The use of a new method for awarding finish times and placings.<\/p>\n
Sure, that sounds dull, but far from it.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an innovation that will make Saturday\u2019s high-stakes opening stage look totally different from any TTT the Tour has seen before.<\/p>\n
The quirky new format will upend how teams hunt for the Tour\u2019s first yellow jersey. Its influence on the classification will ripple from the Barcelona grand d\u00e9part\u00a0through to stage 21 in Paris.<\/p>\n
And depending on who you ask, it will breathe life into a dusty old format<\/a> that some wanted to be archived.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what you need to know ahead of stage 1 of the Tour de France on July 4.<\/p>\n New team time trial rules, explained All eight riders on a team will roll down the TTT start ramp together, as usual.<\/p>\n However, their finish times will be awarded according to their own time at the line, 19.6km later.<\/p>\n The stage will be won by the team with the fastest rider.<\/p>\n Out with the old<\/strong><\/p>\n Under \u201cold\u201d rules, finish times were applied to a team based on their fourth or fifth rider to the line. Teams had to keep riders together at all costs. The collective was only as strong as its 4th or 5th man.<\/p>\n The format rewarded a well-rehearsed TTT rotation. Spindly climbers suffered in the wheels of powerhouse teammates while fans only dared watch through their fingers.<\/p>\n In with the new<\/strong><\/p>\n The new timing format destroys that dynamic.<\/p>\n Teams with GC ambition have to map out the best strategy for launching their protected rider[s] into the finale. The optimal tactic depends on the nature of the course and the unique strengths of each rider. Think of it like a sprint leadout, but with funny helmets.<\/p>\n The system rewards both individual strength and collective smarts.<\/p>\n On Saturday at the Tour, it will put legit yellow jersey contenders into the spotlight in the very first hour of the race. It should also prevent a single superteam from sweeping the top of the standings.<\/p>\n A new format to the Tour de France, but not new to pro cycling This won\u2019t be the first time the new team time trial rules are used in pro cycling.<\/p>\n Tour de France organizers ASO have been applying the format to its portfolio of races since 2023.<\/p>\n \u201cASO rules\u201d debuted at the 2023 Paris-Nice and have been used in every TTT of the \u201cRace to the Sun\u201d since then.<\/p>\n The timing tweak was also rolled out in June at ASO\u2019s Tour Auvergne-Rh\u00f4nes Alpes (formerly known as the Crit\u00e9rium du Dauphin\u00e9).<\/p>\n That very timely pre-Tour dress rehearsal was won by team Visma-Lease a Bike<\/a>. In the absence of Jonas Vingegaard, Matteo Jorgenson<\/a> set the fastest time on the hilly course and boosted his own position in the GC rankings.<\/p>\n The young American romped solo to the line after two of his teammates blew their doors off to deliver him to the base of the final climb.<\/p>\n The TTT that determines the first yellow jersey of the Tour de France That stage in the Rh\u00f4ne-Alpes in June offered insight into what we might see in Barcelona on July 4.<\/p>\n The profile of the 19.6km grand d\u00e9part opens the door to multiple tactical plays.<\/p>\n The majority of the stage\u2019s 200 meters of climbing is loaded into the final 4km, across two stinging ramps.<\/p>\n Teams will likely work together to share power and draft through the first 16km of false-flat rollers. Leaders will be protected in the rotation so they arrive at the finale fresh for a full-suffering solo push for a top placing.<\/p>\n Expect the stage to light up every time a team reaches the foot of the 1.1km climb to Montju\u00efc. From there, it\u2019s only a short descent before the 800-meter hilltop finish to the Olympic Stadium.<\/p>\n How early does a team leader launch?<\/p>\n That depends on who\u2019s in the squad and what they\u2019re racing for.<\/p>\n Some might use domestiques to pace their GC leaders until the dying moments, as Visma did for Jorgenson in the Rh\u00f4nes-Alpes.<\/p>\n Others might decide their leader is actually faster flying solo. Think lightweight watt-monsters like Tadej Poga\u010dar and Jonas Vingegaard, or time trial dominator Remco Evenepoel.<\/p>\n And what do the teams with multiple leaders do?<\/p>\n In the recent Dauphin\u00e9 TTT, Oscar Onley \u2013 who is out of the Tour with injury \u2013 and K\u00e9vin Vauquelin finished as a pair for Netcompany-Ineos. The team prioritized them staying together, possibly at the cost of one of them going faster on his own.<\/p>\n How will teams play it? The finale of stage 1 could provide juicy insights into the real hierarchy inside teams claiming a twin-leader strategy.<\/p>\n Pecking orders will be revealed in UAE Emirates-XRG (with Poga\u010dar and Isaac del Toro), Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe (with Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz), and Lidl-Trek (with Juan Ayuso and Derek Gee-West).<\/p>\n ASO\u2019s new team time trial rules should guarantee a fascinating, thrilling watch of Saturday\u2019s stage around Barcelona.<\/p>\n Will it be better than the \u201cCar Crash TV\u201d of an old-school TTT?<\/p>\n You can decide on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated July 2, 2026 07:38AM The team time trial is back at the Tour de France for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1065212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4104],"tags":[207496,4230,135594,79,292259,283762,292260,283764,145622,132984,16,15],"class_list":["post-1065211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-audio-true","tag-cycling","tag-parent_category-road","tag-sports","tag-tag-aso","tag-tag-criterium-du-dauphine","tag-tag-team-time-trials","tag-tag-tour-auvergne-rhone-alpes","tag-tag-tour-de-france","tag-type-article","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1065211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1065211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1065211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1065212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1065211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1065211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1065211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2281949908.jpg\"\/)
The ASO\u2019s new TTT rules could put a GC favorite into yellow on day 1 of the Tour de France. (Photo: Fabrice COFFRINI \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\n![\"Jorgenson](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2280706483.jpg\"\/)
Jorgenson was the first to the line when Visma-Lease a Bike won the \u2018dress rehearsal\u2019 TTT at the Dauphin\u00e9. (Photo: Dario Belingheri\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\n![\"Expect](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/XfRXDPNbKgwrBVzgcHiHt4-970-80-2.jpg\"\/)
Expect to see teams using a range of strategies on the stage 1 team time trial of the Tour de France. (Image: ASO \/ Tour de France)<\/p>\n
\n![\"2026](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GYUyaG8DYU3pC7dZqJwmw5-970-80.jpg-2-e1782999176641.jpeg\"\/)
This course will decide who wins the first yellow jersey ofthe Tour de France. (Image: ASO \/ Tour de France)<\/p>\n