The individual time trial today, it's a fairly hilly one though with a fair amount of power sections. This one could be particular hard to call as once again with have a stiff breeze.
The big GC battle of the day will be between
1
Rigoberto Úran
Vesuvio-Accumalux
14h31'17
2
Aleksandr Pluchkin
Team B&O
+ 8
That looks like it will be a tight battle between two riders from last year's Tour de France top 5.
Behind them it's a fairly big scramble between climbers who can time trial okay and Time Triallers who can climb well.
We look at the early starters for a hint for whom the course may suit, of course the riders starting early are all those big heavy TT types who struggled up the Green Mountain yesterday.
Former German TT champ Sebastian Lang
Nestle's French youngster
Hugues Mottin
Vesuvio's Australian TT champion wearing his trade jersey Michael Ford
and the expensive new Wolfskin TTing recruit Dennis Van Winden
are all amongst our early starters but have similar sort of skills, you know great against the clock as long as they have no lumpy stuff. There is a rogue rider who is not perhaps quite the tester but climbs hills a bit better in
Thomas De Gendt
There is very little to choose between these riders at the first check at 5km.
Lang
13.01
Mottin
13.01
De Gendt
13.01
Renang
13.03
Van Winden
13.04
or at the second at 11km
Lang
18.44
Mottin
18.44
De Gendt
18.45
Ford
18.46
Van Winden
18.48
or indeed the finish after 19km
Lang
30.05
Mottin
30.06
De Gendt
30.06
Ford
30.07
Van Winden
30.07
The time of De Gendt confirming really that a decent ability on the climbs (the hilly variety) is required.
Indeed the big advantage can surely come from the opening hilly part of the race, Wiggle San Pellegrino were an excellent team on the hilly stuff last year and the similarly named:
Tom Diggle
and the on loan fellow Brit
Ian Bibby
soon proved shaking up the first check standings somewhat
1
Bibby
12.49
2
Diggle
12.54
3
Lang
13.01
4
Mottin
13.01
5
De Gendt
13.01
But whereas Diggle faded in the second section Bibby could keep going to sweep through the top provisional times. 2nd check
1
Bibby
18.33
2
Lang
18.44
3
Mottin
18.44
4
De Gendt
18.45
5
Ford
18.46
Final times so far:
1
Bibby
29.58
2
Lang
30.05
3
Mottin
30.06
4
De Gendt
30.06
5
Ford
30.07
Bibby is a shock leader for Wiggle who really surprised everyone in the team test and whilst Kritskiy couldn't live with the pace yesterday Cataldo did and he has outside top 10 GC hopes.
Plenty more useful looking names out on the course with a TTer with decent hill skills
Dominique Cornu
a couple more pure chrono men
Marcel Kittel
and Nestle's
Jacob Fiedler
and also a Pluchkin teammate
Steven Kruijswijk
None of these four though could match Ian Bibby's stunning early burst at the first check:
1
Bibby
12.49
2
Cornu
12.50
3
Kruijswijk
12.51
4
Diggle
12.54
5
Kittel
12.55
Though arguably Bibby's best portion of the race came between check 1 and check 2, this information has clearly been passed on as a couple of the riders make their move also in this section:
1
Cornu
18.28
2
Kittel
18.31
3
Bibby
18.33
4
Feidler
18.36
5
Kruijswijk
18.38
By the finish we have three more riders inside the thirty minute barrier
1
Cornu
29.42
2
Kittel
29.47
3
Feidler
29.56
4
Bibby
29.58
5
Lang
30.05
Certainly more like how we would have expected it with Jack Wolfskin on top of things. Indeed the Dutch super tester squad had two more of their big guns in action next with
Joost Posthuma
and the rider who could possibly have been challenging for the overall
Robert Gesink
In between the two Dutchmen we have two other riders to keep an eye on in
Chris Froome
and
Tanel Kangert
who are setting some interesting split times.
