The first day of this fantastic race and already we have a key stage! The mountain time trial is only 6.5km in length but will be key to determining the winner. The climb maxes out at 10% but is perhaps not as tough as people think. There is a short flat section before the climb as well as a distinct flat section in the middle where riders can recover somewhat after the early effort.
We join the stage about half way through as one of the first big contenders of the day heads off. The current leader is Roman Kilun, with a time of 12’55”. The only other rider to go under 13 minutes so far is Saul Raisin, 4” back. Also noteworthy is the third person on the provisional podium, Christian Meier. He is the Canadian TT champion so will be incredibly pleased to show himself early today.
However, the first GC contender in the race heads off with Ruben Plaza. He will love this sort of test and should set a really competitive time. There is no wind today and the forecast is for no change in that regard, so he should be on a level playing field with the later finishers.
And Plaza unsurprisingly sets the new leading time of 12’45”, shaving a full 10” off the time of Kilun and giving us a real benchmark.
The next GC rider to go is Fredrik Kessiakoff. The trend today has been for those who are good at both climbing and TTing, not just one of those disciplines. Kessiakoff isn’t the best TTist but should still be capable of a good time.
And he slots in as third provisionally with the same time as Kilun. That might be a bit more time than he wants to give up, but it is far from too much.
Now for the first of the Repsol leaders out on course, it is Alex Ardila Cnao. Repsol have really suffered from the lack of a single big leader and while they aren’t going to win it today they will hope that their multiple leader strategy can be rewarded with several decent scorers.
And his time is 13’03”, a provisional 11th but still almost 20” down on the time of Plaza. He will really have to try something in the mountains, particularly if the final TT is going to be anything like that too.
The next GC rider to leave the start house, in his rather fetching Portuguese champion’s jersey is Pedro Nicacio. Though he isn’t quite as good as Plaza at anything, he is still a great rider for stages like this and could well do something himself if he is given a chance or something happens to Plaza.
His time of 12’55” is enough to put him fourth provisionally, a result he will certainly be happy with!
The crowd break into rapturous applause as the commentators announce that Ryder Hesjedal is riding out next. He isn’t quite good enough to hold the best in the mountains, but riding on home soil will certainly lift him. He will spend most of hte race riding for Popovych but today is a chance to ride for himself.
And what a ride at that! A huge surprise as he manages 12’50”, putting him in 2nd and just 5” slower than Plaza!
The applause doesn’t stop as the next leader out is John Gadret, former French national champion who won that jersey without even having a contract with a team. Today he is riding in the colours of Alstom-RBC, the half Canadian team, and the supporters are clearly on his side.
And once again the fans, much like his former Red Bull team, give him wings as he comes through in 12’45”, just a fraction of a second behind Plaza’s time! He will be incredibly pleased with that as he is unlikely to drop too much time on his other competitors for a top ten.
Stijn Devolder is the next rider out. Today is probably one of the days he is going to like the most in this race, though the flat TT will certainly be a good chance for him to relive his glory days. Certainly he will be wanting to take the fight to the younger riders here to show he still has some fight in him.
And he puts in a magnificent ride, just pipping Plaza with the same time as 12’45”, putting him in the provisional lead!
So before all of the biggest names head off let’s have a look at the times as they currently sit:
So 12’45” appears to be the benchmark and setting out to try to beat that is Jose Alarcon. Though he is not known as a time trialist by any means, this is still going to be a good test for him as he is arguably the best climber in the race, and possibly in the entire division. He will really need to lift himself, and with his recent win in Corsica, you have to like his odds.
And he does indeed come through with a new best of 12’44”. He takes the lead by just a second and will be happy to already be putting time into his rivals.
Much less celebrated as a climber but still with some talent going uphill is Peter Stetina. His team doesn’t really have a lot of expectations on him in this field but with some luck he could push for a competitive result.
But it isn’t today as he comes through in 13’01”, already 17” behind Alarcon and in a provisional 13th place with lots of strong riders still to come.
A cheer for the home team goes up again as Sebastien Ivars goes out on course. He isn’t as strong a climber as Gadret but he is a much better TT rider so could put in a decent GC effort in this race.
Ivars puts in a great effort, but falls just short with a time of 12’46”. He probably won’t be too disappointed to be staying this close to the top riders, however.
The last of the Repsol leaders is out on course, with Sergio Ortega setting off. He is a quite similar rider to Ivars so we should probably be looking for a similar sort of result.
But it is not to be as Ortega is clearly on a bad day and can only manage 13’06”, 22” down on the current best and only provisional 30th place.
