Thanks for reading and for your emails and tweets. Congratulations to Jumbo-Visma and Mike Teunissen, who were supreme today. Join Barry Glendenning tomorrow for stage three, which starts in Binche in Belgium and ends 215km later in Épernay, France. See ya!
Here is our report from the action in Brussels
If those are the GC riders that impressed, it’s worth noting the ones that had a nightmare today: namely Ritchie Porte and Romain Bardet, who may be out of the GC reckoning before we even get to France, his homeland. Porte and Bardet are 1min18secs and 1min19secs off the pace already, after their respective teams, AG2R La Mondiale and Trek–Segafredo, toiled here in the TTT.
For the other French GC contender, Thibaut Pinot, hope remains. Groupama-FDJ are 32 seconds off the lead, but just 12 seconds behind Team Inoes.
@michaelbutler18 FDJ setting up nicely to spur Pinot on to thrilling heroics before a brilliant win in Bastille Day as an amuse bouche before overall victory.
— MaliciousA (@MaliciousA) July 7, 2019
So a quick round-up of who is wearing what.
Mike Teunissen is in yellow.
Mike Teunissen also leads the sprinting standings, but as he’s already wearing yellow, Peter Sagan will be in green for Stage Three.
Greg Van Avermaet is in that polkadot number as King of the Mountains.
Caleb Ewan is in white, the best young rider so far.
💛 #MaillotJauneLCL 🇳🇱 @MikeTeunissen
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 6, 2019
💚 Maillot vert 🇳🇱 @MikeTeunissen
🔴⚪️ #MaillotaPois 🇧🇪 @GregVanAvermaet
⚪️ Maillot blanc 🇦🇺 @CalebEwan #TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/uxEAgCQf0f
🎬 Relive the last kilometre in @JumboVismaRoad's Team Time-Trial victory! 🏆
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 7, 2019
🎬 Revivez le dernier kilomètre du Team Jumbo-Visma, qui remporte ce contre-la-montre par équipes ! 🏆#TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/2qVKHLDHlb
We’ve also had an email regarding today’s action in the Giro Rosa – stage three was a 104.2km hilly route from Sagliano Micca to Piedicavallo
Results
1: Marianne Vos
2: Lucy Kennedy
3: Cecilie Uttrup LudwigWith an initial descent into the valley followed by a slow and steady climb up to a steep cobbled finish, the route featured plenty of attacks through the day. Marianne Vos claimed her second and consecutive stage win in this year’s Giro. Lucy Kennedy kept the pace up on her late attack well enough to finish second, with Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig in third. Kasia Niewiadoma keeps the pink jersey.
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. @JumboVismaRoad is the first team to win a #TDF TTT with the Maillot Jaune since Crédit Agricole and Stuart O'Grady in 2001.
— letourdata (@letourdata) July 7, 2019
They smashed the TTT at an average speed of 57.2km/h.#TDF2019 #TDFdata
That average speed is absolutely insane: 35.54mph. That’s not quite the fastest ever TTT average speed: Orica GreenEDGE (now Mitchelton-Scott) recorded 57.841km/h around Nice back in 2013.
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Here’s Jumbo-Visma’s Mike Teunissen, who retained the yellow jersey today.
Yesterday was a dream. Indeed, it is again today. It was really hard, because of the crash of Dylan [Groenewegen yesterday], he couldn’t give his all. We were a man down, but everyone kept their pace. We heard we were fastest and that gave us morale. So did this yellow jersey. I’m not getting used to winning stages in the Tour but that’s two out of two. Yesterday, I took most of the credit but it’s a real team effort. It’s unbelievable. I want to thank everyone.
Away from the very top of the standings, Team Katusha Alpecin had a great ride, finishing in fifth place, 26 seconds behind Jumbo-Visma. Here’s British rider Alex Dowsett assessing their performance:
That was one of the most perfect time trials, I’ve ever been a part of. It’s all about speed, it doesn’t matter if you do five seconds on the front or 40 seconds on the front. The team that rotates the speed the best, wins. It’s a real buzz, it is something else to be a part of. It’s like being a racing driver in F1, that’s what it feels to be a part of an elite cycling team, although our job is a bit harder.
