Tour de Suisse 2019: Stage 1

Hello and welcome to the Cyclingnews live coverage of stage 1 of the Tour de Suisse.

Tour de Suisse 2019 race hub

Thomas and Bernal lead Team Ineos at Tour de Suisse

Aru continues comeback at Tour de Suisse

We're around 20 minutes from the first action of the race as Fabian Lienhard (Switzerland) sets off to kick off the pan-flat 9.5km TT.

After Lienhard, a whole host of sizeable names set off in the first ten riders. There's Brandon McNulty (Rally UHC), Roman Kreuziger (Dimension Data), Simon Spilak (Katusha-Alpecin), Patrick Bevin (CCC Team), Tiesj Benoot (Lotto-Soudal) and Hugh Carthy (EF Education First).

A few notable names to keep an eye on: Rohan Dennis (Bahrain-Merida) sets off at 3:15 local time, followed a minute later by Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ). Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) starts at 3:42, while teammate Egan Bernal does so at 4:03, followed 20 minutes later by Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates).

Today we're also running live coverage of stage 7 of the Critérium du Dauphiné, a summit finish at Pipay. You can follow along here.

Just a few minutes until Lienhard kicks off the race now.

Lienhard sets off. The 2019 Tour de Suisse is underway!

There's a checkpoint even on this short course. It comes just after 4km.

Read our latest story on Chris Froome, who has been diagnosed with a fractured sternum and vertebrae in addition to his other injuries.

Eight riders are out on course now. Carthy is the latest to start.

All riders today start at one minute intervals.

Gianluca Brambilla is the tenth rider off. No time checks coming through just yet.

Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) is the latest rider to start. It's his first race since crashing out of the Volta a Catalunya in March.

Bevin has gone fastest so far, with a time of 10:58.

Tom Bohli (UAE Team Emirates) is currently out on course. He's a fast time trialist so it'll be interesting to see if Bevin's time holds up.

Rohan Dennis heads down the start ramp. Meanwhile, we don't have times for riders other than Bevin just yet...

Stefan Kung follows a minute after Dennis.

Maciej Bodnar (Bora-Hansgrohe) goes fastest at 10:50.

Kung goes fastest at the intermediate check, faster than Bohli and Dennis, who have already passed through.

As it was for Bevin, it looks like Bodnar's time in the hot seat will be a short one.

Dennis crosses the line, just edging out Bodnar by fractions of a second.

And Kung misses out – he went out too fast and lost time in the second half. He finishes nine seconds behind Dennis.

Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) puts in a great effort to go third-fastest, two seconds down on Dennis.

The race has no live timing this year, and there are no time graphics at the finish. It's not the easiest race to keep track of, that's for sure.

Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) is in the final kilometre.

Costa finishes with a time of 11:27, which is a decent effort.

The likes of Benoot, Kelderman and Spilak have all finished their rides, but there's no information on their finishing times.

Fabio Felline (Trek-Segafredo) sets off, the 52nd rider to do so.

Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-QuickStep) puts in a time of 10:52 off-camera. He's in provisional fourth now.

Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) and Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) set off in a couple of minutes.

Here comes Thomas, the British national TT champion and reigning Tour de France champion.

Thomas is, of course, the presumptive team leader for Ineos at the Tour after Chris Froome's brutal crash. Young teammate Egan Bernal will be one to keep an eye on this week though.

Thomas is flying along at just over 60km/h, according to the reading on the camera moto's dash.

They're inside the final 35km of stage 7 at the Dauphiné, and the rain is torrential. Follow live here.

Thomas goes 5:20 at the checkpoint, that's four seconds down on Kung's time and within a second of Dennis.

Soren Kragh Andersen (Team Sunweb) puts in a great ride to join Matthews and Asgreen two seconds behind Dennis. He goes fourth-fastest.

Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) passes the fans of his fanclub out on course.

Thomas is in the final 500 metres but he has lost time in the second half of the stage.

Wow, on-screen graphics for Thomas! We are truly blessed. He finishes with a time of 11:07, which looks good compared to the few GC contenders we have times for so far.

A very good ride for Sagan. He sprints to the finish and goes seventh-fastest at 10:57.

