11km of really steep climb on top to Mt Fuji. This mountain time trial will really mix the overall once more again.
It will be interesting to see how race leader Froome will do against the real climbers like Gadret, who needs to show something if he still wants to join the fight for the overall win.
Also De la Fuente and Augustyn must be named today as they are in great positions to win the overall.
Same counts for Niemiec, who already showed a great mountain time trial this season and so far was doing really well being on podium course.
Becerra
Ascani
Very early a pure climber and a pure time trialist start the stage. A first sign of the difference in todays stage.
Becerra sets teh new best time by far while time trialist Ascani is almost 2min behind. Surely not a good sign for puncheurs like Froome or Ben Nasser.
Aramendia
Khalmuratov
Sousa
Prologue winner Aramendia also can`t repeat his tiem trial success as expected and loses more than a minute to the best time at the moment.
But also the Oz rider is 48s back. Either he had a bad day or Becerra really set a great time.
Trilux leader Sousa won`t do as good as hoped in this race just being a top40 rider. He also loses 40s today.
Kilun
Martinez
Sano
Kilun proved to be a great helper for his leader so far doing lots of nice work. He is in a similar time than Sousa today.
Martinez is really disappointing here but at least today he seems to have a nice ride as he takes the provisional lead but 5s from Becerra, who really had a brilliant day.
Meiji`s Sano, who even overtook Rapha`s Appleby during the climb finishes 4th just behind Possoni not losing much today.
Kessiakoff
Moreno
Lloyd
Unlucky fellow Kessiakoff felt out of the GC fight probably but he wants to win this stage now setting a new best time. 35s faster than Martinez.
But this doesn`t last long. Moreno overtakes his teammate Moinard and is 12s faster than the Swede. But wasn`t Moinard pulling him half the mountain? Obviously no video material of this scene...
Next is Lloyd, Meijis biggest hope to reach their top 5 goal although it will be really hard. He is already more than 1min behind Moreno and also behind his team mates Sano and Doi.
Gadret
Proni
Costa
Top favourite Gadret is really on fire. Without a doubt he was the strongest so far beating his team mates time by 40s setting the new best. Will this catapult him toward the podium?
Slow and quiet Proni climbed into the top10 avoiding any crashes and not spending too much energy for useless attacks. But he is also not known as big climber. He loses almost 3min on Gadret and about 2min on most other favourites.
Same counts for Costa. Without being noticed that much he is 22s faster than Proni being in the same area today.
Niemiec & Ben Nasser
The Pole is fighting hard but different to other riders he is not able to overtake the earlier started Ben Nasser. Does this mean a weak time by him? No. 4th at the moment just 1'08 behind Gadret. Ben Nasser loses the expected 2'27 but actually not too much seeing that many climbers are around him.
Augustyn
De la Fuente
Maybe the two biggest favourites for the overall win after 4 stages.
Augustyn finishes as provisional 4th 59s behind Gadret. Not the worst time actually. But he needs to gain time on the Spaniard.
But the Bianchi guy is showing his superb form once again beating all times but Gadret`s. He loses 37s being 3s faster than Moreno and most important 22s faster than Augustyn.
Froome
Last but surely not least race leader Froome, who is dominating the hilly stages in Japan so far. But as expected the hard climb is not his best terrain. He finishes 30th, even 30s slower than Ben Nasser, so surely not the best day for him almost 3min behind Gadret. But like Ben Nasser he will stay in the top 10 overall having another chance to gain time on the next hilly stage.
De la Fuente takes the lead ahead of Augustyn and Gadret, who must show another strong ride tomorrow if he wants the overall win.