Confirmation that Mike Teunissen retains the yellow jersey!
His unexpected reign at the top of the standings continues! They also have Wout van Aert in the mix for the GC. What a start to the Tour.
Jumbo-Visma win stage two with a time of 28'57''!
Steven Kruijswijk, sitting in fourth, was a little bit ragged as Jumbo-Visma come up the home straight but the experienced Tony Martin helps him over the line. Fists are raised into the air in celebration as their victory is confirmed with a time 28 minutes and 57 seconds – 20 seconds clear of Team Ineos. Jim Ratcliffe, your boys took one hell of a beating.
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Mike Teunissen, the first Dutch rider to wear the yellow rider since 1989, is third of the five remaining Jumbo-Visma riders. About two kilometres to go, they will surely win this stage, barring any crashes.
Deceuninck–Quick-Step are right in it as they approach the final kilometre. They were just two seconds behind the fastest time at the second checkpoint and could well usurp Team Ineos at the top of the standings! Five riders, led by Julian Alaphilippe, are hurtling down the home straight, which is a slight incline. Alaphilippe is really grimacing … ooooooh, they finish just 0.82 seconds behind Ineos! Deceuninck–Quick-Step slot into second place.
😱 SO CLOSE ! @deceuninck_qst finishes less than 1 second behind @TeamINEOS !
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 7, 2019
😱 C'était chaud ! L'équipe Deceuninck Quick Step finit moins d'une seconde derrière Ineos ! #TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/39TICVtJLz
The British team retain the TTT lead, then, although it looks like Jumbo-Visma – our last team out on the course – will ultimately win the day. They are now 14 seconds clear of everyone else as they fly through the second checkpoint.
Updated
This is a staggering performance from Jumbo-Visma, who are going so fast that they have actually dropped one of their riders. They are still seven men strong though, and that should be OK for the latter stages.
Jumbo Visma come through the first checkpoint in first place! 13'45''!
It’s looking like it is going to be a straight shoot out between Jumbo-Visma and Team Inoes. Great news for the wearer of the yellow jersey Mike Teunissen. Jumbo Visma are a full 11 seconds ahead of Team Katusha Alpecin time! Wow!
Mike Teunissen's @JumboVismaRoad set the fastest time after 13.2km.
— letourdata (@letourdata) July 7, 2019
They need to average 55.0km/h over the rest of the course for Teunissen to stay in Yellow. @TeamINEOS covered the last two sections at 56.4km/h.#TDF2019 #TDFdata pic.twitter.com/OkjeuiAagw
Updated
EF Education First are fading slightly, but should be in the mix for a podium spot. Two km for them to go.
Updated
Rohan Dennis is really coming into his own here for Nibali and Bahrain-Merida, powering them through the final two kilometres. Nibali is the first through the finish line, 14 seconds behind Ineos’s time. That’s not too bad, a good ride.
You would say that the only teams that look like they could challenge Ineos for the stage win here are Jumbo-Visma, EF Education First and Deceuninck Quick Step, who have just gone through the first checkpoint just one second off the Team Katusha Alpecin time, which places them ahead of Ineos at this stage.
Bahrain-Merida and Vincenzo Nibali, meanwhile, are just two kilometres from the finish. They were 12 seconds adrift of Team Katusha Alpecin at the second checkpoint, so Nibali is well positioned for the GC.
The final team to get off the starting blocks, Jumbo-Visma, who include our wearer of the yellow jersey, Mike Teunissen. Wout van Aert and the legendary Tony Martin help make up a formidable TTT line-up. I expect them to win this stage today, which would of course keep Teunissen in the yellow jersey.
🇫🇷#TDF2019
— Team Jumbo-Visma cycling (@JumboVismaRoad) July 7, 2019
And we are underway! pic.twitter.com/yhrvOQt0cs
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Not the best ride for Michelton-Scott, who go through the second checkpoint in sixth place. They will hope to at least break the top five by the finish.
