Normally a 3.8 km prologue would not create much time difference, but this one may be a little different, with an average gradient of 11.1% it will feel longer.



Looking at the media favorites, prologue, punch and even mountain climbing ability is considered to play into this. The weather is fine in Sweden this morning sunny with little wind.




First up is Bjørn Kristian Selander, his name sounds very local he must have Scandinavian ancestry but he is actually born in Wisconsin. Anyway not a rider expected to have a huge impact on the outcome of the stage, 12’26�




The 2nd rider today Thomson better suited for a stage like this and he also set a new best almost half a minute faster, 11’58�



Thomson is no stage favorite but actually he holds the hot-seat for quite some time, holding riders like Soler 12’15 and Villella 12’08 behind him.

A soon as we get the first better puncher on the route it is over for Thomson, even though he is a weaker tempo rider the hill climbing makes the difference Watson new best 11’51




Slagter 11’58�

Vogt with good legs today and just a fraction faster than Watson, new best 11’50�




Steensen one of the better tempo riders with some climbing ability 12’25 not even a top 10 time, a clear indication that this stage will primarily favor the punchers.

Skujins 11’51�

Quevedo 12’03

Navardauskas 12’09

Levarlet 12’03

Klemme another of the top punchers with good legs today, new best 11’47




Kelderman the first of the top punchers also with some skill when it comes to the prologue and it shows new best 11’39




Paulinho 12’07

McCarthy 11’54

Landa 12’07

Lane 11’49� that is 3rd best surprisingly good result from him.

Betancourt 11’50

Dowsett 11’52

Boswell 11’48 3rd best



Bilbao 11’56

Barrio 11’57

Dennis 12’13, this stage surely do not favor the tempo riders.

Froome 11’46 2nd best.




Boily 11’57

Chaves 11’47, 4th in the same time as Domenik Klemme




Costa 11’54, maybe a bit disappointing

Then Claeys, as we have seen before, his hill climbing makes up for a weak prologue ability, 2nd best in 11’43




Bystrom 11’58

Schreurs 11’56

Jensen 11’57

Izagirre 11’55, with his good combination of skills not even breaking top 10 is way below his par, feeling poorly this morning ?, let’s hope is over tomorrow.




Roux 12’06

Pichon 12’11

Juul-Jensen 5th best time so far. 11’47




Bellis 12’01

Koretzky 11’53

Denifl the strongest pure climber in the race 12’08

Lutsenko another rider with 11’47 5th best




Then Bobridge with a first new best time we have seen for a while 11’28 that was impressive 11� faster than Wilco Kelderman




Bobridge not long in the hot-seat because just some 11 minutes later Ponzi passes the finish line with new best 11'25




Demare 11’57

Van Stayen 12’02

Then to the last rider in the route today, stage favorite Gesink another riders with a 11’47 time and just inside top 10, compared to what I had expected not the best result, even if you consider it as a shared 6th.






