It had been sunny summer days in Copenhagen before, and on Friday afternoon people were still hopping about in the city's many harbor baths.

In the afternoon, however, no one felt like cooling down, because the originally announced risk of showers turned into a veritable rain battle at times.

At least for the 176 professional cyclists who took the prologue under the tires at the northernmost start in the history of the Tour de France.

Right from the start on the rain-soaked streets, the drivers on the 13.2-kilometer inner-city course had to weigh up how much risk they were willing to take.

The Belgian Yves Lampaert surprisingly found the best mixture of attack and security.

The professional from the Quick Step Alpha Vinyl team stormed into the spray water in Copenhagen for the greatest success of his career: the yellow jersey in the Tour of France.

When his coup was confirmed after 7 p.m., he reacted partly in disbelief, partly touched.

"My head explodes.

I came expecting top ten and now I've beaten the best riders in the world.

I'm just a farmer's son from Belgium.

I didn't expect that," said Lampaert.

He had distanced none other than fellow countryman and cycling superstar Wout van Aert, who had been struggling for his first maillot jaune.

Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) was five seconds slower in second place.

No serious falls

The Slovenian, who had reached Paris in yellow for the past two years, finished third, seven seconds behind.

And now he's starting the first week of the tour with a small lead over the other pros who are aiming for the overall standings.

Pogacar's supposedly toughest rival Primoz Roglic is now eight seconds behind his compatriot.

Despite the weather, the spectators could not be stopped from coming to the track in huge numbers.

The Danes, already a people of passionate pedallers who can rely on an excellent cycling infrastructure, provided a tour festival day.

The spectators stood in a dense trellis at the Copenhagen inner city course and created a great atmosphere, which also carried away and inspired the pros, as some said afterwards.

The best German racing driver was Lennard Kämna, who finished 19th, 25 seconds behind.

“In the beginning I drove relatively carefully and then felt more confident, so I was able to take the corners quickly.

All in all, it was a solid time trial,” said the man from Bremen from the German racing team Bora-hansgrohe.

His teammate Maximilian Schachmann, who finished 27th (31 seconds back), spoke of "extremely difficult conditions".

The captain of the Bora-hansgrohe team, Alexander Vlasow, showed a good performance with a deficit of 21 seconds and 31st place.

“No risk was the motto.

It was better to drive a little slower than to crash,” said the Russian, who is considered one of the favorites in this tour.

The pros were forewarned of the treacherous conditions as they watched Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-EasyPost) start early.

The Swiss, an outspoken time trial specialist, wanted to increase his chance of getting yellow with the cycling crowbar, but he fell twice and lost a lot of time.

Although the spectators got to see some slides from the pros, there were no serious falls.

In any case, the winner of the opening round, Yves Lampaert, is in an extremely exciting phase of his career.

In the Tour of Belgium, the 31-year-old was subsequently disqualified in mid-June.

Because of unfair driving.

He had allowed himself an illegal controversy with other drivers.

So now the triumph in the yellow jersey.

And Lampaert can be trusted to maintain his leading position for a few more stages.

As a driver with a preference for the classic terrain, the wind-prone second stage suits him well.

A spectacular day's finale awaits the pros on Saturday's 202-kilometer stretch from Roskilde to Nyborg, when the field will race over the last kilometers over the Great Belt Bridge over the sea.

Especially since Lampaert's Team Quick Step is considered the strongest in the peloton in races where wind edge situations can occur.