DH: A day that has loomed large throughout the race the long Individual Time Trial from Bordaeux to Pauillac. At 51 kilometres it is one of the longest we have had in the Tour for some time and indeed this year, how do you see it Smowz?
Sm: It will of course favour the specialists, the three riders Coppel, Zabriskie and Phinney who did so well in the Prologue should be on top here. For the GC it looks difficult for Dekker to make up nearly two minutes on Spilak, in fact I would say the podium is pretty much locked.
Kg: Behind that though there is not a big gap between Pluchkin in 4th at 6.52 and Contador in 8th at 8.01. The riders in between are Schleck at 7.11, Uran at 7.37 and Caruso at 7.40.
Sm: The other key thing to look for is the battle for the last two spots in the top ten, currently Henao Montoya not a particularly good TTer is 9th at 10.07.
Kg: Yes Gesink 10th at 10.28, Phinney 11th at 11.23, Fothen 12th at 11.44 and Taaramae 13th at 12.11 could all move above the Columbian and interchange between each other.
DH: The early leaders before we come on air were Schadlich of Festina,
Schadlich clocked a time of 1hr 13.36
DH: Bonnet (Lafarge) and Steenson (B + O).
Bonnet: 1 hr 12.29 and Steenson 1hr 13.31
Kg: There are two checks out on the course so the splits for these riders are as follows:
Schadlich
29.14
56.42
1.13.36
Bonnet
28.48
55.54
1.12.29
Steenson
29.11
56.41
1.13.31
Sm: Pretty good early marker from the Lafarge rider, their two leaders experiment has not really paid off. Though Caruso has produced a good little ride with a fine stage win.
DH: These riders though were put to the sword by a huge new lead time by the French TT champion and former Maillot Jaune Jerome Coppel.
Coppel storms through the course
DH: His great rival David Zabriskie has just come in and the times looked close, didn't quite catch it Smowz?
Zabriskie and Coppel's times were close
Sm: Coppel just about holds Daniel:
Coppel
27.47
53.54
1.10.09
Zabriskie
27.47
53.58
1.10.12
DH: Very close, but no cigar for Zabriskie. Frustrating season for the World TT champion really.
Sm: He could move up into the GC top 20 today after that rider though and that is a pretty good performance considering he has to support Phinney.
DH: That is true, we are beginning to get to the top GC contenders now, first off all 16th on GC at 15.09 Andrei Kashechkin of Lipton Iced Tea.
Kashechkin - very poor Tour de France for him
Kg: The Kazach's splits are 28.51, 56.06 and 1hr 12.48, nothing remarkable.
Sm: You know a lot of people myself included were talking up Lipton's chances of team victory in the Protour this year, but they have been let down here at the Tour. Kashechkin just seemed to be missing at the final shake up in the mountains time and again.
DH: Also he looked for King of the Mountains, something he did last year but came up short there too.
Sm: It is difficult though their best GT rider is Sella, but he is no great TTer and it would have been a risk to send him here instead of the Giro where he did well. Arroyo for me did a good ride at the Vuelta, Kash also showed nicely at the Tour de Suisse. But it could be difficult for them to make top five now following this weak tour de France.
DH: We are coming up on that key battle for 9th and 10th. First of 13th placed Taaramae at 12.11.
Rein Taaramae best wild card rider
Sm: Not quite up there as I would have hoped, but this Estonian has some improvement left, remember he does not get the chance to race against this sort of quality often.
DH: Next and it still seems unbelievable to say this defending champion Markus Fothen, 12th at 11.44.
Fothen - another who has endured a torrid Tour
Sm: Your right Daniel, it is unbelievable talk about a completely different Tour de France. The field this year is undeniably stronger which is what it should be, back to the drawing board perhaps for Fothen.
DH: The fact that those two start behind Phinney and Gesink (in terms of GC) means it looks unlikely that they will move into the top ten. Speaking of Phinney here he goes...
Phinney motors
Sm: The young American had a good pyrenees, this is where he could win Grand Tours in the future this guy can Time Trial seriously fast.
DH: He stared in 11th at 11.23, lets see how close to Spilak he is at the end of the day. Next out of the starthouse is Robert Gesink of Jack Wolfskin.
Gesink - not quite there in the mountains
Sm: This guy has worked hard at his Time Trialling, but seems to lack something in the big mountains compared to the competition.
DH: Finally the guy projected to lose some time today Nespresso's Henao Montoya.
Henao started the day 8th at 8.01
Kg: Here is the timings for those five competitors then:
Taaramae(2.04 to Hen) 28.34
55.36
1.12.08
Fothen(1.27 to Hen)
28.30
55.27
1.11.57
Phinney(1.16 to Hen)
27.37
53.39
1.09.44
Gesink(0.21 to Hen)
28.15
54.42
1.11.13
Henao(0.00 to Hen)
29.39
57.33
1.14.33
DH: Phinney takes the stage lead from Coppel! Incredible ride from the 20 year old.