Stage/GC

1	Simone Ponzi	Hugo Boss	11'25
2	Jack Bobridge	Bennelong - Mitchelton	+ 3
3	Wilco Kelderman	Team Puma - SAP	+ 14
4	Dimitri Claeys	Porto - Prio	+ 18
5	Chris Froome	Fablok - Bank BGZ	+ 21
6	Domenik Klemme	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	+ 22
7	Johan Esteban Chaves	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
8	Christopher Juul-Jensen	Carlsberg - Danske Bank	s.t.
9	Alexey Lutsenko	Team Reddit	s.t.
10	Robert Gesink	Berg Cycles	s.t.
11	Ian Boswell	eBuddy	+ 23
12	Patrick Lane	Bennelong - Mitchelton	+ 24
13	Mario Vogt	Berg Cycles	+ 25
14	Carlos Betancourt	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
15	Calvin Watson	Bennelong - Mitchelton	+ 26
16	Toms Skujins	Evonik - ELKO	s.t.
17	Alex Dowsett	Nordstrom - BioWare	+ 27
18	Clement Koretzky	Festina - Dexia	+ 28
19	Jay McCarthy	Ayubowan!	+ 29
20	Rui Costa	Philips - Continental	s.t.
21	Ion Izagirre	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	+ 30
22	Kamil Zielinski	Fablok - Bank BGZ	+ 31
23	Pello Bilbao	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	s.t.
24	Maurice Schreurs	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	s.t.
25	Sergio Barrio	Repsol - Netflix	+ 32
26	David Boily	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
27	Kristian Haugaard Jensen	Volvo acc. by Spotify	s.t.
28	Arnaud Demare	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
29	Fabio Felline	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
30	Tom Jelte Slagter	Hugo Boss	+ 33
31	Sven Erik Bystrom	Repsol - Netflix	s.t.
32	Jay Thomson	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
33	Ethan Weiss	Azteca-NBCSN	+ 35
34	Jonathan Bellis	cycleYorkshire	+ 36
35	Ruben Guerreiro	Berg Cycles	s.t.
36	Michael Van Stayen	Evonik - ELKO	+ 37
37	Guillaume Levarlet	Repsol - Netflix	+ 38
38	Xavier Quevedo	Minions	s.t.
39	Roy Jans	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
40	Antoine Duchesne	Repsol - Netflix	+ 39
41	Alberto Bettiol	Ayubowan!	+ 41
42	Anthony Roux	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
43	Simon Pellaud	Nordstrom - BioWare	s.t.
44	Bruno Silva	Porto - Prio	s.t.
45	Pedro Miguel Paulinho	Berg Cycles	+ 42
46	Mikel Landa	Hugo Boss	s.t.
47	Sachin Dulanjana	Ayubowan!	s.t.
48	Davide Villella	Nordstrom - BioWare	+ 43
49	Stefan Denifl	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	s.t.
50	Ramunas Navardauskas	Philips - Continental	+ 44
51	Ivan Rovny	Fablok - Bank BGZ	s.t.
52	Jonathan McEvoy	Berg Cycles	s.t.
53	Fredrik Ludvigsson	Volvo acc. by Spotify	+ 45
54	Ha Jeon Jung	Philips - Continental	s.t.
55	Alexander Rybakov	Nordstrom - BioWare	+ 46
56	Flavio De Luna	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
57	Tom Diggle	Nordstrom - BioWare	s.t.
58	Laurent Pichon	Nordstrom - BioWare	s.t.
59	Kristijan Durasek	Nordstrom - BioWare	+ 47
60	Jesper Hansen	Carlsberg - Danske Bank	s.t.
61	Mikhail Ignatiev	Fablok - Bank BGZ	s.t.
62	Tadej Logar	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	+ 48
63	Tom Davison	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
64	Rohan Dennis	Bennelong - Mitchelton	s.t.
65	Andris Smirnovs	Evonik - ELKO	+ 49
66	Emanuel Piaskowy	Fablok - Bank BGZ	s.t.
67	Shaun Nick Bester	Team Reddit	s.t.
68	Marc Soler	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	+ 50
