Tour de Suisse 2024 – Analysing the contenders
Tour de Suisse 2024 queen stage shortened due to snowpack
Result
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the opening stage of the 2024 Tour de Suisse!
Around 20 minutes before the Tour de Suisse gets underway with the first rider to start.
Jan Sommer of the Swiss National Team is the first man to start today.
it's a very short and very flat stage to start the race. Just 4.8km in the Lichtenstein capital of Vaduz.
168 riders will start the Tour de Suisse, with Jacopo Mosca (Lidl-Trek) the last man out.
Home favourite and the top time trialist in the field Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) starts his effort at 14:22 local time, so just under half an hour away.
Today's stage is the shortest of the race by some distance, though stage 6 has been massively reduced due to snow in the high mountains.
2024 Tour de Suisse queen stage shortened to 42.5km due to snowpack
Under 10 minutes to the start of the stage now.
The final stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné is also ongoing. You can follow stage 8 live here.
The 2024 Tour de Suisse is now underway as Jan Sommer rolls down the start ramp!
Sommer hits the day's only checkpoint in a time of 1:20.92.
Riders head out with one-minute intervals all day today so it'll be a fast and furious one.
João Almeida and Cian Uijtdebroeks are already underway and the likes of Enric Mas, Egan Bernal, and Stefan Küng are following shortly.
Second rider to start Yannis Voisard is the quickest at the finish so far with a time of 5:19.44.
Almeida now the quickest at the finish after gonig third at the checkpoint. His time is 5:12.
Uijtdebroeks is fifth at the finish with a time of 5:28.89.
Mas, Bernal and Küng out on course now.
Küng second at the checkpoint, 0.45 of a second off Cedric Beullens.
Bernal was seventh with a time of 1:22.43 there.
Alberto Bettiol has edged between Beullens and Küng at the checkpoint, fractions of a second in it there.
Bernal fifth at the line with a time of 5:23.87.
Damiano Caruso also out on course.
Küng comes home in second place! His time of 5:16.07 is four seconds off Almeida.
Bettiol comes home shortly after with a time of 5:14.60 to move into second.
The top five separated by just over seven seconds at the finish.
Küng during his ride to provisional third place.
Bauke Mollema the latest big name to start. He's fifth at the checkpoint, just under a second off the lead.
A 5:16.90 for Mollema at the finish sees him take fourth.
Adam Yates, Michael Matthews, Yves Lampaert, Ethan Hayter, Lenny Martinez all start in the next 10 minutes.
A great start for Yates, who takes third at the checkpoint.
He's slower at the finish though, coming in with a time of 5:20.62.
Lampaert has smashed Almeida's time to go quickest at the finish. 5:05.58 for him.
Ethan Hayter and Stefan Bissegger now out on course.
Hayter slots into second place across the line with a time of 5:09.47.
Bissegger is quicker, but not quick enough to take top spot. He moves into second at the finish with a time of 5:08.76.
Lenny Martinez crossed the line with a time of 5:24.61.
Felix Gall, Ion Izagirre and Alexey Lutsenko currently out on course.
A young Swiss rider riding for the national team, Felix Stehli, has hit the checkpoint with the quickest time – 1:16.89.
5:16.74 for Mattias Skjelmose at the finish.
Stefan Bissegger out on course today.
Stehli crosses the line with a time of 5:32.88. The checkpoint time was either a timing error or he just went out very fast.
Isaac Del Toro now out on course. He set a time of 1:19.91 at the checkpoint.
Einer Rubio, Tom Pidcock, Richard Carapaz coming soon.
Del Toro way down at the finish with a time of 5:54.77 so he must've had a major problem out on the course.
Not many other big contenders out there at the moment...
5:22.73 at the finish for Pidcock.
Sergio Higuita across the line with a time of 5:30.72.
Thibau Nys now out on course. He crosses the first checkpoint with a time of 1:23.02.
Nys ends up with a 5:28.87 as Finn Fisher-Black gets underway.
5:12.58 for Fisher-Black at the line, good for fifth place.
Reigning champion Skjelmose during his effort.
Sam Watson with a very good time at the finish – 5:14.22 – to go sixth so far.
Now Mark Cavendish starts his ride.
A quick start for Timo Kielich, who goes second at the checkpoint, almost level on time with Stehli's best time there.
A 5:25.67 for Cavendish, who gets around the course safely.
Kielich way down at the finish with a time of 5:30.52.
It's starting to rain out on course now. It's no surprise that most of the big names started early today.
Tom Pidcock out on course earlier on.
100 riders have now finished their efforts today.
There aren't many riders contending for the stage or the GC left to start today.
The final stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné has finished. Read our report of stage 8 here.
Roger Adria gets to the start ramp late but still manages to start his effort on time.
Around 50 riders left to start.
Jan Christen is having a great ride. He's seventh at the checkpoint.
It's the best ride we've seen for a while.
A 5:18.20 for Christen at the finish, just outside the top 10.
Around 30 riders left to start.
It doesn't look like anyone else will be challenging the very top of the standings, to be honest.
Our report from the final stage of the Tour of Britain Women, which finished today.
Marc Hirschi, Robert Gesink, and Valentin Paret-Peintre among the biggest names left to run today.
A good start for Stan Van Tricht, who is quick at the checkpoint with a time of 1:17.04.
144th at the line for Van Tricht, however.
14 riders left to start. We're almost at the end of the time trial.
Nobody else troubling the top of the timesheets currently.
Names including Tobias Andresen, Kim Heiduk, Fabien Lienhard among those racing the course at the moment.
Heiduk with a good time at the checkpoint – 1:19.66.
Six riders left to start.
Marijn van den Berg another with a good start with a time of 1:19.18.
A 5:20.17 for Heiduk at the finish, a good time for him.
Simone Velasco, Søren Kragh Andersen, and Jacopo Mosca the last men to start.
5:22.09 for Van den Berg, another good late ride.
A good ride for Johan Price-Pejtersen, too. He comes home with a time of 5:18.25.
Kragh Andersen not great at the checkpoint with a time of 1:22.33. He's the best time trialist left on course.
Lampaert has been in the hot seat for just over two hours and he'll soon be able to get up and celebrate.
Kragh Andersen crosses the line with a time of 5:16.23, good enough for 10th overall.
Jacopo Mosca the last man left to finish now.
He finishes his run with a time of 5:30 and that's the end of the time trial!
Yves Lampaert has won stage 1 of the Tour de Suisse!
Only two riders in the second half of today's time trial made it into the top 10. It wasn't a thrilling finish to the stage by any means.
Here's what Lampaert had to say after his win today...
"I didn’t expect to beat the Swiss specialists like Bissegger and [Stefan] Kung. I’m really proud to do it, I know this distance suits me well.
"With his previous win now nearly two years distant, Lampaert said that he was delighted to be able to add a second stage victory in Suisse to the time trial triumph he captured back in the 2019 edition of the race.
"Nnowadays the level is so high in cycling, at one moment I started to doubt myself. But I never gave up believing and kept training as well as possible. So it gives me a lot of satisfaction that I could take the victory today."
2024 Tour de Suisse: Yves Lampaert wins stage 1 time trial
Stefan Bissegger second, Ethan Hayter third
Lampaert takes the stage and race lead. He's up on Bissegger by three seconds and Hayter by four in the overall.
Stage 1 winner Yves Lampaert.
That's all from us today from stage 1 of the Tour de Suisse. Be sure to check back tomorrow for live coverage of the opening road stage!
