Overview
- Visma-Lease a Bike won the 19.6km team time trial on Saturday and Jonas Vingegaard took the first yellow jersey, opening a 12-second advantage over Tadej Pogačar.
- On Sunday UAE Team Emirates staged a one-two at Montjuïc as 22-year-old Isaac Del Toro took the stage and Pogačar finished second, trimming Vingegaard’s lead to six seconds after time bonuses.
- The reintroduced team time trial used a new rule that gives each rider an individual finishing time, a change that produced early gaps in the general classification and different team tactics.
- Filippo Ganna and Remco Evenepoel posted strong early times and young riders such as Paul Seixas and Isaac Del Toro have already had major impact on stage results and team plans.
- Race control and French authorities have warned that a red heatwave alert and nearby forest fires could force stage changes or cancellations on the upcoming Pyrenean transfer, which would affect logistics and rider recovery plans.