69	Carlos Barbero	Hugo Boss	s.t.
70	Mark Dzamastagic	Evonik - ELKO	s.t.
71	Anthony Turgis	Ayubowan!	+ 51
72	Cristian Rodríguez	Repsol - Netflix	s.t.
73	Michael Rodriguez Galindo	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
74	Luis Afonso	Porto - Prio	s.t.
75	Alexis Gougeard	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
76	Romain Le Roux	Festina - Dexia	+ 52
77	Pablo Mudarra	Hugo Boss	s.t.
78	Ramon Sinkeldam	Carlsberg - Danske Bank	+ 53
79	Lucas Manuel Gaday	Team Reddit	+ 54
80	Tim Declerq	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
81	Ahmad Arissol	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
82	Jaoa Costa	Philips - Continental	s.t.
83	Floris Gerts	eBuddy	s.t.
84	Jasper Stuyven	Carlsberg - Danske Bank	+ 55
85	Matthias Brändle	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	s.t.
86	Arnold Jeannesson	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	+ 56
87	Armanto Archimandritis	Festina - Dexia	s.t.
88	Geremie Nzeke	Azteca-NBCSN	+ 57
89	Christian Egidio	Porto - Prio	s.t.
90	Stanislau Bazhkou	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
91	Muhamad Zawawi Azman	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	s.t.
92	Ran Margaliot	Fablok - Bank BGZ	s.t.
93	Jan Oelerich	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	+ 58
94	Nawuti Liphongyu	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	s.t.
95	Mekseb Debesay	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	+ 59
96	Martin Schoffmann	Carlsberg - Danske Bank	s.t.
97	Thomas Lövkvist	Volvo acc. by Spotify	s.t.
98	André Steensen	Carlsberg - Danske Bank	+ 1'00
99	Adam Phelan	Bennelong - Mitchelton	s.t.
100	Edison Bravo	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
101	Felix Grossschartner	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	+ 1'01
102	Bjorn Selander	Minions	s.t.
103	Sarawut Sirironnachai	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	+ 1'02
104	Janvier Hadi	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
105	Yoann Bagot	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	s.t.
106	Havard Blikra	Volvo acc. by Spotify	s.t.
107	Pierre Latour	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
108	Artur Grigrian	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	+ 1'03
109	Benjamin Dyball	Bennelong - Mitchelton	s.t.
110	Joni Kanerva	Volvo acc. by Spotify	+ 1'04
111	Evgeny Russo	World Cycling Centre	+ 1'05
112	Suranga Ranaweera	Ayubowan!	s.t.
113	Phillip Gaimon	Nordstrom - BioWare	s.t.
114	Hayden McCormick	Bennelong - Mitchelton	s.t.
115	Welle Jallays	Fablok - Bank BGZ	s.t.
116	Pedro Sequera	Team Reddit	+ 1'06
117	Xuban Errazkin	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
118	Gaëtan Pons	Carlsberg - Danske Bank	s.t.
119	Stefan Petrovski	Porto - Prio	+ 1'07
120	Patrick Müller	Philips - Continental	s.t.
121	Odd Christian Eiking	Minions	s.t.
122	Loic Vliegen	Festina - Dexia	+ 1'08
123	Guy Sagiv	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
124	Charalampas Kastrantas	Festina - Dexia	s.t.
125	Marc De Maar	Carlsberg - Danske Bank	s.t.
126	Samuel Ssabagwanya	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	+ 1'09
127	Eddie Dunbar	Repsol - Netflix	s.t.
128	Pascal Ackermann	Festina - Dexia	s.t.
