The 2026 Tour de France has started in Barcelona with a team time trial for the first time since 1971. Team Visma-Lease a Bike won and put Jonas Vingegaard into the yellow race leader's jersey, following on from Eddy Merckx's Molteni 55 years ago.
Team time trials (TTTs) have infrequently featured in La Grande Boucle lately – coincidentally, Visma-Lease a Bike won the last one in Brussels (yet another Grand Depart on foreign soil) on Stage 2 of the 2019 race. This year's TTT was raced under new, arguably more dynamic, rules. Previously, the fourth rider to cross the line gave the whole team their time. Now individual riders get their own times, with the first finisher's time counting for the team.
