Yves Lampaert wins time trial as Geraint Thomas battles back in Tour opener

Geraint Thomas of Ineos Grenadiers survived a clothing error in the Copenhagen rain to make a solid start to the 2022 Tour de France, as the race got under way with an opening individual time trial in the Danish capital.

Thomas, who won on a similarly drenched course at the start of the 2018 Tour in Dusseldorf, raced in a sleeveless gilet over his aerodynamic kit after forgetting to remove after warming up. “That was the worst first half of a time trial that I have ever done,” the Welshman said.

“Everyone’s telling you to take it easy, but the main thing when I won in Dusseldorf, is just flow, a nice smooth line. This felt so bitty, stop and start. When I heard the time gaps, 18 seconds down to Matthieu Van der Poel, I thought: ‘Sod it, just race,’ and then I went better.

“The legs were good anyway, but it’s a shame about that blinking gilet. Because I zipped it up all nice and snug, I forgot I had it on and nobody spotted it. That was bugging me as well.

“I did think about taking it off but it would have been a bit dodgy. The main thing is the legs felt good, really good to be fair. When I put the power down I had plenty of it. Mentally it was one of the hardest time trials I’ve ever done.”

The stage was dominated by riders from the Jumbo-Visma team with Wout van Aert, Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard all powering confidently through the city streets. Of the early starters, Van Aert set the fastest time but as the rain eased later in the afternoon, his time increasingly looked under threat.

Yves Lampaert was the surprise winner of a rain-drenched opening time trial in a time of 15 minutes 17 seconds to beat van Aert by five seconds. Defending Tour champion Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) finished fastest of the major