The concluding ITT today and while there are still several specialists - namely Ford, Paillot, Sergent, Van Winden, Viviani or Kwok - aiming for the stage, the more important questions will be about the GC battles still going on:
1
Amador
24h30'43
2
Denifl
+ 1'20
3
Barguil
+ 1'31
4
Poljanski
+ 2'00
5
Roglic
+ 2'26
6
Henao Montoya
+ 2'30
7
Sicard
+ 2'40
8
Garby
+ 2'47
9
Brajkovic
+ 3'03
10
Van den Broeck
+ 3'13
11
Duarte
+ 3'32
12
De la Cruz
+ 4'16
13
Shikai
+ 4'23
14
Ratiy
+ 4'29
15
Contador
+ 5'26
Amador shouldn't be in trouble on a normal day, but the fight between Denifl and Barguil should be interesting. Sicard should be aiming to at least Top-5 the final GC, his advantahe in timetrials has to come into play here. Brajkovic as another strong timetrial rider amongst those riders inside the Top-10 and Duarte as probably the best bet to attack the Top-10 at least.
But first for the TT specialists, who do not play any (or a big) role for the GC here:
Li set an early best time: 32'45"
Ford (picture above) already slower at the split: + 19" at the finish! Surely the tough days here made him suffer (even though the same had to be said about Li, but his former teammate at least seemed to have recovered better from this week in Austria)..
Sergent with a good day, it seems, as he's been 15 seconds ahead of Li at the split, growing this lead even further until the finish:
32'05" as the new best time at the finish, 40 seconds faster than Li!
Verona + 38" as provisional 2nd then Van Winden + 49" Quaade + 49"
Van Winden not as bad as Ford (10 seconds faster), but he must have hoped for more here as well..
Kwok next specialist on the road and he's doing much better than Van Winden: 8 seconds behind Sergent at the split and not much slower on the second part..
+ 17" as new 2nd at the finish, more than twenty seconds faster than Verona as new 3rd now!
Atkins similar strong then, 11 seconds off Sergent's split time though:
+ 25" as new 3rd at the finish
Steensen as good as Kwok at the split (8 seconds off Sergent) and now fighting to at least finishing ahead of Kwok at the finish:
+ 23" on Sergent though, six seconds off Kwok, who remains 2nd at the finish so far
Viviani as another contender for the stage-win and he's as fast as Sergent at the split! They are on the same time actually.. will he slightly improve to beat Sergent at the finish?
32'03.. 32'04... 32'05... 32'06... he's already off the best time:
+ 3" eventually! A close one, but Viviani has to settle for 2nd at this point..
Paillot as one of the last remaining favorites for the stage. He's not bad at the split, but still already 11 seconds behind Sergent as 6th.. and not improving on the second sector:
+ 24" as provisional 5th behind Steensen, Kwok, Viviani and the still leading Sergent!
Brändle (GC's 25th) as a minor GC contender, who's hoping to at least enter the Top-20 in the GC today - just like he did last season. The local favorite also one of the most promising TT specialists though and the stage-win is surely another goal. He's 5th at the split with 9 seconds lost on Sergent/Viviani though:
+ 17" at the finish as provisional 4th! Certainly a strong time given the provisional results so far, but obviously the stage podium has been missed..
Sergent with a long lasting lead already and we now have "just" the main GC contenders to come. Brajkovic, Sicard and Amador should still be dangerous for Sergent. And of course some others will fight hard today.
Let's begin with a quick summary of those three, who could potentially fight for a Top-10 in the GC: Shikai (13th), De la Cruz (12th) and Duarte (11th in the GC).
P
Rider
GC
Split
Finish
-
Sergent
-
13'38
32'05
1
Amador
24h30'43
-
-
2
Denifl
+ 1'20
-
-
3
Barguil
+ 1'31
-
-
4
Poljanski
+ 2'00
-
-
5
Roglic
+ 2'26
-
-
6
Henao Montoya
+ 2'30
-
-
7
Sicard
+ 2'40
-
-
8
Garby
+ 2'47
-
9
Brajkovic
+ 3'03
-
10
Van den Broeck
+ 3'13
-
11
Duarte
+ 3'32
-
12
De la Cruz
+ 4'16
-
13
Shikai
+ 4'23
-
14
Ratiy
+ 4'29
n/a
+ 0.55
15
Contador
+ 5'26
n/a
+ 1.23
P
Rider
GC
Split
Finish
-
Sergent
-
13'38
32'05
8
Garby
+ 2'47
+ 0.51
-
9
Brajkovic
+ 3'03
+ 0.34
-
10
Van den Broeck
+ 3'13
+ 0.23
-
11
Duarte
+ 3'32
+ 0.20
-
12
De la Cruz
+ 4'16
+ 0.23
-
13
Shikai
+ 4'23
+ 0.14
-
Garby (rated the worst TT riders of those names) in danger to lose his Top-10 in the GC, as Van den Broeck, Duarte, De la Cruz had quite some strong first sectors. Just like Shikai, who won't like the fact that those three are performing not much slowe than him so far.
