Here we are. The time trial everyone has been waiting for, some in anticipation, some in awe. The GC should get a proper reshaping before the final stage tomorrow.
According to the performances of the previous days and their known time trialing skills, Taylor Phinney and Mikhail Ignatiev are the bookies' favorites. Jerome Coppel is certainly as good a time trialist, but he lacks the puncheur qualities of the aforementioned. Still, he will fight for a top result today. As for the other GC contenders, especially Robert Gesink and the dominator of the previous two stages, Yuri Trofimov, are to be watched. Schumacher, Costa and Sanchez possess outside chances.
A few solid time trialists are among the first riders on the road, Salas, Van Aelbroeck or Sebright for instance. But the early best time is set by Michael Morkov.
Finish: 40'43
However, not it doesn't stand that long. Marlen Zmorka, eigth in the prologue, continues his row of strong time trialing performances:
Finish: 40'17
Irish champion Martyn Irvine can't build on his 11th from prologue. The previous days have drained him of strength, provisional 4th.
Finish: 40'52
Part of Simply Red Bull's incredibly strong TT squad is Maciej Bodnar. The Pole is the first to ride the course in under 40 minutes.
However, it really seems to be about what you have left in the tank. Riders like Jay McCarthy or Andrea Palini, better puncheurs on the paper and at least the Italian is a somewhat decent time trialist, both lose much more than a minute.
For a while, no one can mix up the Top 3 places, then, three well-rounded riders finish very close to each other: Vitaliy Popkov, Jack Bauer and Ion Izagirre enter the scoreboard between Bodnar and Smorka, taking the places 2-4, with Bauer being the fastest.
Finish: 40'02
As we see the final 25 riders hit the road, Joost Posthuma takes the lead at checkpoint one. Here's the standing before the last 22 riders:
Said 22nd rider is David Boilly. He has a deficit of 2'33 on Trofimov, but only 33 seconds on Flügel in 12th position.
Leopold König rides a good time at the first checkpoint, only 10 seconds slower than Posthuma.
C1: 14'43
But a new best time is on the way: Jerome Coppel comes along with the fastest ride so far.
C1: 14'20
Flügel (GC 12th) has a large-ish gap to the man before him, so here's recap after he came through Checkpoint 1:
Spoiler
GC
Rider
Deficit on Coppel
22nd
David Boily
+ 40
21st
Maurice Schreurs
+ 48
20th
Tom Diggle
+ 34
19th
Romain Zingle
+ 49
18th
Anatoliy Pakthusov
+ 1'06
17th
Moreno Hofland
+ 1'12
16th
Sebastien Reichenbach
+ 1'01
15th
Leopold König
+ 23
14th
Martin Reimer
+ 57
13th
Jerome Coppel
12th
Aleksandar Flügel
+ 51
Apart from Coppel, only König and Diggle entered the provisional Top 10. With the small gaps before the stage, they look good to advance a couple of places.
The next four riders pass the checkpoint: Costa (+ 15) and Roche (+ 28) set decent times, while Claeys (+ 55) and Lutsenko (+ 47) lose a good chunk already.
C1: 14'35
Meanwhile, Joost Posthuma comes to the finish line and of course it's a new best time.
Finish: 39'31
Looking at the first checkpoint, here are the next four riders:
Ben Gastauer
+ 52
Stefan Schumacher
+ 18
Luis Leon Sanchez Gil
+ 4
Robert Gesink
- 8
C1: 14'11
Gesink put the pressure on, how do the Top 3 react?
Mikhail Ignatiev
+ 0
Taylor Phinney
- 10
Yuri Trofimov
+ 1
They react strong: Phinney with an easy new best time and Ignatiev and Trofimov on level with the Dutch. This is what the scoreboard looks like after everyone passed the first checkpoint:
Trofimov is still relatively comfortable in the lead, but Phinney will come closer, and the stage is still long.
Meanwhile, most of the riders have already passed Checkpoint two, with Coppel again taking an easy lead:
Spoiler
GC
Rider
Deficit on Coppel
22nd
David Boily
+ 1'05
21st
Maurice Schreurs
+ 1'18
20th
Tom Diggle
+ 56
19th
Romain Zingle
+ 1'12
18th
Anatoliy Pakthusov
+ 1'50
17th
Moreno Hofland
+ 2'00
16th
Sebastien Reichenbach
+ 1'41
15th
Leopold König
+ 36
14th
Martin Reimer
+ 1'34
13th
Jerome Coppel
12th
Aleksandar Flügel
+ 1'10
11th
Rui Costa
+ 22
10th
Nicholas Roche
+ 44
9th
Dimitri Claeys
+ 1'28
8th
Alexey Lutsenko
+ 1'17
7th
Ben Gastauer
+ 1'23
6th
Stefan Schumacher
+ 29
Rui Costa and Stefan Schumacher convince with strong times, they both cement their Top 10 places.
Sanchez is doing great, he comes just three seconds short of Coppel on the second checkpoint. But again, it's Gesink who sets a new best time, a whole 18 seconds faster than Coppel.
C2: 24'52
Ignatiev was on the same time as the Dutch on the first check, but now, he lost four seconds.
C2: 24'56
But then along comes Phinney. He looks set for his second time trial stage win in this race, as he bests Gesink's time by 15 seconds.
C2: 24'36
Trofimov does more than just limiting his losses today: His time on the second checkpoint is the second best!
C2: 24'50
Spoiler
Now we're looking at the finish. Leopold König showed a really strong performance today and looks set for a Top 10 stage result, as he narrowly beats Maciej Bodnar.
Finish: 39'55
Jerome Coppel sets the best time again, and looking at the other riders, he will surely enter the GC Top 10. Whether he can stay there tomorrow is another question. As for the stage results, if the checkpoint times are worth anything, he will "only" ride for a Top 5.
Finish: 39'05
Also very good: Rui Costa. The Portuguese did everything to secure his Top 10 overall, and a decent stage ranking comes along with it.
Finish: 39'36
Dimitri Claeys lost a whole bunch of time and several GC places today. He needs to do a lot better tomorrow, when he's back on his terrain.
Finish: 41'06
Alexey Lutsenko also shows that time trialing isn't his strong point. But the Pendleton rider has been overperforming so far, so it's still a very decent race for him.
Finish: 40'49
Ben Gastauer sets a similar time, but Stefan Schumacher brings himself in a position to attack at least the Top 5 tomorrow. He finishes between Costa and König on a provisional fourth place.
Finish: 39'46
Lulu Sanchez makes a last jump to the line and finishes a fantastic ride. The Spaniard almost beats Coppel's time and fends of Schumacher.
Finish: 39'09
Now for the fight for the stage win and the overall podium: Robert Gesink confirms the checkpoint times and crushes Coppel. Almost half a minute faster!
Finish: 38'38
Mikhail Ignatiev has been riding fantastically so far, and an overall podium would crown his performance. He lays the groundwork here, although Gesink comes closer.
Finish: 38'45
Taylor Phinney is able to solidify his second place overall today, and adds another stage win to his palmarès. Amazing time!
Finish: 38'16
Yuri Trofimov showed amazing form on the last stages, and he confirms that today. He really manages to finish second today, even gaining time on the likes of Gesink or Ignatiev. Barring a desaster, he will win this race tomorrow.