At the first check we can see Posthuma, Kangert and Froome are very quick but not superspeed like Gesink!
1
Gesink
12.14
2
Posthuma
12.39
3
Kangert
12.39
4
Froome
12.40
5
Bibby
12.49
6
Cornu
12.50
7
Kruijswijk
12.51
8
Diggle
12.54
9
Kittel
12.55
10
Feidler
12.56
Gesink really is just floating over the hilly stuff determined to show he was capable of winning this race at check 2 is under 18 minutes!
1
Gesink
17.50
2
Posthuma
18.15
3
Kangert
18.21
4
Cornu
18.28
5
Kittel
18.31
It's a monstrous show of force by the Dutchman who has revealed he will be looking for small tour victories this year. He will not be winning this race but maybe the stage, his final time massively undercuts teammate's Cornu and Posthuma.
1
Gesink
28.51
2
Posthuma
29.22
3
Kangert
29.39
4
Cornu
29.42
5
Kittel
29.47
Almost gone unnoticed here is Kangert who was with the front group on the climb yesterday only to appear to drop back to help Velits.
The Slovakian is in action on the course now with the big two TTing names of world cycling.
David Zabriskie
and
Michael Rogers
have a challenge if they want to take this time trial away from Gesink.
Peter Velits
will be desperate to improve on his current 17th overall position.
It is Velits who makes a decent impression at the first check
1
Gesink
12.14
2
Velits
12.32
3
Posthuma
12.39
4
Kangert
12.39
5
Froome
12.40
Rogers still isn't in the top five by the second check, meanwhile Velits is falling down the classification slightly.
1
Gesink
17.50
2
Posthuma
18.15
3
Kangert
18.21
4
Zabriskie
18.23
5
Velits
18.25
Clearly this now is definately not a pure time triallers course, but Zabriskie and Rogers continue to pull themselves up the standings but the have no answers for Gesink's mixture of skills.
1
Gesink
28.51
2
Posthuma
29.22
3
Zabriskie
29.23
4
Rogers
29.35
5
Kangert
29.39
We are entering the big GC guns now with the likes of...
Martijn Keizer
and Nestle's
Vladimir Karpets
both looking to move up from the fringes of the top ten deeper inside the promised land. They are trying to make up time on
Stijn Devolder
and Dario Cataldo
Both do manage to overhaul the Wiggle rider whose lack of individual time trialling ability force him out of the top ten. But only Karpets can eclipse Devolder's time, in fact the Russian has a very good TT indeed, it's always been his forte a tour TT. It is too hilly this one for Keizer.
First check:
1
Gesink
12.14
2
Velits
12.32
3
Karpets
12.33
4
Posthuma
12.39
5
Kangert
12.39
Second check:
1
Gesink
17.50
2
Posthuma
18.15
3
Kangert
18.21
4
Karpets
18.23
5
Zabriskie
18.23
Finish standings so far:
1
Gesink
28.51
2
Posthuma
29.22
3
Zabriskie
29.23
4
Rogers
29.35
5
Kangert
29.39
6
Karpets
29.39
7
Cornu
29.42
8
Velits
29.46
9
Kittel
29.47
10
Kiezer
29.48
There were four Spanish riders in the top seven yesterday evening and they will all likely feature at this year's Vuelta with Valverde and Madrazo. The riders place 5th, 6th and 7th will all fancy a crack at a top five place here as they are superior TTers to both the riders in 3rd and 4th place.
was virtually carried up the green mountain on Gesink's back he has 21 seconds to make up on the current 4th place man and 49 seconds on the guy in third.
Justo Tenorio
otherwise known as Madrazo super domestique, did well following the attacks yesterday, but didn't have the best team for the team time trial. Still he is on his own here and should comfortably overhaul the 4th placed rider with 6 seconds to catch and will be targetting third place 34 seconds ahead of him.
