The Visma-Lease a Bike riders celebrated another team time trial victory and celebrated Jonas Vingegaard pulling on the Tour de France first leader's yellow, but for the Dane, the moment was far more significant and far more emotional.
It was pointed out to him that it was the first time he had put time in rival Tadej Pogacar since winning the Tour in 2023. It is also the first time he wore the yellow jersey since being crowned the 2023 Tour winner in Paris. For Vingegaard, it was more significant that it was his yellow jersey since his terrible 2024 crash at the Itzulia Basque Country race.
"I'm extremely happy and proud to be wearing the yellow jersey again. I'm just extremely happy. It's something I dreamed of for the last three years," he said.
"It's been a few hard years for me, for obvious reasons. I've been at times struggling in the last few years. Now I feel that I can close this chapter in the book. Of course, it will always be a part of my book, me lying there on the ground, believing that I'm going to die. Coming from that to this point is emotional.
"When you're there on the ground, you don't even think about cycling. I just thought about trying to survive. So to get the yellow jersey again is a dream come true."
The Visma riders celebrated together on the podium, and Cyclingnews witnessed Matteo Jorgenson hug team staff at the Visma bus and fire up the crowd by punching the air.
"I think it's a special discipline in cycling. We ended up with the yellow jersey, and that's a dream for everyone in cycling," Vingegaard said.
"We've had an amazing start to this Tour de France. I think the boys will enjoy this tonight, I will enjoy it and the whole team will enjoy it. It gives us a lot of motivation to keep going in this Tour.
Visma focus massively on the team time trial. They won the stage at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and devised a clever TTT strategy for the Barcelona stage. The team's rouleurs rode on the front on the early flat section, with Vingegaard and yellow climbers Sepp Kuss and Davide Piganzoli sitting on their wheels until the final climb.
"I really believed in the race tactic, but when there was a big headwind, it felt like we were going almost a bit too easy," Vingegaard admitted.
"We have five big guys that can do a much greater job, and we can use them in this way on the flat. Me, Sepp and Davide cannot do much anyway, other than slowing them down."
Vingegaard pulled on the yellow jersey and leads Filippo Ganna (Netcompany Ineos) by eight seconds in the Tour de France GC standings, with Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) at 12 seconds.
Sunday's second stage also finishes on Montjuïc, with three climbs on the circuit. Pogačar will surely go on the attack, but if Vingegaard can finish with him, he will retain the yellow jersey and land another psychological blow on his big rival.
"I think the next stages will be very hard. I think we're going to be fighting every single day from now on," Vingegaard said, almost relishing the challenge.
"I believe that I have a very high level here and that I'm capable of at least fighting for the victories."
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