Updated
Peter Sagan and Bora–Hansgrohe finish 25 seconds behind Ineos, which is about par for the team. Sagan will want to get hold of that yellow jersey at some point after missing out yesterday.
And here’s Porte to discuss Trek–Segafredo’s poor performance.
It was a really fast course. Ineos are a the team to beat, but the race is far from done. We did a really good ride with what we’ve got. Knowing what the Pyrenees and the Alps, it’s going to be tough. I’m not going to throw the toys out of the cot just yet. The climbing stages are coming and there’s still a long way to go.
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I’m a big fan too, although I wouldn’t mind it if it the stage came a bit later in the schedule. It’s disappointing that GC riders like Porte or Bardet are effectively out of the running because of the rest of the their team’s showing here in the TTT. But hey, that’s cycling.
I'm a big fan of the Team TT @michaelbutler18. Less severe than the individual, and so less damaging, in theory, but this early, already changing the dynamic, just as crosswinds in the Vosges do. They spice up the first week. I remember when that time used to be pretty dull.
— Guy Hornsby (@GuyHornsby) July 7, 2019
Lotto Soudal are looking quick, if a little ragged, with two of their riders dropping off BEFORE the first checkpoint. That said, they go through in 14’08’’, just 12 seconds off Team Katusha Alpecin’s time, and the riders regroup. I wonder if that recovery will have taken something out of the tank for the last half of the course.
Updated
Jakob Fuglsang, one of the GC contenders that sustained a nasty crash yesterday, has been talking to the cameras. His team, Astana, currently lie in fifth place today.
I’m quite happy with it. The team did a decent time trial. I’m happy that I could also turn with the guys. We worked hard to get ready and I was able to battle it out without too much pain. I was of course tired in the head [after he hit his head in yesterday] but today I am OK. It’s the leg that is causing me problems and unfortunately that’s what you need in the Tour.
Two of the strongest time trial teams, Sunweb and Adam Yates’s Mitchelton–Scott, are still in the mix. Sunweb are six seconds off the pace through the first checkpoint, while Mitchelton–Scott are just rolling out of the starting blocks.
#TDF2019 🇫🇷 And we're off! 👊
— Mitchelton-SCOTT (@MitcheltonSCOTT) July 7, 2019
Team INEOS are the fastest team as it stands with a time of 29'18'' ⏱ pic.twitter.com/yvxkqzX5lt
Updated
Team Katusha Alpecin just drop short of Team Ineos, fading in the final metres and finishing with a time of 29’24’’, just five seconds short of the British leaders! That would have been a real upset, but the Swiss side can be delighted with their day’s work.
Team Katusha Alpecin, down to six riders as they approach the final kilometre, are right on Team Ineos’s time! This is going to come down right to the wire on the finish line!
Updated
Of all the GC riders, Porte (and Bardet?) has had the worst time trial. Trek-Segafredo finish a full 58 seconds behind Inoes, which could be a devastating blow for the Australian.
Sagan, our green jersey winner who missed out on the yellow jersey yesterday to Mike Teunissen by a matter of inches, is out on the course with his Bora–Hansgrohe team-mates.
It goes from bad to worse for Porte and Trek-Segafredo, who go through the second checkpoint 41 seconds off the pace. You would not expect them to be outside Movistar or UAE, but here they are.
Team Katusha Alpecin fly out of the traps, and the first split have the Swiss side leading Team Ineos, going through the first checkpoint in 13’55’’ four seconds quicker than the British side. Let’s see if they can keep things up.
CCC team – also time trial specialists – fare a lot better and finish in 29’29’, just usurping Groupama–FDJ into second place!
Ritchie Porte and Trek–Segafredo – who are normally time trial specialists – are a good 29 seconds behind Ineos as they go through the first checkpoint. That’s a disappointing result, but the truth is that this team are not as strong as years gone by.
