Tour de France 2022 Stage 1 - Yves Lampaert in yellow after beating Wout van Aert in opening time trial

Thanks for joining me for live coverage of today's stage. We thought Wout van Aert had it in the bag but then up came his compatriot Yves Lampaert and he really pulled the proverbial rabbit from the hat. The Tour has a habit of throwing up surprises on the opening day and that condition continued in rainy Copenhagen...

An emotional Yves Lampaert just have a tearful but joyous interview to Eurosport as the penny dropped that he will don the leader's yellow jersey tonight...

"My mind is exploding – I can’t believe it. I came with an expectation that a top 10 would be great. Now I beat all the best riders in the world and it's... I'm just a farmer's son from Belgium. To do this - I never expected it. I know I’m in good condition but to win the first stage of the Tour de France, the prologue, is something I never dreamed of. To beat Van Aert, Van der Poel, Ganna… It’s unbelievable for me."

Two weeks after being booted off the Baloise Belgium Tour for barging, Yves Lampaert sees yellow - not red - in Denmark. The Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl rider beats compatriot Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) by five seconds and Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) by seven seconds. Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) complete a stellar top five - and we're hearing news that world champion Ganna rode the final part of that time trial with a flat tyre...

The Briton comes home 24 seconds down - one second slower than teammate Adam Yates, the fastest of the Ineos Grenadiers today - to complete a solid Tour debut. Just Nathan Van Hooydonck of Jumbo Visma and Soler of UAE Team Emirates to go now. Lampaert's victory is assured.

The MTB Olympic gold medallist's supreme bike-handling skills are very much on display today as he tackles some of these corners with real finesse. And that's evidenced in his time at the intermediate check which is just 12 seconds down on Christophe Laporte's benchmark. He won't win this - he isn't a powerful enough unit - but he will put in a very respectable time today on his debut.

His teammate Lampaert may be on his way to yellow but Mikkel Honore of Quick-Step has just skidded out on one of those damp corners. Indeed, closer inspection of the incident reveals than a banana skin could well have been involved...

Britain's Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) was the third last rider to get going and we've now just seen the Spaniard Soler (UAE Team Emirates) start his TT. He's the last and so Yves Lampaert is but 15-odd minutes away from being declared the first yellow jersey - unless something extraordinary can happen...

It's much dryer now for the late runners as Australia's Michael Storer (Groupama-FDJ) rolls down the ramp, leaving just nine more riders in the start zone. The roads are damp but there's no longer any standing water for these riders - but they don't have the TT class as the earlier leavers and so it looks unlikely than anyone else can pip Lampaert to yellow.

The four-time champion is not going to be setting tongues wagging of a return to form with his effort today: the Israel-Premier Tech leader (is he really the leader or is that rather Jakob Fuglsang or Michael Woods?) went through the intermediate check 41 seconds down on Laporte's target time. Than, at the finish, he set the 86th best time 1'16" down on the current leader, Yves Lampaert.

Much of the pre-race discussions surrounding Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl concerned their non-selection of the reigning green jersey and record-equalling Tour stage winner Mark Cavendish. The Belgian team favoured Fabio Jakobsen over the man who could have moved above Belgium's Eddy Merckx in the all time stage charts. But it's the ride of another Belgian, Yves Lampaert, which now sees Quick-Step making the headlines for the right reasons. Here's your team guide for the 2022 Tour...

He's won a fair few Tour de France time trials over the years and the four-time champion has just rolled down the ramp. Has he been trolling us all season and does the 36-year-old actually hold high hopes of joining the five-Tour club? Bradley Wiggins is currently talking up his chances with much enthusiasm but we'll get a better idea of the reality in 15 minutes' time.

My, oh my... The 2022 Tour has already gone off-script: Wout van Aert's face is a picture of disbelief as his Belgian compatriot comes home five seconds quicker to knock the Jumbo-Visma rider off his perch. What a ride from the Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl man who really pulled that out of the bag. He's benefited from the improving conditions and rode a truly monstrous second half. Lampaert was five seconds down at the split but turned that deficit into an advantage at the finish. His socks did look very high though...

We spoke to Welshman Geraint Thomas after his TT and the 2018 champion was annoyed with himself for having gone down the ramp while still wearing his sleeveless raincoat.

“The first half was perhaps the worst cornering I’ve done in a TT. It felt so bitty and stop-start. Mentally, it was the toughest TT I’ve done in a while and it was hard to stay focused. When I heard the split, I thought ‘sod it, forget about what everyone’s saying about taking risks and just go for it’, and it went better. But that blinking gilet. I totally forgot I had it on. Nobody spotted it at the start and that was cracking me a little. I did think about taking it off but I thought that would be a bit dodgy. But the main thing was that the legs felt good.”

The Briton, who is riding for the first time since being waylaid by Covid at the Tour de Suisse, shows that he's got some good legs. He sets the 11th best time at 18 seconds which is faster than both his teammates Thomas and Martinez. Yates is part of the leadership trident at Ineos Grenadiers and that bodes well for the rest of the race.

And it could have been so much better for the Frenchman who crossed the line 31 seconds down after crashing moments after setting the best time at the intermediate check. I suppose that crash bypassed some potential tensions had Laporte beaten Jumbo-Visma teammate Van Aert...

Oh no! Just as Robbie McEwan was extolling the virtues of the Frenchman and bigging up his chances, Laporte loses his back wheel and skids out on the left-hand bend where Stefan Bisseger went down for the second time. He's up quickly but that will be the end for his chances - too many risks on this slippery surface.

Now this would be a story: Wout van Aert being denied a victory and the yellow jersey by one of his teammates... and one who isn't called Primoz or Jonas. Frenchman Christophe Laporte, who has been a revelation this year since his move from Cofidis, has gone through the intermediate check two seconds quicker than the best time set by Dutchmen Mollema and Van der Poel.

Carlton Kirby has just entered the commentary box for his shift and he says it feels like arriving at a barbecue when all the sausages have run out. He has a point: we may still have 80-odd riders to go but surely no one can beat Wout van Aert's time now, the Belgian the clear favourite to don the first yellow jersey of this Tour. Kasper Asgreen, Lennard Kamna and Adam Yates are among the stars on the course now. The last rider today will be Marc Soler of UAE Team Emirates, who starts at 17:55 UK time.

The two-time Tour champion throws down the gauntlet to his yellow jersey rivals by setting the second best time in this 13.2km time trial. It's three seconds faster than Ganna but two seconds slower than the man in the hot seat, Van Aert. Crucially, Pogacar's time is eight seconds quicker than Vingegaard and nine seconds quicker than Roglic, his two main GC rivals. Is there anything this 23-year-old can't do?

Well, that didn't last long... Ganna didn't even sit down in the winner's enclosure before Wout van Aert came home almost six seconds quicker than the Italian. 15'22" is the new fastest time and surely no one will beat that in these conditions.