OFFICIAL Stage 1 Results

[Laurens De Jong]

Hello, Tour de France Gamers!

 

STAGE Grade: B+

 

I rate today’s stage a B+. A high rank for a time trial! But we’ve never had a time trial like this. A few stars for the route, that climb was meaningful. Tactics and general classification implications everywhere. I even count the final climb to the finish as a sprint. It was a good race to start the 2026 Tour de France.

 

Route: 3/5         GC: 4/5             Tactics: 3/5       Sprint: 2/5         Surprises: 3/5

 

 

The team time trial. The most beautiful of all road racing formats. Every few years we fear the demise of the team time trial, every few years it makes a comeback.

 

Cycling is suffering, cycling is a team sport. The team time trial has both: about half the peloton hates the team time trial. A time trial is hard enough: you ride at 100% for an entire race. Not 99%, not 101%, but exactly 100% of your ability. It is the worst kind of suffering.

 

Most of the peloton never has to ride a time trial at that pace. Finish 85^th, or finish 132^nd, nobody cares. They just pedal at a pace deemed acceptable by their team bosses, and only the cracks race a time trial at 100%.

 

In the team time trial, everybody has to give maximum effort. For the entire race. It is miserable. It is beautiful. The team time trial.

 

Today, though, was not a team time trial. The team starts collectively, but the riders are timed individually. I knew what to expect, it still didn’t look right. Single riders leaving their team in an attempt to win the stage.

 

I’m sure half the peloton supported this. They only had to go full gas for half the stage, and then their time trial specialist disappeared into the distance.

 

In the old days, before 1940 at least, road race organizers would add riders to the peloton whose only purpose was to pace the champions for the opening few hundred kilometers. Later, motorcycles (“dernies”) would do the same thing, as they still do on the velodrome. Today, then, we have settled on the team time trial doing the same: pace the time trial specialist for ten kilometers before launching him to victory.

 

Now we have this. Teams use up their lesser riders like pawns, they do or don’t protect their GC riders. Egan Bernal pulled the plug, for example, he didn’t want to slow down the team. Ben O’Connor was dropped, whether planned or not, I don’t know. Cian Uijtdebroeks was dropped and that certainly wasn’t the plan. He had cramps, he lost nearly two minutes. Kévin Vauqelin, who had been telling everyone for months he was going after a yellow jersey here, suffered a puncture. Unplanned, heartbreak.

 

It was a fun race to watch, stage 1 of the 2026 Tour de France. But don’t call it a team time trial. It was a team-paced time trial. That Jonas Vingegaard, surprisingly, won. Halfway through I was certain Tadej Pogačar himself would win it, and I don’t know why he didn’t. I never saw him or his team try very hard, but that’s the way they win races. I read a week or so ago that Pogačar likes to do his recovery rides on his sofa. Supernatural, Pogačar. But okay, he was thirteen seconds behind at the bottom of the climb, and twelve at the end. Vingegaard can say all he wants that it is just one stage, but since when does Pogačar lose a stage he can easily win? I call this a significant event.

 

In the focus section this year I will again highlight a rider picked by only one team. With almost 50 teams, there are plenty of those riders. I’m not picking on that rider, or the team that picked him. I find it objectively interesting to focus on riders that otherwise might not be noticed.

 

Maxim van Gils is a rider that will get noticed. It’s a little surprising that he was picked by only one team — Team Kurt. I picked him because he was the last rider from Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe pulling Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz. I say pulling; Evenepoel could barely hang on and Lipowitz was actually dropped. It was just two or three bike lengths, and it seemed like Lipowitz could just close that gap. But they were doing almost 70 km/h at that time and Lipowitz was essentially fully in the wind.

 

Think about that. Lipowitz was fourth and sixth in the two time trials in the 2025 Tour de France. He could not hold the wheel of Evenepoel and van Gils. Two kilometers from the end, the finish was in sight.

 

That van Gils, you might think. He sure is a champion time trial. No. He is a cyclist, cycling is a team sport. Van Gils emptied himself completely for the team. Once empty, Evenepoel raced to fifth overall and Lipowitz to eighth. Van Gils dropped to 46^th. Two minutes down. Van Gils, who had dropped Lipowitz, lost two minutes in the final mile of racing.

