Tour de Suisse stage 1 – Live coverage

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the opening stage of the Tour de Suisse, the Frauenfeld time trial.

We're live at the 85th Tour de Suisse, kicking off with a 10.9km ITT around Frauenfeld

As the Dauphiné rumbles on in France we're about to see the second of the pre-Tour de France stage races play out - but who will prove to be on form? Have a look at our five riders to watch to find out who the favourites are.

One of the big headlines at this race is the welcome return of Tom Dumoulin after  he took a break earlier this year. Here's what he had to say on the matter:

"The problem of the last three years was that I lost the pleasure in my job and the race." "I had forgotten what I liked and didn't like. Now I know that again. That period without racing was very instructive for me. I know again what kind of rider Tom Dumoulin is.

"What follows after Tokyo, I don't know yet. Maybe it will be chasing classifications in big tours again. Maybe I want to set other goals, or maybe I don't want to be a rider at all anymore.

"The classification is definitely not a goal [here], the two time trials are."

Speaking of the Dutch rider - Dumoulin is on course! 

Thymen Arensman of Team DSM comes in at 12'55" for a provisional 10th place.

Esteban Chaves crosses the line with a time of 13'36" for Team BikeExchange

A rider we sadly won't be seeing crossing the line is Tom Pidcock. The 21-year-old broke his collarbone after being hit by a car while training and has since undergone surgery forcing him to pull out of the race. More on that story here.

The British rider is taking no risks in the meantime:

Michael Matthews is off the starting ramp for Team BikeExchange 

One of the favourites for the stage, Rohan Dennis, is off for INEOS. 

The bigger the dog the bigger the watts? 

Stefan Bisseger of EF Education - Nippo is in the hot seat at the moment with a time of 12:04

Dennis is looking strong so far out on the wet course.

Rigoberto Uran is off for EF Education Nippo. This is his first race since Volta a Catalunya in March after he spent some time in his native Colombia before returning to Europe for this race.

He's been taking recovery very seriously - has it saved him a few watts for this race, though?

Søren Kragh Andersen (DSM) narrowly misses a spectator strolling across the road on course

2km to go for Dennis

Rohan Dennis posts a time of 12'23 to take second +19 seconds down on Bissegger 

12'39" for Swiss rider Claudio Imhof to take a provisional 10th place 

Rigoberto Uran comes across the line in 12'46" he's one of the higher-placed GC riders at the moment 

Søren Kragh Andersen (DSM) posts a time of 12' 22" to take second place. +18'34" on Bissegger 

Mathieu van der Poel is out on course in his first outing on the road since taking second at Tour of Flanders in April 

12'48" for Michael Matthews of BikeExchange 

Richard Carapaz has just got going on course for INEOS, he's arguably the out-and-out favourite for this race.

If you want to know how to watch the action live take a look here.

Carapaz is wearing #1 but the defending champion is his teammate Egan Bernal. He just won some race in Italy, though, so isn't here in Switzerland this week. In the ultimate grand tour win comedown, Bernal has also just tested positive for Covid-19.

Van der Poel crosses the line for a provisional 13th place at 12'38" and+34" on Bissegger.

European time trial champion Stefan Küng gets his ITT underway. He is a potential challenger to his compatriot Bissegger.

Carapaz is inside the final 1km and is looking fast!

Carapaz comes in for 7th place at 12'31" and is by far the best GC rider so far.

Julian Alaphilippe is still to come...

Manuele Boaro of Astana - Premier Tech is struggling on some of the wet corners.

Stefan Küng posts a time of 5'47" at the split - the fastest time so far 

🚨 new best time 🚨

Stefan Küng beats Bissegger's time by 4 seconds, crossing the line in 12'00" 

Julian Alaphillippe is on course

12'33" for Manuele Boaro - 32 seconds down on Küng. He takes a provisional 10th place. 

