but I’m guessing they will say that they are not going into the parc itself as they do not climb the Col de Tentes or Troumouse.
          They are only riding the road to the village which is always busy anyway. Hopefully the caravan will stop at Luz St Sauveur.

        • I suppose it partly might be a bit the same as Florence. They didn’t want the Grand Depart and didn’t really pay, but in that case a different region did. It’s the TDF which wanted Florence instead of the less mainstream Bologna. In this case maybe Barcelona wouldn’t have paid but Catalunya might be very willing to do so. However, I think it’s not exactly like that… Barcelona and Catalunya are actually paying for further recognition and prestige: although indepentists are back to minority figures among the local population and their current relevance only depends on political ransom over the central government, yet the city is still competing with Madrid on every available occasion (the Pope’s visit being the most recent example). Madrid has been on the rise for a while but began to lose impulse in the last 3-4 years and Barcelona wants to take advantage from that. Tourism is just a detail in a much wider and deeper business landscape with political implications. On top of that, Barcelona is working with cycling as a broader element of life: transport, health, social connector. They’ve been doing a great work for months acknowledging and promoting historical cycling clubs neighbourhood by neighbourhood in connection with the TDF.

  9. Good to be back on the Inrng blog. Long time reader, infrequent commenter. Just came here to say I don’t like the rules of this TTT. If they all get their own time and a rider can nip off and snag the win then what’s “team” about that? People are always changing the rules “to make it more exciting”. Were we not entertained before?

    • Because the team propels their rider into the position. Evenepoel for example could beat several teams if he started alone today. But teams have to work together today to get the fastest time and ideally everyone gives it their all whereas in a classic time on the 4th/5th rider TTT some riders might have to hold back to wait for a weaker rider.

      Each to their own for taste but I like today’s format. In Paris-Nice it’s been something to talk about on a Tuesday in March, but it’s also visual, you can see what is going on with each team and this includes general public who won’t be counting how many seconds/pedal strokes a rider does on the front.

      • Totally agree with Mr Ring and disagree with Bubble Wrap. It’s a much more interesting format that keeps teamwork very much at its core.

      • I agree with Inner Ring on this. The new format makes it much more tactical. I actually think it is one of the best introductions to how cycling tactics actually work in races for people new to cycling.

      • Remco/Red Bull are the perfect example of the intricacies of the current format. Remco’s teammate was on the podium last year, so keeping him as close to the lead as possible is nearly as important as winning.

    • Likewise I prefer the ‘traditional’ TdF team trial format, just seems to me a better test of team coherence and discipline rather than today’s format which ultimately seems to seek to shine a light on the individual not a team but perhaps I misunderstand. Anyway, looking forward to today and the next few weeks.

  10. I feel Remco/Bora’s chances are a bit underplayed here. The team is very solid and Van Dijcke, Hindley, Lipo, Van Gils could give Remco an uphill leadout to storm the Montjuic. I think he’ll be very close to the malliot jaune today. They are probably on the best bikes as well.

    • Ah but have you factored in the new lean Remco who has apparently lost 4kg for the mountains, which is likely to impact his TT ability?

      • Speaking of weight yesterday’s copy of L,Equipe lists Richard Carapaz at 82kg. Hopefully a typo or a few mountains jersey predictions might be out of the window.

        • Any weight and corresponding power Evenepoel may have lost preparing for the Tour may have less negative effect on the supported 15km TTT leadout than the positive effect of lighter weight over the last 3-4km and its two climbs solo or with Lipowitz…

          Even the ITT over 26km has a longish steady climb, it’s not like he’s facing a 40km flat test later in the race.

          I still doubt it’ll put him in podium contention over the high mountains but he’s nothing if not committed.

          • @osbk67 I’m not so sure (one of the final climbs is gentle and the other not too steep) but we’ll see later today. I’m also not so sure about 4kg – it may be more or less – as I’ve only read it somewhere.

  13. About to finish the stage, so easy call now, but worth noting that on the contrary of what inrng comments above, the only TTTs where UAE performed well …were *without* Pogi, while with him they always struggled to even make a top 5.

    • Maybe I should have done my homework but I found it a bit confusing. Cycling has always been a complex combination of team and individual, but this felt like a new level. My mother asked me to explain the spectacle to her, I was sweating more than the cyclists.

    • I’m with you Dave. Great stage, lots of drama, but when you look at the gc it’s still tight. Except for a couple of mechanicals it was totally fair, unlike the old format where Seixas probably would have been way further down. Really looking forward to the tactics tomorrow.

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