Brajkovic rather disappointing, but at least on his way to go past Garby easily. Given the split times though, he might be in danger to see Van den Broeck or Duarte go past him in the GC!
Van den Broeck with the big goal to get another Top-10 result in this race and the veteran is doing fine enough today:
+ 51" at the finish
Shikai though significally better: + 31" as provisional 8th at the finish!
De la Cruz as good as VdB: + 51"
Duarte slightly better then: + 43"
Brajkovic probably had hoped for something much better today:
+ 1'17" at the finish and therefore quite some seconds slower than VdB, De la Cruz and of course Shikai!
There are all much better than Garby though:
+ 1'56" to finish 70th on the stage eventually.. Top-10 lost? Let's have a look:
P
Rider
GC
Split
Finish
-
Sergent
-
13'38
32'05
8
Garby
+ 2'47
+ 0.51
+ 1.56
9
Brajkovic
+ 3'03
+ 0.34
+ 1.17
10
Van den Broeck
+ 3'13
+ 0.23
+ 0.51
11
Duarte
+ 3'32
+ 0.20
+ 0.43
12
De la Cruz
+ 4'16
+ 0.23
+ 0.51
13
Shikai
+ 4'23
+ 0.14
+ 0.31
14
Ratiy
+ 4'29
n/a
+ 0.55
15
Contador
+ 5'26
n/a
+ 1.23
Most likely. Yes. Garby couldn't hold off Van den Broeck, Duarte and Brajkovic. So he drops to 11th in the virtual GC. Shikai with a strong result today, but he will still miss out on a Top-10 in the GC: Van den Broeck and Duarte with some strong times as well and surprisingly, they will go past Brajkovic in the GC that way!
And now for the remaining GC contenders:
P
Rider
GC
Split
Finish
-
Sergent
-
13'38
32'05
1
Amador
24h30'43
-
-
2
Denifl
+ 1'20
-
-
3
Barguil
+ 1'31
-
-
4
Poljanski
+ 2'00
-
-
5
Roglic
+ 2'26
-
-
6
Henao Montoya
+ 2'30
-
-
7
Sicard
+ 2'40
-
-
Poljanski as clearly the worst TT riders amongst all Top-10 contenders. His goal as to be to limit the losses. Defending the Top-5 should be difficult enough with Roglic, Henao Montoya and of course Sicard as the better riders against the clock.
Barguil and Denifl with the goal to defend their podium spots, while Amador probably won't fear this duo too much. His primary goal may actually be the stage-win today!
Sicard as the first one to cross the split and being on 7th in the GC so far is clearly too less for his ambitiouns. Why not put some pressure on the following riders then? Okay, here we go:
+ 2" at the split as 3rd best rider! Quite a promising first sector, but will he be similar strong on the final 13km of the course?
Henao Montoya clearly behind and it's pretty save to say, that Sicard will go past him today:
+ 36" at the split, as 42nd
Roglic performing on level with Montoya and also him should fear Sicard for the GC now:
+ 36" as 41st at the split..
Poljanski even more, since he's already more than a minute slower than Sicard on the first (the shorter sector):
+ 1'07" as 88th at the split.. he will surely drop not only a couple of spots, if he continues like that!
Barguil next, 3rd in the GC - defending the podium against Sicard? At least, he had an advantage of 1'09" prior to the stage:
+ 30" at the split and therefore 27 seconds lost on Sicard so far. Could be a close one!
Denifl has to defend 11 seconds on Barguil first.. he ain't going too well on the first sector though:
+ 46" and that's already 16 seconds lost on Barguil (and 43 on Sicard)!
P
Rider
GC
Split
Finish
-
Sergent
-
13'38
32'05
1
Amador
24h30'43
+ 0.02
-
2
Denifl
+ 1'20
+ 0.46
-
3
Barguil
+ 1'31
+ 0.30
-
4
Poljanski
+ 2'00
+ 1.07
-
5
Roglic
+ 2'26
+ 0.36
-
6
Henao Montoya
+ 2'30
+ 0.36
-
7
Sicard
+ 2'40
+ 0.02
-
8
Garby
+ 2'47
+ 0.51
+ 1.56
9
Brajkovic
+ 3'03
+ 0.34
+ 1.17
10
Van den Broeck
+ 3'13
+ 0.23
+ 0.51
11
Duarte
+ 3'32
+ 0.20
+ 0.43
12
De la Cruz
+ 4'16
+ 0.23
+ 0.51
13
Shikai
+ 4'23
+ 0.14
+ 0.31
14
Ratiy
+ 4'29
n/a
+ 0.55
15
Contador
+ 5'26
n/a
+ 1.23
Amador even faster than Sicard so far! Definitely a real threat for Sergent now. Both him and Sicard of course!
