1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, in 32-00
2. Stefan Küng (Sui) Groupama-FDJ, at 19s
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Jumbo-Visma, at 27
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Hello there CW readers, Alex Ballinger here starting the day off with live coverage from the first time trial of the 2021 Tour de France.
I know TTs are Marmite in a Grand Tour, but I'm personally a big fan of the race against the clock (both to watch and to race).
Here's the profile for today's stage, it's an almost pan-flat 27.2km and should suit the pure TTers.
Today at the Tour: It's time trial day! 27.2 flat kilometres from Changé to Laval Espace Mayenne.Will Mathieu van der Poel keep the yellow jersey? #TDF2021 pic.twitter.com/525K7JlqFRJune 30, 2021
My colleague Tim Bonville-Ginn drew the short straw and has compiled the full start times from today's TT, also picking out a few of the favourites so you know when to get your eyes back on the race.
The first rider off will be Amund Grøndahl Jansen from Team BikeExchange, who will be hitting the start ramp at 12.15pm local time (that's 11.15am British time).
Mathieu van der Poel will start the TT last as he's the yellow jersey wearer. He's off at 4.50pm French time (3.50pm British time).
The yellow jersey battle is probably the biggest headline from this upcoming stage, as Mathieu van der Poel goes into the TT with just an eight second lead over Julian Alaphilippe in second place.
BUT, it's going to be a huge ask for Van der Poel to hold onto the jersey and he has admitted himself he's not a time trialist and he doesn't spend much time at all on the TT bike.
(Image credit: Getty)
Julian Alaphilippe has been stellar in time trials in recent seasons, but he thrives more on a punchy TT course that lets his lightweight climbing ability shine through.
So instead we might be looking to a pure TTer who is still high on GC, maybe someone like Wout van Aert...
The Jumbo-Visma star currently sits fourth overall, 31 seconds off the race lead, while he's also among the favourites to take stage honours.
Can Van Aert take the lead in the Tour de France for the first time in his career?
Along with the battle for the yellow jersey, we also have the fight for the stage honours.
This course looks well-suited to the TT big dogs, the ones who can put out a huge amount of power on the flats, I'm talking Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), or maybe even Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-Nippo).
Stefan Küng
(Image credit: Getty)
Victor Campenaerts is always worth a mention in a TT, but the Qhubeka-NextHash rider has been super inconsistent (sorry Victor) in Grand Tour time trials so it would take quite a performance for him to compete against the likes of Van Aert and Küng.
The 2021 Tour de France is definitely missing some of the biggest names as well, with no Filippo Ganna or Rohan Dennis (Ineos Grenadiers), but we should still have a great battle for the stage.
We've just got word from our reporter on the ground Jonny Long, who is currently at the start village in Changé.
Jonny said we've got the typical start town chaos this morning, with Alejandro Valverde, Enric Mas and Miguel Ángel López from Movistar all trying to weave their way through the publicity caravan and parked cars during their warm ups.
It's also very overcast over in France, with the feeling that the right might start at any moment. That could make things very tricky.