 

Watch the final kilometers HERE.

Watch the FloBikes highlights HERE.

Read the TNT Sports report HERE.

 

I improvised a lot with the points. Typically for a team time trial, stage results earn half points. But this is not a typical team time trial. I looked at the general classification’s top 25 and I thought: that looks like a stage result. So I took those and added points again for the top ten in the GC, plus the riders who were awarded the green and polka dot jerseys — even though there were no KOM or sprint points awarded today. If the Tour organizers can go off the rails with their podiums, then I can do it with the points!

 

Team Josh took a strong early lead in our game. Most points from the stage, most points for overall, and tied for most points from classifications and most riders in the Top-25 (twelve). Only Team Tadej could come close, second on the day and also twelve riders in the Top-25.

 

Team Hugo were third, same points from classifications as Team Josh. Team Ansel came fourth followed by Team Caleb. Sixth were Team Wesley, then Team Charles and Team Cameron. Team Matthew were ninth, followed by Team Amalia, Team Grace and Team Oliver. None of these teams missed the boat today; everyone understood the assignment.

 

Stage 2 is a difficult race, with one category 2 climb halfway through, and the category 3 climb of Montjuïc three times in the finale. Months ago, Mathieu van der Poel had this stage circled as an opportunity to win the yellow jersey, but I think he’s too far back now. And I think that, after today’s spectacle, stage 2 will turn into another race for the general classification. Therefore we take our pencil and write down as the winner of stage 2: Tadej Pogačar.

 

Standings after stage 1:

 

Rank	Name	Points	WAS	MOVES
1	Team Josh*	287	1	0
2	Team Tadej*	270	1	-1
3	Team Hugo*	262	1	-2
4	Team Ansel*	251	1	-3
5	Team Caleb*	248	1	-4
6	Team Wesley*	232	1	-5
7	Team Charles*	217	1	-6
8	Team Cameron*	212	1	-7
9	Team Matthew*	209	1	-8
10	Team Amalia*	207	1	-9
11	Team Grace*	200	1	-10
12	Team Oliver*	182	1	-11

 

Standings after stage 1 (including adults):

 

Rank	Name	Points	WAS	MOVES
1	Team Josh*	287	1	0
2	Team Melanie	281	1	-1
3	Team Amelia	275	1	-2
4	Team Kent	271	1	-3
5	Team Tadej*	270	1	-4
6	Team Hugo*	262	1	-5
7	Team Ansel*	251	1	-6
	Team Kari	251	1	-6
	Team Jonwaine	251	1	-6
10	Team Caleb*	248	1	-9
	Team Jon	248	1	-9
12	Team Rob	245	1	-11
13	Team Eric	240	1	-12
14	Team Ed	238	1	-13
15	Team Julie	234	1	-14
16	Team Laurens	232	1	-15
	Team Craig	232	1	-15
	Team Jonathan	232	1	-15
19	Team Charlotte	224	1	-18
20	Team Charles*	217	1	-19
	Team Corsa	217	1	-19
22	Team Adam	215	1	-21
23	Team Cameron	212	1	-22
24	Team Matthew*	209	1	-23
25	Team Amalia*	207	1	-24
26	Team Kate	202	1	-25
	Team Furner	202	1	-25
28	Team Kurt	201	1	-27
29	Team Grace	200	1	-28
30	Team Allison	196	1	-29
31	Team Suzanne	195	1	-30
32	Team Ellie	192	1	-31
33	Team Ambrose	183	1	-32
34	Team Oliver*	182	1	-33
35	Team Erin	180	1	-34
36	Team Wesley	169	1	-35
37	Team Lichterman	165	1	-36
38	Team Senna#	145	1	-37
39	Team Wesley*	136	1	-38
40	Team Grace*	131	1	-39
41	Team Izzy	128	1	-40
42	Team Cameron*	124	1	-41
43	Team Valerie	93	1	-42
44	Team Sam	58	1	-43

 

Complete breakdown of points from stage 1:

 

