January 1 - July 26, Utrecht (ITT), France, Road - WorldTour
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Hello and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of the 102nd Tour de France which starts with a 13.8km time trial around the Dutch city of Utrecht at 14:00 CET time.
There have been no changes to the official Tour de France start list with Astana confirming that its rider Lars Boom will start the race despite failing a pre-race MPCC cortisol test. Astana team boss confirmed the news this morning. You can read his comments on the matter by clicking here.
Daniel Teklehaimanot will be first rider to start the time trial today as 14:00 local time. Vincezo Nibali is the last rider to roll out at 17:17. Click here to see the full start times for today's time trial
Nairo Quintana (Movistar) will be the first of the 'fab four' to start his time trial at 15:00 local time
Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) will be the next of the 'fab four' down the start ramp at 17:13 local time
Christopher Froome (Team Sky) is the next rider after Contador and will leave the start house at 17:14 local time
Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Pro Team) will be the 198th and final rider to start the time trial at 17:17 local time
Other times to look out for today are the favourites for the stage win, Tony Martin (Etixx-Quick Step), Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) and Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing).
Dumoulin is the first of the favourites to start, rolling out at 16:25, followed by Martin at16:44. Cancellara who has five opening-day Tour chrono victories to his name, follows at 17:03.
There are three former UCI World Hour Record holders taking part in the 2015 Tour de France who will challenge for stage 1 victory and they start within 10 minutes of each other. Rohan Dennis (BMC) is first off the ramp at 14:37, followed by Alex Dowsett (Movistar) at 16:28, with Matthias Brändle (IAM Cycling) the last of the trio at 16:37 local time.
This will be Daniel Teklehaimanot's first Tour de France appearance. The 26-year-old has previous grand tour experience having ridden and finished the 2012 and 2014 editions of the Vuelta a Espana. The MTN-Qhubkea rider also has the honour of starting the race in the colours of the national Eritrean time trial champion having won the title last week.
Not sure who is going to win the Tour de France overall? Which favourites will lose time in a tough opening week? Let Greg LeMond share his insights into the 2015 edition of the race in our Tour de France podcast. To listen, click here
Tony Martin, a three-time time trial world champion, was second on the last occasion the Tour de France started in the Netherlands back in 2010. He suffered bad luck in the opening test against the clock in 2012 to finish 45 but is confident of a breakthrough victory today.
"It's obviously my number one goal here. Everybody is talking about me and Tom Dumoulin but there are lots of other favourites, Cancellara, Rohan Dennis… But it's true that Tom came close a few times but I hope I will again end up on top this time. I checked the course several times and I guess I know it pretty well by now. It might look a little short but I like it a lot. I hope the weather stays stable even though if shouldn't affect us too much as most of the favourites are starting together."
If Tony Martin wins the time trial today, it will be the third year running that Germany has claimed the first maillot jaune of the Tour de France. If Tom Dumoulin was to win though, it would be the first maillot jaune for the Netherlands since 1989
FDJ team boss Marc Madiot has also penned a blog for Cyclingnews, you can read what he has to say in reply by clicking here
Today will be a special time trial for Andrew Talansky who gets to debut his national stars and stripes bike and jersey on Independence Day. He is one of three leaders this July for Cannondale-Garmin
Time for a weather update. It is currently 32 degrees Celsius in Utrecht with humidity at 44%.
For those of you staying up late in New Zealand, Jack Bauer (Cannondale-Garmin) will be starting at five past the hour
And for Australia, Luke Durbridge is the first rider out of the start house at 14:11 local time. He will be followed by Zak Dempter (Bora-Argon 18) at 14:24, Rohan Dennis (BMC) at 14:37, Richie Porte (Team Sky) at 14:40, Nathan Haas (Cannondale-Garmin) at 15:11, Mark Renshaw (Etixx-Quick Step) at 16:00, Adam Hansen (Lotto-Soudal) at 16:04, Michael Rogers (Tinkoff-Saxo) at 16:04, Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge)at 16:23 with Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) the last at 16:45.
Giant-Alpecin's Koen de Kort will have GoPro camera on his bike for the time trial today as will a rider from every team on every stage of the Tour de France
An elevation gain of just two metres on today's stage
There is just one intermediate time check in today's time trial coming at the 7.1km mark
Daniel Teklehaimanot has left the start house and the 2015 Tour de France has officially started!
Alain Gallopin, the Trek sport director, had a few words on the chances of Fabian Cancellara today.
"It's a course for pure specialists, not very technical with wide curves. Therefore it's a good one for Cancellara. He's going well, he's extremely motivated."
