Updated July 2, 2026 07:38AM
The team time trial is back at the Tour de France for the first time since 2019, but there’s a twist.
The use of a new method for awarding finish times and placings.
Sure, that sounds dull, but far from it.
It’s an innovation that will make Saturday’s high-stakes opening stage look totally different from any TTT the Tour has seen before.
The quirky new format will upend how teams hunt for the Tour’s first yellow jersey. Its influence on the classification will ripple from the Barcelona grand départ through to stage 21 in Paris.
And depending on who you ask, it will breathe life into a dusty old format that some wanted to be archived.
Here’s what you need to know ahead of stage 1 of the Tour de France on July 4.
New team time trial rules, explained
The ASO’s 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)
All eight riders on a team will roll down the TTT start ramp together, as usual.
However, their finish times will be awarded according to their own time at the line, 19.6km later.
The stage will be won by the team with the fastest rider.
Out with the old
Under “old” 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.
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.
In with the new
The new timing format destroys that dynamic.
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.
The system rewards both individual strength and collective smarts.
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.
A new format to the Tour de France, but not new to pro cycling
Jorgenson was the first to the line when Visma-Lease a Bike won the ‘dress rehearsal’ TTT at the Dauphiné. (Photo: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
This won’t be the first time the new team time trial rules are used in pro cycling.
Tour de France organizers ASO have been applying the format to its portfolio of races since 2023.
“ASO rules” debuted at the 2023 Paris-Nice and have been used in every TTT of the “Race to the Sun” since then.
The timing tweak was also rolled out in June at ASO’s Tour Auvergne-Rhônes Alpes (formerly known as the Critérium du Dauphiné).
That very timely pre-Tour dress rehearsal was won by team Visma-Lease a Bike. In the absence of Jonas Vingegaard, Matteo Jorgenson set the fastest time on the hilly course and boosted his own position in the GC rankings.
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.
The TTT that determines the first yellow jersey of the Tour de France
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)
That stage in the Rhône-Alpes in June offered insight into what we might see in Barcelona on July 4.
The profile of the 19.6km grand départ opens the door to multiple tactical plays.
The majority of the stage’s 200 meters of climbing is loaded into the final 4km, across two stinging ramps.
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.
Expect the stage to light up every time a team reaches the foot of the 1.1km climb to Montjuïc. From there, it’s only a short descent before the 800-meter hilltop finish to the Olympic Stadium.
How early does a team leader launch?
That depends on who’s in the squad and what they’re racing for.
Some might use domestiques to pace their GC leaders until the dying moments, as Visma did for Jorgenson in the Rhônes-Alpes.
Others might decide their leader is actually faster flying solo. Think lightweight watt-monsters like Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard, or time trial dominator Remco Evenepoel.
And what do the teams with multiple leaders do?
In the recent Dauphiné TTT, Oscar Onley – who is out of the Tour with injury – and Kévin 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.
How will teams play it?
This course will decide who wins the first yellow jersey ofthe Tour de France. (Image: ASO / Tour de France)
The finale of stage 1 could provide juicy insights into the real hierarchy inside teams claiming a twin-leader strategy.
Pecking orders will be revealed in UAE Emirates-XRG (with Pogačar and Isaac del Toro), Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe (with Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz), and Lidl-Trek (with Juan Ayuso and Derek Gee-West).
ASO’s new team time trial rules should guarantee a fascinating, thrilling watch of Saturday’s stage around Barcelona.
Will it be better than the “Car Crash TV” of an old-school TTT?
You can decide on Saturday.