No stranger to the race against the clock by any means, Michael Rogers is next out. In his world champion’s jersey he looks to use his technique rather than his climbing prowess to try to compete for the win. The flat beginning and the middle section will both be chances for him to make up some time that I will lose going up the climb, but will it be enough?
No, unfortunately for the Australian, it will not. He comes through in a still-respectable time of 12’49”, but that is only a provisional 6th. It looks like he will already have some catching up to do and we haven’t even hit the mountains proper yet.
Aiming for a top ten overall, and a bit of a dark horse for today, is Thomas Lovkvist. His team really need a result here and he could well be up for it. A strong climber, he is also good against the clock, which we have seen thus far today has been a potent combination.
And while it is a strong time, it isn’t enough as he goes through in 12’46”, just slotting in ahead of Ivars in 5th place.
Gianpaulo Caruso has recently come under fire from his manager who questioned whether he was good enough for these sorts of races. Combine that with the questioning over whether he is earning his wage and Caruso is clearly here with something to prove to everyone.
And he does just that – a new best time of 12’40” flashes up on the board, giving him a slim advantage over Alarcon and a more sizable advantage over several others. He has a bit of a smug smirk as he steps off his bike and moves to the provisional leader’s tent.
Robert Kiserlovski seems to be flying under the radars of a lot of people. He is a superb all-rounder who could even potentially challenge for a podium here. His TT technique isn’t quite as good as some other people’s, but he can climb with the best. He will be looking to stake his claim as a favourite here.
And his time of 12’44” does just that. He slips into third just behind Alarcon, who is on the same time.
Bintang’s second leader to head off hit the tarmac. It is Mikayil Krasnoperov, who is clearly here to look after Alarcon but could well become leader himself if he gets into the right position. He is a better TTist, and we will have to see if that bears itself out today.
In fact, he goes through in 12’46”, 2” slower than Alarcon managed. Alarcon will surely be pleased to have it made abundantly clear who the team leader is.
The eternal Giro competitor Domenico Pozzovivo is up next, ready to show everyone what he can do. He is another one aiming for a podium place here, but could challenge for the win if the right circumstances show themselves.
And what a huge effort he puts in as he sets the new best of 12’33”! That’s 7” faster than Caruso’s previous best and it looks like it will be really hard to beat today!
The first one up to try to top that time is Jaroslav Popovych. He is quite similar to Pozzovivo as a rider so it will be interesting to see what he can do. The main difference is that Popovych is a very slightly better TTist, which could well have some bearing on his ability to compete today.
But no, he falls outside of Pozzovivo’s time but he now sits in 2nd with a time of 12’37”. He probably won’t be disappointed ultimately, and could well make that sort of gap up in the final TT.
With his team looking strong contenders for promotion you really have to wonder how long it is going to be before Timofey Kritskiy can take a GT podium. At age 26 he comes here as one of the biggest favourites and given his ability to both climb and also TT incredibly well, who would bet against him? Let’s see what he can do today.
And we have a new leader as Kritskiy just edges out Pozzovivo’s time! He is also now on 12’33” but the judges award the provisional lead to him by just a fraction of a second.
Another young climber is our third last rider of the day. David Abal probably isn’t well-rounded enough to take a GT podium at this point, though he will probably get his chance at the Tour de France this year to aim for the top 10. Regardless, with the right training he could be one to watch in the future. He has gone into today’s stage as one of the favourites given his climbing and TT ability.
He slips away from the very best, but only just, with a new 3rd place of 12’36”, which will surely please him with the mountains ahead.
The second last rider for today, Martijn Keizer, is the true favourite of some of the bookmakers here. One of the best time trialists other than Rogers, the Dutchman can also climb almost as well as most of the bigger names. He could do with a huge result here, as he risks losing some time in the mountains.
And he can only manage provisional 4th with a time of 12’37”. That small time loss could well prove critical to him looking ahead and he will have to make good any losses in the final TT.
And now for the final rider. Rein Taaramae is probably the best all-rounder in the race and undeniably the biggest favourite. He can TT as well as almost everyone and his climbing is only just slightly below Alarcon’s ability. But can he make a real statement by taking the first leader’s jersey?
Yes he can as he comes through in the best time of the day – 12’26”. That means he already has 7” lead over 2nd place and as much as 20” on some of the outsiders for the race. He will hope to wear this jersey right to the very end of the race or at least for the next two days which are much less challenging than the ordeals to come.
Also worth noting is that Pozzovivo has been given second place by the judges in the final standing, which will please him I'm sure.
