The Solvang time trial, the race of truth today as the peloton test themselves against the clock. Some of the world's best are here at this discipline and an early starter is Jerome Coppel
The Frenchman took the yellow jersey in the Tour from the Prologue last year and carried it to the mountains, he is looking to upset the American favourites here. Admittedly the Milka man has been involved in some of the crashes but he looked in very decent form back on his favourite territory. Coppel sets 21.47 at the split and 32.17 for the finish.
No-one else can get anywhere near with the likes of Yasmani Martinez
setting 33.23 and the clearly pained Vladimir Karpets
setting 33.35.
It's not until Ian Bibby
that anyone can get near to breaking the 33 minute barrier.
He sets off around about the same time as unsung Wikipedia domestique Chris Barton
Bibby comes in with a time of 33.06 and Barton sets a time of 32.59, the first rider other than Coppel to go under 33 minutes.
Split
Finish
1
Coppel
21.47
32.17
2
Barton
22.16
32.59
3
Bibby
22.16
33.06
Late bloomer Ian Bibby looks a very decent talent from Great Britain and could possibly be their answer to the nations call for a stage racing talent.
The new Dutch hope Martijn Keizer
has flattered to deceive here in California. This looked a good race for him being a very decent chrono man with said to be useful climbing abilities. Sadly poor positioning and bad climbing legs seems to have let him down.
Still against the clock he is a force after setting a split time of 22.20, slower than Bibby and Barton he finishes fast to set a new second best time of 32.42. It's still 25 second shy of Coppel, but you fancy that Captain America himself David Zabriskie
should have a good chance of overhauling the French raiders time.
But Zabriskie struggles to find his very best form setting a split some 10 seconds slower than Coppel. Admittedly the split is placed atop a hill and Davey Zee's hill climbing legs are beginning to wane. He responds to the roar of the home crowd to come home seven seconds faster than Coppel.
Split
Finish
1
Zabriskie
21.57
32.10
2
Coppel
21.47
32.17
3
Keizer
22.20
32.42
4
Barton
22.16
32.59
5
Bibby
22.16
33.06
Thus far we have been looking at the riders a little way down on GC and whilst those riders will move up (Bibby to 51st, Barton to 49th, Keizer to 17th and Zabriskie to 13th), it is the guys up nearer the top of the classification we are now going to look at.
Stefan Schumacher
has been disappointing on the hilly stages that should have suited him.
The Chrome domes German may well struggle on tomorrows Baldy mountain, but he is a useful tester. That said his times of 22.36 at the split and 33.17 at the end do not set the world alight. It is still enough to see the UBS man up into the top ten from 13th overtaking José Serpa Robert Kiserlovski
and Patrik Sinkewitz
Up to the man 8th this morning Justo Tenorio
wearing the Young riders jersey as Phinney has the points jersey on.
The Spaniard has shown a few sparks in this race and could break the top five with a decent ride today and tomorrow. Justo puts a decent ride in against the clock moving to provisional fifth on the day with a time of 33 minutes dead.
Split
Finish
1
Zabriskie
21.57
32.10
2
Coppel
21.47
32.17
3
Keizer
22.20
32.42
4
Barton
22.16
32.59
5
Tenorio
22.26
33.00
It is good enough to get Tenorio to overtake Aleksandr Efimkin
on the classification.
The Spanish riders to keep on coming, next it's the man 6th on GC this morning Beñat Intxausti
The Vuelta hopeful cannot match young Tenorio's times and is perhaps slightly below par today setting a finishing time of 33.23. This is the same time posted by his teammate Drasutis Stundzia
The conditions do not seem to be as favourable out there for the later starters.
That said Alberto Contador
nearly matches Intxausti's time.
A pretty solid effort from the Festina climber who holds his place in the GC top five with a time of 33.27, just four seconds slower than Intxausti.
The last of the Spanish Armada is Rubén Plaza
runner-up last year.
He needs a big effort today to close down on the lead three and Plaza does his very best setting a split of 22.13 and a final time of 32.47. This solidifies his top five GC hopes for sure and places him provisional 4th on the day.
Split
Finish
1
Zabriskie
21.57
32.10
2
Coppel
21.47
32.17
3
Keizer
22.20
32.42
4
Plaza
22.13
32.47
5
Barton
22.16
32.59
The three riders who finished in the top three on Sierra Road dominate the classification. Third that day and in attacking mood yesterday Andrei Kashechkin
works hard today.
The Kazach limits his losses well and comes home with a time of 33.11, losing just 24 seconds on Plaza and maintaining the best part of a minute.
The expectation is that the guy in 2nd this morning Taylor Phinney
will assume the lead after today.
Phinney after a slight breakdown in the Swiss mountains and after being outpowered by Zabriskie in Spain has been keen to show his best here. But he was outsprinted by Velits on Sierra road and has been unable to get his usual bonus seconds. All doubts though may be erased by a superb time trial performance here blowing away all the times before setting a split of 21.37 and a finish time of 31.57.
For race leader Peter Velits
it is a case of being realistic and his battle is not to match Phinney's superhuman time but to try and keep ahead of Kashechkin, Plaza etc.
Velits shows he is a real stage racer to watch here battling hard to a finishing time of 33.20 holding his advantage over Kashechkin by three seconds. He has a minute on Plaza and two to three minutes on Contador, Intxausti and Tenorio.
