We start with a 7,9km prologue in Yverdon-les-Bains. It`s completely flat and so the climbers must already try to reduce their loss.
The real difficulties are on the last 4 days but akready today you might lose the GC.
Sestili is one of the first time trialists on the road. With a time of 10'36 he will be somewhere in the first third obviously, but also far from the win today.
Siutsou is the first GC rider here. He is an outside bet but as Pendleton`s don`t really have a top quality GC rider here he might get some freedom. Todays time could have been better. 12s slower than Sestili.
Rolland is a great time trialist. The French won`t stay with the best on the hard mountains so his focus is probably on todays stage. New best time and 6s faster.
Vaugrenard is another French chrono man. But he can`t beat his country man and finishes 1s behind.
Schwab is surely no rider for today. But he is one of 2-3 Swiss riders, who probably want to shine here.
We almost missed Malori. One of the stage favourites today. And the Italian sets the new best time. 10'28 for him.
Kreuziger is pretty similar to him. But the Czech misses the time by 1s. 10'29 for him.
Bonnet is yet another prologue specialist. And yet another French actually. He comes the closest as he is within the same time but just 2nd behind Malori, who keeps the lead.
We slowly come to the GC riders and start with one of the weakest against the clock.
Alarcon might be one of the best climbers but this doesn`t count for his abilities against the clock. Horrible start for him. A 10'57. So he is losing ~40s to the winner today. Tiem he needs to gain again in the mountains.
Not in the camera but we have a new leader. Festina`s Bernaudeu with a very strong ride takes the lead by 1s.
Lloret is the probable leader of the Lotto squad. Not the best in comparison to the best but a top15 is possible. Solid start today as he is just losing 4s to Bernaudeu.
Denifl is not riding far from his home here. The Austrian is a great climber. Decent time for him: 10'36.
Spilak is one of the top favourites here as he already proved his skills on all terrains. So far the best time of the favourites and just 2s behind. Good start for him.
Braijkovic as former winner obviously belongs to the best bets. He beats Spilak`s time and takes the best GC rider at the moment but even though he equals the leader`s time he is set to the 2nd.
Machado was named as top favourite by some and he definitely is able to do so. Todays effort could have been better to be honest. 10'37.
Amador has high pressure by his team as they want to win here. Losing just 2s to Braijkovic is a good start I guess.
Uran with a very good day. He also beats the Malori time and takes the actual 3rd within the same time as Braijkovic and Bernaudeu.
Contador won Catalunya in a great way by dominating the mountain stage. Will we see this here again? A decent result for him but not more. 10'35.
Gesink is almost a perfect rider. Being great on all uphill terrain and time trials. So he is the top favourite today and for the Romandie GC.
At least today he is delivering. Incredible time and 11s faster than the previous best: 10'16.
Schleck is the best climber here and also a decent time trialist. As 34th at the moment and +22s to Gesink he definitely needs to improve in the harder terrain.
Pluchkin as last today. He doesn`t beat Gesink but all the others. As 2nd of the stage all chances are good for him for a top result. He is 4s slower than the Dutch but also 7s faster than Braijkovic and Uran as best GC riders behind them.
Most favourites are within 20s and it`s wide open. Only a few like Alarcon need to attack in the mountains, so we can be looking forward to the harder stages.
Result
1
Robert Gesink
Project 1t4i
10'16
2
Aleksandr Pluchkin
Team B&O
+ 4
3
Mathieu Bernaudeau
Festina-Canal+
+ 11
4
Janez Brajkovic
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
s.t.
5
Rigoberto Úran
Milka - AVG
s.t.
6
Adrian Malori
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
+ 12
7
William Bonnet
Lotto - Cervelo
s.t.
8
Roman Kreuziger
Milka - AVG
+ 13
9
Simon Spilak
Aker - MOT
s.t.
10
Andrei Amador
UBS - BMC
s.t.
11
Pierre Rolland
Festina-Canal+
+ 14
12
Jakub Danacik
Koenigsegg
s.t.
13
Javier AramendÃa
Lotto - Cervelo
s.t.
14
Benoît Vaugrenard
Project 1t4i
+ 15
15
Maciej Bodnar
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
s.t.
16
Manuel Lloret
Lotto - Cervelo
s.t.
17
Brian Vandborg
Team B&O
+ 16
18
Casper Jørgensen
Team B&O
+ 17
19
Andrei Grivko
Team B&O
s.t.
20
Jack Bobridge
Simply Red Bull
s.t.
21
Florian Morizot
Pearl Adidas
+ 18
22
Dan Craven
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
s.t.
23
Thomas Faiers
Pendleton's
s.t.
24
Jurgen Van den Broeck
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
25
Jack Bauer
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
