The switch from Team Sky to Team Ineos did nothing to change their luck in Tour de France team time trials but another podium finish without victory saw Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal pick up significant chunks of time on their rivals.
Ineos were first off the ramp for Sunday’s 27.6km run around Brussels and sat in the hot seat for almost two hours before watching the final team to start, Jumbo-Visma, beat their time of 29 minutes 18 seconds by 20 seconds to keep Saturday’s shock stage winner Mike Teunissen in the yellow jersey.
It was the fifth time that the team known as Team Sky until Sir Jim Radcliffe’s buyout in May have finished in the top three of a team time trial at the Tour, but victory continues to elude them.
But while Gianni Moscon – a rider who was almost sacked by then Team Sky 12 months ago when he was disqualified from the Tour for punching Elie Gesbert on stage 15 – was denied the yellow jersey, Thomas and Bernal will welcome the sight of some significant time gaps.
Teunissen’s team-mate Steven Kruijswijk is now the best placed of the general classification hopefuls, 20 seconds clear of Ineos’ co-leaders, but there is better news further down the standings.
Thomas and Bernal picked up 12 seconds on Groupama-FDJ’s Thibaut Pinot, 16 seconds on Bahrain-Merida’s Vincenzo Nibali and 21 seconds on both Adam Yates of Mitchelton-Scott and Jakob Fuglsang of Astana, who looked untroubled by the knee injury he suffered in a late spill on Saturday.
Nice blast around Brussels with the boys! Unfortunately no win, but there was no beating Jumbo Visma today 🎩 #chapeau #tdf2019 pic.twitter.com/AlvuXl17Po
— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) 7 July 2019
But others suffered more. Dan Martin’s UAE Team Emirates, not noted time triallists, were relatively happy to have only conceded 43 seconds but Nairo Quintana’s Movistar gave up 45, Richie Porte’s Trek-Segafredo 58 and Romain Bardet’s AG2R La Mondiale 59 seconds.
Jumbo-Visma averaged 57.2kmh over the course, beating Ineos’ 56.5kmh.
“We wanted to go 57,” Thomas said. “I think it’s alright and we rode very well and communicated well.
“I think everyone rode strongly so we can’t be too disappointed. We got a good speed and we managed to hold onto it. We could have taken some curves faster but that was a minimal loss.”
Thomas was involved in a late crash of his own on Saturday, an incident which had held up Team Ineos to the point they were last on the team classification at the end of stage one, forcing them to start this stage first and ride without a benchmark to follow.
“Starting early wasn’t planned,” Thomas added. “It was my tumble and Egan was just behind me so we knew we’d have to start early.
“I had no issues today (after the crash).”
Saturday’s surprise winner Teunissen then not only keeps his overnight lead, but moves further clear of his rivals from other teams.
“I barely slept last night,” the leader admitted.
“But here we are again, I hope I get more sleep and I think I can keep hold of the jersey again tomorrow,” said Teunissen.
“Today all eight of our riders win,” said Teunissen, who described having the yellow jersey as ‘life changing’.
In even more good news for Jumbo break out star Wout Van Aert took the best young rider’s white jersey as he continued to impress since his conversion from cyclocross.
“It’s good for me, good for Belgium and just great for Mike, who is much better than people have been giving him credit for,” said Van Aert.
Denmark’s Fuglsang, who was left battered and bleeding from the head after a high-speed fall on Saturday, looked strained as his Astana team lost 20 seconds to his Tour de France title rivals Thomas and the Colombian Bernal.
Belgian outfit Deceuninck Quick-Step came third a single second behind Ineos.
Another rider who will go back to the team hotel happy is French climber Thibaut Pinot, as his FDJ outfit stunned everyone except themselves by dropping just 12 seconds to Ineos.
Le rêve continue 💛 https://t.co/7OUiuAQtSD
— Mike Teunissen (@MikeTeunissen) 7 July 2019
“That was exactly what we wanted, we worked really well (together). No-one thought we could do it, but we knew,” said the glowing Frenchman.
The other notable French climber Bardet had a poor day however down in 19th.
Of the 2019 contenders Colombian Quintana’s Movistar were 45sec off Ineos’ pace while Italian Nibali lost just 16sec on Thomas.
Irishman Martin saw his UAE Team Emirates outfit lose 41 seconds to Ineos but he was hugely upbeat about limiting losses.
“It seemed quite easy so thanks to the whole team. I’m feeling good after what we had expected to be a tough day,” said habitual top 10 finisher Martin.
Those looking for signs this will be an open and competitive Tour de France will see the minimal time differences between the main contenders as an indication of how tight it is.
The times for the team time-trial are taken from the fourth man crossing the line, while dropped riders take their own time, as with Vuelta a Espana champion Simon Yates, who was left behind with 10km to race.
