Thomas makes up time but day in the sun eludes Ineos
Welshman into top 10 after team time trial Jumbo-visma take spoils with victory at the last
For more than 50 years, the Atomium has stood as a landmark in Brussels, its nine interconnected spheres – which depict nine iron atoms making up the unit cell of an iron crystal – a permanent fixture on the tourist trail.
It must have felt to Team Ineos’s riders as if they had been broiling in the afternoon sun for that long yesterday after going out first in the team time trial and setting such a quick time that the next 20 teams failed to beat it. Convention at the Tour de France dictates that in time trials the leading rider or team must sit “in the hot seat” until their time is beaten. Ineos’s five fastest riders crossed the finish line beneath the Atomium in 29min 17.97sec, flying around the 27.6-kilometre course at an average speed of 56.551kph.
By the time Jumbo-visma, the 22nd and final team of the afternoon, crossed in 28-57.81 – an impressive 20 seconds quicker than Ineos – Geraint Thomas and his team-mates had been in the hot seat for nearly two hours.
Actually, they had cheated a bit. The riders snuck off, warmed down, got changed (into fresh Lycra) and watched the other teams from the podium “changing room” for a while, before settling back in their plastic fold-up chairs for the last half-hour of action.
But any aching limbs this morning were well worth it for the time gained on their biggest rivals.
Thomas and Egan Bernal, Ineos’s co-leaders, surged into the top 10 in the general classification as a result of their efforts, putting 21 seconds into Adam Yates (Mitchelton-scott), 45 seconds into Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), and almost a minute into Richie Porte (Trek-segafredo) and Romain Bardet (AG2R). Those sorts of losses are not easily recoverable in the mountains, and Bardet in particular can expect to lose plenty more in the individual time trial later in the race. His maillot jaune ambitions are as good as over already.
There was good news for another Frenchman, though. Thibaut Pinot’s Groupama FDJ showed that – unlike AG2R – they had learnt the lessons of recent Tours. They signed Stefan Kung for this season, and the three-time Swiss time trial champion helped them to a very respectable 29-29.28, just 12 seconds off Ineos’s pace.
Pinot will be very much looking forward to getting to La Planche des Belles Filles, one of his local climbs, later this week.
Who will be in yellow by then is anyone’s guess. Mike Teunissen, the surprise winner of Saturday’s opening stage, rides for Jumbovisma, so the Dutch rider stayed in it yesterday.
Many are expecting his young team-mate, rising Belgian star Wout van Aert, to grab it off him today, though. The last 35km of the route from Binche in Belgium to Epernay in France – champagne country – features six punchy climbs. It looks tailor-made for the cyclo-cross star, who is emerging as one of the sport’s most exciting riders.
One person who definitely will not be in yellow – either now or at any point in the race – is Simon Yates. The Vuelta a Espana champion insisted last week that he was only here to support his twin brother’s efforts. And while some felt he might have been bluffing, that Mitchelton-scott might use him as a Plan B for the GC, it turned out he was not.
Yates intentionally dropped back early in yesterday’s TTT, falling to 162nd overall, 3min 56sec in arrears. He will likely lose more in an effort to be allowed into a few breaks in the mountains.
Thomas sounded relaxed. With only Steven Kruijswijk of his GC rivals taking time out of him yesterday, he said he was happy with how the first two days had gone. In particular, the fact that he felt no ill effects from his crash into the barriers on Saturday.
“I have no injury issues,” the Welshman said. “I was going pretty slow when I hit the barriers yesterday, so I’m absolutely fine.
“Looking at GC, it’s a good performance. Obviously we wanted to win, but I think 20 seconds [to Jumbo-visma] is a big enough gap to know a few mistakes didn’t cost us the stage. It was a positive day.”