Current provisional top-10:

1. Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) 12:00

2. Stefan Bissegger (EF Education - Nippo) +4"

3. Søren Kragh Andersen (DSM) +22"

4. Rohan Dennis (INEOS) +23"

5. Neilson Powless (EF Education - Nippo) +25"

6. Maximilian Schachmann (Bora Hansgrohe) +29"

7. Dries Devenyns (Deceuninck - Quick Step) +30" 

8. Richard Carapaz (INEOS) +31"

9. Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo-Visma) +32"

10. Manuele Boaro (Astana - Premier Tech) +33"

Alaphilippe has had a scorching ride. He comes in at 12'19" for third place at just 18 seconds down on Küng.

We've had 129/161 riders off so far. Still to come are the likes of Pavel Sivakov and Jakob Fuglsang. 

Tom Scully of EF Education - Nippo posts a time of 12'15" to take third place. 18" down on Küng. 

Florian Vermeersch (Lotto Soudal) comes home at 12'22" and in provisional 5th place 

Domenico Pozzovivo posts a time of 12'41 to take 24th +41"30

Luke Rowe sets off, the penultimate rider for INEOS. His teammate Sivakov will be the last rider on the road.

John Degenkolb is off for Lotto Soudal

Küng is already signing jerseys behind the podium, clearly he doesn't believe in jinxing things...

5th place for Jannik Steimle (Deceuninck - Quick Step) at 12'22"

Jakob Fuglsang is on the road for Astana - Premier Tech

Stopped car on course almost causes Fuglsang to come a cropper, thankfully he misses it.

12'49" for Degenkolb in provisional 42nd place

Marcus Burghardt is on the road for Bora Hansgrohe.

Iván García Cortina (Movistar) posts a time of 12'30" which is good enough for a provisional 13th place at the moment

Jakob Fuglsang finishes 12'53" down, provisionally in 55th place

Michael Shär comes in with a time of 12: 12'56" for 66th place 

Mattia Cattaneo, the penultimate rider, is on the road.

Pavel Sivakov is off!

After crashing out of the Giro d'Italia on stage five, Sivakov will be looking to make up for lost racing. 

Küng is looking pretty comfortable in the hot seat now, can any of these final few riders challenge him? 

If Küng wins the yellow jersey today here in Switzerland it will be the second time leading this race in his career. In 2018, he took it in a TTT in this same town, Frauenfeld, where he held it for four stages. 

Mattia Cattaneo (Deceuninck - Quick Step) comes in for third place with a time of 12'12" +12.3 seconds 

Sivakov was down at the last time check so it looks like Küng has the stage and the jersey

Pavel Sivakov comes in at 12'44", +44 seconds and in 40th place 

Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) wins stage one of the Tour de Suisse 2021

2nd Stefan Bissegger (EF Education - Nippo)  

3rd Mattia Cattaneo (eceuninck - Quick Step)

Top-10 stage and overall:

Image 1 of 3

Stefan Küng, stage winner on today's win:

"I'm really happy to win today, it's at home, I live 1km from here and it's the roads I train on every day. I had a special preparation for this year's Tour of Switzerland, I can tell you two weeks ago I'd never have imagined to sit here because I was still building up my form and I was struggling in the first real TT trainings. Then I felt like from day to day I was getting better and so I was pretty confident before the start, I knew exactly what I had to do and execute perfectly today." 

Küng also took a stage win three years ago, he said: "I always had the impression when you’re young that the first victory is easier than the second because once you win, you’re expected to win every day. What makes this more special is that you do it at home. These are the roads  that I train on every day. It’s where I live. I know all the people at the organisation committee, my friends and family are somewhere here on the side of the road. I won and took the yellow jersey. I did it three years ago  here, but it was a team time trial. I’m really happy to wear the yellow jersey tomorrow."

That's it for today - thanks for joining. Tune in tomorrow for live text coverage of the first road stage: 178 lumpy kilometres from Neuhausen am Rheinfall to Lachen (where Küng might need to do a bit more of this if he wants to defend his jersey)