Updated
Movistar, led by Alejandro Valverde and Nairo Quinata finish the TTT in 30’03, a good 45 seconds back from Ineos. Funnily enough, the riders look happy with that result and seem to be congratulating each other before disembarking from the saddle. It’s a long way back for Quintana in particular, especially as we won’t really get near any mountains for a few more days.
It’s been confirmed that David Gaudu was the Groupama-FDJ rider that crashed as the team came around the final bends. It was a heavy fall but Gaudu was able to get to his feet. He’s the No 2 rider for Groupama-FDJ after Pinot so the French team will be hoping that he is OK.
These are the top three as things stand.
Strong performance from @GroupamaFDJ to squeeze in between @TeamINEOS and @AstanaTeam on the provisional standings.#TDF2019 #TDFdata pic.twitter.com/XDgcrY1YmO
— letourdata (@letourdata) July 7, 2019
Updated
You can’t win the Tour with the team time trial, but you can certainly lose it. AG2R La Mondiale finish 59 seconds behind Ineos’s time in 30’17’’. Bardet’s GC hopes could well be over before it’s really begun. It’s going to be so tough for him to make up a minute on the leaders.
With Groupama-FDJ just 10 seconds off and Astana 20 seconds off (with an injured rider), it is increasingly looking like Ineos’s time of 29’18’’ isn’t actually a brilliant time. By the time that stage favourites Jumbo-Visma and Team Sunweb finish, they could well be outside the top five.
Movistar are 38 seconds down as they roll through the second checkpoint. Quintana and co are having a shocker.
Updated
Crash for Groupama-FDJ! One rider – not Pinot – goes down hard as they approach a tight corner in the final kilometre but the Frenchman and his team are lucky that the crash is at the back so that it doesn’t impede the rest of the riders. Pinot finishes first as the team finish just 10 seconds off Ineos’s pace. 29’29’’ is an excellent result.
Astana finish in 29 minutes, 38 seconds!
Fair play to Astana, they have rallied in the second part of that race and finish with a very respectable 29’38’’. That’s 20 seconds off the pace of Ineos, so a small amount of time for Fuglsang to make up, but considering they were 14 seconds down at the half-way stage, the losses are not too great.
Compare that to Team Arkéa–Samsic, who finished a full 1min30secs behind Ineos’s time. Ouch.
Updated
Thomas is caught by someone with a microphone as Team Ineos walk off the course. He’s asked if they were happy with an average speed of 56km/hour.
“I wanted to go 57km/h. I think we rode well actually. Can’t be too disappointed with that.
Thomas is then asked if starting first was deliberate.
No it wasn’t deliberately. It was my little tumble and the fact that Egan was behind me – we had someone in front.
It does indeed look like Fuglsang’s crash is taking its toll.
Jakob Fuglsang's @AstanaTeam were 1.1 km/h slower than @TeamINEOS over the first 10 km of the TTT as the Dane is battling with the consequences of his crash yesterday.#TDF2019 #TDFdata pic.twitter.com/8gLTEVqYvt
— letourdata (@letourdata) July 7, 2019
Nairo Quintana is now out on the course with the rest of his Movistar team. They are not expected to challenge here for the stage win, I expect they will be happy to have their time settle in the middle of the pack.
Updated
Team Ineos finish the TTT in 29 minutes, 18 seconds!
That time is actually in line with their first split at the checkpoint, so interesting that they didn’t actually get quicker at the course went on. Maybe the wind changed or something.
Kwiatkowski peels off as Ineos approach the final 250 metres. It’s a slightly uphill finish, and the riders look like they are really hurting here. Thomas is at the front, but the time will be dictated by the fourth rider …
Wout Poels and (I think) Luke Rowe are the first two Inoes riders to drop off the pace. Poels is predominantly a climber and will be saving his energy for the mountains. 1km to go for the Team Ineos.
Updated
Astana are the next team to fly through the first checkpoint, they are 14.38 seconds behind the time of Team Ineos. I would expect that to grow as the race continues.
Updated
Five km to go for Ineos. They are flying down a wide boulevard at 67km/hour. Woof!
