Visma-Lease a Bike won the Barcelona team time trial (19.6 km), 7 seconds up on Netcompany-Ineos, to put Vingegaard in the first yellow jersey of the 2026 Tour. Third at the first time check, Visma led from km 10.5 and was fastest at every checkpoint after that: 56.3 km/h over the flat first 15.9 km, then the final 3.7 km with the two climbs in 4:50.7. Caveat: 8.7 W/kg in 4:50 includes the descent in between the two climbs, so suffice to say Jonas made over 9 W/kg up the final climb!
Hypothetically, if Jonas climbed the final 800 m at 7% in 1:28, that works out to ~563 W, or 9.4 W/kg, at a VAM of 2,290 m/h.
1 · The Terrain & Who Wins
The new TTT rules make Stage 1 unique in that the strategy will be for the team to lead out its GC contender over the flat first 16 km, and then launch their leader to go full gas alone at 8 to 9 watts/kg up the two final climbs.
Rider type: Time-Trial Teams with GC contenders
2 · The Watts/kg It Takes to Win
An estimated 6.1 W/kg for the first 16 km, and then 8.7 W/kg up the two final climbs.
From the official splits: Visma covered the flat first 15.9 km at 56.3 km/h, then Vingegaard rode the final 3.7 km (the two climbs plus the Montjuic descent) in 4:50.7. Our physics puts the climbing effort at an estimated 8.5 to 9.0 W/kg, right on our 8.7 W/kg prediction.
3 · Three Favorites
- 1UAE Team Emirates (Pogačar)
- 2Visma-Lease a Bike (Vingegaard)
- 3Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe (Evenepoel)
4 · Train These Watts — Copy This Into CoachCat
What that workout looks like (a 2-hour ride with 3 x 10 min at threshold (95-100% FTP)):
First week free. No credit card required. Cancel anytime.
Want a plan that builds these watts?
Train the exact power demands of the Tour, scaled to your fitness and your schedule. Two ways to do it with FasCat: