In the 2022 Tour de France, Taddei Pogachar came within seven seconds of a morale-boosting third-place finish in the opening time trial, just as he did in the 2021 race.

Pogachar may have been spoiled on Friday by the best young rider in the white jersey instead of the yellow, but his form this July left no doubt as to his first pedal stroke at the 2022 Tour.

Like many of the top riders, Pogachar rolled off the start ramp in Copenhagen early, as the pouring rain made for a dangerous city course with several technical sections.

Even though Yves Lampert (Quick Step-Alfa Vinyl) and Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) were able to outpace the Slovenian in the 13.2km race, Pogachar's third place finish put him in pole position for the GC contenders and the Tour solidified his position as a strong contender for a third consecutive win.

His eight-second gap to Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) and nine-second gap to Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) are more symbolic than long-term implications. However, in the short Tour opening time trial, the psychological blows are almost always more important than the actual blows.

For one thing, even a versatile racer like Pogacar doesn't often finish ahead of a time trial world champion like Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers). And Geraint Thomas' (Ineos Grenadiers) 18-second advantage can never be ignored on such a short course. Enric Mas (Movistar), for example, has already lost nearly a minute in the 1.5-hour race.

"It was a really good day. Despite the rain, I enjoyed the course. I set very good times and we are in a good position for the first week of GC," Pogachar said after the race.

The rain stopped while he was out on the course, which was probably luckier than some early starters, but Pogachar said his strategy remained the same.

"I was on full throttle from the start to the finish. The time trial was a bit stressful because of the rain. Anyway, after the first corner I could see that the conditions were not too bad, so from then on I attacked corner by corner. I didn't take too many risks and was able to ride with confidence."

Pogachar's performance meant that his early season form continued at least until the first day of the Tour.

"It was the first test of the Tour de France. I knew I had good legs."

But as always in the Tour, as soon as one test is over, another looms. Of the big battle on stage 2, Pogachar warned: "Tomorrow will be a stressful stage. You never know what will happen tomorrow. We have a good team to support us and it's going to be a hard day, so we have to be extremely careful."

His words were echoed by Joxen Fernandez Mazin, sport director of UAE Team Emirates. He admitted that Pogachar won again on a day when the technical course and rain weakened all of the GC candidates.

"It is always great to finish in front of a specialist like Ganna.

"Taddei is always good in the rain and the technical course suited him. But we have to remember that the race is 20 days long and it has only just begun."