A view of Friedrichshafen, the second most populous town on the shores of Lake Constance and location for today’s prologue.
Welcome to Friedrichshafen, where this year’s Tour de France kicks off. It’s a somewhat easy start to the race, as most riders will be in the saddle for less than six minutes today. The route through town is just around 5 kilometers long, so prologue specialists are in focus, while most GC contenders will likely fight for only a handful of seconds here and there. Here’s a quick reminder of the top time trialists and prologue riders from the preview, and then let’s jump right in!
FL
TT
PL
RC
FL
TT
PL
RC
Mullen
75
81
78
72
Oliveira
70
79
79
67
Viennet
72
80
80
72
Fraile
69
79
79
72
Howson
71
80
80
72
Vorobev
75
79
78
67
Sütterlin
71
80
80
67
Dal Col
71
79
78
68
Yatsevich
70
80
80
67
Tenorio
67
79
78
78
Lammertink
74
80
79
70
Leung
73
78
82
69
Dillier
70
80
79
67
Kukrle
72
78
79
70
Zakarin
74
79
79
75
Andersen
81
70
83
72
Razumov
74
79
79
73
Kemboi
78
63
81
81
Cataford
74
79
79
73
Larsen
77
74
80
78
Goldstein
74
79
79
72
Ciccone
67
71
79
73
Haugard
72
79
79
70
Herklotz
72
74
78
78
Vosekalns is the first rider to hit the road at this Tour de France. Time trials aren’t his forte though, his time will come once we enter more mountainous terrain.
6’16
A few minutes later, Nsengimana sets a more notable time, almost 45 seconds faster than the Latvian. Sipos and Rucigaj come within 2 seconds of Nsengimana, but they can’t beat him.
5’32
The first rider to beat Nsengimana, rather surprisingly, was Zariff, by two seconds. Shortly afterwards, he was in turn beat by Zakarin, but only by fractions of a second!
5’30
Viennet can't quite match that. He’s provisionally third, barely ahead of Nsengimana.
5’32
The first notable GC rider to start the race is Yates. He’s an okay-ish time trialist, 7 seconds off the lead will be acceptable for him.
5’37
No one challenges the lead for a while. Rosskopf ends up provisional 6th, Schir 7th. Razumov then comes through, someone we would expect to be in the mix, but he disappoints significantly, finishing outside of the Top 15 even at this point.
5’37
Sütterlin does better but just barely misses out on the lead by one second.
5’31
Preidler, one of the poorer time trialists among the GC riders, shows that big time gaps are possible even in just 5 kilometers. He’s a whole minute off the pace.
6’30
Two national champs then come through. First, Sergent is 4th, but only for a bit, since Yatsevich then makes it a 1-2 for Tinkoff right now, again by less than a second.
5’30
Here are the standings after two riders from every team have finished. As expected on a short course like this, it’s incredibly close.
Haugard disappoints, "only“ five seconds behind the lead but that’s enough to kick him out of the Top 15.
5’35
Lammertink does only very slightly better.
5’34
Over the next minutes, two riders break the Top 10: Knox in 5th place and Schädlich in 8th. The next notable rider is Pogacar, one of the top contenders for white. But he doesn’t get off to the best start.
5’43
Duolingo brings many strong time trialists. Razumov disappointed earlier, Howson does better.
5’32
A new rider in a podium spot: Powless equals the best time, but is ranked third for the moment.
5’30
Another white jersey contender is Foss. He does pretty well considering his abilities and gains 8 seconds on Pogacar.
5’35
Man, Tinkoff seems extremely well prepared for today! Vlasov is very fast and the first to break the 5’30 barrier and the tie atop the leaderboards.
5’26
Mullen is on the fringes of the Top 10 here.
5’31
And then we have another lead change! Oliveira beats Vlasov by a second.
5’25
Halfway through the race, this is where we stand. Still some surprises in the Top 10, including most of all Zariff, of course.
Dillier equals Vlasov’s time to finish provisional third.
5’26
Leung is one of the premier prologue specialists in the field and a top favorite for today. He does well, but falls short by a few seconds.
5’28
Larsen is another prologue specialist and the main contender to take white at this early stage of the race - or is it going to be yellow? Almost! Second place by less than a second.
5’25
A couple of riders break into the later Top 10 places. First Harrison and Gunnlaugsson, then Eaton and finally Kukrle, the best of the bunch, sitting in 8th for now.
5’29
Cataford on the other hand is having a pretty poor day. 12 seconds behind the leader, he’s not even going to crack the Top 50 today.
5’37
Another GC rider on the road is Chiarello. He loses significant time, not an ideal start.
5’49
No movement at the top for a while and Goldstein doesn’t change that. 8 seconds slower than Oliveira, he finds himself 36th. Well, 37th just a minute later when Krul is two seconds faster and enters the Top 20, though only in 19th.
5’33
Hayter also had an eye on white today, but even before he turned out this decent, but ultimately mediocre time, Larsen’s performance made that very unlikely. Brunel, also eligible for white, is one second faster.
5’32
Note that while Larsen is listed first here, the game listed him below Oliveira after the stage.
Two riders left per team as we’re inching closer to the GC contenders. Fewer and fewer stage contenders remain, but still some big names left, so Oliveira can’t feel secure yet.
