The pure passion of the world’s biggest race brings out amazing, inspired performances and occasionally a genuine surprise result. The opening weekend of the 106th Tour de France delivered on both fronts – and how! While all the world’s finest teams did their best to channel the emotion of the two stages being held in Brussels – 50 years since Belgium’s most famous cyclist made his maiden Tour de France victory – it was the leading Dutch team who shone brightest. With crowds 10-deep and every major landmark, including the iconic Atomium, hung with yellow banners, it was the yellow of Team Jumbo-Visma that remains burned in the fans’ retinas. MAKING HISTORY ON SATURDAY Saturday’s 194.5km Stage 1 route ended, as expected in a bunch sprint. Yet the first man across the line was anything but expected: celebrating 100 years of the maillot jaune, first time Grand Tour stage winner Mike Teunissen won the sprint in front of the Laeken Castle ahead of sprinting biggest names. The 26-year-old had been supporting Jumbo’s recognized sprinter Dylan Groenewegen who crashed, along with other members of his lead-out team. Their frustration at being taken out soon dissipated with the elation of Teunissen’s shock victory. SMASHING IT ON SUNDAY Unbelievable though Saturday was, it turned out to be a mere warm-up for Sunday’s explosive Team Time Trial. We had expected good form from Jumbo-Visma but nobody quite predicted the yellow machine’s dominance. Team Ineos had gone out first and occupied the TTT hot seats for almost three hours as each outfit fell short of their mark for the 27.6km route. Jumbo-Visma went out fast and led at every checkpoint. With crushingly metronomic pace and discipline they negotiated the technical last section to finish on 28:57 in an average 56.551kph. They put 20 seconds into Team Ineos; a similar amount that covered the next eight teams. After two stages Teunissen holds both the yellow and green (points) jerseys. Logically Jumbo-Visma also lead in the Team Classification, and Wout Van Aert wears the white jersey of best young rider. 
An unlikely hero makes Tour de France history
“I saw everyone dying in the last metres – even Sagan I was catching up on. I just took him on the line… it’s beyond imagining. It’s unbelievable.”
“Today we had eight really strong riders but also everyone around – staff, trainers, mechanics – everyone worked so hard for this. It was a really big goal for us and that it turns out like this, it’s unbelievable.”
