The 45km timetrial, rated as flat, features a tricky profile, that actually may suit the punchier TT-specialists. It's anyway the crucial stage, where the GC will be mixed most likely.
Race-leader Craven crushed the competetion yesterday, will he now manage to hold off TT-beasts like Ignatiev? With 2 minutes of advantage, the strongest TTlers definitely need to deliver today.
Starting the report with those, who lost all GC-ambitions, just hoping for the stage-win here. Of course former world champion Rogers - currently Australia's national champion - deserves an early mention:
Rogers
Finish: 1h05'58 for the first notable BT. Could he play his pure TT-strengths today?
Yatsevich
Finish: + 28" as provisional 2nd. Both ain't the best puncheurs, but will hope for their times being strong enough.
Ma
Finish: + 33" on Rogers. Same goes for the Chinese champion, but this might not be enough for a Top-5 today.
Van Zandbeek
Finish: New BT, beating Rogers by one second! This is kinda surprising, to say at least. Did Rogers suffer too much from the previous days?
Next up is a better puncheur, who still lost all GC-hopes (+ 4.16) yesterday. But he may play his climbing skills well, as he was 6 seconds faster than Rogers at the final split:
Boaro
Finish: New BT! A great second half for Boaro, who is 11" faster than Van Zandbeek eventually!
So that's it for those, who are more than 4 minutes down in the GC.. Rogers obviously not in best shape, or it may be an indicator of the hills today being quite a factor!
Boaro with the provisional lead, but some strong TT-specialists are yet to come. So where will those names end up eventually?
All following riders (with most of them being + 2.43 down on Craven) will have hopes to make the Top-10 in GC. Of course only the better TTlers amongst them. We will know take a look at the final split first, which comes 16km before finish.
Grabovski (GC's 25th, + 2.43)
Split #3: + 6" on Boaro! So definitely a strong effort by Kazzinc's Italian.
Durasek (24th, + 2.43)
Split #3: + 14" on Boaro, so not too bad considering his less strong TT-skills. The final 16km will be all flat though.
Kiryenka (22nd, + 2.43)
Split #3: + 34" and therefore maybe a bit too far behind already.
Westra (21st, + 2.43)
Split: New provisional lead here at the split, being 9" faster than Boaro!
Koren (19th, + 2.43)
Split: And another best split-time, this time even 12" faster than Westra! May he have a chance to aim for the GC's Top-5?
Nepomnyachsniy (14th, + 2.43)
Split: Again, new best split. And how impressive, as he beats Koren by 18" at this point! Quite a surprise, actually.
And now for the last GC-contender of those, who finished in the main group yesterday:
Konovalovas (12th, + 2.43)
Split: + 34" on Nepomnyachsniy, so behind Koren and Westra. Still in Top-10 contention, it seems.
The top-favorite for both GC and today's timetrial now. Ignatiev couldn't hang on with Craven, Gerdemann and Kangert as his most likely only remaining GC-opponents:
Ignatiev (7th, + 2.12)
Split: + 5" as 2nd. Nepomnyachsniy obviously with a stunning performance so far! Ignatiev still ahead of him in the virtual GC though.
Quick overview before watching the last rider's crossing the split: the expected names at the front, even though Ignatiev not dominating the thing here so far.
Rogers will struggle to Top-10 the stage, a huge bummer for his manager's gamble to bring him here. Koren, Westra and Konovalovas will hope for the less stronger TTlers to finish way behind them today.
We'll focus on the bigger names first, though. Next in line, Tanel Kangert, who already overtakes GC's 5th O'Brien at the final split:
Kangert (4th, + 1.20)
Split: 2" faster than Nepom! So on a good way to hold off Ignatiev, at least!
Kump (3rd, + 1.20)
Split: + 1'57" on Kangert.. the expected scenario, to be honest. Likely to drop way down in the GC that way.
Gerdemann (2nd, + 1.10)
Split: + 34" on Kangert! The German, who did so well yesterday, is likely to lose his 2nd to Kangert and may even fear Ignatiev now!