8 riders have now started but no one has yet reached the intermediate time check
Former Australian time trial champion Luke Durbridge is dreaming of the yellow jersey.
"It's best to ride it two or three times in the morning and be fresh for it”, he said before the race. “It's a decision I made to start earlier because rain is forecast later in the day. It's a little bit too short for the TT specialists and a little bit long for a prologue. As a result it makes it wide open for a lot of riders. I mentioned Bradley McGee and 2003 because you have to dream. I'll give it a crack and see what happens. I'm not among the leading favourites so I can be relaxed and just try my best."
Daniel Teklehaimanot comes through the intermediate time check with a time of 7:54 minutes
Lots of fans on the roadside today cheering on the riders despite the mid-30 degree heat
Sylvain Chavanel faded in that second half but did enough to steal second place on the finish line ahead of Luke Durbridge
Robert Gesink crossed the line in second place, 18 seconds down on his teammate
Rohan Dennis was just one second down on Jos Van Emden at the halfway mark
Sylvain Chavanel spoke to France Televisions after he finished the stage.
"30 seconds on Van Emden, it's a lot," he said. "It's two seconds per kilometre! Some riders will go faster than him. I noticed more wind on the course than this morning and there'll be more and more this afternoon."
Richie Porte comes through the intermediate time check 22 seconds down on Van Emden
Rohan Dennis catches his minute man Lars Bak (Lotto Soudal)
Rohan Dennis comes in with the new best time of 14:56
Spanish national champion Jonathan Castroviejo has just completed a good ride with the third best time, 23 seconds down on Rohan Dennis.
Wilco Kelderman is out on course but we are yet to see images of the Dutch national champion
For any rider to beat Rohan Dennis, they will need to improve upon his average speed of 55.2km/h.
Nairo Quintana is being cheered on by Dutch fans out on course
Reto Hollenstein hit a spectator while training for the time trial this morning but the Swiss rider is set to start the race. He suffered a pneumothorax of the right lung at last year's race and was forced to abandon.
Wilco Kelderman crossed the line in fourth place, 30 seconds down on Rohan Dennis with a time of 15:26 minutes
Rohan Dennis set the fastest ever average speed in the Tour de France history for an individual time trial.
Rohan Dennis set the fastest ever average speed in the Tour de France history for an individual time trial. Here's what he had to say to letour.fr
"It was my goal to do well. It was pretty smooth. It was very long on the way home. I kept thinking sixteen minutes because that was my time at training. In the end I got one minute bonus. Let's wait and see now. It looks like it's going to be a long time on the hot seat."
Nairo Quintana crosses the line in 14th place, 1:01 minute down on Dennis
As it stands here is the top five:
Rohan Dennis (BMC) 14:54
Jos Van Edmen (LottoNL-Jumbo) @ 15 seconds
Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar) @ 23 seconds
Wilco Kelderman (LottoNL-Jumbo)@ 30 seconds
Robert Gesink (LottoNL-Jumbo) @ 33 seconds
Rigoberto Uran has crossed the line in sixth place, 40 seconds down on Dennis
Nairo Quintana spoke to France Televisions after crossing the line. Here's what he had to say
"That was a very demanding race. Yesterday I felt good. I don't know what my time is worth. I'm only interested to know where I stand compared to the other GC riders, not the time trial specialists who are ahead of me now."
After a strong showing at the Giro d'Italia in May, Ryder Hesjedal is back at the Tour de France and looking for a high overall result. First up though is the time trial
"It's a lot less technical than I thought. There are a lot of big wide open sections. We don't know yet what the wind is going to be like. It's an absolute TT. It's for specialists. My goal is to ride into the race. I've been doing the Giro, recovering and I hope to be stronger than I was in the Giro in the third week of the Tour."
No changes to the top-five at the intermediate time check or finish line after 75 riders have completed the 18.8km course.
Luxembourg national champion Bob Jungels is about to make his Tour de France debut and roll out onto the course
The latest transfer talk from the Tour de France is all in one easy place for you, find it by clicking here
It has been confirmed that Rohan Dennis has set the Tour de France record for the fastest ever individual time trial. Dennis' average speed was 55.446km/h.
He broke the record that had been set by Chris Boardman on the 1994 7.2km prologue in Lille.
At the halfway mark of stage 1, this is the current #TDF2015 leaderboard.#TDFdata http://t.co/TejRypoP2F
Martin is 4 seconds down after 7km. He may struggle go make that up in the windy second part.
Lars Boom (Astana) starts his ride, despite the team being part of the MPCC.
