After the last couple of days of speculation, it is time for the race of truth against the clock. The favourites for today's stage are Abal, Olman and Vandborg but the main attention will be on the various GC battles going on.
There is 32 seconds between the first two and whilst most would acknowledge that second placed Perez Sanchez is the better man against the clock than GC leader Jose Serpa - the question is how much better. 3rd place Petrov has a battle to retain his podium place from Van den Broeck's whose recent Vuelta a Columbia triumph was set up by a sensational day against the clock. Behind that Camino, Rohregger and Eltink are seperated by just 29 seconds. The latter rider though is a weak TTer in the main and may find himself being hunted from behind by Krasnoperov and Abal. The last two will fight it out for the best young rider jersey.
Early marks are expected to be set by Miles Olman and Brian Vandborg. Olman may well have lost some of his TTing spark over the mountains that he does not enjoy, whilst Vandborg was one of many riders to go over in yesterdays finale.
Indeed it looks as if Olman's energy levels are low after the six stages, whereas Vandborg's time is a very competitive one.
Noone could get anywhere near to that time or even inside Olmans modest mark. Bertogliati (Youtube) clocked 38.46, Brandle (Unicredit) 38.47, Basso (Pirelli) 38.52 and Riblon 38.54 but the freworks really started once we got into the top 10.
Ninth place on GC is way below expectations for David Abal, remember this is the rider that finished in the top five in the Vuelta a Espana a few weeks ago.
Abal itching to make up for a poor climb on Kitzbuhler Horn
On paper Abal is a good TTer, and is young ( he was the best young rider at the Vuelta) he is battling for the youth jersey here with Benfica's climber Krasnoperov who started the day five seconds ahead.
Krasnoperov looking to defend his jersey
Looked unlikely for the Benfica rider but both may just be able to home in of Falcons Eltink who started the day 1.18 ahead of Krasnoperov and 1.23 ahead of Abal
So Krasnoperov loses the white jersey but maintains his eighth place by overtaking Eltink who moves down to ninth. Abal takes the youth jersey and has to be happy with seventh place as those ahead are all good enough against the clock to hold him off. No chance of a stage win either his time is behind Vandborg on hundredths of a second, Vandborg now will await to see what the other GC contenders can do.
Rohregger next battling for a top 5 place
The Austrian begin 22 seconds down on Camano who has had a good solid race.
So Rohregger can only pull back 16 of the 22 seconds required, it is good enough for the Austrian to be provisional 3rd on the day. Next the battle for the final podium spot, at the beginning of the day it was ten seconds between 3rd and 4th.
Van den Broeck pushes hard
The Portuguese rider was impressive in Columbia but that was largely uphill, a better indicator was a simliar test in the Volta a Algarve where only Ignatiev was better that day.
Petrov faces a tall task to hold onto 3rd
Remember Van den Broeck got eight seconds for third place on stage five would that be crucial?
Van den Broeck 18.42 (1st) 37.55 (Final)
Petrov 19.02 (1st) 38.33 (Final)
No, Van den Broeck emphatically moves into the 3rd place position on the podium with the 3rd best time of the day so far. So the final battle for overall GC supremacy now is left.
Perez Sanchez goes through 1st check with 18.46 - it is good but not great
The Spanish rider's results this year have been good if not spectacular which probably matches this Time Trial. Everyone had their stopwatches out for Serpa who has that good old bonus of wearing the yellow jersey.
Serpa in yellow at the starthouse, first check is 19.03
So Serpa loses 17 seconds by the halfway check, this is going to be close. Perez Sanchez is chasing Petrov who is going at a similar speed to Serpa which could be an advantage.
Perez Sanchez gives everything
He finishes with a time of 37.59, good enough for 4th on the day, it means that Serpa needs to finish in a time of 38.31 to defend his jersey.
He comes through the line and everybody needs to check their timing equipment.
Serpa crosses and looks desperately at the clock
After a dramatic pause, the clock reads 38.32! Serpa is one second short, not for the first time this season it looks like Serpa is going to be denied at the last defining stage of a tour!
