Tour de France: Yves Lampaert wins rainy and dramatic opening time-trial

The first stage of the Tour de France had a technical time-trial to the start off the three weeks, with rain adding a difficulty level to the stage that many didn't expected, which have seen Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team's Yves Lampaert take on the first yellow jersey.

The day started off with wet roads, and with early winning favourite Stefan Bissegger crashing out twice, out of contention. He was not the only one to tumble during the day, as Christophe Laporte also crashed whilst having the first intermediate time late in the day. The stage saw occasional rain spurts, however favouring few riders as the roads were consistently wet. 

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With the initial forecast of rain coming for late in the day, most of the stage favourites and GC contenders set off early. The time of Mathieu van der Poel early on was threatening, and only then beat by three riders who took the top three spots consecutively. Filippo Ganna, Tadej Pogacar and Wout van Aert put blows into each other, with the Belgian coming out as the expected stage winner.

With Laporte crashing out of contention the win seemed certain for van Aert, until Yves Lampaert came along and took over four seconds on the time of the Belgian. A surprise, perhaps aided by the slight drying of the road, but with incredible merit to it.

The Belgian's time was strong enough to hold on, as Lampaert won the biggest race of his career. Wout van Aert has jumped onto the green jersey with a second place, as Tadej Pogacar has already dealt a blow to his GC riders to finish third.

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