Interesting to see what the organisers make of the favourites list today as they can have a much better idea of who will perform well in these conditions compared to the ability database as we can only average the TT stats of the entire team. Not too surprising to see at the top with while there is a sneaky good team here from and they also feature highly on the preview list. At the other side must limit their loses the best they can today to keep Carapaz in with a chance of the GC.
So the race is underway and let's look at the team individually to understand what's happened on today's stage
First off the ramp, it’s TTT specialist. They don’t come here with their best squad but they certainly have enough firepower to make a splash and they set the early pace at Chrono 1 for the majority of the day and by the end of the day they are still 3rd "6 seconds down at that point. What becomes apparent very quickly though is how hilly this course is. Though SEE Turtles do well keeping their team together it seems that's due to their best TT riders not being as good on the hills as they slow down to 10th at Chrono 2 "34 seconds down and finish the day 13th "43 seconds down on the eventual winners.
giving us a good shot of how many hills there are in this TTT. Unfortunately for them they were never really in the race 36" down after Chrono 1 the game was already up and they ended up 15th overall 1"39 down. Most of this can be explained as they dropped 3 riders in the 2nd half of the course and had to make sure they kept everyone else together after that. That tactic was much better then some other teams would manage though.
Now onto one of the favourites for the day and here you can see the use of the Vanhoucke on one of the numerous kickers in the course. They start well "8 seconds down at Chrono 1 and keep going only "10 seconds down at Chrono 2, The wheels don't come off to the finish but just maintain a steady pace and end up 5th on the stage at "20 seconds down A solid effort without being spectacular.
Next up who you may notice are already missing a rider with another one just dropping off the back already as well. Now you may think that's because we are deep into the course but no Glanbia dropped, Mannion and Squire off the first hill of the course and continued with just the 6 riders for the remaining 35km with those two both losing 7 mins on the day despite being two of their best mountains riders. The team are flying 4" seconds down at Chrono 1 just behind the leaders they backed that up at Chrono 2 coming in at 4" down again. They don't let up either and the 6-man train finished 3rd on the day at 6" down a sterling effort and one that might have been a win with two other strong TT riders.
Next and after losing some time stage one for Affonso is clearly after a steady rider today. They take the lose-no-riders approach going "31 seconds down at Chrono 1, 40" seconds down at Chrono 2 and 50" seconds down at the finish for 15th place. Very solid all the main riders together and not a mass amount of time lost very much the play it safe ride of the day.
Firstly I would like to thank Duvel for helping to illustrate the problems that teams were having on this course all day. If they went fast on the hills they were dropping riders left and right. This big turn by Akhmaevi dropped all three of those teammates in behind who all lost over 10 mins on the day in a similar manner to Glanbia early on (the hill maxed at 10% and caused issues for 50-60% of teams) Duvel kept going on 14th at Chrono 1, 11th at Chrono 2 before slotting in at 12th "43 second down for the day at the finish.
Ohh no! where to start here, we knew it would be bad for but this just felt cruel. Not having 5 riders who could hold a good pace they opted for the stick-together tactic. Then they were "1"30 down at Chrono 1 and decided to Carapaz on the front which blew up 3 riders pretty quickly but unlike most teams Zain seemed to slow do which left them "3"45 down at Chrono 2. To top it off Sirironnachai dropped everyone on the final hill with 2km to go but eventually, they regrouped to all finish together... "4"18 down at the finish and considerably last on the stage.
After the carnage that came before them probably felt pretty happy with their ride they timed it better then most teams in terms of finishing the stage a bit quicker then they started. The problem was they were "1"06 down at Chrono 1 followed by "1"24 at Chrono 2 and ending "2"01 down at the finish 17th place but as was proved before them it could of been significantly worse.
back to some good news now Trans go well throughout the course but they just lacked the TT power of some of the other teams on the Hills. Though it seemed that their squad being filled with good hilly riders at least kept most of the riders fresh on the hills to follow Nareklishvili
on the flat as none of their GC hopes lost time to the team. They hit Chrono 1 at "14 seconds Chrono 2 at 23" and the finish at 30" to finish 8th on the stage.
go well to Chrono 1 in 9th only “12 seconds down. And continue with that at Chrono 2 only 12” down into 5th place. They lose some times at the finish but 20” down and 6th place overall is a great finish and keeps Itturia and Rochas well placed in GC.
and they choose to stay together as the 2nd favourites on the stage though they only hit Chrono 1 7th 9" down on the leaders and as we've seen throughout today not hitting the climbs hard and dropping the deadweight isn't the way forward there 10th 22" down at Chrono 2 and finish a bit stronger on the flatter section to be 7th 30" down at the line. Disspointing but not a disaster by any means for the team and Kozhatayev
who is still in touch.
Here we see the opposite tactics to Simba as Glensidige shed the deadweight of Barbier and Skjerping early on and go full force up the climbs. Their only 13th at 17" chrono one but go 5th at 13" Chrono 2 and finish with a flourish to go 4th only 10" down at the finish a strong result for Lunke and go to put them in a great position.
aren't the best all around squad here and have to go for a slow and steady ride to keep 5 guys together. Which the manage but the clear story here is they choose to drop Berhane
late on in the stage in favour of pressing on for Penesa on GC. A bold move but they do finish quite strong and seconds could be valuable. They hit chrono 1 7th at 7" drop to 14th at Chrono 2 at 24" but bounce back to 9th at 37" on the finish line today.
Granados rocking the best young rider jersey for the day and his team chose the sit-together method today. Unfortunately, we know that method doesn't go well and with their lack of TT power in general this was a rough ride. 53" down at chrono 1 "2"10 down at chrono 2 it was 20th 2"40 down at the finish for the team who can now aim for the break on the coming stages with their young team.
Specialized with a bit of a nothing day without the real TT powerhouses to be able to sustain a GC challenge for Potoki, they end in 18th "2"10 down on the leader.
started at a disadvantage with only 7 riders on the start ramp but played the best with what they had taking the better option of just ripping it early and dropping there weaker TT riders inside the first 5km. They ended the stage a very respectable 11th "43 seconds down having already been 17" down at Chrono 1 after the biggest hills this was a solid effort to keep GC hopes alive.
no real TT riders here for Babymetal and as such they rode conservative tactics losing "1"59 at the finishing line without having much drama along the way in hindsight probably showing Zain-Omantel what the better strategy was with a weak TT squad.
the big surprise of the day Genii didn't drop a single rider till the closing 1 km when Julian Bernard just dropped off the back but they led at Chrono 1 by 2 seconds though they slowed to be "1 second down by Chrono 2 and only "2 seconds down at the finish line for an incredible 2nd place to set up their GC riders into a great position.
The final team that wasn't sending a TTT squad today. Hilcona dropped out of the back very quickly 47 seconds down at Chrono 1, that increased to "1"35 by Chrono 2 before finishing 2"33 down at the finish on the flatter section.
Jorgenson leads the charge for the stage favourites and they don't disappoint headed by Viennet for most the way they shed one rider but keep everyone else together for the stage. "2 second down at Chrono 1, but leading at Chrono 2 by just 1 second they extend that at the finish to 2 seconds with a great controlled ride as GC favourite Jorgenson goes into the lead before the mountains.
Jorgenson leads the GC with the next big GC threat in Vanhoucke still on the same time with his bonus seconds, the Genii Hyundai squad are only at "1 second down after the decimals are counted on GC. Lunke at 10 seconds and Iturria at 20 seconds are in striking distance as well. Carapaz at "4"18 has to have some amazing days in the mountains to make up his time lost in a really bad stage for him and Zain.
[C2] Volta a Catalunya 