Interesting that Ineos still have their eight riders together. Teams almost never finish with their eight all bunched up – remember it’s only the top four riders which share the overall time – but it will be interesting to see if they keep this up.
Team Ineos are through the first checkpoint (after 13.2km) in 13 minutes, 59 seconds. That’s an average speed of 56km/hour, which is very, very quick even for elite level riding. Expect that to go up, the fastest sections of the course are towards the end.
Updated
Thibaut Pinot is looking very relaxed as he gets onto his bike. France is craving a home winner and him and Bardet may not have a better chance to win the Tour than this year. Pinot is all business as his Groupama -FDJ team line up on the starting block. Bardet and AG2R La Mondiale will follow shortly.
Astana are the next team off the block: Fuglsang is there looking very determined. The crowds are going mad, fair play to the Belgians and everyone that has travelled out there. I’m going out in a week or so to go and watch it at the Col du Tourmalet, can’t wait!
“Waiting in the bois du cambre for the first team to arrive,” emails Annie Collins. “Fabulous atmosphere!”
There are two checkpoints to gauge the 22 teams’ progress – the first at Le Bois de Cambre is after 13.2km, the second at Boulevard Général Wahis is after 20.1km and the finish line after 27.6km at the Atomium, which was originally constructed for the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair but it now a museum.
Fun fact: the Atomium consists of nine spheres, representing an iron crystal magnified 150 billion times.
Team Ineos are off!
Thomas, Bernal and co lead off. It’s dry in Brussels today and a mild 19 degrees with a light breeze. This is going to be very fast, but it’s not a hugely technical course in terms of braking and turning. Van Baarle is out at the front, Thomas at the back. They are actually in a perfect reverse order from eight to one.
🚩And they're off ! @TeamINEOS is the first team to tackle the TTT. ⏱
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 7, 2019
🚩 Ils sont partis ! L'équipe Ineos est la première à se mesurer au parcours. ⏱#TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/wOuaYmDGmW
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Thomas and the rest of Team Ineos have warming up on the exercise bike – sort of like a spinning class – but they are ready on the starting line. David Millar, ITV4 commentator, seems to think that Ineos finishing last yesterday was actually a deliberate ploy to have an element of control today. I’m not so sure. Still, Millar has been out inspecting the course today – he says that the road surface is exceptionally smooth and “a dream course” for the leading teams that have marginal gains in aerodynamics and equipment.
Another chance to see how @SwissSide aerodynamics have helped us develop and optimise our approach to the team time trial using their virtual pitwall and rake technology 📽️ pic.twitter.com/fwmF2LSFzO
— Team INEOS (@TeamINEOS) July 7, 2019
For French rider and GC contender Romain Bardet, this will be one of damage limitation. The Ag2r-La Mondiale rider is a big climber, and this year’s race has been billed as the highest ever, but today might be a struggle for him.
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Fuglsang has been talking this morning.
I’m definitely not 100%, that’s for sure, but better than I thought. I was feeling yesterday that I would slowly turn down. We will see once we start racing.
Our first email comes from Lyn Whitfield, who is in Brussels!
“In Brussels and standing on one of the boulevards by the European Parliament. Publicity caravan has just gone through at 40mph, chucking metal keyrings and other merch at the crowd’s legs at some velocity. All quite surreal... looking forward to some actual racing. Dutch very excited; lots of flags out with the name of yesterday’s winner hastily added in permanent marker ...”
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This was Fuglsang’s crash, you can see him in the turquoise jersey going down hard on the pavement on the right hand side as he falls over Bahrain-Merida’s Damiano Caruso, who was already down.
#Replay 🎥 / 🇮🇹 Vincenzo Nibali (TBM) évite la chute... ce que ne fait pas 🇩🇰 Jakob Fuglsang (AST). pic.twitter.com/R8mKhdGLx5
— Renaud Breban (@RenaudB31) July 6, 2019
Some excellent agility from Caruso’s team-mate Jan Tratnik (not Nibali, as stated in the above tweet – you can see the Italian on the left hand side looking back at this team-mates in horror) sees the Slovenian avoid the crash. Hop!
