Filippo Ganna was the favorite to take the yellow jersey in the opening time trial of the Tour de France in Copenhagen, but the world champion of the discipline suffered a puncture in the finale of the 13.2km course and finished only fourth.

Ganna was 10 seconds behind winner Yves Lampert (Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl) and even further ahead of Wout Van Art (Jumbo-Visma) and Tadey Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates). But the Ineos Grenadiers rider did not blame the puncture on his rear wheel.

"It's not an excuse and I don't think I lost because of it. I'm not making excuses and I don't think I lost because of it," Ganna said, but he was unsure exactly when the puncture occurred. 'My leg was in a lot of pain and I was just trying to limit the damage.'

Ganna, like most of the stage and overall contenders, started early Friday as the weather forecast suggested no rain until late afternoon. However, it was Van Aert and Pogachar who followed him down the start ramp.

Ganna set the best time of the day as he crossed the finish line, but he was less than a minute away from topping the leaderboard as Van Aert finished five seconds faster. He was then relegated to fourth place by Pogachar and Lampaert.

"It was raining, so I was uncomfortable in the corners, but on the straights I was consistent. 'It was supposed to be dry when we started but the track was already wet and it started to rain. I left early for that reason, as did everyone else, including Wout and Taddei. I don't regret it. We had strong riders today."

Prior to this Tour, Ganna had a perfect record in Grand Tour time trials, winning all three time trials in his debut at the 2020 Giro d'Italia before winning both stages of last year's race against the clock.

On Saturday, Ganna will be in the unfamiliar position of riding the first road stage of the Grand Tour without the leader's jersey on his back, but with the possibility of an echelon in Denmark during the first week and the cobbles on the road to Arenberg on stage 5 looking certain, there may be a chance to claim yellow.

"We will study the route of the coming stages and see if there is any possibility of inventing something," Ganna said.

While Ganna's time was affected by the puncture, his Ineos teammate Geraint Thomas was left to regret not taking off his gilet before the time trial.

Adam Yates did somewhat better, finishing 13th, 23 seconds back, while Daniel Martinez finished a modest 33rd, 44 seconds back.