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Celebrated his first Tour stage win: Yves Lampaert
Photo: IMAGO/Nico Vereecken / IMAGO/Panoramic International
The Belgian Yves Lampaert surprisingly got the first yellow jersey of the 109th Tour de France in the water fight in Copenhagen.
Defending champion Tadej Pogačar got off to a good start: in Lampaert's triumph in a spectacular time trial, Slovenia's dominator finished third and took the first few seconds from his biggest rivals.
His biggest opponent Primož Roglič is nine seconds behind, last year's second Jonas Vingegaard one second behind.
Alexander Vlasov, captain of the German team Bora-hansgrohe, was 24 seconds slower than Pogačar.
Lennard Kämna was the best German professional cyclist, 19th with a 25-second slower ride than Lampaert.
'It's unbelievable, I can't understand it.
The very best drive here, and I'm in front," said the 31-year-old Quick-Step professional Lampaert after beating his countryman in front of hundreds of thousands of fans on the 13.2 km course in Denmark's capital in 15:17.76 minutes Wout van Aert (+4.55 seconds) and Pogačar (+7.03) - it was his first victory in the Tour de France.
Time trial world champion Filippo Ganna (Italy/Ineos Grenadiers) was fourth (+10.02).
Lampaert probably only borrowed the yellow jersey from Pogačar.
»One does not say no to yellow.
If there's a chance, I'll get it," Pogačar clarified before the opening showdown.
The 23-year-old tour winner of 2020 and 2021 did not take the very last risk in treacherous conditions on mirror-smooth asphalt.
But it was enough to get ahead of the worst rivals: He took out compatriot Primož Roglič (8th), as well as Jonas Vingegaard (7th), who was second in the previous year from Denmark, and twelve, the Bora captain, by Geraint Thomas (17th). Alexander Vlasov (21st) 31 seconds down.
Disasters were experienced by four-time Tour champion Chris Froome, 1:13, and France favorite Thibaut Pinot, 1:18 behind Pogačar.
German professional cyclists can be satisfied
The German professionals were mainly spared from falls.
"I drove relatively cautiously at first and must have left something behind, but I can be satisfied," said Bora professional Kämna, who was 25 seconds behind Lampaert.
Tour in Denmark for the first time
For the first time, a Tour of France started in cycling-mad Denmark, and for the first time since 2017 it began with a time trial.
At that time, too, it was pouring rain in Düsseldorf, which resulted in a number of falls, some of which were serious.
As announced, heavy rain set in shortly before the start of the race, which, according to the forecast, should intensify as the race progressed.
The top favorites for overall victory had therefore opted for quite early starting places.
That wasn't an advantage: it got better towards the middle of the race.
Especially in the early phase, however, there were falls.
The Swiss favorite of the day, Stefan Bissegger, was hit twice.
Frenchman Christophe Laporte, for whom the best split time was noted up to the end of the race, also went down.
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