Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) might have expected to finish second in the opening time trial of the Tour de France. He has, after all, been consigned to a string of near misses at the hands of World Champion Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers).
But Van Aert went five seconds quicker than Ganna in Copenhagen on Friday. He was two seconds quicker than two-time Tour champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates). He was eight quicker than his old rival Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), and around 10 seconds quicker than his own team leaders, Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard.
Ordinarily, that would be enough to land the victory and the yellow jersey, but the man no one saw coming was Yves Lampaert (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl), a late starter who stormed around the 13.2km city-centre course and snatched the spoils from Van Aert by five seconds.
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Van Aert's expression in the hotseat suggested he shared the sense of surprise of the world watching on, but he insisted he never thought he was home and dry.
"Actually I was not surprised," he told reporters after returning to his team bus. "Yves is a specialist. Especially in shorter TTs, you can expect him. I knew he was one of the last real specialists on paper. For sure, I was waiting until everyone finished but I was not really long there [in the hotseat]. He must have been fast out there."
Van Aert had no regrets about his own ride, and was unable to think where he might have left five seconds out on the wet Copenhagen roads.
He was out on course at the same time as Ganna and Pogačar as many of the big names opted for an early start in order to beat the forecasted rain, but the deluge came early and the skies cleared for the late starters like Lampaert. However, Van Aert refused to entertain the idea that the conditions were the difference.
"I don't know. Now it's dry but the roads are still wet the whole time for all the riders. I don't know if that was the difference. I also don't want to think like that," he said.
"Five seconds is not a lot but at the same time it's a serious gap in a time trial of only 13km. Chapeau to Yves for going so quick. He was very strong I think. I managed to balance risk and still doing it smooth. I have no regrets about how I rode."
The disappointment will linger overnight but Van Aert will be buoyed by the fact that he felt "no pain" in his knee, which he injured in the build-up to the Tour and predicted might cause him problems on Friday and beyond.
He will again start as one of the favourites on stage 2, a treacherous run west to Nyborg where wind and narrow roads will make for a nervous bunch that could split at any moment on the run-in, not least the 18km bridge over the Great Belt Straight to the finish.
The stage will see Van Aert kick off his bid for the green jersey of the points classification, but victory - or even a minor placing - could put him in yellow once bonus seconds are dished out.
"I really concentrated on this time trial first of all. Right now it's a disappointment to finish second but it's important to change morale quickly," Van Aert said.
"The stages in Denmark will be really interesting. The weather is unpredictable, everything depends on the forecast. For sure it's going to be a really nervous and tough day out. It's definitely the first day I'll try to take points and go for the bunch sprint."