Pre-race tests showed he had low cortisol levels and under MPCC rules say he should rest for 8 days. However the Astana team has decided to respect UCI rules-which allow Boom to ride, but snub the MPCC rules. Their actions are likely to mean that Astana will be expelled from the MPCC association.
Martin is off the pace and stops the clock in 15:01.
Dennis remains 5 seconds faster and lets out a huge sigh of relief. He is set to wi the stage and pull on the first yellow jersey of this year's Tour de France.
RT @mrconde: Jakob Fuglsang crashed during the prologue. Bleeding from his left shoulder. #TDF2015
Tejay van Garderen sets a time of 15:38. Not great but not bad. He's in the mix of the GC contenders.
Wow! Nibali is faster than Froome and Contador after 7km. He is 18th at only 11 seconds.
Contador is off the pace, setting 15:54.
Froome is faster than Contador but only sets 15:46.
Contador lost 50 seconds to Dennis.
However most of the GC are pretty close after the TT. We are awaiting just Nibali now.
He sets a time of 15:39, going better than Froome and Contador.
Meanwhile Rohan Dennis gives BMC and Australia the first stage win and the yellow jersey of the 2015 Tour de France.
Dennis beat Tony Martin by 5 seconds, with Fabian Cancellara third at 8 seconds.
Stay with us for live coverage of all the immediate post stage reaction after the TT. We will have quotes from all the main protagonists of the day and instant analysis.
Surprisingly Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) was the best of the GC contenders in the TT.
Rohan Dennis pulls on the yellow jersey on the podium of the Tour de France. What a moment.
He admitted he was emotional as he knew he as going to win.
"We decided to go off early, set a bench mark and make everyone else chase me. It worked out perfectly," Dennis said in the flash TV interview.
"There’s a little bit of shock. We’ve worked with the team and came out here bout a month ago to check and recon the course. It’s the Tour de France and the yellow jersey. I’ve always dreamed of being in this position and now I am."
"It started to sink in when I saw the big threats come in behind me. It was surreal but a few emotions came out."
Dennis also takes the green points jersey and more flowers and kisses on the podium.
#TDF2015 The top 3 of the GC is of course the same as the one of the stage: 1.Rohan Dennis 2.Tony Martin + 5" 3.Fabian Cancellara + 6"
Now the debate about how the GC contenders performed begins in earnest.
The initial winners are Pinot, Van Garderen and Nibali, with Quintana and especially Bardet the losers.
Contador as slightly below par, losing 17 to Pinot. They could be significant or not depending on what happens in the next 3 weeks and especially the next few days and the stage 9 team time trial.
RT @GregVanAvermaet: Best way to start @letour is winning the first TT and taking yellow! Congrats @RohanDennis and @BMCProTeam! #yellow #U…
Tony Martin has revealed he was disappointed with his second place.
"I came here to win. Second place is still a good result but is not the result I came here for," he told Eurosport.
"It’s a big disappointment. I didn’t imagine that the heat would play such a big role but at half distance I was cooking. I couldn’t do my usual power, so I knew I the second half that I wouldn’t take the victory because I knew that Rohan Dennis had done a good second half. It’s a big disappointment."
Tony Martin has revealed he was disappointed with his second place.
"I came here to win. Second place is still a good result but is not the result I came here for," he told Eurosport.
"It’s a big disappointment. I didn’t imagine that the heat would play such a big role but at half distance I was cooking. I couldn’t do my usual power, so I knew I the second half that I wouldn’t take the victory because I knew that Rohan Dennis had done a good second half. It’s a big disappointment."
Best placed #TinkoffSaxo rider @petosagan finished in 15'37" - pancake flat sprinter's stage coming up! #TDF2015 http://t.co/U2NfpIPcBG
Here is a great photo of Dennis in the yellow jersey.
Thanks for joining us for our full live coverage of the opening time trial stage from the Tour de France.
We've only just going and there are still 20 stages to enjoy.
For a full stage report, initial reaction from Rohan Dennis, full results and our huge photo galley, check out the Cyclingnews report page by clicking here.
We will soon have reaction from all the big-name riders, special interview stories, time trial tech and exclusive news from Utrecht on the Cyclingnews home page.
Join us on Sunday for full live coverage of the 166km second stage from Utrecht to Zélande on the exposed Dutch coast. If the wind blows, it could be an important stage for the overall classification.
The stage starts at 13:15CET and we be live at 12:15CET.
Becky Storrie will kick off the women's time trial at 10:39 CET, Marco Brenner is the first rider off the starting ramp in the men's time trial at 14:57 CET
