An 8km flat TTT opens up the ProTour season. The favourites are named as Jack Wolfskin, followed by Milka and Festina, then Sony Ericsson and Cafe de Colombia
And first up are Carmeuse - Bouygues Telecom
10'59 for Carmeuse, and theyre followed by a new sight to the ProTour. Not only is it Bacardi - Ignis' first race since promotion, but theyve brought a Bermudan national champion! (For some reason, the road national jerseys are on display in the TTT, not the TT national jerseys). Bacardi take the lead, by 23 seconds
Another promoted team are Santander. Theyve already professed a dislike for the flat, and so no surprise that they dont take the lead. 2nd, at 12 seconds
Now for Festina, tipped to do well this season, and perhaps. They beat Bacardi by 5 seconds.
Next up, surprisingly early start for race favourite Jack Wolfskin. They want to win every TTT, 5 seconds up on Festina at the first split. Vandewalle leads them over, but you cant help but think one of the two behind them would have done better Van Winden and Cornu - did those 2 even relay?
They beat Festina, but only by 1 second. Thats disappointing for them - question now is, can any teams do better? The very next team are Pendleton's Twicer, and they have the right idea, former TT World Champion Dave Zabriskie leads them over at the finish ... 1st! Zabriskie has helped them turn an early 5 second loss to Jack Wolfskin, to a 4 second lead
A last minute entry to this race were CT Wildcard the Oz Cycling Project, with defending champion William Ford. They go 5th, 17 seconds down
Pearl Adidas are down in 7th, 24 seconds down
Pokerstars take 7th from them, 2 seconds faster
Wikipedia then. Perhaps if they kept Zabriskie, and sent him here, they could have taken the lead, as it is, they are 5th, just behind Bacardi, 10 seconds down
Warner Bros are slower than everyone. 37 seconds behind Pendletons - though only 4 behind Carmeuse
Milka are going faster though. 2nd at the first split, behind Jack Wolfskin, but therefore ahead of Pendletons. Coppel must have taken his turn early though, because they fade a bit by the finish. 4th place, 7 seconds down
Lighting up the course now though, Cafe de Colombia! 1st at the first check, 4 seconds up on Jack Wolfskin, 9 seconds up on Pendletons. Michael Rogers playing a key role here, finished off by Sebastien Ivars and they take the lead! 2 seconds ahead of Pendletons - or in other words, Rogers had a bigger impact than Zabriskie!
Another ProTour newcomer, is Wiggle - San Pellegrino. They dont like TTTs much though, and are only able to beat Carmeuse and Warner Bros, finishing 31 seconds down
Webeffect goes 10th, 24 seconds down
Spyker also go 10th, 24 seconds down! Same time for all of Santander, Spyker, Webeffect and Pokerstars
Defending ProTour champions Sony Ericsson go 6th, 9 seconds down
Vesuvio-Accumalux are next. With Marcel Kittel leading them through 1km to go, its clear theyre not wasting their TT guys. And Kittel will lead them all the way up to the line. They were 3rd at 5 seconds at the split, and its going to be so so close.
They are given the SAME TIME as Cafe de Colombia. But it is the Colombians who have the first spot!
Another red team next, and Nestle go 8th, at 12 seconds
More ProTour newbies next in UBS - La Pierre. 12th place, 19 seconds down
Last team to go is Team B&O. Theyve won TTTs in the past, but not today, 16 seconds down in 11th
So, who would have thought it, Cafe de Colombia - the team built mostly around Damiano Cunego - take victory. Sebastien Ivars takes the overall lead, but a look at the standings show that Marcel Kittel of Vesuvio is 2nd overall. This makes it possibly the smallest TTT winning margin in Management Game history!
