Tour de France 2017: Stage 1

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January 1 - July 23, Düsseldorf, France, Road - WorldTour

Today is the day! The Tour de France starts in Düsseldorf, Germany, this afternoon with a 14-kilometre time trial – in the rain. 

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Welcome to the 2017 Tour de France! We open things this afternoon with a time trial along the Rhine River in Düsseldorf, Germany. But until the first rider actually rolls down the ramp, let’s take a look at everything that is going on.

Unfortunately, the weather is not helping things today. We have had showers since last night, and that is supposed to continue all day. Rain and 15°C (59°F) to 17°C (62°F). Let us just hope this makes the times today a little slower and we don’t have any crashes.

Tony Martin also said, he expects the stage "to be decided by seconds. The distance is relatively short. I am in good form and ready to fight for the yellow jersey. A victory in front of my homeland public would of course be unbelievable. I am happy that it is finally starting."

This is far from being the only race on tap today! Stage 2 of the Giro d’Italia Internazionale Femminile has already started. It started yesterday with a team time trial, which you can read about here.

There huge crowds along the14km TT route but they are also getting wet today as they cheer the riders.

Bouhanni is not taking any risks out on the course. He takes a central line and avoids the water in the road.

Bouhanni is losing a lot of time on the corners. He slowed considerably to go through a double corner.

Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) is faster and stops the clock in 16:36.

Luke Rowe is the first rider off for Team Sky. The Welshman will give vital indications to his teammates on the conditions afterwards.

But here is Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal). He sets 16:36 too.

Thanks to the hundredths of seconds, Colbrelli is slightly faster and so remains the fastest so far.

Here comes Grivko. He's fast!

The Astana riders sets a time of 15:43 after taking lots of risks in the wet.

Race judges have corrected Grivko's time. His correct time is 16:21. He remains the fastest.

Crash!

Niklas Arndt (Sunweb) is the new fastest time in 16:20.

DEspite the rain and the dangers of crashing, Grivko rode at an average speed of 51.376 km/h. That's pretty fast!

De Marchi (BMC) sets 16:43. Prett fast for the Italian domestique. He's fifth so far.

Bora have the music blasting out from the team. Sagan's favourite warm-up tune seems to be Eye of the Tiger by Survivor.

As Pierre Rollands starts the rain is pouring down. The riders are getting soaked in the heavy rain. 

Here comes Majka. He sets 16: 53. Pretty good from the Pole.

Here comes Pinot. He sets 16:54.  That's pretty fast from the Frenchman.

Here's Sagz. He's on the start ramp!  

He's off! Will Sagan take risks on the wet roads? With his bike skills he could gain a chunk of time on his rivals and so have a better chance of pulling on the yellow jersey tomorrow in the expected sprint in Liege.

Kiryienka is off and underway in the rain. He's silky smooth and fast.

Sagan is on a ride, setting 9:31 after 8.1km but Matteo Trentin is faster in 9:24.  

Here comes Sagan. He's 1km from the finish.

Sagan goes deep at the finish, setting a time of 16:29. That puts him in 3rd place so far.

Trentin managed to find six seconds on Arndt. That's impressive on 14km of wet, twisting roads. 

Trentin will take over from Arndt in the hot seat as fastest rider.

Here's Kiri! He's fast! He sets 16:11.

For the full start list and running order, click here.

To see the fastest time, check out or Situation on the right of the page.

Andrew Talansky (Cannondale-Drapac) is also out on the course. The twisting course could suit his ability to kick hard and be aggressive out of corners.

Here comes John Degenkolb. He gets a big cheer from the German crowd and stops the clock in 16:53.

Kwiatkowski confirms Team Sky's strength in depth setting 16:19. That is third fastest behind his teammate Kiryienka.

Chris Froome followed Kwiatkowski in the Team Sky to study how his teammate rode the course and took the corners in the rain.

Trentin has explained that the course is very technical, with the need to kick out of all the corners in the second half. He warned that riders need to save something for the tough finale if they want to set a fast time.

The riders are especially scared of the white lines in the city centre. They are slippy when wet and today they are very wet.

Darryl Impey (Orica) finishes fast and set a time of 16:23, that's the sixth best time so far.

Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac) is off just after them.

Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar) sets 16:24 but he lost a chink of time in the final 5km. He is only 7th fastest despite being European TT champion.

Another GD contender is up: Jakob Fuglsang (Astana). 

That's a GC contender. The Dane won the Criterium du Dauphine last month. 

Big favourite Tony Martin (Katusha) is now warming-up. He's under pressure but has the pedigree to win and take the first yellow jersey.

Bardet is off. He will be hoping to avoid any crashes, spills and big time losses.

Britain's Adam Yates is out on the course. He will be hoping to limit hos losses to Froome and the better time trialists.

Gilbert is fast but not quite fast enough. He sets a time of 16:34.

After his early crash, George Bennett sets 17:41. 

Fuglsang finishes in 16:58. Not bad but not fast from the Dane.

Crash! Tony Gallopin goes down at speed.

The French gets up and sets off again but he's stunned.

Boom! Thomas finishes just behind and sets the new fastest time.

There was no sign of Thomas on live TV but he was super fast, setting a time of 16:04.

Here we go! It's time for Richie Porte to start.

The Australian dances on the pedals and then quickly settles into his aero position.

Next up is Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo).

Here comes Rigoberto Uran. He sets 17:07. He's 1:03 slower than Thomas after just 14km.

Porte slows for a tight corner but quickly gets his bike back up to speed on the bridge over the Rhine in downtown Dusseldorf.

Froome is on the rollers warming up. He is off last today, in 20 minutes or so.

There are just 18 riders left to start. Things are getting very serious for the stage victory and amongst the overall contenders.

Crash! Valverde went down hard.

Valverde lost control of his bike on a fast corner and went down hard into the barriers.

It's unclear if he will be able to finish the time trial.

Race on! Tony Martin starts his ride, knowing he has to beat Geraint Thomas' time of 16:04.

Martin wears the TT world champion's rainbow jersey.

Here comes Richie. He sets a time of 16:51. He's only 37th fastst so far. That's a little off the pace even if he's gained a few seconds on the pure climbers.

Phinney is out on the course and is riding well. He is only 3 seconds of the best time at the 8.1km point. 

Roglic is out on the course. He is a big threat to Martin today but there are reports he crashed too, like several of his teammates.

Here comes Phinney. He sets 16:21. He just runs out of power and speed in the finale of the TT.

There are reports that Valverde is out of the Tour due to his crash. He hit the barriers hard.

Here comes Martin. It's going to be close.

Martin sets a time of 16:12. That's not enough to beat Thomas!

16:12 is only good enough for third place so far.

Vasil Kiriyenko (Team Sky)  is second fastest at 7 seconds.

Quintana is riding but has thrown off his visor/glasses due to the rain.

Here comes Kittel! He sets 16:18 He's got a shot at taking yellow in the days to come. Not on Sunday but next week perhaps.

Froome is out on the course, tucked low on his bike. He hesitates on a corner but is quickly back up to speed.

After 8.1km Aru, Quintana and Contaor are all about 15km down on Thomas.

Stefan Kung is the big threat to Thomas now. The BMC rider is fast.

Froome is also fast at the 8.1km point. He was only 9 seconds slower than Martin at that point. He could gain 40/50 seconds on some of his rivals today.

Froome stomps on the pedals to accelerate after two corners.

Here is Aru. He sets 16: 57. He's gonig to lose time today.

Contador sets 16:58. That's pretty slow for the Spaniard.

Quintana sets 16:52. That's faster than Contador but still slow compared to Froome's expected time.

Here comes Froome!

There have been numerous crashes in the rain today. Most riders only slid out and got up again but Valverde is out of the race after hitting the barriers hard.

There are reports than Ion Izagirre also crashed out in the TT. He was Bahrain-Merida's hope for the GC and mountain stage victories.

Thomas climbs on the podium and waves him arms in celebration. It's a big day for the Welshman.

Numerous riders crashes, including Luke Durbridge (Orica-Scott). He finished 195th at 3:01 after struggling to finish.

We'll have a full medical update later on all the riders who crashed. With Valverde and Izagirre out, the race has already lost two top 10 contenders.

That was Matteo Trentin after he finished fifth in the TT, just two seconds slower than Tony Martin.

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