The second TT of the race - this one is longer and might have more impact on the final outcome of this race.
Van Goolen (Festina) is the rider in 50th position overall and as he sets off the leader board looks like this.
Hesjedal (Domina) is 30th from last to go and by this time the Top 5 has changed a little, with Van Goolen equalling the fastest time.
24th last to go is Gesink. Things are starting to change on the leaderboard and the Rabobank man will be hoping to improve on his opening day flop.
Through the first checkpoint though, and Gesink is not even in the Top 5. Di Luca is out on course too, and at the first check he too is behind the leaders.
Gesink improves though and by the second point he is in the Top 5. Over the finish line and has Gesink found his chrono-ing legs? Castano's is the time to beat.
Gesink has, but Di Luca hasn't. We'll have to wait for the final results to see where the Italian has finished.
Wild Card Brajkovic from Wii might be dissapointed as he too misses out on a Top 5 at the finish. Popovyvch is the next one to cross the finish line and fail to break into the Top 5. Gesink still leads.
Only 14 riders still to come and here comes Marcus Fothen. Can he do it? The answer is no. Another rider who fails to make the Top 5.
Intxausti next and he's out of the saddle in the home straight and driving for the line.
Not in the same class as Gesink but he'll be pleased to have lost only 6 seconds to Gesink.
Here comes Thomas Dekker. Fastest at both time check 1 and 2, will he have faded over the final section of the course?
The answer again is no. Dekker puts in a majestic ride and puts 9 seconds into Gesink.
With only Coppel out with a realistic chance of beating this, is Dekker going to win the stage?
At check 1, Coppel is 8" faster than Dekker. At check 2, he is just 4" faster. What's it going to be at the finish???
Not even close. Coppel blitzes the final part of the course and ends up a comfortable 15 seconds in front.
All that's left now, is to see if Vandborg can do enough to hold on to his nice yellow jersey.
Stage Result
3 out of 4 now for Coppel.
1
Jerome Coppel
Wikipedia
43'04
2
Thomas Dekker
Philips - Hummel
+ 15
3
Robert Gesink
Rabobank
+ 25
4
Carlos Castaño
Festina - Seiko
+ 26
5
Michiel Elijzen
SIC Radical - Timberland
+ 27
6
Beñat Intxausti
Accumalux-Huez
+ 32
7
Andreas Klöden
Eurosport
+ 34
8
Sébastien Ivars
Wikipedia
+ 35
9
Stefan Schumacher
Wii Racing
+ 37
10
José Angel Gomez Marchante
Eurosport
+ 43
11
Markus Fothen
SIC Radical - Timberland
+ 45
12
Pierre Rolland
Philips - Hummel
s.t.
13
Andrei Kashechkin
Lipton Ice Tea
+ 47
14
Michael Ford
La Gazzetta dello Sport
s.t.
15
Jurgen Van Goolen
Festina - Seiko
+ 48
16
Jairo Agudelo
Unicef RT
+ 55
17
Bernhard Kohl
Domina Vacanze
s.t.
18
José Serpa
American Suzuki
s.t.
19
Marcel Kittel
Accumalux-Huez
+ 56
20
Taylor Phinney
Virgin Media - Caisse d'Epargne
+ 57
21
Ryder Hesjedal
Domina Vacanze
+ 1'01
22
Janez Brajkovic
Wii Racing
+ 1'04
23
Jaroslav Popovych
Unicef RT
+ 1'06
24
Matthieu Sprick
Wikipedia
+ 1'12
25
Sandy Casar
Rabobank
s.t.
26
Iban Mayo
Festina - Seiko
+ 1'15
27
Maxime Bouet
Team B&O
+ 1'20
28
Brian Vandborg
Festina - Seiko
+ 1'21
29
John Gadret
Crédit Lyonnais
s.t.
30
Danilo Di Luca
La Gazzetta dello Sport
+ 1'25
31
Konstantin Siutsou
White Bear - Wild Horse
+ 1'27
32
Egoi Martínez de Esteban
Philips - Hummel
+ 1'29
33
Francisco Mancebo
Eurosport
s.t.
34
Andrei Grivko
Team B&O
s.t.
35
William Bonnet
Crédit Lyonnais
s.t.
36
André Steensen
Team B&O
+ 1'32
37
Roman Kreuziger
Team B&O
+ 1'33
38
Ian Stannard
Virgin Media - Caisse d'Epargne
s.t.
39
Mathieu Perget
Crédit Lyonnais
+ 1'35
40
Laurens Ten Dam
Rabobank
+ 1'39
41
Andrei Amador
White Bear - Wild Horse
+ 1'40
42
Logan Hutchings
Lipton Ice Tea
s.t.
43
Bradley McGee
American Suzuki
+ 1'42
44
Kristof Goddaert
Festina - Seiko
+ 1'45
45
Matthieu Ladagnous
American Suzuki
+ 1'50
46
Alex Rasmussen
Virgin Media - Caisse d'Epargne
+ 1'51
47
Timothy Gudsell
American Suzuki
s.t.
48
Ivan Parra Pinto
American Suzuki
+ 1'52
49
Paolo Savoldelli
Wii Racing
+ 1'53
50
Ivan Kovalev
Virgin Media - Caisse d'Epargne
s.t.
Overall
And Coppel is back into the yellow of race leader.
