“It was an incredible day for cycling” - Tour de France official hails team time trial comeback after Pogacar and Vingegaard's Barcelona showdown
Cycling
Seven years after the team time trial last appeared at the Tour de France, Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel opened the 2026 edition with a dramatic battle against the clock in Barcelona. Now, as the discipline prepares for a historic debut at the Tour de France Femmes in 2027, experienced ASO race director Jean-Marc Marino has hailed its return to cycling's biggest stage.
The former professional cyclist, who now oversees the Tour de France Singapore Criterium, was so impressed by what unfolded in Barcelona that the event's organisers have introduced a team time trial to their amateur programme this November.
“It represents the true meaning of teamwork”
"Cycling's Team Time Trial is one of its most elegant disciplines," Marino told A+ Singapore. "Besides speed and performance, it represents the true meaning of teamwork. Each rider has a role to play, and the team must work together."
Having raced several editions of the Tour de France during a professional career that included supporting Peter Sagan at Cannondale, Marino joined ASO in 2015, initially working as a VIP driver before moving into race organisation.
"The TDF Team Time Trial in Barcelona showed that again," he continued. "It was an incredible day for cycling in general because each team approached it differently. We thought: why not bring that spectacle to Singapore?"
Movistar Team in action during the team time trial
Vingegaard strikes first against Pogacar and Evenepoel
The 19.6km opening stage in Barcelona marked the first team time trial at the men's Tour since Jumbo-Visma's victory in Brussels in 2019. This time, however, a revised format added another tactical dimension to proceedings.
Under the regulations previously tested at Paris-Nice, riders received individual finishing times for the general classification, rather than being assigned a common time based on a designated teammate. Teams could therefore sacrifice numbers in the closing kilometres to give their strongest riders the best possible chance of gaining time.
That approach proved particularly significant on the final climb towards Montjuïc, where Team Visma | Lease a Bike delivered Vingegaard into a winning position. The Dane crossed the line in 21 minutes and 47 seconds to take the first yellow jersey, with Filippo Ganna eight seconds behind for Netcompany INEOS.
Pogacar finished 12 seconds down for UAE Team Emirates – XRG, despite recording the fastest time on the closing climb, while Evenepoel conceded 19 seconds with Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe. The opening stage had already produced meaningful differences between the Tour's leading contenders before a single road stage had been raced.
Historic London team time trial awaits in 2027
The next major chapter for the discipline will come on Sunday 1 August 2027, when the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift stages its first-ever team time trial through central London.
The 18km test will form stage three of the women's race, following the Grand Départ in Leeds and a demanding second stage from Manchester to Sheffield. The complete London course was unveiled on 22 October as part of the official presentations of the 2027 Tour de France routes.
Starting in Whitehall and finishing on The Mall, the seven-rider teams will race past some of the capital's best-known landmarks, including Tower Bridge, St Paul's Cathedral and Buckingham Palace. Numerous corners and changes of direction promise to make the technical challenge of keeping a team together every bit as important as outright power.
With the mountainous stages still to come, the London test could establish early general classification gaps between the leading contenders, bringing a discipline previously absent from the modern women's Tour into the fight for the yellow jersey.
Read also
No team time trial for the men's Tour in 2027
The men's Tour will take a different direction in 2027, with Christian Prudhomme opting for two individual time trials rather than retaining the Barcelona format.
Those tests, covering 38km between Blois and Chambord and 33km around Toulouse, provide a combined 71km against the clock, the largest individual time-trial allocation since 2012. It could be a particularly important opportunity for Evenepoel as he attempts to challenge Pogacar and Vingegaard for overall victory.
Back in Singapore, Marino's enthusiasm for Barcelona will be reflected in a new four-rider amateur team time trial on the event's 2.45km street circuit. Unlike the individual timing system used at the Tour, the Singapore competition will record each team's result when its third rider crosses the finish line.
The event will take place during the 7–8 November weekend, bringing the discipline to amateur competitors just four months after Vingegaard's Barcelona triumph and nine months before the world's leading women's teams tackle their own historic test through London.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- Remember in the 2024 Tour, Tadej, Jonas and Remco reset many of the big mountain climbing records. On mountains that Armstrong once dominated he isn't even in the top ten recorded times. And I'm not saying they are doping, although they are probably using some techniques that will be considered doping in the future. But this is to say that Remco can climb. That said, I think Paul seixas will leapfrog him this next year. Remco has had the problem of being in one of the deepest fields in the history of cycling. His numbers show he should have won at least a single grand tour a year without Tadej and Jonas being there. Now he is about to find out Paul Seixas might be as good as Tadej as he continues to develop. Remco may never win another grand tour and that is crazy.awp28-10-2026
- no one climbed like him years ago. and it is bs that he got better and better before his crash. he was not even able to hold the young guns at a distance anymore. he was in front at the beginning of the long climbs and then got reeled in. in 2027 he is another year older. this might not be the biggest issue. but the younger riders will have one year more experience and 25000 km more in the legs and be stronger than last year. so i stand with what i said, jonas will no way come in 2nd in next year's tdf.Ketterechts28-10-2026
- i admit that he might focus on giro and/or vuelta and not even ride the tour. we will find out.Ketterechts28-10-2026
- The TDF organisers choice of the route more or less settles the winner(s). For the sake of publicity and money they prefer larger nations and of course France to be favored. Now we suddenly, out of nowhere, have 2 time trials, and none of these is a mountain time trial. Obviously it favour Seixas and Remco massively. TDF is becoming increasingly political and money focused. Shame on the organisers.Jakob28-10-2026
- Yeah, this is ridiculous. No one alive climbs like Jonas and Pog knows it. TT will come back this year. Remco will not be in the top 4Guavaking28-10-2026
- Dont even need to be a fan of him or them to understand they developed pogacar into the greatest cyclist ever, easily too. If anyone say what you say, its just fanboys w/to much emotions and free time dont worrie. Del toro overall development and status overall now is mighty impressive too. Just a ridiclous teammiguel28-10-2026
- So are all the Lance-haters going to show up and point out that these guys were all doped to the gills during the EPO era? (not sure about the last one)Occam28-10-2026
- More pile-on from the usual suspects. Cycling is too hard.Occam28-10-2026
- You're saying: "(pogi best ever...and del toro..) ... Good years ahead, cycling is great now." I think the same. Pogi is most likely the greatest cyclist of all time, but we have many many fools, also on this site, saying that Pogi is boring, he's making cycling "boring"??? I can't believe what's comming out of their deteriorating bad breath mouths. So I guess Merckx, Hinault, Indurain, Fasto Coppi and Anquetil were also boring at their time!?!? PS: Many cycling fans that think that way, have to get a brain scan. Medication nowadays is quite advanced.PogiSloFans28-10-2026
- That's also true.PogiSloFans28-10-2026
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