Korsaeth is one of the more dangerous riders left and he manages a Top 10 performance (for now), but can't challenge the race lead.
5’29
Dal Col is likely Tinkoff’s last chance to re-take the lead but he can’t match his teammates.
5’36
Fraile can’t get a good time either.
5’35
The main GC riders are starting to get on the road now. Schelling is an outsider for the overall Top 10, his start here is unremarkable but not too bad.
5’38
Geoghegan Hart had higher expectations for today, but he’s only 3 seconds faster. Behind him, Lunke bests his time by another 2 seconds.
5’35
Giannoutsos adds his name to the list of disappointing performances. 13 seconds slower than Oliveira, he should be capable of better things - not his day, it seems.
5’38
Those are still better times than what some of the other lower-tier contenders can do. Beltran is 26 seconds off the lead, Pinot 28, Godoy even 34 seconds!
5’59
We’re getting to some of the more serious GC contenders now, guys who realistically can aim for a Top 5 or even podium finish. Eastman relies on his TT skills in his bid, but prologues are less his strong suit, and it shows.
5’43
Manninen is poor time trialist but solid in prologues and with a sprint stage coming up tomorrow, he might look at bonus seconds as a potential pathway to a day in yellow. His gap of 13 seconds to the lead opens that door.
5’37
There are four riders with aspirations for the stage win left: Herklotz, Tenorio, Kemboi and, first, Andersen, arguably the strongest prologue rider on the startlist. It’s a very close affair, but he misses out on the best time by one second! Provisional third place, two Danes in the Top 3.
5’26
Back to the GC riders with Hirt. He’s around on par with the likes of Geoghegan Hart and Schelling.
5’36
Wellens is in that range, too.
5’37
Tinkoff is living in the extremes today, it seems. Some very strong performances and three guys in the Top 10, but white jersey top favorite Sivakov has a poor day, he’s outside of the Top 100 and loses some valuable seconds.
5’42
Latour is in that same range, not a great result.
5’43
Then it’s another stage favorite, Kemboi. But he doesn’t quite get there either! 3 seconds gives him a great chance of yellow tomorrow though, and this 6th place gives him a head start for green, too.
5’28
Tenorio comes to this Tour with ambitions to win it all. A time trial should be a good start for him, and he does gain on many of his rivals, but it’s not a top time.
5’32
Compared to some of the riders with, on paper, similar skillsets, Morton does pretty well! Just 11 seconds behind Oliveira, he’s among the best GC contenders.
5’36
The final rider to cross the line is Herklotz. It's an okay performance, though nothing special. He trails Tenorio by a second, the two are the best GC contenders alongside Kritskiy.
5’33
Thus, Ivo Oliveira is the first leader of the general classification and gets to wear the iconic yellow jersey tomorrow. He wasn't the top favorite, but it's not a surprise he had a performance like this in him. Niklas Larsen fell ever so slightly short, but at least he leads the young riders classification. He will wear green in Oliveira's stead tomorrow though, which means that one of today's biggest surprises, Nur Aiman Zariff, will don white. Tinkoff leads the team classification ahead of Grieg - Maersk, while Evonik - ELKO, fittingly after a time trial, are last by a comfortable margin.
A couple of sprinters are in position to take over yellow with bonus seconds tomorrow. Kemboi is first in line, just 3 seconds behind Oliveira. Harrison pulled off an incredible ride and stands at + 5, Zariff is another name to watch out for, though he is of course not among the top sprint contenders. Manninen is at + 13, while Moser at + 18 and Petit at + 19 are still in theoretical reach as well.
Taking a look at the GC riders, Warchol is the biggest surprise, but he's a long shot contender for the Top 10, as is Kritskiy. Among the elite, Eastman and Latour will be disappointed, as will Sivakov. On the other hand, Morton, Hirt, Wellens and Yates will be happy to have limited their losses to Tenorio and Herklotz to 5 seconds or even less.
40
Justo Tenorio
MOL Cycling Team
5'33
47
Timofey Kritskiy
Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team
+ 1
55
Silvio Herklotz
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
67
Bartosz Warchol
Moser - Sygic
+ 3
77
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Isostar - Specialized
s.t.
81
Adam Yates
De Stijl Cycling
+ 4
90
Jan Hirt
Moser - Sygic
s.t.
91
Lachlan Morton
cycleYorkshire
s.t.
96
Tim Wellens
Aegon - Peroni
+ 5
100
Patrick Schelling
Team UBS
+ 6
117
Tadej Pogacar
Cedevita
+ 10
120
Pavel Sivakov
Tinkoff - La Datcha Team
s.t.
123
Primoz Roglic
King Power
+ 11
128
Ryan Eastman
Duolingo
s.t.
129
Pierre Latour
Polar
s.t.
134
Alex Kirsch
EA Vesuvio
+ 15
142
William Chiarello
ELCO - ABEA
+ 18
158
Thibaut Pinot
ISA - Hexacta
+ 21
167
Caio Godoy
EA Vesuvio
+ 28
192
Georg Preidler
Aker - MOT
+ 57
You can also see that Preidler has the questionable honor of being the first lanterne rouge of the race. He will be keen to get rid of it tomorrow, though on a flat stage it's well possible that the entire peloton finishes as one. I guess there's only one way to find out though: tune in tomorrow!
Tour de France 