Sm: Yes and poor Henao moves right down behind Taaramae as Phinney leapfrogs Gesink as well.
DH: Phinney, just wow, the show goes on folks. It is King of the Mountains Alberto Contador.
Contador tries to move up on the Time Trial
Sm: That ride from Phinney is going to start to pressure some of these riders, Contador does not look particular strong on the checks. He started 8th at 8.01 to Spilak, but 3.22 ahead of Phinney.
Kg: Caruso is also threatened he was 7.40 to Spilak and 3.41 ahead of Phinney.
DH: No way can the American get ahead of these two, we are not getting pictures of Caruso though has something happened to him?
Kg: Here are the splits compared to Phinney:
Phinney
27.37
53.39
1.09.44
Contador
29.05
56.28
1.13.12
Caruso
29.22
57.00
1.13.50
Sm: Phinney is inside of Contador by seven seconds overall and 24 seconds now ahead of Caruso!
DH: Phinney has really come to the party today, that is him up to 7th on GC!
Sm: Back on the planet Earth then we have the battle for 4th, 5th and 6th, 45 seconds cover Pluchkin, Schleck and Uran.
DH: Here is the rider of the alps Uran.
Uran - former yellow jersey looks to finish on a high
Sm: He lost the lead on the airfield in Mende, then he saw Popovich on the first day of the Pyrenees and Pluchkin on the last leapfrog him. In truth though he just didn't quite have it in the second range of mountains.
DH: Now Andy Schleck, second at the Vuelta but off the podium here.
Schleck looking for three GT top fives for Domina Vacanze
Sm: He looks every bit the Grand Tour champion he proved last year, but you get the feeling this long Time Trial has been hanging over his head. He had that big blowout in the Pyrenees which seems to be down to his need to attack.
DH: Now Pluchkin...
B and O's Pluchkin looking for 4th place
Sm: Here is a paradox for you, winner of arguably the two hardest mountains stages in the race. The Madelaine stage in the Alps and the Tourmalet mountain top finish in the Pyrenees, yet the guy who is a good TTer is going to finish off the podium.
Kg: Here are the splits of those three:
Uran(45 to Pluch)
28.44
55.46
1.12.24
Schleck(19 to Pluch)
29.13
56.27
1.13.22
Pluchkin
28.29
55.04
1.11.40
DH: Pluchkin will take 4th then, Uran 5th and Schleck down to 6th.
Sm: Satisfactory results for all three riders, they all have won a stage. Uran perhaps the happiest as he spent some time in Yellow.
DH: Here comes Popovich the saviour of Carmuese's season.
Popo comes home in 1 hr 11 mins and 44 seconds
Kg: Good enough for 6th at the moment on the stage. It is Phinney, then Coppel at 25, Zabriskie at 29, Gesink at 1.29, Pluchkin at 1.56, Popovich at 2.00, Ivars at 2.10, Fothen at 2.12, Taaramae at 2.25 and Uran at 2.37.
Sm: Popovich the man of the Pyrenees, pity he lost silly time elsewhere though else he would have challenged the top two. No stage wins either for the Ukrainian, but a podium really changes the season for Carmuese.
DH: Where will Thomas Dekker slot in and can he put any pressure at all on Simon Spilak?
Dekker looks for every last second hoping for a remarkable turnaround
Sm: Just cannot see that happening against the gritty Slovenian yellow jersey. Philips have been one of the controllers of the race and Dekker has looked strong, but you never saw the Dutchman attack really. He took the stage into Mende and was so very close on Ax 3 Domianes, but I think he then got defensive on Port de Bales.
DH: He was probably thinking of this time trial, up until then he probably could have comfortably taken Spilak out here. But then the Slovenian got away from him and we had that showdown two days ago on the slopes of the Tormalet.
Sm: Dekker did attack then, but the race was already lost.
DH: Indeed Spilak looks smooth here...
Spilak - Le Tour winner 2011?
Kg: Checks for you
Dekker
28.29
55.06
Spilak
28.45
55.43
DH: Dekker finishes in a time of 1 hour 11 minutes and 36 seconds, that's four seconds faster than Pluchkin for fifth place.
Sm: It means Spilak has too finish in a time of 1 hour 13 minutes 27 seconds, that is fairly testing we have only had 25 or so riders manage to do that today.
DH: He is coming into the last kilometer now Smowz...
Spilak grits his teeth in the finale
DH: 1 hour 12 minutes and 15 seconds, Simon Spilak barring disaster tomorrow wins the Tour de France 2011 by just over a minute.
Kg: 11th on the day today, he conceded 40 seconds of his advantage to Dekker today.
Sm: Big mover of the day was Phinney he moved up to 7th and was not so far behind Schleck, very impressive.
