2nd time trial and this one is a bit longer with almost 30km. Cancellara and Coppel is the expected duel and with second being in the lead it could be an interesting one.
Outside chances for others such as Posthuma of course.
The cobblers and puncheurs need to reduce their loss here and hope for a good day.
Bonnet is an early starter as 149th in the GC. He is a very good time trialist and so his biggest focus might be on todays stage. He easily takes the lead of course beign 37s ahead of Johansson followed by other decent time trialists like Aramendia, Vandewalle or Renang.
Christensen next is a similar case as pure time trialist. But he can`t come too close as Bonnet really had a great ride here. 33s down and as the wind became less from behind the conditions early on might have been a bit better.
Donald with a strong performance today as he takes the provisional 2nd being 24s behind though.
Nuyens is the first GC rider here and as 46th he is 1'24 down and time trialing is definitely not his biggest strength. 2min down in the end and this will surely be also around the time he loses to Cancellara in the end.
Van der Velde might be Bacardi`s best hope for a decent result here as Burghardt already lost a lot and Roux is a pure puncheur. The Dutch indeed can a bit of everything but is this enough for a good GC? We have to wait I guess but todays time is okay being ~1min behind.
Ballan is very similar to Nuyens but sits a bit better in the GC. Todays loss he needs to gain in the other stages of course as he finishes more than 2min behind Bonnet.
Bewley wasn`t able to get bonus seconds so far and sits a bit behind his expectations eventually. Todays performance is okay but could have been better I guess being ~1'20 behind.
Posthuma as one of todays favourites but he can`t beat Bonnet in the sectors. 16s behind at the 1st, only 1s behind in the second and this 1s stays until the end! Surprisingly he is not able to beat Bonnet even though the wind became a bit stronger from behind again.
Boonen with a perfect 2/2 sprint wins so far. This moved him into a good position and the cobbled stage is yet to come. Also today he is doing decent being a bit more than 1min down.
Cancellara couldn`t defend the lead after the prologue and lost a bit in the hills. Still he is the top favourite and just 31s down.
Today he wants a 2nd stage win as well and takes the lead! 39s faster than Bonnet. Huge ride once again by him.
Claeys is not expected to keep his top10 after today. Losing 3'28 will throw him back a lot.
Pozzato had a huge prologue. But the longer the time trial, the more the less strong struggle. 2'38 behind Cancellara is quite a lot in the end. Not his best day for sure.
Gilbert isn`t doing much better. +2'06 for the Belgium and they sure have to hope for a selective hilly stage now as this time gap is probably more than they had hoped for.
Di Maggio as next pure cobbler will just like Claeys lose a lot today. Almost 4min behind and so it`s all about a strong stage result and eventually a 2nd stage win for him.
Van Garderen and Summerhill with huge time losses today. Not ideal for Wikipedia. But while first is losing more than 4min, Van Garderen comes in a bit less than 3min behind. Still a lot.
Schumacher with a decent ride here even though losing 1'46 is qutie a lot for a National Champion. 17th so far. He needs to gain time again before the cobbled stage if he wants a high GC just like all the others today, that will lose time in the cobbles.
Can Coppel beat Cancellara? Or at least defend the GC lead?
1st in the first sector!
2nd and 1s down in the 2nd. This will be very close until the end. At least this would mean that he can defend the overall lead.
4s in the end...behind Cancellara. So the Suisse with a 2nd time trial win while Coppel is beaten but staying in yellow ahead of Cancellara, Posthuma and Schumacher.
Also Gilbertm boonen and Kluge still well placed while Pozzato and Van Garderen fall out of the top10 but are not too far away yet.