Just a little reminder of how the team time trial works. Eight riders from each team go off at the same time and the first four to finish will all be awarded the same time, so there’s no glory in one rider going off in a hurry. Teamwork and tactics will be vital to ensure that nobody from the four are left behind.
The last four will have their times clocked individually. Jumbo-Visma, Team Sunweb, Mitchelton-Scott and Bahrain-Merida are expected to be among the strongest teams for the time trial. Our unexpected wearer of the yellow jersey, Mike Teunissen, is part of the Jumbo Visma team, who are my pick to win here today, so the Dutch rider could well extend his team at the top and keep the maillot jaune into the third day.
Team Ineos will be keen to make up for yesterday. Geraint Thomas is a good time trial rider, Bernal less so, but the British team could well be in the mix here as well. Thomas’s crash yesterday was just a minor one, other riders meant he went down after a glancing blow from the barriers, about 3km from the end. Thomas himself said it just a topple – he’s on the right-hand side in the below video – so he’ll be fully fit for today.
⬅️⬆️➡️? When there's a crash in front of you which direction do you choose? Here's the @VelonCC on board clip of that stage one pileup at #TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/OfnkDnafeg
— Team INEOS (@TeamINEOS) July 6, 2019
Things are looking a bit more dicey for another of the GC favourites, Astana Pro Team rider Jakob Fuglsang, who had a much bigger crash. The Dane finished the race but had to be given assistance as he hobbled away after his post-race interviews. He took a bang on the knee and a nasty cut above his right eye. It will be interesting to see what shape he’s in today after an evening with the medics.
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Preamble
Welcome to the second stage of the Tour. It’s the time trial today, around Brussels, as the Tour continues to pay homage to Belgian Eddy Merckx.
There was a huge crowd yesterday to greet the 74-year-old before Stage One started, and that obviously inspired Belgium’s Greg Van Avermaet, who was the first to the summit ahead of Meurisse to take two bonus points and the King of the Mountains jersey. It was an action-packed tour, complete with a crash for Geraint Thomas and a photo finish involving Peter Sagan and the eventual stage winner, Mike Teunissen, our yellow jersey winner. Peter Whittle was in Brussels for the Guardian – read his report here:
All that means that this is the currently running order for today’s time trial. With Egan Bernal and Thomas both caught up in the crash yesterday, Team Ineos lies at the bottom of the team classification and it is them that will start first at 1.30pm BST, 2.30pm local time. All times below are BST.
1.30 – Team Ineos
1.35 – Arkéa – Samsic
1.40 – Astana
1.45 – Groupama – FDJ
1.50 – AG2R La Mondiale
1.55 – Movistar
2.00 – Total Direct Energie
2.05 – CCC
2.10 – UAE Emirates
2.15 – Trek-Segafredo
2.20 – Katusha-Alpecin
2.25 – Cofidis
2.30 – Dimension Data
2.35 – Team Sunweb
2.40 – BORA-hansgrohe
2.45 – Lotto Soudal
2.50 – Mitchelton – Scott
2.55 – Bahrain Merida
3.00 – EF Education First
3.05 – Deceuninck – Quick-Step
3.10 – Wanty – Gobert
3.15 – Jumbo – Visma
This is the course today, 27.6km, wide, flat roads (four ‘climbs’ of around just 4%), so it should be a very quick one.
The streets of Brussels welcome the TTT today, offering the chance to discover the city in all its beauty: https://t.co/akakLKxocq 🇧🇪.
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 7, 2019
Le parcours de la deuxième étape du #TDF2019 donne l'occasion de découvrir en détail la capitale belge : https://t.co/FFluq8vtqM. 🇧🇪 pic.twitter.com/nnaKCCME9S
Obviously we won’t have the jostling of yesterday, so please do chime in with your emails, tweets, hopes and dreams. You can find me at michael.butler@theguardian.com or @michaelbutler18.
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