Geraint Thomas wins stage one of the Tour de France

Welshman Thomas completed the opening 14-kilometre time trial in 16 minutes and four seconds to win by five seconds from BMC Racing's Stefan Kung. 

His team-mate Chris Froome finished sixth, 12 seconds down, as he opens his bid to win a third straight Tour crown and fourth overall. 

Thomas was forced to withdraw from the Giro d'Italia in May after he suffered a shoulder injury during the ninth stage, but he put that behind him with the victory in Germany. 

"It's unreal. The start of my eighth Tour, my 12th Grand Tour and my first stage win. It's been a long time coming and it's just an amazing feeling. I didn't even dream about it last night," the Welsh rider told ITV4. 

"It's been a rough time on the bike this year and it's nice to finally... it certainly makes up for most of the Giro, and back home as well. With my mum and my wife I've had a bit of a rough time recently so it's nice to get this win. 

"It's unbelievable. I'm lost for words. 

"I've got a tendency to go about a bit hard but I'm getting older now and I'm learning my lessons, and today couldn't have gone any better." 

Froome was comfortably the best of the general classification hopefuls as Sky made a major statement in the treacherous conditions. 

BMC's Richie Porte, seen as Froome's main rival, crossed in a time of 16 minutes 51 seconds, while there was worse news for Nairo Quintana and Movistar as key man Alejandro Valverde crashed out of the race.

For all the pre-race talk of a weakened Team Sky, they finished with four riders in the top eight as Vasil Kiriyenka was third, seven seconds back, and Michal Kwaitkowski eighth, 15 seconds down on Thomas, who is the first Welshman to wear the yellow jersey.  

"It's really great for the team that Geraint has won," Froome said. "The time trial is something I've worked on during the past three weeks and we've taken time on rivals too, which is a great start."

Germany's world time trial champion Tony Martin of Katusha-Alpecin had been favourite to take the stage on home turf but had to settle for fourth place, eight seconds off Thomas' time.

The victory will be extra sweet for Thomas, who was given the chance to lead Sky in the first grand tour of the year but saw his dream of winning the Giro ended by a freak crash caused by a police motorbike at the end of the first week. 

Final leading positions after Stage 1 (Dusseldorf - Dusseldorf - 13km): 1 Geraint Thomas (Gbr) Team Sky at 16mins 4secs, 2 Stefan Kung (Swi) BMC Racing Team at 5secs, 3 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky at 7secs, 4 Tony Martin (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin at 8secs, 5 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Quick-Step Floors at 10secs, 6 Christopher Froome (Gbr) Team Sky at 12secs, 7 Jos Van Emden (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo at 15secs, 8 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky at same time, 9 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Quick-Step Floors at 16secs, 10 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data, 11 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb at same time, 12 Taylor Phinney (USA) Cannondale-Drapac at 17secs, 13 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana Pro Team, 14 Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica-Scott at 19secs, 15 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Movistar Team at 20secs, 16 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb at same time, 17 Pierre Roger Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale at 25secs, 18 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe at same time, 19 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team at 27secs, 20 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team at 29secs

Selected Others: 29 Simon Yates (Gbr) Orica-Scott at 37secs, 57 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors at 49secs, 75 Stephen Cummings (Gbr) Dimension Data at 56secs, 103 Ben Swift (Gbr) UAE Team Emirates at 1min8secs, 114 Daniel Mclay (Gbr) TeamFortuneo-Oscaroat 1min 12secs, 122 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team at 1min14secs, 176 Mark Cavendish (Gbr) Dimension Data at 1min46secs, 181 Scott Thwaites (Gbr) Dimension Data at 1mins 50secs, 182 Luke Rowe (Gbr) Team Sky at same time

General Classification after Stage 1: 1 Geraint Thomas (Gbr) Team Sky at 16mins 4secs, 2 Stefan Kung (Swi) BMC Racing Team at 5secs, 3 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky at 7secs, 4 Tony Martin (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin at 8secs, 5 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Quick-Step Floors at 10secs, 6 Christopher Froome (Gbr) Team Sky at 12secs, 7 Jos Van Emden (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo at 15secs, 8 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky at same time, 9 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Quick-Step Floors at 16secs, 10 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data, 11 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb at same time, 12 Taylor Phinney (USA) Cannondale-Drapac at 17secs, 13 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana Pro Team, 14 Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica-Scott at 19secs, 15 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Movistar Team at 20secs, 16 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb at same time, 17 Pierre Roger Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale at 25secs, 18 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe at same time, 19 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team at 27secs, 20 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team at 29secs

Selected Others: 29 Simon Yates (Gbr) Orica-Scott at 37secs, 57 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors at 49secs, 75 Stephen Cummings (Gbr) Dimension Data at 56secs, 103 Ben Swift (Gbr) UAE Team Emirates at 1min 8secs, 114 Daniel Mclay (Gbr) Team Fortuneo - Oscaro at 1min 12secs, 122 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team at 1min 14secs, 176 Mark Cavendish (Gbr) Dimension Data at 1min 46secs, 181 Scott Thwaites (Gbr) Dimension Data at 1mins 50secs, 182 Luke Rowe (Gbr) Team Sky at same time