A short prologue opens the Volta a Catalunya. The specialists will battle this one out, big gaps aren't expected, but who knows what an impact the seconds won or lost today may eventually have.
Marlen Zmorka is one of the first strong time trialists to start the race, his time will be a first benchmark:
4'43
Joost Posthuma is a contender for a Top 5 place today, and he easily sets a new best time.
4'36
Irish Champion Martyn Irvine continues his strong performance from the Chrono des Herbiers and finishes on a provisional third place.
4'44
Leopold König is the first GC leader on the road, the Becherovka rider need a perfect week, but this is nothing more than a decent start. Provisional fourth.
4'48
Nicholas Roche needs to limit his losses in the TTs, and he does a good job today. Same time as König, 12 seconds off.
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Vuelings leader Maurice Schreurs is among the weaker time trialists, so it's no wonder that he doesn't do well today. 20 seconds slower than Posthuma, that's already a rather big deficit.
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Ion Izagirre, Roche's co-leader and super domestique, convinces with a strong time and scores a provisional third place.
4'43
Similar to Schreurs before, for Ben Gastauer it's only about limiting the losses. And again, just like Schreurs, he finishes 20 seconds slower than Posthuma.
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Next in line of pure puncheurs is Domenik Klemme. He rides the same time as Schreurs and Gastauer, an appealing time, it seems.
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Dimitri Claeys is a little slower and only closely manages to finish under five minutes.
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Meanwhile, in the fight for a decent stage ranking, Jack Bauer and Maciej Bodnar both enter the provisional Top 10 on places five and six, respectively, eight seconds behind Posthuma, who still leads comfortably.
But now, we're looking at the overall fight. Rui Costa is on his way, and he rides really well. While he can't touch Posthuma, he's still faster than the rest: Second place so far.
4'40
In the Volkswagen duel between Klemme and Alexander Flügel, the latter has the upper hand with a decent time by his standards. Three seconds faster than Klemme.
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Then it is time for Luis Leon Sanchez Gil to underline his overall ambitions. But his ride is rather mediocre, as he loses five seconds to Rui Costa and only gains three on someone like Roche, who still sits in 10th position at the moment.
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Stefan Schumacher does it a little better, two seconds to be precise. That's enough for a provisional fourth place with the close gaps at the moment.
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Bernhard Kohl's terrain are the steeper mountains, so it's doubtable what he can do here. Plus, time trialing isn't his main quality either, he shows that today.
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Before the last main overall contenders are on the road, it's Jerome Coppel's turn to fight for the stage win. And of course, the French champion takes the lead, but only with three seconds. Will that be enough to withhold Phinney and Ignatiev? We'll see.
4'32
The next national champion, Yuri Trofimov, is looking more on the GC than on the stage. Still, he will reach a top result today, riding to a provisional third place.
4'37
Robert Gesink, by many seens as the top favorite for this race, gives his everything in the last charge to the line. Stay upright, my friend! But of course, he does. And he sets a great time, coming only two seconds short of a new best!
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Crossing the line next is world champion Taylor Phinney. And indeed, as presumed earlier, Coppel's time doesn't stand. Phinney is two seconds faster, and there's only one man left that could possibly beat him.
4'30
And that man is Mikhail Ignatiev. After his great performance in the Chrono des Herbiers, he wants to continue Metinvest's great wildcard campaign, and he starts this undertaking with a fourth place today, coming only fractions of a second short of another podium place.