Lawson Craddock (EF Education First) is sixth-fastest, apparently. He finished around half an hour ago, but his time of 10:55 is unconfirmed at the moment.

Sergio Henao (UAE Team Emirates) sets off. His compatriot Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) will be off next.

Former Belgian TT champion Yves Lampaert sets off.

Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) crosses the line 34 seconds down on Dennis.

Bernal passes through the checkpoint. No time for him though. Useful.

Bernal enters the final 500 metres.

A strong ride from the young Colombian. He finishes with a time of 11:13.

John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) rollls down the start ramp.

Barring a shock, it looks like Dennis has the stage win in the bag now.

Lampaert was third at the checkpoint but doesn't threaten the top finishers as he crosses the line.

Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates) is out on course, continuing his comeback from the iliac artery surgery which ruled him out of the Giro d'Italia.

Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) looks strong at the checkpoint. He goes third-fastest. Could he be another case of going out too fast, though?

Degenkolb crosses the line with a time of 11:36, 56th fastest.

Rally UHC veteran, and Canadian TT champion, Svein Tuft leaves the start ramp.

Dennis chats on his phone, still in the hotseat.

Matteo Trentin finishes 20 seconds down on Dennis at the finish.

Fabio Aru crosses the line. It's a decent time for the Italian – 11:20.

Matej Mohorič (Bahrain-Merida) starts his ride. 30 riders left to go now.

It has started raining out on course now, so any chance these later riders had of overhauling Dennis are surely down to zero now.

Tuft finishes in the wet, 1:03 down.

The crowds have cleared at the finish due to the rain. Luke Rowe (Team Ineos) sets off.

The rain is only getting heavier at the finish.

Dennis' teammate Mohoric finishes his ride. He's 53 seconds down at the finish.

It's just a matter of time to confirm Dennis' victory here. Riders are coming in a long way down now.

Luke Rowe finishes 1:34 down.

Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida) sets off. We're inside the final ten riders of the day.

A trio of Swiss riders head off – Kilian Frankiny, Marc Hirschi and Michael Albasini. Seven men left to start.

Merhawi Kudus (Astana) is next to start. Three more riders after the Eritrean.

Hirschi is flying out there. He's the U23 world champion, and this is his debut season in the pro ranks.

Hirschi is the U23 world champion in the road race, not time trial, by the way.

The final starter, Michael Mørkøv (Deceuninck-QuickStep) gets under way.

Pozzovivo crosses the line 53 seconds down.

Hirschi faded during the second half of the course, but finishes with a nice time of 11:31, considering the conditions.

Eight riders left to finish as Albasini approaches the line.

Mørkøv is fast at the checkpoint, five seconds down.

Koen Bouwman puts in a nice time, 46 seconds down on Dennis. The other late finishers are over a minute down.

Mørkøv finishes his ride and Dennis is confirmed as the stage winner.

Here's the top ten on the stage (and also the GC).

Rohan Dennis (Aus) Bahrain-Merida 10:50
Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 10:50
Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb 10:52
Soren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb 10:52
Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 10:52
Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education First 10:55
Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 10:57
Patrick Bevin (NZl) CCC Team 10:58
Stefan Kung (Sui) Groupama-FDJ 10:58
Tom Scully (NZl) EF Education First 11:01

“I’m pretty happy it’s been a long time between wins, since sept last year so to get that monkey off my back is a good feeling,” said Dennis after the stage. “It installs a little bit more confidence in my ability to win no matter what equipment I’m on.

“It’s not the equipment that has caused me not to win over the last six months [since my move to Bahrain] and I proved that today. It’s really a step forward and we’re only going in one direction from here.”

“I hope so [that there’s more to come]. There’s still the rest of the week and the time trial later in the week is a goal of mine. And then there’s the Tour de France. I’m looking forward to it.”

Tomorrow's stage is likely to be a sprint for the stronger climbers, with Sagan and Matthews among the favourites to win the stage. It looks like Dennis' time in the race lead could be short lived.

Kragh Andersen takes the young rider's jersey.

That's all for our live coverage of stage 1 of the Tour de Suisse. Stay tuned for our full report and results here.