129	Domenic Weinstein	Team Puma - SAP	+ 1'10
130	Maximillian Schachmann	Berg Cycles	s.t.
131	Clenne Morvan Moulingui	Minions	s.t.
132	Yasmani Martinez	Minions	s.t.
133	Dragan Jasovic	Control Team	+ 1'11
134	Juraj Sagan	Fablok - Bank BGZ	+ 1'12
135	Sabelo Mngometulu	Control Team	s.t.
136	Antwan Tolhoek	eBuddy	+ 1'13
137	Stelly Robert	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
138	Freddy Cruz	Team Reddit	s.t.
139	Chad Haga	Minions	s.t.
140	Jaime Roson	Repsol - Netflix	s.t.
141	Pim Ligthart	Hugo Boss	+ 1'14
142	Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg	Minions	s.t.
143	Steven Lammertink	eBuddy	s.t.
144	Victor Campenaerts	Volvo acc. by Spotify	s.t.
145	Joseph Areruya	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
146	Morne Van Niekerk	Team Reddit	+ 1'15
147	William Ford	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
148	Neilson Powless	Azteca-NBCSN	+ 1'16
149	David Per	Philips - Continental	s.t.
150	Matteo Fabbro	Festina - Dexia	s.t.
151	Tim Kennaugh	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
152	Thurakit Boonratanathanakorn	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	s.t.
153	Luke Durbridge	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
154	Alexander Wetterhall	Volvo acc. by Spotify	+ 1'17
155	Rodrigo Nascimento	Porto - Prio	s.t.
156	Andrew Tennant	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
157	Sven Nooytens	Evonik - ELKO	s.t.
158	Chun Kai Feng	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
159	Giorgi Nareklishvili	Porto - Prio	s.t.
160	Javier Aramendía	Hugo Boss	s.t.
161	Rémi Cavagna	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
162	Lotto Petrus	Philips - Continental	s.t.
163	Michael Woods	cycleYorkshire	+ 1'18
164	Laureano Rosas	Minions	s.t.
165	Harry Tanfield	Volvo acc. by Spotify	s.t.
166	Krists Neilands	Evonik - ELKO	s.t.
167	Maxime Daniel	Festina - Dexia	s.t.
168	Gediminas Bagdonas	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
169	Lennard Hofstede	Philips - Continental	+ 1'19
170	Varsham Darbinyan	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	s.t.
171	Hampus Anderberg	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
172	Kristaps Budenieks	Evonik - ELKO	s.t.
173	Jose Fernandes	Berg Cycles	s.t.
174	Salem Kemboi	Ayubowan!	s.t.
175	Jamalidin Novardianto	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
176	Mamyr Stash	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	+ 1'20
177	Chequan Richardson	Hugo Boss	s.t.
178	Miltiadis Giannoutsos	Repsol - Netflix	s.t.
179	Alexander Cowan	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
180	Ingus Eislers	Evonik - ELKO	s.t.
181	Hersony Canelon	Team Reddit	s.t.
182	Awet Gebremedhin	Berg Cycles	s.t.
183	Yu Takenouchi	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
184	Peter Varga	Team Reddit	+ 1'21
185	Matthew Ross	Bennelong - Mitchelton	s.t.
186	Timo Roosen	eBuddy	s.t.
187	Yves Lampaert	eBuddy	s.t.
188	Amith Udaya Kumara	Ayubowan!	s.t.
189	Reda Aadel	Porto - Prio	s.t.
190	Madushanka Perera	Ayubowan!	+ 1'22
191	Tim Ariesen	eBuddy	s.t.
192	Hamish Schreurs	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	+ 1'23
193	Jordan Schleck	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	+ 1'24
194	Husain Al Basri	Control Team	+ 1'53

