The opening prologue of 4,7km length might not create bigger gaps, but it`s the fight for the first race lead.
Everything but a Oz win today would be a small surprise to be honest. They have the two best prologue riders in their rows and have been very consistent this year. Olman as one of those is on the road early. The Aussie takes the provisional lead being 6s ahead of previous starter Zmorka and another 5s to Wetterhall.
Tennant might have hoped for a podium here but as he is 3rd already in between Zmorka and Wetterhall, this might be difficult to reach.
Plaza might not be at his best but this kind of races suits him well. Of all climbers he is still one of the best time trialists in this division. As provisional 5th behind Wetterhall he lost 12s to Olman.
Quite a few riders did mix up the top10 recently. First was Kaisen, who really showed a strong ride here finishing as 3rd on the podium at the moment only 8s behind Olman.
Chinese champion Ma comes in 5th while also Sutherland and Lagab entered the top10 beating stronger riders such as Plaza.
Duarte as top3 climber here should do very well as he also is a decent time trialist. The hilly stage might be the crucial one for him though.
As 6th at the moment he beats a lot of stronger riders but the bigger surprise is a Sauber rider. Chavanne did beat Kaisen for 3rd and sits in a nice position now as pure prologue specialist but far from the best normally.
The 3rd though is quickly gone again as Johansson comes in within the same time as Zmorka but is ranked behind him. So still Olman in the lead.
Ford might be a one dimensional rider. But he is proving to be one of the best time trialists as he takes a lot of wins. This might also work the same today as he takes the lead being 2s faster than his teammate.
Will it be a pure Aussie podium? Meyer is most known as sprinter, but he is also a prologue specialist and is coming in only 3s down, which means 1s behind Olman in 3rd position.
His teammate Plaza is slowly slipping back and might not even get a top20 today. As strong time trialist but far better climber and top favourite Abal is having a better ride. 6th for him.
As Samwel was not really a danger in the prologue it was only Lo Cicero coming after him but he is losing 17s today, which is quite a lot.
That said there are a few sprinters within those 20s bonus second gap for tomorrows chance to take over the GC lead.