Craven
Split: + 16" as 4th best at the split! Given his minute's advantage in GC, he ain't looking in trouble so far today!
Let's take a more detailed look at the provisinal/virtual GC-situation at this final split, with still 16km to go for most of the GC-contenders:
Rider
GC
Final Split
Provisional GC
Pos
Craven
11h15'17
-
-
1
Gerdemann
+ 1'10
+ 0.18
+ 1.28
3
Kump
+ 1'20
+ 1.41
+ 3.01
7
Kangert
+ 1'20
- 0.16
+ 1.04
2
O'Brien
+ 1'36
+ 1.49
+ 3.25
Firsanov
+ 1'57
+ 1.50
+ 3.47
Ignatiev
+ 2'12
- 0.08
+ 2.04
4
Siskevicius
+ 2'20
+ 3.20
+ 5.40
Bilbao
+ 2'32
+ 2.10
+ 4.42
Frohlinger
+ 2'43
+ 2.14
+ 4.57
Hermans
+ 2'43
+ 0.56
+ 3.39
Konovalovas
+ 2'43
+ 0.21
+ 3.01
7
...
Nepomnyachsniy
+ 2'43
- 0.14
+ 2.29
5
Koren
+ 2'43
+ 0.05
+ 2.48
6
Westra
+ 2'43
+ 0.18
+ 3.01
7
Kiryenka
+ 2'43
+ 0.55
+ 3.38
Durasek
+ 2'43
+ 0.42
+ 3.25
Grabovski
+ 2'43
+ 0.34
+ 3.17
10
So the most promising GC-contenders are likely to be in the mix for the GC's Top-10, as those names like Kump, O'Brien, Firsanov or Bilbao are likely to lose more ground on the pure TT-suited kilometres.
Looks like we may see a thrilling fight for the podium (Gerdemann, Ignatiev, maybe Kangert) and the Top-5 (Nepomnyachsniy, Koren, Westra). But of course even more is possible for a so far stunning Nepom, for example!
So we will just focus on the biggest contenders and former GC's Top-5 for the final part of the report. Starting with Nepomnyachsniy, who did so well here so far!
Finish: New BT, beating Koren by 26", Westra by 53" and former stage-leader Boaro by 55"! Riders like Konovalovas (1.00) or Grabovski (1.16) lost some more time in this second half of the parcours.
Ignatiev will not just aim for the stage-win, but also for the GC-podium. Will he succeed?
Finish: + 9" on Nepom! No luck with the stage, but definitely a real threat for at least Gerdemann!
And now for the GC's Top-5 prior to the stage: Kangert looked impressive so far and seems to go for the 2nd place in GC.
Finish: + 7" as new 2nd! A few seconds faster than Ignatiev and therefore with a great result!
GC's 5th O'Brien was just going to limit his losses today..
Finish: + 3'21" as 57th. He will go down the rankings, but may hope for a Top-15 at least.
Next in line to cross the finish: Gerdemann, GC's 2nd, who fights to defend his podium today!
Finish: + 1'06" and about a minute slower than Ignatiev! Will it be enough to hold off the top-favorite in GC?
Kump was impressive yesterday, but was never expected to do anything special today..
Finish: + 3'22" as 60th eventually. Like O'Brien, he will never ever defend his Top-5 or even Top-10 in GC that way.
Race-leader Craven comes in last, finishing the stage off as 5th! Eventually losing 43" on stage-winner Nepomnyachsniy, but given his comfortable lead in GC, he did just enough to hold off all the other contenders..
Craven will enter the final flat stage with still a nice gap on new GC's 2nd Kangert (+ 0.44)! An impressive tour this has been for both so far.
The battle for 3rd was the most thrilling today... Gerdemann gave all he can and yes, he remains on the podium with just 5" on Ignatiev! Tough luck for the latter.
Nepomnyachsniy jumps onto 5th, Koren 6th and Westra as new 7th. With Konovalovas, Grabovski and Durasek some more TTlers complete the Top-10.
Kump down on 13th, O'Brien 16th, Firsanov 17th and Siskevicius goes way down on 36th. So at least something for the first three of yesterday's escapees.