Points

1	Simone Ponzi	Hugo Boss	25
2	Jack Bobridge	Bennelong - Mitchelton	20
3	Wilco Kelderman	Team Puma - SAP	16
4	Dimitri Claeys	Porto - Prio	14
5	Chris Froome	Fablok - Bank BGZ	12
6	Domenik Klemme	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	10
7	Johan Esteban Chaves	Azteca-NBCSN	9
8	Christopher Juul-Jensen	Carlsberg - Danske Bank	8
9	Alexey Lutsenko	Team Reddit	7
10	Robert Gesink	Berg Cycles	6
11	Ian Boswell	eBuddy	5
12	Patrick Lane	Bennelong - Mitchelton	4
13	Mario Vogt	Berg Cycles	3
14	Carlos Betancourt	World Cycling Centre	2
15	Calvin Watson	Bennelong - Mitchelton	1

Youth

1	Calvin Watson	Bennelong - Mitchelton	11'51
2	Ruben Guerreiro	Berg Cycles	+ 10
3	Alberto Bettiol	Ayubowan!	+ 15
4	Sachin Dulanjana	Ayubowan!	+ 16
5	Fredrik Ludvigsson	Volvo acc. by Spotify	+ 19
6	Ha Jeon Jung	Philips - Continental	s.t.
7	Tadej Logar	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	+ 22
8	Marc Soler	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	+ 24
9	Anthony Turgis	Ayubowan!	+ 25
10	Cristian Rodríguez	Repsol - Netflix	s.t.
11	Alexis Gougeard	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
12	Lucas Manuel Gaday	Team Reddit	+ 28
13	Muhamad Zawawi Azman	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	+ 31
14	Felix Grossschartner	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	+ 35
15	Pierre Latour	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	+ 36
16	Joni Kanerva	Volvo acc. by Spotify	+ 38
17	Suranga Ranaweera	Ayubowan!	+ 39
18	Hayden McCormick	Bennelong - Mitchelton	s.t.
19	Xuban Errazkin	Azteca-NBCSN	+ 40
20	Patrick Müller	Philips - Continental	+ 41
21	Odd Christian Eiking	Minions	s.t.
22	Loic Vliegen	Festina - Dexia	+ 42
23	Guy Sagiv	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
24	Samuel Ssabagwanya	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	+ 43
25	Eddie Dunbar	Repsol - Netflix	s.t.
26	Pascal Ackermann	Festina - Dexia	s.t.
27	Domenic Weinstein	Team Puma - SAP	+ 44
28	Clenne Morvan Moulingui	Minions	s.t.
29	Antwan Tolhoek	eBuddy	+ 47
30	Jaime Roson	Repsol - Netflix	s.t.
31	Steven Lammertink	eBuddy	+ 48
32	Joseph Areruya	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
33	Morne Van Niekerk	Team Reddit	+ 49
34	Neilson Powless	Azteca-NBCSN	+ 50
35	David Per	Philips - Continental	s.t.
36	Matteo Fabbro	Festina - Dexia	s.t.
37	Giorgi Nareklishvili	Porto - Prio	+ 51
38	Rémi Cavagna	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
39	Harry Tanfield	Volvo acc. by Spotify	+ 52
40	Krists Neilands	Evonik - ELKO	s.t.
41	Lennard Hofstede	Philips - Continental	+ 53
42	Varsham Darbinyan	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	s.t.
43	Hampus Anderberg	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
44	Kristaps Budenieks	Evonik - ELKO	s.t.
45	Jose Fernandes	Berg Cycles	s.t.
46	Salem Kemboi	Ayubowan!	s.t.
47	Jamalidin Novardianto	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
48	Mamyr Stash	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	+ 54
49	Chequan Richardson	Hugo Boss	s.t.
50	Miltiadis Giannoutsos	Repsol - Netflix	s.t.
51	Alexander Cowan	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
52	Peter Varga	Team Reddit	+ 55
53	Matthew Ross	Bennelong - Mitchelton	s.t.
54	Timo Roosen	eBuddy	s.t.
55	Amith Udaya Kumara	Ayubowan!	s.t.
56	Madushanka Perera	Ayubowan!	+ 56
57	Tim Ariesen	eBuddy	s.t.
58	Hamish Schreurs	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	+ 57
59	Jordan Schleck	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	+ 58

Team

1	Bennelong - Mitchelton	35'08	35'08 (1)
2	Hugo Boss	+ 22	+ 22 (2)
3	Team Puma - SAP	+ 25	+ 25 (3)
4	Berg Cycles	+ 30	+ 30 (4)
5	World Cycling Centre	+ 37	+ 37 (5)
6	Fablok - Bank BGZ	+ 43	+ 43 (6)
7	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	+ 48	+ 48 (7)
8	Repsol - Netflix	+ 50	+ 50 (8)
9	Porto - Prio	+ 57	+ 57 (9)
10	Nordstrom - BioWare	+ 58	+ 58 (10)
11	Ayubowan!	+ 59	+ 59 (11)
12	Evonik - ELKO	s.t.	+ 59 (12)
13	Azteca-NBCSN	+ 1'01	+ 1'01 (13)
14	Philips - Continental	+ 1'05	+ 1'05 (14)
15	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.	+ 1'05 (15)
16	Carlsberg - Danske Bank	+ 1'09	+ 1'09 (16)
17	Team Reddit	+ 1'12	+ 1'12 (17)
18	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	+ 1'16	+ 1'16 (18)
19	Volvo acc. by Spotify	+ 1'23	+ 1'23 (19)
20	Festina - Dexia	s.t.	+ 1'23 (20)
21	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	+ 1'33	+ 1'33 (21)
22	eBuddy	+ 1'37	+ 1'37 (22)
23	Minions	+ 1'53	+ 1'53 (23)
24	cycleYorkshire	+ 2'11	+ 2'11 (24)