The 113th Tour de France, in which Tadej is aiming for a third consecutive and overall fifth victory, began with a 19.6-kilometer team time trial in Barcelona. Tadej also wanted to take 1st place with his team UAE Team Emirates – XRG on the rolling course with a finishing climb to Montjuic, but he was satisfied with 3rd.
The fastest team was Visma Lease a Bike, Jonas Vingegaard set the best time of 21:27 (average speed 53.95 km/h). Second place went to the Netcompany Ineos squad with Filippo Ganna, who was eight seconds back, while Tadej in 3rd place finished 12 seconds behind the Danish winner.
»It was a super good performance. Of course, you always aim for the victory, but I think we did a really good, super team time trial. I am super happy that the day is over because it is really hard to do this day. It is long and you prepare for just these 20 minutes with the team. It is really stressful, but I enjoyed it today because it has been a long time since I did a team time trial, and actually, it was a really good performance. We can be happy with today and be really motivated for the next days,« Tadej said at the finish.
He didn’t put on the yellow leader’s jersey, but he did take the polka dot jersey for best climber, because he set the best time on the final climb up to the Olympic Stadium on Montjuic. »The good news is that I have climbing legs, but it was quite a short climb, and Isaac did a really amazing job. He is such a good kid, and all the team did super good today. Everybody went over the limit and also thanks to the team I have this polka dot jersey,« added Tadej.
In Barcelona, he and the team will be facing another interesting stage tomorrow. On the 168.5-kilometer route starting in Tarragona, the peloton will have to cover 2,500 meters of elevation gain, most of it in the second half. Stage 2 will also finish on Montjuïc and will somewhat resemble the traditional final stage of the Tour of Catalonia, which Tadej won in 2024.
»First I need to decompress and relax after this stage, even though there isn’t much time for that. Tomorrow’s stage will be complicated, designed for puncheurs, and it will be very hectic in the finale. Earlier on, the route is also complicated several times as well, so we’ll have to be careful. Then we’ll see who can win,« concluded Tadej.