Sicard already virtual 4th and approximately half a minute behind Denifl/Barguil now. Given the split times, this is surely possible to make up!
And here comes Sicard.. even going for the stage-win? Well, not quite, but he's been extraordinary strong for sure:
+ 4" as 3rd at the finish! Could hardly have put less pressure on those GC contenders ahead of him..
And they all will lose so much on Sicard today:
Henao Montoya and Roglic kept performing on the same level: + 1'23" on Sergent and + 1'19" on Sicard
Poljanski really suffering and he's even in danger to lose the Top-10 in the GC: + 2'34" as 107th on the stage
Barguil doing quite fine: + 1'08"
Denifl (picture above) had surely hoped for something better: + 1'46" and therefore losing against Barguil!
P
Rider
GC
Split
Finish
-
Sergent
-
13'38
32'05
1
Amador
24h30'43
+ 0.02
-
2
Denifl
+ 1'20
+ 0.46
+ 1.46
3
Barguil
+ 1'31
+ 0.30
+ 1.08
4
Poljanski
+ 2'00
+ 1.07
+ 2.34
5
Roglic
+ 2'26
+ 0.36
+ 1.23
6
Henao Montoya
+ 2'30
+ 0.36
+ 1.23
7
Sicard
+ 2'40
+ 0.02
+ 0.04
8
Garby
+ 2'47
+ 0.51
+ 1.56
9
Brajkovic
+ 3'03
+ 0.34
+ 1.17
10
Van den Broeck
+ 3'13
+ 0.23
+ 0.51
11
Duarte
+ 3'32
+ 0.20
+ 0.43
12
De la Cruz
+ 4'16
+ 0.23
+ 0.51
13
Shikai
+ 4'23
+ 0.14
+ 0.31
14
Ratiy
+ 4'29
n/a
+ 0.55
15
Contador
+ 5'26
n/a
+ 1.23
And also Sicard! He makes up 1'42" on Denifl today and with just a 1'20" disadvantage prior to the stage, Sicard will move the GC podium for sure!
Amador almost catching Denifl on his strong ride today - just like Sicard, the stage win was well within reach at the split:
+ 4" as 4th at the finish though! Narrowly behind Sicard, who remains a strong 3rd on the day!
Sergent celebrating the stage-win, for which he came for. It's been a close one with Viviani, Sicard and Amador all not more than 4 seconds off his best time. But the victory goes to Sergent. Well done!
Amador winning both the GC and the points classification. His strong performance today (and of course his two stage-wins) made him earn a convincing victory, eventually finishing more than two and half minutes ahead of the 2nd in the GC:
Barguil! It's been close today, but he eventually finishes 5 seconds ahead of Sicard, who moved up from 7th to 3rd thanks to his strong performance in this concluding timetrial today. This will surely make up for some rather disappointing days here. Barguil though will be more than happy to take a (well deserved) stage-win and an impressive 2nd in the GC. Surely a great tour for him.
Denifl missing the GC podium again, but slightly improving from last year as 4th this time. Today hasn't been a good day though and the local favorite can't be happy with him dropping from 2nd to 4th on this final day.
Roglic a good 5th ahead of Henao Montoya, Van den Broeck, Duarte, Brajkovic and Poljanski! The latter going down from 4th to 10th today, a tough day. But let's not forget, that he definitely rode an impressive race until today.. just like Van den Broeck and Brajkovic, who went for another Top-10 result in this race. They have quite a good history here, even though they couldn't add another stage-win or GC's Top-5. Brajkovic with a rather disappointing day as well.
Garby dropped to 11th, but he won't forget his prestigious stage-win here. Shikai a disappointing 12th despite his good ride today. De la Cruz adding some nice points for Ticos as 13th, Ratiy 14th ahead of Contador and Talansky. Brändle moved up to 19th today. An unlucky crash victim on first day, Warbasse never really couldn't fight back and he has to settle for 21st in the GC.
Lavery with some nice points as the KoM-winner. He definitely played it smart with his breakaway appearances here. We've seen quite some changes and close battles in this competition over the past week. An enjoyable fight for the polka dot.
Shikai comfortably taking out the U25 competition. He's never been in danger to lose his white jersey, that he claimed on first day. While missing out on the Top-10 in the GC, those additional points are surely welcome.
Team UBS the best team. It's been a huge race for them, obviously.
And that's it from Austria. Another eventful edition of the Int. Österreich Rundfahrt and a new name on the honour roll. Surely a name worth a winner of this iconic HC event.