Beñat Intxausti
is currently 5th on GC but this hilly one may not suit the more mountain's inclined Spaniard.
The guy currently in 4th is Walter Pedraza
who did his team proud fighting for high GC positions where no-one really had him down as a contender.
who has partly justified his price tag nearly following the winning move yesterday. Both are not horrible TTers but certainly will expect to lose time today.
Let's examine these five carefully at the first check:
1
Tenorio
12.39
2
Intxausti
12.42
3
Plaza
12.47
4
Gomez M
12.55
5
Pedraza
12.55
meaning for GC...
3rd Gomez M
4th Intxausti at 16 seconds
5th Tenorio at 18 seconds
6th Pedraza at 28 seconds
6th Plaza at 41 seconds
Clearly It is going to be tight for that 3rd podium spot between three of the four Spaniards with Plaza and Pedraza battling for sixth.
By the second check then:
1
Tenorio
18.19
2
Plaza
18.26
3
Intxausti
18.32
4
Pedraza
18.44
5
Gomez M
18.45
meaning for GC
3rd Tenorio
4th Gomez M at 2 seconds
5th Intxausti at 8 seconds
6th Pedraza at 21 seconds
7th Plaza at 22 seconds
At the final:
Tenorio
29.31
Plaza
29.40
Intxausti
29.47
Pedraza
30.14
Gomez M
30.16
meaning
3rd Tenorio
4th Gomez M at 11 seconds
4th Intxausti at 11 seconds
6th Plaza at 22 seconds
7th Pedraza at 27 seconds
It is really tight but they look at the timings carefully and award the Intxausti the nod to get up to 4th place, harsh on Gomez Marchante who held together pretty well.
The top 10 for the stage at the finish now is altered slightly:
1
Gesink
28.51
2
Posthuma
29.22
3
Zabriskie
29.23
4
Tenorio
29.31
5
Rogers
29.35
6
Kangert
29.39
7
Karpets
29.39
8
Plaza
29.40
9
Cornu
29.42
10
Velits
29.46
Finally we have our big GC battle for the likely winner of the Tour of Oman. First we have the Moldovon superstar
Aleksandr Pluchkin
and second we have the current leader by EIGHT seconds
Rigoberto Úran
Both riders are very strong against the clock, most would have Pluchkin slightly ahead of Uran which is intriguing as Uran is EIGHT seconds ahead of Pluchkin on GC.
The first check comes in:
Pluchkin
12.32
Uran
12.36
Both are going pretty high up compared to all the other riders at this point:
1
Gesink
12.14
2
Velits
12.32
3
Pluchkin
12.32
4
Karpets
12.33
5
Uran
12.36
But Pluchkin can start to feel confident having pulled back FOUR seconds of the EIGHT within 5 kilometres. The Vesuvio management can be heard shouting Colombian from the team car, not sure if the B&O manager knows the equivalent in Moldovan. Second check:
Pluchkin
18.21
Uran
18.27
This is going to be really tight Uran has responded but is still losing a little time he now just holds the leaders jersey by the matter of TWO seconds. Robert Gesink is in the winners enclosure a few are shaking his hand as he has a wry smile on his face. He has the stage in the bag surely looking at the comparitive second checks for the top five riders:
1
Gesink
17.50
2
Velits
18.25
3
Pluchkin
18.21
4
Karpets
18.23
5
Uran
18.27
But he is checking to see who will be GC leader at the end of the day. Pluchkin comes over the line with the time of 29.34, that slots him into 5th on the day. All eyes now on the clock and for the Vesuvio Colombian.....
Here he comes down into the finish....
29.39.... that was Karpets' time
29.40... Plaza
29.41...
29.42... ooo so close
29.43.
ONE SECOND. Pluchkin has just wrestled the leaders jersey away from Uran who finishes 11th on the day just behind Cornu. Four Jack Wolfskins in the top 10, so good on the Time trial yet bad luck has cost them.