Name	STAGE RESULTS	RED JERSEY	GREEN JERSEY	POLKA DOT JERSEY	WHITE JERSEY	POINTS/CLASS	TOTAL	PREVIOUS	CUM. TOTAL
Team Amalia*	157	41	0	5	4	50	207	0	207
Team Ansel*	195	40	0	5	11	56	251	0	251
Team Caleb*	195	42	0	5	6	53	248	0	248
Team Cameron*	165	35	0	5	7	47	212	0	212
Team Charles*	173	33	0	5	6	44	217	0	217
Team Grace*	150	36	0	5	9	50	200	0	200
Team Hugo*	197	49	0	5	11	65	262	0	262
Team Josh*	222	49	0	5	11	65	287	0	287
Team Matthew*	165	33	0	5	6	44	209	0	209
Team Oliver*	138	34	0	5	5	44	182	0	182
Team Tadej*	213	40	0	5	12	57	270	0	270
Team Wesley*	176	40	0	5	11	56	232	0	232

 

Complete breakdown of points from stage 1 (including adults):

 

Name	STAGE RESULTS	RED JERSEY	GREEN JERSEY	POLKA DOT JERSEY	WHITE JERSEY	POINTS/CLASS	TOTAL	PREVIOUS	CUM. TOTAL
Team Adam	159	40	0	5	11	56	215	0	215
Team Allison	156	34	0	0	6	40	196	0	196
Team Amalia*	157	41	0	5	4	50	207	0	207
Team Ambrose	142	30	0	5	6	41	183	0	183
Team Amelia	211	44	0	5	15	64	275	0	275
Team Ansel*	195	40	0	5	11	56	251	0	251
Team Caleb*	195	42	0	5	6	53	248	0	248
Team Cameron	165	35	0	5	7	47	212	0	212
Team Cameron*	100	19	0	5	0	24	124	0	124
Team Charles*	173	33	0	5	6	44	217	0	217
Team Charlotte	177	36	0	5	6	47	224	0	224
Team Corsa	161	40	0	5	11	56	217	0	217
Team Craig	176	40	0	5	11	56	232	0	232
Team Ed	185	42	0	5	6	53	238	0	238
Team Ellie	142	36	0	5	9	50	192	0	192
Team Eric	184	40	0	5	11	56	240	0	240
Team Erin	147	25	0	5	3	33	180	0	180
Team Furner	148	35	0	5	14	54	202	0	202
Team Grace	150	36	0	5	9	50	200	0	200
Team Grace*	99	27	0	5	0	32	131	0	131
Team Hugo*	197	49	0	5	11	65	262	0	262
Team Izzy	96	23	0	5	4	32	128	0	128
Team Jon	192	40	0	5	11	56	248	0	248
Team Jonathan	179	39	0	5	9	53	232	0	232
Team Jonwaine	194	40	0	5	12	57	251	0	251
Team Josh*	222	49	0	5	11	65	287	0	287
Team Julie	180	37	0	5	12	54	234	0	234
Team Kari	195	40	0	5	11	56	251	0	251
Team Kate	158	34	0	5	5	44	202	0	202
Team Kent	214	40	0	5	12	57	271	0	271
Team Kurt	159	30	0	5	7	42	201	0	201
Team Laurens	176	40	0	5	11	56	232	0	232
Team Lichterman	130	28	0	5	2	35	165	0	165
Team Matthew*	165	33	0	5	6	44	209	0	209
Team Melanie	216	49	0	5	11	65	281	0	281
Team Oliver*	138	34	0	5	5	44	182	0	182
Team Rob	189	40	0	5	11	56	245	0	245
Team Sam	42	9	0	5	2	16	58	0	58
Team Senna#	116	24	0	5	0	29	145	0	145
Team Suzanne	154	30	0	5	6	41	195	0	195
Team Tadej*	213	40	0	5	12	57	270	0	270
Team Valerie	70	18	0	5	0	23	93	0	93
Team Wesley	131	33	0	5	0	38	169	0	169
Team Wesley*	102	23	0	5	6	34	136	0	136

 

Allez le Tour!

 

-Laurens.