It was a day that the all the General Classification would have marked down before the start of the Tour de France. The 35.5 kilometre team time trial did end up having a significant impact on the fight for the yellow jersey, but it doesn't appear that any of the favourites are out of the fight for the top step in Paris just yet.
The big winner
Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) is in a superb position after his squad's fifth placing, just 11 seconds off the pace of BMC. The big Dutchman is yet to show any sign of fatigue after an incredibly tough edition of the Giro d'Italia and was enthusiatic about his position in the race following the TTT.
Bouncing back off the deck
It was a shock when the four top favourites for overall victory all lost time on the opening stage of the race. Richie Porte (BMC), Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) and Chris Froome (Team Sky) all lost 51 seconds after a series of crashes wreaked havoc within the final kilometres. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) was even worse with his mechanical, losing a minute and 15 seconds.
It will come as a relief that all except Quintana were able to gain back that time with the help of their teams.
Porte's BMC squad won the day and now the Tasmanian sits in 14th overall, 51 seconds behind his teammate van Avermaet. Tejay van Garderen is also up there on equal time with van Avermaet and may mount his own GC bid if Porte's Tour goes awry.
Chris Froome will also be a relatively happy camper after Team Sky finished second on the stage, just four seconds behind the BMC juggernaut. His squad had to push through the constant booing of the crowd by the side of the road, but it didn't appear to affect them overly.
Froome now sits in 18th position, 55 seconds off the lead. Teammate Geraint Thomas is also a co-leader of the squad and sits third overall, just three seconds off yellow.
Adam Yates played only a limited role in the Mitchelton-Scott TTT effort, only rolling through to take turns on the front when the road tilted uphill. It was a strategy that worked well for the Australian squad and they managed a very respectable fourth on the stage, just nine seconds adrift of the winners.
Yates now occupies 20th spot, a minute down on van Avermaet.
Losing out to varying degrees
Rigoberto Uran was the best of the rest, his EF Education First-Drapac team produced a commendable ride to finish 35 seconds on the stage and keep last year's runner-up firmly within the frame. He sits 10th, 35 seconds back.
Jakob Fuglsang and Astana actually did a very good job considering they started without one of the best riders against the clock in Luis Leon Sanchez after the Spanish veteran crashed out yesterday. They were 51 seconds behind BMC, effectively neutralising the earlier time loss of Porte and co.
Movistar didn't have a superb TTT, maybe because the course wasn't as hilly as they might have liked. It doesn't hurt Mikel Landa and Alejandro Valverde's chances too much - they're currently 54 seconds behind - but Nairo Quintana is now over two minutes adrift.
Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida), Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale), Primoz Roglic and Steven Kruijswijk (both Lotto NL-Jumbo) will likely look back on the stage with mixed feelings after they all conceded over a minute to the top teams. On one hand it was a lot of time to lose, but on the other, they are far from out of the race and sit only a small distance off the likes of Froome, Porte and Yates.
Dan Martin will have the most reason to be aggrieved with his squad after a poor showing saw them almost beaten by the teams that didn't even have a general classification rider for them to exert themselves for. UAE Team Emirates finished a minute and 39 seconds down.
The GC Contenders overall postion:
2. Tejay van Garderen (BMC) +0
3. Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) +3
5. Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors) +7
7. Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) +11
10. Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First-Drapac) + 35
11. Rafal Majka (BORA-hansgrohe) +50
13. Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) +51
14. Richie Porte (BMC) +51
15. Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) +52
16. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) +53
17. Mikel Landa (Movistar) +53
18. Chris Froome (Team Sky) +55
20. Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) +1'00
22. Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida) +1'06
25. Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) +1'15
26. Steven Kruijswijk (Lotto NL-Jumbo) +1'15
27. Primoz Roglic (Lotto NL-Jumbo) +1'15
30. Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) +1'16
31. Egan Bernal (Team Sky) +1'19
39. Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates) +1'38
59. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) +2'08
