The opener in this year's Volta is a very short prologue style individual time trial, the riders are going to be separated by a matter of miniseconds here folks as in reality it is shorter than the advertised 4km at just 2.5km.
There is not a lot of wind around, but there is some and it should just about be in favour of those with a little bit of wind given the uphill section will have the wind behind their backs. It is a down and up course but not really too severe and so Miles Olman (Bimbo Nutella) is the outstanding favourite for the stage. He is really the only out and out time trialler here, the other favourites are the GC types like Ortega (Unicredit), Van den Broeck (Benfica) and Rohregger (Telenor).
Unicredit decide to send Ortega out very early and with the wind speed at a steady '10' on the readings it may have been a good idea.
Ortega sets a time of 3.34
The wind begins to die after the first competitors and whilst no-ones times are particular bad (no less than 15 seconds back), Ortega's time is already looking likely to be a high placing at the end of the day.
Cillit Bang's Hackeky gets the closest as he leads a couple of riders two seconds back.
Hackeky - 3.36
The wind continues to drop to virtually nothing and it is here where most of the main contenders seem to be starting. The team managers maybe feeling that the wind is better down to nothing - however it is quickly obvious that this is not the case as first Thomas Rohregger.
Rohregger - 3.37
Then to the home crowds great disappointment Jurgen Van den Broeck cannot get close to Ortega's time.
Van den Broeck - 3.36
Miles Olman of Bimbo Nutella really the only out and out specialist for the Time Trial may find himself knackered by the final test. So today is his big chance and despite the lack of wind he still produces cutting inside Ortega's time at 3.33.
Olman -3.33
With most of the main candidates out of the way it seemed as if things were wrapped up, but the wind picked up as we came to the final riders. There were a few decent men against the clock remaining - not favourites but decent and they gave it a good go. Veikkenan of Telenor produced an excellent ride to move up to 3rd for the day.
Veikkenan - 3.35
Another one of the late men, a Jose Serpa domestique Isidro Nozal managed to replicate Veikkanan's time. However it was deemed just slower than the Finn to nab 4th place away from Cillit Bangs Hacecky .
Nozal - 3.35
So Olman takes the opener, but with just 16 seconds covering the 116 riders it will be a difficult one for him to hold onto for long.
